Network Vision/LTE - Central Illinois Market (Peoria, Springfield, Quincy, Bloomington/Normal, Terre Haute)

[DaQue]

I couldn't fine an official thread for my neighbors to the east so I started one after asking nicely if I missed one.

 

Things may start popping in the Central Illinois market soon and I wanted to follow the tread so I can check out any sites close to me In St Louis.

 

 

Let the LTE games begin!

[S4GRU]

First sites in the Terre Haute area in this market this week. More on the horizon. Thanks for opening this thread.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[WiWavelength]

First sites in the Terre Haute area in this market this week. More on the horizon. Thanks for opening this thread.

 

Interesting factoid...

 

If you own any CDs, DVDs, BDs, etc., chances are good that they were pressed at Sony DADC in Terre Haute.

 

AJ

[DaQue]

I wonder if the Decca plant is still running in my home town of Pinckneyville Illinois. Mom used to work there back when the made records. One day the press came down and cut off about half of the part of her finger past the last knuckle. The hospital sewed it back on at the hospital and she went back to work. She said the heat from the press made it feel better. They didn't get it quite straight, you could notice it. Years later they switched to CD etc. They went from a couple hundred people working there to less than a dozen to make trainloads of CDs. Very automated. Its not Decca anymore, can't remember the new name.

[S4GRU]

From the Missouri market thread:

Picked up a new source today. They provided me a list of Missouri, Central Illinois and East Iowa sites that are on a site dispatch report. I will be marking the sites In Progress later tonight when I get home.

 

Robert

[daphantoms]

Robert any of the towers in the Peoria area?

[S4GRU]

Robert any of the towers in the Peoria area?

 

Not in this initial wave. Just Terre Haute and Quincy. But I think this will change rapidly.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[userkv8031]

Not in this initial wave. Just Terre Haute and Quincy. But I think this will change rapidly.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

I will check on sites in Quincy if I have time when I am there next. I live near Rushville and have heard that fiber is being run to many of the older sites in the area. Most of the sites are about three years old and already have fiber run to them. I guess they could be running more fiber to the towers. I'm sure not much was run the first round since iPCS tended to skimp on everything. There are a lot of iDEN only towers in this area where there is no CDMA coverage. I have been watching those as they have popped up numerous times on Sprint coverage maps as future towers. They would be crazy not to upgrade some of them as one covers the headquarters of the largest food redistributor in the nation. I know they used a lot of Nextel devices in the past, I'm not sure what they are using now.

[S4GRU]

I will check on sites in Quincy if I have time when I am there next. I live near Rushville and have heard that fiber is being run to many of the older sites in the area. Most of the sites are about three years old and already have fiber run to them. I guess they could be running more fiber to the towers. I'm sure not much was run the first round since iPCS tended to skimp on everything. There are a lot of iDEN only towers in this area where there is no CDMA coverage. I have been watching those as they have popped up numerous times on Sprint coverage maps as future towers. They would be crazy not to upgrade some of them as one covers the headquarters of the largest food redistributor in the nation. I know they used a lot of Nextel devices in the past, I'm not sure what they are using now.

 

Sprint is only planning to convert approx. 100 iDEN only sites to Network Vision CDMA/LTE. I'm hoping with the SoftBank investment, Mr. Son will convince Sprint to keep more. I once did a take off and only approx. 800-1000 iDEN only sites are outside of Sprint CDMA coverage. It would be great if they kept all these sites.

 

Let us know when/if you take any photos. Thanks!

 

Robert

[userkv8031]

One good sign is that I got a few mailers from Sprint the last weeks and this that say they are expanding coverage in the area. Since they were mailed to the business I would guess they have already been thrown away. I take that as a good sign for the Rushville-Mt. Sterling area. I was getting the we are upgrading the network in your area in the coming months mailers in December. I seem to get those every three or so months so I don't think much about those mailers. Last time I got the mailers for improved coverage was when they added towers from Springfield, IL to Beardstown (IL125) and Jacksonville to Macomb (US67). The area of US24 between Quincy and Rushville is a bit of a hole in the network for this area.

 

Once I get feeling a bit better I will make the rounds and get some pics of the towers in this area. There are some rather large towers in the area...250 feet or so. They are guyed towers, hopefully they can support all of the new equipment up on the tower. 800 is sorely needed in this area.

