Network Vision/LTE - East Iowa Market (Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Dubuque, Waterloo/Cedar Falls)

[Fraydog]

Yeah. I don't understand why this market is so terrible with multiple carriers even with a population of 500,000 people.

1. iWireless sucks.

2. Someone else owns the B41 spectrum.

 

*sad trombone*

[billyjoejimbob]

The big 2 are fine in the Quad Cities. US Cellular is also fine in the Quad Cities, but I personally don't see why anyone would pick them when they're basically the same price as the other 2 carriers but with a much smaller network that got even smaller when they sold off their Chicago market to Sprint. With US Cellular drive an hour east of the Quad Cities and you're roaming (often at 1X data).

 

As has been mentioned in this thread, if Sprint would add some more towers it would probably help tremendously. There are many towers in the Quad Cities that the other carriers use that Sprint could co-locate on if they chose to, so it wouldn't even involve the trouble and expense of actually building a new tower. And unless I'm mis-reading Sprint's own coverage map, there are spots (albeit little) right in the main urban areas in the Quad Cities that are roaming coverage *boggle*

 

On the subject of 2500mhz, it does appear that Speedconnect is using their spectrum in the Quad Cities. Here is an article in the local newspaper about it.

 

http://qctimes.com/news/local/quad-city-providers-unveil-new-residential-broadband-services/article_4b3c61aa-50ee-5926-ae5a-35e98c57f453.html

Edited September 2, 2015 by billyjoejimbob

[Mr.Nuke]

http://qctimes.com/news/local/quad-city-providers-unveil-new-residential-broadband-services/article_4b3c61aa-50ee-5926-ae5a-35e98c57f453.html

Currently, SpeedConnect is advertising its LTEXtreme Internet, a 50- megabits-per-second service for $129.95 per month

[billyjoejimbob]

@Mr. Nuke>   Yeah, I'm with you on that reaction.  That just shows how much people hate the incumbent cable company who can give them decent speeds, and how little alternative they are given by the incumbent Telco who often cannot.

[bkco14]

@Mr. Nuke>   Yeah, I'm with you on that reaction.  That just shows how much people hate the incumbent cable company who can give them decent speeds, and how little alternative they are given by the incumbent Telco who often cannot.

Exactly.  We have 2 choices, ATT DSL with a max speed of 3-6 Mbps with a cap at 150Gb or Mediacom who is despised in this area and caps their plan at 250 Gbs (unless you want to pay more for a larger cap)

[bretton88]

Exactly. We have 2 choices, ATT DSL with a max speed of 3-6 Mbps with a cap at 150Gb or Mediacom who is despised in this area and caps their plan at 250 Gbs (unless you want to pay more for a larger cap)

But even Mediacom is cheaper than that. They're 75$ for 100mbps and that's with a 1TB cap and no discounts (so that's the highest price you pay). I think the reaction is more that SpeedConnect owns almost all the 2.5 ghz spectrum, so Sprint can't reasonably deploy Spark. That ad is one of the big reasons Sprint service sticks in the Quad Cities.

[bkco14]

Oh I agree that Mediacom is a lot cheaper than SpeedConnect's extreme service. I was agreeing with the post above where people will pay more for the same service if they don't like the business and I know people hate Mediacom. There are also many posts in this forum as a whole about people who wouldn't do business with ATT (even if their service is better than sprint) because they don't like the business practices.

 

I am also upset that this company bought up all the spectrum so Sprint can't have proper service in this area. We do need competition here in the wireless, TV, and broadband services though.

[bkco14]

Does anyone know if something is going on in the area? The CEO (support)Twitter account told me twice the B41 is in our area and I had to correct them, but I hope it means something is going on here.

[Mr.Nuke]

Does anyone know if something is going on in the area? The CEO (support)Twitter account told me twice the B41 is in our area and I had to correct them, but I hope it means something is going on here.

Nothing has changed in the Quad Cities. Sprint could deploy a single 15 Mhz band 41 channel only after the Wimax shutdown.

[bkco14]

what is the top speed of that and will it do much good?

[Mr.Nuke]

what is the top speed of that and will it do much good?

Just ball-parking it without running any calculations the usable speed is probably around 40 down* so roughly the same as the theoretical max for 25/26.  And yes that would help quite a bit if they choose to build the QC out. Just like the 20 Mhz channels everywhere else from a network management perspective you'd put everyone you could on the 15 Mhz channel which 1) provides them with a better experience than the current B25/B26 only setup and 2) improves the quality of service for people that cannot connect to Band 41 as the other bands are less burdened. Again though, we have no indication this will happen.

 

*Edit: Thanks to Tim, theoretical max is 60.3 Mbps in configuration 1 and 82.3 Mbps in configuration 2.

[bkco14]

so they need to wait until after Nov 6 if they are going to implement it here.  Could they already be doing work and waiting for Wimax to be turned off before flipping the switch to turn b41 on?  Or could they not do any work until wimax is offline?

[Mr.Nuke]

Could they already be doing work and waiting for Wimax to be turned off before flipping the switch to turn b41 on?  Or could they not do any work until wimax is offline?

