Network Vision/LTE - East Texas Market (Longview, Tyler, Texarkana, Shreveport, Monroe)

[Destroyallcubes]

I drove by the site in front of the mall on Independence dr. this morning to see If I could catch some Lte slipping lol but came up empty.....I saw the panels,rrus and all. Lets see what happens this week

That is the site where I saw the weird equipment! The door has been open to the cabinets, and I think it was either they were running new cable or possibly clearwire lte install? the weird piece of equipment was connected to either a legacy panel, or wimax

[Destroyallcubes]

I drove by the site in front of the mall on Independence dr. this morning to see If I could catch some Lte slipping lol but came up empty.....I saw the panels,rrus and all. Lets see what happens this week

Oh and those panels have been up since I started service with sprint, back in mid june. But there are workers playing with  wire near the panels

[djtrill]

Oh and those panels have been up since I started service with sprint, back in mid june. But there are workers playing with  wire near the panels

ook no one was up there this morning when I passed by but I bet they're testing it

[Destroyallcubes]

Yeah they might have it where no one can pick it up? if that is possible haha. If you can check tomorrow, I will check tomorrow and see if I see anyone.

[Destroyallcubes]

ook no one was up there this morning when I passed by but I bet they're testing it

Did you see any weird equipment on the side that is facing the mall, like in the middle of the building?

[djtrill]

Did you see any weird equipment on the side that is facing the mall, like in the middle of the building?

I couldn't get a good look because I was driving by

[Destroyallcubes]

I couldn't get a good look because I was driving by

Ah well if you pass by look near the middle of the site, and there is something laying on the ground with what looks to be wires running from it, kinda square shaped

[djtrill]

Ah well if you pass by look near the middle of the site, and there is something laying on the ground with what looks to be wires running from it, kinda square shaped

ok will do

[djtrill]

3g signal has been horrific the last 2 days. In the downtown area where I work I normally get 3 to 5 bars and since yesterday my bars have been none to 1 or 2 or roaming. Maybe its a sign of Lte coming

[Destroyallcubes]

3g signal has been horrific the last 2 days. In the downtown area where I work I normally get 3 to 5 bars and since yesterday my bars have been none to 1 or 2 or roaming. Maybe its a sign of Lte coming

I noticed the same. I called and they said the data and voice was down in the area. Said it should be fixed by today. It seems to be what happens when they are working on the tower

[djtrill]

I noticed the same. I called and they said the data and voice was down in the area. Said it should be fixed by today. It seems to be what happens when they are working on the tower

yea thats what I figured lets wait and see

[Destroyallcubes]

yea thats what I figured lets wait and see

yep for sure. Ive noticed some weird stuff lately in tyler. Hope it is coming soon!

[djtrill]

yep for sure. Ive noticed some weird stuff lately in tyler. Hope it is coming soon!

im willing to bet its coming real soon.my signal has never acted like this

[Destroyallcubes]

im willing to bet its coming real soon.my signal has never acted like this

yeah ive had a lot of voice and more data issued lately. And there are people eorking on a tower. The old panels have somr weird rectangular object attach to them right across from the mall

[Rwatts09]

I wanted to join this thread along with ya'll. I was doing some research to find out when AT&T is finally getting LTE in Tyler but have had no luck. Tyler and Longview are stuck without LTE. Its pretty funny looking at it on the map. No offense but if Sprint or T-mobile gets LTE in Tyler before AT&T I'm just gonna have to leave the big blue carrier. That would be a sad story. I do not own anything Sprint. I have a Verizon iPad running LTE and a T-mobile 4G HSPA+ hotspot pre paid device. I live near the UT campus. T-Mobile is the only carrier that has poor reception where i live. I have heard from many people in Tyler that Sprint is the worst in this area. I suppose this could be lack of towers or data? I've looked on the root metrics map that gives the rating and Verizon is #1 for this area. 

 

I'd be more than happy to check for ya'll if anything has been done or even take pictures. I'm a college student taking online classes therefore leaving me plenty of time in the day to swing by and get more information. Thanks Richard 

[Destroyallcubes]

I wanted to join this thread along with ya'll. I was doing some research to find out when AT&T is finally getting LTE in Tyler but have had no luck. Tyler and Longview are stuck without LTE. Its pretty funny looking at it on the map. No offense but if Sprint or T-mobile gets LTE in Tyler before AT&T I'm just gonna have to leave the big blue carrier. That would be a sad story. I do not own anything Sprint. I have a Verizon iPad running LTE and a T-mobile 4G HSPA+ hotspot pre paid device. I live near the UT campus. T-Mobile is the only carrier that has poor reception where i live. I have heard from many people in Tyler that Sprint is the worst in this area. I suppose this could be lack of towers or data? I've looked on the root metrics map that gives the rating and Verizon is #1 for this area. 

