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

[MidwestDrummer]

Was hoping for something on the south side of town (56th & Hwy 2ish), but I suppose it's still progress nonetheless.

 

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[qualitymove]

Close but no addition to latest round of markets.

 

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-turns-up-4g-lte-in-41-more-locations-expands-lte-coverage-to-151-markets.htm

Edited July 30, 2013 by qualitymove

[4starcashier]

I'm surprised Sprint is even investing in Omaha/Lincoln...Verizon should just buy all the Sprint and AT&T towers and battle it out with U.S. Cellular, because that's all Nebraska cares about, obviously.  Sprint should invest in Des Moines more!

[though]

4starcashier

uhhh

[Dkoellerwx]

I'm surprised Sprint is even investing in Omaha/Lincoln...Verizon should just buy all the Sprint and AT&T towers and battle it out with U.S. Cellular, because that's all Nebraska cares about, obviously.  Sprint should invest in Des Moines more!

 

Sprint is investing in their entire network, so it wouldn't make sense to leave anyone out. 

 

It's actually a good possibility that Sprint will by out US Cellular in the next couple years if the direction the industry has been going lately is any indication.

[4starcashier]

 Yeah I know lol...most of the time, whenever I encounter anyone from Nebraska, all they ever have is Verizon Wireless (a.k.a. the Devil)...so odd that there isn't a T-Mobile market in Omaha/Lincoln, also.

 

BTW, any action on the Nextel towers out there in Eastern Nebraska?  Not just Omaha/Lincoln, but Grand Island, Norfolk, Columbus, etc....the cities remaining with the additional infamous iPCS 1xRTT towers??? 

[Frizzlefry]

A big reason why Verizon has such a large footprint in Nebraska versus Sprint is that they've actually been investing in their equipment here and so in the rural areas there tends to be better reception and less bandwidth issues.  Especially when you compare that to Sprints TERRIBLE 3G speeds here.

 

Couple that with the fact that Cox bundles "their" wireless service which they run through Verizon with cable/internet and they pull down even more customers.

 

But everyone I know that has Verizon is getting tired of them.  Apparently they charge quite a bit more than Sprint and their customer service has been slowly going downhill.

[gr8nuguy]

7th tower accepted in lincoln! (northeast lincoln) 

[gr8nuguy]

2 more sites accepted in omaha as well

 

 

Omaha and lincoln locations are posted in the nebraska thread in the sponsor area

[MidwestDrummer]

7th tower accepted in lincoln! (northeast lincoln) 

Boo! Need more in the south part of town.

[keilatan]

I was so thrilled to be driving down Hwy 275 past Valley to see my 4G light up. The boyfriend was driving so I quickly started surfing the web to check out the speed. I was so excited I couldn't think, so I completely forgot to do a speed test. I know it's just a test tower, and I've heard of people all over town reporting 4G popping up occasionally, but it now feels like the time is really here! After paying for 4G on 3 phones for 4 years, I'm so happy that I'll finally be able to use it, soon.

[sprint_omaha74]

How do I become a sponsor of this site? What's the status of 120th & L in Omaha?

[Mr.Nuke]

I was so thrilled to be driving down Hwy 275 past Valley to see my 4G light up. The boyfriend was driving so I quickly started surfing the web to check out the speed. I was so excited I couldn't think, so I completely forgot to do a speed test. I know it's just a test tower, and I've heard of people all over town reporting 4G popping up occasionally, but it now feels like the time is really here! After paying for 4G on 3 phones for 4 years, I'm so happy that I'll finally be able to use it, soon.

Welcome to the board.  You can get a pretty idea of where coverage is currently available here.

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint

 

Sensorly is an app on the phone that reports back to Sensorly when LTE is available and produces the map. 

[Mr.Nuke]

How do I become a sponsor of this site? What's the status of 120th & L in Omaha?

Information on becoming a sponsor is located here.  http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1195-information-about-s4gru-sponsorship-levels-and-how-to-become-a-sponsor/

 

 

Your second question is something you'd have better access to as a sponsor. 

[keilatan]

The top speed I was able to acquire was 6Mbps, with an average of 2Mbps. What should I expect to see when the 4G towers turn on permanently and testing concludes?

[Dkoellerwx]

The top speed I was able to acquire was 6Mbps, with an average of 2Mbps. What should I expect to see when the 4G towers turn on permanently and testing concludes?

 

When sites are activated, that generally means testing at that particular site HAS concluded. Sprint is activating each tower as work completed. This is a little different than the way other carriers do it. They typically wait until a whole region is complete before allowing access to the network. Sprint on the other hand, lets you use the new network as soon as the tower is ready. This does mean that you will see islands, splotches of LTE, and it will not be continuous coverage. But, the thinking is that anything is better than the current 3G EVDO network.

 

Speeds can approach 30Mbps on a good connection. However, that is very signal dependent. With a speed of 6Mbps, it sounds like you had a rather weak signal. Once the entire network is complete (it won't be for many more months) you should see speeds average between 6 and 10Mbps in most locations. Closer to cell sites, or with good signals, you will see peaks of 15-25Mbps. 

[scottm48]

Another tower is live in Omaha.

[mattgfx]

I briefly caught 4g at unmc in one of the research towers, I am on the 3rd floor, so idk if that makes a difference

[gr8nuguy]

Another tower is live in Omaha.

Where?

Sent from my HTC ONE from Tapatalk 2

 

 

[though]

Where?

Sent from my HTC ONE from Tapatalk 2

i think he is referring to the tower that went live last week...

[Mr.Nuke]

Yeah the August 3rd quote was from the day the last accepted tower went live.  He posted which tower it was simultaneously in the Sponsor's section. 

[Kd0ddu]

Talked to a tower crew manager yesterday all 114 towers are scheduled to be completed by November 3 2013

 

 

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[simplesam]

That's good news. I go there a lot. Did you happen to ask them about Lincoln as well? Or does the 114 include both areas? 5-6 months for town like Omaha seems like great work.

[Mr.Nuke]

Talked to a tower crew manager yesterday all 114 towers are scheduled to be completed by November 3 2013

 

 

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That seems slightly overly optimistic to me.  Assuming the 114 is for Omaha and Lincoln, and assuming that is accurate, there are 17 of the 114 complete.  97 left in 9 weeks.  That is about 11 a week.  We've been at 2 a week (one in Lincoln, one in Omaha) thus far.  I'd expect them to accelerate at some point, but 11 sites a week seems impossible based on the rate thus far.

[Kd0ddu]

He said they have 15 crews in the area

 

 

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