Network Vision/LTE - Milwaukee Market (including Madison)

[jreuschl]

Some LTE action in Green Bay and Appleton though! (Yeah, that's another thread)

 

So my question is..  if there is all this background work going on, why are we not seeing more 3G approved sites in the Milwaukee and Madison area?  If it is just backhaul they should be that way, right?

[smalltimehack]

I was visiting Menard's today on 27th Street between College Ave and Rawson Ave. It appears every cellular carrier in Milwaukee is either on the huge water tower or stand-alone tower right next to it just off Menard's parking lot. While walking to the store, I did a close examination of all the cellular antennas and I could swear the top three antennas on the standalone tower are the Samsung NV setup. They are just below a red light at the top of the tower. Too bad I have to wait until early next year to get a 4G phone or I could have reported if 4G was actually active on this site.

The story I have heard for the tower is that is was supposed to get painted so they moved some antennas off of it. It is 4g compete as far as I know but I'm not sure if it is broadcasting.

[apphysics]

So a question for some people in the milwaukee area. Is Sprint on the tower right next to 43, between Good Hope Rd and Brown Deer Rd? I was looking at the map and sprint does not have that site down as one of their towers, so when I called tonight about my plan info i suggested adding that as a service location as service in the area (that could be covered by that tower) is pretty poor.

[mmark27]

Here's the tower near hwy 51 and hwy 30 on the dirty Eastside of Madison.  There are a LOT of other antennae on this tower....a LOT.  This is the bottom rack.  You know most Sprint panels are on the bottom racks or lower on water towers....cheap skates. The one by me is the top rack at least. Anyways, NV work here too, it looks like to me.  The other racks are clearly not Sprint stuffs. 

 

If you guys are in Madison and are Sponsors, please try to take a few pictures of some of these other towers. Message me if you want to divide and conquer some picture taking. I haven't been able to get to the tower on the Northside of the lake or out near Waunakee on 113, so if you travel that way, please let me know.  Also, perhaps someone that traverses the Beltline could check out the tower off South Towne behind Super Walmart?  The one more north in McFarland off Siggelkow by Curling Club?  Then downtown ones on rooftops, I haven't had the time to get to them.

 

 

 

 

[asnigro]

So a question for some people in the milwaukee area. Is Sprint on the tower right next to 43, between Good Hope Rd and Brown Deer Rd? I was looking at the map and sprint does not have that site down as one of their towers, so when I called tonight about my plan info i suggested adding that as a service location as service in the area (that could be covered by that tower) is pretty poor.

Just moved from Brewers Hill to just north of Good Hope Rd west of the river and didnt think data or voice could have gotten worse.  I was wrong.  I will be keeping an eye on that tower, praying.

[apphysics]

Just moved from Brewers Hill to just north of Good Hope Rd west of the river and didnt think data or voice could have gotten worse.  I was wrong.  I will be keeping an eye on that tower, praying.

 

So you're right in the River Hills area? A lot of my friends live in that area and service for me sucks back there (AT&T and Verizon are obviously on the tower as my friends have decent service), and that tower could also service my home so I am hoping that they will be adding it in as a site. 

 

In the meantime, go to the store and have them give you the retention number and they'll send you an airave free of charge (normally like 6 bucks a month). Thats what I ended up doing. On the bright side though, when the Sprint towers were down the other day (as the guys were working on the equipment) I was picking up 3-4 bars of 800Mhz roaming in my house. With Sprint's current 1.9Ghz I am lucky to have one bar, so hopefully once they flip the switch and make 800 live service will substantially improve for us.

 

EDIT: added airave and 800/1900 info

Edited October 11, 2013 by apphysics

[mmark27]

Pine Ridge Park in Fitchburg just now on my dog's morning constitutional and my phone's going crazy with LTE and 800SMR notifications! Can't get a lock for long enough to get information. Perhaps testing the Verona or other Fitchburg tower. Home tree doesn't have panels up yet.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[aarofloyd]

 

Here's the tower near hwy 51 and hwy 30 on the dirty Eastside of Madison.  There are a LOT of other antennae on this tower....a LOT.  This is the bottom rack.  You know most Sprint panels are on the bottom racks or lower on water towers....cheap skates. The one by me is the top rack at least. Anyways, NV work here too, it looks like to me.  The other racks are clearly not Sprint stuffs. 

 

If you guys are in Madison and are Sponsors, please try to take a few pictures of some of these other towers. Message me if you want to divide and conquer some picture taking. I haven't been able to get to the tower on the Northside of the lake or out near Waunakee on 113, so if you travel that way, please let me know.  Also, perhaps someone that traverses the Beltline could check out the tower off South Towne behind Super Walmart?  The one more north in McFarland off Siggelkow by Curling Club?  Then downtown ones on rooftops, I haven't had the time to get to them.

