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

[shaferz]

We have threads on how to spot Sprint towers. Sprint is the easiest of all providers to spot because of the number of panels. 1 antenna per sector (3 total), or 2 per sector if 8t8r (Sprint spark) is installed (6 antennas total). There are some instances where there's more than 2 per sector, usually reserved for high traffic areas.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6

 

Another easy way I've found in this area is to simply look for the base stations on the ground.  The Samsung equipment in this area is equipment that I have yet to see any other carrier around here use.  Pretty distinguishable.

 

edit:  http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3906-how-to-spot-sprint-antennas-and-rrus-samsung/

 

Bottom picture on the first post.  

[shaferz]

Will be at Indiana Beach this weekend.  

 

Anybody been there in the past two years that can comment on coverage?  Last time I was there, it was a single tower covering all of Monticello, and most of the time while actually in the park, I was stuck on a single bar of 3g.

[9690austin]

So this is happening lately in Mackinaw with Sprint Roaming on Sprint. And I had LTE in Mackinaw. Its about the same coverage signal that U.S. Cellular had but lately it has been reading Sprint. Before it was just 1xRTT now it is EV-DO. With great speeds for 3G any thoughts what the case may be. Wonder if the roaming is classified as on Network since it is reading that it is on the Sprint network. Have screenshots below. 

[shaferz]

How are you seeing that it was classified as on the Sprint Network?  Interesting that SCP notes "Domestic Roaming" but you are saying your phone indicated 'Sprint' ?  Innnnnnnteresting.

[9690austin]

How are you seeing that it was classified as on the Sprint Network?  Interesting that SCP notes "Domestic Roaming" but you are saying your phone indicated 'Sprint' ?  Innnnnnnteresting.

I had other pictures showing it. I took these in Abingdon. I dont know why they didnt post. Ill post them. 

[9690austin]

How are you seeing that it was classified as on the Sprint Network?  Interesting that SCP notes "Domestic Roaming" but you are saying your phone indicated 'Sprint' ?  Innnnnnnteresting.

I had other pictures showing it. I took these in Abingdon. I dont know why they didnt post. Ill post them. 

[Ajr]

Anybody else seeing lte in Mackinaw?.

[9690austin]

Anybody else seeing lte in Mackinaw?.

You can in some spots of the town. Why have you been seeing it more. I live in Mackinaw out in Heritage Lake.

[Ajr]

More on the east side of town. It wasn't there before was it?

[9690austin]

More on the east side of town. It wasn't there before was it?

No there was a new tower put up in Danvers so that could what you are connecting to. I have connected to LTE near coil RD and fast ave intersection from the tower in Morton with decent speeds.

[9690austin]

Wouldn't you guys think that this would work with Sprint. It has TDD-LTE in the 2.5Ghz. Its a booster similar to the Airave but capable of 4G LTE.

 

http://www.airvana.com/products/home-and-small-office/s1000/

[Rasta Cheesehead]

Wouldn't you guys think that this would work with Sprint. It has TDD-LTE in the 2.5Ghz. Its a booster similar to the Airave but capable of 4G LTE.

 

http://www.airvana.com/products/home-and-small-office/s1000/

This looks like the consumer solution or new consumer airave before the wifi calling thing took over(seems Sprint went in a different direct no more Airave) . There is already a Sprint solution like this for small/ medium size business for indoor coverage that is very similar.They call it an enterprise femto or Airave Express.  Airvana makes all of those too, including the consumer airave.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Rasta Cheesehead

[9690austin]

So, I didn't know Stanford, Illinois has a Sprint tower and it is full blown Spark. The 70+ Mbs was from their and the other two was from Danvers. Has Sprint always had a tower in Stanford. 

Photos_downloaded_by_AirDroid (3).zip

[9690austin]

So, I didn't know Stanford, Illinois has a Sprint tower and it is full blown Spark. The 70+ Mbs was from their and the other two was from Danvers. Has Sprint always had a tower in Stanford. 

Didn't mean to make it a Downloadable file. But Inside that file it shows my speed tests from those two towns. I want Mackinaw to have this. Maybe on day in the near coming future. 

[shaferz]

Standford was an old USCC tower (part of Project Ocean) IIRC, so it is fairly recent.

 

Edit: I believe Danvers was as well.

[9690austin]

Standford was an old USCC tower (part of Project Ocean) IIRC, so it is fairly recent.

 

Edit: I believe Danvers was as well.

Do you know if the tower by route nine that was an old U.S. Cellular tower is part of project Ocean. It has been stripped of its U.S. Cellular antennas. If there is a page on here for those towers can you post a link. Also if you have to be premier Ill upgrade immediately. I want to know so bad if there is going to be a tower near Mackinaw. I want some 4G love in Mackinaw All of Mackinaw.  

