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


sweyers

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i'm thinking it has to be just some fringe signal that you are getting from the one off 14th and hartford, i know its a little ways away but its still possible. if it were anything closer you wouldn't have this hard of a time picking it up.

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i just checked the towers in the northeast area and Fisher Price Chatter phone says NO LTE!   :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

 

i see another LTE site accepted --- does that mean we have 2 now??

Edited by gostallion
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I drove around quite a bit running sensory. Hwy5,235,University and Merle hay mall areas. No 4g connections unfortunately. I'm happy to see someone connected in West Des Moines, so the next time I'm at work over there I will have to do some checking!

 

 

Don't forget that unless you have Sensorly set to upload on WiFi only, having Sensorly running all the time actually severely decreases that chance that you will catch that stray LTE signal because it maintains an active data session almost all the time. This means your phones doesn't have as many chances to scan for LTE.

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Yep, that is a Sprint tower. I was there a couple weeks ago and got pics of the base work that had been done. Ant panels were just done (and maybe still) being done this week.

Well thats great ! I live like half a mile away from that tower so ill be sure to keep an eye on that one !  :)

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You might get "lost" in a dark alley if you say that too loudly around here ;)

 

Sensorly might be useful after it gets years of feedback and the networks settle into a normalcy but right as everything is changing so rapidly it is useless.  in weak data areas it ties up the phone data trying to report home, even after setting it to call home only on wi-fi it still uses alot of battery power.  signal check is handy and on is on when i start it and gives good info on site status.

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Sensorly might be useful after it gets years of feedback and the networks settle into a normalcy but right as everything is changing so rapidly it is useless.  in weak data areas it ties up the phone data trying to report home, even after setting it to call home only on wi-fi it still uses alot of battery power.  signal check is handy and on is on when i start it and gives good info on site status.

 

I only run Sensorly when I want to map something, report only on wifi, I do not allow it to run on it's own, and only when plugged into a charger. It does use a lot of battery if you do not follow those steps, but I still think it is a very useful app and would recommend it to others that want to help build the accurate coverage maps since Sprint's, and most other carriers', maps are not all that reliable. 

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Sensorly might be useful after it gets years of feedback and the networks settle into a normalcy but right as everything is changing so rapidly it is useless. in weak data areas it ties up the phone data trying to report home, even after setting it to call home only on wi-fi it still uses alot of battery power. signal check is handy and on is on when i start it and gives good info on site status.

Not even going to touch that one.

 

You are right.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

In being a 0.00001%'er.

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I only run Sensorly when I want to map something, report only on wifi, I do not allow it to run on it's own, and only when plugged into a charger. It does use a lot of battery if you do not follow those steps, but I still think it is a very useful app and would recommend it to others that want to help build the accurate coverage maps since Sprint's, and most other carriers', maps are not all that reliable. 

 

OK, i am giving it another try, i put it back in and made some setting changes.  i could get used to it, we are pushing here to get the LTE lit up so any network info is handy.

Edited by gostallion
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i just checked the towers in the northeast area and Fisher Price Chatter phone says NO LTE!   :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

 

i see another LTE site accepted --- does that mean we have 2 now??

 

just saw your edit, yep 2 4G accepted towers in the central iowa market. the new one was in fort dodge.

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just saw your edit, yep 2 4G accepted towers in the central iowa market. the new one was in fort dodge.

Thanks for letting us know, I was assuming it was in Des Moines

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I'm gonna head up to Fort Dodge tomorrow (I actually have a REAL reason other than the 4G LTE tower hehe) and see if the tower really is live...according to sprint.com/lte, there were supposed "data speed upgrades" done in Marshalltown, but I was there last month and it was still 1xRTT...I am waiting for Carroll to get these upgrades...got a buddy there letting me know the second that happens.

 

By the way, me and my partner (who both have 4G LTE phones) were in Chicago over the weekend, and unfortunately, Sprint has a LOT of work to do to make their 4G LTE infrastructure consistent in downtown.  It's not all Sprint's fault, though, as there are a LOT more people with Sprint service in Chicago, along with Boost, Virgin, Cricket, etc., so congestion (especially on Michigan Ave.) is common, and not just on Sprint.  I hope when the towers go live in DSM, that it will be consistent!

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When I was in Chgo in May I happened to be by a Sprint Corp store in Wicker Park and stopped in for the heck of it. Service was terrible all around there and even inside the store. They guy working in there (of course didn't have much info) but actually said there were a lot of problems with their network in Chgo (yep, salesman telling this!)  I was kind of surprised that he actually said that but it was past obvious and apparently he thought from my conversation that feeding me BS wasn't going to work that well !   I think they are really sewing some good seeds though and things will get better. I believe that due to permitting and trying to run fiber in and around bldgs in Chicago they are probably having a bunch of challenges.

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I'm gonna head up to Fort Dodge tomorrow (I actually have a REAL reason other than the 4G LTE tower hehe) and see if the tower really is live...according to sprint.com/lte, there were supposed "data speed upgrades" done in Marshalltown, but I was there last month and it was still 1xRTT...I am waiting for Carroll to get these upgrades...got a buddy there letting me know the second that happens.

 

By the way, me and my partner (who both have 4G LTE phones) were in Chicago over the weekend, and unfortunately, Sprint has a LOT of work to do to make their 4G LTE infrastructure consistent in downtown.  It's not all Sprint's fault, though, as there are a LOT more people with Sprint service in Chicago, along with Boost, Virgin, Cricket, etc., so congestion (especially on Michigan Ave.) is common, and not just on Sprint.  I hope when the towers go live in DSM, that it will be consistent!

 

hopefully you get this in time, if you get connected to the 4G tower in fort dodge, please, please, please, take screenshots of signalcheck and post them here so we can get the IDs of the LTE sectors on that tower! :)

 

also since the EVO can be picky you may have to restart your phone, do airplane mode, PRL update, and/or change your network mode from CDMA/LTE to CDMA and then back again to force your phone to scan for LTE.

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