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

[bmoses]

so here i thought they still had 1x800 turned off around here since i lost connection to it several days ago when the new PRL had come out. I had updated to the PRL that prioritizes 1x800 but wasn't connecting to anything so i figured it was still turned off from them adding the new channel. well this morning i decided to reapply the PRL just in case, turns out sprint pushed their PRL to my phone at one point and thats why i wasn't connected to 1x800, put the PRL that prioritizes it back on and BOOM 1x800 again still on channel 476 though.

[IamMrFamous07]

Your nearest tower was probably recently upgraded. On nv sites in my area, under optimal conditions, I can usually hit 2mbps/1mbps which is fantastic for 3G.

Yeah it's nice!!!

[Deval]

Could very well be a stupid question but.....I currently have an HTC one and am thinking about switching to iPhone 5c since the ONE has horrible signal since 4.3 update and before and wife's iPhone perfect most of the time. Now with the ONE I can connect to 1x800 voice quite often but the ONE desnt have lte band 26. IPhone 5c does....does that mean that if I can pick up 1x800 voice now that these tower locations with spit out lte band 26 when it is turned "on" or does more work need to be done to enable lte 800. My current 1900 mhz lte signal sucks unless you are a block or two away from it (at least from the HTC ONE)

 

Really my question is can I expect to see lte 800 from this tower in the very near future or is it a long way off or is there any deployement list of cities? I'm in Petaluma ca 94954 btw.

 

You don't need the iPhone 5c to connect to voice on 800mhz, that's covered under Band Class 10, which the One supports just fine.

[danRandall]

But the iPhone 5c has band 26 800 mhz lte whereas the HTC done does not support that. I just was wondering if I get 800mhz voice does that equate to me being able to recieve 800 mhz lte as well?

[The Dave]

But the iPhone 5c has band 26 800 mhz lte whereas the HTC done does not support that. I just was wondering if I get 800mhz voice does that equate to me being able to recieve 800 mhz lte as well?

No.

[danRandall]

My 800 mhz voice on my ONE travels for days. I aM connected to a very far away tower. Would the lte 800 mhz distance be similar? If yes it would solve all my problems with my poor data signals since almost everywhere I go I appear to be on the fringe of lte signal with my ONE

[Dkoellerwx]

My 800 mhz voice on my ONE travels for days. I aM connected to a very far away tower. Would the lte 800 mhz distance be similar? If yes it would solve all my problems with my poor data signals since almost everywhere I go I appear to be on the fringe of lte signal with my ONE

It's difficult to equate voice range to data range. The distance that 1x is usable on PCS is drastically different than the distance that LTE is usable on PCS. We won't know until it actually goes live what the comparison between 800 1x and 800 LTE will be.

[thensley1983]

My 800 mhz voice on my ONE travels for days. I aM connected to a very far away tower. Would the lte 800 mhz distance be similar? If yes it would solve all my problems with my poor data signals since almost everywhere I go I appear to be on the fringe of lte signal with my ONE

it will be better but not as good as the 1x 800 voice LTE at the edges of service is weak 1x is not, but you can expect 10 to 15 dbm increase in usable coverage so if your in a weak area that turns to good if your in a no signal area and your 1 mile or less away from signal then you will be getting good to ok signal and if your 2 miles to 3 miles in a no service area you will get ok to weak 3+ miles little to no coverage or should i say little to no usable coverage thats ball park figures if you have a metal structure or very wooded area the numbers will go down 

[danRandall]

Well here's hoping 800mhz lte starts rolling soon like the end of the year and maybe I'll try out an iPhone 5c with band 26 and it will all be glorious. Just sucks now having unlimitimed data without being able to use it to it's fullest extent or even close to mediocore extent.

[Bob Newhart]

Well here's hoping 800mhz lte starts rolling soon like the end of the year and maybe I'll try out an iPhone 5c with band 26 and it will all be glorious. Just sucks now having unlimitimed data without being able to use it to it's fullest extent or even close to mediocore extent.

