Shentel / Sprint LTE - (was ntelos - West & N&W Virginia)

[Galaxyguy]

If you're a Sprint user then you may be the first to report it! [emoji3]

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

That screenshot was taken just outside Woodstock, VA on my work phone, a Sprint S4T.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[KD8JBF]

Oh boy... It's happening!

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Galaxyguy]

I'm in the Shentel market but since the transaction hasn't gone through yet, it shouldn't have anything to do with the merger.

 

Edit: Does anyone know if this is the first time that anyone has connected to LTE on another provider's network? I don't remember seeing anything in the CCA thread about anyone doing so.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[S4GRU]

I'm in the Shentel market but since the transaction hasn't gone through yet, it shouldn't have anything to do with the merger.

 

Edit: Does anyone know if this is the first time that anyone has connected to LTE on another provider's network? I don't remember seeing anything in the CCA thread about anyone doing so.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

I never recall seeing anyone else post with a Sprint phone connecting to another provider LTE network, ever. Good job!

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

[Galaxyguy]

I never recall seeing anyone else post with a Sprint phone connecting to another provider LTE network, ever. Good job!

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

I'm going to try to go back to that same spot again and see if I can get an active data session. I wasn't able to stop and it switched to Sprint 3G pretty quickly anyway. As you can see it was a very weak signal. The area I was in though is notoriously weak on the far side of a hill from where the towers are. Hopefully others may start connecting where Sprint (Shentel) doesn't have towers and can get a stronger signal.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[S4GRU]

I'm going to try to go back to that same spot again and see if I can get an active data session. I wasn't able to stop and it switched to Sprint 3G pretty quickly anyway. As you can see it was a very weak signal. The area I was in though is notoriously weak on the far side of a hill from where the towers are. Hopefully others may start connecting where Sprint (Shentel) doesn't have towers and can get a stronger signal.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

It's going to be tough in Shentel coverage to find an nTelos signal. nTelos offers virtually no unique coverage. Just anomaly holes here and there. And nTelos doesn't have LTE on all their sites. You may not find any other place than the Woodstock Hole. And you may have a hard time finding that one again.

 

The true test will be in nTelos LTE areas without Shentel/Sprint service to see if it is up and running systematically. I wonder if the Woodstock nTelos site is new and possibly accidentally left scannable? Maybe this is not something network wide? I'm dying to know.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

[Galaxyguy]

It's going to be tough in Shentel coverage to find an nTelos signal. nTelos offers virtually no unique coverage. Just anomaly holes here and there. And nTelos doesn't have LTE on all their sites. You may not find any other place than the Woodstock Hole. And you may have hard time finding that one again.

 

The true test will be in nTelos LTE areas without Shentel/Sprint service to see if it is up and running systematically. I wonder if the Woodstock nTelos site is new and possibly accidentally left scannable? Maybe this is not something network wide? I'm dying to know.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

I'm going to try to find it again. As far as I'm aware, I don't believe they have any towers that aren't colocated here in Shenandoah Co. I think it may have been just a slight difference in down tilt or something that made me pick it up.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[davidtm]

You and all of us! :-)

 

Sent from Tapatalk on either my HTC One M9 or Tab4 10.1, it kinda depends

[bbostwick8]

I emailed one of the VP's at Shentel the other day asking him about Sprint users on the nTelos LTE spectrum, specifically in the southern WV markets and he said it will not be switched on for Sprint users until after the deal closes.

 

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

[Galaxyguy]

I emailed one of the VP's at Shentel the other day asking him about Sprint users on the nTelos LTE spectrum, specifically in the southern WV markets and he said it will not be switched on for Sprint users until after the deal closes.

 

Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

That makes sense. I'm sure if I'm seeing the beginning of something, it's just due to the previously made agreement with Sprint.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[dkyeager]

If it was just for a few seconds, then it may not allow you to to authenticate. I just saw a similar issue with US Cellular LTE: total time before being bumped off: six seconds.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[Galaxyguy]

If it was just for a few seconds, then it may not allow you to to authenticate. I just saw a similar issue with US Cellular LTE: total time before being bumped off: six seconds.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

I only saw it for the last few seconds, but I don't know how long it had been connected. I did try to go back and couldn't get it to connect again. It was such a low signal though in the first place that I would probably need the planets aligned just right to connect again.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[JohnnyP]

Allow me a moment to read too much into this...

From welcometoshentel.com

"How will the customers’ service change?

At close, there will be no change other than using the Sprint brand rather than the nTelos brand. Over the next few years, we will complete the 4G LTE upgrade and add 150 additional coverage sites."

 

For there to be no change in service wouldn't that mean they would have to get LTE on the Sprint network? You won't find me holding my breath though. Enough reading too much into it for now.

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

Edited August 31, 2015 by JohnnyP

[JohnnyP]

 

Got this in Waynesboro just now. Just out of sight from nTelos' office.

 

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[Galaxyguy]

Do you have a Sprint phone?

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[JohnnyP]

Yes. An Galaxy S6.

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[Galaxyguy]

It almost looks like you're connected to a prepaid provider. Maybe someone else can confirm that.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[Flompholph]

They can't use 310120 and gci that start with 018 that is New Jersey. So it looks like they used one of their unused plmn.

[Galaxyguy]

 

 

Yes. An Galaxy S6.

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

I just looked back to the screen shot of what I connected to. The plmn is different but the first three characters of the GCI is the same. Maybe something has finally gotten started. Hopefully we will see more and more LTE popping up around ntelos-land.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[Galaxyguy]

Looking at the Sprint NV map on here, does anyone know if Sprint is going to give that lone site near Logan, WV to Shentel once the transfer goes through? It would be interesting to know the history as to how one lone site ended up there in the first place, but it seems pretty out of place to me.  

 

Edit: I just checked Sprint's coverage map and the area around Logan shows as off network roaming (for voice & data), which makes this an even greater mystery to me. 

[S4GRU]

Looking at the Sprint NV map on here, does anyone know if Sprint is going to give that lone site near Logan, WV to Shentel once the transfer goes through? It would be interesting to know the history as to how one lone site ended up there in the first place, but it seems pretty out of place to me.  

 

Edit: I just checked Sprint's coverage map and the area around Logan shows as off network roaming (for voice & data), which makes this an even greater mystery to me. 

 

It used to show as native coverage and have the signal from that site on the map.  However, I noticed about a year ago that the coverage was gone.

[t.will304]

4G lit up here in South Charleston just after midnight for about 30ish minutes!

 

 

[S4GRU]

Could it be? Is it actually starting to happen?? Oh, glory be!

 

Using Tapatalk on Nexus 6

[Flompholph]

I wonder what kind of errors sprint will see by using 310120, I wonder if they use GCI's on the back end to identify towers and if they will start to send some of that data out to New Jersey to the wrong site. Hopefully they have static IP or use the site name to identify what site gets what data sent to it.

 

On a side note I ran through nTelos yesterday I did not connect to lte. But I had my phone set to "lte only" and I saw something strange south of Morgantown WV I saw a 10 by the BW. So maybe 10x10 in Morgantown when lte comes on for sprint users.  

[Galaxyguy]

My wife connected to this about 5 miles south of Weyers Cave today. She actually connected to the same tower and same sector twice, once on her way to her destination and once on her return trip. (She sent me both screenshots but I just chose to post one).

I was in the Weyers Cave area yesterday (all day) and didn't connect to anything but Ntelos 1x and EVDO and a distant Sprint (Shentel) 1x800 signal so this must not reach quite to the area around the Weyers Cave exit, which is where I was.

Sent from my Note 4.