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


sweyers

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Have the Jordan Creek Marriott issues been resolved? The last time I worked in the office (late May) it was still not broadcasting lte. Other than that things have been golden for me and my wife. Took a trip to Omaha a couple weeks back and had a lot of 4g on i80 and around CB & Omaha too.

 

It can always be "better" but compared to this time a year ago we've come a long way. Combined with "framily" pricing I can't imagine another carrier pulling me away from Sprint.

 

I'm looking forward to even better service when I'm able to afford moving to a triband phone.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Edited by dleewee
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I'm looking forward to even better service when I'm able to afford moving to a triband phone.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

that right there that i left in your quote, that will make a night and day difference in your experience around here :D B26 is basically blanketing des moines and it makes a world of difference! I have a work phone on verizon and i compare signals when i'm out and about, i haven't found a spot yet where my sprint signal has been worse than verizon. speedtests are about 50/50 as to who has the faster speed when i run them at the same time, but i rarely see speeds lower than about 3 meg, most of the time its 10+meg :D

 

as to the marriott, last time i was there B25 still wasn't working, but having a tri-band phone i was getting LTE from that tower ;) ;)

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Nice, that is one more reason to move to a triband device! The LG G2 is selling second hand for around $250 which I have my eye on. Also considered the Nexus 5 but I like the bigger battery and better camera of the G2. Was the Nexus ever spark enabled?

 

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*crickets* i'm guessing from the lack of posts in here it means that everyone is happy with the service and data speeds are amazing everywhere around des moines now ;)

I wouldn't go that far. The south side still has some coverage issues. And I only have an iPhone 5/Moto X combo so I'm not seeing b26. Sometimes data is still really bad but I've just given up.

Still....I enjoy the posts and the community here!

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Nice, that is one more reason to move to a triband device! The LG G2 is selling second hand for around $250 which I have my eye on. Also considered the Nexus 5 but I like the bigger battery and better camera of the G2. Was the Nexus ever spark enabled?

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

And rumor has it that B41 will be deployed around here by end of summer :)

 

Yep the N5 got its spark update finally a couple of weeks ago. I have the G Flex and love it and it's large screen. So I would be biased towards the larger screen of the G2 myself. You can't go wrong either way though!

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I wouldn't go that far. The south side still has some coverage issues. And I only have an iPhone 5/Moto X combo so I'm not seeing b26. Sometimes data is still really bad but I've just given up.

Still....I enjoy the posts and the community here!

 

and thats exactly why you need a tri-band device. All those places where you lose B25 and drop down to 3G because you went down a hill or some trees or buildings got in the way, with a tri-band device you now just seamlessly switch over to B26 and continue on your LTE merry way :)

 

the only places i run into issues anymore are the handful of towers that are either GMO, B25 isn't broadcasting for some reason, or B26 hasn't been optimized yet, but thats like 2% of the total towers in this area so its very minor.

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*crickets* i'm guessing from the lack of posts in here it means that everyone is happy with the service and data speeds are amazing everywhere around des moines now ;)

Nope, not happy in WDM.  I work right by the WDM Marriott (one block away) and I constantly get dropped data.  No 4G.  I live south of Fuller Dr just off of S. 35th St and I get spotty 4G from the water tower on 50th St.  Very frustrating to say the least!

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Nope, not happy in WDM.  I work right by the WDM Marriott (one block away) and I constantly get dropped data.  No 4G.  I live south of Fuller Dr just off of S. 35th St and I get spotty 4G from the water tower on 50th St.  Very frustrating to say the least!

 

i know its not the best answer, but assuming the phone you have listed is accurate, that's a huge part of the problem. the EVO LTE was one of the worst phones for 4G LTE ever made, I had that phone so i know just how bad it is. If you had a tri-band phone your experience would be much different.

 

There is an issue with the WDM Marriott not broadcasting B25 (LTE 1900) right now, but it is broadcasting B26 (LTE 800). the WDM water tower is broadcasting both bands, and from what i've seen, if you are having spotty 4G from an EVO LTE, you would have a much better experience with a tri-band phone, it would not only pick up B25 better, but you would get B26 which makes a world of difference.

