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

[jeffcarp]

Mediacom is very active on Twitter. They provide some of the best support on Twitter for residential customers of any company I've ever seen. Maybe we should start to "vocalize our anxiousness" a little on Twitter? @mediacomcable

[Mr.Nuke]

Mediacom is very active on Twitter. They provide some of the best support on Twitter for residential customers of any company I've ever seen. Maybe we should start to "vocalize our anxiousness" a little on Twitter? @mediacomcable

No need to on multiple grounds. Des Moines is doing pretty well all things considered. You have access to the sponsor map and if you want to continue this discussion in greater detail we can in in the Nebraska Iowa sponsor thread...

 

That said, pending GMO's and whether they will or won't get LTE in current configurations and getting the more recent LTE accepted sites actually broadcasting (we still don't know the holdup here) there really aren't that many more sites to go in Des Moines.

[sweyers]

Launch doesn't mean anything. Des Moines had enough coverage to launch last month. I'm all but certain it will launch in the next round.

 

BTW, Sprint/Samsung has moved faster in the Central Iowa market than almost any other. Your the envy of all the nation. Save maybe Omaha.

 

Robert

 

Good. I know launch means nothing, it's just a psychological thing proving that Sprint is acknowledging us . That way when people look up the Sprint LTE cities list on their site Des Moines would be listed, swaying them toward Sprint. Good thing for all involved.

 

I agree they moved rapidfire fast around here, lighting up everything practically overnight. Still you have to remember we never got any WiMax and 3G here was every bit as awful as any major metro for a longer period of time since we were further down their LTE deployment list than those cities.

 

Sprints work IS done is Iowa. Every single site has been converted to Samsung equipment. The entire hold up is on backhaul providers to deliver backhaul to sites in order to fire up LTE services. This is mostly out of Sprints hand.

 

Also don't even complain about being in last place considering the progress of your market. Several multi million pop top 50 metros still haven't even got the basic NV 3G upgrade or equipment installations. 

 

What top 50 market hasn't had site installs yet? I'm actually curious. I'm not bashing Sprint or this site, I like them both, but we do have four other carrier choices in this area (VZW/ATT/TMO/USCC) and there's no denying Sprint has been very far behind all of them in the data speed department for too long around here. Hell, many LTE towers that are up are under 1mbps in West Des Moines because too many people are connected to the LTE towers when there are 3G only towers closer to them. That's why I really want to see Sprint finish up around here.

 

Your anger is misguided at this point and should be directed to mediacom.  As lilotimz said, every Sprint site in Central Iowa has been upgraded to the new NV equipment. At this point the limitation of a site being 4G or not is whether or not has fiber backhaul. Getting fiber to the site is the responsibility of the backhaul provider. 

 

AGREED. Actually forgot about who can provide the backhaul around here, Mediacom is a TERRIBLE company in multiple respects. To be fair though, All other carriers around here seem to have much less of an issue on consistency in the backhaul department, likely because they wait until everything is done before they light it all up at once. Take VZW's LTE launch in 2011 for instance, one day the entire metro was dark, the next day pretty much every tower had LTE.

[lilotimz]

What top 50 market hasn't had site installs yet? I'm actually curious. I'm not bashing Sprint or this site, I like them both, but we do have four other carrier choices in this area (VZW/ATT/TMO/USCC) and there's no denying Sprint has been very far behind all of them in the data speed department for too long around here. Hell, many LTE towers that are up are under 1mbps in West Des Moines because too many people are connected to the LTE towers when there are 3G only towers closer to them. That's why I really want to see Sprint finish up around here.

 

San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Seattle, Denver, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Richmond, and Pittsburgh just to name a few.  

[sweyers]

San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Seattle, Denver, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Richmond, and Pittsburgh just to name a few.  

Wow. Sorry major cities I forgot about looking through the launched list...especially San Francisco... 

[Cubbiefan82]

Good. I know launch means nothing, it's just a psychological thing proving that Sprint is acknowledging us . That way when people look up the Sprint LTE cities list on their site Des Moines would be listed, swaying them toward Sprint. Good thing for all involved.

 

I agree they moved rapidfire fast around here, lighting up everything practically overnight. Still you have to remember we never got any WiMax and 3G here was every bit as awful as any major metro for a longer period of time since we were further down their LTE deployment list than those cities.

 

 

What top 50 market hasn't had site installs yet? I'm actually curious. I'm not bashing Sprint or this site, I like them both, but we do have four other carrier choices in this area (VZW/ATT/TMO/USCC) and there's no denying Sprint has been very far behind all of them in the data speed department for too long around here. Hell, many LTE towers that are up are under 1mbps in West Des Moines because too many people are connected to the LTE towers when there are 3G only towers closer to them. That's why I really want to see Sprint finish up around here.

