Network Vision/LTE - Washington DC Market

[grapkoski]

Hello all - First post here but longtime reader in the DC area. Just wanted to share some recent findings in the area.

 

Within the past 3 days I've picked up band 41 in Gaithersburg near the Washingtonian Center/Rio Blvd, Greenbelt Metro Station and On H street between Union Station and 11st NE. Hopefully things keep going at this pace!

 

Welcome to S4GRU! It is nice to have another Washingtonian around here. Is the HTC your first Spark device?

[Mister305]

Welcome to S4GRU! It is nice to have another Washingtonian around here. Is the HTC your first Spark device?

 

Yes I've had the HTC Line up of devices since the EVO 4G WiMax so this is my first Spark phone. Thanks for the welcome! I also got some Band 26 & Band 41 around the Rhode Island Ave/Brentwood area recently. and some BC 10 in Laurel, MD off US 1/Baltimore Ave and Contee Rd.  I'm very excited for all these network improvements in the DC area. Its about darn time. 

Edited April 24, 2014 by Mister305

[kg4icg]

I'm using the Q10 so nothing but 1900 LTE for me but I noticed in DC last night around XM/Sirius building the SIgnal has increased a great deal and the thruput of the network is better. Was at the FedEx station there picking up my load.

 

 

[mc_gusto]

I'm using the Q10 so nothing but 1900 LTE for me but I noticed in DC last night around XM/Sirius building the SIgnal has increased a great deal and the thruput of the network is better. Was at the FedEx station there picking up my load.

 

 

 

 

 

What app is that for the Q10? My wife has one but haven't seen a speed test app yet.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[kg4icg]

It is called speed tester and is free in blackberry world.

[Harrison W]

Hello all - First post here but longtime reader in the DC area. Just wanted to share some recent findings in the area.

 

Within the past 3 days I've picked up band 41 in Gaithersburg near the Washingtonian Center/Rio Blvd, Greenbelt Metro Station and On H street between Union Station and 11st NE. Hopefully things keep going at this pace!

I'm glad you pick it up in Rio but once you enter the Kentlands it pretty much disappears. 3G has improved but in building signals are pretty much still non-existant

[jamess32]

Connected to Band 26 LTE in Vienna, VA this morning at the Vienna Inn.  No number but the signal strength according to the bars was fairly low, however it was very usable for data (no speed test but was downloading & uploading pictures)

[IamMrFamous07]

Still not sure what's hold up for Frederick MD...they should of had LTE a long time ago

[kg4icg]

The hold up was the City of Frederick.

[grapkoski]

Visited Frederick City for the first time this year and have to say, pretty cool place. Sad it took me this long to make it out there. Anyways, the 3G network was surprisingly reliable. The last time I drove through on my way to tubing it was pulling teeth for my phone to pull traffic data.

 

Looks like three more towers need to be accepted in the Frederick 'metro area,' not sure what is holding them up. Two of them are pretty rural. Hopefully, the landowners aren't slowing things down.

[IamMrFamous07]

Pulled band 26 in Germantown!

[IamMrFamous07]

Band 26 results in Germantown!

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qwm8ta1x1dwfkq/2014-05-08%2017.14.50.png

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ng85ybwoynulast/2014-05-08%2017.15.04.png

[jamisonshaw125]

Great speeds. Hope they stay that way.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

[kct1975]

Just thought that I would mention that last evening, in the lowest level underground D Level of the garage where I work in Tysons Corner VA, I was getting strong 3G signal via 800mhz. The speeds were actually very Fast!

 

Sent from my RCT6378W2

[rmorrisonva]

Just thought that I would mention that last evening, in the lowest level underground D Level of the garage where I work in Tysons Corner VA, I was getting strong 3G signal via 800mhz. The speeds were actually very Fast!

 

Sent from my RCT6378W2

 

I've noticed the same thing in the garage under the office in Tyson's where I work. PCS used to penetrate down to P1 (1st level underground, under 10+ story office building, it was marginal at best for voice and data simply didn't work. Now I get workable data down to P2 and voice to P3 on 1x800 service. I think the only other carrier that even remotely works down there might be ATT but they have a tower directly across the street I believe. Note that I've noticed the 1x800 effect on my prior device (Galaxy Nexus) and now even more so with the far superior RF performance of my day's old Nexus 5.

[fubka]

It seems as though deployment in DC has stalled.  I went from a WiMax to LTE and WiMax has better coverage.

[rmorrisonva]

Warning folks... resist the urge to feed the trolls, it only makes them think that you actually care!

[ggalmin]

Just yesterday in Frederick, in the middle of my house on the Sprint 3G with 2 bars,I ran a speed test and shocked and chagrined I pulled 1.44 Mbps down and 0.57 Mbps up with a ping of 75 ms....

 

Typical speeds are around .3 kpbs download with a 900-1000 ms ping response...

 

Still not LTE in site for Frederick City area, but much improved. 

[jamisonshaw125]

Just yesterday in Frederick, in the middle of my house on the Sprint 3G with 2 bars,I ran a speed test and shocked and chagrined I pulled 1.44 Mbps down and 0.57 Mbps up with a ping of 75 ms....

 

Typical speeds are around .3 kpbs download with a 900-1000 ms ping response...

 

Still not LTE in site for Frederick City area, but much improved. 

The benefit of good 3g. I was at a friends house the other night and I was on the fringe zone for LTE and pocketed my device... I picked up a strong 3g signal and it latched onto that. I had a steady 2 mb down with a ping below 100 ms. Perfectly usable for everything I was doing on my smart phone at the time...

 

I think that everyone has become so accustomed to shitty 3g, that they've forgotten that it's fairly decent and completely suitable for most data activities. Except of course downloading large apps and stuff like that. But normal web browsing, a video here and there, text messages for iMessage people. Perfect! 

[rmorrisonva]

I actually find good EVDO can even give HSPA, and sometimes HSPA+ a run for it's money, at least latency wise.

[kg4icg]

i was getting some good results in Walkerville yesterday while sitting at Lonza getting loaded.

[kg4icg]

 

New York and Florida Ave NE DC

[ggalmin]

 

New York and Florida Ave NE DC

So are you saying Walkersville area is getting LTE turned on in places?

 

NVM - Saw the line under this that said it was not in Walkersville...

Edited May 19, 2014 by ggalmin

[kg4icg]

No, same market, 2 different areas. What I was showing was DC has improved in thruput, and what I said about Frederick is that it is getting better with the 3G thruput improving. They are still building out in Frederick despite the delays of the City of Frederick.

[zippychance]

Pulled B41 via spark on my N5 once at the new Trader Joe's on 14th and again at M and 19th NW. Signal wasn't great inside the store, but I'm just happy to know B41 is moving thoughout DC.