I dont think anything has happened at the one off Sigglekow, have a buddy over that direction keeping an eye on that tower and Im sure i would have heard something if that one had been started.  Ill tell him to take a close look tonight...

[aarofloyd]

I dont think anything has happened at the one off Sigglekow, have a buddy over that direction keeping an eye on that tower and Im sure i would have heard something if that one had been started.  Ill tell him to take a close look tonight...

correction, that one off Sigglekow may in fact be done.  i just texted him about that tower and he said he had 5 bars and full 4g for a short time last night off the SE corner of the golf course, so it must be upgraded and in testing! Having been to his place many times, the fact there is any reception whatsoever there means they they are getting close. I usually cant even pull roaming signals there!  The Madison area is flying right now!

[kb122]

Aww man. Snubbed on the acceptance report again I'm a sad panda.

 

Yeah the big gap in Waukesha county is getting annoying.  I know of at least two towers in Pewaukee that have new panels, not accepted, one's had them up for over two months.  There's fiber all around these towers, so backhaul shouldn't be a huge issue here... unless it's the backhaul companies dragging out (I can almost guarantee AT&T would take their time and then some, if they're the backhaul provider).

 

Heading to Chicago today... so I'm sure I'll get spoiled with plenty of 800 and LTE.

[mmark27]

correction, that one off Sigglekow may in fact be done. i just texted him about that tower and he said he had 5 bars and full 4g for a short time last night off the SE corner of the golf course, so it must be upgraded and in testing! Having been to his place many times, the fact there is any reception whatsoever there means they they are getting close. I usually cant even pull roaming signals there! The Madison area is flying right now!

Please get a picture of the antennas somehow. That's the only way we'll know if it's possible to get that signal. If I remember right, that tower isn't very high or very dense and is easily accessible, so it'll be easy to photograph.

 

Like Robert has said, he doesn't have good internal sources in Wisconsin for updates on towers in progress, so it's up to us to get the evidence.

 

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Tapatalk 4

[aarofloyd]

Please get a picture of the antennas somehow. That's the only way we'll know if it's possible to get that signal. If I remember right, that tower isn't very high or very dense and is easily accessible, so it'll be easy to photograph.

 

Like Robert has said, he doesn't have good internal sources in Wisconsin for updates on towers in progress, so it's up to us to get the evidence.

 

Sent from my cm_tenderloin using Tapatalk 4

I might be able to stop on my way downtown tomorrow....Ill grab a pic if i can

[aackmann]

Yeah the big gap in Waukesha county is getting annoying.  I know of at least two towers in Pewaukee that have new panels, not accepted, one's had them up for over two months.  There's fiber all around these towers, so backhaul shouldn't be a huge issue here... unless it's the backhaul companies dragging out (I can almost guarantee AT&T would take their time and then some, if they're the backhaul provider).

 

Heading to Chicago today... so I'm sure I'll get spoiled with plenty of 800 and LTE.

 

 

I did talk to an AT&T fiber guy who was at the radio station tower near 124th and Beloit. He said AT&T had around 50 or so sites in the area that they needed to run fiber to. That was like 2 months ago, and from the way he talked, it seemed like they were on the ball getting those done. He said that most of the Waukesha sites were already done at that point. So I don't think it's backhaul that's holding all these up. I've also noticed the 92nd and beloit tower has fiber and new cabinets too. So I'm really expecting to see like 10-15 sites go live with LTE in the Milwaukee/Waukesha area one of these days. I pretty much live and work in that big gap of no LTE around Milwaukee/Waukesha :/ so no LTE for me on a regular basis yet.

[AcctDeleted_w9awx1]

Sorry if this gets doubled or if posted to the wrong area but does anyone know if Wisconsin Rapids, WI is LTE for sprint?

[Silenze]

Yes it is. But that is in the north wisconsin market.

[napali]

I did talk to an AT&T fiber guy who was at the radio station tower near 124th and Beloit. He said AT&T had around 50 or so sites in the area that they needed to run fiber to. That was like 2 months ago, and from the way he talked, it seemed like they were on the ball getting those done. He said that most of the Waukesha sites were already done at that point. So I don't think it's backhaul that's holding all these up. I've also noticed the 92nd and beloit tower has fiber and new cabinets too. So I'm really expecting to see like 10-15 sites go live with LTE in the Milwaukee/Waukesha area one of these days. I pretty much live and work in that big gap of no LTE around Milwaukee/Waukesha :/ so no LTE for me on a regular basis yet.

