Network Vision/LTE - SF Bay Market

[bbspot]

My home site by ocean beach is broadcasting b26. Not very well. It's keeps dropping b25 and b26 lte. But it is coming!

Needs optimization

[lilotimz]

Needs optimization

 

But nice capacity offload. 

[bbspot]

Levi stadium seems to have a new site on network.sprint.com. I connected to it today on b25. Probably a das?

[mc_gusto]

Needs optimization

Yeah sure does. Seems like ecsfb was disabled. The 2 triband phones can't connect to b25/b26 on the home site. The one single band phone is having no issues.

[mc_gusto]

So if I disable b26 on my phone I can now connect to b25 and b41.

[orangeblue]

San Jose Airport needs something done because you bounce between B25/26 and B41 all the time and nothing is really usable.

[shaferz]

Just wanted to pop in here and say howdy.  

 

I'm in the Bay area through the first week of December.  Working at client sites in San Leandro and Newark.  Staying at the Embassy Suites just south of SFO.  Normal commute has me on LTE nearly the entire trip to both locations.  I generally do not dig into which band I am hitting unless things seem unreasonably slow, but have seen all 3 bands at some point during my time here.  

 

I lose LTE momentarily when crossing the San Mateo bridge and it seems like I drop back to 3G when I'm near the Facebook HQ, but beyond that, things have seemed very good.

[ingenium]

Does anyone know where I can look up permits for Oakland? I think they may have moved the tower near me sometime in the past couple months.

 

I noticed today on Signal Check that the LTE signal near my apartment had increased dramatically, from around -100 dBm to -80 dBm. I'm still using a single band phone, so it's band 25. Signal Check was reporting 1x1900 connected to the closest tower (GPS coordinates http://goo.gl/Anr1NG, I was on San Pablo between 40th and 41st), which matched up with the note I had in Signal Check for that LTE tower. It's practically line of sight down San Pablo.

 

The strange thing was that 1x was still reporting the same -90dBm RSSI as usual. Since they're presumably coming from the same panels, I was surprised the LTE signal would be so much stronger and wondered if something had gotten changed. I went to Google Maps, but I can't find the tower where it used to be (and is supposed to be).

 

The satellite imagery is reporting as being updated from 2014, and street view is from August 2014. The panels used to be on top of the California Hotel, but I don't see them there anymore. There were 3 panels right underneath the sign facing 580 (north part of the building). The tower is still broadcasting the same GPS coordinates on 1x that it always has, and the LTE GCI is the same.

 

There's no other tower nearby (40th and San Pablo) that could reasonably have a signal as low as -80dBm. I suppose my phone could have been reporting incorrect information to Signal Check, though the numbers were updating/adjusting slightly as I walked so they weren't stale values.

[mc_gusto]

I noticed my phone parked on B26 a lot of the time yesterday in SF. If it wasn't B26, I was on B41. Looks like they finally launched it!

 

I took this speedtest at the Iron Cactus restaurant on 4th and Townsend with full signal last night.

I got b26 in a parking garage on 4th and King today! Was great! And like you it was parked on b26 and then moved to b41. It was nice! Even got some b26/b41 in noe Valley! Must be bleed over from other neighborhoods but still nice.

[crazy_vag]

I got b26 in a parking garage on 4th and King today! Was great! And like you it was parked on b26 and then moved to b41. It was nice! Even got some b26/b41 in noe Valley! Must be bleed over from other neighborhoods but still nice.

 

That's sweet.  On the other end of the spectrum, is the brown dot at Castro & Market.  Not even NV 1 3G upgrade at such a bustling spot.

[mc_gusto]

That's sweet.  On the other end of the spectrum, is the brown dot at Castro & Market.  Not even NV 1 3G upgrade at such a bustling spot.

Yeah that is a sore spot for sure. That one near safeway did help a lot though.

[bbspot]

I live on 5 th and King and started noticing B26 as well. That tower needs some B 41 to handler the crowds that come and go on each train. There's a tower a block west that still hasn't gotten any love. Upgrading that one would relieve some load from 4th and King.

 

It got some love today on network.sprint.com

[jd415]

Hi, does anyone know if lte SF bay area will be upgraded and turned on this year (2014)?

[crazy_vag]

Hi, does anyone know if lte SF bay area will be upgraded and turned on this year (2014)?

It's infinitely better than it was in August. Another month or so before it can be announced, but now that there's plenty of B26, SF is a much better place.

[etirkca]

It's infinitely better than it was in August. Another month or so before it can be announced, but now that there's plenty of B26, SF is a much better place.

Agree. Especially with newer handsets, it took Sprint a long time to get CSFB working.

[jd415]

Thanks Crazy_V, friends have been asking about Sprint service in lte. I noticed in some areas the service is great and fast. While other areas are crawling. I didn't want to steer them in the wrong direction.

[crazy_vag]

A few things that make it better than the "NV Sites Complete" page might indicate.

1) Clear sites broadcasting B41 is not listed.  Coincidentally, many areas have B41 only.  

2) B26 is also unreported so far, but definitely deployed in some areas and covers other B25 holes given the high site density here.

 

As always, your mileage may vary, but the eCSFB fixes in August - plus, some actual deployments - made it a much better place.

[mc_gusto]

Thanks Crazy_V, friends have been asking about Sprint service in lte. I noticed in some areas the service is great and fast. While other areas are crawling. I didn't want to steer them in the wrong direction.

Certain neighborhoods are still abysmal. And will remain abysmal but it does get better every week/month. Especially if you have a triband phone.

[JosefTor]

Certain neighborhoods are still abysmal. And will remain abysmal but it does get better every week/month. Especially if you have a triband phone.

The B26/B41 schedules are impressive for SF. Did you get a chance to see them? I so jealous of cities with B26. I don't care about high speeds as long as I don't drop to 3g. 3g even in upgraded areas is unusable. For some reason, once a tower gets NV, my 3g speeds get a lot worse... I'm not sure if that is because sprint is refarming spectrum or what.

[bbspot]

Thanks Crazy_V, friends have been asking about Sprint service in lte. I noticed in some areas the service is great and fast. While other areas are crawling. I didn't want to steer them in the wrong direction.

You must use a tri band device. Otherwise service really sucks. I got a lot of band 41 I the union square area.

 

However, once I headed indoors, service dropped to 3g. Hopefully, b26 will be deployed soon.

[jd415]

What kind of speeds are you getting with tri-band phones? Are the phone connections more stable? Thx.

[JosefTor]

If you have $30 for the special maps of SF, I highly recommend you take the deal. It will really inform you of the planned upgrades for SF in the next 90 to 180 days. In short.... It's impressive.

[mc_gusto]

What kind of speeds are you getting with tri-band phones? Are the phone connections more stable? Thx.

I got this earlier this month.

 

[bbspot]

What kind of speeds are you getting with tri-band phones? Are the phone connections more stable? Thx.

Outside around union square, I was getting 20mbit. Indoors sucked.

[Thomas L.]

How far outside of the city does this extend? How are the Peninsula, South Bay, and East Bay?