Sprint LTE Coverage Maps via Sensorly

[SpecialEdVTEC]

Sprint's coverage maps also include the roaming coverage, as well. Just figured you should know so that you don't check Sprint and get any false expectation from there, either.

No worries there. On the Sprint coverage maps, off network roaming is defined. However, the Sprint coverage maps already set false expectations by showing that their coverage is better than it is, even if you filter out future Sprint towers. For example, they have the entire Tri County metropolitan area in SEFL blanketed in 4G. However, some areas have small gaps in 4G coverage or it is very weak due to the towers not completely overlapping. Also, some areas have not been upgraded, yet. For example, there is a tower South of Sunrise Blvd, East of University Dr, that is still 3G/WIMAX only.

 

I stand by my opinion that the Sensorly coverage maps should not be mapping off-network roaming as coverage of the provider in question.

Edited December 1, 2013 by SpecialEdVTEC

[digiblur]

I've found the Sprint voice maps to be pretty dead on.  The LTE ones are just dead wrong.  You'll see they show LTE coverage where they only have roaming coverage. 

[Nickel]

I've found the Sprint voice maps to be pretty dead on.  The LTE ones are just dead wrong.  You'll see they show LTE coverage where they only have roaming coverage. 

Yeah, they're really wrong when you consider all the unlaunched markets that have had LTE for months.

[digiblur]

Yeah, they're really wrong when you consider all the unlaunched markets that have had LTE for months.

Well I was talking about launched markets.

[Nickel]

Well I was talking about launched markets.

I figured as much, however it still makes them inaccurate, but I understand why they do it that way.

[SWMich4G]

I guess I'll be the first to complain.  I really dislike the new gray maps on the website.  Makes it much harder to see and is much less visually pleasing.  I also dislike how there is no fullscreen option anymore. 

 

Also I really don't need a giant red marker telling me where Michigan is and blocking the tiles.  How do I get rid of it?

[Yuhfhrh]

Yeah... I'm not going to use sensorly anymore lol

[asaini007]

This whole time, I've been patiently waiting for LTE to finally reach my area. Because that was the goal - that was the end. And, with Sprint's improvements, it's steadily been coming closer. But now, I realize, that LTE comes in a lot of flavors. Sure obviously there are different frequencies, backhauls, etc. that impact performance, but to the regular consumer, it comes down to speed. And Sprint is simply the slowest - so much slower than every other carrier!

 

Sensorly made this clear to me, it lets you look at a portion of a map and gives information based on speed test done by users of LTE on all four carriers. It comes down to the following chart:

Fraction of speed test results, by carrier, within download speed categories.

 

Like.... just... 92% below 15 Mbps Sprint? Really? This isn't surprising though, I've noticed it in my own speed tests. I exported them into Excel (29 LTE tests of the last month) and found:

• A mean result of 8.7 mbps
• A median of 7.8 mbps,
• and the following distribution (histogram):

 

Basically what I'm saying is, on average, Sprint's LTE is overwhelmingly slow compared to other carriers (even peak speeds are substantially lower - I'd say about half as much, and that's being generous).

 

Now I know what you're gonna say - but Sprint Spark, TDD-LTE, upgraded backhaul are rolling out as we speak, bringing greater speed joy! To what end though - it's not like the other carriers are not improving their LTE networks, too. Then, of course, you might say, Sprint's network is improving faster than other carriers' networks are, so in the long run it will overtake them. And to that I say - really? The order of LTE launches: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile. But while Sprint improves its network in stages (3G, 1900 MHz LTE, backhaul, 800 MHz LTE, 2500 MHz LTE, and on), T-Mobile and AT&T are already there (where Sprint Spark is trying to take us) with peak speeds of over 50 mbps! And you can't argue that AT&T's amazing speeds are because it's newer and therefore less saturated - because it's not. Who knows how much T-Mobile and AT&T will have progressed by the time Sprint Spark finishes rolling out?

 

On that note I'd like to end this rant/post with the following disclaimer: the data here reflect Sprint speeds in my area (around Boston) - I can't claim to know the nationwide state of Sprint's network, so if you're enjoying consistent 20+ mbps, then congrats and I wonder why it's not happening here, in this first round market. Maybe there is a reason? Who knows...

[Bob Newhart]

Their website is pretty user unfriendly now.

