Everything 800mhz (1xA, LTE, coverage, timeline, etc)

[Thomas L.]

So there is 1xA 800 being broadcasted from a tower that's technically in Hollister but is quite inland - just as a curiosity, the broadcasted tower position matches a site in the S4GRU within a few feet, so the Bay Area/Samsung, if we're lucky, could be setting the correct positions for the towers.

 

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[money69]

Finally spotted my first instance of 800 MHz 1x. This was captured near memorial city mall in Houston.

 

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[digiblur]

Finally spotted my first instance of 800 MHz 1x. This was captured near memorial city mall in Houston.

 

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Question is.. Does it work? 2 recent launches in my city have caused inbound and outbound calls not to work.

[Rukin1]

Finally spotted my first instance of 800 MHz 1x. This was captured near memorial city mall in Houston.

 

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ah it's at night. 800 was on once or twice during the day for like 2 hours when it was on during testing stages.  It was online after 10PM -5AM

[money69]

Question is.. Does it work? 2 recent launches in my city have caused inbound and outbound calls not to work.

Honestly I'm not sure, I didn't try it as I was at dinner with my wife. On another forum there one or 2 reports of 800 1x in Midtown so I can only assume it works.

 

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[SpenceSouth]

I'm pretty sure the answer to this is a resounding no, but has anyone seen any 800mhz deployment in Ericson areas?  Particularly, Florida markets?

 

And by seen I really mean, has anyone gotten a usable signal.  

[rf40928]

Elfman said 800 LTE would begin deployment end of 2013.. What does Sprint need to do to deploy it ?  Is it turning it on, a software update, or ? 

 

The LG phone supporting tri-band is on Sprints website as being released late 2013 which at least goes along with what Elfman is telling all of us..

 

Anyone ?

[gnoj]

Elfman said 800 LTE would begin deployment end of 2013.. What does Sprint need to do to deploy it ? Is it turning it on, a software update, or ?

 

The LG phone supporting tri-band is on Sprints website as being released late 2013 which at least goes along with what Elfman is telling all of us..

 

Anyone ?

If I recall correctly, for otherwise fully upgraded sites (3G/1x 800/LTE 1900), all that's required to add 800 LTE is for a contractor to return to the site to install a carrier card and run some tests to make sure everything works as it should. Depending on how loaded the site is, Sprint may also ask for the fiber backhaul speed to be increased beyond the default 100 Mbps to make sure both bands can run at full speed during peak hours. This relatively simple install is why Sprint feels it will have 800 LTE up on all sites that are currently 4G accepted by the end of the year. Obviously deployment on other sites that don't have the new equipment or backhaul yet will linger on into next year.

[Jaggrey]

800 LTE on all current 4g sites by the end of the year or starting deployment then?

[lynyrd65]

800 LTE on all current 4g sites by the end of the year or starting deployment then?

I would bet on them claiming a significant number but realistically I would bet we see about 25% or so of the lte accepted sites broadcasting that.

 

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[Thomas L.]

800 LTE on all current 4g sites by the end of the year or starting deployment then?

The stated goal is that all 4G sites that have been accepted thus far will be upgraded to LTE 800 by the end of the year and that all future sites will be LTE 800 from the get go.

 

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[Thomas L.]

If I recall correctly, for otherwise fully upgraded sites (3G/1x 800/LTE 1900), all that's required to add 800 LTE is for a contractor to return to the site to install a carrier card and run some tests to make sure everything works as it should. Depending on how loaded the site is, Sprint may also ask for the fiber backhaul speed to be increased beyond the default 100 Mbps to make sure both bands can run at full speed during peak hours. This relatively simple install is why Sprint feels it will have 800 LTE up on all sites that are currently 4G accepted by the end of the year. Obviously deployment on other sites that don't have the new equipment or backhaul yet will linger on into next year.

Would Sprint light up 800 LTE on a site that isn't 3G upgraded, I wonder?

 

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[dmaxx67]

I wouldnt think they would light up 800 LTE on a non 3g accepted site. Seems kinda of a waste of time.

[briank86]

Would Sprint light up 800 LTE on a site that isn't 3G upgraded, I wonder?

 

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I can see that as a possibility in the instance that a tower is upgraded with backhaul present, but the 3g has to wait to be turned on in a cluster.

[digiblur]

I can see that as a possibility in the instance that a tower is upgraded with backhaul present, but the 3g has to wait to be turned on in a cluster.

Only in certain market types does the cluster rule apply.

[LTEfanboy10]

Only in certain market types does the cluster rule apply.

Digiblur, what kind of rollout timeframe are you expecting for LTE 800? Does the end of the year for a large majority of LTE 1900 accepted sites seem realistic or is that just wishful thinking?

