Network Vision/LTE - West Michigan Market (Grand Rapids/Lansing/Kalamazoo)

[azoclark]

Looks like the tower in Portage on the corner of Westnedge and Kilgore (behind Lowes) is broadcasting LTE now.

 

Yup, went live last week.

 

This is one of the shortest towers around (rack is below the tree tops) so the coverage of this tower is smaller than others in town.

 

It seems they are kind of moving east to west in greater Kalamazoo....so I am hoping the towers I am around most get done soon, but I keep checking for activity...and not seeing it.

[mrgoalie]

Yup, went live last week.

 

This is one of the shortest towers around (rack is below the tree tops) so the coverage of this tower is smaller than others in town.

 

It seems they are kind of moving east to west in greater Kalamazoo....so I am hoping the towers I am around most get done soon, but I keep checking for activity...and not seeing it.

 

On my way around town today, there was some fiber trenching going on in front of Pfizer on Portage Road.  Hoping it's good news there

[Overboost]

They still need to knock out the flagpole south of Centre, west of 131. Looking at Sensorly, there's a gap on the west edge of Portage that needs to be filled soon. I believe only two towers are needed to complete the Portage area.

[azoclark]

They still need to knock out the flagpole south of Centre, west of 131. Looking at Sensorly, there's a gap on the west edge of Portage that needs to be filled soon. I believe only two towers are needed to complete the Portage area.

 

That is the tower my in-laws live by.  Too bad they are only 8 months into their iPhone 4s' contracts.

 

As you can see in the sponsor section, this (S Westnedge behind Lowes) tower is really the first "Portage" tower.  There are six more to go with two additional ones on the western/north-western edge for Portage.  Kalamazoo/Oshtemo/Comstock have about double that left.

[azoclark]

On my way around town today, there was some fiber trenching going on in front of Pfizer on Portage Road.  Hoping it's good news there

 

I haven't been down that area of Portage Rd in a couple of weeks.  What side of the road?  Can you tell from what direction the fiber is coming from?

 

If this is Sprint related work, become a sponsor and you can see what tower they might be heading towards.

[mrgoalie]

I haven't been down that area of Portage Rd in a couple of weeks.  What side of the road?  Can you tell from what direction the fiber is coming from?

 

If this is Sprint related work, become a sponsor and you can see what tower they might be heading towards.

 

West side of the road towards a tower on that side.

[Overboost]

That is the tower my in-laws live by.  Too bad they are only 8 months into their iPhone 4s' contracts.

 

As you can see in the sponsor section, this (S Westnedge behind Lowes) tower is really the first "Portage" tower.  There are six more to go with two additional ones on the western/north-western edge for Portage.  Kalamazoo/Oshtemo/Comstock have about double that left.

 

I need to go back and look at the map. I was looking at coverage, and it appears over near Cork/Sprinkle we've got LTE coverage. Over near 12th, it's dead. If they can move across the city quick, I'll be a happy camper. Then they need to move south along 131 and I'd really be set :-)

[azoclark]

West side of the road towards a tower on that side.

Coming from the north?  If so, that sounds promising as the AT&T Portage phone switch is at Portage/Zylman which is where I would think that they would source their fiber from.  (Which reminds me...I need to talk to my friend at Charter and see if they are doing any backhaul work for Sprint in the area.)

 

Now that you are a sponsor , take a look at Network Vision Site Map - Michigan Markets and NV Sites Complete topics.

 

 

I need to go back and look at the map. I was looking at coverage, and it appears over near Cork/Sprinkle we've got LTE coverage. Over near 12th, it's dead. If they can move across the city quick, I'll be a happy camper. Then they need to move south along 131 and I'd really be set :-)

Cork/Sprinkle is covered by the tower behind BK and Dennys.  The coverage for that tower heading south in Sprinkle is pretty far as all of the purple on Sensorly is from that tower.  Heading west/north/east you have other towers in play.  We should continue this over in the Network Vision Site Map - Michigan Markets so we can talk with site IDs.

[mrgoalie]

Coming from the north?  If so, that sounds promising as the AT&T Portage phone switch is at Portage/Zylman which is where I would think that they would source their fiber from.  (Which reminds me...I need to talk to my friend at Charter and see if they are doing any backhaul work for Sprint in the area.)

 

Looked like it.  I think they were coming from around the Romence intersection and moving towards the south.  I'll be going by that way again this afternoon, so I'll have to check.

[geocachenut]

Can anyone tell if this tower has been upgraded? PS. Enjoy the storm pic! Tower is in Whitehall off of Benston Rd.

 

 

[Dkoellerwx]

 

 

 

Please refrain from posting the same thing in multiple threads. 

[azoclark]

I pointed out the tree/tower to my wife. She asked "what is the deal with Portage"? I could only say they always have been trying to be the Beverly Hills of Kalamazoo County.

 

Look what just made the front page of the Gazette today.....http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2013/07/portage_the_home_of_first_mono.html

[Overboost]

Look what just made the front page of the Gazette today.....http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2013/07/portage_the_home_of_first_mono.html

 

Interesting. They mention the flagpole across the street can't be upgraded. I wonder if the same applies for the flagpole site at Centre/12th. Granted, one is Sprint, the other is Verizon, but it's an interesting question. Maybe Sprint will throw up their own monopine at that site.