[mikejeep]

Their website is pretty user unfriendly now.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the gray map background color, but otherwise the website seems pretty similar to what it always has been...?

 

-Mike

[SWMich4G]

This whole time, I've been patiently waiting for LTE to finally reach my area. Because that was the goal - that was the end. And, with Sprint's improvements, it's steadily been coming closer. But now, I realize, that LTE comes in a lot of flavors. Sure obviously there are different frequencies, backhauls, etc. that impact performance, but to the regular consumer, it comes down to speed.

 

I'm gonna stop you right there.  I see you did a lot of work, but that first point is simply not true.  The VAST majority of people would never know the difference between 5 mbps and 50 mbps, assuming they have the same ping/latency.  While it may be true people respond to numbers in advertising, in real life usage they will personally not even be able to tell the difference.  Once you reach a certain bandwidth, all the matters for everyday phone use is ping.  While it's nice to have that ability to say "10 times faster than carrier X!" in marketing, it doesn't seem any faster to the consumer.  Hand them 2 phones and they'll think the one with lower pings is faster, even if the bandwidth is lower. 

[asaini007]

I'm gonna stop you right there.  I see you did a lot of work, but that first point is simply not true.  The VAST majority of people would never know the difference between 5 mbps and 50 mbps, assuming they have the same ping/latency.  While it may be true people respond to numbers in advertising, in real life usage they will personally not even be able to tell the difference.  Once you reach a certain bandwidth, all the matters for everyday phone use is ping.  While it's nice to have that ability to say "10 times faster than carrier X!" in marketing, it doesn't seem any faster to the consumer.  Hand them 2 phones and they'll think the one with lower pings is faster, even if the bandwidth is lower. 

True story, I agree, I was just pointing out my findings. For me, as long as I can stream HD YouTube videos without buffering, I'm happy. But it is what it is.

 

Didn't mean for that post to get to so long, I basically was crunching the numbers out of curiosity then decided to share.

[Bob Newhart]

I'm not a huge fan of the gray map background color, but otherwise the website seems pretty similar to what it always has been...?

 

-Mike

 

You used to be able to link to full screen maps with a zip code.

 

For example, I used to use this:

http://sensorly.com/fullscreen/map/4G/US/USA/ATandT_Mobility/lte_310410#q=98001

 

Now when you enter a zip code, you have to wait for it to search for the city, then you click it.

Then you select carrier.

Then you wait, 

Then you select 3g or 4g, then you wait.

Then it asks you if its ok to save cookies.

 

Still can link to direct maps though.

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/ATandT_Mobility/lte_310410#q=Auburn%2C+WA+98001%2C+USA

 

Looks like they are using the same web site designer as T-Mobile.

 

Life is hard for me now.

[mikejeep]

You used to be able to link to full screen maps with a zip code.

 

For example, I used to use this:

http://sensorly.com/fullscreen/map/4G/US/USA/ATandT_Mobility/lte_310410#q=98001

 

Now when you enter a zip code, you have to wait for it to search for the city, then you click it.

Then you select carrier.

Then you wait, 

Then you select 3g or 4g, then you wait.

Then it asks you if its ok to save cookies.

 

Still can link to direct maps though.

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/ATandT_Mobility/lte_310410#q=Auburn%2C+WA+98001%2C+USA

 

Ahh I see. It looks like linking to a zip code URL still works, but no fullscreen options anywhere. I never even realized there were fullscreen maps available. I know they received a big capital investment earlier this year, I'm sure that had something to do with all of the major changes to the site and the app.

 

-Mike

[SWMich4G]

The lack of color is becoming even more annoying that I thought it'd be.  Not only can I not easily see where the coverage starts and stops due to the lack of contrast, I also can't find where I am on the map.  With an overlay (the coverage) on a map you NEED an easy way to quickly identify where you're looking.  They've removed the ability to quickly scan for things like parks, hospitals, schools, major highways, city limits, etc.  Those are all colored on the old maps, and now EVERYTHING is gray, so now you're basically left with reading the street names, which conveniently auto-resize to around 7pt font for most streets.  I don't know who's doing the beta testing there, but I want their eyesight if they can quickly read gray-on-gray, 7pt text that has a ~67% opaque purple overlay on top of it. 

