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

[tsume]

davidtm, it's probably something specific to the M9.  I have the same problem on my M9 and M8.  Going up I-81 leaving nTelos for Shentel, everything is fine.  On the way back I had to reboot to get my data to work.  There are other places where it does weird things.  Going from TN to NC over I-26 for example, my phone will get stuck roaming on Verizon's 1X and will not connect to the Sprint towers in NC until I reboot.  It is always fine on the way back.  I think it's just something weird with HTCs radios on the Sprint version of the device.

[davidtm]

Yeah, I hear some folks are hoping for a significant radio update with 1.40 or 5.1

 

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

[Wfbeast70]

Since there has been no further news regarding Sprint being allowed on nTelos 4G in this area, I figured I would update that I switched to Project FI. It's interesting to see the amount of holes from T-mobile's LTE coverage in Roanoke get filled with usable 3G. I am a light user so this allows me the freedom to roam about without worrying about signal loss. Figured I would share with the community, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[shawneyboy123]

In probably 75-85% of nTelos land, Project Fi is completely useless due to the lack of ANY T-Mobile coverage besides AT&T roaming. Besides *some* of eastern KY and western VA, T-Mobile has nothing but roaming.

Edited July 1, 2015 by shawneyboy123

[Wfbeast70]

In probably 75-85% of nTelos land, Project Fi is completely useless due to the lack of ANY T-Mobile coverage besides AT&T roaming. Besides *some* of eastern KY and western VA, T-Mobile has nothing but roaming.

Most certainly true for rural. I would venture to say that 95% of my time is spent in Roanoke City, Salem, and periodically throughout Roanoke County. I've never had an issue with LTE service from T-Mobile. I came from 5 years of Sprint service, so being able to have LTE where I am most of the time is a big sell for me. I basically have what I always wanted from Sprint. I also travel to San Diego to see family and into Mexico. Having the international data and text was a big plus. For $40 bucks a month, I figured it was worth a try. Now to keep in line with this thread.... were iz ma 4G'ssss, Sprunt!?!?!?!?!? 

[shawneyboy123]

I actually checked T-Mobile's service map after posting and they've come far when it comes to coverage in western VA urban areas. That's probably 1/4 of nTelos land but still, in almost ALL of WV T-Mobile doesn't touch, the panhandles are all they bother to cover. But now I believe to be getting a little off topic for the threat [emoji16][emoji28][emoji23]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Roanoke_Rep]

Anyone seen any NEW news about the 4G LTE Network for SW-VA and WVA?

[anthonyrinaldi]

At least you were in Sprint-land once you passed Atkins/Marion. Heck, even podunk Damascus, VA has LTE. Gosh, I hate nTelos for not rolling out LTE yet... Why didn't Sprint just build out again?

 

 

Man,,

I went to take my nephew up to Emory & Henry College but I had to suffer through 3 hours of ntelos land. Man I feel bad for you guys. 

 

[Galaxyguy]

At least you were in Sprint-land once you passed Atkins/Marion. Heck, even podunk Damascus, VA has LTE. Gosh, I hate nTelos for not rolling out LTE yet... Why didn't Sprint just build out again?

They have a contract with ntelos for 3G/LTE in that area. The contract was resigned a year or two ago for ntelos to provide the service in the area. There is a date at which ntelos needs to have LTE, but I think it's still in the future. Someone else may remember but it's also probably earlier in this thread.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[shawneyboy123]

I seem to remember it saying sometime in 2017 would be the deadline.

 

Far too long in my opinion. Unless it is a 100% complete and Spark-like network when they release it in 2017 it will probably still be outdated and overly saturated with users.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 3, 2015 by shawneyboy123

[pablumatic]

I posted once in this thread about my friend being told 4G was coming to the Charleston, WV area in April at the Sprint store in South Charleston.

 

Obviously that has not happened. The situation is pretty intolerable at this point and I absolutely will be switching carriers when my current contract expires.

