LTE on Sprint coverage map, not even eHRPD on my phone?

[userno69]

Hey guys. Question here. I live in Highland Park, IL (zip code 60035), and on the sprint coverage map, the whole area shows up as 4G LTE. There are a few small blips without it, but I zoomed in all the way and none are anywhere near my exact address.

 

Well, I just recently came home from school for the Thanksgiving holiday. My university is far south of Highland Park, in central Illinois. On the final highway stretch of the drive home, on I-294, my Galaxy Nexus was picking up a strong LTE signal. I ran a speed test and it was at 6mbps, while I was moving 75-80mph.

 

At one point it dropped to 3G, but I noticed that the mobile network showed up as eHRPD rather than EvDo, and it later went back to LTE. After I got off the highway though, and into the suburbs, and finally, my home, I am back at plain old slow 3G, EvDo. Nowhere in Highland Park have I noticed an LTE signal, not even eHRPD. It is always EvDo, despite the fact that the coverage map is indicating that the entire Chicagoland area is blanketed in LTE, as is my suburb, and all suburbs surrounding it.

 

Is there a reason I am not getting any LTE here? Is there some switch that is still waiting to be flipped, or is this indicative of how it is going to be permanently? I was under the impression that if I was in an LTE area, my 3G would at least be showing as eHRPD, but it is plain EvDo. I could be wrong on that one though.

[delta772er]

It's possible the site near your location has not been completed, not all of the sites in any given area are completed at the same time. If you're not picking up eHRPD I would generally think this is the case. The maps depict outdoor coverage (in excellent conditions, flat, tree-less, etc.), so does your device pick up LTE outdoors? Also, some people have found that they need to cycle through Airplane Mode to get their phone to pick up the service.

 

In the future, you should see signal strength at or near your existing 1X/EVDO levels when the rollout is complete.

[userno69]

Airplane mode cycling doesn't help. It's the same deal outside: EvDo.

 

So would it be correct to say that when the area is totally done, on an LTE device, I would always see at least eHRPD (no EvDo)? Or is that not right? Is it somehow possible that this is as good as it's going to get? Seems quite shady because virtually the entire city, and all surrounding cities appear as blanketed in LTE by the coverage map, and yet even outdoors I don't get anything besides plain old EvDo, with signal strengths the same as they always were (on the low side), everywhere in the city.

 

Also I was under the impression that the Network Vision upgrades were also going to have slightly boosted signal strength/quality from the pre-NV base stations?

 

I'm not even getting the boosted 3G speeds that I see a lot of people talking about. Same old slow 3G, sub 200kbps. This is all in contrast to the FANTASTIC LTE coverage I got on I-294.

Edited November 21, 2012 by userno69

[delta772er]

It's hard to say as I'm not familiar with that particular area, but it sounds like the tower you are connecting to has yet to be upgraded. The LTE and 3G upgrades will occur at all of the existing sites, but a market is officially launched when a sufficient number of sites in any given area are upgraded. Once a market it is launched it may take several weeks (or perhaps months depending on the size and geography of the area) to be 100% completed.

 

If you become a site sponsor you can access the maps of complete sites and maps of all of the sites to help narrow down your particular location.

[lynyrd65]

It could be the site is blocked, or your closest site is not 4G completed.

 

Also, Sprint has been vastly overstating their LTE coverage on their maps.

 

To be sure that the site near you is complete, you can make a donation to this site to see the sponsor maps which show completed sites.

[DetroitFlyer]

Yeah.... So you are saying that once again Sprint is telling lies about 4G coverage...? It has also been reported here that Eastern Michigan was to begin LTE work last month. So far, to the best of my knowledge, no one has confirmed any activity at all. If I lied to my customers the way Sprint does, we would be out of business. Just unreal to me that Sprint does not seem to care about those of us that were burned by all of the Wimax lies. As for me, I have chosen to remain with Sprint with the hope that I see LTE soon, but I would never sign a contract with these liars. If they fail me again, at least I can leave when my patience has worn out.

[S4GRU]

Yeah.... So you are saying that once again Sprint is telling lies about 4G coverage...? It has also been reported here that Eastern Michigan was to begin LTE work last month. So far, to the best of my knowledge, no one has confirmed any activity at all. If I lied to my customers the way Sprint does, we would be out of business. Just unreal to me that Sprint does not seem to care about those of us that were burned by all of the Wimax lies. As for me, I have chosen to remain with Sprint with the hope that I see LTE soon, but I would never sign a contract with these liars. If they fail me again, at least I can leave when my patience has worn out.

 

This is borderline ridiculous to say that Sprint lied. They want to convert all markets as soon as possible to Network Vision. Not only does it name customers happy, but it saves them operational dollars.

 

Any delays in Michigan are necessary, and not a choice to flip Michiganders the bird. To not be able to logistically do as they planned is not a lie. I suppose you could call it a failure. If you hadn't heard from S4GRU of when they were supposed to start, you wouldn't even know they were behind schedule there.

 

And if you don't like the fact that Sprint has failed to start in the Michigan market to date, you are welcome to leave and find another carrier. But you are not welcome to rant about it at S4GRU. Please consult our posting guidelines.

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1197-s4gru-posting-guidelines-aka-the-rulez/

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[koiulpoi]

Heh. Only people from Michigan use the term "Michigander".

