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Network Vision/LTE - Washington DC Market


dstrait

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I'm pulling some low LTE from my front porch in farmbrook now which wasn't happening a month ago. I'm getting anxious about the possibility of constant LTE at home

If you have decent broadband service at home, it will probably be better than LTE. Now that more and more people are getting 4G phones around where I live, the tower closest to me is at around 5-7mbps. I get 10mbps from my ISP so I just use that, along with wifi calling. Seems to increase battery life too when just connected to wifi.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

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I'm pulling some low LTE from my front porch in farmbrook now which wasn't happening a month ago. I'm getting anxious about the possibility of constant LTE at home

 

My suggestion is to not worry about getting LTE at home and use your home broadband provider. Sprint is practically giving away free Asus RT-AC66u routers if you call them and request one (it's called the Wi-Fi Connect) @ www.sprint.com/inhomecoverage 

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If you have decent broadband service at home, it will probably be better than LTE. Now that more and more people are getting 4G phones around where I live, the tower closest to me is at around 5-7mbps. I get 10mbps from my ISP so I just use that, along with wifi calling. Seems to increase battery life too when just connected to wifi.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

I spend a lot of time on the weekends in the back yard where i lose wifi all the time it would be nice to not lose my tunes when im grilling mowing grass or just enjoying the air
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I spend a lot of time on the weekends in the back yard where i lose wifi all the time it would be nice to not lose my tunes when im grilling mowing grass or just enjoying the air

 

^ See about getting the free high end Asus wifi router from Sprint in the link I posted above. 

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How much of DC downtown is complete at this point? I've been here a week and the sprint experience has been average. I'm still seeing a lot of 3G on my phone around the area and about half of that time there is no data available on 3G

 

Where in 'Downtown DC' are you? The golden triangle, federal triangle, metro center, Chinatown?

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm planning a trip to DC at the beginning of Nov. sometime. Anyone know how well the network is around Pennsylvania Ave. and areas around Capital Hill are? As well around Springfield Va area? 

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I get off the train in the morning at the Smithsonian Metro station which is right near the lawn and my service blazes along on B41 as long as I'm outside.  Where around Springfield?  Lots of B41 right around the Mixing Bowl and in the surrounding areas I've been to.

 

- Trip

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I get off the train in the morning at the Smithsonian Metro station which is right near the lawn and my service blazes along on B41 as long as I'm outside.  Where around Springfield?  Lots of B41 right around the Mixing Bowl and in the surrounding areas I've been to.

 

- Trip

 

Gonna prob end up getting a hotel near the Springfield Metro Station.

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Ah, well, the tower nearest to Franc-Springfield Metro has an 8T8R and there's plenty of B41 around.  The Metro ride (assuming you're Metro-ing into town) is mostly B41 at this point above ground, though near Potomac Yard you fall back to B26.  Underground at the stations you have Sprint 3G; in the tunnels it's Verizon 1X.

 

- Trip

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Ah, well, the tower nearest to Franc-Springfield Metro has an 8T8R and there's plenty of B41 around.  The Metro ride (assuming you're Metro-ing into town) is mostly B41 at this point above ground, though near Potomac Yard you fall back to B26.  Underground at the stations you have Sprint 3G; in the tunnels it's Verizon 1X.

 

- Trip

 

 

Ya def will be Metroing around beats driving around and finding parking and what not.

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Yup... I have to say that the Washington DC area is pretty well built out. Lately I am on LTE almost all of the time. Only rarely do I fall back to 3G.

 

Also, even in buildings I seem to mostly on LTE, or at least 3G in the interior areas.

 

As Trip mentioned, you should be fine. ????

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I am planning to move to Rosslyn in July for a new job.  Does Sprint 4G LTE have good building penetration over there?

No carrier can guarantee service indoors. Too many variables involved.

 

Your best bet is check nearest tower location on the premiere maps, the closer the tower the better the chances are indoor coverage is possible.

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I am planning to move to Rosslyn in July for a new job. Does Sprint 4G LTE have good building penetration over there?

Honestly I haven't been to Rosslyn in awhile, but in both DC and Virginia, I have gotten good signal in buildings with the 800 signal. So my guess is that the signal would be fairly good.

 

Except of course in the Rosslyn Metro. All mobile phone signal sux in the Metro, and the Rosslyn Metro station is the deepest in the system.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Honestly I haven't been to Rosslyn in awhile, but in both DC and Virginia, I have gotten good signal in buildings with the 800 signal. So my guess is that the signal would be fairly good.

 

Except of course in the Rosslyn Metro. All mobile phone signal sux in the Metro, and the Rosslyn Metro station is the deepest in the system.

 

Verizon and AT&T LTE is slowly making its way through each orange line station between Rosslyn and Ballston. I was taken aback by the speed of their deployment. Was this just a software upgrade for them?

 

Sprint does have native 1xRTT in the stations, so I wonder they all share a similar upgrade path since this must be legacy PowerWave equipment.

 

The tunnel remains a blackhole for all carriers.

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Wow.  I would hope Sprint follows along soon.  Just having better service in the stations would be a huge help, since I suspect most people spend more time on their phones while waiting at stations than on the trains.

 

- Trip

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I have yet to get LTE in an underground metro station. Mostly 3G (EVDO) and 1xRTT in the actual tunnel which usually switches to roaming on Verizon

Yup, same here. I haven't gotten LTE either. I don't even 3G consistent in the stations either. Occasionally I also do get 1xRTT, roaming on Verizon, but it is spotty at best.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I feel like it's been better lately but still not perfect.  There have definitely been times when I've been in there and there is no data period.

 

- Trip

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I just happen to be in Reston VA, visiting a friend, and because I because I had some time to waste I decided to do a speed test and I was blown away by the results that I got!

b0c9190ee41e1816baff57b9d8951903.jpg

 

Looks like CA is live out there...

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I have actually been working very hard on my personal SignalCheck database this weekend and found not only the second Clear carrier I already knew about in several places I hadn't noticed it before, but I've found second carriers on 8T8R sites as well which I didn't notice live.  All of this was in my database and I just hadn't seen them when they were picked up live, probably because I was driving at the time.

 

- Trip.

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Looks like CA is live out there...

 

There's no way to tell from this speed test. The speeds fall within the range for a single carrier Band 41 speed test and also the device he is using is not CA capable.

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