Network Vision/LTE - Washington DC Market

[kg4icg]

I can attest to the DC area speeds, and sprint asked if I wanted a magic box for which is in my apartment up and running

[grapkoski]

It seems like something is happening to my home tower. Trying to get better pictures of it, but I'm just too far for anything but a blur on my iPhone. Over the weekend, we had sporadic LTE service go in and out. Speeds have slowed a bit, but now there are safety cones on the roof of the building where the equipment is.... fingers crossed.

 

Best shot I could get:

[runagun]

49 minutes ago, grapkoski said:

It seems like something is happening to my home tower. Trying to get better pictures of it, but I'm just too far for anything but a blur on my iPhone. Over the weekend, we had sporadic LTE service go in and out. Speeds have slowed a bit, but now there are safety cones on the roof of the building where the equipment is.... fingers crossed.

 

Best shot I could get:

 

Yay Finding Mimo.

[RedSpark]

Here are the speeds at Capital One Arena...

[RedSpark]

Story Link: https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Metro-wireless-service-available-in-two-thirds-of-tunnels.cfm

Yay! I hope they get service in the tunnels past the Dupont Circle Station on that branch of the Red Line soon.

[kct1975]

Good news for Silver Spring, MD
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Cool [emoji41] That is where I work!

Story Link: https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Metro-wireless-service-available-in-two-thirds-of-tunnels.cfm
Yay! I hope they get service in the tunnels past the Dupont Circle Station on that branch of the Red Line soon.

Finally!

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[Trip]

Yeah, I noticed it yesterday but was waiting to confirm today before posting that not only is there now service in the tunnel north of Braddock Road and the tunnel south of King Street, as this press release indicates, but I also see service in the yellow tunnel between Pentagon and the bridge.  The only part of my commute still missing service is the stretch south of L'enfant Plaza down to the bridge.

- Trip

[RedSpark]

https://www.rootmetrics.com/en-US/rootscore/map/metro/washington-dc/2019/1H

Ugh. Network speed coming up short again, but call performance as well? C’mon Sprint...

[Tengen31]

12 hours ago, RedSpark said:

https://www.rootmetrics.com/en-US/rootscore/map/metro/washington-dc/2019/1H

Ugh. Network speed coming up short again, but call performance as well? C’mon Sprint... 

I've seen that in other markets that have B41 and 15x15 B25. With all that BW what is Sprint doing wrong?

[Brad The Beast]

Just now, Tengen31 said:

I've seen that in other markets that have B41 and 15x15 B25. With all that BW what is Sprint doing wrong?

I think it's the lack of lowband. Band 26 speeds just kill them. 

[Tengen31]

I think it's the lack of lowband. Band 26 speeds just kill them. 

Doesn’t harm T-Mobile as B12 is only 5x5 also and B71 isnt deployed in some of these areas

 

 

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[RedSpark]

2 hours ago, Brad The Beast said:

I think it's the lack of lowband. Band 26 speeds just kill them. 

Lack of lowband in DC? I don’t think Sprint got worse necessarily. I think the other carriers could just be outpacing it.

@Trip @grapkoski

[Brad The Beast]

Just now, RedSpark said:

Lack of lowband in DC?

@Trip @grapkoski

They only have 5x5 of band 26 don't they?

[RedSpark]

1 minute ago, Brad The Beast said:

They only have 5x5 of band 26 don't they?

I believe so, but isn’t that the case everywhere except for areas where Band 26 is 3x3 instead?

[Brad The Beast]

Just now, RedSpark said:

I believe so, but isn’t that the case everywhere except for areas where Band 26 is 3x3 instead?

Yeah. 5x5 band 26 isn't enough. It's like the dumpster fire that is T-Mobile band 12 most places. It's also 5x5.

[RedSpark]

21 hours ago, Brad The Beast said:

Yeah. 5x5 band 26 isn't enough. It's like the dumpster fire that is T-Mobile band 12 most places. It's also 5x5.

I’m really curious what the voice performance drop off was from, because that’s ridiculous. What test device did they use? Was VoLTE enabled on it?

[Brad The Beast]

2 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

I’m really curious what the voice performance drop off was from, because that’s ridiculous. What test device did they use? Was VoLTE enabled on it?

From the Methodology page:

We select leading Android-based smartphones for each network during our device selection process. During the device selection process, RootMetrics benchmarks device models to determine the best commercially available phone model from each network in order to capture the best possible user experience for data, call, and text usage on each particular network. Benchmarking models before testing also helps remove limitations that can be caused by specific model/network interactions.

[Paynefanbro]

It's not the lowband, it's their upload speeds that will always kill them in independent testing like this. The exception is PCMag who weighs upload speeds way less than download speeds.

[RedSpark]

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

It's not the lowband, it's their upload speeds that will always kill them in independent testing like this. The exception is PCMag who weighs upload speeds way less than download speeds.

Ok. That’s true.

But what explains the substantial drop off in Call Performance?

[Paynefanbro]

Just now, RedSpark said:

Ok. That’s true.

But what explains the substantial drop off in Call Performance?

I honestly have no idea. It's not the norm in my experience. Has the drop in call performance been noticeable for you or do you think it was a fluke?

[RedSpark]

6 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

I honestly have no idea. It's not the norm in my experience. Has the drop in call performance been noticeable for you or do you think it was a fluke?

I’m on VoLTE and it’s been fine overall. A couple of call drops and one failed call which said “Call Failure”.

I think Sprint stayed where it was and the other carriers improved respectively.

[RedSpark]

Nice!

[grapkoski]

8 hours ago, RedSpark said:

I’m on VoLTE and it’s been fine overall. A couple of call drops and one failed call which said “Call Failure”.

I think Sprint stayed where it was and the other carriers improved respectively.

Ditto, but there was a period where VoLTE kept having issues in the DC area. Missed calls, etc. I wonder if they happened to be testing during that period.

[RedSpark]

25 minutes ago, grapkoski said:

Ditto, but there was a period where VoLTE kept having issues in the DC area. Missed calls, etc. I wonder if they happened to be testing during that period.

True. I’m curious what Test devices were used.

Does the S9 support VoLTE at this point? (I know the S8 and S10 do.)

If an S9 was used, it speaks to the state of Sprint’s CDMA Network during testing.

Otherwise if an S10 (or iPhone XS/Max) was used with VoLTE enabled, you’re spot on about VoLTE being launched. Otherwise, it was pulling the same CDMA.

[Tengen31]

True. I’m curious what Test devices were used.
Does the S9 support VoLTE at this point? (I know the S8 and S10 do.)
If an S9 was used, it speaks to the state of Sprint’s CDMA Network during testing.
Otherwise if an S10 (or iPhone XS/Max) was used with VoLTE enabled, you’re spot on about VoLTE being launched. Otherwise, it was pulling the same CDMA.

Still no VOLTE on the S9 or note 9

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