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

[9690austin]

Did USCC actually own those towers/poles? Most wireless providers try to sell them and lease them back from a company in the tower business.

A lot of the towers that US Cellular has in Central Illinois is owned by the US Cellular Corp.

[Ajr]

Does anyone have any speeds for the 4g in central Illinois how fast or slow . For Bloomington Normal, Peoria area.

[shaferz]

The answer is 'sufficient.'  Peoria has B41 lit up on some towers - Bloomington/Normal is still B25/B26 for now.  Anywhere from 10-20mb down for me whenever I'm in B/N though.  

[shaferz]

For anyone else tracking a USCC tower conversion - has anyone seen one actually lit up yet?  

 

The one local to me is still not live.  Fans sound like the are buzzing along in the base stations, so some equipment in there is at least 'turned on' - but nothing live yet.

[shaferz]

: faceplam:  Just called in and talked to a lady to got a little lippy with me about the local tower that is a US Cellular conversion.  She continues to say the local towers are all working correctly.

 

Ahem - I mentioned 3 or 4 times that this is not a current tower.  It is one that Sprint has just recently installed Equipment on, and it appears that they have never 'turned it on.'

 

I gave up.  Arg.  The wait continues.

[9690austin]

Does anyone have any speeds for the 4g in central Illinois how fast or slow . For Bloomington Normal, Peoria area.

Blo-No has pretty decent speeds. If you go to the west on I-74 you run into B41 and get speeds up to the Mid 50 Mbs. You get 25 Mbs when you only have about 1-2 bars. B25/26 I get about 30 Mbs in the Peoria and Morton area. Sprint's speeds in central Illinois seem to be faster than a lot of places in the United States.

[Ajr]

Have you guys ever been in and around the Eureka area, if so how is the the voice service. The coverage map says good 4g and kind of sketchy voice. Thanks for all your help.

[Cubbiefan82]

For anyone else tracking a USCC tower conversion - has anyone seen one actually lit up yet?  

 

The one local to me is still not live.  Fans sound like the are buzzing along in the base stations, so some equipment in there is at least 'turned on' - but nothing live yet.

We have a few live in chicago market, One right now waiting to be turned on

[shaferz]

I do not usually make out that way, but IIRC, the tower that covers town is out by that landscaping/rock business.  Sorry I cant help out much more than that.  

 

It's fairly hilly - so I'm assuming the East side of town will have weaker service.

[shaferz]

We have a few live in chicago market, One right now waiting to be turned on

 

I was hopeful they would go 'live' before they do any tuning.  Around here - it almost seems as if they are waiting to turn them all on at once.  

[Cubbiefan82]

I was hopeful they would go 'live' before they do any tuning.  Around here - it almost seems as if they are waiting to turn them all on at once.  

It will go live before tuning, A lot of times. They turn it on, with the lowest power setting. Then then tune after that

[shaferz]

My impatience is quickly growing.  lol.  No updates.  Not live with 3g even.

[Rickie546]

My impatience is quickly growing. lol. No updates. Not live with 3g even.

Where are you at?

 

Rickie

sent on my LG G2

[shaferz]

Where are you at?

 

Rickie

sent on my LG G2

 

Fairbury, IL.

 

Sprint Equipment was installed in place of USCC equipment in December - but nothing is live yet.

[shaferz]

Just got a text from a friend in Chatsworth, IL saying they were getting LTE in the basement of the American Legion there.

 

12 days ago the old USCC site had ZERO activity at it. Nothing.

 

Closest known sprint tower is around 9 miles away from reported location - and that tower is not broadcasting LTE on any band yet.

 

Going to head over that way tomorrow and will report back in my findings. ????

[shaferz]

False alarm apparently. Drove all over town and never saw a drop of LTE. The old US Cellular tower still has no new equipment on it.

[shaferz]

I stand corrected. I can now confirm that as of this morning, the Forrest IL tower is now LTE live!

[tommym65]

I stand corrected. I can now confirm that as of this morning, the Forrest IL tower is now LTE live!

 

I'm confused: I thought you were talking about Chatsworth. 

[shaferz]

I'm confused: I thought you were talking about Chatsworth. 

 

Yeah - sorry.  Last few posts were kind of a mess.    I'll clear this up as well as possible.  

