Network Vision/LTE - Orange County Market (Anaheim/Santa Ana/Irvine/Huntington Beach)

[HTCandroid]

As someone who knows the business side. The project manager should not have over promised on delivery which is most likely costing the firm big bucks for the delayed schedule. On a side know, do we really need band 26 in the OC? I very very rarely go places without service.

[dplcj]

As someone who knows the business side. The project manager should not have over promised on delivery which is most likely costing the firm big bucks for the delayed schedule. On a side know, do we really need band 26 in the OC? I very very rarely go places without service.

 

Yes we do need it.  My phone looses all signal as soon as I walk in the building at my office.  But if I go 100 foot down the sidewalk I can get LTE at full bars.

[HTCandroid]

Haha alright...valid point!

[dplcj]

Yeah and don't even get me started on the extremely slow progress of tower upgrades in the Irvine and Lake forest area.  I live half way between one tower that has been upgraded and one that has not and the phone can't decide which to connect so it keeps dropping signal and calls as it switches back and forth every minute...

[nomoresoupforyou]

As someone who knows the business side. The project manager should not have over promised on delivery which is most likely costing the firm big bucks for the delayed schedule. On a side know, do we really need band 26 in the OC? I very very rarely go places without service.

 

I'm wondering how much of the Google/Lenovo/Motorola acquisitions played into this. Seems like everyone talks about the effect of selling the Motorola Mobility side of the business but not so much the other telecommunications (non-mobile phone) businesses. If Motorola laid off workers due to Google or Lenovo, then that would explain why they are inexperienced and/or understaffed.

[metayoshi]

As someone who knows the business side. The project manager should not have over promised on delivery which is most likely costing the firm big bucks for the delayed schedule. On a side know, do we really need band 26 in the OC? I very very rarely go places without service.

Yes we do. While John Wayne Airport and north of that is covered with Band 41 and Band 25, Irvine Spectrum has pretty good Band 25, and Tustin (except the District) is pretty covered in Band 25, the District and much of the central residential part of Irvine have horrible 3G reception for Sprint. Sometimes, I end up in a location where I go roaming, even outdoors, especially at the District in the back section where Target and Aloha BBQ is. Once we get 1x800 CDMA and Band 26 LTE down here, my life will be much better.

 

Since I travel to LA every now and then, I have enjoyed what I would consider excellent service for Sprint. Band 41 almost everywhere, Band 25 where I don't have that, more than good enough 3G when I don't have LTE, and 1x800 for voice coverage. It's truly amazing. I wished I lived and worked up there, but my work and home are down here in Irvine and Tustin. It's depressing to see the night and day difference between there and down here, and there's almost a solid line once you get south of Santa Ana or Costa Mesa. And if you compare the site density between LA and north OC vs. Irvine, it's even more of a sure thing that Irvine, specifically, needs 800 MHz. I will rejoice once I can sit in Aloha BBQ, or the Kaiser near Barranca and Jeffrey, and actually use my smartphone as a smartphone instead of it becoming a hot brick in my pocket looking for service. I wish the problem with 800 MHz was in LA, not here; they have amazing service up there already, but here in Tustin/Irvine is where Sprint really needs the help.

[Dkoellerwx]

As someone who knows the business side. The project manager should not have over promised on delivery which is most likely costing the firm big bucks for the delayed schedule. On a side know, do we really need band 26 in the OC? I very very rarely go places without service.

If nothing else, it provides another band for capacity, helping to keep sites from getting overloaded, or relieving the congestion where they are already overloaded.

[orangeblue]

Yes we do. While John Wayne Airport and north of that is covered with Band 41 and Band 25, Irvine Spectrum has pretty good Band 25, and Tustin (except the District) is pretty covered in Band 25, the District and much of the central residential part of Irvine have horrible 3G reception for Sprint. Sometimes, I end up in a location where I go roaming, even outdoors, especially at the District in the back section where Target and Aloha BBQ is. Once we get 1x800 CDMA and Band 26 LTE down here, my life will be much better.

 

Since I travel to LA every now and then, I have enjoyed what I would consider excellent service for Sprint. Band 41 almost everywhere, Band 25 where I don't have that, more than good enough 3G when I don't have LTE, and 1x800 for voice coverage. It's truly amazing. I wished I lived and worked up there, but my work and home are down here in Irvine and Tustin. It's depressing to see the night and day difference between there and down here, and there's almost a solid line once you get south of Santa Ana or Costa Mesa. And if you compare the site density between LA and north OC vs. Irvine, it's even more of a sure thing that Irvine, specifically, needs 800 MHz. I will rejoice once I can sit in Aloha BBQ, or the Kaiser near Barranca and Jeffrey, and actually use my smartphone as a smartphone instead of it becoming a hot brick in my pocket looking for service. I wish the problem with 800 MHz was in LA, not here; they have amazing service up there already, but here in Tustin/Irvine is where Sprint really needs the help.