[digiblur]

Digiblur, what kind of rollout timeframe are you expecting for LTE 800? Does the end of the year for a large majority of LTE 1900 accepted sites seem realistic or is that just wishful thinking?

I don't have any expectations of the time line at all for any part of the rollout. With the many problems with the rollout in my market, my only expectation is for the equipment to work when it is fired up. So far that expectation has fallen short big time especially with this 5 day voice outage for a 10+ mile radius of the city. Sprint says it is fixed but it isn't. I will continue to rattle cages to get it fixed on day 6 of the outage. Sprint should be paying me by now for all this QC work

[Thomas L.]

The reason I ask is that since LTE 800 isn't a voice service, they don't have to worry about 911 testing and all that, so I could see them skipping ahead. One of the OEMs however requires separate RRUs for 800 LTE and voice, and they might wait to go back and install that until they're ready to do voice at the same time I suppose.

 

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[Cubbiefan82]

Digiblur, what kind of rollout timeframe are you expecting for LTE 800? Does the end of the year for a large majority of LTE 1900 accepted sites seem realistic or is that just wishful thinking?

I believe robert(s4gru) said that chicago would be one of the first cities that would get 800 lte and that would happen around 3 months from when the iden network would be shut down. I will become regular part of the installs now, and so u will get 3g/4g/1x voice and 800 lte on one site. Now if they get all accepted on that site at one time, we will see lol

[digiblur]

The reason I ask is that since LTE 800 isn't a voice service, they don't have to worry about 911 testing and all that, so I could see them skipping ahead. One of the OEMs however requires separate RRUs for 800 LTE and voice, and they might wait to go back and install that until they're ready to do voice at the same time I suppose.

 

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Which OEM is that? I thought all of them later had their RRUs certified for dual tech.

[MacinJosh]

The reason I ask is that since LTE 800 isn't a voice service, they don't have to worry about 911 testing and all that, so I could see them skipping ahead. One of the OEMs however requires separate RRUs for 800 LTE and voice, and they might wait to go back and install that until they're ready to do voice at the same time I suppose.

 

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Which OEM is that? I thought all of them later had their RRUs certified for dual tech.

They did get them re-certified. Some early markets did have RRU's that weren't compatible, but a firmware update to the RRU should fix the issue. Not sure how they will do that though.

 

 

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[oldjohnny]

Question is.. Does it work? 2 recent launches in my city have caused inbound and outbound calls not to work.

So far, all calls work. I have received and placed calls perfectly fine. The only issue I have noticed is that every now and then some text messages will not send.

 

I will say this about 1x on 800; it makes a difference. In areas where 800 CDMA has been introduced, I no longer roam like I used to (Suck it Verizon and Cricket Wireless  )

[LTEfanboy10]

So far, all calls work. I have received and placed calls perfectly fine. The only issue I have noticed is that every now and then some text messages will not send. I will say this about 1x on 800; it makes a difference. In areas where 800 CDMA has been introduced, I no longer roam like I used to (Suck it Verizon and Cricket Wireless  )

Do you pick up 800 voice in other areas that you didn't used to roam or can you just see the expanded coverage? Does your device try to hold onto 1900 too long?

[gnoj]

Would Sprint light up 800 LTE on a site that isn't 3G upgraded, I wonder?

 

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All the accepted 4G-only sites are 3G upgraded in that the equipment for that has been installed. The only difference is that the legacy equipment for 1x and Ev-DO on PCS is still in place and active due to interference concerns with neighboring legacy sites. As mentioned, the NV 3G has to be activated all at once in clusters in these markets. As far as I know, that is the only reason for a site to be classified as "4G only" rather than 3G/4G.

 

Now that iDEN is history, there are no such interference concerns on the 800 band, so this would not be an impediment to activating 800 LTE on such sites. So I don't see any reason why they would be upgraded more slowly than the 4G NV sites that have also had 3G and 1x 800 accepted. You don't need 1x 800 active to broadcast 800 LTE. Sprint will probably have a dedicated team of contractors whose job will be to install the 800 LTE carrier cards and in some cases (early Alcatel-Lucent builds?) update the RRU firmware. If they have to wait around for everything else to be accepted first (the equipment installs on all surrounding sites, SMR 911 testing, etc) then there is little chance they'll meet their end-of-year deadline to have LTE 800 on every current LTE 1900 site.

[oldjohnny]

Do you pick up 800 voice in other areas that you didn't used to roam or can you just see the expanded coverage? Does your device try to hold onto 1900 too long?

My phone actually connects to SMR voice and stays there most of the time if its available.

 

I have yet to test out voice handoffs between the SMR and PCS band since I haven't found a sweet spot in town were my phone switches bands.