Network Vision/LTE - Charlotte Market

[unccjester]

I called Sprint's tech support last night to have them "pinpoint" 2 more addresses where the 3G/4G and/or 1X800 just sucks due to tower spacing in Harrisburg & Concord and let them know about the towers on Pitts School and Rocky River / Lower Rocky River. The more calls they get with addresses in the Harrisburg area, the more quickly they're going to look at it, so anyone in the area please fire away with addresses (I gave them RSSI ranges from SignalCheck as well) for tech support on the East & West sides of Harrisburg, since we know they're sparse on 4G in that area.

[Towerdragon]

Reporting band 41 near stonecrest shopping center in South Charlotte barely have a signal for LTE but it's holding

[caspar347]

Woohoo! I guess B41 is active now! Time to go hunting!

[caspar347]

Tower broadcasting is the one near the Morrison Family YMCA. Very impressed with the propagation. Much further than I expected. I'll post pics and speed tests when I get home. No other towers I passed on the way are broadcasting.

[Towerdragon]

With the little signal I had I was getting about 5 to 8 mbps down very impressed with that given the distance

[caspar347]

With the little signal I had I was getting about 5 or 6 mbps down

I got about 30 while about half a mile away. Of course, I think it's pretty heavily loaded. I'll try to get some tests at the base of the tower before I leave.

[caspar347]

eCSFB is active. The tower is either highly burdened or backhaul is not configured properly. Got a 7mbps test at the base station on one sector then a 20mbps on another sector. Also saw an RST fiber shed at the tower. Are they gonna do fixed wireless?

 

And never mind about other towers being inactive. The tower at the Promanade is active too!

 

My theory of improper backhaul configuration is supported. Only 7mbps on the Promenade tower.

[Towerdragon]

Band 41 popping up on Moore Rd near independence Blvd. Looks like sprint is pushing it

[unccjester]

Band 41 popping up on Moore Rd near independence Blvd. Looks like sprint is pushing it

 

Are they pushing it real good?

 

I have got to go get a G3 and get off this EVO.

[djw39]

Are they pushing it real good?

 

I have got to go get a G3 and get off this EVO.

Yeah I am still on the Optimus G and can't test. I guess I would get either Nexus 5 or G3? Still hoping for something great from Moto...

[Towerdragon]

Sprint almost got me to switch to the G3 the only thing that stopped me was how committed is LG to updates? with the Nexus 5 I'm spoiled. If Google makes a new phone and its based off the LG G3 I might wait.

[kojitsari]

Sprint almost got me to switch to the G3 the only thing that stopped me was how committed is LG to updates with the Nexus 5 I'm spoiled. If Google makes a new phone and its based off the LG G3 I might wait.

Lg doesn't update the nexus 5, google does. So your argument is currently invalid.

[anthony.spina97]

Lg doesn't update the nexus 5, google does. So your argument is currently invalid.

He is saying "How committed to updates is LG?" "With the nexus 5 I'm spoiled". He is stating that LG isn't very committed to updates, but google is very committed with the nexus 5 so he is spoiled.

 

-Anthony

[Towerdragon]

Yes I know Google updates the Nexus I'm just saying that since I have the Nexus now. I'm not sure I could switch to the G3. fixed punction In original post was in a rush.

[kojitsari]

He is saying "How committed to updates is LG?" "With the nexus 5 I'm spoiled". He is stating that LG isn't very committed to updates, but google is very committed with the nexus 5 so he is spoiled.

 

-Anthony

Oh with corrected grammar it makes sense, thanks.

[red_dog007]

When I was in Matthews last month I was getting B41. 

[unccjester]

B26 is active in Harrisburg at the tower on Stough and 49! Too bad some of those panels aren't pointed at the heart of Harrisburg over by town hall, as that stretch has pretty bad service.

[bill875]

B26 is active in Harrisburg at the tower on Stough and 49! Too bad some of those panels aren't pointed at the heart of Harrisburg over by town hall, as that stretch has pretty bad service.

I often wonder if 1 antenna per sector is enough to properly cover service areas where tower/site spacing is poor.  Without adjacent sites to fill in the holes, it causes too many low/no signal areas.  If there were two panels per sector, they could cover six different directions from one site, thus the user experience would be significantly better.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sprint will improve in NC, especially in the foothills areas.  I cannot stand the thought of switching to Verizon, but I may need to if things don't improve in the next 2 years.

