Network Vision/LTE - Washington DC Market

[Pillowsplat]

Not whinning and I have also been with Sprint since Sprint Spectrum days and a little Ericson always out rubber antenna. Say 1989. I'm a loyal customer. A good customer is the one who gives you feedback and a chance to correct your service.

I read the rules.

My comment was directed to the recent flurry of central MD comments. It's not whinning it's reality.

Results are what matter.

We had some great progress in the Baltimore / Washington / Shentel area. Results have diminished of late.

Could be a bunch of things.

You never know who reads these posts. Can't hurt to provide a pix with facts.

 

[rmorrisonva]

I'm sorry, I may have come off a little harsh. It's just that clearly Sprint understands the situation here and Network Vision is underway. Posting about the slow pace of upgrades here/there in the market is not likely to have any effect on when upgrades happen. I'm pretty sure Robert said before it's really more a matter of the contractors doing the work and not Sprint corporate per-se.

 

Understand and share some of your frustration but count yourself lucky not to be in nTelos areas like my family in Central VA. Their 3G is OK but they haven't even announced when/if LTE is coming to nTelos served markets.

 

I'm sure you will be speeding along on some wonderful LTE before too long, I can't wait for it either!

 

Cheers!

[mike656]

Just so you don't think we are whiners in Frederick.

 

Ouch, it was even worse on a demo iPhone at FSK mall I played with not long ago. It seems that testing is going on at least in the Ballenger Creek area, I keep an almost 11 year old VM Kyocera 2119b as a glovebox phone that would get a steady -98 dBm where I charge it. For a few weeks until recently it was in the -89 to -91 range, so maybe I was connecting to a RRU based site being tested.

Edited March 21, 2013 by mike656

[Pillowsplat]

No worries my wireless brother! We will have our network soon.

[rmorrisonva]

No worries my wireless brother! We will have our network soon.

 

Let there be... LTE!

[kg4icg]

I take it no one noticed that the purple on Sensorly has gotten closer to Frederick, Md.

[Pillowsplat]

I checked the Urbanna 4g a couple of weeks ago but someone must have caught the test signals cause I couldn't get a connection. It looks to be rocking now! Coming in from the west as well. Good news. I was beginning to think our crews went to a different market.

[blynch87]

I noticed LTE in the River Terrace NE neighborhood for the first time. It stayed on Benning Rd heading west until 17th Street before switching back to 3G.

[ferneau]

I'm really pleased to see the 4G rollout covering almost all of the Beltway and I-95 near the DC area - but there's still a big section of the Beltway (~7PM - 12PM on a clock face) as well as most of 270 which remain pretty Sprint 4G-free. Does anyone have estimates on these areas and whether or not these areas are specifically excluded for the time being?

[nahum365]

I'm really pleased to see the 4G rollout covering almost all of the Beltway and I-95 near the DC area - but there's still a big section of the Beltway (~7PM - 12PM on a clock face) as well as most of 270 which remain pretty Sprint 4G-free. Does anyone have estimates on these areas and whether or not these areas are specifically excluded for the time being?

 

They work on sites as they can. As soon as they get equipment, and the site is prepared (backhaul, permits, etc), they get to work. They'll get to those sites soon. They aren't excluded, I promise!

[kg4icg]

I noticed Frederick got a little faster in 3g today. Just for fun did a prl update on my note 2 in which it is now 55013 and I get this in the after noon in Fredrick.

[ferneau]

I know you're right but it's just so hard waiting. I diligently run Sensorly as I'm driving back & forth to work in FFX County, going through pockets of 4G happiness. Some day...

 

They work on sites as they can. As soon as they get equipment, and the site is prepared (backhaul, permits, etc), they get to work. They'll get to those sites soon. They aren't excluded, I promise!

[kg4icg]

I know you're right but it's just so hard waiting. I diligently run Sensorly as I'm driving back & forth to work in FFX County, going through pockets of 4G happiness. Some day...

I

 

I live in FFX County, and work in Loudon.

 

Herndon to Dulles everyday. Drive up to Frederick to Life Technology's pick up twice a day. On Fridays it differs from week to week.

[rmorrisonva]

LTE live in Tyson's area... got a signal near Fashion Blvd (north east facing building), tower seems to be towards McLean because I lose it on the Vienna side of our building. But still. yay!

[ferneau]

That's great - any chance you could run Sensorly and map that area a bit - if you haven't done so already. I don't see very much purple over in that area right now.

 

LTE live in Tyson's area... got a signal near Fashion Blvd (north east facing building), tower seems to be towards McLean because I lose it on the Vienna side of our building. But still. yay!

[rmorrisonva]

That's great - any chance you could run Sensorly and map that area a bit - if you haven't done so already. I don't see very much purple over in that area right now.