Regarding Waukesha....As an update to my earlier post.. I checked back Friday with the Eastern Muskego tower on College Ave and I incorrectly assumed the 2 guys were doing ground (cage) work. They actually were assembling the 4g antenna and had the wires ready to lift. In the brief time I spoke to them, they were either pretending to be clueless to any other work to be done or they really didn't know. I am going with the don't know because they were both from down South and did not really know where anything was here. I asked them about the Vernon tower on 164 in Big Bend and they looked at me like I was asking about  Alaska... The only hardly useful information I was given was they were heading to another tower in the area to do more antenna install (would not tell me where) and then they were going back to Madison for 2 more. They were very nice guys, but had there own opinion about Sprint ... hilariously the one said .. Sprint Sucks,, I think they are on the bottom of all the carriers we have worked with... too funny although they really do not work for Sprint I guess. I just thought it was somewhat ironic. I also commented about how long some of the towers with NV have been sitting around non-operational (Calhoun in New Berlin comes to mind) and he said you should expect a 6 month window from the time its up to the time its running. I think that probably is just guessing on his part, but sadly there may be some truth in it..

 

 

Either way I am just glad to see some NV equipment up on the south side of Waukesha County, its a start... Impressive to see the NV antenna on the ground, They really look HUGE...

[Ffryguy29]

I'm not sure why it's hilarious. I know we tiptoe around it here, but Sprints service up until now has been subpar. You make it seem like his opinion is unfounded. I wouldn't be here if I didn't expect (hope) it will improve, but come on now, for most I the recent past, this guy has been right.

[JJegers]

I went past the Muskego tower (College/Tess Corners) and like others have said it appears that they are putting up new antennae.  I took some pictures of the units.  I'm guessing these are the 4G units? (Antennae and RRU's ?)

 

What was interesting is that I was mapping the area with Sensorly and to the NE of the tower all I could get was 1xRTT signal.  I even tried to reset my phone by putting it into airplane mode, but I couldn't get any EVDO.  But once I got to the west side of the tower I got full 3G (EVDO) signal.  Maybe it is just that I have Cricket..or maybe they just had some of the antennae disabled.

 

On the S4GRU maps it lists this tower as a Sprint tower, but when I was there I saw a sign on one of the buildings saying it was AT&T. Does this mean that this is a co-located tower, with both companies?  If so, can both companies offer 4G service from the tower?  Do they have to do that with different frequencies then?  

 

 

[napali]

I'm not sure why it's hilarious. I know we tiptoe around it here, but Sprints service up until now has been subpar. You make it seem like his opinion is unfounded. I wouldn't be here if I didn't expect (hope) it will improve, but come on now, for most I the recent past, this guy has been right.

You would be missing my point then, they were installing equipment for sprint and saying it sucked.. that is humorous...(and ironic) I was not dismissing his opinion, but it was amusing at the time and situation.  I have been one of the lucky ones who, although disgusted with the lack of 4g service, I have had reasonably useful service in this southern Waukesha area and I have been carrying SERO my entire time with Sprint. It has saved me a tremendous amount of money over time, but in the end you get what you pay for.  I will fully admit, as I have said here before, that if my service area was below HWY 100 I would have been out a long time ago. Either way it is what it is and things are moving forward. So lets celebrate these baby steps as we always have had to do with this carrier.  

[smalltimehack]

That does appear to be NV equipment for sprint.

A tower can have multiple carriers on it. Different carriers will have different racks on the tower. Sprint will be one and either above or below it will be Att and so on and so forth. Pics of the tower itself would help us narrow it down even more as to what's possibly on it.

[apphysics]

I was just out by Madison/wis dells and experienced lte. I was regularly running 10-15mbps down and 3-6 up. And my best result was 28.32 down and 8 flat up.

[dequardo]

Camp Randall yesterday. NO LTE and barely functional 3G in the upper deck. All this Madison talk and no real action.

[dequardo]

Camp Randall yesterday. NO LTE and barely functional 3G in the upper deck. All this Madison talk and no real action.

[mr.phoneguy]

Camp Randall yesterday. NO LTE and barely functional 3G in the upper deck. All this Madison talk and no real action.

I was at the game also. My friend's u.s. cellular phone couldn't call/text/data either if it makes you feel better. Lol

[mmark27]

Another Fitchburg, WI tower off County Hwy M....just one more Fitchburg tower left.....mine. 

 

 

Stoughton, WI tower in the Wally World parking lot. Poised and at the ready.