Network Vision/LTE - Minnesota Market

[schalicto]

Clocked 42.61 down and 1.72 up on band 41 in White Bear Lake on Saturday.

[mntatonka]

anyone have any info on Winona's updates for LTE?  I know Sprint has said the upgrade is complete, but there's no sign of LTE, and even 3G speeds have dropped off a cliff in the last few months, not to mention voice connection.

 

It was even nice of them to send everyone a message saying "your all new network is here, with stronger voice and faster data".  Seems a little premature to send out a message saying it's complete, when it clearly isn't lol. 

[kmanracing24]

anyone have any info on Winona's updates for LTE? I know Sprint has said the upgrade is complete, but there's no sign of LTE, and even 3G speeds have dropped off a cliff in the last few months, not to mention voice connection.

 

It was even nice of them to send everyone a message saying "your all new network is here, with stronger voice and faster data". Seems a little premature to send out a message saying it's complete, when it clearly isn't lol.

There is one tower due tomorrow. The rest are all mid to late summer. I'm in Winona too. It's been a long wait. I've had the opposite 3G experience. I've loaded pages faster in 3G than some of my friends on Verizon 4G lately.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[mntatonka]

There is one tower due tomorrow. The rest are all mid to late summer. I'm in Winona too. It's been a long wait. I've had the opposite 3G experience. I've loaded pages faster in 3G than some of my friends on Verizon 4G lately.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

It is strange. Pages load quick at times, but speed tests are extremely slow.

 

My house on the east end has virtually no service.  I usually can't even call out from outside.

[kmanracing24]

Speed tests, yeah. They are slow. I'm relatively East too and the coverage is spotty. Can you connect to 1x800? I've had some decent luck with it.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[mntatonka]

Speed tests, yeah. They are slow. I'm relatively East too and the coverage is spotty. Can you connect to 1x800? I've had some decent luck with it.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

didn't know I could do that.  I'll have to give it a try when I get home this afternoon.  Thanks!

[Dkoellerwx]

My Nexus 5 is terrible for LTE service around Mankato and Willmar. My friend with a note 2 had excellent LTE all the way to Olivia and I lost LTE 5 miles south of town with the nexus. I don't think people know what they are talking about with the antenna in the nexus.

Hopefully your opinion has changed by now, but the reason that your Nexus 5 did not have LTE, and the Note 2 did had nothing to do with antenna in the Nexus, and everything to do with errors on the network. The N5 requires eCSFB to be in place before it can connect to LTE, the Note 2 does not. If eCSFB is not in place, you get kicked to 3G. The Note 2 does not.

 

The Nexus 5 still has the top LTE reception of the devices currently available on Sprint.

[kmanracing24]

didn't know I could do that. I'll have to give it a try when I get home this afternoon. Thanks!

You'll need a phone that has the capability to pick it up. My nexus 5 does. I believe all Sprint spark devices will.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[mntatonka]

You'll need a phone that has the capability to pick it up. My nexus 5 does. I believe all Sprint spark devices will.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

looks like my HTC One can do it.  Signal was 1000x better.  I'll have to remember to do that while at home since I don't use 3G there anyway.

[kmanracing24]

It should pick it up by itself. You shouldn't have to do anything.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[mntatonka]

There is one tower due tomorrow. The rest are all mid to late summer. I'm in Winona too. It's been a long wait. I've had the opposite 3G experience. I've loaded pages faster in 3G than some of my friends on Verizon 4G lately.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Here's a response from Sprint today: The towers that are close to that area are scheduled for 4G LTE upgrades between the fall and winter which will improve your data connection and speeds. The tower that covers the 4th St and High Forest St area in Winona is scheduled for voice updates by the end of fall and hopefully sooner. These are just estimates and lots of things out of our control can delay these estimates.

 

If I didn't have such a cheap bill I would have switched a LONG time ago.  They announced 4G was coming for Winona in January of 2013, then they send out that message in April saying the network upgrades were complete.  W.T.F.

[kmanracing24]

I agree. It's bulls**t that they announced it before it was anywhere close to being done. I know a couple sites are ready but I'm guessing they are waiting for a cluster launch.

[Fraydog]

Samsung more or less has to cluster launch at this point with eCSFB.

 

Also, I don't mind a little frustration at this point, but may I remind everyone to pay attention to the rules.

[kmanracing24]

I don't mean to bash what so ever. It's frustrating, yes, but I've been on these forums long enough to understand what the delays mean and why. The hardest part is trying to convince family and friends that the network will improve. People who don't follow this don't understand that.

 

Also, I have already witnessed the voice upgrades. My nexus 5 stays on 1x800 most of the time. I'm surprised they didn't say that voice is done. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't 800 voice mean the towers are already voice upgraded?

[MophoManners]

Dropping 2.5 sites in like they're hot! does that count?

[Sanyo M1]

Well, picked up Band 41 for the first time ever. Got about 20 Mbps at about 4:40 pm southern suburbs of the cities on I35. Not bad at all, I held on to Band 41 a bit past Lakeville.

[mntatonka]

meanwhile, we're still waiting in Winona...

[kmanracing24]

meanwhile, we're still waiting in Winona...

Same here brother, same here.

[Sanyo M1]

Same here brother, same here.

Winona and Duluth, it's a mystery (not really). Winona area sucks when traveling to Chicago.

[littlejth]

Winona and Duluth, it's a mystery (not really). Winona area sucks when traveling to Chicago.

 

At least Winona is somewhat usable for data and calling. Duluth is literally completely unusable at any time between about 7AM-8PM

[mntatonka]

At least Winona is somewhat usable for data and calling. Duluth is literally completely unusable at any time between about 7AM-8PM

 

It's pretty spotty in Winona from what I've found.  If you're near the Goodview water tower it's fine, but anywhere east of there sucks. I don't receive calls in my house, I just get the voicemail notification so I know to go outside and call them back. 

[kmanracing24]

It's pretty spotty in Winona from what I've found. If you're near the Goodview water tower it's fine, but anywhere east of there sucks. I don't receive calls in my house, I just get the voicemail notification so I know to go outside and call them back.

That's basically where I am at too. I need to be right by a window to get any reception at all. Even on 800 voice.

[S4GRU]

Two LTE sites were accepted in Duluth yesterday.  If there are any Sprint customers left there, they must be excited.

 

Robert

[njjdnt]

Two LTE sites were accepted in Duluth yesterday.  If there are any Sprint customers left there, they must be excited.

 

Robert

I visit at times so I'm excited.

[tbs123456]

I'll be in Duluth on the 13-14 for my fiancés birthday. Will have to check out how much improvement there has been since I was last up there at the end of July.