Network Vision/LTE - Indianapolis Market

[ydoucare]

Extra capacity is coming. Addional capacity via LTE 800, LTE 2600 and additional LTE 1900 carriers if necessary.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, that'll be nice when there are enough devices on the market and enough users migrated to them to see the benefits.

[S4GRU]

Yes, that'll be nice when there are enough devices on the market and enough users migrated to them to see the benefits.

They may be able to add another PCS carrier in your market too. But they will likely not add additional PCS LTE carriers until LTE 800 fires up. Which will happen in your market earlier than many others.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[cliche37]

This market was my first experience of Sprint LTE last week, and unfortunately I don't have much positive things to say about it. And because we've already heard everything negative about Sprint at this point, I just have some questions.

 

Most of the time I spent was at the Indiana Convention Center and at my hotel. The convention center had some bright spots of almost 5Mbps and such. However most of it was sub 1Mbps speeds. Contrast to my friends on VZW who I saw reach speeds of 45Mbps at the convention center. Then at the Denny's near my hotel on Bradbury Avenue, I couldn't get anything over 1Mbps either.

 

Were the weak LTE speeds I experienced due to network congestion, or are NV/LTE upgrades just unfinished in those areas?

[S4GRU]

This market was my first experience of Sprint LTE last week, and unfortunately I don't have much positive things to say about it. And because we've already heard everything negative about Sprint at this point, I just have some questions.

 

Most of the time I spent was at the Indiana Convention Center and at my hotel. The convention center had some bright spots of almost 5Mbps and such. However most of it was sub 1Mbps speeds. Contrast to my friends on VZW who I saw reach speeds of 45Mbps at the convention center. Then at the Denny's near my hotel on Bradbury Avenue, I couldn't get anything over 1Mbps either.

 

Were the weak LTE speeds I experienced due to network congestion, or are NV/LTE upgrades just unfinished in those areas?

We would need a lot more info to be able to answer your questions. LTE is signal strength dependent. We would need to know your LTE signal strength in dBm RSRP to start to understand. Also, did you use several different speed test servers? The default ones may not be the best ones to run. Each network is different.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[doug526]

I was in Indy a couple weeks ago and had a great Sprint NV experience.  LTE almost everywhere I went, and good fast 3G where I didn't have LTE.  Didn't really run many speed tests, but based on how fast MMS's were sending and how responsive my apps were, I'd say that it was a night and day difference from the old Sprint network.

Once you get outside the Metro Area though, LTE was spotty as expected and had pretty unusable EVDO service in rural areas, even along major routes like I-65 and I-69.

 

This is a polar opposite of my experience so far in Texas.  Still nonexistant LTE in downtown Austin, whereas Indy had pretty thorough LTE penetration throughout the city.  Ericsson needs to take a few hints from Samsung and get these southern markets lit up more quickly!

[ydoucare]

 

 - Tears of sadness or tears of laughter, I don't know.  This is what I see most of the time near my apt now. This sector can't handle anymore. lol

[doug526]

Judging from the sponsor maps, I think they are still working on the upgrades in Lafayette.  I see a bunch of yellow and red markers.  It's definitely nowhere near as solid as Indy, but hopefully when they turn on 800 1x/ LTE it'll be better.

 

At this point I'd be happy if they would just hurry up and upgrade the sites between Crown Point and Remington along I-65.  The 3G along that stretch of road is horrible.

 

 

Screenshot_2013-10-26-12-22-43.png

 

 - Tears of sadness or tears of laughter, I don't know.  This is what I see most of the time near my apt now. This sector can't handle anymore. lol

[ydoucare]

Judging from the sponsor maps, I think they are still working on the upgrades in Lafayette.  I see a bunch of yellow and red markers.  It's definitely nowhere near as solid as Indy, but hopefully when they turn on 800 1x/ LTE it'll be better.

 

At this point I'd be happy if they would just hurry up and upgrade the sites between Crown Point and Remington along I-65.  The 3G along that stretch of road is horrible.

 

Yeah, LTE first arrived here well over a year ago.  There's only one tower left to be upgraded on the map (one farthest south in Laf.) that will ease the strain on the tower I ran those tests on, so when that happens, hopefully things will improve.  None of those towers are marked on the map for 800 voice, but they are broadcasting (so at least some of them should be green).  My phone switches to band 10 when I drop down into my basement IT office at work.

[House]

I'm stilling getting horrible Data speed in downtown Indy.  My office is located on Virginia Ave right next to the fieldhouse.  From December to April I was getting about 2-5 MBPS here at my desk at work.  Since then it is the same speed as we had before the upgrade. 

 

Also I drop a call at the same spot every day on my home from work. 

 

So far i rate this network upgrade as an F and am contemplating switching to another carrier next July when my contract is up.

[doug526]

There is a site downtown that is not working properly. It has new antennas and RRUs, but when I am within eyeshot of the building the site is on, I have maybe 1-2 bars of slow LTE at best.  For some reason it is down or something.  Could be why you're experiencing the problem.

[EXLINE]

Anyone in the Indy market have a Nexus 5? If so, LTE issues?

[ballman]

Anyone in the Indy market have a Nexus 5? If so, LTE issues?