 

 

AGREED. Actually forgot about who can provide the backhaul around here, Mediacom is a TERRIBLE company in multiple respects. To be fair though, All other carriers around here seem to have much less of an issue on consistency in the backhaul department, likely because they wait until everything is done before they light it all up at once. Take VZW's LTE launch in 2011 for instance, one day the entire metro was dark, the next day pretty much every tower had LTE.

VZW lte launch was a lot easier, they didn't have to put it on every tower right away due to being on 700mhz. Also verzion used a lot microwave to connect to tower or towers that did have fiber back haul.

[cerebasan]

I have a question. I'm not sure if it needs to be in the sponsor section or not. I didn't think my moto X had band 26, only band 25. I took a ##DEBUG# and under LTE it says the band is 26.

1) isn't band 26 the better/more useful one to have?

2) could it be a fluke that my phone say it's b26?

3) my BID is one of those in question on the sponsor map. does this help at all?

[lilotimz]

I have a question. I'm not sure if it needs to be in the sponsor section or not. I didn't think my moto X had band 26, only band 25. I took a ##DEBUG# and under LTE it says the band is 26.

1) isn't band 26 the better/more useful one to have?

2) could it be a fluke that my phone say it's b26?

3) my BID is one of those in question on the sponsor map. does this help at all?

The motor X has a broken engineering screen that reports false b26. It's a b25 only device and that's it.

[cerebasan]

Thank you!

 

Sent from my XT1056 using Tapatalk

[cerebasan]

DES MOINES IS LAUNCHED! I SAY, DES MOINES IS LAUNCHED!!!!!!

[gostallion]

Launched, what we have been waiting for!    wonderful except i haven't seen 800 cdma since 55018 PRL came out, even when the 1900 (band 25) got so weak the call dropped out!  any ideas?

[Justindcarter79]

Pretty rad, we are official !

[Justindcarter79]

Do you guys know if the G2 has all three lte bands unlocked now ?

[gonkwr]

Do you guys know if the G2 has all three lte bands unlocked now ?

Yes, all have been unlocked for a while now. The ZVA update brought Spark capability and an ugly spinning icon. ZVC is the newest which is Kit Kat.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

[Justindcarter79]

Has Sprint started the LTE 800mhz upgrades yet ? I'm not talking specifics, just in general.

[cdk]

Has Sprint started the LTE 800mhz upgrades yet ? I'm not talking specifics, just in general.

 

Yes.

[cerebasan]

When our LTE speeds are slow, like now I'm getting .64 dl and .84 upload, is it better to switch to 3g?

[gnoj]

When our LTE speeds are slow, like now I'm getting .64 dl and .84 upload, is it better to switch to 3g?

 

Could be. Only way to know for sure is to try. Latency does tend to remain lower on LTE, however.

[cerebasan]

I'm hoping that when sprint starts throttling data in June some of this will go away.

[cerebasan]

Speeds are great downtown today after being terrible yesterday. Today's speedtest was .82ms ping and 5.53 down.

[gilly]

I'm sitting a block from the Marriott on Jordan Creek Pkwy and I get really bad reception.  I thought that tower was upgraded?  I get a very low 3G signal.  Even when I get a few bars, I can't get to the internet off and on (mostly off).  Anyone else having that issue near the Marriott in West Des Moines?

 

That goes for inside the building as well as outside.  Outside is slightly better, but not full bars and just 3G and still get can't establish data connection errors quite frequently.  Very frustrating!

[bmoses]

I'm sitting a block from the Marriott on Jordan Creek Pkwy and I get really bad reception.  I thought that tower was upgraded?  I get a very low 3G signal.  Even when I get a few bars, I can't get to the internet.  Anyone else having that issue near the Marriott in West Des Moines?

 

without saying too much in the non-sponsor area, this is one of several towers around the area that have been 4G accepted but are not broadcasting 4G yet. we don't know why they aren't broadcasting or when they will, but that would explain what you are seeing. If you want more detailed info post in the sponsor thread and i can answer more in there.

[sweyers]

without saying too much in the non-sponsor area, this is one of several towers around the area that have been 4G accepted but are not broadcasting 4G yet. we don't know why they aren't broadcasting or when they will, but that would explain what you are seeing. If you want more detailed info post in the sponsor thread and i can answer more in there.

Ugh that explains the bouncing around for data in that area. Quite strange that it's accepted but not on actually, as I would think that would be one of the last areas around here to be backhaul challenged...

[dave99]

For a while last month they were repainting the marriott, perhaps that slowed down some of the wiring up on the roof. 

[Mr.Nuke]

For a while last month they were repainting the marriott, perhaps that slowed down some of the wiring up on the roof. 

I doubt it. Running fiber to a site on top of a building is inherently more difficult and time consuming than running it to a base station on the ground.