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


sweyers

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Well, I certainly hope that is the case, but I remain unimpressed until I actually see it.  After constant disappointment, that's the only response I can muster at this point.

 

Fair enough, it has been a tough road so far. But all indications are that will change, and fairly rapidly here soon.

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You should check out the couple live LTE towers. Far East side East of the fairgrounds and SE 14th St not far South of the Capitol Complex.  And yes Dkoellerwx is right, they have done tons of updates in the Dsm metro and some pretty awesome technology. They certainly got a black eye with WiMax but finally Sprint has some great things they are rolling out. I too have been frustrated and I would imagine everyone has.  However every carrier has their issues some worse than others depending on the area. Heck VZ had rolled out LTE to hundreds of markets then their LTE (Nationwide) took a dump numerous times for hours on end. They too took heat.  It all comes around.  S has had more than it's share but I have seen first hand some of the stuff they are rolling out and it's pretty exciting.  As you may have noticed there are lots of ups and downs now but that too is good in some ways - they have to take some sites off line for short periods of time for installation and testing - so for short periods here and there it will be even worse then soon it will be way better.   :D

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Oh look, Des Moines isn't on the list again. This probably means two towers in each of the listed cities. ;-)

Why would you expect Des Moines to be on that list?

Yikes! Quite some time....

That doesn't sound good. Thot we were getting LTE in the summer, then the fair, now looks like next year.

I'm not sure how many times it needs to be said that as a sponsor of this site you have access to fairly comprehensive maps that give a good overall picture of where Des Moines stands based on the best information we have.

 

If they dont hurry up the ground is going to freeze. How will they trench and run backhaul then?

How do they hold funerals in the winter? Yes the ground is harder, inclement weather can cause delays on tower work, but work continued in markets all of last winter.

 

Even when I got my first Evo in June, 2010, I was led to believe we'd see 4G service by the following summer.  It is now over two years later than that "following summer," and still no 4G service.  It's not even the same 4G service (WiMax vs. LTE).  I'm pretty much ignoring any claims or estimates of service at this point, opting instead to be surprised when it does arrive.

 

They'll probably turn on one tower downtown that will instantly be saturated to the point of uselessness, and let that languish for six months or more.

It is quite a bit different this time when there is actually 4G equipment installed on the vast majority of the sites in Des Moines now. This isn't some false hope or a pipedream of getting Wimax.

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i was in Atlanta, GA from Sunday to Wednesday this week at a conference for work. Just wanted to share my 4G experience from there to give people an idea of what we have to look forward too.

 

The only two places i was at during my trip was the airport and the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. 

 

4G at the airport was a complete failure and of course it was the first 4G i encountered on my trip so it didn't give me very high hopes. I didn't look at the completed maps for the airport so i'm not sure if all the towers surrounding it are 4G accepted or not. even so there are so many people in that airport that i did kind of expect it to be crappy, i was lucky to get .5 meg down on 4G at the airport. this was not giving me high hopes for downtown since downtown usually has a ton of people too, so i was guessing i would run into the same thing there, especially during the work day.

 

downtown however surprised me! speeds during the evening hours were great! i would get anywhere from 8 meg to 13 meg down! i was still cautiously optimistic since it was evening time and downtown wasn't full of people working. so during the day i had a break and ran some tests from my room. speeds obviously dropped during the day, however they stayed very much usable. i was getting anywhere from 1 to 3 meg down on speed tests! i did check the maps for downtown and there were 4 towers that covered the hotel i was at, only 3 of the 4 were 4G accepted, so once that last tower gets 4G it would get even better!

 

so anyway, just wanted to share my experience in a big city that is mostly deployed. The kind of speeds i was getting gives me high hopes for des moines, with less people around here i'm guessing we will see even higher average speeds then what i was getting in Atlanta, then throw in tri-band in a few years and it will only get better :D

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How do they hold funerals in the winter? Yes the ground is harder, inclement weather can cause delays on tower work, but work continued in markets all of last winter.

