Network Vision/LTE - East Kentucky Market (Lexington)

[JimBob]

I love the drive along the Ohio River. It's been a long time for me. Back in 1992, drove from Cincy to the Tri-Cities. Happy memories.

Why look out the window when I can look at my smartphone? 

 

 

[rsr_am]

Anyone with a N5 in lexington with LTE working? My N5 debug menu shows that phone is latched to band 26  and is 'idle' (i live in NW of lexington) and the about phone shows mobile state disconnected... 

 

Thanks

[iTech278]

Anyone know about the status of Spark coming to Lexington?

[mdob07]

Anyone know about the status of Spark coming to Lexington?

I haven't heard or noticed anything yet. For the most part, the network seems to be holding pretty good with just B25/B26 in the parts of the market I've been to for work. My only bad spot is whenever I'm working in the new Kroger on Euclid Ave in Lexington. There is a Sprint site within a quarter of a mile but I can barely hold LTE up on the main floor, and when I'm down in basement its either no signal or roaming on Verizon. We even installed a signal booster for management but it didn't seem to do much good.

[mdob07]

Anyone know about the status of Spark coming to Lexington?

 

 

I haven't heard or noticed anything yet. For the most part, the network seems to be holding pretty good with just B25/B26 in the parts of the market I've been to for work. My only bad spot is whenever I'm working in the new Kroger on Euclid Ave in Lexington. There is a Sprint site within a quarter of a mile but I can barely hold LTE up on the main floor, and when I'm down in basement its either no signal or roaming on Verizon. We even installed a signal booster for management but it didn't seem to do much good.

 

Also, FWIW, B41 deployment in Louisville has pretty much come to a halt since late January. Seems the priority changes have shifted the schedule a lot. And we have several sites running sub 2mbps. It should pick back up at some point this year for both markets I would think.

 

On the other hand, Sprint B41 has been popping up like wildfire around Nashville. 

[troyboytn]

Still over 30 sites yet receive LTE. This market is far behind most of the country.

 

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[JossMan]

Still over 30 sites yet receive LTE. This market is far behind most of the country.

 

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Not true, there is plenty of sites in other markets that still do not have LTE.  

[xdfgf]

5 or 6 towers that I regularly find myself on have yet to receive LTE or 800 in EKY. It's annoying, but for the most part 3g has been quite acceptable in the locations. Some cities (Richmond) in particular are hurting and need b41 desperately, everywhere else seems to be relatively unburdened even on the south side of Lexington.

[troyboytn]

Not true, there is plenty of sites in other markets that still do not have LTE.

Speaking in percentage of the number of towers converted to LTE located in a specific market, yes... East Kentucky is in fact lagging behind the nation. In Middlesboro, Verizon and AT&T have been LTE live for going on 3 years and T - Mobile went live today. Pretty pathetic Sprint...I've held on to hope long enough time to switch carriers.

 

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Edited April 27, 2015 by troyboytn

[JossMan]

Speaking in percentage of the number of towers converted to LTE located in a specific market, yes... East Kentucky is in fact lagging behind the nation. In Middlesboro, Verizon and AT&T have been LTE live for going on 3 years and T - Mobile went live today. Pretty pathetic Sprint...I've held on to hope long enough time to switch carriers.

 

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The rip and replace of the legacy CDMA equipment is nearing 100% completion in the East KY market.  LTE is a different story which is due to the ISPs lagging behind, this is common in every market just some ISPs are faster than others...not Sprint's fault.    

 

Just so you know Alabama is further behind with LTE than East KY.

[troyboytn]

Regardless, whether Alabama or East KY....it's still unacceptable this late in the game and whether directly or indirectly, Sprint is still to blame.

 

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[S4GRU]

Somewhere has to be last. And I think most Americans would be OK with Alabama and Eastern KY to be last. Right, wrong or indifferent. I also have a feeling it will largely be folks from Alabama and Kentucky who would disagree.

 

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[cdk]

Somewhere has to be last. And I think most Americans would be OK with Alabama and Eastern KY to be last. Right, wrong or indifferent. I also have a feeling it will largely be folks from Alabama and Kentucky who would disagree.

 

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Or Western PA....

[BucketHead25]

Try driving on Route 80 through Pennsylvania. You can drive east from the Ohio border about 200 miles before you'll find any LTE. My money is on Pennsylvania being last.

[S4GRU]

Try driving on Route 80 through Pennsylvania. You can drive east from the Ohio border about 200 miles before you'll find any LTE. My money is on Pennsylvania being last.

It is. But the 3G is almost completely unburdened outside Erie and State College.