[S4GRU]

I often wonder if 1 antenna per sector is enough to properly cover service areas where tower/site spacing is poor. Without adjacent sites to fill in the holes, it causes too many low/no signal areas. If there were two panels per sector, they could cover six different directions from one site, thus the user experience would be significantly better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Sprint will improve in NC, especially in the foothills areas. I cannot stand the thought of switching to Verizon, but I may need to if things don't improve in the next 2 years.

Not quite. Two antenna panels per sectors does not change anything in this instance. If you have two panels, half the carriers are in one and the other half in the other and they are pointed exactly the same direction.

 

90% of all sites have three sectors. 10% have two. 0.01% have one, four or more.

 

When you see a typical setup with several antenna panels per sector, it is still just three sectors. Those additional antenna panels are just adding more capacity to one sector. They aren't pointing different directions for more coverage within that sector. Three sectors with wide beam antennas with just one antenna panel per sector covers 360°. More is not needed.

 

In some rare occasions, they will split one sector and make it two separate sectors. This sometimes has to be done on really high capacity sectors and there is no additional spectrum available.

 

So you need to purge out of your mind that more antenna panels per sector is used to broaden coverage. That's not accurate. It only increases capacity. Sites with a whole bunch of antennas per sector is the result of either using inefficient antenna designs where each panel doesn't support enough carrier/frequencies or the Provider is just adding a new panel next to the others every time they deploy a new band.

[anthony.spina97]

B26 is active in Harrisburg at the tower on Stough and 49! Too bad some of those panels aren't pointed at the heart of Harrisburg over by town hall, as that stretch has pretty bad service.

I connect to that tower in my house in Rocky River Crossing and I connect to that same tower when I'm at school at Hickory Ridge High. -115 to -108 dBm at my house, -110 to -100 at school. That's amazing coverage, from one tower! And on LTE, none-the-less!

 

-Anthony

[bill875]

 

Thanks for the clarification and insight.  I am hopeful that optimization will help with the dead zones with the deployment of B26.  Hopefully this area will see something soon.

[unccjester]

I connect to that tower in my house in Rocky River Crossing and I connect to that same tower when I'm at school at Hickory Ridge High. -115 to -108 dBm at my house, -110 to -100 at school. That's amazing coverage, from one tower! And on LTE, none-the-less!

 

-Anthony

 

I can pick up light B26 when I'm coming up Roberta in the RRC area but it dies when I'm in Harrisburg. I live just around the corner and can pick up about the same fringe values in the front of my neighborhood. If Sprint would just hop on one of the towers over at Morehead and 49 or by Pitts Elementary, it'd REALLY light our area up. That's pretty good reach to HRHS... too bad it drops on Pharr Mill as you crest over the hill and down towards Shamrock Rd... that's another dismal area.

[S4GRU]

...when I'm coming up Roberta...

This is the most vulgar thing ever posted in S4GRU history.

 

[anthony.spina97]

I can pick up light B26 when I'm coming up Roberta in the RRC area but it dies when I'm in Harrisburg. I live just around the corner and can pick up about the same fringe values in the front of my neighborhood. If Sprint would just hop on one of the towers over at Morehead and 49 or by Pitts Elementary, it'd REALLY light our area up. That's pretty good reach to HRHS... too bad it drops on Pharr Mill as you crest over the hill and down towards Shamrock Rd... that's another dismal area.

Well I know that there is a Sprint tower over near Pharr Mill and Rocky River Rd, but as far as I know, B26 isn't activated on it. Frankly B26 will be our only saving grace when it comes to Sprint LTE in Harrisburg. There is Clearwire equipment on the water tower in between Robinson Church Road and Hickory Ridge Road on Rocky River Road, and there is also Clear equipment on that tower at Morehead and 49. Sprint should really consider adding NV equipment to those towers, because even if they only deploy B25 and EVDO 1900 on those towers, it would do wonders for this ever growing town!

 

-Anthony

[anthony.spina97]

So, my Charlotte Market pals with Android devices, I have noticed my Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 (the only Android device we have in our home) has recently switched back to connecting to EVDO Rev. A since at least last night. It used to be connecting to eHRPD but hasn't been for the past 12 hours or so. Anyone else been noticing this?

 

And yes, it is in CDMA/LTE/EVDO mode, so it should connect to eHRPD like it normally has been. I know that when it is in CDMA/EVDO only mode, it wouldn't connect to eHRPD because there was no need to since it wouldn't be connecting to LTE.

 

-Anthony