Network Vision/LTE - Milwaukee Market (including Madison)

[qhinton]

I truly can't wait. I have seen so many random Sprint towers all around Milwaukee. I live near 76th and center and hell it's even one in the cemetery with a cross hanging off off one of the NV panels. I had to laugh at that. Sprint needs to make a move I'm almost embarrassed to still be sticking around..2mbps is crazy because T-Mobile edge is the same speed. I have a feeling it will be available soon.

 

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[dequardo]

I wish you guys all the best and good luck in your Don Quixote quest for the Milwaukee market. I got a $400 credit from Sprint and am cutting my losses. Porting out to ST tomorrow. Really do hope you get usable LTE soon.

[lilotimz]

I wish you guys all the best and good luck in your Don Quixote quest for the Milwaukee market. I got a $400 credit from Sprint and am cutting my losses. Porting out to ST tomorrow. Really do hope you get usable LTE soon.

 

So long. You have to do what you have to do and I wish you luck on straight talk. Hopefully in a year or so when everything has settled down and TD-LTE 2500 + LTE 800 is well deployed you can come back and check out the new network and be impressed. 

[mmark27]

I really hope there's like 50 acceptances and live sites tomorrow. Timely for the trolls. :-)

 

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[andyp]

just out of curiosity, how many sites in Milwaukee are left for the upgrade, compared to total number of sites, in addition what is it for Madison? Also are they waiting for both Madison and Milwaukee to finish before turning it on?

 

also what makes watertown, beaver dam, fon du lac, sheboygan, and whitewater so special that they recieved the upgrade first, are they not in the same market?

 

and please give me an answer with out trying to insult me.

 

not complaining, just curious.

[smalltimehack]

If you are a sponsor you can look at the map for NV sites compared to the completed sites and go from there.

The outskirts had to be done first before the bigger cities. If we shut off the inside first to do the upgrades without doing the outskirts it would be like a black out. You wouldn't be able to reach out and make calls. Consider the outskirt cities as a life line for when the inner city gets done.

[klrtovfr]

anyway....has anyone on the far east side of madison (east of 94) noticed stronger voice/3g in the past week or so?   I have gone from 0-1 bars at my desk to 3-4 recently.   Anyone else noticed a subtle change in signal strength?

yes I have been getting 4 bars from windsor in the car connecting to the far east. It was usually 3 before.

[Schikka]

Fon du lac and Sheboygan are North Wisconsin market

 

 

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[andyp]

If you are a sponsor you can look at the map for NV sites compared to the completed sites and go from there.

The outskirts had to be done first before the bigger cities. If we shut off the inside first to do the upgrades without doing the outskirts it would be like a black out. You wouldn't be able to reach out and make calls. Consider the outskirt cities as a life line for when the inner city gets done.

 

 

then that leads me to my next question and im not sure if i am allowed to post this information, it looks like there are about 80 towers in the Milwaukee / waukesha area, but 16 marked LTE complete, does that mean that all 80 still need to be upgraded?

 

if this info is not allowed here please mods reedit to how it should be, i dont want to get shot for asking a question.

[smalltimehack]

80 - 16 = 64. I haven't looked myself but if that's what it is or roughly then that's what it is.

[andyp]

80 - 16 = 64. I haven't looked myself but if that's what it is or roughly then that's what it is.

 

I can do math, there is no need to insult me. its against forum rules.

 

it also does not answer my question. looking at other areas that have LTE there are still dozens of towers that are listed as 3G. so do all 64 towers need to be upgraded or will some remain 3G

 

also Ive noticed that everywhere i go in Milwaukee i am getting 1xRTT which after googling it, every site that i find says that its not 3G but 2.5G at 60-80 kbps. Why are the towers not broadcasting the 1xEV-DO 3G with the  300-600 kbps speeds?

 

again since i apparently have to post this every time for the trolls on here 

please give me an answer with out trying to insult me.

and i am not complaining, just curious.

