Current & Coming Soon Sprint Communities - LTE Status

[Dkoellerwx]

Yes, I am a little behind in updates. Work has been busy lately. I will try to make it a priority tonight. I have a lot to update.

[shaferz]

Posted in the 'In Progress' thread, but the site in Chenoa IL had new panels being hoisted up last week,and the tower just north of Forrest IL now has the new Samsung NV cabinets on it.

 

 

Although my phone grabs the Forrest IL tower 100% of the time, I think I am even more excited about Bloomington getting the upgrades.  It is still absolutely terrible down there.

 

The hard part is going to be seeing all of the new equipment, but having them not light up 4G or 800mhz for who knows how long. 

[Destroyallcubes]

Not the best picture, but shows the new panels and the three rrus on the rooftop location in Tyler tx. Should be the tower on independence and 69 . All of the cables connected from what I could see. They are waiting on the fcc to give them the OK to turn on the lte at the site/sites. But I have confirmation that Tyler, Tx has the equipment up on some towers. And they are going site to site doing build outs. I will be monitoring the sites when I can to see if any LTE signals are broadcast

[S4GRU]

Not the best picture, but shows the new panels and the three rrus on the rooftop location in Tyler tx. Should be the tower on independence and 69 . All of the cables connected from what I could see. They are waiting on the fcc to give them the OK to turn on the lte at the site/sites. But I have confirmation that Tyler, Tx has the equipment up on some towers. And they are going site to site doing build outs. I will be monitoring the sites when I can to see if any LTE signals are broadcast

Great picture. Thanks for sharing. However, they do not need FCC authorization. They have authorization to broadcast in all their existing licenses.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[Destroyallcubes]

Great picture. Thanks for sharing. However, they do not need FCC authorization. They have authorization to broadcast in all their existing licenses.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Oh well I thought that they needed them to check out to make sure it will not interfere with anything? So is it normal for sprint to not announce cities they are working on? Tyler has yet to be announced, but have the equipment ready, but not turned on?

[digiblur]

 

 

Great picture. Thanks for sharing. However, they do not need FCC authorization. They have authorization to broadcast in all their existing licenses.

 

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

Oh well I thought that they needed them to check out to make sure it will not interfere with anything? So is it normal for sprint to not announce cities they are working on? Tyler has yet to be announced, but have the equipment ready, but not turned on?

Correct they already have the licenses and the announcing is only required by their PR group to get and keep customers. Sprint is working all over the place.

[Destroyallcubes]

Correct they already have the licenses and the announcing is only required by their PR group to get and keep customers. Sprint is working all over the place.

Oh OK that makes sense. Yeah I knew they were working, just wasn't sure why they weren't making it known which cities they were doing the major upgrades at. I wish I could access the LTE only setting on the stock S4. That way I could drive around without having to keep using the airplane mode on/off feature. I will keep up with updates, and other towers finished when I see them. 

[S4GRU]

Oh well I thought that they needed them to check out to make sure it will not interfere with anything? So is it normal for sprint to not announce cities they are working on? Tyler has yet to be announced, but have the equipment ready, but not turned on?

 

They turn on each site as they are complete and pass inspection from Sprint.  If they have not been accepted, they are not complete.  

 

Additionally, Sprint has lots of markets with live LTE coverage that have never been announced.  There is just no rhyme or reason with their PR folks.

 

Robert

[Dkoellerwx]

Working an update on the map right now. Updates so far:

 

Communities Officially Launched on June 17, 2013 (Blue Pins): 30

• Napa, Calif.
• Clearwater, Fla
• Gainesville, Fla.
• Kendall, Fla.
• Miami Beach, Fla.
• Miami, Fla.
• Palatka, Fla.
• Sebring, Fla.
• St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Tampa, Fla.
• Dalton, Ga.
• Warsaw, Ind.
• Baton Rouge, La.
• New Orleans, La.
• Benton Harbor, Mich.
• East Lansing, Mich.
• Lansing, Mich.
• St. Joseph, Mich.
• St. Cloud, Minn.
• Cary, N.C.
• Dunn, N.C.
• Henderson, N.C.
• Raleigh, N.C.
• Bristol, Tenn.
• Clarksville, Tenn.
• Kingsport, Tenn.
• Corsicana, Texas
• Centralia, Wash.
• Longview, Wash.
• Fond du Lac, Wis.

Communities now listed as Coming Soon (Red Pins): 15

• Allegan, Mich.
• Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Battle Creek, Mich.
• Flint, Mich.
• Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Mount Pleasant, Mich.
• Corpus Christi, Texas
• Eagle Pass, Texas
• Laredo, Texas
• Aberdeen, Wash.
• Oak Harbor, Wash.
• Fort Atkinson, Wis.
• Marshfield, Wis.
• Watertown, Wis.
• Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.

Communities now listed as Pre-Launch (Green Pins): 9

• Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Battle Creek, Mich.
• Flint, Mich.
• Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Mount Pleasant, Mich.
• Corpus Christi, Texas
• Eagle Pass, Texas
• Laredo, Texas
• Aberdeen, Wash.