Edited July 5, 2015 by pablumatic

[Roanoke_Rep]

Well I've heard numerous things, even from a guy working on the towers in my area. He said it's pretty much done, they just need to flip a switch. Also according to Sensorly I've seen some towers pop up here, and there that aren't represented on the network map for 4g LTE coverage. Also I don't think Spark is going to be built in when they release it.  

[lilotimz]

Well I've heard numerous things, even from a guy working on the towers in my area. He said it's pretty much done, they just need to flip a switch. Also according to Sensorly I've seen some towers pop up here, and there that aren't represented on the network map for 4g LTE coverage. Also I don't think Spark is going to be built in when they release it.  

 

AFAWK, the Ntelos LTE network was not Sprint NV compliant from the get go.

 

Under the Shared Network Alliance deal Ntelos has to have a network that is considered NV compliant in terms of performance and previously they weren't so they had to get that fixed. Mostly nowadays everyone is waiting for MFBI to be brought online. There's a lot of LTE roaming deals signed but not live yet. 

[dkyeager]

MBFI = http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=551

[Roanoke_Rep]

Is it possible to call Alcatel-Lucent and find out when the towers will be NV compliant?

[lilotimz]

Is it possible to call Alcatel-Lucent and find out when the towers will be NV compliant?

 

 

Not likely but contacting the regional project manager is always a good option. 

[Roanoke_Rep]

Well who in the world would that be?

[lilotimz]

Well who in the world would that be?

Note sure to be honest. Sprint employees have access to internal tools that can be addressed to them iirc.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Roanoke_Rep]

I work for Sprint and have never seen anything of the sort. Service Trender allows us to look into similar items as described above, although in nTelos land Service Trender doesn't work, as well as a lot of other tools. Any other ideas?

[lilotimz]

I work for Sprint and have never seen anything of the sort. Service Trender allows us to look into similar items as described above, although in nTelos land Service Trender doesn't work, as well as a lot of other tools. Any other ideas?

Looks like you may be out of luck as it sounds like ntelos network is kept separate from corporate sprint. I know sprint corporate markets employees can contact the regional managers... Ugh..

 

Back to the waiting game unfortunately.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Roanoke_Rep]

Just tried to call Alcatel-Lucent and the first Rep sent me to Corp Headquarters and the Next Rep advised me they could not provide me with that information or anyone who may know of it.

[davidtm]

Nice try, everyone! Too bad we can't get any information. The data capacity has seemed even worse than usual. Hard to stream music on 1x! Sometimes, it's spotty even on EV-DO.

 

Sent from my HTC One M9 on Tapatalk

[Roanoke_Rep]

Good news everyone. As I'm checking on this today, I just had a higher up from Sprint walk through my door. I decided to ask him and surprisingly enough he's in the middle of having a conversation about it. He gave me the long spill about everything that's going on and I'll sum it down to this.

 

It's here, the work is done, the agreements are almost finished and its the flick of a switch away now.

 

The 4g LTE network will be nTelos' 700mhz only, and will not be NV. 1900mhz and 2500mhz are far away.

 

As for a date range, he's as sceptical as I am guessing at one because anything can happen between today and tomorrow.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Paynefanbro]

Then it seems like CCA capable devices only for now.

[bretton88]

Good news everyone. As I'm checking on this today, I just had a higher up from Sprint walk through my door. I decided to ask him and surprisingly enough he's in the middle of having a conversation about it. He gave me the long spill about everything that's going on and I'll sum it down to this.

 

It's here, the work is done, the agreements are almost finished and its the flick of a switch away now.

 

The 4g LTE network will be nTelos' 700mhz only, and will not be NV. 1900mhz and 2500mhz are far away.

 

As for a date range, he's as sceptical as I am guessing at one because anything can happen between today and tomorrow.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Does Ntelos own 700 spectrum? Sprint sure doesn't. In which case Ntelos would be under no obligation to open up the LTE to Sprint customers.