[smalltimehack]

I don't believe that was insulting at all. Too much sensitivity around here nowadays. I think I'll just bow out on this one and stick to my random posts and lurking from now on.

[aackmann]

then that leads me to my next question and im not sure if i am allowed to post this information, it looks like there are about 80 towers in the Milwaukee / waukesha area, but 16 marked LTE complete, does that mean that all 80 still need to be upgraded?

 

if this info is not allowed here please mods reedit to how it should be, i dont want to get shot for asking a question.

 

That is kind of correct. However, those remaining 64 sites or whatever are all at varying levels of completion. Alot of people have seen many sites around this area with new panels and all the equipment up, so a good chunk of those ~64 sites could be ready to go or almost ready. It means those sites have not been inspected and officially accepted by Sprint.

 

Or as one of the tower crew guys told me, "Sprint is waiting to turn some on because they turn them on in clusters", so we're not really sure what exactly is going on.

[mmark27]

just out of curiosity, how many sites in Milwaukee are left for the upgrade, compared to total number of sites, in addition what is it for Madison? Also are they waiting for both Madison and Milwaukee to finish before turning it on?

 

also what makes watertown, beaver dam, fon du lac, sheboygan, and whitewater so special that they recieved the upgrade first, are they not in the same market?

Madison (and surrounding area) has 5 total towers left that don't have NV equipment on them. Fish Hatch and Beltline, Hilldale, West Wash (might be being worked on) nearest West of Capitol and nearest East. However, not many that are actually "accepted complete" by Sprint. See earlier for hand waving explanations.

 

No idea what the turn on schedule might be but at least here, we're poised. I'm sure Milwaukee is in the same boat.

 

The towns you mentioned at the end have between 1 and 6 towers total in them. That's easier to finish than Milwaukee with brazillions of sites.

 

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[mangurt]

Well, lets hope Sprint is working on the towers today.  Currently at work, and I have 1 RT signal, not even 3g :/  I remember reading on this site that usually when that happens, LTE fires up.....hope that's the case..

[asnigro]

Can we expect these towers to go live before some kind of info being sent out from the Sprint "Newsroom" regarding cities launching?

[mmark27]

Can we expect these towers to go live before some kind of info being sent out from the Sprint "Newsroom" regarding cities launching?

Normally yes, but we'll see.

 

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[apphysics]

just out of curiosity, how many sites in Milwaukee are left for the upgrade, compared to total number of sites, in addition what is it for Madison? Also are they waiting for both Madison and Milwaukee to finish before turning it on?

 

also what makes watertown, beaver dam, fon du lac, sheboygan, and whitewater so special that they recieved the upgrade first, are they not in the same market?

 

and please give me an answer with out trying to insult me.

 

not complaining, just curious.

 

Smaller areas have a lot fewer sites. For example, Marshfield (running LTE) where I am from has a total of 2 (maybe 3 but thats a stretch), and 1 more a couple miles from the town. It's a lot faster to upgrade 3-4 towers than it is to upgrade 50-100+ towers like Milwaukee has. So basically it comes down to the basic principle of building a house that the bigger it is, the more work there is to do, and the longer it will take to complete it.

[andyp]

That is kind of correct. However, those remaining 64 sites or whatever are all at varying levels of completion. Alot of people have seen many sites around this area with new panels and all the equipment up, so a good chunk of those ~64 sites could be ready to go or almost ready. It means those sites have not been inspected and officially accepted by Sprint.

 

Or as one of the tower crew guys told me, "Sprint is waiting to turn some on because they turn them on in clusters", so we're not really sure what exactly is going on.

 

so then that means looking at the completed sites map, it is highly out of date for Milwaukee / madison then if there are some that are complete and some that are still WIP.

 

 

Madison (and surrounding area) has 5 total towers left that don't have NV equipment on them. Fish Hatch and Beltline, Hilldale, West Wash (might be being worked on) nearest West of Capitol and nearest East. However, not many that are actually "accepted complete" by Sprint. See earlier for hand waving explanations. No idea what the turn on schedule might be but at least here, we're poised. I'm sure Milwaukee is in the same boat. The towns you mentioned at the end have between 1 and 6 towers total in them. That's easier to finish than Milwaukee with brazillions of sites. Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

whats the diffrence between completed and accepted completed?