They could be installing the equipment in advance of the Wimax shutoff date. It is on you guys that live there to figure out if it is happening. That said, again there is no guarantee that Sprint will deploy widespread Band 41 equipment in  the Quad Cities now or in the future.

[oneslimguy_83]

Look what I ran across late last night/early this morning in Rock Island, IL!!! Some good ol band 41! Of course, it's not live but it's definitely some tinkering going on in the wee hours of the morning!!!

[Dkoellerwx]

Look what I ran across late last night/early this morning in Rock Island, IL!!! Some good ol band 41! Of course, it's not live but it's definitely some tinkering going on in the wee hours of the morning!!!Screenshot_2016-01-25-01-27-20.pngScreenshot_2016-01-25-03-08-39.png

 

Have you checked the LTE engineering screen other times when you are connected to 3G? I think that might be just some of the idle values, and not indicative of an actual connection.

[oneslimguy_83]

This was actual the second night in a row that I seen this. The night before it happened so quick I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me so I didn't have time to screen shot. It usually happy as my phone switched from 3g to 4g. It would go from band 26 for a slot second then hit band 41. On this occasion, it sat parked for several minutes...

[oneslimguy_83]

Yes it's never done that before. It's would usually say idle as the value or "blank"

[oneslimguy_83]

Looking at the DL channel values they are on par with what has already been reported for band 41. I got two different ones. While the UL channels are the same as I usually get while on band 25. Could be nothing, but it's definitely giving me a glimmer of hope for February when they flip the switch off WiMax!!!

[Dkoellerwx]

Yes it's never done that before. It's would usually say idle as the value or "blank"

You may also be seeing your device scanning LTE channels. When I was in a roaming area this past weekend, I saw Band 2, 4, 5, 12, 25, 26 and 41 showing in the engineering screen as it scanned for different possible channels.

 

Or, there is a B41 signal somewhere near you. Until you see a valid download channel, assume it's a glitch.

 

Sent from my LG G4

[lilotimz]

You may also be seeing your device scanning LTE channels. When I was in a roaming area this past weekend, I saw Band 2, 4, 5, 12, 25, 26 and 41 showing in the engineering screen as it scanned for different possible channels.

 

Or, there is a B41 signal somewhere near you. Until you see a valid download channel, assume it's a glitch.

 

Sent from my LG G4

 

Band 41 doesnt neccesarily populate both download and upload channels on engineering screens. It depends on device model and if at that moment the device is using TDD time frames for uplink or downlink. 

 

Typically if its null values then both EARFCNs will be something invalid. If at least one is a valid EARFCN then there's something live. 

 

 

Look what I ran across late last night/early this morning in Rock Island, IL!!! Some good ol band 41! Of course, it's not live but it's definitely some tinkering going on in the wee hours of the morning!!! Screenshot_2016-01-25-01-27-20.png Screenshot_2016-01-25-03-08-39.png

 

 

Unluckily for you that is not Sprint.

 

Those center frequencies land smack dab in Speedconnect EBS holdings where they are doing home wireless broadband internet using LTE Band 41. 

[oneslimguy_83]

Band 41 doesnt neccesarily populate both download and upload channels on engineering screens. It depends on device model and if at that moment the device is using TDD time frames for uplink or downlink.

 

Typically if its null values then both EARFCNs will be something invalid. If at least one is a valid EARFCN then there's something live.

 

 

 

Unluckily for you that is not Sprint.

 

Those center frequencies land smack dab in Speedconnect EBS holdings where they are doing home wireless broadband internet using LTE Band 41.

I am aware of Speedconnect in the QC area, but if I remember correctly Clear had a large chunk of Davenport, IA and at least parts of downtown Rock Island, IL on there coverage map offering service before they were bought out by Sprint. I live not to far from downtown Rock Island, so I was thinking maybe I was picking up a tower from downtown Davenport. (I have no idea of any former Clear tower placement)

[oneslimguy_83]

Sorry, I'm using my phone to type this. Excuse any craziness that comes out when I type.

[lilotimz]

I am aware of Speedconnect in the QC area, but if I remember correctly Clear had a large chunk of Davenport, IA and at least parts of downtown Rock Island, IL on there coverage map offering service before they were bought out by Sprint. I live not to far from downtown Rock Island, so I was thinking maybe I was picking up a tower from downtown Davenport. (I have no idea of any former Clear tower placement)

 

No. EARFCNs don't lie. 

 

The 2 Clear sites were protection sites deployed to meet FCC buildout requirements. They were deployed to "protect" the 6 MHz (2618-2624 MHz) of total  spectrum clearwire is licensed there from being taken back by the FCC.

 

Speedconnect is licensed all the rest and uses it. No agreement whatsoever with Sprint have been discovered. 

[oneslimguy_83]

Oh okay... Well thanks for the clarification. I got excited for a second, we could definitely use some more bandwidth here.

[bkco14]

Yeah. It is brutal and don't see a light at the end of the tunnel since they don't much if any band 41 here. Which is sad since we have 500,000 people around here