 

I was saving this response for the next time someone asked if backhaul stops in the winter. You beat me to it!!! :P

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Yesterday, I was more cynical; today, I am a tad more optimistic based on some of these replies.  Thanks for letting me vent (not too harshly, I hope).

 

if you want to be ever more optimistic become a sponsor and check out the maps we are doing. we have one with the status of almost ever tower in the central iowa market, and there was some news posted in there this morning that might really make you hopeful :)

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just to give you a sneak peak, there are 132 towers in the central iowa market, 21.1% of them are either still legacy or haven't been checked by anyone so we don't know if equipment has been installed. 34.1% have the equipment installed and are waiting to be accepted. and the rest of them are some combination of 3G/4G accepted already, which is 44.8% :)

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i was in Atlanta, GA from Sunday to Wednesday this week at a conference for work. Just wanted to share my 4G experience from there to give people an idea of what we have to look forward too.

 

The only two places i was at during my trip was the airport and the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. 

 

4G at the airport was a complete failure and of course it was the first 4G i encountered on my trip so it didn't give me very high hopes. I didn't look at the completed maps for the airport so i'm not sure if all the towers surrounding it are 4G accepted or not. even so there are so many people in that airport that i did kind of expect it to be crappy, i was lucky to get .5 meg down on 4G at the airport. this was not giving me high hopes for downtown since downtown usually has a ton of people too, so i was guessing i would run into the same thing there, especially during the work day.

 

downtown however surprised me! speeds during the evening hours were great! i would get anywhere from 8 meg to 13 meg down! i was still cautiously optimistic since it was evening time and downtown wasn't full of people working. so during the day i had a break and ran some tests from my room. speeds obviously dropped during the day, however they stayed very much usable. i was getting anywhere from 1 to 3 meg down on speed tests! i did check the maps for downtown and there were 4 towers that covered the hotel i was at, only 3 of the 4 were 4G accepted, so once that last tower gets 4G it would get even better!

 

so anyway, just wanted to share my experience in a big city that is mostly deployed. The kind of speeds i was getting gives me high hopes for des moines, with less people around here i'm guessing we will see even higher average speeds then what i was getting in Atlanta, then throw in tri-band in a few years and it will only get better :D

 

Thanks for the recap !   Makes me say to myself (and to this thread)  they really need to look at either more downtown Dsm sites or high caps!!  Our 1x here (I mean 3G) has been terrible for years during the day during the week. Guess the bonus is that if 4G happens to be terrible - it will be way better than our current !   Really 1Mbps up and down is more than enough for a cell phone - the problem many folks don't think about is that all the cell companies are pushing USB data cards, embedded cards in some laptops, etc which then 1M is pretty awful.  Oh well.   I'm still just as excited and optimistic for all that Sprint is doing, I think their technology is way cool that they are rolling out !!  :D  :D

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Thanks for the recap !   Makes me say to myself (and to this thread)  they really need to look at either more downtown Dsm sites or high caps!!  Our 1x here (I mean 3G) has been terrible for years during the day during the week.

The other thing to keep in mind here is Band 25/1900 mhz LTE which is what we are tracking right now is only 1 part of the Sprint LTE puzzle. Most sites will also be getting 800 and 2600 upgrades over the coming year(s). This by default means sites will have much higher capacities than what we've been used to even without it being a high capacity site.

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The other thing to keep in mind here is Band 25/1900 mhz LTE which is what we are tracking right now is only 1 part of the Sprint LTE puzzle. Most sites will also be getting 800 and 2600 upgrades over the coming year(s). This by default means sites will have much higher capacities than what we've been used to even without it being a high capacity site.

 

Is there any info yet on which markets for sure will get 25/2600 ?  We have a few Clear sites that were around the metro I think just holding the spectrum so I wonder if that cements us getting that higher frequency later down the road or if that matters. Supposedly the top 100 markets or something like that I've read but depending on which list you look at depends on what ranking you are.

