Network Vision/LTE Market - West Iowa/Nebraska Market (Omaha/Council Bluffs/Lincoln)

[gr8nuguy]

great job who ever is doing sensorly in lincoln. if someone has time, can you see how far east it will go?

[tracer]

I decided to stay with Sprint.  I'm going to add another line to my business contract and upgrade one phone to an iPhone 5 Friday.  I'm looking forward to enjoying the LTE service in Omaha/Bellevue/Papillion as it becomes available over the next month or two.

 

I have a question unrelated to LTE, towers, etc. if I may:

 

Do you guys have Applecare+ for your iPhones or use Sprint's $11/month insurance?  I have multiple Apple computers and have always had AppleCare for them and they've always taken care of any issues quickly and never given me any hassle on claims.

 

For the phones the price is significantly different since AppleCare+ is only $99 plus $49 per incident vs. $11/month for Sprint's plan.

I'm thinking the AppleCare will probably serve my needs and save me money?

 

Thanks,

Tracer

[mrrogers1]

great job who ever is doing sensorly in lincoln. if someone has time, can you see how far east it will go?

 

From my Sensorly mapping and LTE Discovery use the fringe is hwy 77 North and I80. If you look at these locations I just grabbed tonight, I got the LTE hits bit it was so weak it didn't even register on the phone network icon. That GPS location is right at the 56th street exit and there is nothing east of 77, at least not on 80.

 

 

I'll get more tomorrow night as I'll be driving back into town in should get some good details then as I'll be taking I80 all the way to hwy 77 south and into town. I may be able to grab the furthest West.

 

Sent from my HTC d3rpONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[4GforMe]

great job who ever is doing sensorly in lincoln. if someone has time, can you see how far east it will go?

 

What you see is what there is. I went out Pioneers and Old Cheney the other night and those results show up on Sensorly. I didn't perform a run to the east on Van Dorn, but I'd imagine that between 98th and 112th is about the extent. Still not bad. If you're on a hill crest you'll be good. If a valley, maybe. After 112th it dropped, and I think that the Stevens Creek watershed is pretty flat further east so you're not likely to get any further than what I've mapped.

 

Having stated all that, I haven't bothered to make a run out O Street or A Street, so maybe if I'm feeling inspired I give those two major arterials a shot. I'd imagine the coverage is about the same. 112th Street will be the furthest east it's likely to stretch.

[mrrogers1]

Just as an update to what I found in Lincoln, there really isn't much more along I80. 56th exit and just a tad bit between there and 9th Street exit. I did Sensorly it though so nothing to add for now.

 

Sent from my HTC d3rpONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[Mr.Nuke]

Valley Tower from Highway 275. 

[iScReAm612]

I am in Omaha, NE and Sprint very recently(in the past 4 weeks) set up 2 towers, one right by my work. YAY! Anyways, when i upgraded my phone yesterday the Sprint rep said it was just installed and is in a "beta testing stage" and may more may not come offline intermittently.

 

Question: For anyone that had a 4g tower in 'beta' stages and now its up fully functional, how long does it take for them to fully complete this stage?

 

As you can see below, im getting around 4-5mbps steady download. Although its rather slow for 4G, I am insanely satisfied because I can stream HD youtube, browse anything internet related, etc without any problems. I did have a couple hiccups on a HD video, but everything is mostly great.

 

[iScReAm612]

Sorry for such a large image, i wasnt sure  how to edit it on this forum

[digiblur]

It's not in beta stage. If it is on and you can connect to it then it is upgraded. Your speedtest is dependent on the LTE signal strength which your bars do not show.

 

Download the SignalCheck app to see the real LTE signal strength in your status bar.

[BPHusker]

Hopefully more towers get flipped on soon. I'd be ecstatic if I could get just 3G speeds at Village Pointe.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[iScReAm612]

It's not in beta stage. If it is on and you can connect to it then it is upgraded. Your speedtest is dependent on the LTE signal strength which your bars do not show.

 

Download the SignalCheck app to see the real LTE signal strength in your status bar.

