Network Vision/LTE - Milwaukee Market (including Madison)

[mr.phoneguy]

uhhh Sun prairie isn't Madison.....

[mmark27]

Well, there isn't anything accepted in Madison as of yet. The tower at 30 and 51 looks like it has some new antennas on it for sure. Wasn't able to stop and check the base. That might be next to go live? That's in Madison proper.

 

Drove up past Beaver Dam today and Beaver Dam has 800 voice kicking and solid LTE. 33 up, 12 down!

 

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[AcctDeleted_w9awx1]

I'm a happy guy. I finally saw LTE instead of 3G on my iPhone 5 for my network connection. Yes, it was for a few fleeting moments as we drove along the north side of Waukesha's Crites Field. I wasn't able to get a speedtest, but happy anyways. First time I've seen LTE on my phone since I came back from Florida.

[n9ovreric]

.

 

[jreuschl]

Thought I'd take a little drive tonight. Tower in Hustisford is NOT broadcasting LTE yet, despite being marked.

 

 

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[kb122]

Speed test below is from downtown Cedarburg tonight.  I must have been connected to the water tower near the bike trail.  Tower looked like it had more than the legacy PCS antennas on it, but I didn't get a very good look at it.  I wasn't able to get LTE, but I'm thinking this is NV 3G.  I've never seen 3G speeds this fast on Sprint...

 

[GiantVeg]

I'm surprised there isn't more purple around S. Howell avenue. Where's everybody been at?!

First time poster, long time lurker.

I've been doing my part, I've filled in the bit's between the Oak Creek & Franklin towers.

Now when they fire up the Tower at 29th & Elm (Franklin), we will have lots of darker purple.

Edited July 14, 2013 by GiantVeg

[smalltimehack]

Elm? The one by FedEx?

If so it hasn't even been touched. I drove past today and saw legacy panels and cabinets with no signs of any new equipment being on site waiting to be installed. But things can always change quickly.

[AcctDeleted_w9awx1]

So nice to actually be able to do a speedtest where the speeds are above miserable.

[AcctDeleted_w9awx1]

Here is my speedtest.

[mmark27]

Well, my tower (Seminole Hwy and McKee in Fitchburg) had two trucks at it's base on Friday morning.  The base is pretty occluded by brick walls and a power station....and then a new building that the power station built to further block my snooping.  By Friday afternoon the utilities must have labeled all the buried cable around that area from the bike path north of McKee to just adjacent to the tower.  However, there were flags heading directly to the tower that were already marked for "Fiber Optic Cable".....so my question is more, if there is already Fiber leading to the tower, do they need to add more Fiber?  or is this different Fiber that's needed?

 

This obviously could be totally unrelated as there are a lot of utilities through that area...but I like to dream. Something has to start on this tower!!!!  gah!  

 

Someone asked earlier about Madison Towers and these are the ones that have approved permits from the City of Madison. I've visited several of these towers and I can't say that they've really had any work done on them.  The Tokay one looks like new antennas, but nothing has happened since, can't get real close to that base (at the News station tower). 

 

Permit reports from the City of Madison, none of these towers are spitting LTE at this time. 

 

April Permits:

120 S BALDWIN ST

701 RUSKIN ST

5727 TOKAY BLVD

May Permits:

1752 W BELTLINE HWY

123 N BLOUNT ST

2810 CROSSROADS DR

602 EVERGLADE DR

110 S HENRY ST

1932 UNIVERSITY AVE

No June Permits filed.

[mmark27]

Also, I should say that I have had no updates from Verona or from Fitchburg on permits.

 

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[Calvin200]

I'm hearing a lot of people complain about their service in this neighborhood.  Something must be going on because a network error doesn't usually happen on a Sunday.

[norsairius]

I've been seeing 4G pop up every now and then if I'm outside around the intersection of Michigan and 4th St. in downtown Milwaukee. I'd say I've noticed this in about a one block radius from that spot. In fact, I think that spot by Zeidler Union Square on Sensorly is now a darker purple because of my readings that I've done when I've noticed my phone flip to 4G.