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Is there any info yet on which markets for sure will get 25/2600 ?  We have a few Clear sites that were around the metro I think just holding the spectrum so I wonder if that cements us getting that higher frequency later down the road or if that matters.

Des Moines has 3 Clearwire Wi-Max protection sites. The protection designation comes from the spectrum being awarded on a use it or lose it basis. Thus in markets like Omaha and Des Moines, Clear did a bare bones rollout to say hey we are broadcasting on the spectrum in Des Moines. The bad news is we don't know for certain what is happening with these protection sites. Right now in markets that had a full wimax rollout sites are being converted to 2500/2600 LTE.

 

But with the protection markets, as Clearwire was a separate company, their sites weren't always co-located with Sprint equipment. In Des Moines one of the 3 sites is pretty much across the street from a Sprint site. The second is co-located with Sprint. The last is almost dead center between two Sprint sites. So right now it is hard to tell what is going to happen there.

 

Now for the the really really good new.... Virtually every Sprint site in every Sprint market is getting band 41. Most Clearwire sites are getting Band 41 as well (with some getting a full NV Sprint rollout too!). In addition, Sprint is going to be adding additional infill sites in markets (we don't know where) to provide further 41 coverage yet. Thus my comment about having 3 separate bands nearly everywhere to offload capacity.

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Des Moines has 3 Clearwire Wi-Max protection sites. The protection designation comes from the spectrum being awarded on a use it or lose it basis. Thus in markets like Omaha and Des Moines, Clear did a bare bones rollout to say hey we are broadcasting on the spectrum in Des Moines. The bad news is we don't know for certain what is happening with these protection sites. Right now in markets that had a full wimax rollout sites are being converted to 2500/2600 LTE.

 

But with the protection markets, as Clearwire was a separate company, their sites weren't always co-located with Sprint equipment. In Des Moines one of the 3 sites is pretty much across the street from a Sprint site. The second is co-located with Sprint. The last is almost dead center between two Sprint sites. So right now it is hard to tell what is going to happen there.

 

Now for the the really really good new.... Virtually every Sprint site in every Sprint market is getting band 41. Most Clearwire sites are getting Band 41 as well (with some getting a full NV Sprint rollout too!). In addition, Sprint is going to be adding additional infill sites in markets (we don't know where) to provide further 41 coverage yet. Thus my comment about having 3 separate bands nearly everywhere to offload capacity.

 

That sounds good, I guess I was under the impression that 2500/2600Mhz (that whole band number I can't figure out what iswhat) was only going to high use bigger cities that needed capacity.  Will be good if most all sites will have all three. I was just happy having 800 Added to most sites!!!  Now if they reach a little more into the Softbank wishing well and come up with money to convert most 2 sector sites to 3 sectors, they will drastically change their coverage. If that were done in Iowa they would start rivaling other carriers - even USCC.  :rolleyes:  :rolleyes:

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i was in Atlanta, GA from Sunday to Wednesday this week at a conference for work. Just wanted to share my 4G experience from there to give people an idea of what we have to look forward too.

 

The only two places i was at during my trip was the airport and the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. 

 

4G at the airport was a complete failure and of course it was the first 4G i encountered on my trip so it didn't give me very high hopes. I didn't look at the completed maps for the airport so i'm not sure if all the towers surrounding it are 4G accepted or not. even so there are so many people in that airport that i did kind of expect it to be crappy, i was lucky to get .5 meg down on 4G at the airport. this was not giving me high hopes for downtown since downtown usually has a ton of people too, so i was guessing i would run into the same thing there, especially during the work day.