 

please give me an answer with out trying to insult me.

and i am not complaining, just curious.

[mmark27]

whats the diffrence between completed and accepted completed?

 

Sorry for the confusing terminology.  There are Sites in Progress that have visible stuffs like new antennas, cabinets, backhaul Fiber evidence, etc.  However, until they show up on Robert's pretty "NV Sites Complete" thread (in sponsor section), they are not technically "complete".  At that point (when they show up on the map), everything needed has been installed, they've been tested and inspected/approved.  That said, they may be Sprint accepted/complete site and still not be broadcasting juicy LTE goodness that we can connect to....perhaps its broadcasting but we can't get the signal.  Does that help?

[aackmann]

Sorry for the confusing terminology.  There are Sites in Progress that have visible stuffs like new antennas, cabinets, backhaul Fiber evidence, etc.  However, until they show up on Robert's pretty "NV Sites Complete" thread (in sponsor section), they are not technically "complete".  At that point (when they show up on the map), everything needed has been installed, they've been tested and inspected/approved.  That said, they may be Sprint accepted/complete site and still not be broadcasting juicy LTE goodness that we can connect to....perhaps its broadcasting but we can't get the signal.  Does that help?

 

 

Yea, just to add a little tid bit... The contractors can have a cell site all done and ready to go, but then someone else (from Sprint) needs to stop by to inspect the site and sign off on it. At that point, it is "accepted". Or the inspector could find some little code violation or something, so it would appear that the site has all the panels and everything in place, but the crew might have to come back and adjust something or re-do some part. So "sites accepted" is really the key term that says it's 100% ready to go and if it's not already broadcasting LTE, then Sprint is waiting for some reason or another to "flip the switch".

[S4GRU]

so then that means looking at the completed sites map, it is highly out of date for Milwaukee / madison then if there are some that are complete and some that are still WIP.

 

 

 

whats the diffrence between completed and accepted completed?

please give me an answer with out trying to insult me.

and i am not complaining, just curious.

The NV Sites Complete map is up to date. It is complete when Sprint accepts it as complete. Not just because someone can see equipment installed. New panels, RRU's and cabinets is not a completed site.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[donjohnson]

I was driving the other day past the Loomis Rd / I-894 tower...just as a previous poster highlighted a few days ago, this location is back broadcasting LTE after some upgrade issues forced Sprint to tak it "offline" (per a Technical Support rep from Sprint).

 

I also got blazing fast speeds from it...

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/628436751

Edited October 24, 2013 by donjohnson

[apphysics]

Yea, just to add a little tid bit... The contractors can have a cell site all done and ready to go, but then someone else (from Sprint) needs to stop by to inspect the site and sign off on it. At that point, it is "accepted". Or the inspector could find some little code violation or something, so it would appear that the site has all the panels and everything in place, but the crew might have to come back and adjust something or re-do some part. So "sites accepted" is really the key term that says it's 100% ready to go and if it's not already broadcasting LTE, then Sprint is waiting for some reason or another to "flip the switch".

 

That's probably what happened on the Brown Deer/I-43 tower. They had everything installed, and left for several weeks. Then, at the start of this week, they were back and moved all 3 NV panels and some of the old legacy panels. Perhaps they installed them wrong and Sprint refused to accept the site as completed?

[aackmann]

That's probably what happened on the Brown Deer/I-43 tower. They had everything installed, and left for several weeks. Then, at the start of this week, they were back and moved all 3 NV panels and some of the old legacy panels. Perhaps they installed them wrong and Sprint refused to accept the site as completed?

 

 

That could be... That's actually very encouraging if that is the reason... That would mean that the people who do the inspections and acceptances are in the area and checking out sites around here.