[userkv8031]

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I went to Quincy a few days ago and nothing was being done at the few towers I wandered by. Time did limit how many towers I was able to go by. I did notice a new tower was being erected by Fowler, IL. I doubt it is for Sprint as they have a tower nearby. I did notice what was once a Nextel tower had all the panels removed as was the electrical service. It looks like iDEN has started to be dismantled in this area.

[Zookeeper63]

First sites in the Terre Haute area in this market this week. More on the horizon. Thanks for opening this thread.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

We really need the love, TH has some of the oldest equipment still running and that was the reason we are seeing this upgrade.

[JPSmith]

Any news or info about NV in Champaign/Urbana?    All I know is that 3G data speeds here are somewhat better than 6-12 months ago, but still not great.    I'm still using my ol' faithful HTC Arrive... I like Windows Phone and was waiting for the WP8 devices on Sprint, now the dilemma is whether to grab an Ativ S Neo or wait for dual/triband LTE phones.

[userzw91]

I don't know what's going on in Decatur but data speeds have been significantly slower than usual. I can't even send a picture while I'm out. And web browsing...Don't even bother try doing that lol. I was barely able to get to this site and post.

[userzw91]

Is there any LTE coming to central Illinois area anytime soon? Here in Decatur where I'm at the speeds are significantly slower than usual. I've been seeing towers worked on and a new tower put up but I'm not sure if its sprint.

[userkv8031]

I don't know what's going on in Decatur but data speeds have been significantly slower than usual. I can't even send a picture while I'm out. And web browsing...Don't even bother try doing that lol. I was barely able to get to this site and post.

Somebody tripped over the ethernet cable and no one realized as the legacy network is that slow in some areas. I hope things improve soon and that at the minimum some 3G upgrades come along.

[userzw91]

Ya at this point I'm not even that worried about the LTE as long as they fix our 3g. Its getting horrible. Pretty bad when I can't even send a picture of my daughter to a loved one.

[Lolanerd]

Is the champaign/Urbana area really bad? I'm moving there in 2 weeks

[JPSmith]

Is the champaign/Urbana area really bad? I'm moving there in 2 weeks

 

Voice coverage is good, 3G data speeds are all over the place, I see anywhere from 100 kbps to 1 Mbps, mostly in the 100-300 range, higher only late at night and away from the U of I campus.   On campus during the school year you are lucky to get 100 kbps much of the time.  And this is improved from a year or two ago; Sprint has added some data capacity at most towers but it is still far short of sufficient.   There is no 4G yet (Wimax never made it here).

Edited August 7, 2013 by JPSmith

[userzw91]

Is the champaign/Urbana area really bad? I'm moving there in 2 weeks

I was there over the weekend, its not too bad. Its waaaay better than what I get in my town.

[userkv8031]

I was in Macomb today and the network was extremely slow. Voice also seemed weak in town. I guess they could be working on the water tower (near WIU) where they have a rack full of legacy antennas. In order to do the upgrade it looks like they will have to remove at least one of those antennas per sector. I would think that would cause a decrease in signal quality. I don't know if they would need more than one antenna per sector on that tower or not. I think they even stuck antennas on each corner. It is something like four on each side with one on each of the three corners. Most towers I see just have the corners loaded up but this one is just loaded all the way around. I think if they added another tower or two in town they could better manage the traffic and provide better service.

[lordxar]

Get used to it all going up and down. My phone keeps seeing RTT & 800 for voice and EVDO & eHRPD for data in Springfield. The data side has been most stable and once eHRPD goes up pretty decent speeds. Voice has been and continues to be spotty. With the rework of towers I'm imagining a lot of balancing between them. When the new stuff is working its great otherwise its worse than before they started.

[JPSmith]

All kinds of problems this weekend with dropped calls and delayed texts at my home in SW Champaign, which usually has solid coverage......wonder if something NV-related is going on.....

[userkv8031]

I drove through Macomb the other day and I have my answer for the panels on the Macomb water tower. The legacy panels are gone so I would say they are broadcasting 1900 only through the new panels right now. Probably to get at least that part done and through before the students came back. The rack now holds six panels which is down considerably from what was there. It actually looks more organized and manageable than the mess that was there before.

[userzw91]

Central Illinois market is officially under way now. First three sites accepted yesterday. Sites are shown in the Sponsor NV Sites Complete map.

 

Hey Robert, is there any good news for the Decatur IL area? Or surrounding cities?

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD