Network Vision/LTE - Milwaukee Market (including Madison)

[S4GRU]

FWIW, I was down at Lollapalooza over the weekend, Sprint service was pretty good most of the time. Texts went through quickly for the most part, data was usable. I was on B25 most of the time, but got on 26 and 41 occasionally. Heard more complaints from my friends with other carriers than issues I had with sprint during the weekend. Not sure if they brought in temporary towers for the event or not... But I'm thinking it'll still get better with time up here.

Sprint had COW's for Lollapalooza.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[grumpwagon]

Anyone around Madison (specifically the Fish Hatch/beltline and mckee rd towers) noticing absolute terrible 3g data performance lately? I'm frequently on LTE from those towers, which is very fast, but if it drops down to 3g, data is extremely slow, or completely non-existent for me.

 

I don't remember the exact signal measurements at the time, but it was very good. I was hoping the increased backhaul to support LTE would also carry over to better 3g performance, but at least in this case, that doesn't seem to be happening.

Edited August 8, 2014 by grumpwagon

[jreuschl]

 

At the St. Fair on Sunday.. Morning.

 

The tower serving the park is still 3G only. I have patience, other customers don't. There's no excuse for at least not bringing in a temp site to a high traffic event.

 

Wonder how many S customers signed up with US Cell at their retail shop at the fair being frustrated.

 

I'm not trying to rant.. But Sprint needs to look at their image at an event like this.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

[aackmann]

 

At the St. Fair on Sunday.. Morning.

 

The tower serving the park is still 3G only. I have patience, other customers don't. There's no excuse for at least not bringing in a temp site to a high traffic event.

 

Wonder how many S customers signed up with US Cell at their retail shop at the fair being frustrated.

 

I'm not trying to rant.. But Sprint needs to look at their image at an event like this.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

 

Yea... I just talked to a person who works at the other office for my company. I was always telling her about the network improvements and such. The situation got much better at the office after 1x800. They used to not be able to make calls inside the building, but it's way better there now (Brookfield, Capitol Dr. and Springdale Rd). She told me how she was at State Fair and basically couldn't use her phone. She said she's gonna be switching. It makes me sad that pretty much all the sites around here are upgraded, but one of the last few stragglers is right smack dab where thousands of people would notice it I wish they would have brought in a temp tower for that. 

 

I was at summerfest this year, and while there were still some towers around there that aren't B26 yet, my phone was still pretty usable. 

[jreuschl]

I don't remember the exact signal measurements at the time, but it was very good. I was hoping the increased backhaul to support LTE would also carry over to better 3g performance, but at least in this case, that doesn't seem to be happening.

Keep in mind if you were on 1x800 the data is only 1x

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[grumpwagon]

Keep in mind if you were on 1x800 the data is only 1x

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I have Signalcheck Pro, it definitely was 3g and not 1x/1x800

[Calvin200]

How is coverage in Eagle.  My friend with a 5S is about to leave Sprint after his experience there.  I see a tower pretty close.

[jreuschl]

How is coverage in Eagle.  My friend with a 5S is about to leave Sprint after his experience there.  I see a tower pretty close.

 

I just drove through over the weekend doing some Sensorly mapping along Hwy 59.  It isn't great, however I only have a single band LTE device.  Could be better with 800 LTE.  Keep in mind there's trees north of the city along 67 so the signal won't reach as far.

 

Also as of last weekend the tower along Hwy 106 near Palmyra was not broadcasting LTE yet (despite being marked complete)

[Calvin200]

I probably saw your mapping. Thank you. 

[apphysics]

If you're talking Eagle River I was there in January and was on 1x the entire time. You would think with as many people that go there and to Rhinelander (by hodag grounds and the scout camps easily 20k+ people in a summer that could all be serviced by a single tower location [granted high capacity]) they would have all their own LTE towers but noooo... Extended 1x. 

[grumpwagon]

There's a village in southern WI called just Eagle.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Eagle,+WI+53119/@42.8826269,-88.4685425,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x8805bf8e44d338b1:0x950a7ee20defc769

[jreuschl]

FYI: The tower by St. Fair is broadcasting 1x800, so it may be a situation again of waiting for backhaul for LTE.

 

Wish Sprint could light a fire under those providers (and I know Samsung markets are much quicker than others)

[jreuschl]

If you want entertainment this morning, search Twitter for US Cellular. The storms knocked their network out overnight Everyone has no service/roaming.

 

Users are not too happy that their account is sending out random promos/job openings (They still have openings in Chicago?!) while this is going on, with no statement.

[theg00ds0n]

Recently upgraded to a Nexus 5... I'm curious what radios are fellow N5 users running in the Milwaukee area? I'm on the latest OTA build KTU84P and baseband .16 and it doesn't seem that great. I am picking up B26 here and there (I've only had it 2 days now so not a lot of opportunities to check when not at work/home), but B25 reception doesn't seem to be any better than my S3. After all the raving about this device, I was expecting to see better RF performance but realize it may be radio-related.

 

EDIT: Regular CDMA/1X/EVDO seems to be weaker than the S3?

Edited August 28, 2014 by theg00ds0n

[Calvin200]

Any news?   Any estimates of where Milwaukee is going to be in the band 41 prioritization? 

Edited September 17, 2014 by Calvin200

[mmark27]

Luckily Madison has a few up already, Milwaukee too. Those will get turned on regardless when they turn on the rest.

 

sent from an underwater dust storm with my Sprint S5

[aackmann]

Any news?   Any estimates of where Milwaukee is going to be in the band 41 prioritization? 

 

I believe I read some articles recently that said the new Sprint CEO is changing the strategy and trying to focus on getting 3-4 big markets fully deployed with B41 and once those are complete, then branch out. They want to be able to market a completed super fast network in a few markets, rather than have the whole country partially completed. So it may be a while yet.

[Dkoellerwx]

I believe I read some articles recently that said the new Sprint CEO is changing the strategy and trying to focus on getting 3-4 big markets fully deployed with B41 and once those are complete, then branch out. They want to be able to market a completed super fast network in a few markets, rather than have the whole country partially completed. So it may be a while yet.

 

The 3-5 cities articles are BS. Samsung alone is focusing on 9 cities. Milwaukee isn't one of the focus cities, but 8T8Rs will still be deployed on an as-needed basis to capacity strained sites regardless of location.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4950-sprint-spark-official-name-for-the-tri-band-network-was-sprint-to-demo-its-25ghz-network-technology/page-73?p=363128&do=findComment&comment=363128

[Calvin200]

Where is this band 41 in Milwaukee?  I would love to experience it. 

[Dkoellerwx]

Where is this band 41 in Milwaukee?  I would love to experience it. 

 

I don't believe there is currently any usable B41. We have to wait for the Samsung 8T8R Band 41 FIT testings to complete before you'll see any 8T8R equipment go live in Milwaukee.

[kallistos]

I keep seeing

"In the top 100 U.S. markets, Sprint has some 120 to 150 MHz of 2.5 GHz" also "120 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum in 90 percent of the top 100 U.S. markets"

 

in multiple posts/articles. Does anyone have a list of these markets?

[S4GRU]

I keep seeing

"In the top 100 U.S. markets, Sprint has some 120 to 150 MHz of 2.5 GHz" also "120 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum in 90 percent of the top 100 U.S. markets"

 

in multiple posts/articles. Does anyone have a list of these markets?

 

Sprint owns between 60-150MHz of B41 LTE spectrum (2500-2600MHz) in every market.  Even markets where they do not currently offer service.

[Calvin200]

Been dropping LTE more than normal recently.  Any others?  I did drop my phone at that time though. 

[eljayyy91]

In Milwaukee for the weekend and Sprint has been treating me very nice. 10mbs in my hotel room thank god I don't have to deal with the crappy WiFi. My iPad won't even load a webpage. Pretty much the whole ride here no problems at all besides one dead spot on 39 That really needs some 800 or needs it turned up. Glad I could see the network progress so much in the past. Didn't have to drive for the first time in awhile.

[grumpwagon]

Been dropping LTE more than normal recently.  Any others?  I did drop my phone at that time though. 

 

If you still have a G2, there's a setting in the G2 thread that has helped people regain LTE more quickly after it drops that some people think was inadvertently changed in the last patch. I applied it, and I think it has helped me, but it might just be tinfoil hat-ery.