Network Vision/LTE - East Michigan Market (Detroit/Flint/Ann Arbor/Tri-Cities)

[codemaster]

don't know when it came online, at least within the last two weeks though, but another tower near 8 mile and Merriman got upgraded.

Getting 4 bars but on iphone so I can't track it out.

Around 15-20 Mbps up and 6-8 Mbps down

Edited March 28, 2014 by codemaster

[jrberg]

Haven't seen all the posts so apologies if this is a repeat: I have been getting a 4G signal on several new towers but with no data throughput. Phone tries to send/receive for a minute with 4G, then switches back to 3G which works. Is this typical of a tower that is new in an area that isn't launched yet? Does sprint turn on 4G and then limit or disable data throughput until market launch?

 

Thanks for any insight!

[RCM]

I don't have a direct answer for you. Your location on your profile shows as Brighton. LTE has been online in the Brighton area for quite some time from varying sites so it's not a "newly launched" issue. Brighton also covers a lot of real estate so it might be helpful if you could narrow down your area a smidge. I was in Brighton on Saturday near the Lee Road double roundabout labyrinth but my wife and I noticed no issues.

[madjammin]

What a difference 1.5 miles makes.

 

12 mile/MiddleBelt = .2.-.5 MBs (can't stream Pandora properly) on 3G

 

1.5 miles away = 12 mile between Orchard/Farmington on LTE = 5-10 MBs

 

Same thing around the Ren Cen in Detroit.  Terrible 3G speeds for the longest time.  I can now catch LTE, but it's brutally slow too.

 

Anyone think the LTE slow speeds have anything to do with buildings/towers blocking the radio?

[jrberg]

Brighton has been fine for me but the drive on 96E-275S to Detroit Metro in Romulus is spotty. At the airport I have always had issues with 4G - it will connect with a good signal, try to exchange data for a minute, then switch back to 3G.

[RCM]

Anyone think the LTE slow speeds have anything to do with buildings/towers blocking the radio?

 

I'd believe it has more to do with LTE not being active on 100% of the sites, those sites that are active possibly are overloaded, and site density causing sites to be overloaded.

 

Let's hope Sprint expedites Band 41 roll-out in the east side metro areas since we will be seeing no Band 26 (800MHz) action anytime in the foreseeable future.

[RCM]

Brighton has been fine for me but the drive on 96E-275S to Detroit Metro in Romulus is spotty. At the airport I have always had issues with 4G - it will connect with a good signal, try to exchange data for a minute, then switch back to 3G.

 

While LTE has really filled out in those areas recently, it's still not 100%. Plus, your profile shows you having the EVO 4G LTE. Not a good RF performing phone. I tend to believe your phone might be the cause of your dilemma more than anything else. I have the EVO LTE as well so I can appreciate your situation.

[madjammin]

I'd believe it has more to do with LTE not being active on 100% of the sites, those sites that are active possibly are overloaded, and site density causing sites to be overloaded.

 

Let's hope Sprint expedites Band 41 roll-out in the east side metro areas since we will be seeing no Band 26 (800MHz) action anytime in the foreseeable future.

what about the equally slow 3G speeds?  

 

Is there anyone at Sprint I could contact to check the area?

[RCM]

Well if the site hasn't been accepted by Sprint as being 4G complete then the site is still running on "legacy" backhaul not up to NV standards. That would be my guess not knowing which site exactly you could be having issues with.

 

You could contact Sprint customer care to see if you could get a decent answer. Since Metro Detroit is officially launched, Customer Care could look into issues you are having. Another option is become a S4GRU Sponsor. The sponsor level maps at the Sponsor level here also show the 3G/4G status of all sites in your area, state and across the Sprint footprint. If a site is still 3G, the backhaul isn't there and there isn't much Customer Care can do about that. Having this info at your fingertips goes a long way in diagnosing your own issues.

 

But Sponsorship or not, if sites don't have NV backhaul running to it or if the sites are experiencing airlink saturation, those are more or less uncontrollable events. S4GRU or Customer Care cannot do anything about backhaul needs, drop in new sites or rollout Band 41 any faster.

 

Hopefully this long-winded response at least sort of answers your concerns.

[Douglasfc]

Does anyone have information on when / if Sprint 4G (or basic service for that matter) will expand beyond a few miles north of Port Huron ?  I frequently travel to Lexington, MI and am tired of being withput cell service.  I cannot even receive a signal in roam mode, so my phone is pretty much useless from five or so miles north of Port Huron and beyond.  Thanks in advance for any insight.

[hoagie]

Sorry, but that information is not here.  Sprint puts cell sites where it makes money sense for them to be, in the populated areas.  Population drop off is pretty severe north of Port Huron.  I would recommend going to Sensorly and looking at a 3G map for other carriers to see if there is one that suits your needs better.

[cdk]

Does anyone have information on when / if Sprint 4G (or basic service for that matter) will expand beyond a few miles north of Port Huron ?  I frequently travel to Lexington, MI and am tired of being withput cell service.  I cannot even receive a signal in roam mode, so my phone is pretty much useless from five or so miles north of Port Huron and beyond.  Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

Sorry, but that information is not here.  Sprint puts cell sites where it makes money sense for them to be, in the populated areas.  Population drop off is pretty severe north of Port Huron.  I would recommend going to Sensorly and looking at a 3G map for other carriers to see if there is one that suits your needs better.

