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

[oneslimguy_83]

On 4/21/2018 at 9:35 PM, chris92 said:

Bunch of juicy details about the QC in the Premier Thread ?

All my money is tied up right now, I'm in the process of moving... Once I get settled into my new place, I will make a donation to become a sponsor. Anything you can tell me in the meantime, with out violating board rules, would be great!!!

[billyjoejimbob]

It's been awhile since I followed what Sprint had going on in the Quad Cities, but I just recently got my wife an unlocked Moto G6 and switched her to Sprint.  She says that her phone basically doesn't work inside most stores that she goes to (likely data service specifically), etc...   I had assumed that Sprint's B26 800mhz would have helped in-building coverage.  What does Sprint have on B26 in the Quad Cities, 1x/3g only?   On the bright side, the data speeds seem fine outdoors, driving around town, etc... Anyone able to recap where Sprint is in the Quad Cities regarding frequency usage etc?

Thanks!

[billyjoejimbob]

Looks like Sprint is currently upgrading site DM03IP579 to tri-band antennas.   Anyone know what the status is on Sprint's and SpeedConnect's 2500mhz usage in the Quad Cities?   

[billyjoejimbob]

So Sprint upgraded the towers around me in the Quad Cities to tri-band antennas a few months ago.  On recent speedtests I've been getting around 60mbps for download speeds which is a gigantic improvement over Sprint's historical speeds in this region.   Upload is under 10mbps though.  I have to assume the huge increase in speed is due to the B41 coverage in this area.  Anyone know how much spectrum on B41 they can use in the Quad Cities now?  For a long time I think Speedconnect had license to most of it, but I don't know what the current status is.

Thanks!

Edited July 3, 2019 by billyjoejimbob

[chris92]

Yeah so Speedconnect and Sprint initially did some swaps back in middle of 2017 - mostly Sprint got SC's E, F, and H block for their BRS2 (and probably some money).  Last year, it looks like SpeedConnect let their Blackhawk College lease expire for the C and D block, and Sprint picked those 2 up, so now they are sitting pretty well with 100MHz+.  At their current configuration, it seems like they are only using the F, H, and G-blocks.  I haven't seen any C, D or E spectrum used around here yet.  

Almost all the sites are using 3 B41 carriers, but only a couple sites I've seen have really great speeds (Southpark Mall site I've got 100+).  They must still have limited site backhaul for most of them.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cHdOzM5i-Jy5HtqGrqvukOSDlbfFPbLhVWfxcgR4Ljw/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

 

[billyjoejimbob]

Thanks Chris92 for the info, that sounds like great news as far as Sprint's potential capacity goes in the Quad Cities.  I'm actually considering getting rid of my cable internet at home and just using the Sprint cell phones I currently have, which have 50GB of hotspot data per phone.  Sprint has really come a long way compared to not long ago in this area when Sprint's typical speeds were under 1mbps.

[oneslimguy_83]

I've seen 15x15 band 25 in places in Davenport and Moline where there is no band 41 coverage as well

Edited August 16, 2019 by oneslimguy_83

[Mr.Nuke]

On 7/9/2019 at 11:34 AM, chris92 said:

Yeah so Speedconnect and Sprint initially did some swaps back in middle of 2017 - mostly Sprint got SC's E, F, and H block for their BRS2 (and probably some money).  Last year, it looks like SpeedConnect let their Blackhawk College lease expire for the C and D block, and Sprint picked those 2 up, so now they are sitting pretty well with 100MHz+.  At their current configuration, it seems like they are only using the F, H, and G-blocks.  I haven't seen any C, D or E spectrum used around here yet.  

Almost all the sites are using 3 B41 carriers, but only a couple sites I've seen have really great speeds (Southpark Mall site I've got 100+).  They must still have limited site backhaul for most of them.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cHdOzM5i-Jy5HtqGrqvukOSDlbfFPbLhVWfxcgR4Ljw/edit?usp=sharing

 

It looks like that in addition to SpeedConnect letting leases drop, a few months after this post Sprint outright took control of the BRS they had been leasing from SC as well as assuming the lease on the EBS A block that SpeedConnect had.