 

I would but Sensorly hasn't been playing nicely w/ my phone, after using it my baseband will act up sometimes and stop connecting to eHrpd (and by association, LTE) so I can't sorry :-( I have mapped a ton though in the past so I've paid my dues :-) For example, theres a spot out near the Bull Run Mtns off 15... that was me :-) Actually I was one of the first who started mapping in the District too, crazy to see how far we've come so fast!

[rmorrisonva]

Another observation: in Tyson's there is only one LTE site active (as far as I can tell) and it covers the area around the Mall, and tons of offices. At 2pm in the afternoon (When I would guess peak-traffic occurs) I am pulling sub 50ms pings and 2Mbps down/1.5Mbps up. Given the sheer saturation of the site and my sector I am impressed it's still operating at a half decent speed, as other sites go online these speeds will no doubt go up (as LTE traffic slides to adjacent sites). But for a "worst case" traffic situation it looks like NV is able to take it in stride.

[ferneau]

The only times I'm in 4G range is when I'm driving - not the time I need it. I can't wait to go into our local office (in Tyson's) to see if I get a signal...

 

Another observation: in Tyson's there is only one LTE site active (as far as I can tell) and it covers the area around the Mall, and tons of offices. At 2pm in the afternoon (When I would guess peak-traffic occurs) I am pulling sub 50ms pings and 2Mbps down/1.5Mbps up. Given the sheer saturation of the site and my sector I am impressed it's still operating at a half decent speed, as other sites go online these speeds will no doubt go up (as LTE traffic slides to adjacent sites). But for a "worst case" traffic situation it looks like NV is able to take it in stride.

[Zachthelizard]

I'm getting LTE at the intersection of Route 15 and 29 in the Gainesville area. It extends more or less from there south on 29 to New Baltimore (very weak and unusable signal though at that point) to almost where I-66 and Rt. 15 intersect. Going north on 29 it extends a bit into Gainesville but the signal doesn't make it to 66 from that direction, nor is it present in the shopping center off Linton Hall road (at least where I was, anyways). Don't worry, I ran Sensorly.

 

At the intersection of 15 and 29 I've gotten ~20 Mbps down, which is pretty good. I think it is a site very close to this intersection that's giving off this signal.

 

Also I've noticed a patch of LTE somewhere between Manassas and Centreville on 66. I also ran Sensorly here. By Centreville the signal was very weak and Pandora stuttered for a bit before it switched to 3G. I think it dies near Manassas on the west.

 

In Reston, the signal in our office hasn't been improved at all, and I don't get LTE even in all of our parking lot. I wonder if our building itself is going to be an NV cell site, as I can see a bunch of panels. I'd love to know if any are Sprint panels. Unfortunately I only have my phone as a camera, and it just doesn't get much detail.

[_Roosevelt]

I was riding the Red line home today from Farragut North to Fort Totten. I was getting a 3G signal at the Gallery Place Chinatown and Metro Center stations while I was on the train. Does anyone know if Sprint is deploying 4G small cells at underground metro stations as part of Network Vision?

Edited April 22, 2013 by _Roosevelt

[ferneau]

You said you were getting 3G signals but are wondering if they are deploying 4G, right? (just checking)

 

I was riding the Red line home today from Farragut North to Fort Totten. I was getting a 3G signal at the Gallery Place Chinatown and Metro Center stations while I was on the train. Does anyone know if Sprint is deploying 4G small cells at underground metro stations as part of Network Vision?

[_Roosevelt]

Yes I was wondering about 4G. I know Sprint has provided network service in some metro stations. Sorry if the post was unclear.

 

You said you were getting 3G signals but are wondering if they are deploying 4G, right? (just checking)

Edited April 22, 2013 by _Roosevelt

[ferneau]

No worries!

 

Although this is not an answer at all to your question - I would hope that Sprint finishes their above-ground roll-out before they push 4G to the Metro, but that's just my personal preference. I'm sure people that take the Metro every day would love the extra bandwidth.

 

Yes I was wondering about 4G. I know Sprint has provided network service in some metro stations. Sorry if the post was unclear.

[grapkoski]

No worries!

 

Although this is not an answer at all to your question - I would hope that Sprint finishes their above-ground roll-out before they push 4G to the Metro, but that's just my personal preference. I'm sure people that take the Metro every day would love the extra bandwidth.

 

I believe the underground NV upgrades will be completed as part of the current wireless network upgrade that the rest of the carriers are still working on... so maybe in 2017.

 

Anyways, I feel like any work in the District core has come to a complete standstill. I hope it is just backhaul issues and not the city slowing the process down.

[rmdashrf]

my wife works in bethesda and is constantly complaining about data speeds and dropping out. i looked on sensorly, there is a big hole there. hopefully they get something in there soon.