 

I understand it's a business and cost was probably a factor, but it's hard to make money when you lose the majority of your contributing users by making your product far less user-friendly.  And I'm not trying to sound rude, since I used to love the site and app, and would gladly pay $10 for the old versions were they not free.  I just can't express how bad some of the changes have been without coming across as harsh.  I also appreciated that we actually had a rep coming to our forum before, despite us only representing 1 of hundreds of carriers they cover.   I'd love to know the reasoning for the changes, but they way things are going OpenSignal is looking a lot more attractive despite being incredibly inaccurate.  At least I can read their maps. 

[Paynefanbro]

Two things:

 

1. ​The maps are getting kind of outdated and I wanted to know how long it takes for a part of the map to get updated if you go over a certain area that's already been mapped. I found that I went into an area that according to the map was about 1 bar but in reality it was almost all bars because a site went up and no one mapped it.
2. This is not necessarily Sensorly related but why does T-Mobile seem to have more dark purple from a single site than Sprint? Does T-Mobile turn up the power on their T-Mobile sites or something? Just wondering because I've noticed it in nearly every city where both Sprint and T-Mobile have coverage. If this is the case then, Sprint could easily turn up power on their sites and I'd have a better LTE signal in my home.

[digiblur]

 

​The maps are getting kind of outdated and I wanted to know how long it takes for a part of the map to get updated if you go over a certain area that's already been mapped. I found that I went into an area that according to the map was about 1 bar but in reality it was almost all bars because a site went up and no one mapped it.

 

Updates happen within minutes at times.  It does take anywhere from an hour to 24 hours for you to see sometimes though based on tile caching.  But I bet what you are seeing are areas that had low coverage mapped before but now a site went live and you expect to see dark purple right away.  The mapping is based on averaging the data that is turned in for that point.  If a bunch of people mapped it with 1 bar it's going to take a bunch of people to get the average up.

[thensley1983]

why is 1X800 not showing up on sensorly i've tried to map this a few times as it shows i have zero coverage where i am and i have 80 to 90 DBM now i will say i have ZERO data coverage around my area dose sensorly only show data coverage not voice and text?

[The Dave]

why is 1X800 not showing up on sensorly i've tried to map this a few times as it shows i have zero coverage where i am and i have 80 to 90 DBM now i will say i have ZERO data coverage around my area dose sensorly only show data coverage not voice and text?

Did you switch it to "Sprint 2G/3G" view?

[WiWavelength]

why is 1X800 not showing up on sensorly i've tried to map this a few times as it shows i have zero coverage where i am and i have 80 to 90 DBM now i will say i have ZERO data coverage around my area dose sensorly only show data coverage not voice and text?

Sensorly may not have databased Sprint's CDMA1X 800 SIDs.

 

AJ

[speed4evr]

Whenever I do passive scans or map trip on my tab 3/N5, the update shows in couple of hours at most. I do live SE idaho n we have 4 towers in our area

 

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk

 

 

[SWMich4G]

Ew just noticed (since I almost never go there anymore) that the new maps don't even have railroad tracks.  It's like they were designed to make it as difficult as possible to tell where you're looking.  I'm surprised they even label the streets. 

[tampaflusa]

When mapping now it doesn't even map in solid lines now, just random circles along the road that's being mapped.

[SWMich4G]

When mapping now it doesn't even map in solid lines now, just random circles along the road that's being mapped.

 

It was always circles.  They may have changed the rate at which it updates though, so now there's more space between the circles (e.g. one point every 5 seconds now vs one point every 3 seconds before or something like that).  On old data if you zoom all the way in anywhere there's a single pass mapped, you can see the overlapping circles.  I've also noticed the circles don't seem to overlap on much of the mapping I did this month, so the individual data points are more visually obvious and don't merge together into lines.  I imagine it was just a temporary issue with either their servers, the app, or my gps, since it's not ALL spread apart, but some of my mapping is definitely dotted lines recently.

[Brometheus]

Just did a check on my area and the 4g coverage is spotty. One this i noticed is the 4g covers basically the whole expressway.

Do carriers focus on major highways for coverage? I assume for better navigation connection.

 

Dont really have lte in my house but when i go to a local park i have hit 6mb down and 3 up with a weak lte connection.

3g i can barely squeak by with a .19 :/.

Thankfully i have wifi. Just renewed my contract with sprint so hopefully this year it will vastly improve.