 

SignalCheck showed about 53% signal strength.. is 4-5mbps pretty average for sprint LTE? My friend has AT&T and he gets about 20mbps average

[BPHusker]

I'm in Kansas City this weekend and one speedtest I ran showed 30Mbps

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[S4GRU]

 

 

 

It's not in beta stage. If it is on and you can connect to it then it is upgraded. Your speedtest is dependent on the LTE signal strength which your bars do not show.

 

 

Download the SignalCheck app to see the real LTE signal strength in your status bar.

 

 

SignalCheck showed about 53% signal strength.. is 4-5mbps pretty average for sprint LTE? My friend has AT&T and he gets about 20mbps average

With 53% signal strength, I'd say that is around normal. However, a measure in dBm RSRP would be better for us to equate. What is your friends signal with 20Mbps. He probably is using a fully deployed network.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[iScReAm612]

With 53% signal strength, I'd say that is around normal. However, a measure in dBm RSRP would be better for us to equate. What is your friends signal with 20Mbps. He probably is using a fully deployed network.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

My Phone:

RSRP: -106dBm(15asu)

RSRQ: -11db, SNR: 18.2db

 

My Friends Phone (AT&T) and his is showing about 60-70ish percent strength

 

RSRP: -99dBm(19asu)

RSRQ: -8db, SNR: 17.2db

[mrrogers1]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not in beta stage. If it is on and you can connect to it then it is upgraded. Your speedtest is dependent on the LTE signal strength which your bars do not show.

 

 

 

 

 

Download the SignalCheck app to see the real LTE signal strength in your status bar.

 

 

 

 

SignalCheck showed about 53% signal strength.. is 4-5mbps pretty average for sprint LTE? My friend has AT&T and he gets about 20mbps average

With 53% signal strength, I'd say that is around normal. However, a measure in dBm RSRP would be better for us to equate. What is your friends signal with 20Mbps. He probably is using a fully deployed network.

 

 

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

Since we're "kinda new" to this new fangled thing called LTE what does signal strength vs distance from tower look like? I understand being closer doesn't mean better but I'd just like to get an idea (if it's even known).

 

I hadn't seen anyone mention that particular app until today so I'm gonna add that to my LTE tools folder. Robert, is there a tool that measures dBm RSRP that you recommend?

 

Sent from my HTC d3rpONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[WiWavelength]

With 53% signal strength, I'd say that is around normal. However, a measure in dBm RSRP would be better for us to equate. What is your friends signal with 20Mbps. He probably is using a fully deployed network.

 

And AT&T has a relatively puny PCS 1900 MHz based footprint in Nebraska.  Unfortunately, Omaha is outside the top 50 markets, so we have not seen any market share data.  But I would be willing to wager an educated guess that VZW is way out in front, Sprint is second, and AT&T is a distant third.  Cricket, USCC, and T-Mobile would make up the remaining market share, but T-Mobile operates only a license protection network and does not actually sell service in Nebraska.

 

Long story short, AT&T is operating a 10 MHz FDD LTE network in Omaha with likely fewer subs than Sprint.  So, with twice the carrier bandwidth and less loading, higher speeds on AT&T are likely.

 

AJ

[Nickel]

And AT&T has a relatively puny PCS 1900 MHz based footprint in Nebraska.  Unfortunately, Omaha is outside the top 50 markets, so we have not seen any market share data.  But I would be willing to wager an educated guess that VZW is way out in front, Sprint is second, and AT&T is a distant third.  Cricket, USCC, and T-Mobile would make up the remaining market share, but T-Mobile operates only a license protection network and does not actually sell service in Nebraska.

 

Long story short, AT&T is operating a 10 MHz FDD LTE network in Omaha with likely fewer subs than Sprint.  So, with twice the carrier bandwidth and less loading, higher speeds on AT&T are likely.

 

AJ

I can't speak for Omaha but in Lincoln, I actually think that AT&T might be fourth behind USCC. The GSM family doesn't have a very good build out in Nebraska, from what i've seen, so being able to have native coverage or roam on either Sprint or Verizon would be a big deal.