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Thanks very much for that info!  I've had this phone for about 18 mths or so, so I may be qualified for a new one...I'll have to check that.  Is the Samsung S5 a good tri-band phone?

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yep, basically all of the top phones out right now perform about the same. The Nexus 5 is considered the best for RF performance, but any of them will work, Galaxy S5, LG G2, HTC One M8, Nexus 5, etc. I have the LG G Flex myself and love it, its a fantastic phone. 

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Has anyone in the Ames area noticed the terrible image quality through chrome or using the hotspot?  The images look pixelated like everything is being forced through a dumb down service on Sprint's end.  It was fine until a few weeks ago.  Here is post off the sprint forums to the issue:

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/144305

 

Of course I have gotten zero response from Sprint.

Edited by sarcoptic
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might want to check the WDM Marriott when you get a chance, 2 other towers that weren't broadcasting B25 that should have been started working today!

It appears to be broadcasting B25, I'll send you some screenshots to confirm.
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Has anyone in the Ames area noticed the terrible image quality through chrome or using the hotspot? The images look pixelated like everything is being forced through a dumb down service on Sprint's end. It was fine until a few weeks ago. Here is post off the sprint forums to the issue:

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/144305

 

Of course I have gotten zero response from Sprint.

Do you have the "reduce data usage" turned on in Chrome?

 

If not, what a weird issue. I hope sprint isn't getting stingy with the data.

Edited by dleewee
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Nope...this occurs in all browsers on my laptop which is connected via the hotspot.  Also I have a nexus 5, a friend has an HTC M8, and another a Galaxy S3...we are all experiencing the same issue.  

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Nope...this occurs in all browsers on my laptop which is connected via the hotspot. Also I have a nexus 5, a friend has an HTC M8, and another a Galaxy S3...we are all experiencing the same issue.

Try using a proxy on your laptop while connected to the hotspot, and on your phone. Also try visiting a site that uses https, such as Facebook. If that fixes the image compression then it's Sprint causing it.
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yeah i just started having this happen too, after some googling looks like its pretty widespread. sometimes forcing a refresh of the page will load in high quality images, but every page loads low quality images initially :(

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  • 4 weeks later...

it got converted from GMO to full build last week :) no LTE from it yet though, presumably just waiting for a LTE integration tech to make it this way to turn it on as fiber was run last year sometime.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have had great LTE experiences in Des Moines for the most part.  I can get LTE for the most part (except in Dillard's, where I'm glad they have Wi-Fi because service in there is unbearable for calling, even!)  at Jordan Creek, and I know the airport has height restrictions on their towers, so I get so-so data speeds at work (they are better than they have been!).  I know Sprint has bandwith limits set for Des Moines, because I can pull MAYBE 10MB down at the most during the day, and when I'm up in Boone or Ames, I flirt with 30MB down.  But really, I don't need more than 10MB down, so I'm okay with that.  

 

Overall, I'm happy I'm with Sprint still, and I use the iPhone 5S (i sold the HTC M7, as I know it wasn't the greatest LTE phone...), and are patiently waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Note IV to come out...but then again, both Apple and Samsung are featuring their respective press releases on the phones next month, so I'll see what happens!

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Just got done at the fair, and I had pretty good luck with data (uploading on Facebook, sending picture messages, etc.), and only when I was near the Indian 1800's area East of the Midway, I had a hiccup there.  The Sprint vendor at the Varied Industries Building said there is a COW but he didn't know where it was.  I only saw a U.S. Cellular one (go figure).

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Just got done at the fair, and I had pretty good luck with data (uploading on Facebook, sending picture messages, etc.), and only when I was near the Indian 1800's area East of the Midway, I had a hiccup there.  The Sprint vendor at the Varied Industries Building said there is a COW but he didn't know where it was.  I only saw a U.S. Cellular one (go figure).

 

NW Corner of the racetrack by gate 13

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