 

I've honestly heard similar rants in-store where I work, and I really have trouble addressing them. People want to know "when are we getting 4g light? [sic]" and I tell them (truthfully) "work should be starting soon; we should see the first signs of it in the coming months." And then they go on a rant about how they were "lied" to about WiMax coming to our area (even though it was definitely never announced for the whole coverage map), and how they "know empty promises when they hear them". Even telling people (truthfully) that the plan is to put LTE on every tower, explaining how the technology works, seems to do no good. Most users here at s4gru seem genuinely hopeful and excited about LTE, and I am too. How do I help overcome objections people might have? My current strategy is "if they're going to churn no matter what, let them", as it doesn't lose me personally any money...

[DetroitFlyer]

 

 

This is borderline ridiculous to say that Sprint lied. They want to convert all markets as soon as possible to Network Vision. Not only does it name customers happy, but it saves them operational dollars.

 

Any delays in Michigan are necessary, and not a choice to flip Michiganders the bird. To not be able to logistically do as they planned is not a lie. I suppose you could call it a failure. If you hadn't heard from S4GRU of when they were supposed to start, you wouldn't even know they were behind schedule there.

 

And if you don't like the fact that Sprint has failed to start in the Michigan market to date, you are welcome to leave and find another carrier. But you are not welcome to rant about it at S4GRU. Please consult our posting guidelines.

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1197-s4gru-posting-guidelines-aka-the-rulez/

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

Which is precisely why I have not signed nor will I sign a contract.

[DetroitFlyer]

Heh. Only people from Michigan use the term "Michigander".

 

I've honestly heard similar rants in-store where I work, and I really have trouble addressing them. People want to know "when are we getting 4g light? [sic]" and I tell them (truthfully) "work should be starting soon; we should see the first signs of it in the coming months." And then they go on a rant about how they were "lied" to about WiMax coming to our area (even though it was definitely never announced for the whole coverage map), and how they "know empty promises when they hear them". Even telling people (truthfully) that the plan is to put LTE on every tower, explaining how the technology works, seems to do no good. Most users here at s4gru seem genuinely hopeful and excited about LTE, and I am too. How do I help overcome objections people might have? My current strategy is "if they're going to churn no matter what, let them", as it doesn't lose me personally any money...

 

My local store reps actually do something radical by Sprint standards.... They have started telling the actual truth! They will very clearly and accurately state that they do not know. As you said, maybe they lose customers that way, but it is far better than what many of us were told about Wimax which was always something like "soon" or "next quarter".

[jason0583]

So I'm confused, if I have good LTE in Indianapolis then lose it in the same spot my 3g is horrible, what's up with that?

[lynyrd65]

So I'm confused, if I have good LTE in Indianapolis then lose it in the same spot my 3g is horrible, what's up with that?

 

They either only turned on the NV 4G equipment on your site and you're connecting to the legacy 3G from the old parts or you're connecting to a stronger legacy 3G site.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[pyroscott]

My local store reps actually do something radical by Sprint standards.... They have started telling the actual truth! They will very clearly and accurately state that they do not know. As you said, maybe they lose customers that way, but it is far better than what many of us were told about Wimax which was always something like "soon" or "next quarter".

 

I really don't expect much out of sprint retail employees. Not that I am putting them down, but a lot of them are Sprint fanboys/girls that want to see WiMax, now LTE rolled out just as much as the customers. They hear a rumor and it spreads around the store. All of a sudden "WiMax will be here in weeks!" Who pays for the rumor? Sprint. Everyone gets mad at Sprint for "failing to deliver on their promise" when it was nothing remotely close to any semblance of a Sprint press release.

 

You can dismiss this as "fanboyism" or "making excuses for Sprint" but I am not invested in Sprint, nor am I employed by Sprint, so I have no vested interest here. I just know that in my work, I see a continuous flood of complete BS rumor and "barracks lawyers" that I continually have to debunk. Sprint never lied to anyone, rumors were started, either by employees, customers, internet bloggers, etc and we gobbled them up because we wanted to believe the rumors so badly...

[DaQue]

Your right, all Sprint said about Joplin is LTE is going to be available in the coming months. Its only been one and I fell like they let me down when they really didn't promise any that didn't happen. It still could and likely will meet what they said. I tend to read more of what I hope will happen into things than I should some times. My emotions said hot dang St Louis could get LTE in Dec 2012 but if you really look at what Sprint has said Dec 2013 would still meet or beat their stated rollout. I think part of it is because its some thing we want ASAP and it is not under our control or influence to speed it up.

[gusherb]

There is alot of LTE coverage around the Chicagoland area but they have a ways to go before having the coverage that the map shows. I don't know why they couldn't have shown a map that shows the current coverage, I guess they jumped the gun and showed future coverage since they are pretty much lighting new sites up every week.

 

Every week I find a place where I have coverage now that I didn't the other day, week before, etc. At this point the coverage in reality is more like swiss cheese in most places. The holes are filling in rapidly. I happen to be lucky, and live in Northwest Indiana, which is practically done, LTE live on every site nearby, just a few sites left here...

[aliensporebomb]

When I drove thru Chicago on my trip in mid to late October there were noticeable more LTE connections on the way back thru about a week and a day later. It couldn't have been an accident - they must have switched on more towers.

[mellimel2212]

Yeah lte is basically like 73% done here in chicago

 

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