 

As much is it might make GSM fanboys mad, Nebraska is CDMA2000 territory. 

[digiblur]

 

 

With 53% signal strength, I'd say that is around normal. However, a measure in dBm RSRP would be better for us to equate. What is your friends signal with 20Mbps. He probably is using a fully deployed network.

 

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

My Phone:

RSRP: -106dBm(15asu)

RSRQ: -11db, SNR: 18.2db

 

My Friends Phone (AT&T) and his is showing about 60-70ish percent strength

 

RSRP: -99dBm(19asu)

RSRQ: -8db, SNR: 17.2db

A -105 or worse really isn't a good signal. I could see 5 megabit or so with that signal.

[iScReAm612]

can anyone confirm the exact location of my LTE tower? I am sitting at 144th and F st, so just a few blocks north of Q st

[BPHusker]

It's behind Gorilla Wash (I think that's the name) on off 156th and industrial.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[WiWavelength]

I can't speak for Omaha but in Lincoln, I actually think that AT&T might be fourth behind USCC. The GSM family doesn't have a very good build out in Nebraska, from what i've seen, so being able to have native coverage or roam on either Sprint or Verizon would be a big deal.

 

As much is it might make GSM fanboys mad, Nebraska is CDMA2000 territory. 

 

Oh, you are absolutely right.  Omaha has been an interesting case study for me for over a decade.

 

About 10 years ago, of any city in the world, Omaha may have had the greatest number of CDMA2000/cdmaOne networks:  Alltel (Aliant), VZW (US West/AirTouch), Sprint, Qwest, and Cricket.  Then, USCC acquired some PCS spectrum and even entered the fray.  But I am unsure whether USCC's entrance and Qwest's departure overlapped.  I think they did, in which case, Omaha had fully six CDMA2000/cdmaOne networks at one point.

 

Moreover, GSM did not enter the Omaha market until very late, circa 2002, with the original AT&TWS' GSM overlay, followed by T-Mobile's license protection network, circa 2003.  So, for a number of years, Omaha was a GSM black hole.  Even today, the best thing that GSM has going for it in Nebraska is only Viaero.

 

AJ

[iScReAm612]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is GSM? and what is CDMA2000?

[WiWavelength]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is GSM? and what is CDMA2000?

Well, one of the two is pronounced "jizzum."

 

AJ

[Sprke]

And AT&T has a relatively puny PCS 1900 MHz based footprint in Nebraska.  Unfortunately, Omaha is outside the top 50 markets, so we have not seen any market share data.  But I would be willing to wager an educated guess that VZW is way out in front, Sprint is second, and AT&T is a distant third.  Cricket, USCC, and T-Mobile would make up the remaining market share, but T-Mobile operates only a license protection network and does not actually sell service in Nebraska.

 

Long story short, AT&T is operating a 10 MHz FDD LTE network in Omaha with likely fewer subs than Sprint.  So, with twice the carrier bandwidth and less loading, higher speeds on AT&T are likely.

 

AJ

I think your pretty much right on, ATT LTE is very good in Omaha its not hard at all to hit high 50's download. Most I people I know in Omaha are on VZW followed by Sprint then by US Cellular. I just know a couple on AT&T. Tmobile is a joke with coverage, altho they do have 42MB rolled out and if your close to a tower you can get LTE like speeds.

[Nickel]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is GSM? and what is CDMA2000?

GSM, the way I used it, is referring to the 3GPP family of 3G technology. AT&T and T-Mobile are the two "GSM" carriers (or operators, for the people who try to avoid confusion) while Sprint and Verizon are using the 3GPP2's CDMA2000. Also if you someone say CDMA they are likely referring to CDMA2000 in the same way that if you see someone say GSM they are likely referring to UMTS (the HSPA family).

 

Although you could argue that none of this really matters any more because, as far as I know, the 3GPP2 is dead, joining forces with the 3GPP.