Will my LTE get better?

[danRandall]

(still new to this stuff go easy on me)

 

I live in an area that has been having NV LTE upgrades since december...Petaluma, CA. Everywhere I go i am connected to cdma 800 sites for voice (i have signalcheck pro) and all of my towers seem to be eHRPD. Sometimes I connect to LTE, sometimes I do not. I have a tower about 1 mile away from my work which is the next town over and can connect frequently but the signal seems poor and drops to 3G when I am past -125dBm. Should my signal strength be so low for the tower only being 1 mile away? I have called sprint and sometimes they tell me that all work has been done for my area other times they say things are still being upgraded and not til the end of the year will I see consistent strength and speeds. I usually see 5-8mbps unless I am really close then it's upper 20's. I am using an HTC ONE by the way and the wife has an iphone 5 which seems to grab the LTE signal way earlier and longer when I am in fringe areas. So is this range normal for LTE towers, seems kind of weak to me, i mean the cdma 800 tower I am connected to is like 10 miles away with a -95dBm and almost full bars. 

[thewezgrays]

I was sitting about 1/4 mile or less from the Hardeeville, SC cellular site today, and I was getting -65db on 1xRTT... And -95db on LTE.. I lose the LTE signal about two miles from it.. It is not an urban site at all... Same thing with the new Myrtle Beach, SC one...

 

Notice that we both have the EVOLTE... Just sucks on LTE... Hope my Galaxy Note 3 will do better.

[gr8nuguy]

I was sitting about 1/4 mile or less from the Hardeeville, SC cellular site today, and I was getting -65db on 1xRTT... And -95db on LTE.. I lose the LTE signal about two miles from it.. It is not an urban site at all... Same thing with the new Myrtle Beach, SC one...

 

Notice that we both have the EVOLTE... Just sucks on LTE... Hope my Galaxy Note 3 will do better.

he is using an htc one    but signal strength varies greatly from site to site depending on surroundings and downtilt 

[thewezgrays]

he is using an htc one    but signal strength varies greatly from site to site depending on surroundings and downtilt

 

Oops... I see that now. My bad. Need to watch for the details better, I guess...

 

SO.... How IS the One for LTE? And AM I seeing such lower strength readings when comparing the 1X and LTE because of my EVOLTE or is there a different down tilt on one or the other? (Both sites pretty rural)...

[Rocket87]

I have the HTC one. It does not as good as lte as my gnex or LG OG did. Also in my site none of our ones can keep connected to lte in the back of the site where every other phone arrays connected fine.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[gr8nuguy]

Down tilt of each antenna can vary (housed inside a panel) at the sprint site,  but the EVO LTE in general blows in terms of lte connectivity. Htc one is a lot better then the EVO LTE in terms of lte connectivity but does still lag behind the S3 and S4 in acquiring the lte signal. LTE signal is fragile and requires a stronger link to work, so your signal will never be as good as your 1x (unless standing or in a car close to the site) 

 

 

edit: my 1234 post

[Dkoellerwx]

(still new to this stuff go easy on me)

 

I live in an area that has been having NV LTE upgrades since december...Petaluma, CA. Everywhere I go i am connected to cdma 800 sites for voice (i have signalcheck pro) and all of my towers seem to be eHRPD. Sometimes I connect to LTE, sometimes I do not. I have a tower about 1 mile away from my work which is the next town over and can connect frequently but the signal seems poor and drops to 3G when I am past -125dBm. Should my signal strength be so low for the tower only being 1 mile away? I have called sprint and sometimes they tell me that all work has been done for my area other times they say things are still being upgraded and not til the end of the year will I see consistent strength and speeds. I usually see 5-8mbps unless I am really close then it's upper 20's. I am using an HTC ONE by the way and the wife has an iphone 5 which seems to grab the LTE signal way earlier and longer when I am in fringe areas. So is this range normal for LTE towers, seems kind of weak to me, i mean the cdma 800 tower I am connected to is like 10 miles away with a -95dBm and almost full bars. 

 

It's not that the tower is weak, but many sites in urban, even suburban sites are set up to cover only a couple of miles, sometimes even less so that they can pack more sites into the area to increase capacity. 

 

It's also possible that you aren't connecting to the site you think you are. If you can tell us a little more about your location, we can tell you how NV is progressing in that region.

 

 

Oops... I see that now. My bad. Need to watch for the details better, I guess...

 

SO.... How IS the One for LTE? And AM I seeing such lower strength readings when comparing the 1X and LTE because of my EVOLTE or is there a different down tilt on one or the other? (Both sites pretty rural)...

 

What are you using to look at signal strengths? LTE is measured in RSRP whereas 1x and EVDO in RSSI. LTE is inherently "weaker" because you need a stronger signal for it to work that EVDO or 1x needs. The EVO LTE is also notoriously weak for LTE.

 

The ONE is much better than the EVO LTE. I've owned the LTE, GS3, and currently the ONE. From my experience the ONE is nearly on par with the GS3. 

