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

[bmoses]

There's now LTE in North Ames as well. Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Sweet! Can you post any engineering screenshots?

[whatfield]

 

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[dlphnfn]

I'm very south Ames, but was getting signal.

 

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[bmoses]

uploadfromtaptalk1390519798786.jpgSent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Thanks, from the dialer can you type in ##33284# Then when it asks for a password enter 777468 then go to the lte engineering screen and post a screenshot showing the serving cell? That will tell us if its new or not, thanks!

[whatfield]

 

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[bmoses]

uploadfromtaptalk1390521261006.jpg

 

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Yep that is a new one!!!!

[bmoses]

I'm very south Ames, but was getting signal.

 

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This one is new too!!!!

[dleewee]

Checking the sponsor thread every morning to see the new acceptance report is one of my favorite parts of the day. Skipping a couple of trips to Starbucks and donating to this site instead is a heck of a good deal.

 

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[bmoses]

I'm very south Ames, but was getting signal.

 

 

 

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hey, do you mind sharing what the closest intersection you were at when you took these screens? i'm trying to figure out what tower this is coming from because serving cell 11 doesn't fit our pattern we have going in the spreadsheet. i have a guess as to what tower it is but need your location to help narrow it down, thanks!

[AjkayAlan]

Hi there!

 

First of all I wanted to thank all of you - while this may be my first post, I have been following this thread for a long time, and the consistent updates from the community always keeps me informed.

 

I encountered a weird signal issue today - I was downtown by 4th + Walnut and picked up LTE, so I ran a speedtest. My speed were quite slow so I decided to check my signal... My phone was showing I had virtually no signal, but signal check said I had a solid connection.

 

 

My LTE Engineering screen showed something completely different...

 

 

-85 dBm vs -112dBm. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

[bmoses]

Hi there!

 

First of all I wanted to thank all of you - while this may be my first post, I have been following this thread for a long time, and the consistent updates from the community always keeps me informed.

 

I encountered a weird signal issue today - I was downtown by 4th + Walnut and picked up LTE, so I ran a speedtest. My speed were quite slow so I decided to check my signal... My phone was showing I had virtually no signal, but signal check said I had a solid connection.

 

 

 

My LTE Engineering screen showed something completely different...

 

 

 

-85 dBm vs -112dBm. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

 

hello and welcome! assuming your phone you have listed in your profile is correct (and its not the nexus 5) that would be your answer. the older nexus is notorious for reporting invalid LTE connections, or reporting them at full strength (to third party apps) when they aren't.

[AjkayAlan]

hello and welcome! assuming your phone you have listed in your profile is correct (and its not the nexus 5) that would be your answer. the older nexus is notorious for reporting invalid LTE connections, or reporting them at full strength (to third party apps) when they aren't.

 

Good to know! It makes sense - looks like I need to just look at my engineering screens when accessing towers.

[bmoses]

Good to know! It makes sense - looks like I need to just look at my engineering screens when accessing towers.

 

also, for right now, there is only one tower with LTE live covering downtown. so speeds will be slow no matter your signal strength until more come online to help share the load

[whatfield]

 

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[dlphnfn]

hey, do you mind sharing what the closest intersection you were at when you took these screens? i'm trying to figure out what tower this is coming from because serving cell 11 doesn't fit our pattern we have going in the spreadsheet. i have a guess as to what tower it is but need your location to help narrow it down, thanks!

I was actually leaving work heading home to Ankeny on 69. Not that I would get all geeked out and take a bunch of screenshots when I'm driving though...

 

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[gr8nuguy]

Good to know! It makes sense - looks like I need to just look at my engineering screens when accessing towers.

what ever you do, PLEASE DO NOT USE SENSORLY  (until you have a different device)

[Mr.Nuke]

what ever you do, PLEASE DO NOT USE SENSORLY  (until you have a different device)

I wish I could talk to whoever is doing so in Omaha...

[Mr.Nuke]

I was actually leaving work heading home to Ankeny on 69. Not that I would get all geeked out and take a bunch of screenshots when I'm driving though...

Thanks for the additional information.

[gr8nuguy]

I wish I could talk to whoever is doing so in Omaha...

what might help is if who makes the app would do a minor update and have a message pop up saying for people with galaxy nexus not to map trips 

[dlphnfn]

Will the call quality get better in central Iowa? I don't talk much on my phone, so I don't drop much. My wife talks A LOT! She drops a lot of calls too. She lets me hear it! :-)

She wants to switch carriers now. It's that bad. Few months ago, no drops. I live just north of the water tower in Ankeny about a mile. She drops calls walking from room to room. No joke. I'm not complaining. I'm looking for sound advice from you guys - the experts. :-)

I'm all about the speed outside my home. She's all about the call quality.