 

downtown however surprised me! speeds during the evening hours were great! i would get anywhere from 8 meg to 13 meg down! i was still cautiously optimistic since it was evening time and downtown wasn't full of people working. so during the day i had a break and ran some tests from my room. speeds obviously dropped during the day, however they stayed very much usable. i was getting anywhere from 1 to 3 meg down on speed tests! i did check the maps for downtown and there were 4 towers that covered the hotel i was at, only 3 of the 4 were 4G accepted, so once that last tower gets 4G it would get even better!

 

so anyway, just wanted to share my experience in a big city that is mostly deployed. The kind of speeds i was getting gives me high hopes for des moines, with less people around here i'm guessing we will see even higher average speeds then what i was getting in Atlanta, then throw in tri-band in a few years and it will only get better :D

Last time I was there I had a Wimax phone and it worked as it was suppose to at the airport 3-5 mbps down, I would think something isn't right or they are still working in that area.

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That sounds good, I guess I was under the impression that 2500/2600Mhz (that whole band number I can't figure out what iswhat) was only going to high use bigger cities that needed capacity.  Will be good if most all sites will have all three. I was just happy having 800 Added to most sites!!!  Now if they reach a little more into the Softbank wishing well and come up with money to convert most 2 sector sites to 3 sectors, they will drastically change their coverage. If that were done in Iowa they would start rivaling other carriers - even USCC.  :rolleyes:  :rolleyes:

 

Band 25 = 1900 PCS LTE

Band 26 = 800 SMR LTE

Band 41 = 25/2600 TD-LTE

 

Sprint announced in July with their earnings report that they would be making Clear's TD-LTE nationwide. With their latest update this week, it sounded like they step back from adding to every single site (which makes sense, there are many where it just doesn't make sense to add it) but they are still being very aggressive with the rollout. The top 100 markets in the next couple years, with more beyond that. This would cover Omaha/Lincoln/Des Moines. 

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Band 25 = 1900 PCS LTE

Band 26 = 800 SMR LTE

Band 41 = 25/2600 TD-LTE

 

Sprint announced in July with their earnings report that they would be making Clear's TD-LTE nationwide. With their latest update this week, it sounded like they step back from adding to every single site (which makes sense, there are many where it just doesn't make sense to added it) but they are still being very aggressive with the rollout. The top 100 markets in the next couple years, with more beyond that. This would cover Omaha/Lincoln/Des Moines. 

 

Thanks DK for the info !!

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I saw workers down at the tower by Decarlo Demolition again, they had cables up and looked like they were adding equipment. This is the tower that is shared with AT&T, and they did their work back in July. So I'm assuming they were sprint workers. I didn't stop because obviously by now I have realized just because the equipment is installed doesn't mean the tower is anywhere close to broadcasting.

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I saw workers down at the tower by Decarlo Demolition again, they had cables up and looked like they were adding equipment. This is the tower that is shared with AT&T, and they did their work back in July. So I'm assuming they were sprint workers. I didn't stop because obviously by now I have realized just because the equipment is installed doesn't mean the tower is anywhere close to broadcasting.

 

thanks for the report, i almost went and checked that one out over lunch today but i didn't. i'll check it on monday and see if they got anything installed.

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 I didn't stop because obviously by now I have realized just because the equipment is installed doesn't mean the tower is anywhere close to broadcasting.

We are still very interested where Sprint NV equipment is installed.

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I'll just relate a bit... a few months ago, the Missouri market was way behind, now it's 50%. 

 

Samsung is moving at an even faster clip than Ericsson which runs the MO market. I think things will look up here soon.

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I saw workers down at the tower by Decarlo Demolition again, they had cables up and looked like they were adding equipment. This is the tower that is shared with AT&T, and they did their work back in July. So I'm assuming they were sprint workers. I didn't stop because obviously by now I have realized just because the equipment is installed doesn't mean the tower is anywhere close to broadcasting.

 

drove by today and they are up on the tower installing the sprint equipment.

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nope, there are towers that have been done and with fiber since july that still aren't broadcasting. samsung switched gears and appears to be waiting for all towers in an area to be ready and then they come through and accept them all at once.

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