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

[JohnnyP]

Its on in Roanoke for nTelos customers. There is, I've heard, some in Lynchburg.

[Tfalwell]

Its on in Roanoke for nTelos customers. There is, I've heard, some in Lynchburg.

 

Interesting...could that mean we're not too far off from Sprint getting to enjoy in the fun as well?  After last years report I thought we'd be lucky to have it this year at all but at this pace I'd have to think it's not too far off.

[davidtm]

I'm thinking that we Sprint folks in nTelos-land won't see any LTE until there's new ownership, previous corporate agreements notwithstanding. *sigh*

 

Sent from my Tapatalk 4.9.5 :-D

[dethalis]

David ntelos is selling the eastern market thus far no plans for the western market

[davidtm]

Per a recent post: http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4897-LTE-nTelos-West-Virginia-N&W-Virginia-not-Network-Vision&do=findComment&comment=403795

Sent from my Tapatalk 4.9.5 :-D

(Apologies for the incomplete link - Tapatalk!)

[JohnnyP]

In my opinion i think the rep is talking about the eastern market since i belive the transition is to be done by November .

[dethalis]

Agreed johnny

[pablumatic]

I heard this from a friend who just got a new iPhone 6 at the Sprint store in South Charleston, WV.

 

The Sprint employee there said the area will be getting LTE sometime in April.

 

So hopefully Sprint customers soon will be getting 4G in the Charleston region.

Edited February 27, 2015 by pablumatic

[S4GRU]

The sound of chatter is starting to go up in nTelos land. Maybe all the rumors are true? It has to happen sometime, so seems like we may finally be nearing LTE in nTelos-land for Sprint customers.

[cdk]

Expects to bill Sprint about $140 million in 2015 for roaming.

 

At the current share price it would be cheaper for Sprint to buy all the remaining shares of nTelos stock....

[chamb]

At the current share price it would be cheaper for Sprint to buy all the remaining shares of nTelos stock....

Good point.  But, anybody that would by nTelos is sure going to have  a major problem to sort out.  Who needs the headaches.

[cdk]

Good point.  But, anybody that would by nTelos is sure going to have  a major problem to sort out.  Who needs the headaches.

 

Buy them and you can fix the headaches. If you don't you have other headaches that keep repeating.

[chamb]

Buy them and you can fix the headaches. If you don't you have other headaches that keep repeating.

Maybe you do not live close enough to experience the Ntelos disaster.  If you had to use and deal with the poor service, you might not be so quick to say you would buy it.   Maybe I am also not the proper person to judge as I do not live in nTelos territory. I have Shentel service and when I venture across the border to nTelos, It is  a very shocking experience. I go from perfect service to a disaster.

Fixing the disaster would be a massive undertaking.

[Boosted20V]

Shentel has hinted time and again at wanting to invest and expand in wireless "in their backyard" and keep it to rural areas. In my mind, that can only mean nTelos. I still wonder why it has taken so long. On the conference call yesterday Shentel noted how good of a position they're in regarding debt and how they would like to invest.

[lou99/maximus1987]

Western market cell sites:

Now 998

Future 854

 

 

 

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[shawneyboy123]

About two weeks ago when I picked up my 6 Plus they overheard me talking about leaving for VZW come June when my contract is over and their immediate response was "is it because you don't have 4G?" and I said yes of course that's the only issue I have. That ended up with 4 workers telling me how it was supposed to be up and running back in January but they ran into issues. Honestly it all sounded like the normal response in hopes of not losing a customer. I also mentioned the forum and how the 4G they've put up isn't necessarily up to NV standards and would need to be partially redone but they seemed pretty confident that was wrong and that LTE would be available on Sprint any day now. Also funny that last time I went in store they had nTelos reps talking with employees. Just putting my two cents; from Beckley anyways.     

 

Also as a side note, all of the employees at my local Sprint store have their phones rooted and constantly run their rooted hotspot apps and all I could think was how a total no no that is..

[Galaxyguy]

I'm headed to Lynchburg next weekend so it'll be interesting to see if any 4G pops up while I'm there. I'm hoping the 3G is at least usable though.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[Boost Happy]

3G average 1mbps. Its pretty good in Lynchburg and surrounding areas as long you don't roam. Your not going to see 4G what so ever on Sprint

Edited March 1, 2015 by Boost Happy

[dkyeager]

...they seemed pretty confident that was wrong and that LTE would be available on Sprint any day now.

