Network Vision/LTE - Upper Central Valley Market (Sacramento, Stockton, Redding, Eureka & Reno/Lake Tahoe)

[da_kiem]

Sacramento and a decent amount of other major metros utilize Huawei gear for TD-LTE. It cannot do all the fancy stuff newer Samsung, Nokia Network & Solution, and Alcatel-Lucnet lightRadio equipment can do that was shown off at their technology demo which announced Spark. No carrier aggregation (LtE- Advance) or any fancy stuff other than a 2 or 3 TD-LTE carriers are possible compared to the others which can house 4 carriers and carrier aggregate all 4. 

 

TLDR: No fancy shmanzy stuff are possible from our clearwire equipment that Sprint Spark advertises. 

No carrier aggregation at all?  So does that mean we won't be seeing the 50+ mbps speeds?  Are they planning on updating the Huawei gear to something that is capable anytime soon, or will it be after most of the nation is upgraded?

[lilotimz]

No carrier aggregation at all?  So does that mean we won't be seeing the 50+ mbps speeds?  Are they planning on updating the Huawei gear to something that is capable anytime soon, or will it be after most of the nation is upgraded?

 

50+ mbps speeds are from 20mhz TDD carriers which the Huawei gear is capable of easily given the backhaul (20mhz TDD carriers are ~90 / ~40 mbps DL - UL).

 

I believe huawei gear will be replaced by Samsung TD-LTE gear later next year when they start deploying TD-LTE equipment over Sprint Network Vision sites and begin the process of relocating from clearwire racks to sprint racks on co-located sites. 

[da_kiem]

50+ mbps speeds are from 20mhz TDD carriers which the Huawei gear is capable of easily given the backhaul (20mhz TDD carriers are ~90 / ~40 mbps DL - UL).

 

I believe huawei gear will be replaced by Samsung TD-LTE gear later next year when they start deploying TD-LTE equipment over Sprint Network Vision sites and begin the process of relocating from clearwire racks to sprint racks on co-located sites. 

Sorry for all the questions... IIRC, you said the changeover to TD-LTE is just a software update.  is that right, or am I losing it?  What Real World benefits would the "Sparked" sites have over "non-sparked" sites?  Is sprint going to allow 100Mbps speeds on them?  I was under the impression that speeds would probably be around 50-60.

 

In fact, my understanding of carrier aggregation is using multiple bands at the same time in order to boost speeds.  Is that correct?

 

Last for now, is the huawei gear from the old WiMax network?  is that going away pretty soon?

[lilotimz]

Sorry for all the questions... IIRC, you said the changeover to TD-LTE is just a software update.  is that right, or am I losing it?  What Real World benefits would the "Sparked" sites have over "non-sparked" sites?  Is sprint going to allow 100Mbps speeds on them?  I was under the impression that speeds would probably be around 50-60.

 

In fact, my understanding of carrier aggregation is using multiple bands at the same time in order to boost speeds.  Is that correct?

 

Last for now, is the huawei gear from the old WiMax network?  is that going away pretty soon?

 

1. Yes, a software upgrade

2. Sparked sites have better equipment. No questions about it. More efficient, more capable, and basically better in every category you can imagine. Better ping times, better efficiency, etc. 

3. If you got the backhaul and you got a very limited amount of users on the sector + you're within line of sight with the cell site then you'll come close to the theoretical max of ~90 mbps.

4. Average real klife speeds will be around 50-60 mbps but the damn clearwire network has some insane densities in many a place (far denser than Sprint for sure) so many a times you'll be within line of sight to one and can get near theoretical max on an unloaded sector.

 

- Yep and no. It'll stay for at minimum for at least half of next year until Sprint can plan and get through the red tape for deploying the new Macro cell and small cell equipment. After that, they'll start deploying Samsung equipment all over the damn place because Softbank says so. So when that happens the huawei gear will be replaced one by one until all of them are gone.

 

Kills 2 birds with one stone. You get TD-LTE right now with minimal delay and you have a timeline to deactivate the Huawei gear in order to fulfill the Merger requirement from the Feds that Huawei gear are to be not used. 

[LuisBOSS302]

And so it begins.

Those were just in Reno right?

 

Off topic but good to see fast movement in central and Northern California.

[da_kiem]

1. Yes, a software upgrade

2. Sparked sites have better equipment. No questions about it. More efficient, more capable, and basically better in every category you can imagine. Better ping times, better efficiency, etc. 

3. If you got the backhaul and you got a very limited amount of users on the sector + you're within line of sight with the cell site then you'll come close to the theoretical max of ~90 mbps.

4. Average real klife speeds will be around 50-60 mbps but the damn clearwire network has some insane densities in many a place (far denser than Sprint for sure) so many a times you'll be within line of sight to one and can get near theoretical max on an unloaded sector.

 

- Yep and no. It'll stay for at minimum for at least half of next year until Sprint can plan and get through the red tape for deploying the new Macro cell and small cell equipment. After that, they'll start deploying Samsung equipment all over the damn place because Softbank says so. So when that happens the huawei gear will be replaced one by one until all of them are gone.

 

Kills 2 birds with one stone. You get TD-LTE right now with minimal delay and you have a timeline to deactivate the Huawei gear in order to fulfill the Merger requirement from the Feds that Huawei gear are to be not used. 

Thanks for the answers! as always, they are easy to understand

[lilotimz]

Little quick update for what is going on in the market...

 

Status Report 11-4-2013

 

Permits Applied / Approved : 41

Permits Issued : 140

Sites Confirmed In Progress: 39

Sites Accepted for Network Vision technologies (3g - 3g/800 - 3G/4G - 3G / 800 / 4G - 4g): 108

 

So approximately 20% of the sites in the market has already been accepted for Network Vision and a minimum of 60.5% of the market is in progress one way or another. Sites are being converted left and right all over the place and there's a huge number of sites ready to go. 

 

We may be at the cusp (or already there considering the last acceptance report) where site acceptances (and sites going live) are going to be very common. 

[sharward]

What does "accepted' mean in this context?

[ShoaibK]

Little quick update for what is going on in the market...

 

Status Report 11-4-2013

 

Permits Applied / Approved : 41

Permits Issued : 140

Sites Confirmed In Progress: 39

Sites Accepted for Network Vision technologies (3g - 3g/800 - 3G/4G - 3G / 800 / 4G - 4g): 108

 

So approximately 20% of the sites in the market has already been accepted for Network Vision and a minimum of 60.5% of the market is in progress one way or another. Sites are being converted left and right all over the place and there's a huge number of sites ready to go.

 

We may be at the cusp (or already there considering the last acceptance report) where site acceptances (and sites going live) are going to be very common.

Can u update me about northgate by fry's 95834 n By American River College plz?

[lilotimz]

Can u update me about northgate by fry's 95834 n By American River College plz?

 

Northgate is converted and I don't believe anyone has checked ARC yet. 

[ShoaibK]

Northgate is converted and I don't believe anyone has checked ARC yet.

Wait wat? if it's converted how come I still don't get LTE there?

[LuisBOSS302]

Wait wat? if it's converted how come I still don't get LTE there?

It still hasn't gone live.

 

At least your local towers have been converted

[ShoaibK]

It still hasn't gone live.

 

At least your local towers have been converted

Haha yep that's something can't wait for the time it goes live lol

Do you when they are planing to launch it?

Edited November 5, 2013 by ShoaibK

[lilotimz]

Haha yep that's something can't wait for the time it goes live lol

Do you when they are planing to launch it?

 

I can't promise and am not willing to guess on when sites are going to go live anymore but I'll quote this though from Robert...

 

Sprint is saying they will have 3,000 - 5,000 LTE 800 sites fired up in the 4th Quarter. 

 

There's plenty of sites fully converted and just sitting there throughout our entire market. All it takes is an Ericsson acceptance / inspection team and an Ericsson integration team to fire a site up. I'm hoping they can do that rapidly now considering they just finished the entire Reno / Sparks area and fired it all up on the 3G side. 

[ShoaibK]

I can't promise and am not willing to guess on when sites are going to go live anymore but I'll quote this though from Robert...

 

 

There's plenty of sites fully converted and just sitting there throughout our entire market. All it takes is an Ericsson acceptance / inspection team and an Ericsson integration team to fire a site up. I'm hoping they can do that rapidly now considering they just finished the entire Reno / Sparks area and fired it all up on the 3G side.

Thank you

[dir_d]

Poor Manteca, applied back in july and still nothing. I guess the city must be last behind stockton and modesto.

[LuisBOSS302]

Poor Manteca, applied back in july and still nothing. I guess the city must be last behind stockton and modesto.

Tracy and lathrop too. I thought Tracy would be live by now since on sensorly there was some lte spotting since back in July. I never connected to lte in that spot in Tracy ..

[dir_d]

Tracy and lathrop too. I thought Tracy would be live by now since on sensorly there was some lte spotting since back in July. I never connected to lte in that spot in Tracy ..

I usually dont get any LTE till i get over the hill, going into livermore.

[LuisBOSS302]

I usually dont get any LTE till i get over the hill, going into livermore.

Same but now I pick it up as soon as I enter the altamont pass . Pretty fast lte right there

[tuzalu]

Yesterday I got a glimpse of 4g at work downtown Sacramento, near 9th and L.  It was the first time I have seen a 4g signal at work.  It went away before I could get the speed test app open though and I haven't seen it since.  

[WeRtechSupport]

Yesterday I got a glimpse of 4g at work downtown Sacramento, near 9th and L.  It was the first time I have seen a 4g signal at work.  It went away before I could get the speed test app open though and I haven't seen it since.  

When I was up there last, I got blips of 4g as well. It was extremely spotty but very fast. My 3g speeds were the fastest I've seen on sprint, reminded me of verizon. For once my phone was actually useful!

[da_kiem]

When I was up there last, I got blips of 4g as well. It was extremely spotty but very fast. My 3g speeds were the fastest I've seen on sprint, reminded me of verizon. For once my phone was actually useful!

How fast? I might have to go down there and check it out!

[WeRtechSupport]

I was pulling 15-20 on 4g and 1.5 on 3g, but YMMV

How fast? I might have to go down there and check it out!

[solara]

Poor Manteca, applied back in july and still nothing. I guess the city must be last behind stockton and modesto.

 

And Modesto, according to a Sprint rep on their facebook page, won't go live for another 3 months!

[lilotimz]