[azoclark]

Interesting. They mention the flagpole across the street can't be upgraded. I wonder if the same applies for the flagpole site at Centre/12th. Granted, one is Sprint, the other is Verizon, but it's an interesting question. Maybe Sprint will throw up their own monopine at that site.

 

I am not tower expert, but.... the flag pole style towers seem to have 1 to 3 panel levels depending on height.  Think of a three rack normal tower where A is the top most rack, B middle, C lowest.  Each level could be used the same or different provider.  So in the case of the flag pole at Centre/Oakland, I think it can't be "upgraded" because all of the levels are in use.  While the tower at Centre/12th, I think, just has Sprint on it so their should be room to add the NV panels to one of the open levels on the tower.  Or, I wonder if these type of towers have the legacy panels removed and the NV panels installed at once - reusing the level.  Doing it that way would cause the tower to be completly down (no legacy service) and then you have the NV/legacy 3G integration issue when it is time to come up.

 

Early last month, AT&T was added to the flag pole tower on the northwest side of WMU's campus.  Prior to that it was solely a MetroPCS tower.  The crain was at the tower for 3 days and then it took the cable guys several more days to get all wired up.

[geocachenut]

_{I see a large work crew on Benston Road in Whitehall!  Great news!!}

[azoclark]

Yup, went live last week.

 

This is one of the shortest towers around (rack is below the tree tops) so the coverage of this tower is smaller than others in town.

 

I tried to do some Sensorly mapping of this tower the other day and had one heck of a time getting 4G and then staying connected to it.  I was at the business park just north of I-94 and would get a few data points and then drop back to 3G.  Then cycle airplane mode and get 4G back for a few points.  So I headed via the access road to Lowes and lost 4G in the Lowes parking lot! (Remember the tower is on the back side of the store...so we are talking...maybe 200 yards.)  Cycled again, got 4G. Then as I headed west on Kilgore lost it after the hill west of Hackett.

 

I could have been connecting to one of the two LTE towers to the east, but I doubt it.  (I couldn't get 4G in this area (south of Kilgore on Westnedge) until this tower got accepted.

 

Seems to me something isn't right with that tower.   I would hope that it would cover more than ~1/4  mile considering the closest towers are 1 to 2 miles away.

[SteveK]

They tend to be at low power when first turned on.  The one closest to my house was steadily ramped up over two weeks.

[jefbal99]

Lots of new SMR 1X in SW Michigan in the latest updates.  Need to see the southside of Lansing covered in LTE (most sites have the panels up), probably just waiting on at&t to get fiber in there.

[labunjef]

Lots of new SMR 1X in SW Michigan in the latest updates.  Need to see the southside of Lansing covered in LTE (most sites have the panels up), probably just waiting on at&t to get fiber in there.

Really Hoping they get the tower in South Lansing off Pennsylvania going.  Its the tower i connect to while at work and would be awesome if it finally got 4G.  The 3G is pretty slow.

[MattVeltkamp]

Holland and grand Rapids are officially on the list now. Anyone notice any better coverage over the past few days?

 

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[Theot]

Holland and grand Rapids are officially on the list now. Anyone notice any better coverage over the past few days?

 

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Nope, its still spotty from m6 & kzoo to the east and south. I'm towards Dutton and I get 4g at my house but it is slower than 3g. Otherwise downtown and all other areas of GR are normal around 8-12 mbps download speed for me on my note 2.

[jefbal99]

Site on Aurelius between Cavanaugh and Forest should be screaming out LTE

 

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[maxsilver]

Nope, its still spotty from m6 & kzoo to the east and south. I'm towards Dutton and I get 4g at my house but it is slower than 3g. Otherwise downtown and all other areas of GR are normal around 8-12 mbps download speed for me on my note 2.

The downtown site (McKay Tower) still has no LTE, even after the market launch announcement.

 

Folks can sometimes pick up LTE from scattered towers (the one north of GR on alpine, or the one south of GR by Grandville ST / Chicago Drive) but there's still zero LTE in downtown, and 3G speeds are bad.

 

I'm pretty sure it's pure marketing that Grand Rapids has "launched" and is not reflective of any noticable service improvements. Some of the suburbs have gotten better (each mall now has half-coverage of LTE) but in Grand Rapids proper, nothing's noticeable changed since Lansing "launched".

Edited August 3, 2013 by maxsilver

[maxsilver]

One thing I've noticed on the Fulton Heights tower (Michigan ST), that tower seems to have been changed after launch.

 

Originally it covered all of Fulton Heights and Midtown with LTE. But recently (within the last two weeks) it's been changed. Reception is a lot lower than it used to be, LTE cuts out on Fulton ST and Easttown, or when indoors.

 

I don't know what's specifically changed (lowered transmit power? or moved / changed / removed a sector?). But I no longer get LTE in places I used to in that area, and the EVDO coverage seems unaffected.

[RCM]

The downtown site (McKay Tower) still has no LTE, even after the market launch announcement.

 

Folks can sometimes pick up LTE from scattered towers (the one north of GR on alpine, or the one south of GR by Grandville ST / Chicago Drive) but there's still zero LTE in downtown, and 3G speeds are bad.

 

I'm pretty sure it's pure marketing that Grand Rapids has "launched" and is not reflective of any noticable service improvements. Some of the suburbs have gotten better (each mall now has half-coverage of LTE) but in Grand Rapids proper, nothing's noticeable changed since Lansing "launched".

"Launched" *is* purely marketing and is not indicative of 100% completion.