[AJC1973]

I was sitting about 1/4 mile or less from the Hardeeville, SC cellular site today, and I was getting -65db on 1xRTT... And -95db on LTE.. I lose the LTE signal about two miles from it.. It is not an urban site at all... Same thing with the new Myrtle Beach, SC one...

 

Notice that we both have the EVOLTE... Just sucks on LTE... Hope my Galaxy Note 3 will do better.

Remember that you can be on 1xrtt on one tower and lte on another.

[thewezgrays]

Using the Signalcheck pro....

 

It's not that the tower is weak, but many sites in urban, even suburban sites are set up to cover only a couple of miles, sometimes even less so that they can pack more sites into the area to increase capacity. 

 

It's also possible that you aren't connecting to the site you think you are. If you can tell us a little more about your location, we can tell you how NV is progressing in that region.

 

 

 

 

What are you using to look at signal strengths? LTE is measured in RSRP whereas 1x and EVDO in RSSI. LTE is inherently "weaker" because you need a stronger signal for it to work that EVDO or 1x needs. The EVO LTE is also notoriously weak for LTE.

 

The ONE is much better than the EVO LTE. I've owned the LTE, GS3, and currently the ONE. From my experience the ONE is nearly on par with the GS3.

 

[thewezgrays]

Remember that you can be on 1xrtt on one tower and lte on another.

Nope... Only 4G site for 200 miles... And sitting very near it..

[Deval]

(still new to this stuff go easy on me)

 

I live in an area that has been having NV LTE upgrades since december...Petaluma, CA. Everywhere I go i am connected to cdma 800 sites for voice (i have signalcheck pro) and all of my towers seem to be eHRPD. Sometimes I connect to LTE, sometimes I do not. I have a tower about 1 mile away from my work which is the next town over and can connect frequently but the signal seems poor and drops to 3G when I am past -125dBm. Should my signal strength be so low for the tower only being 1 mile away? I have called sprint and sometimes they tell me that all work has been done for my area other times they say things are still being upgraded and not til the end of the year will I see consistent strength and speeds. I usually see 5-8mbps unless I am really close then it's upper 20's. I am using an HTC ONE by the way and the wife has an iphone 5 which seems to grab the LTE signal way earlier and longer when I am in fringe areas. So is this range normal for LTE towers, seems kind of weak to me, i mean the cdma 800 tower I am connected to is like 10 miles away with a -95dBm and almost full bars. 

 

You'll see a much better experience once the other towers in the cluster are upgraded and broadcasting LTE.

 

In my local town, they upgraded one of the sites a mile away to NV LTE, and adjusted the tilt slightly, so I was getting a faint (-110dB) LTE signal, vs. connected to the legacy 3G site about a block and half away. At home, my phone would bounce between towers. Once they upgraded the site closer to my house to NV LTE, all my issues went away.

[WiWavelength]

Oops... I see that now. My bad. Need to watch for the details better, I guess...

 

SO.... How IS the One for LTE? And AM I seeing such lower strength readings when comparing the 1X and LTE because of my EVOLTE or is there a different down tilt on one or the other? (Both sites pretty rural)...

Using the Signalcheck pro....

 

Are you not aware of the differences between CDMA1X RSSI and LTE RSRP?  You cannot simply compare the signal strength numbers directly.

 

AJ

[thewezgrays]

Are you not aware of the differences between CDMA1X RSSI and LTE RSRP?  You cannot simply compare the signal strength numbers directly.

 

AJ

I guess I am not... So if the Signalcheck Pro app was showing a -95dBm on LTE and -65dBm on 1X very close to the site in Hardeeville... And around 1 mile from the site in Myrtle Beach I was getting -117dBm on LTE right before I lost it and went to ehrpd (and around -96dBm on 1x) ... What numbers are these (rsrp and rssi)? What is the real world meaning of all of this? Bad phone, bad tilts, etc?

[WiWavelength]

I guess I am not... So if the Signalcheck Pro app was showing a -95dBm on LTE and -65dBm on 1X very close to the site in Hardeeville... And around 1 mile from the site in Myrtle Beach I was getting -117dBm on LTE right before I lost it and went to ehrpd (and around -96dBm on 1x) ... What numbers are these (rsrp and rssi)? What is the real world meaning of all of this? Bad phone, bad tilts, etc?

 

Well, we have written and posted about the differences between RSSI and RSRP a lot.  But if you have not yet come across that info, I suggest that you start with the following article and thread:

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-308-rssi-vs-rsrp-a-brief-lte-signal-strength-primer/

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

 

AJ

[thewezgrays]

Well, we have written and posted about the differences between RSSI and RSRP a lot.  But if you have not yet come across that info, I suggest that you start with the following article and thread:

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-308-rssi-vs-rsrp-a-brief-lte-signal-strength-primer/

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

 

AJ

Thank you! What I get out of that is the lower number on the LTE is better than a lower 1X number... Very interesting read, thanks for having written it...

[Dkoellerwx]

I guess I am not... So if the Signalcheck Pro app was showing a -95dBm on LTE and -65dBm on 1X very close to the site in Hardeeville... And around 1 mile from the site in Myrtle Beach I was getting -117dBm on LTE right before I lost it and went to ehrpd (and around -96dBm on 1x) ... What numbers are these (rsrp and rssi)? What is the real world meaning of all of this? Bad phone, bad tilts, etc?