 

Speeds still aren't terrific, they match what I got on AT&T FauxG, but I'm not holding it against Sprint because work must still be in progress (4G appears some days, on others it's completely absent). Speeds the first time I saw it were around 120 KB/s downloads vs. 210 KB/s downloads the second time I saw it. Those speeds beat the hell out of what I get on 3G though.

 

Also, a question (I consider myself to be tech savvy, but not when it comes to the inner workings of cell phones and networks): would getting a different phone potentially help my reception indoors? I've read in some places that my phone in particular suffers from certain reception issues and I have no idea if they were actually fixed. I've read that the HTC One or even the Galaxy S4 may have better antennas, but I don't want to buy a phone out of contract unless this is true.

 

One of a few articles I found:  http://www.techhive.com/article/2000138/htc-evo-4g-lte-signal-woes-confirmed.html

It's an older article and updates have come out since then, so I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

 

Otherwise, my reception is OK at best when I'm at work. Signal does visibly fluctuate a lot when I'm indoors to the point where it gets unusable at times. I can see the signal bars change a lot as well as the signal strength number when I go to Settings -> About -> Network. Sometimes it's usable where I can use data (though it's slow) or it even goes to roaming sometimes. I'm trying to justify the purchase of another phone if it'll help, but if it won't make a difference, I'll just stick with my device. 

Edited July 15, 2013 by norsairius

[norsairius]

Just got some 4G again, only noticed it for about 20-30 seconds. I was able to get a speed test in, clocked in at 75.5 KB/s down, 3.5 KB/s up. This was the first time I saw it indoors though, so I thought it was worth noting. This was actually on the floor below the one I work on and about the same distance away from the windows.

 

Nice to see some work in progress! Looking forward to when it's all done!

Edited July 15, 2013 by norsairius

[mangurt]

 

Well, my tower (Seminole Hwy and McKee in Fitchburg) had two trucks at it's base on Friday morning.  The base is pretty occluded by brick walls and a power station....and then a new building that the power station built to further block my snooping.  By Friday afternoon the utilities must have labeled all the buried cable around that area from the bike path north of McKee to just adjacent to the tower.  However, there were flags heading directly to the tower that were already marked for "Fiber Optic Cable".....so my question is more, if there is already Fiber leading to the tower, do they need to add more Fiber?  or is this different Fiber that's needed?

 

This obviously could be totally unrelated as there are a lot of utilities through that area...but I like to dream. Something has to start on this tower!!!!  gah!  

 

Someone asked earlier about Madison Towers and these are the ones that have approved permits from the City of Madison. I've visited several of these towers and I can't say that they've really had any work done on them.  The Tokay one looks like new antennas, but nothing has happened since, can't get real close to that base (at the News station tower). 

 

Permit reports from the City of Madison, none of these towers are spitting LTE at this time. 

 

April Permits:

120 S BALDWIN ST

701 RUSKIN ST

5727 TOKAY BLVD

May Permits:

1752 W BELTLINE HWY

123 N BLOUNT ST

2810 CROSSROADS DR

602 EVERGLADE DR

110 S HENRY ST

1932 UNIVERSITY AVE

No June Permits filed.

 

Sprint really needs to get these sites up and running.  I am on the west side of Madison, and can barely look at facebook because the data speed is horrible.  Attempting to stream Pandora is a complete joke.  The downtown area of Madison is even worse.  I roam when I am down on State Street by Campus Barber Shop.

[mmark27]

 

 

Sprint really needs to get these sites up and running.  I am on the west side of Madison, and can barely look at facebook because the data speed is horrible.  Attempting to stream Pandora is a complete joke.  The downtown area of Madison is even worse.  I roam when I am down on State Street by Campus Barber Shop.

