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Network Vision/LTE - Central Iowa Market (Des Moines and surrounding areas)


sweyers

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so at 5:40AM this morning as my alarm on my phone starts going off my alert for 1x800 (from signalcheck pro ;)) starts going off as well!!!!!!!

 

2013-08-06_05-41-30.png

 

it kept switching back and forth between 1900 and 800 about every 10 seconds. also picked it up a few times on my way into work. I have no idea where the tower is that i connected to as i don't recognize the BID, but i'm also assuming that the BID for 800 would be different than 1900 from the same tower? anyway, based on where i picked it up and the signal strength i had i'm guessing the tower is somewhere on the south west side of the des moines area.

 

so i'm at a loss of where the tower that's putting out this 800 signal could be. i don't recognize the BID from my normal travels and according to the 800 thread it should be the same as 1900 from the same tower. 

 

here is all the (rough) locations i was able to pick up the signal, all from that same BID of 2753

SnipImage.jpg

 

so as you can see thats a huge area!!! all weak signals though so it has to be far away somewhere. the screenshot from my phone with the -94 signal is from inside my house, all other connections where between -100 and -105. so i'm guessing its either north west somewhere, or south west somewhere. anyone out there that has an android phone install signalcheck and see if we can find where the tower with BID 2753 is!!!! :D

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Visited the Waukee towers today, since no one else seemed to be hitting the west side of town much. First one (grain elevator site), nothin'. Just like I expected. But then I hit the one at the baseball field and whaddya know, Samsung contractors were there! I think I was more excited to see them then they were to see me to be honest, being the inquisitive type I am haha. They told me they were supposed to be working on a site in Muscatine but got diverted to this one because their wiring was too short for that particular site. I told them that works for me :D. The picture of the trailer with a base cabinet in it was going somewhere in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area, this crew's next stop apparently. Anyway, new rack (top) with RRUs was mounted on arrival. Couldn't get a picture of the base cabinet because it was fenced in. US Cellular has also had LTE live on this tower for some time now, so I hope backhaul won't be too much of an issue in this particular location. 800 on this site too according to the contractors!

All I can say is YAY!!!!!!!

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Edited by sweyers
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Visited the Waukee towers today, since no one else seemed to be hitting the west side of town much. First one (grain elevator site), nothin'. Just like I expected. But then I hit the one at the baseball field and whaddya know, Samsung contractors were there! I think I was more excited to see them then they were to see me to be honest, being the inquisitive type I am haha. They told me they were supposed to be working on a site in Muscatine but got diverted to this one because their wiring was too short for that particular site. I told them that works for me :D. The picture of the trailer with a base cabinet in it was going somewhere in the Cedar Falls/Waterloo area, this crew's next stop apparently. Anyway, new rack (top) with RRUs was mounted on arrival. Couldn't get a picture of the base cabinet because it was fenced in. US Cellular has also had LTE live on this tower for some time now, so I hope backhaul won't be too much of an issue in this particular location. 800 on this site too according to the contractors!

All I can say is YAY!!!!!!!

2j34hug.jpg

2vn1hxd.jpg

aavyp2.jpg

Awesome!!!!! When you say 800 is on this tower do you mean they just have it installed or do you mean its broadcasting 800 right now? See my above posts, I'm picking up 800 from somewhere but I can't figure out where. Do you have signalcheck installed? Could you get the BID from that site?

 

Last question, did they say anything about LTE broadcasting, as in what's the hold up.

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Awesome!!!!! When you say 800 is on this tower do you mean they just have it installed or do you mean its broadcasting 800 right now? See my above posts, I'm picking up 800 from somewhere but I can't figure out where. Do you have signalcheck installed? Could you get the BID from that site?

 

Last question, did they say anything about LTE broadcasting, as in what's the hold up.

Pretty certain they just meant it was installed on this tower. It wasn't broadcasting LTE or anything when I got there, and probably wasn't broadcasting 800 either, but had no way to tell for sure since I don't have signalcheck installed (maybe I should though...) I can tell you it's the tower between Hickman and University on 156th/Boone Drive in Waukee if that helps you at all, it's in the little league field parking lot. Asked them about LTE, they just said all they knew was the hardware side of things and it sounded like they were getting sent all over the state. Are you referring the 4G accepted tower as to what's the hold up?

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Pretty certain they just meant it was installed on this tower. It wasn't broadcasting LTE or anything when I got there, and probably wasn't broadcasting 800 either, but had no way to tell for sure since I don't have signalcheck installed (maybe I should though...) I can tell you it's the tower between Hickman and University on 156th/Boone Drive in Waukee if that helps you at all, it's in the little league field parking lot. Asked them about LTE, they just said all they knew was the hardware side of things and it sounded like they were getting sent all over the state. Are you referring the 4G accepted tower as to what's the hold up?

 

thanks for the details. on the 1x800 (voice), i've been picking up a faint 1x800 signal today (see map above of locations i've picked it up) and i'm trying to figure out what tower its coming from. all i know for sure is its south and/or west of grimes. yeah for sure get the signalcheck app, it will at least tell you details about what you are connected to. the pro version ($2) will also play alerts when it connects to 1x800 or LTE (thats how i knew i got 1x800 this morning).

 

as to the LTE, i was just curious if they knew if something on the back end was still being worked on to explain why both the accepted towers, and even non-accepted towers that are complete, aren't broadcasting LTE yet. sounds like they are just installers that do what they are told (not a bad thing) so we will just keep waiting! maybe i'll try and go to the accepted tower tomorrow or thursday and see if its live now :)

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Just to let you all know that I'm getting 1xRTT service in my house and around town on my phone, my partner's EVO and my iPad with 4G LTE, so they are working on the towers around me! LTE before we know it! But just for fun I switched to my EVO 3D and the WiMAX tower by 8th St / 73rd St in Windsor Heights still works great...7.5mbps down and 1.5mbps up. Cross fingers for LTE by the end of the week!

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Guest mbrinson

I noticed this evening while over at the fairgrounds that Sprint had a mobile truck/tower set up by the tower thats on the NW corner next to the racetrack.

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So i was doing a little review of the sites that are in progress in central iowa. between the des moines metro area and going north to ames there looks to be about 110 (didn't count all of them, just guessing) total towers. 

 

So far i count 14 towers that have everything up to panels installed, 4 that have had base cabinets installed, 3 that only have fiber run to them, 5 that are GMO sites that have had equipment installed, and 1 4G accepted tower.

 

So that makes 27 towers that are in some phase of being done, or put another way, 25% of the towers around here have had some work done :D and this is only the ones people have been able to check, i'm sure there are more out there that no one has been able to check on yet, or are on a building or something and unable to tell if any work has been done. 

 

I guess my points to all of this are that the rate they are going it won't be too long before all the towers around here are done, and (hopefully soon) when they light up the ones that are done so far there will be quite a bit of LTE coverage off the bat :)

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i went out and about over lunch trying to find that damn 1x800 signal and so far am having no luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so anyone in the central iowa area i need your help! if you have an android phone install signalcheck (lite or pro) and while you are out and about see if you can find the tower with BID of 2753. i've picked up the signal from Grimes down to mills civic parkway and as far west as the tower by the baseball fields in waukee. the best signal i got was a brief -98 on the mills civic bridge over 35. all other were between -101 and -105. i'm thinking it has to be somewhere south, i just don't know where.

 

anyway, the good news i found while i was out was another GMO site gone full build! that makes 2 so far, so hopefully this will be a trend cause all the GMO sites around here would benefit greatly from 1x800 :)

 

IMAG0364.jpg

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I download the pro versIon of the app for my android. I will let you know if I find the bid.

 

At my house on the south side about a mile from blank park zoo shows 219 e. Kenyon ave. Bid 1682 rssi -88 dBm

 

At work on walnut st. It shows 1521 harriet st. Bid 977 rsi -86 dBm

 

At my mom's house by plaza lanes bowling alley it shows neal smith trail Bid 1489. Rsi -93 dBm

Edited by dmaul3300
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I download the pro versIon of the app for my android. I will let you know if I find the bid.

 

At my house on the south side about a mile from blank park zoo shows 219 e. Kenyon ave. Bid 1682 rssi -88 dBm

 

At work on walnut st. It shows 1521 harriet st. Bid 977 rsi -86 dBm

 

At my mom's house by plaza lanes bowling alley it shows neal smith trail Bid 1489. Rsi -93 dBm

 

awesome! thanks for looking out for those! hopefully we can figure out where the 1x800 is coming from :)

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FROM MINNESOTA

 

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Sprint 4g in Owatonna, Mn. Put this as you background so you can pretend you have 4g.

 

This is incredibly funny, as I was in Owatonna just a few hours before you were!  I was at Starbucks there and I was pulling about 15 megs a second....*drool*.  There's 4G in parts of the suburbs, and when I go outside my hotel, I have full 4G bars, but in my hotel room, I have 3G but it has 2MB dl speeds, so i'm not complaining too much.  Was getting HORRIBLE 3G when I was in Austin.  I think the whole I-90 corridor sucks, I bet.

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OK all, i have finally found the source of my 1x800 signal! its coming from one of the 3G accepted towers south along interstate 35.

 

i've also done a little screenshot of the area i've picked up the signal from.

 

image001.jpg

 

the X down south is where the tower is, the circle is the furthest i've gone in all 4 directions and picked it up, usually i have to be somewhat elevated with a clear line of sight to the horizon, and the signal is usually between -105 and -100. at the furthest point it was just over 30 miles from the tower, that is a freaking huge range!!!!!

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