 

Tustin has some B41 coverage but not really ready for prime time

[JosefTor]

Can't wait to see the next NV update. A few places around socal that I frequent have just changed status. Either I'm just getting lucky with the places I go or Sprint is starting to pick up speed again.

 

Btw... The tower on Camp Pendleton that just went 3g appears to have just gotten 4g. If you look on sensorly, there is LTE showing up.

[Joeynach]

Hey OC friends.  I am always in the Chicago forum, but now as I have been assigned to a project in Irvine this summer and going to be spending a considerable amount of time out here.  I am having an awful difficult time finding and maintaining useable service here in Irvine.  I am not getting anywhere with "do a PRL update" Sprint Care folks, can anyone here help me.  I am working at the corner of Irvine Center Dr & Sand Canyon Ave.  Both indoors in a low level office building (near windows) and outdoors I am either on 1xRTT roam from Metro PCS, EVDO from Sprint, or no service.  Depending of where I move in this building or where I am outside is what changes my service, but in any event all three as essentially un-useable for data and bare bones for calls (except for when it goes no service).  What is going on out here with Sprint service, is there something I need to know or take into consideration for my device?

[Joeynach]

 the District and much of the central residential part of Irvine have horrible 3G reception for Sprint. Sometimes, I end up in a location where I go roaming, even outdoors

This is exactly what I am experiencing in and around my client's location in Irvine.  I even get 1xRTT roam outdoors and occasionally no service.  Indoors is even worse.  I was not prepared for this.  I may need an additional device to get my work done while I am here, is there any provider that is known to have excellent coverage and capacity in and around Irvine?

[metayoshi]

Hey OC friends.  I am always in the Chicago forum, but now as I have been assigned to a project in Irvine this summer and going to be spending a considerable amount of time out here.  I am having an awful difficult time finding and maintaining useable service here in Irvine.  I am not getting anywhere with "do a PRL update" Sprint Care folks, can anyone here help me.  I am working at the corner of Irvine Center Dr & Sand Canyon Ave.  Both indoors in a low level office building (near windows) and outdoors I am either on 1xRTT roam from Metro PCS, EVDO from Sprint, or no service.  Depending of where I move in this building or where I am outside is what changes my service, but in any event all three as essentially un-useable for data and bare bones for calls (except for when it goes no service).  What is going on out here with Sprint service, is there something I need to know or take into consideration for my device?

Yeah... Irvine pretty much sucks for Sprint service. I don't know why, but knowing how anal the City can be, I'm pretty sure the City of Irvine is the main cause for the delays in backhaul and putting up the new equipment. Also, the site density here could use a little help from B26 and 1x800, but that's not going to happen anytime soon either, so right now, you either have Sprint Service, or you don't. Just look at the NV Sites Complete map in the Sponsor's section. The corner where you work is smack dab in the middle of four towers that are way too far apart to give good service in the middle unless B26 and 1x800 is there to give you that extra coverage. The main places that have good usable Sprint Service are the area in and around UC Irvine, the plaza on Culver and Irvine Center Dr., The plaza on Culver and Irvine Blvd., some of Irvine Spectrum Center, the Train Station near Irvine Spectrum Center, and John Wayne Airport. The fact that that count fits within my 10 fingers is a bad sign already. Unfortunately, until we get B26 and 1x800, there's no two ways around it.

 

My suggestion since you're down here only temporarily, find out from any co-workers in your building what cell provider works within the building. I don't know how common this is, but where I work, Verizon agreed to put a repeater in our concourse level, so Verizon is the only cell provider that has good service within all 4 floors of our office. Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile pretty much have no service on the Concourse and 1st floors, and only on the 2nd or 3rd are where I can get pretty good usable 3G signal. Because of that, our work actually provides discounts with Verizon phones, so some people who normally have another provider also have a work phone from Verizon, though the options are pretty much limited to the iPhone, most current Galaxy S, or some Legacy Blackberry device. Maybe you can check with your work to see what they have.

[nomoresoupforyou]

This is exactly what I am experiencing in and around my client's location in Irvine.  I even get 1xRTT roam outdoors and occasionally no service.  Indoors is even worse.  I was not prepared for this.  I may need an additional device to get my work done while I am here, is there any provider that is known to have excellent coverage and capacity in and around Irvine?