[dontsh00tmesanta]

No more ca cities?

[9690austin]

Just passed by the tower right outside of Morton illinois and they were working on the tower they had a trailer full of equipment. Tested the download speeds on the tower was getting abot 2.5 Mbs-3.5Mbs. I was pretty shocked. for most of the people still waiting on network vision you have something great to look foward to. i wish it was being turned on with lte but for now i will take those speeds. 

[S4GRU]

No more ca cities?

Announcements don't matter. Right now, Sprint is deploying full build sites in every California market except North LA and Lower Central Valley. These two will begin this Summer.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[MacinJosh]

No more ca cities?

 

Announcements don't matter. Right now, Sprint is deploying full build sites in every California market except North LA and Lower Central Valley. These two will begin this Summer.

 

 

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

 

 

Well, here's to hoping I find the first documented full build site being worked on in the Lower Central Valley with the one in Visalia that has its permit issued already. Oh wait! Electrical work counts right? If that's the case, I'll try to get pics this afternoon!

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[Lolanerd]

But in this market they're doing full builds right? Both 3g and lte upgrades at the same time?

[userkv8031]

I saw someone climbing the Sprint tower in Pleasant Plains, IL today. Looking at the old iDEN tower in Ashland it appears that new panels have been installed. I also noticed a 22XXX SID today on my phone on IL103. That would have to be either coming from the Frederick II tower or the Beardstown tower. Frederick II is nickname that iPCS gave to that particular tower.

[lordxar]

Think all their focused on now is ditching iden by months end. Springfield has been up and down on 800. But the data speeds and signal quality has noticeably improved. Call quality is still up in the air as is dropped calls. The wife's iPhone seems to not run well where my s3 is fine.

[userkv8031]

Think all their focused on now is ditching iden by months end. Springfield has been up and down on 800. But the data speeds and signal quality has noticeably improved. Call quality is still up in the air as is dropped calls. The wife's iPhone seems to not run well where my s3 is fine.

Those working on NV are not the same in charge of shutting iDEN down. It sounds like all that is going to be done is the switches and equipment will be shut off remotely. Then over the next few months they will be hauling the equipment to the recyclers. As for quality I ran into a dead spot yesterday right next to a Sprint tower. The network will be in flux until they are completely done in town. 

[lordxar]

From other threads on this forum I was under the impression that 800 would be up before they cut iden?

[userkv8031]

I think I found an iDEN only site having RRUs installed today. The antennas are already on the tower. I don't remember seeing this tower on any map for conversion/NV. The tower is near Camp Point, IL.

Edited June 23, 2013 by userkv8031

[userkv8031]

From other threads on this forum I was under the impression that 800 would be up before they cut iden?

There will not be many places that see 800 go live before iDEN is turned off on June 30. That is the final cutoff date for iDEN. On that date they will be shutting down switches in rapid succession. I guess they have a kill button on a computer in Oklahoma City (Network Operations still there?) to shut the whole network down in a matter of a few hours.

[lordxar]

So when can we expect LTE in relation to all this?

[Lolanerd]

(wishful thinking) by the time I start at the University of Illinois in the fall

[mhammett]

So when can we expect LTE in relation to all this?

Depends on backhaul. We've had gear for almost a year, but no functional backhaul.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Dkoellerwx]

Update!

 

Of note, several Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, South Texas, Wisconsin and Washington updates.

 

Communities now marked as Pre-Launch (Green Pins):

• Fort Smith, AR
• Little Rock, AR
• Bridgeport, CT
• Stamford, CT
• Marco Island, FL
• Allegan, MI
• Marshfield, MI
• Mount Pleasant, MI
• Wisconsin Rapids, MI
• Columbus, MS
• Hattiesburg, MS
• Tupelo, MS
• Kinston, NC
• North Wilkesboro, NC
• Roanoke Rapis, NC
• Wilson, NC
• Brownsville, TX
• Eagle Pass, TX
• Edinburg, TX
• El Paso, TX
• McAllen, TX
• Mission, TX
• Nacogdoches, TX
• Paris, TX
• Oak Harbor, WA

 

Communities where LTE is now available in spots (Yellow Pins):

• Mobile, AL
• Montgomery, AL
• Indio, CA
• Palm Springs, CA
• Roseville, CA
• Cadillac, MI
• Grenada, MS
• Holly Springs, MS
• Stafford Township, NJ
• Carrizo Springs, TX
• Lufkin, TX
• Richmond, VA
• Astoria, WA
• Medford, WA
• Redmond, WA
• Seaside, WA
• Janesville, WI
• Manitowoc, WI
• Milwaukee, WI
• Sheboygan, WI
• Wausau, WI

[Dkoellerwx]

 Possibly waiting and going to light up all of the current towers at the same time?

 

Unlikely. Sprint is activating every tower as soon as it's ready. Once everything is hooked up, the each tower will be activated. Unless all the towers are on the same fiber ring that isn't running yet, I doubt they will all fire up at once.