Network Vision/LTE - Buffalo Market

[S4GRU]

I am quite surprised no one in the Buffalo area took up Roberts offer.... 

 

I'd still be willing to do it for our fine folks in Buffalo.  

[joshnys8913]

I guess no one is in Buffalo anymore Robert lol!! 

[S4GRU]

I guess no one is in Buffalo anymore Robert lol!!

*echo*

 

Using Sharp AQUOS Crystal on Tapatalk

[moeSizlak]

Very frustrating problem at my house in Orchard Park, NY.  I used to get a very good LTE signal from the tower located behind the firehall near 3426 Abbott Rd, Orchard Park, NY 14127 (near corner of Rt 179 and Abbott).  However for the last week (maybe more) that tower has not been broadcasting.  My phone now uses the tower near Ralph Wilson Stadium instead...which does not have LTE, and the 3G signal I get from it is so weak I often miss calls...  -100 dBm to -110 dBm

 

Would complaining to Sprint do any good here?

[S4GRU]

Very frustrating problem at my house in Orchard Park, NY. I used to get a very good LTE signal from the tower located behind the firehall near 3426 Abbott Rd, Orchard Park, NY 14127 (near corner of Rt 179 and Abbott). However for the last week (maybe more) that tower has not been broadcasting. My phone now uses the tower near Ralph Wilson Stadium instead...which does not have LTE, and the 3G signal I get from it is so weak I often miss calls... -100 dBm to -110 dBm

 

Would complaining to Sprint do any good here?

Yes. Definitely report it.

[moeSizlak]

Thankfully, the tower came back online yesterday.

 

Yes. Definitely report it.

[moeSizlak]

Actually, it looks as if the tower is now broadcasting on LTE band 41.  SignalCheck LITE reports:

 

UL Channel: 58978

DL Channel: 40978

 

Normally, when I'm on band 25, the app will also report the frequencies (ie, 1912.5 MHz).  But for some reason the app doesn't know what frequency these 2 channels are.  However I was able to find one website that claims that channel 40978 is band 41, 2628.8 MHz.

 

This means that Sprint is upgrading towers in Buffalo to use band 41.  This is cool because we're not getting any band 26 (800 MHz) action in Buffalo due our proximity to the worthless country of Canada.

 

However, I was literally about 1000 feet, line of sight, to the tower and was getting an extremely weak signal:

 

RSRP: -105 dBm (18 asu)

RSRQ: -8 dB, SNR: 18.6 dB, CQI: 1

 

Is this normal for band 41?

[lilotimz]

Actually, it looks as if the tower is now broadcasting on LTE band 41.  SignalCheck LITE reports:

 

UL Channel: 58978

DL Channel: 40978

 

Normally, when I'm on band 25, the app will also report the frequencies (ie, 1912.5 MHz).  But for some reason the app doesn't know what frequency these 2 channels are.  However I was able to find one website that claims that channel 40978 is band 41, 2628.8 MHz.

 

This means that Sprint is upgrading towers in Buffalo to use band 41.  This is cool because we're not getting any band 26 (800 MHz) action in Buffalo due our proximity to the worthless country of Canada.

 

However, I was literally about 1000 feet, line of sight, to the tower and was getting an extremely weak signal:

 

RSRP: -105 dBm (18 asu)

RSRQ: -8 dB, SNR: 18.6 dB, CQI: 1

 

Is this normal for band 41?

 

See this: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-360-whats-the-frequency-kenneth-interpreting-your-engineering-screen-part-three/

 

the range for band 41 EARFCNs is 39650-41589

 

And reception  depends on how the cell site is configured and if they need to adjust the signal.

 

Even then band 41 signal is extremely usable at low signals and you will get 10-20 mbps easily at -115 to -120.  

[joshnys8913]

I am hoping Batavia gets LTE at some point, I know its a small city, but would be nice Only can hope when I visit the area. 

[ajr0203]

Since no one has posted in the Buffalo market for a while, I'll ask my question here. Where I work on the reservation right outside of lewiston I normally receive a fairly usable LTE signal and I generally don't drop to 3G and if I do its only for a moment. Today, however, I haven't received LTE at all and I'm struggling to not roam. Does this mean that perhaps they're updating this tower to band 41 or is it just a coincidence?

[Deval]

Since no one has posted in the Buffalo market for a while, I'll ask my question here. Where I work on the reservation right outside of lewiston I normally receive a fairly usable LTE signal and I generally don't drop to 3G and if I do its only for a moment. Today, however, I haven't received LTE at all and I'm struggling to not roam. Does this mean that perhaps they're updating this tower to band 41 or is it just a coincidence?

 

The tower could be down, did you call it in/report it?

[ajr0203]

The tower could be down, did you call it in/report it?

no I didn't, honestly I'm not sure how, and I didn't have time since I was at work haha. How do you report towers down and for that matter, how do you check on the status of towers? I know sprint zone used to have a section for this and now they don't.

[Deval]

no I didn't, honestly I'm not sure how, and I didn't have time since I was at work haha. How do you report towers down and for that matter, how do you check on the status of towers? I know sprint zone used to have a section for this and now they don't.

Sprint zone lets you report network issues by clicking on the Network option.

[ajr0203]

Sprint zone lets you report network issues by clicking on the Network option.

Oh, Duh lol. Submitted the issue.

[ajr0203]

Since we are unfortunate enough to live in an IBEZ area and won't be seeing any 800mhz coverage, will there be any efforts to improve coverage density? Out where I live there is 1 tower in my town, and 1 in the next town and unfortunately it's just not enough. Will Sprint ever expand coverage with additional towers or microcells perhaps? I just hope to see an expansion of coverage soon.

I have been with Sprint from the days of roaming in my bedroom and now to having blips of LTE in the same spot, but I don't think Sprint will survive forever unless they increase their coverage reach; in urban and rural areas alike. I understand being out in a rural area, but when I go to Niagara Falls I drop to 3G in some spots and I feel like that's almost unacceptable in an urban area. Don't get me wrong, I love Sprint, I just hope that one day this wouldn't be an issue.

So, I guess what I'm asking is if it's possible for Sprint to build out more towers even if they wanted to? Why is it that the other carriers, mostly Red and Blue, were able to build out so many more towers and have such denser footprints? 

[WiWavelength]

So, I guess what I'm asking is if it's possible for Sprint to build out more towers even if they wanted to? Why is it that the other carriers, mostly Red and Blue, were able to build out so many more towers and have such denser footprints? 

 

Uh, decades more network site development, tens of millions more subscribers, and billions more dollars.

 

AJ

[ajr0203]

Is there any way to check for tower outages and/or work being done to them like there used to be? I've been reporting my connection problems and I want to see the status on the towers or if it just happens to be my phone for some reason.

[ajr0203]

My little site in tiny little Youngstown got band 41 today. Pulled 26 mb/s down from about 5 miles away approximately with a signal strength of about -118. Amazing. Love it. It helps fringe service be very usable. ????

[jg424]

Tiny? LOL that colocation tower that Sprint is broadcasting off of (on balmer road) is 260 feet tall!!! Great to see them still doing upgrades in WNY.  Lockport has had band 41 for a while now, but Niagara Falls and Buffalo still need some work.  Some areas are excellent and others are rather dismal.

[ajr0203]

Tiny? LOL that colocation tower that Sprint is broadcasting off of (on balmer road) is 260 feet tall!!! Great to see them still doing upgrades in WNY. Lockport has had band 41 for a while now, but Niagara Falls and Buffalo still need some work. Some areas are excellent and others are rather dismal.

haha I meant tiny town more so than tiny tower. I actually drove past it last night and I had forgotten how tall it is for such a small town. I only picked up band 41 for a moment or two yesterday and today I'm only receiving 1x now so perhaps they're still testing/installing.

[ajr0203]

Also, my field test screen keeps showing really bizarre frequency readings. It will say band 25 and then switch to 896000 or something like that. I'll post the screenshot when I'm near my computer.

[jg424]

Oh ok then yes, I'd agree with you, Youngstown is rather tiny, and what's funny is that said tower is really in Porter (which is even smaller) rather than Youngstown proper.  Unfortunately that whole area is rather under served by both T-Mobile and Sprint, as that site is the only one in the area for both carriers.  AT&T and VZW both broadcast LTE from the water tower right in Youngstown.  T-Mobile should improve somewhat this year once they deploy band 12 LTE (now that they have the license) but I would still like to see them along with Sprint colocate on the water tower.

[ajr0203]

Oh ok then yes, I'd agree with you, Youngstown is rather tiny, and what's funny is that said tower is really in Porter (which is even smaller) rather than Youngstown proper. Unfortunately that whole area is rather under served by both T-Mobile and Sprint, as that site is the only one in the area for both carriers. AT&T and VZW both broadcast LTE from the water tower right in Youngstown. T-Mobile should improve somewhat this year once they deploy band 12 LTE (now that they have the license) but I would still like to see them along with Sprint colocate on the water tower.

I would love that. I always wondered why sprint doesn't have a tower right on the water tower like Verizon does. I live about a half a mile away from that water tower so it would be perfect. When I had Verizon it was nice to have solid full LTE in town. However, I will say that sprint has made major strides. When I first went to sprint 3 years ago I would only have service in my bedroom, I would roam in my living and outside. Now, I have sprint service all throughout Youngstown, including reaching LTE in fort Niagara. I've asked before why sprint doesn't have a tower on the water tower like Verizon and I've heard it's from the close proximity to Canada. I don't understand why that matters nowadays. Canada has their incredibly strong towers that they wouldn't come close to roaming on one of our signals. Also, Verizon is able to broadcast there so why can't sprint?

[jg424]

I would love that. I always wondered why sprint doesn't have a tower right on the water tower like Verizon does. I live about a half a mile away from that water tower so it would be perfect. When I had Verizon it was nice to have solid full LTE in town. However, I will say that sprint has made major strides. When I first went to sprint 3 years ago I would only have service in my bedroom, I would roam in my living and outside. Now, I have sprint service all throughout Youngstown, including reaching LTE in fort Niagara. I've asked before why sprint doesn't have a tower on the water tower like Verizon and I've heard it's from the close proximity to Canada. I don't understand why that matters nowadays. Canada has their incredibly strong towers that they wouldn't come close to roaming on one of our signals. Also, Verizon is able to broadcast there so why can't sprint?

Close proximity to Canada doesn't have anything to do with it, however the local town planning board, as well as Sprints network engineering department both do.  Just like the rest of the region the proximity to Canada only prohibits Sprint from running anything on SMR (be it 1X or LTE) as this is still considered an IBEZ.  The grid in neighboring Lewiston needs work too though.  Its rather sparse (for T-Mobile too, their site locations are nearly identical) and they have options there.  There is a Crown Castle owned site with AT&T and VZW owned equipment right near Modern that would make a nice addition to Sprint's grid as they're rather weak in the Model City area.

[ajr0203]

Close proximity to Canada doesn't have anything to do with it, however the local town planning board, as well as Sprints network engineering department both do. Just like the rest of the region the proximity to Canada only prohibits Sprint from running anything on SMR (be it 1X or LTE) as this is still considered an IBEZ. The grid in neighboring Lewiston needs work too though. Its rather sparse (for T-Mobile too, their site locations are nearly identical) and they have options there. There is a Crown Castle owned site with AT&T and VZW owned equipment right near Modern that would make a nice addition to Sprint's grid as they're rather weak in the Model City area.

coverage in the town of Lewiston is excellent compared to Youngstown. Model city though is weak. I work right across from Lewiston town hall and model city coverage is hit and miss, however, with my iPhone now it's much better than it was with my note 5. I love how you seem to be commenting on all the areas I frequent lol. So what would take sprint to make these areas as dense as Verizon and AT&T have? Is it just not worth the money to supply service in areas where probably only a handful of people would benefit?