 

There is a reason that the data is 'unlimited'.   

[Student]

Well here's hoping 800mhz lte starts rolling soon like the end of the year and maybe I'll try out an iPhone 5c with band 26 and it will all be glorious. Just sucks now having unlimitimed data without being able to use it to it's fullest extent or even close to mediocore extent.

lol what!? I'm still hoping to see LTE anywhere around me!  With all the GMO's in northern CT they'll be done at the very end of NV...I'm moving to florida in May anyways haha

[dstar2002]

lol what!? I'm still hoping to see LTE anywhere around me! With all the GMO's in northern CT they'll be done at the very end of NV...I'm moving to florida in May anyways haha

There really isn't that many, except in the deep sticks or real low use areas. East of 84 maybe, but in the populated areas I only know of 2 gmo in East Granby

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Student]

Oh good news then, I was thinking that most around Hartford were gmo. Hope sprint can get the area with lte before the snow comes! Honestly I'd just be happy for 800mhz voice

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Student]

I caught them testing glastonbury 800mhz in Farmington a month or two ago, really looking forward to 800mhz

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Flompholph]

Interesting...I guess Sprint doesn't feel confident in its CDMA 800 performance or configuration yet.  I find it ironic that Sprint lights up LTE 1900/2600 and is available for public use but yet with CDMA 800 they seem to be taking the reverse approach.  I get it if its just a one or two sites that are only upgraded to CDMA 800 but when you have a ton of sites ready to be launched, why not just do it?

I believe that its from the large large number of people who complained about drop calls in the beginning. Bad handoffs 1x800 to 1x1900 they just drop the call. Now at least in the Pittsburgh market they launch 5+ towers together. Then after that add 1 tower at a time to expand coverage from the cluster. I've seen 3 clusters of 1x800 act like that in my market. Not sure what a ton is 3 or 4? I am just hoping they can broadcast lte 800 once they get backhaul without any major tower changes.

[ericdabbs]

I believe that its from the large large number of people who complained about drop calls in the beginning. Bad handoffs 1x800 to 1x1900 they just drop the call. Now at least in the Pittsburgh market they launch 5+ towers together. Then after that add 1 tower at a time to expand coverage from the cluster. I've seen 3 clusters of 1x800 act like that in my market. Not sure what a ton is 3 or 4? I am just hoping they can broadcast lte 800 once they get backhaul without any major tower changes.

 

If you read Dkoellerwx's post above, it looks like at least 10-20 cell CDMA 800 cell sites with all testing completed including e911.  Its fine that Sprint can take their time to make it right.  Just as long as the testing PRL allows the connection to CDMA 800, I'll be happy to be able to test it out.

[Deval]

But the iPhone 5c has band 26 800 mhz lte whereas the HTC done does not support that. I just was wondering if I get 800mhz voice does that equate to me being able to recieve 800 mhz lte as well?

 

Not with the One, but with the iPhone 5s/5c, yes.

[digiblur]

Ericsson stopped rolling out 800 here even though there are sites available to activate it on. As of a week or two ago, the few sites they had launched are totally blocked from connections no matter what PRL settings you use.

[Flompholph]

If you read Dkoellerwx's post above, it looks like at least 10-20 cell CDMA 800 cell sites with all testing completed including e911.  Its fine that Sprint can take their time to make it right.  Just as long as the testing PRL allows the connection to CDMA 800, I'll be happy to be able to test it out.

It takes me a while to write it up sorry. My experience has been 6 towers alot of GMOs around my area maybe the reason for the difference. Or maybe they don't move them all public all at once I just noticed that every once and a while one new one will be pushed public that was close to the cluster.

[ericdabbs]

Ericsson stopped rolling out 800 here even though there are sites available to activate it on. As of a week or two ago, the few sites they had launched are totally blocked from connections no matter what PRL settings you use.

 

I wonder if it is just the NOLA market or all Ericcson markets.  It seems like ALU sites are still able to connect to CDMA 800 for the time being.  No word on Samsung markets though.

[Dkoellerwx]

I wonder if it is just the NOLA market or all Ericcson markets.  It seems like ALU sites are still able to connect to CDMA 800 for the time being.  No word on Samsung markets though.

 

800 1x sites are still working in the Kansas market. On the public PRL too. Actually made a couple calls on it last time I was there. 

[shawn_kc]

800 1x sites are still working in the Kansas market. On the public PRL too. Actually made a couple calls on it last time I was there. 

 

Though we're getting rather far from the 800 LTE topic... haha.

 

The last couple weeks, I haven't got 800 1x at all in the KC area.  I was picking it up a lot the preceding few weeks.

 

 I did have several dropped calls while connected to 800 1x before they blocked.

[Kevster1321]

There really isn't that many, except in the deep sticks or real low use areas. East of 84 maybe, but in the populated areas I only know of 2 gmo in East Granby

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

Lol I live off 395 in the sticks but I'm still hopeful that they do full builds soon.

[Dkoellerwx]

Some information we have received regarding the CDMA 800 deployment.

 

 

• PRLs

During the initial buildout/activation:

 

LTE devices will not prefer 800 over 1900, but will not actively switch bands, they will be the same preference level as we has already seen.

 

Non-LTE devices will prefer 1900 over 800. This would explain why some 800 capable devices have not been connecting to 800. They will actively search for 1900 if connected to 800.

 

Once the market passes 80% complete:

 

LTE devices will prefer 800 over 1900.

 

Non-LTE devices will change to equal preference for 800 or 1900, and will no longer actively look for 1900 if they end up on 800.

 

The reason for this is the increase in dropped calls when handing off from 800 to 1900. This is especially a problem when there are only a few sites with 800 enabled. A hand off is possible, but there is a much higher rate of dropped calls when going from 800 to 1900 and 1900 to 800. So they are limiting usage until there is a higher density of completed sites.

 

LTE phone prefer 800 because there are certain combinations of 1900 MHz LTE and 1900 MHz CDMA that causes LTE to disconnect, and they would prefer to make every effort to allow devices with the capability for simultaneous CDMA voice and LTE data to continue to use it.

 

Of course this becomes a non-issue with Tri-Band devices since as far as we know they will not allow SVLTE. 

 

• Market build stats

There are nearly 1400 [likely many more at this point] sites nationwide with 800Mhz online. The majority of sites nationwide have had dual purpose antennas, 1900 RRU(s), and a 800 RRU installed during the initial construction, so continued activation should continue at a fairly rapid pace.

 

In areas that have limited spectrum in the 800 band, Sprint will focus on LTE rather than CDMA. In areas that have the additional spectrum, they will also deploy CDMA. An expected 80% of sites will see 800 CDMA deployed. 6% of sites will not see 800 due to interference along the Canadian border, 3% of sites will not see 800 due to interference along the Mexican border. Another 10% have conflicts with other license holders.

 

Forecasted (Q3 schedule) BC10 Sites On-air
Current on-air - 10[+]%
End of 2013 - 43%
Mid 2014 - 100%

 

Despite the 800MHz being installed, it may seem like activations are lagging behind 1900. This is because unlike 1900 in Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent markets, all sites in a cluster of 10-20 must have 800MHz ready. This means equipment installed, e911 testing, and optimization. Samsung deploys 1900 CDMA in clusters so this is not such an issue in those markets. Testing must also occur at the boundary to 1900, and an accetable drop rate must be achieved on the hand-offs before the cluster can be brought online for public use. Because of these extra steps, clustering, this creates a delay in the visible deployment, though work continues to make sites ready at a high rate.

[thensley1983]

every new site in northern ky has 800 voice active this is a samsung market though it made a WORLD of difference for my in house call drop rates as the towers around here were basically at the 1900 mhz spectrum max distance where you would go down to 1 or no bars then drop for a sec then pick up the new tower 2 steps later