 

Saturday, I got word that someone was getting Sprint LTE in Chatsworth, IL.  My initial assumption was that maybe the old USCC tower was converted quickly and turned on.  This was not the case.  I drove through Chatsworth Sunday and had no LTE at all.

 

This morning - I drove through Forrest IL (which happens to be the closest current Sprint tower to Chatsworth) and was quite surprised to see LTE live.  It was not live on Sunday, but was live this morning.

 

I am now wondering if LTE was being tested on Saturday - and actually reaching the 7-8 miles to Chatsworth.  Impressive feat if that is the case!

[tommym65]

Yeah - sorry.  Last few posts were kind of a mess.    I'll clear this up as well as possible.  

 

.  .  .

 

 

Got it.  Thanks for the clarification.

 

(Besides being a cellular geek, I am a railfan, and one of the most spectacular train wrecks in US history happened about ~130 years ago, 2 miles east of Chatsworth, IL, so any time I see Chatsworth mentioned anywhere, it piques my interest.  In a bizarre coincidence, another spectacular train wreck occurred at Chatsworth, California, more than 120 years after the Chatsworth, IL, wreck.  Both wrecks involved passenger trains, and both were completely preventable.  FWIW)

[shaferz]

Got it.  Thanks for the clarification.

 

(Besides being a cellular geek, I am a railfan, and one of the most spectacular train wrecks in US history happened about ~130 years ago, 2 miles east of Chatsworth, IL, so any time I see Chatsworth mentioned anywhere, it piques my interest.  In a bizarre coincidence, another spectacular train wreck occurred at Chatsworth, California, more than 120 years after the Chatsworth, IL, wreck.  Both wrecks involved passenger trains, and both were completely preventable.  FWIW)

 

The first 24 years of my life were spent in Chatsworth (born and raised) - I know more than I care to think about regarding the 1887 TP&W wreck.     Up until a few years ago - I visited the site yearly!   Sad day in rail history - and a terribly sad day in Chatsworth history as well.

[9690austin]

Peoria and Champaign-Urbana are on the list for Spark being launched on Thursday.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2015/02/18/sprint-lte-sprint-spark-network-expansion.html?page=2

[shaferz]

I was actually fairly disappointed with C/U last weekend. Came into town from the north on Prospect. Could not get B41 at Menards. Could not get B41 at Target.

Did pick up B41 at Bdubs for lunch though. I will have to thumb through the handy-dandy Premier Maps.  

[shaferz]

Yeah - sorry.  Last few posts were kind of a mess.    I'll clear this up as well as possible.  

 

Saturday, I got word that someone was getting Sprint LTE in Chatsworth, IL.  My initial assumption was that maybe the old USCC tower was converted quickly and turned on.  This was not the case.  I drove through Chatsworth Sunday and had no LTE at all.

 

This morning - I drove through Forrest IL (which happens to be the closest current Sprint tower to Chatsworth) and was quite surprised to see LTE live.  It was not live on Sunday, but was live this morning.

 

I am now wondering if LTE was being tested on Saturday - and actually reaching the 7-8 miles to Chatsworth.  Impressive feat if that is the case!

 

 

Another update.  I'm back home from my week of travel and was delighted to see that LTE from the tower in Forrest has reached as far as my house in Fairbury.  

 

Speeds arent that great - 5mb down/.5mb up - and the signal is obviously weak, but its LTE!  

 

The side effect to that though - is the fact that it is not playing nice with my airave.  Here is what happens:

 

I disconnect from wifi, and let the phone idle on LTE.

 

The phone switches over to 1x for the call, but it does so from the actual Sprint tower, and not my Airave.  The distance is great enough that call quality is horrible (which is the reason I got the Airave in the first place.)

 

If I disable LTE, the phone then reconnects to the airave on 1x/3g, and when I place a call at that point, the voice is great as it is being routed through the Airave.

 

If I connect to wifi, then enable LTE, my phone immediately goes back to the tower for 1x instead of going to the Airave for 1x.  (even though I remain connected to wifi for data.)

 

 

 

At this point, call quality is worth more to me than data - especially since I can sit on wifi for data at home.   So for now, my wife and I are both disabling LTE, so the damn phones will use the airave for voice.  

[bitslizer]

Came to springfield again, seeing more B41 sites yay!