 

Yep, picked one up Friday afternoon at the corporate store on the south side.  I'm not experiencing any of the CSFB/eCSFB problems described in the article on the wall.  The LTE radio is a beast that averages 10-15 db better than my EVO LTE.

[newboyx]

Anyone in the Indy market have a Nexus 5? If so, LTE issues?

 

Yep, picked one up Friday afternoon at the corporate store on the south side. I'm not experiencing any of the CSFB/eCSFB problems described in the article on the wall. The LTE radio is a beast that averages 10-15 db better than my EVO LTE.

According to the article most of Indianapolis should be fine.

 

Sent via 7 inches of Galaxy Tab goodness.

[EXLINE]

According to the article most of Indianapolis should be fine.

 

Sent via 7 inches of Galaxy Tab goodness.

Yes, saw the article just wanted to get some real world experience from some users of a tri band device. S4 screen is cracked and debating a nexus.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

 

[EXLINE]

Ballman, Tapatalk isn't letting me quote your post, but are you in Indianapolis itself and if so what side of town?

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

 

[ballman]

Ballman, Tapatalk isn't letting me quote your post, but are you in Indianapolis itself and if so what side of town?

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

I live in Southport and work downtown in the Indiana government center.  Today was first day in the office with new phone and LTE works much more consistently than with my EVO.  My office is in the center of the building and I can still pull about 5 Mbps down with the Nexus.  My EVO could barely get to 1 Mbps down.

 

Also was able to keep a decent LTE signal in Assembly Hall tonight at the IU game.

[doug526]

I live in Southport and work downtown in the Indiana government center.  Today was first day in the office with new phone and LTE works much more consistently than with my EVO.  My office is in the center of the building and I can still pull about 5 Mbps down with the Nexus.  My EVO could barely get to 1 Mbps down.

 

Also was able to keep a decent LTE signal in Assembly Hall tonight at the IU game.

 

You mentioned you had a good signal at the game, but was it usable? How was the throughput and how responsive was your connection?  Do you think 800 LTE might be up and running, as you're getting a better signal in the center of the government building?

[dmelling]

You mentioned you had a good signal at the game, but was it usable? How was the throughput and how responsive was your connection?  Do you think 800 LTE might be up and running, as you're getting a better signal in the center of the government building?

 

I do not believe the EVO has the radio's to pick up 800 LTE.

[newboyx]

I do not believe the EVO has the radio's to pick up 800 LTE.

Correct, no 800 LTE on the Evo.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[ballman]

You mentioned you had a good signal at the game, but was it usable? How was the throughput and how responsive was your connection?  Do you think 800 LTE might be up and running, as you're getting a better signal in the center of the government building?

 

I had no problems following twitter, instagram, and scores of other games while at the IU game.  I didn't really try any speed tests or heavy duty usage.

 

Since my Nexus 5 is completely stock, I know that I'm connecting to band 25 LTE (1900) since bands 26 (800) & 41 (2600) are disabled for now.  I attribute the improvement to the better RF design of the Nexus over the EVO LTE.  This shouldn't be a surprise given the EVO's reputation as a poorer than average performer when it comes to LTE reception.

 

I assume it will be a long time before Indy gets any band 41 since we never had more than a couple of WiMAX towers here.  I do expect we should start seeing some band 26 sometime next year, but that's just an assumption on my part as I have no specific information on rollout schedules other than what can be found on this site.

[doug526]

I do not believe the EVO has the radio's to pick up 800 LTE.

 

The question for him regarding 800 LTE was in the context of his Nexus 5 not the Evo.

[EXLINE]

I had no problems following twitter, instagram, and scores of other games while at the IU game. I didn't really try any speed tests or heavy duty usage.

 

Since my Nexus 5 is completely stock, I know that I'm connecting to band 25 LTE (1900) since bands 26 (800) & 41 (2600) are disabled for now. I attribute the improvement to the better RF design of the Nexus over the EVO LTE. This shouldn't be a surprise given the EVO's reputation as a poorer than average performer when it comes to LTE reception.

 

I assume it will be a long time before Indy gets any band 41 since we never had more than a couple of WiMAX towers here. I do expect we should start seeing some band 26 sometime next year, but that's just an assumption on my part as I have no specific information on rollout schedules other than what can be found on this site.

yeah that's we got LTE band 25 so fast probably. Figured they had to or lose customers. I'm sure we will be one of the last to get band 41 but hopefully band 26 will turn on to help offload some traffic.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

 

[ydoucare]

At my apt, I pretty much never see above 3 Mbps anymore, and 75% of the time see below 2 Mbps.  Not much better anywhere else in the city, minus a select few spots.  Just tested at 1.7/4

[dingwall1]

When is spark coming to Indy? We were one if the first LTE sits and almost all of or towers are upgraded.

[newboyx]

When is spark coming to Indy? We were one if the first LTE sits and almost all of or towers are upgraded.

Depends on what you mean by Spark. Spark capable devices are able to connect to LTE on bands 25, 26, and 41. Band 25 is currently live. Band 26 will be live very soon. Band 41 (the "fast" Spark band) will be further into the future.

Band 41 is currently being deployed in existing Wimax markets. Indianapolis was not a Wimax market, so we are further down the list for band 41 awesomeness.

If you own a triband device, you will benefit greatly from band 26 as it will be less burdened at launch due to many less triband devices on the market.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk