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


iwalkthrowwalls

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Haven't counted the Clearwire site count in the Bay area so it best ask the people in that area but yes. Bay area is also going to get some needed added density since their Clearwire market is also Huawei equipment that needs to be replaced.

 

Optimize 800, add new macro sites via replacing old Clear sites (easiest) and outdoor small cells (verizon is going extremely heavy on this). Right now they lack conistency of coverage and I do not imagine any improvements until they "optimize'" band 26 whenever Sprint engineers feel like doing so. Right now Band 26 is about the same as Band 25 so it's only acting as a coverage band.

SF Bay market has 301 Clear sites (some are co-located so won't be new builds). There are 491 if you count what I assume are small cells that are wimax only. These numbers also include the San Jose market because Clearwire didn't distinguish between SF and San Jose.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6

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Thank you both - I am still learning how to find my away around, particularly when it comes to locating the maps that are mentioned. Actually it is pretty clearly marked, but thank god I bookmarked the NV Sites Complete the first time, because for some reason I keep missing it. Is there a Clearwire map or way to identify Clearwire sites on one of the other maps?

 

 

Ingenium, see you back on the SF Bay Market Thread 

lilotimz, look forward to learning more about Nevada 

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Thank you both - I am still learning how to find my away around, particularly when it comes to locating the maps that are mentioned. Actually it is pretty clearly marked, but thank god I bookmarked the NV Sites Complete the first time, because for some reason I keep missing it. Is there a Clearwire map or way to identify Clearwire sites on one of the other maps?

 

 

Ingenium, see you back on the SF Bay Market Thread

lilotimz, look forward to learning more about Nevada

There is a nationwide Clearwire map, but it's Premier only. It shows all sites, including sites that never got LTE.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6

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Hey guys, so how did it all turn out in Sacramento?

 

My contract with Verizon ends in roughly a half year, wondering if it's worth it to come back at that time?

 

Verizon is expensive, especially considering that they don't have unlimited data. Other than that, the service has been awesome. Except for a couple weird places I went to along the coast, I always have had signal and data. Other than that, in Sacramento my phone service has been solid.

 

Has sprint reached this level of service in Sacramento?

If it helps, I haven't left Sacramento during this bill cycle (starts on the 3rd) and my data usage shows. 3g: 0.2203gb 4g: 6.7151gb. my phone is on lte almost all the time. Service has dramatically improved over the past year.

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Sprint is now very usable compared to before. In many areas I get a basic layer of LTE from all three bands (typically band 26/41. Almost never on 25). It may not be the fastest or the most reliable but at least I can do stuff.

 

There's still random dead spots for lte in many places though that is very annoying since EVDO is more often than not extremely congested. Toggling airplane mode constantly to get a lte connection has become 2nd nature.

 

Hoping the dead zones get fixed by band 26 being "optimized" (it hasn't yet. They fired it up in nov/Dec) but meh. Indoors is iffy because of that.

 

In the immediate future we have the old Clearwire network which is going to be decommissioned and converted to sprint sites. I estimate about 200 new macro sites can be done. The first two conversion was applied for permits in July so I'm hoping it'll be a quick turn around for more capacity and coverage.

 

 

Tldr: very usable now compared to before but lots of inconsistency as typical of sprint. Ymmv depending on area

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

If it helps, I haven't left Sacramento during this bill cycle (starts on the 3rd) and my data usage shows. 3g: 0.2203gb 4g: 6.7151gb. my phone is on lte almost all the time. Service has dramatically improved over the past year.

 

 

I don't like the sound of a patchy local network, I might get a work phone in the next year or two- they use Sprint. I'll wait until then to try it out.

 

Thanks for the info folks.

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Regarding Nevada are there any current or expected roaming partners in the state whose coverage is considered native coverage (not counted against your roaming allotment).

 

I have run into people who use Choice Wireless and have told me it offers the best coverage in much of Nevada. They were getting coverage where I could not with Verizon. I had assumed it (Choice Wireless) was running off of one of the major carrier's networks, but I have not seen it listed as a MVNO. I am curious what the story is with them.

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Regarding Nevada are there any current or expected roaming partners in the state whose coverage is considered native coverage (not counted against your roaming allotment).

 

I have run into people who use Choice Wireless and have told me it offers the best coverage in much of Nevada. They were getting coverage where I could not with Verizon. I had assumed it (Choice Wireless) was running off of one of the major carrier's networks, but I have not seen it listed as a MVNO. I am curious what the story is with them.

Not sure if they signed anything but I think they predominately deal with Verizon. Considering they aren't on the evdo off network roaming list it'd unlikely they signed any agreement with sprint.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

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I was just "chatting" with a Choice Wireless online rep, which means do not take this as Gospel, but they said it is their own network. Verizon shows areas in Choice's territory where I can hardly get a signal as being "Extended Network". I am referencing my experience in Dyer, CA east of the White Mtns on the CA/NV state line as an example. They use CDMA and look like they roam on Verizon in California. I am still trying to figure out where they are based and who owns them. It seems to me they have some kind of  relationship with the Navajo Nation. That is where all of their LTE coverage is. The Choice rep said they roam on Verizon and Sprint.

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I was just "chatting" with a Choice Wireless online rep, which means do not take this as Gospel, but they said it is their own network. Verizon shows areas in Choice's territory where I can hardly get a signal as being "Extended Network". I am referencing my experience in Dyer, CA east of the White Mtns on the CA/NV state line as an example. They use CDMA and look like they roam on Verizon in California. I am still trying to figure out where they are based and who owns them. It seems to me they have some kind of  relationship with the Navajo Nation. That is where all of their LTE coverage is. The Choice rep said they roam on Verizon and Sprint.

 

That would be conisdered Lower Central Valley and Las Vegas market area. 

 

CCA Alliance does show their coverage as part of aggregated members coverage map so maybe one day they'll sign some sort of agreement with Sprint. 

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Choice Wireless is part of Commnet Wireless. Commnet is based in Atlanta, GA. My interest in them was if they are or could be a future Sprint Rural Roaming Preferred Provider partner. I was reading a thread about buying out companies vs. building out the network from scratch. Commnet Wireless's  territory sure seems like it would fill in a lot of areas where Sprint does not have native coverage. Anyway was just curious if Commnet could potentially be a rural partner or something for Sprint to buy out to increase rural coverage in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado.

 

"The areas we focus on are predominantly communities of less than 2,500 people, state and national parks, seasonal areas such as ski resorts and lakes, and the roadways that connect these areas to mainstream America."

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That would be conisdered Lower Central Valley and Las Vegas market area. 

 

 

Yes excuse me - this certainly includes other markets in the S4GRU forums in addition to this one. They do seem to have "home cellular" 3G coverage throughout Western and Central Nevada. Verizon must roam on them as there is no other carrier that I can think of that has that kind of coverage in Nevada. By the way they have coverage on I 80 all the way to Elko. Can't say how seamless it is, but they seem to have Nevada covered as good as if not better than anyone else.

 

The Organic Network Expansion forum might have been a better place to discus this, but my initial interest was just Nevada.

 

RE: "CCA Alliance does show their coverage as part of aggregated members coverage map so maybe one day they'll sign some sort of agreement with Sprint."

 

Thanks - I was trying to find that out.

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Commnet is a Sprint RRPP member. It will likely have LTE usable to Sprint customers at some point in the future.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

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SF Bay market has 301 Clear sites (some are co-located so won't be new builds). There are 491 if you count what I assume are small cells that are wimax only. These numbers also include the San Jose market because Clearwire didn't distinguish between SF and San Jose.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6

 

Not sure what you mean by small cells? Aside from a few DAS deployments, all Clear sites are macro builds. When Sprint acquired Clear, the WiMax to TD-LTE conversions were stopped, so many sites remain WiMax only until Sprint converts them to Sprint equipment.

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Not sure what you mean by small cells? Aside from a few DAS deployments, all Clear sites are macro builds. When Sprint acquired Clear, the WiMax to TD-LTE conversions were stopped, so many sites remain WiMax only until Sprint converts them to Sprint equipment.

 

San Francisco has a ton of telephone pole mounted Clearwire panels that I'm assuming are small cells. Here's an example of one: https://goo.gl/maps/5nb22

 

If you look at the map in the first post here http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4674-clearwire-td-lte-2600-wimaxexpedience-maps/ you'll see a lot of green sites in Noe Valley and the Castro where native Sprint service is awful, no LTE at all. There are also a bunch slightly further south. Those are all small cells like the one in the street view image above.

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It appears these are the other sectors for the example site in the post above https://goo.gl/maps/ZjX3X and https://goo.gl/maps/UtQTn

 

I don't see an RRU or any cabinets anywhere. Here's a different site showing the panel head on https://goo.gl/maps/8lH2f. I'm not sure how they actually tie into backhaul. That's why I assumed these were small cells, since they're different from regular Clearwire sites. I wonder how difficult it will be for Sprint to convert them to B41 after the wimax shutdown.

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San Francisco has a ton of telephone pole mounted Clearwire panels that I'm assuming are small cells. Here's an example of one: https://goo.gl/maps/5nb22

 

If you look at the map in the first post here http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4674-clearwire-td-lte-2600-wimaxexpedience-maps/ you'll see a lot of green sites in Noe Valley and the Castro where native Sprint service is awful, no LTE at all. There are also a bunch slightly further south. Those are all small cells like the one in the street view image above.

 

 

It appears these are the other sectors for the example site in the post above https://goo.gl/maps/ZjX3X and https://goo.gl/maps/UtQTn

 

I don't see an RRU or any cabinets anywhere. Here's a different site showing the panel head on https://goo.gl/maps/8lH2f. I'm not sure how they actually tie into backhaul. That's why I assumed these were small cells, since they're different from regular Clearwire sites. I wonder how difficult it will be for Sprint to convert them to B41 after the wimax shutdown.

 

I don't think those are small cells. Do you know for sure that those are WiMax? If so, it may be just the way they deployed the sectors since I don't see any monopole structures or anything else for them to mount the antennas. They don't look that different from regular Clear antennas. 

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I don't think those are small cells. Do you know for sure that those are WiMax? If so, it may be just the way they deployed the sectors since I don't see any monopole structures or anything else for them to mount the antennas. They don't look that different from regular Clear antennas. 

 

It's possible they're not, I don't have a WiMax device to test with. They're at every location that's a green dot on the map. I'm not sure where else they could put the panels at these locations since there aren't any other structures. I assumed they didn't convert them to LTE because they were different from the other Clear sites somehow and couldn't support it. 

 

Actually, looking around other areas that have green dots, some have panels on almost every pole. Could it be a DAS style setup? 

 

What's weird is that Clear deployed so densely in these mostly residential parts of SF, but sparsely in areas like downtown. I suppose it was built out as part of their home broadband plans? The density of the sites in these areas also leads me to suspect that they aren't normal builds.

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It's possible they're not, I don't have a WiMax device to test with. They're at every location that's a green dot on the map. I'm not sure where else they could put the panels at these locations since there aren't any other structures. I assumed they didn't convert them to LTE because they were different from the other Clear sites somehow and couldn't support it. 

 

Actually, looking around other areas that have green dots, some have panels on almost every pole. Could it be a DAS style setup? 

 

What's weird is that Clear deployed so densely in these mostly residential parts of SF, but sparsely in areas like downtown. I suppose it was built out as part of their home broadband plans? The density of the sites in these areas also leads me to suspect that they aren't normal builds.

 

They are definitely small cells.

 

http://www.senzafiliconsulting.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=poRsDqBRr0I%3D&tabid=104&mid=466&forcedownload=true

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Awesome find! So they're "pico cells" with fiber backhaul. That's why in some areas they're on every pole down the street (much more than the typical 3 sectors). Several are probably being lumped together as a "site".

 

I hope Sprint can do B41 small cells the same way. It seems like it could be a quick rollout if so.

 

Edit: Found one with what I think is an RRU https://goo.gl/maps/YlKJJ. It looks like it's "shoebox sized" like mentioned in the PDF. There's a panel on every pole down the street for several blocks.

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Awesome find! So they're "pico cells" with fiber backhaul. That's why in some areas they're on every pole down the street (much more than the typical 3 sectors). Several are probably being lumped together as a "site".

 

I hope Sprint can do B41 small cells the same way. It seems like it could be a quick rollout if so.

 

Edit: Found one with what I think is an RRU https://goo.gl/maps/YlKJJ. It looks like it's "shoebox sized" like mentioned in the PDF. There's a panel on every pole down the street for several blocks.

 

Very interesting. I did not know they deployed in such a fashion in these areas. I think it's safe to say these sites will not be converted into macro sites. Now, it's certainly possible Sprint could replace them with new Samsung B41 small cells. That would be the smart thing to do, assuming the backhaul is adequate. Does anyone work or live near these areas so we can keep an eye on them?

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Very interesting. I did not know they deployed in such a fashion in these areas. I think it's safe to say these sites will not be converted into macro sites. Now, it's certainly possible Sprint could replace them with new Samsung B41 small cells. That would be the smart thing to do, assuming the backhaul is adequate. Does anyone work or live near these areas so we can keep an eye on them?

 

I managed to get ahold of a Clear WiMax USB stick. My quick testing with one site seems to indicate that the BSID is offset from the LTE GCI by 0x18800 (ignoring the last 2 digits). Side note, they apparently have thinned down to 10 Mhz carriers, with the sector I just connected to having a center frequency of 2673500 (equivalent to the second half of the TDD LTE carrier with EARFCN 41374). If they're still using different frequencies per sector, then they're using the last 30Mhz of Sprint's spectrum holdings. 

 

I'll be in that area in 2 weeks, I'll drive around and see if I pick up anything on my phone or on Clear. I'm curious how the WiMax BSID and center frequency will change between sectors and if groups of them indeed appear as a single site (ie, the same first 6 digits).

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Commnet is a Sprint RRPP member. It will likely have LTE usable to Sprint customers at some point in the future.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

 

Excellent! If Sprint partners with them in building out their spectrum that will be even better. It sure looks like Commnet would fill in a lot territory in the West and eliminate the need to roam on Verizon at the same time.

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Has anyone drove around Lake Tahoe to see where there is LTE? North Shore is my old stomping ground and I had Sprint when I left in 2003 which worked well in Incline Village. I see some talk about South Lake but nothing else. 

 

I see Elko, Wendover and Eureka mentioned here. Maybe a Great Basin Market would be fitting for any activity in the Great Basin (IE 90% of Nevada and about half of Utah.

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Has anyone drove around Lake Tahoe to see where there is LTE? North Shore is my old stomping ground and I had Sprint when I left in 2003 which worked well in Incline Village. I see some talk about South Lake but nothing else. 

 

I see Elko, Wendover and Eureka mentioned here. Maybe a Great Basin Market would be fitting for any activity in the Great Basin (IE 90% of Nevada and about half of Utah.

 

For Lake Tahoe sensorly maps show some tracks of where LTE has been found. Typically situated along the highways. Also doubt it. Low population and low ROI. Lack of funding is a real issue for this market. 

 

In the sponsor areas I have created a map with the status of Sprint sites in this market and exact locations. Yes Incline village site does have LTE.  

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