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Network Vision/LTE - Western & Central Pennsylvania Markets (Lancaster, Scranton, Erie, State College, Williamsport)


jeremyandrew

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Lancaster is covered in LTE for the most part, the sprint rep that I talk to always tells me about the CA in the area and I also check things myself. b26 is all around some areas have b41 and plenty of b25, I rarely drop to 3g unless I'm really in the middle of no where.

I hope Ephrata and New Holland are not in the middle of nowhere. LTE out of here is more symbolic sort of like a thousand points of light / 333.

I fall back to 3G all the time out here. The Ephrata Walmart is a prime example of very poor service even in the parking lot.

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I hope Ephrata and New Holland are not in the middle of nowhere. LTE out of here is more symbolic sort of like a thousand points of light / 333.

I fall back to 3G all the time out here. The Ephrata Walmart is a prime example of very poor service even in the parking lot.

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well the sprint rep that I'm buddies with says that ephrata is covered, can't speak on new holland, and the occasional times I went to ephrata I had LTE, and towards east earl I had b41 LTE

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well the sprint rep that I'm buddies with says that ephrata is covered, can't speak on new holland, and the occasional times I went to ephrata I had LTE, and towards east earl I had b41 LTE

 

What about Intercourse, Paradise, and Blue Ball?

 

;)

 

AJ

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Ha, Blue Bell, but I see what you did there.  I actually know a couple who lives in Paradise.

 

No, it is actually Blue Ball.  No kidding.

 

But is ice cream on your mind?

 

AJ

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No, it is actually Blue Ball.  No kidding.

 

But is ice cream on your mind?

 

AJ

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bell,_Pennsylvania

 

If there's a Blue Ball, PA too, I haven't heard of it prior to now, but Blue Bell is real (aside from the ice cream).

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well the sprint rep that I'm buddies with says that ephrata is covered, can't speak on new holland, and the occasional times I went to ephrata I had LTE, and towards east earl I had b41 LTE

I guess I can't argue with the map. There are some towers that are not yet upgraded. But as you drive through you will pull in LTE but depending where you stop you will lose it again. It just needs to be a bit denser and available at Walmart. Plus there's a large swath south of Route 23 that has a void of towers and barely supports 3G. It is kept alive by periphery towers.

Truly there is no lack of 3G towers they are just not dense enough and need LTE. I think they would make a great candidate for SMR800.

 

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bell,_Pennsylvania

 

If there's a Blue Ball, PA too, I haven't heard of it prior to now, but Blue Bell is real (aside from the ice cream).

 

Yes, it exists.  Blue Ball is on US 322, just northeast of New Holland.

 

The running joke goes something along the lines of "Before you reach Intercourse, you can go right to Paradise or left to Blue Ball."

 

Bird in Hand is also ripe for jokes.  I guess if you do not find your way to Intercourse but do not want to end up in Blue Ball, you might have to take matters into your own hand.

 

AJ

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What about Intercourse, Paradise, and Blue Ball?

 

;)

 

AJ

at first I thought you we're messing with me about talking to the sprint rep when I'm at work....but then I remembered those places really are around here (pa is weird) but nothing on those areas, I'll ask him, he's usually in the store quite often and he likes talking to me about the network, even tells me what areas actually have CA around here and what towers are done

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at first I thought you we're messing with me about talking to the sprint rep when I'm at work....but then I remembered those places really are around here (pa is weird) but nothing on those areas...

 

The strange place names are mostly a Lancaster County/Amish/Pennsylvania Dutch thing.  Yep, I may live hundreds of miles away, but I gots mad geography knowledge and skills.

 

;)

 

AJ

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The strange place names are mostly a Lancaster County/Amish/Pennsylvania Dutch thing.  Yep, I may live hundreds of miles away, but I gots mad geography knowledge and skills.

 

;)

 

AJ

 

You forgot one.  Technically it's not in Lancaster County but Virginville is not far away up past Reading.  So the full joke is you start by driving through Virginville and then turn at Blue Ball at which point you want to go through Bird in Hand and head towards Intercourse and Paradise is just down the road from there.

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DuBois off of I80 should get an honorable mention.

 

It is pronounced "doo-mahs."

 

What a dumass.

 

AJ

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DuBois off of I80 should get an honorable mention.

 

As should Climax here in Michigan....with Hell, just past I69.  (There used to be a sign on I94 which proudly announced that Climax was just a mile away.  Eventually, the sign was getting stolen so often they stopped replacing it.  So now you have to settle for a plain "Climax" exit sign with the arrow pointing to the upper right.)

 

Then over in Detroit, they have Exit 69 (of I75) being Big Beaver Rd.

 

And I get my landline/Internet from CTS....Climax Telephone System....which of course is based on Climax.  Can you image the phone sex that goes on over their hardware?

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DuBois off of I80 should get an honorable mention.

 

It is pronounced "doo-mahs."