 

Travelling up M-25 it certainly looks like (based on Sensorly and site maps here) you should have service for at nearly half the way there (on the Port Huron to Lexington segment). The rest of your trip should still have at least roaming voice coverage...

[Douglasfc]

Thank you for the responses.  I do follow Sensorly - in fact I contributed much of the Port Huron area 4G mapping.  We'll see how things progress over the next few months.  Verizon has much better coverage in that area, and very good coverage in my core area of south Oakland County, so I will have make a carrier decision in a few months as my current two year Sprint agreement expires.

[RCM]

LTE is live from the site on the north side of Fenton

 

http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u523/s4gru_rcm/Screenshot_2014-04-29-18-42-46_zpscb115d94.png

http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/u523/s4gru_rcm/Screenshot_2014-04-29-18-43-36_zpsb8688b22.png

 

[Dkoellerwx]

Thank you for the responses.  I do follow Sensorly - in fact I contributed much of the Port Huron area 4G mapping.  We'll see how things progress over the next few months.  Verizon has much better coverage in that area, and very good coverage in my core area of south Oakland County, so I will have make a carrier decision in a few months as my current two year Sprint agreement expires.

 

There are no sites close enough to cover Lexington, and all the sites near Port Huron have been upgraded. That is the extent of the coverage footprint at this time. In order to expand coverage, Sprint would have to add more sites. While it's possible in the future, at this time Sprint is focusing on Network Vision rather than network expansion.

 

Unfortunately, you'll have to live with roaming in Lexington, or switch to a different carrier.

 

You do have to make sure you have voice *and* data roaming enabled. It's often disabled by default. I know it was on my GS3 until I enabled it.

[RCM]

The site located south of Holly located at North Oakland County Fire Auth Station 3 appears to have LTE broadcasting. The interesting part of this is that this was a GMO recently converted to a full build site with LTE not far behind it.

[thomp2mp]

Since the Rose Center tower is broadcasting LTE, would that mean the site in Holly village limits would be close to flipping the switch? It's been a bummer that both fenton sites went live and Holly hasn't done anything even though they've had NV equipment for many months. Just getting frustrated as it seems to be one of the only towers left in the area without LTE.

[RCM]

I have no explanation other than backhaul hasn't been run to the Holly site yet. I drive by and check this site nearly daily. Having LTE go live here would fill a gap in the area.

 

Here is my speculation. I believe Rose Center was a low priority GMO (ground mount option) site on a tower with other numerous carriers as well as NOCFA. Once Sprint decided to come back around give this site the attention it deserved, backhaul was already available hence LTE going live not long after they converted it to full build. I had heard early 2013 that 4G work was being completed for at least one other carrier. Now with the Holly site, no one else co-occupies the site with Sprint. It would be my guess that no fiber prep work/fiber runs have been completed here and something is holding it up. It's anyone's guess as to why.

[RCM]

According to network.sprint.com, it appears there is a new site in Howell by the airport.

[rocketr]

I see the tower at 13112 Waco Dr in Livonia has just gotten LTE going a few days ago. I've been waiting for this one for a long while. The next one I'm hoping for is the E Maple one in Walled Lake or the Holly one. Both those really need it.

[madjammin]

What happened to this thread?  No updates since early May?  

 

I now have full LTE (4-5 bars) on the 15th floor of the RenCen in Detroit, but the speeds are terribly slow (under .5/MB).

 

Any explanations?

 

Thanks

[jefbal99]

What happened to this thread? No updates since early May?

 

I now have full LTE (4-5 bars) on the 15th floor of the RenCen in Detroit, but the speeds are terribly slow (under .5/MB).

 

Any explanations?

 

Thanks

Over burdened sector, too many devices sharing too few mhz. Try forcing 3G and see if you have better throughput

 

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

[madjammin]

Over burdened sector, too many devices sharing too few mhz. Try forcing 3G and see if you have better throughput

 

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

 

Thanks.  I attempted a Speedtest on both bands this morning.

 

LTE:  2.75 down.  3.5 Up

3G:   .38 down.    .39 Up

 

Hopefully that LTE # keeps climbing.

 

[thomp2mp]

Anything new in the past month? Nothing new here in Holly. It seems as though Sprint has given up on us, and it's a big missed opportunity for them, considering there are over 6,000 residents here without LTE.

[mikejeep]

Anything new in the past month? Nothing new here in Holly. It seems as though Sprint has given up on us, and it's a big missed opportunity for them, considering there are over 6,000 residents here without LTE.

I'm not going to share specific information, but an overwhelming majority of the sites in the Holly area are 4G-accepted, with 2-3 stragglers having NV equipment in place and likely just awaiting backhaul. That's not on Sprint, that's on the backhaul provider(s). Chances are, there are some sort of challenges that caused these sites to be last on the list.

 

There are a lot of cities with far more than 6,000 residents that are waiting for LTE. Nobody has given up on anybody.. there are almost 40,000 Sprint sites that need to be upgraded. It doesn't happen overnight, and somebody has to be last.

 

-Mike