[shaferz]

Do you know if the tower by route nine that was an old U.S. Cellular tower is part of project Ocean. It has been stripped of its U.S. Cellular antennas. If there is a page on here for those towers can you post a link. Also if you have to be premier Ill upgrade immediately. I want to know so bad if there is going to be a tower near Mackinaw. I want some 4G love in Mackinaw All of Mackinaw.  

 

By Route 9 where?  If the US Cellular coverage map is any indication of the spectrum areas that was sold off to Sprint, then Mackinaw does not fit that bill unfortunately.  

 

 

My uneducated mind says that both Stanford and Danvers were located in the areas in which spectrum was sold to Sprint, but it appears that Mackinaw is not in that area.  

 

I know that USCC had a tower on the south side of Route 9 a little before the vineyard, but I do now know what happened to it.  I haven't been through that area for well over a year.  The only way to know for sure is to drive out there and poke around a little.  The way I found out about the tower in my town was that I physically went to the site and saw that some work appeared to be in progress and that there had been a new(er) looking electric meter put in and that it happened to have a printed 'Sprint' sticker next to it.

[9690austin]

By Route 9 where?  If the US Cellular coverage map is any indication of the spectrum areas that was sold off to Sprint, then Mackinaw does not fit that bill unfortunately.  

 

 

My uneducated mind says that both Stanford and Danvers were located in the areas in which spectrum was sold to Sprint, but it appears that Mackinaw is not in that area.  

 

I know that USCC had a tower on the south side of Route 9 a little before the vineyard, but I do now know what happened to it.  I haven't been through that area for well over a year.  The only way to know for sure is to drive out there and poke around a little.  The way I found out about the tower in my town was that I physically went to the site and saw that some work appeared to be in progress and that there had been a new(er) looking electric meter put in and that it happened to have a printed 'Sprint' sticker next to it.

The one that you mentioned past the vine yard is what I am talking about. It is right on the boarder of where Sprint bought its U.S. Cellulars Spectrum. There is no longer any equipment on top of the tower. 

[shaferz]

The one that you mentioned past the vine yard is what I am talking about. It is right on the boarder of where Sprint bought its U.S. Cellulars Spectrum. There is no longer any equipment on top of the tower.

 

Go hunting! Look at signage. See if there is any mention of anything other than US Cellular.

[9690austin]

Attention everyone!!!!! I just had LTE in my house in Heritage Lake near Mackinaw for about an hour not great speeds but enough to do easy tasks. And it's at least a step forward. Im stoked. But I think that they are testing it cause it shut back off. Do they normally do testing at night for the tower turning it on and off. Ill post an image of my speeds they were near 5 Mbs at about 2 to 3 bars. Nexus 6 is my phone that it was on. Usually I can get LTE but it doesn't stay longer than five seconds so I think they are testing it thats why I had it longer than normal. Any opinions on what maybe going on. Am I correct that they may be testing. Things are starting to turn around for Mackinaw and Sprint.  

[9690austin]

Okay, So I have a friend that I want to give my HTC One Max too but she wants to keep Straight Talk. Whenever I go to check its compatibililty on Straight talk under the sprint verification it says that it doesn't qualify. Anyways to get it to qualify. Or let the system let it go through. Its is fully paid off and wasn't in any bad standing through Sprint. Help!!! Please she hasn't ever used Sprint's service and I want her to come to a great network though it is through Straight talk. 

[shaferz]

Bumping back up here. Looks like Sprint has finally done some optimization work on my local tower. There were a few places in town where my phone would bump back to 3G. I'm in one of those locations now and have a -99 dbm reading on B25 and scored a 20down/5up speed test.

 

Pretty impressive for an area that previously dropped back to 3G.

[thefisch6]

Bumping back up here. Looks like Sprint has finally done some optimization work on my local tower. There were a few places in town where my phone would bump back to 3G. I'm in one of those locations now and have a -99 dbm reading on B25 and scored a 20down/5up speed test.

 

Pretty impressive for an area that previously dropped back to 3G.

What city are you in? And what areas were those in which you would fall to 3G previously, but now find yourself on LTE?

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[shaferz]

What city are you in? And what areas were those in which you would fall to 3G previously, but now find yourself on LTE?

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Fairbury.  The tower in question is one that came along with Project Ocean.

 

Here's a quick google maps thing that I put together showing where the tower is, and the approximate directions the sectors are aiming.  The red highlighted areas are areas that frequently fell to 3G.  Does not appear to be an issue any longer...

 

[thefisch6]

Fairbury. The tower in question is one that came along with Project Ocean.

 

Here's a quick google maps thing that I put together showing where the tower is, and the approximate directions the sectors are aiming. The red highlighted areas are areas that frequently fell to 3G. Does not appear to be an issue any longer...

 

Great detailed reply. Thanks[emoji1]