 

What a dumass.

 

AJ

What's funny is that people I encounter that say they are from DuBois pronounce it "Dew Boyz" kinda like Latrobe is pronounced "Lay-trobe" and Versailles is "Ver-sail's". But then you get into Pittsburgh city limits and the French names are pronounced correctly - Duquesne, Chartiers, etc.

When I first moved here I heard that Western PA is also known as Pennsyltucky as in redneck central which is mostly true - but then again I'm from WV.

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What's funny is that people I encounter that say they are from DuBois pronounce it "Dew Boyz" kinda like Latrobe is pronounced "Lay-trobe" and Versailles is "Ver-sail's". But then you get into Pittsburgh city limits and the French names are pronounced correctly - Duquesne, Chartiers, etc.

When I first moved here I heard that Western PA is also known as Pennsyltucky as in redneck central which is mostly true - but then again I'm from WV.

I remember being corrected as a child referring to it as DOO-BWAH. We also have the same affliction for the French here in South Dakota. Our capital city Pierre is pronounced PEER.

 

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I have to say folks, haven't seen him in a few days, there was a new rep he was training last I spoke with him, so that might have something to do with it. Will still try to ask about some of the areas mentioned next time I get in touch with him though

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I will say though, the one thing that's starting to kill me with b41, just like in the wimax days, such a battery killer, my Nexus 6 is barely surviving because I'm on b41 all day. Now it could just be my phone or me but just wanted to throw that out there

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I will say though, the one thing that's starting to kill me with b41, just like in the wimax days, such a battery killer, my Nexus 6 is barely surviving because I'm on b41 all day. Now it could just be my phone or me but just wanted to throw that out there

Im on B41 all day as well, my battery life on my N6 averages just under 4hrs screen on time. Its probably your phone software causing issues. B41 definitely does not degrade battery, in fact, because its faster and takes less time to do task online it improves battery life considerably over 3G.

 

The reason battery was crap on wimax devices, was because it relied on a separate modem that sucked more juice.

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Im on B41 all day as well, my battery life on my N6 averages just under 4hrs screen on time. Its probably your phone software causing issues. B41 definitely does not degrade battery, in fact, because its faster and takes less time to do task online it improves battery life considerably over 3G.

 

The reason battery was crap on wimax devices, was because it relied on a separate modem that sucked more juice.

Gotcha, I stand corrected, hopefully 6.0 next week and the new deep sleep will make a huge difference

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What's funny is that people I encounter that say they are from DuBois pronounce it "Dew Boyz" kinda like Latrobe is pronounced "Lay-trobe"...

 

For the uninitiated, Latrobe, PA is the original home of the Latrobe Brewing Company and Rolling Rock Beer.  And Jim Gaffigan is a longtime S4GRU reference and favorite.  Well, about 15-20 years ago, a much younger Gaffigan did a series of TV spots for Rolling Rock.  A few are posted on YouTube, just not the one that I fondly remember.  The commercials seem to be a Gaffigan out fishing and ad libbing, as in the one I reference, he talks about the sound of "Old Latrobe," the literal Rolling Rock, an extraterrestrial rock "trobing" through space.

 

:P

 

AJ

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  • 3 weeks later...

I heard that Erie, Pa is in the process of converting the Hilltop rd tower to 1900mhz.  Data outages have become rampant in the past week or so and people are saying it's because they are working on adding LTE to the city.  Can anybody confirm?  Thanks in advance!

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I heard that Erie, Pa is in the process of converting the Hilltop rd tower to 1900mhz.  Data outages have become rampant in the past week or so and people are saying it's because they are working on adding LTE to the city.  Can anybody confirm?  Thanks in advance!

 

I have been able to confirm with one of my sources that Samsung is working on this site.  Samsung is working with Sprint on firing up B25 LTE on existing Ground Mount sites around Erie.  It is the test site, and once they figure out how to mitigate some integration issues, they will fire it up and expand to other GMO sites around Erie.  This is an exciting development.  Hopefully this will go well around Erie and can be expanded to more GMO sites in the Western PA market.

 

Another rumor heard is that Sprint will be converting some GMO's to full build around the Western PA market next year.  Where this occurs, Sprint can add B26 too.  The end of the W-PA embargo is nigh!

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I have been able to confirm with one of my sources that Samsung is working on this site.  Samsung is working with Sprint on firing up B25 LTE on existing Ground Mount sites around Erie.  It is the test site, and once they figure out how to mitigate some integration issues, they will fire it up and expand to other GMO sites around Erie.  This is an exciting development.  Hopefully this will go well around Erie and can be expanded to more GMO sites in the Western PA market.

 

Another rumor heard is that Sprint will be converting some GMO's to full build around the Western PA market next year.  Where this occurs, Sprint can add B26 too.  The end of the W-PA embargo is nigh!

This is VERY exciting!!  I appreciate you looking into this for me as well!  

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