 

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[dlphnfn]

Thought about it some more... She has an HTC LTE. Maybe that's part of the prob. I'm looking for legit feedback. I don't mind Sprint at all. Right now, she minds it! LOL

 

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[SturgeonGeneral]

Will the call quality get better in central Iowa? I don't talk much on my phone, so I don't drop much. My wife talks A LOT! She drops a lot of calls too. She lets me hear it! :-)

She wants to switch carriers now. It's that bad. Few months ago, no drops. I live just north of the water tower in Ankeny about a mile. She drops calls walking from room to room. No joke. I'm not complaining. I'm looking for sound advice from you guys - the experts. :-)

I'm all about the speed outside my home. She's all about the call quality.

 

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I don't know where the water tower is, but have you looked at the maps here in the sponsors area yet?

(Don't discuss specifics in the non-sponsor areas)

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4711-nebraska-iowa-market-spreadsheets-and-maps/

 

 

There isn't much coverage up that way but the map shows the towers' locations and their status.

Sensorly indicates about the same but there hasn't been much mapping done by users.

 

I'll do some as I get out that way this summer to visit relatives.

 

http://sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=Ankeny%2C+IA%2C+USA

 

Short term, there is no Sprint solution for home connections.  AirRave is a disaster more often than not.  Use a wireless phone on your landline.

Have you had her try your phone to see if it has a more stable voice connection when out and about?  It may be a matter of upgrading to a better phone with the lowband frequencies with better structure penetration.  I don't know what the HTC units have.

 

The S4T might be an option for you to upgrade to for the triband LTE and give her your old S4 if it  works better for voice.

 

Travelling coverage also depends on where she goes.  Again, look at the maps and see if there are 800/4G towers active near the areas of concern.

 

...and don't get me started about people driving and talking on the phone at the same time.  I hope she's a passenger when she's talking.

[bmoses]

Will the call quality get better in central Iowa? I don't talk much on my phone, so I don't drop much. My wife talks A LOT! She drops a lot of calls too. She lets me hear it! :-)

She wants to switch carriers now. It's that bad. Few months ago, no drops. I live just north of the water tower in Ankeny about a mile. She drops calls walking from room to room. No joke. I'm not complaining. I'm looking for sound advice from you guys - the experts. :-)

I'm all about the speed outside my home. She's all about the call quality.

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk.

 

 

Thought about it some more... She has an HTC LTE. Maybe that's part of the prob. I'm looking for legit feedback. I don't mind Sprint at all. Right now, she minds it! LOL

 

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its hard to tell you for sure what the issue is. ever since they got the towers switched over to the NV equipment mid december all call dropping issues myself, and everyone i know, has gone away. my brother and his wife were in the same boat, call dropping during the upgrades was driving them nuts and they were ready to switch. but now they have had no issues. 

 

however ankeny is one of those towns that has outgrown the original sprint network. it could also be she is having issues with her phone. one way to test that is for you yourself to make calls in the house walking around and see if they drop on you too. does she have issues when she is out and about? or just at home? i have the EVO LTE and i don't have call dropping issues.

 

assuming its not her phone, i would call sprint and get a free airave from retention's. i have 2 on my account, one at my in laws on the far west side of ankeny, and another at my sibling-in-laws in huxley. ever since we installed them they have had no issues. of course you could always switch carriers too, if sprint doesn't work for you no sense staying with them.

[DsmIowaGuy]

I would def do a test between how both phones act in the same area like bmoses says, thats good advice! I lived up probably near where you were talking about until a few years ago.  Never any problems main level or basement.  However there could also be system issues but who knows; stuff like panel alignment, down tilt, etc.  (then the alignment and such may have been done diff for other reasons and impacting you negatively where you're at...)

 

Good luck in your troubleshooting.  Let us know what you find out or more info as you get it.

[dlphnfn]

That idea about the phone being bad could be something. Her HTC LTE drops calls 2 or 3 times just when she talks to her mom. Today she used my S4 on a couple calls and no dropped calls at all. Not scientific of course, but makes me think it may be time to get a new phone for her or maybe hers is bad or something. Thanks for the insight guys. :-)

 

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