 

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[JonnygATL]

Somewhere has to be last. And I think most Americans would be OK with Alabama and Eastern KY to be last. Right, wrong or indifferent. I also have a feeling it will largely be folks from Alabama and Kentucky who would disagree.

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

Understood. But metro Birmingham is over 1 million people. The Lexington, KY metro? Just under half a million. So these aren't one horse towns. Granted, most of Lexington has bands 25 and 26 enabled, with just the far flung significantly smaller towns awaiting fiber backhaul to enable LTE. And I think Alabama had some sort of issue with LTE on 800 that caused a huge delay. Right, Robert? What were the details on that?

[S4GRU]

 

 

Understood. But metro Birmingham is over 1 million people. The Lexington, KY metro? Just under half a million. So these aren't one horse towns. Granted, most of Lexington has bands 25 and 26 enabled, with just the far flung significantly smaller towns awaiting fiber backhaul to enable LTE. And I think Alabama had some sort of issue with LTE on 800 that caused a huge delay. Right, Robert? What were the details on that?

As you point out Lexington is not waiting to be deployed or even under deployed with LTE. We have fair to good LTE performance reports from Lexington. I'm sure some good B41 heavy lifting would be appreciated though. But secondary Nokia markets just aren't getting much priority. Nokia was late to the B41 game for Sprint and were immediately subject to Marcelo's priority mandate.

 

Birmingham also is not neglected, but not doing as well as Lexington. Not much B41 live yet and B26 was delayed a long time because of some incumbency. Although I think B26 is starting to roll out around B-Ham since the beginning of the year.

 

It is the tertiary and rural markets of Alabama and E-KY that are being left behind. Many of them are GMOs. Especially in 'Bama.

 

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[JonnygATL]

When do you think...ballpark educated guess, of course...that band 41 may begin to appear in Lexington? I was there last week and they really need it badly downtown and on the UK campus.

[S4GRU]

When do you think...ballpark educated guess, of course...that band 41 may begin to appear in Lexington? I was there last week and they really need it badly downtown and on the UK campus.

I have no idea. It would likely be when it catches Marcelo's attention at his network monitoring level. He is the one who is setting B41 deployment priority.

 

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[troyboytn]

Somewhere has to be last. And I think most Americans would be OK with Alabama and Eastern KY to be last. Right, wrong or indifferent. I also have a feeling it will largely be folks from Alabama and Kentucky who would disagree.

 

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When you consider that I-75 (cutring through east Ky) is one of the most heavily traveled north/south interstate corridors in the nation, I would say that "most" is not an accurate assumption. ..

Edited April 29, 2015 by troyboytn

[S4GRU]

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When you consider that I-75 (cutring through east Ky) is one of the most heavily traveled north/south interstate corridors in the nation, I would say that "most" is not an accurate assumption. ..

 

And I-75 is well covered with upgraded GMO 3G sites.  And who wants the area they live in or travel to to be last?  I mean, I get that.  I find my area important and can give 100's of reasons why it should be prioritized.

 

And as much as you find I-75 worthy, they are lower usage sites.  That's why they are low priority GMO sites.  Like I-80 through Pennsylvania.  And until the demand goes up higher on those sites, they will likely be lower priority for a long time versus what Marcelo is doing in the cities.  It's just the way it is.

[red_dog007]

I didn't go into BHam but just outside in Leeds. Had both B25/26.

Sprints coverage map has LTE going up way to far up I59 towards Gadsden.

Then just Gadsden has LTE.

 

I75 in KY from TN to London, still needs some work. Wish Sprint would at least get a tower in Manchester. Appalacian Wireless is only 1x roaming. :-( at least get a 3G roaming agreement.

[WiWavelength]

When do you think...ballpark educated guess, of course...that band 41 may begin to appear in Lexington? I was there last week and they really need it badly downtown and on the UK campus.

 

No band 41 in Lexington?  Are you saying that Sprint's LTE deployment there is one and done?

 

AJ

[JonnygATL]

No band 41 in Lexington?  Are you saying that Sprint's LTE deployment there is one and done?

 

AJ

I didn't understand what you meant.

[nowerlater]

I didn't go into BHam but just outside in Leeds. Had both B25/26.

Sprints coverage map has LTE going up way to far up I59 towards Gadsden.

Then just Gadsden has LTE.

 

I75 in KY from TN to London, still needs some work. Wish Sprint would at least get a tower in Manchester. Appalacian Wireless is only 1x roaming. :-( at least get a 3G roaming agreement.

I just went through ky, Tennessee, and Georgia on my way through to Tampa, i had 1 drop from 4g to 3g, i had no issues at all through the I75 corridor. Just saying.