 

I'd be more than happy to check for ya'll if anything has been done or even take pictures. I'm a college student taking online classes therefore leaving me plenty of time in the day to swing by and get more information. Thanks Richard 

Well I have actually had all of the carriers. T-mobile is the worst I have ever seen. Once you get out of Tyler, it is gone, Their voice is terrible, and have horrible customer care/tech support. Sprint's voice is one of the best Ithink. And the 4g won't be 30+ megs all of the time, but who needs that on a smartphone. 

 

         But relating to AT&T they are waiting to flip the switch on when the verizon AT&T spectrum deal gets approved and switched over. Smith and Gregg counties only have 5 by 5 MHZ in 700 and AWS. So they are going to wait until they get 10X10MHZ to turn it on. AT&T has the best reliability , for me, I had no issues with them. Verizon I know I have had plenty of issues, and the voice was absolute terrible on an elite device. And once sprint gets to be able to use the 800 Spectrum service will be even better. I would say sprint is Doing well, considering they have not put in the same amount of money into the rollout and upgrades as the 2 Big giants

[Destroyallcubes]

Any one know what an LTE switchover is? supposedly it is what the people are working on right now. "ETA of this month" is what I have lastly heard. FIngers crossed

[djtrill]

Im sure Robert or one of the other Gurus will know what it is as ive never heard the term before

[digiblur]

Any one know what an LTE switchover is? supposedly it is what the people are working on right now. "ETA of this month" is what I have lastly heard. FIngers crossed

 

Sounds like when a site will receive backhaul for LTE.

[Destroyallcubes]

Sounds like when a site will receive backhaul for LTE.

Oh cause that is what they said is all that was needed for LTE to be turned on. Aren't 3g speeds over 1.5 already have the proper backhaul?

[Destroyallcubes]

Sounds like when a site will receive backhaul for LTE

Have you heard of cities or areas doing like a fiber  "ring" like connected an area with fiber, then it all going to a bigger "pipe" that goes to the headend?

[digiblur]

Have you heard of cities or areas doing like a fiber "ring" like connected an area with fiber, then it all going to a bigger "pipe" that goes to the headend?

It isn't really a ring per say. Just a redundant connection which is normal since they probably have a reliability agreement on the contract of the connection.

 

Connecting to a POP to a larger backhaul is normal as well as every ISP does this.

[Destroyallcubes]

It isn't really a ring per say. Just a redundant connection which is normal since they probably have a reliability agreement on the contract of the connection.

 

Connecting to a POP to a larger backhaul is normal as well as every ISP does this.

Ok that makes sense. I know for sure the 3g has dropped off recently, like the past few days. Used to be around 1.5 to 2.5, now it is barely .5 I have heard they are keeping some t1 lines active to sites as a backup. Sound right? If so I bet they are completing the rest of the backhaul and are using the T1 lines until the work is done?

[digiblur]

Ok that makes sense. I know for sure the 3g has dropped off recently, like the past few days. Used to be around 1.5 to 2.5, now it is barely .5 I have heard they are keeping some t1 lines active to sites as a backup. Sound right? If so I bet they are completing the rest of the backhaul and are using the T1 lines until the work is done?

 

Sites won't be immediately cut over to 3G even if the backhaul is there.  LTE will go first then later 3G will be accepted then actually later it will switched over.  Of course this is different per site.  For instance a site in my area was brought online as 4G back in May and a few days later 3G accepted as well, still today legacy is still doing its thing for EVDO.  To be honest I never noticed anything different with 3G speeds when LTE was in the process of being fired up.  It was slow all the time for most sites anyways though.  And in most cases the crews will try to not have any impact on legacy equipment unless they have to move it for some reason.  They are there to install the network in tandem with the legacy to cut things over as possible so no T1's are cancelled etc until the equipment is ready to be pulled.

[Destroyallcubes]

Sites won't be immediately cut over to 3G even if the backhaul is there.  LTE will go first then later 3G will be accepted then actually later it will switched over.  Of course this is different per site.  For instance a site in my area was brought online as 4G back in May and a few days later 3G accepted as well, still today legacy is still doing its thing for EVDO.  To be honest I never noticed anything different with 3G speeds when LTE was in the process of being fired up.  It was slow all the time for most sites anyways though.  And in most cases the crews will try to not have any impact on legacy equipment unless they have to move it for some reason.  They are there to install the network in tandem with the legacy to cut things over as possible so no T1's are cancelled etc until the equipment is ready to be pulled.

OK I was curious because some crew were messing with some legacy equipment and have a rectangular shaped box that had wires running to the legacy panels. Every since then the speeds have been weird, and jumping all over the place. I think the ones in tyler have been 3g accepted, but not LTE. I am thinking the LTE should go live very soon.