 

The usual suspect (AT&T/Verizon) are fine in OC. I've had them both in the past with minimal problems. I have a T-Mobile hotspot that I've used throughout the county with good results, although I don't think I've used it in Irvine.

[Joeynach]

The usual suspect (AT&T/Verizon) are fine in OC. I've had them both in the past with minimal problems. I have a T-Mobile hotspot that I've used throughout the county with good results, although I don't think I've used it in Irvine.

Thanks for the advice, I checked Sensorly it doesn't appear Sprint has blanketing 3G service in this area let alone LTE.  VZW/ATT looks OK, VZW a bit stronger.  That 700mhz spectrum seems to really be a big lift given the way the density of towers in Irvine has been described.

[Joeynach]

Yeah... Irvine pretty much sucks for Sprint service. I don't know why, but knowing how anal the City can be, I'm pretty sure the City of Irvine is the main cause for the delays in backhaul and putting up the new equipment. Also, the site density here could use a little help from B26 and 1x800, but that's not going to happen anytime soon either, so right now, you either have Sprint Service, or you don't. Just look at the NV Sites Complete map in the Sponsor's section. The corner where you work is smack dab in the middle of four towers that are way too far apart to give good service in the middle unless B26 and 1x800 is there to give you that extra coverage. The main places that have good usable Sprint Service are the area in and around UC Irvine, the plaza on Culver and Irvine Center Dr., The plaza on Culver and Irvine Blvd., some of Irvine Spectrum Center, the Train Station near Irvine Spectrum Center, and John Wayne Airport. The fact that that count fits within my 10 fingers is a bad sign already. Unfortunately, until we get B26 and 1x800, there's no two ways around it.

 

My suggestion since you're down here only temporarily, find out from any co-workers in your building what cell provider works within the building. I don't know how common this is, but where I work, Verizon agreed to put a repeater in our concourse level, so Verizon is the only cell provider that has good service within all 4 floors of our office. Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile pretty much have no service on the Concourse and 1st floors, and only on the 2nd or 3rd are where I can get pretty good usable 3G signal. Because of that, our work actually provides discounts with Verizon phones, so some people who normally have another provider also have a work phone from Verizon, though the options are pretty much limited to the iPhone, most current Galaxy S, or some Legacy Blackberry device. Maybe you can check with your work to see what they have.

Well I was saying before in the NV Sites Complete forum I have a decision to make anyway, my contract is a few months away from being up.  I was under the assumption ATT/VZW have 10x10 carriers deployed here in the 700-800Mhz range.  That should be quite blanketing in LTE coverage, my concern on re-upping with Sprint was exactly this, if I am re-upping for tri-band I was concerned I am just going to run into pockets of poor service and delayed deployment for years to come.  A bigger concern given now I am a traveling consultant away from my advanced market of Chicago.

[metayoshi]

Well I was saying before in the NV Sites Complete forum I have a decision to make anyway, my contract is a few months away from being up.  I was under the assumption ATT/VZW have 10x10 carriers deployed here in the 700-800Mhz range.  That should be quite blanketing in LTE coverage, my concern on re-upping with Sprint was exactly this, if I am re-upping for tri-band I was concerned I am just going to run into pockets of poor service and delayed deployment for years to come.  A bigger concern given now I am a traveling consultant away from my advanced market of Chicago.

If you're travelling a lot, I definitely would recommend switching to a wireless provider that will fit your needs. Just from my experience travelling between LA, northern Orange County, and Irvine, it's such a huge night a day difference. I personally don't have a huge motivation to switch service since where I live in Tustin is pretty well covered, and I get very good B41 when I go to LA, and if not, I get good B25 as well, or at least good 3G. Unfortunately, I work in Irvine, so I have to deal with the bad service in and around work, but I can personally live with it since I get good service in ~95% places I go. For you, if you're going to be in Irvine 95% of the time, I would definitely switch to another carrier, especially with the B26/1x800 situation (or lack thereof) that we have down here.

[Joeynach]

If you're travelling a lot, I definitely would recommend switching to a wireless provider that will fit your needs. Just from my experience travelling between LA, northern Orange County, and Irvine, it's such a huge night a day difference. I personally don't have a huge motivation to switch service since where I live in Tustin is pretty well covered, and I get very good B41 when I go to LA, and if not, I get good B25 as well, or at least good 3G. Unfortunately, I work in Irvine, so I have to deal with the bad service in and around work, but I can personally live with it since I get good service in ~95% places I go. For you, if you're going to be in Irvine 95% of the time, I would definitely switch to another carrier, especially with the B26/1x800 situation (or lack thereof) that we have down here.