 

So the Sprint tower is right on top of the Towers Apartments about 1/2 of a block from Campus Barber shop (above Urban Outfitters).  I get my hairs cut there about every 5 weeks and was in there just last week.  I had 300kbps up and 100kbps down.  It really was remarkable speed for that area compared to what I usually see.  I think that the antenna hang off the side, but they aren't real visible to what updates were done yet and they're not on that permits list.  Downtown Madison needs a few more towers for my liking.....800MHz or not, it's a little sparse down here.  They could definitely use one or two more over by Camp Randall.  Real dead zone on my way home down Monroe.  I don't think that 800MHz is going to save that either since its a little valley there.  Edgewood HS has antenna all over their roof, but none that belong to Sprint. 

 

You're out in Middleton, right?  Did you have any luck finding permit reports in Middleton?  There are only a few towers there, and their city website is not helpful. The tower on Everglade is at least on the west side! 

[Calvin200]

I'm hearing a lot of people complain about their service in this neighborhood.  Something must be going on because a network error doesn't usually happen on a Sunday.

5 times to send one text.

[mangurt]

So the Sprint tower is right on top of the Towers Apartments about 1/2 of a block from Campus Barber shop (above Urban Outfitters).  I get my hairs cut there about every 5 weeks and was in there just last week.  I had 300kbps up and 100kbps down.  It really was remarkable speed for that area compared to what I usually see.  I think that the antenna hang off the side, but they aren't real visible to what updates were done yet and they're not on that permits list.  Downtown Madison needs a few more towers for my liking.....800MHz or not, it's a little sparse down here.  They could definitely use one or two more over by Camp Randall.  Real dead zone on my way home down Monroe.  I don't think that 800MHz is going to save that either since its a little valley there.  Edgewood HS has antenna all over their roof, but none that belong to Sprint. 

 

You're out in Middleton, right?  Did you have any luck finding permit reports in Middleton?  There are only a few towers there, and their city website is not helpful. The tower on Everglade is at least on the west side! 

I'm not in the middleton area...I work on the West Side of Madison (research park area).  When I saw the permit for the site on Tokey I was happy as hell, because that's right behind where I work...but as of right now..nothing.  All of Madison is pretty much sucking when it comes to LTE.  There's a little work on the beltline, but that's about it.

[Calvin200]

Guy working on antenna where Loomis (Hwy 36) crosses 8-94. Looks updated to me.  

[Calvin200]

Guy working on antenna where Loomis (Hwy 36) crosses 8-94. Looks updated to me.   towerredone.JPG

That is the same tower from the picture I posted on March 3, 2013.  The tower and the landscape are a little different. 

[smalltimehack]

I've been wrong before but the far right antenna on the top rack looks to be nv. Same for the left side and the right side's antenna is on the left.

The rest look to be legacy.

[aackmann]

Sweet. It's nice to see them working their way Westward towards the suburbs. All the LTE so far is in areas I don't frequent. I haven't seen any activity on the few towers near me in the Hwy100 & Layton area of Greenfield.

[theg00ds0n]

Sweet. It's nice to see them working their way Westward towards the suburbs. All the LTE so far is in areas I don't frequent. I haven't seen any activity on the few towers near me in the Hwy100 & Layton area of Greenfield.

 

I would like to see some progress in this area as well because I work over there. Usually my battery is <50% by lunch, leaving the house with a full charge in the morning Even in areas where I've been that are only 3G complete (Lake Geneva area), my battery life is 10x better.

[Txmtx]

5 times to send one text.

Ouch. Yeah, take that as a good sign. That's what it looked like last year when they were beginning deployment of some NV gear and LTE in Houston. That subsided in a few weeks for me... but i was on an LTE device, an iPhone 5, so idk if it was resolved at the same time for 3G-bound users -- probably not; I still experienced call issues for a while, whereas iMessage and most contacts having iPhones may have masked SMS issues for me, plus my JB message app auto-retries. Either way with their newfound funding they don't have to go slow so, tl;dr you're almost out of the woods.