 

Around -95dBm RSSI on 1x is about the extent of the range of LTE. So that sounds about right. Sounds like you have rather tight site spacing around there if you were only about a mile away. That just means it will take several more site upgrades before LTE covers a wider area since the sites are set up to cover a small area. In rural regions, sites can cover up to 10+ miles, whereas in densely populated areas they can be set up to cover only a couple blocks.

[thewezgrays]

Around -95dBm RSSI on 1x is about the extent of the range of LTE. So that sounds about right. Sounds like you have rather tight site spacing around there if you were only about a mile away. That just means it will take several more site upgrades before LTE covers a wider area since the sites are set up to cover a small area. In rural regions, sites can cover up to 10+ miles, whereas in densely populated areas they can be set up to cover only a couple blocks..

The site in question upon looking at the maps was around 3 to 5 miles away from the nearby cell sites...  So it still seems like to me there would be large spaces between each site without useable LTE reaching from one to the next... This seems to apply to both of the 4G locations I have been paying much attention to (I am able to play with only the two locations so far in the travels my job takes me in)... not nearly the coverage from the LTE at each one to make it to the next cell site's coverage.  The next thing I will have to do is play with my wife's S4 and see how that does next time the two of us are on the south end of Myrtle Beach...  I am really not to worried, it isn't like this forum is full of people in mature NV markets that are dealing with a bunch of small LTE islands, rather more just interested and curious.

 

BTW, sorry OP for stealing your thread!!

[Dkoellerwx]

The site in question upon looking at the maps was around 3 to 5 miles away from the nearby cell sites...  So it still seems like to me there would be large spaces between each site without useable LTE reaching from one to the next... This seems to apply to both of the 4G locations I have been paying much attention to (I am able to play with only the two locations so far in the travels my job takes me in)... not nearly the coverage from the LTE at each one to make it to the next cell site's coverage.  The next thing I will have to do is play with my wife's S4 and see how that does next time the two of us are on the south end of Myrtle Beach...  I am really not to worried, it isn't like this forum is full of people in mature NV markets that are dealing with a bunch of small LTE islands, rather more just interested and curious.

 

BTW, sorry OP for stealing your thread!!

 

I'll take a look at the maps, see what's going on. Can you PM me or post in one of the sponsor threads the specific sites? I'm just curious as to how they're set up.

[AJC1973]

Nope... Only 4G site for 200 miles... And sitting very near it..

only 4g site accepted or only 4g site period we've had them come online before being technically accepted before

[AJC1973]

 I am really not to worried, it isn't like this forum is full of people in mature NV markets that are dealing with a bunch of small LTE islands, rather more just interested and curious.

 

 

see phoenix lol.. we are dealing with just that... about half of phoenix available sites are nv 3g complete and so far we have two islands of lte... so your problem is our problem lol in fact similar questions have been brought up in our threads. we have people connected to a nearby 1xrtt and trying to figure out if the lte they are connected to several miles away is actually the lte site that we know about, or... another unknown site.. because when that op went to see the site couldn't connect but he did get lte 4 miles away  

 

in that case we were relatively sure that its tower he tried to connect to and not an unknown one, and was just the tilt of the panels...  

[danRandall]

I don't understand why I can connect to my LTE towers on some days and not on others, I just wish sprint would let me know if they are still working on my area. All week i have been connecting to 1x800 and today it was 1xrtt. Same route, same towers everyday. My service is so inconsistant, it's way better than it has been in the past but still can go from 37mbps to .1 within a few blocks.

[Dkoellerwx]

I don't understand why I can connect to my LTE towers on some days and not on others, I just wish sprint would let me know if they are still working on my area. All week i have been connecting to 1x800 and today it was 1xrtt. Same route, same towers everyday. My service is so inconsistant, it's way better than it has been in the past but still can go from 37mbps to .1 within a few blocks.

 

The site in the middle of town at Washington and Telephone has yet to be upgraded to LTE, so that may be part of your issue. 

[danRandall]

the two towers i would connect to the most would be on caufield ln petaluma, and i think the one by my work is near commerce and expressway in rohnert park, ca. the one near my work is only 1 mile away from my work and still LTE drops or is at a teetering -125dBm. 1 mile doesn't seem like asking for much.

[Dkoellerwx]

the two towers i would connect to the most would be on caufield ln petaluma, and i think the one by my work is near commerce and expressway in rohnert park, ca. the one near my work is only 1 mile away from my work and still LTE drops or is at a teetering -125dBm. 1 mile doesn't seem like asking for much.

 

If you're a mile away, that means you're already closer to a different site. Sites in pretty populated areas like that are generally configured to cover less than a mile.

[CAREND]

If you're a mile away, that means you're already closer to a different site. Sites in pretty populated areas like that are generally configured to cover less than a mile.

I can agree with this since the tower nearest me, .25-.33 miles is not lit up and the other towers are just over 1.125 miles from work.  i go one block in any direction and i get faint LTE but once i get to the job, it's gone.