Looking at the sensorly maps the LTE coverage leader is definitely VZW for the Irvine area.  And I see what you are saying about this arbitrary line for Sprint coverage.  Move south of the Costa Mesa freeway and the coverage is pretty weak with gaps everywhere.  Any clue what the spectrum size is out here for VZW and ATT on their LTE networks?  Both should be dual banding at this point right?

[bookertdub]

So I ended up getting the Galaxy S5 with a 2 year contract extension with Sprint. I read the press release proclaiming that Los Angeles has been launched with Sprint Spark. According to the Spark coverage map, it seems to be all over central and northern Orange County. Now is the coverage map relatively accurate with regards to Spark in Orange County, or is it over exaggerated? Either way I'll be interested in testing to see if Spark is in Orange County when I go to the Angel game on Sunday.

[Joeynach]

Just look at the NV Sites Complete map in the Sponsor's section. The corner where you work is smack dab in the middle of four towers that are way too far apart to give good service in the middle unless B26 and 1x800 is there to give you that extra coverage.

I kind of dispute this idea that my location is too far away or too isolated to receive decent Sprint service. I measured the distances from my office location, where I am getting both 3G roam and no service indoors and out, to the two nearest Sprint towers. One is LTE active the other 3G only, but both are NV complete, not legacy. I really dont get it. I am 0.8 and 0.9 miles from two towers and constantly stuck on Metro PCS crappy roam, no service indoors, and occasionally a sub 100K eHRPD signal outdoors. I don't believe that being less than a mile from Sprint towers in an urban environment is supposed to produce the horrible experience I have receiving. Their towers have to have greater coverage than that otherwise they would need double the towers in urban areas. Maybe I am missing something about the towers out here specifically?

Edited June 20, 2014 by lilotimz
sponsor info in public

[metayoshi]

So I ended up getting the Galaxy S5 with a 2 year contract extension with Sprint. I read the press release proclaiming that Los Angeles has been launched with Sprint Spark. According to the Spark coverage map, it seems to be all over central and northern Orange County. Now is the coverage map relatively accurate with regards to Spark in Orange County, or is it over exaggerated? Either way I'll be interested in testing to see if Spark is in Orange County when I go to the Angel game on Sunday.

The Sprint map? Lol. That thing is super exaggerated. The premier sponsor map for band 41 is pretty much the most accurate you'll get.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[metayoshi]

I kind of dispute this idea that my location is too far away or too isolated to receive decent Sprint service. I measured the distances from my office location, where I am getting both 3G roam and no service indoors and out, to the two nearest Sprint towers. One is LTE active the other 3G only, but both are NV complete, not legacy. I really dont get it. I am 0.8 and 0.9 miles from two towers and constantly stuck on Metro PCS crappy roam, no service indoors, and occasionally a sub 100K eHRPD signal outdoors. I don't believe that being less than a mile from Sprint towers in an urban environment is supposed to produce the horrible experience I have receiving. Their towers have to have greater coverage than that otherwise they would need double the towers in urban areas. Maybe I am missing something about the towers out here specifically?

Welcome to Orange County. [emoji3]

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[JosefTor]

Welcome to Orange County. [emoji3]

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I don't believe our network tuning engineer knows what he is doing. I've noticed the above as well. . Here's a specific example of my experience: I have a 4g tower that only goes about 70 yards in Aliso Viejo. I called sprint to ask them to look at it and mentioned it was on a pretty steep hill so they probably had the downtilt not configured properly. A couple weeks later, the whole town including my house was basking in LTE from the same tower. A couple of weeks after that, it went back to the original with LTE probably and the town and my house are no longer covered.

[Joeynach]

Welcome to Orange County. [emoji3]

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Lovely.

[Joeynach]

I don't believe our network tuning engineer knows what he is doing. I've noticed the above as well. . Here's a specific example of my experience: I have a 4g tower that only goes about 70 yards in Aliso Viejo. I called sprint to ask them to look at it and mentioned it was on a pretty steep hill so they probably had the downtilt not configured properly. A couple weeks later, the whole town including my house was basking in LTE from the same tower. A couple of weeks after that, it went back to the original with LTE probably and the town and my house are no longer covered.

Someone is (should) get fired.

[scubajwd]

What you are up against in Irvine and other high-end areas in the country is that the owners of

the 2-5 Mil houses there do not want cell towers cluttering their residential areas; we have that here

in Anthem as well and our homes are not close to what they are in Irvine in $Value..it is what it is;

old money foe the most part that don't want declining property values...but DO WANT great cell

service at someone else's expense...sorry for the sermon here; just my $.02