 

Sprint roaming could turn out to be only for the latest phones that support roaming on CCA or RRPP  (Competitive Carrier Association / Rural Roaming Preferred Program), a least in the short term.

[lou99/maximus1987]

Sprint roaming could turn out to be only for the latest phones that support roaming on CCA or RRPP (Competitive Carrier Association / Rural Roaming Preferred Program), a least in the short term.

Don't think so.

I don't know anyone who has deployed b12 or b4 that is a RRPP member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[dkyeager]

Don't think so.

I don't know anyone who has deployed b12 or b4 that is a RRPP member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I was under the impression that nTelos was operating LTE 700 on some its earlier LTE sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks#cite_note-4GA_North_America-226 and other web sites.

 

I believe that current plans use bands that are aligned with Sprint: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/ntelos-reports-improved-traction-western-markets-aims-cover-50-customers-lt/2015-02-26

 

Would love to see engineering screens from the latest deployments in Charleston, Clarksburg, etc to verify the actual bands used.

[Tfalwell]

The sound of chatter is starting to go up in nTelos land. Maybe all the rumors are true? It has to happen sometime, so seems like we may finally be nearing LTE in nTelos-land for Sprint customers.

 

Ntelos is 100% live here in Lynchburg. Just used my buddies phone on Ntelos and it's not bad.  With that said, wouldn't the previous agreements between Sprint/Ntelos still stand? I read a few people on here talking about needing a new agreement but I thought they already did that for LTE in Ntelos land.  I'm praying they just need trying to activate everything and then it'll be Sprint's turn. Not sure I'll be able to live with the idea of knowing Ntelos FINALLY did something but we wont have it until another year.

 

Edit: When I say 100% live I realize that could be confused with everything is live.  I only mean at one tower is live around Liberty University.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Tfalwell

[Flompholph]

Ntelos is 100% live here in Lynchburg. Just used my buddies phone on Ntelos and it's not bad.  With that said, wouldn't the previous agreements between Sprint/Ntelos still stand? I read a few people on here talking about needing a new agreement but I thought they already did that for LTE in Ntelos land.  I'm praying they just need trying to activate everything and then it'll be Sprint's turn. Not sure I'll be able to live with the idea of knowing Ntelos FINALLY did something but we wont have it until another year.

 

Edit: When I say 100% live I realize that could be confused with everything is live.  I only mean at one tower is live around Liberty University.

They signed a new agreement May 22, 2014 that covers LTE. Ntelos has to substantially complete LTE by May 2017 and they have to build in a timely manner or it voids the agreement. Not sure what a "timely manner" means I think if sprint wanted to they could void the agreement now. It is just a wait and see I don't expect much hopefully I get surprised.

 

On a side note when I was at the Morgantown Mall last weekend  people would ask the sprint salesman about 4G. He would say "soon they are working on it now" but it sounded like a salesman just trying to sale a product and not knowing the truth. I just shook my head and walked away.

[bhinks]

So in Lynchburg LTE has been live consistently all week around Liberty U (on nTelos).  On my daughters Iphone it appears to be in the 1900mhz range. Kinda disappointed in that as i was hoping for it to be 800mhz variety... I have had some pretty good speedtests (ranging from 5-20mbps) though.  It also seems that this brand of LTE doesn't work very well indoors as I can only get LTE when I'm outside or right next to a window.

[rmorrisonva]

Well a little bit of news... a well placed source tells me that nTelos is in preliminary talks with the Albemarle County (basically the Charlottesville area) zoning folks about tower upgrades. Apparently, in addition to highly regulated signage ordinances and "viewsheds", the county makes it an arduous process to essentially do any physical work to a cell site w/o an extensive review/approval process. If nTelos were to apply for permitting TODAY, it would likely take 9-12 months to be approved. Why they are just now entering preliminary talks, I have no idea (but this is crapTelos we're talking about after all).

 

That said, I don't know how this would impact upgrades to the cabinets and non-Antenna type equipment but I'm told that might even fall under the purview of the zoning review process, I guess only time will tell.

 

Not sure how the process might differ for site in Charlottesville City proper, so could be a silver lining there.