LTE Plus / Enhanced LTE (was "Sprint Spark" - Official Name for the Tri-Band Network)

[Sammael]

How do sprint spark capable phones compare to the older single band lte phones in terms of connectivity?

 

Has anyone compared the two?  Not interested in speed as much as how much better the spark capable phones are at staying locked to an lte signal.  The 1900 MHz lte for sprint is still very swiss cheese like in terms of coverage, and building penetration is not ideal.

[SpenceSouth]

How do sprint spark capable phones compare to the older single band lte phones in terms of connectivity?

 

Has anyone compared the two? Not interested in speed as much as how much better the spark capable phones are at staying locked to an lte signal. The 1900 MHz lte for sprint is still very swiss cheese like in terms of coverage, and building penetration is not ideal.

Not sure if a detailed test has been done, but the general consensus seems to be that spark capable phones are superior.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[WiWavelength]

Wouldn't MIMO mean higher download speeds, relative to upload speeds, than the 3:2 time allocation (or spectrum allocation on FDD) might suggest?

 

Uplink MIMO is also possible.  WiMAX supported it from the beginning -- though I doubt that it was implemented in many, if any devices.  And I doubt that we will see it in many LTE devices any time soon.  Most OEMs seem set with one Tx antenna and two Rx antennas in mobile devices.

 

AJ

[metayoshi]

How do sprint spark capable phones compare to the older single band lte phones in terms of connectivity?

 

Has anyone compared the two?  Not interested in speed as much as how much better the spark capable phones are at staying locked to an lte signal.  The 1900 MHz lte for sprint is still very swiss cheese like in terms of coverage, and building penetration is not ideal.

In terms of the speed, the 2500 MHz LTE band is definitely providing it with all those who are able to get it, but since 2500 MHz is much higher in frequency than 1900 MHz, that band has even worse coverage and building penetration than 1900 MHz.

 

The good thing about "Spark" capable devices is that they also have a 3rd LTE band, 800 MHz, and that will definitely get you better coverage and building penetration, but not as good speeds.

 

2500 MHz LTE is off to a good start, thanks mainly to Clearwire putting up LTE where ever they have WiMAX towers, but 800 MHz LTE is still very young, and unfortunately, thanks to multiple spectrum issues (IBEZ etc.), it won't be everywhere for a while. You should follow the "Everything 800" thread on here if your more interested about better coverage and building coverage rather than speed.

[dnicekid]

How do sprint spark capable phones compare to the older single band lte phones in terms of connectivity?

 

Has anyone compared the two?  Not interested in speed as much as how much better the spark capable phones are at staying locked to an lte signal.  The 1900 MHz lte for sprint is still very swiss cheese like in terms of coverage, and building penetration is not ideal.

I can tell you my evo lte will sit at 3g while my sam tab3 is 2-3 bars lte and my friends note is 2-3 bars lte and my zing was 4 bars lte. All in the same room day after day.

 

My friends gs4 is on lte and my evo lte is 3g. Seems like whenever I get 4g they arent around! 

[anotherBAM]

Looks like we have three new "Spark" markets:

 

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Kansas City

 

I don't know that there's anything that interesting here but I found this unpublished page while searching google:

 

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:R-rds3mVzNMJ:faster.sprint.com/2014/01/23/sprint-spark-comes-home/+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

 

I noticed it says KC brings Spark markets to 121... certainly a typo.

[mhammett]

Uplink MIMO is also possible. WiMAX supported it from the beginning -- though I doubt that it was implemented in many, if any devices. And I doubt that we will see it in many LTE devices any time soon. Most OEMs seem set with one Tx antenna and two Rx antennas in mobile devices.

 

AJ

A few companies in my space have been making 6 Tx 6 Rx WiMAX APs, but I think the CPE are still 2 Tx 2 Rx. They work wonders, but are very expensive. 3650 foliage penetration is as good as legacy 900 devices.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Guest DigiClaws]

I can tell you my evo lte will sit at 3g while my sam tab3 is 2-3 bars lte and my friends note is 2-3 bars lte and my zing was 4 bars lte. All in the same room day after day.

 

My friends gs4 is on lte and my evo lte is 3g. Seems like whenever I get 4g they arent around! 

 

I can tell you from experience that when I had my Evo 4G LTE I rarely had LTE even though LTE was deployed all around me at the time. It seems that the EVO has a weak and inefficient LTE radio. Just my opinion. My phone would die quickly trying to find LTE or switching continuously from LTE to EHRPD. G4 is way better.

[tlacott1]

So did anyone realize that the Spark coverage in Baltimore is now gone from the coverage maps?

[transitwatch889]

So did anyone realize that the Spark coverage in Baltimore is now gone from the coverage maps?

Coverage is shown depending on the device used if you were to check coverage and you had the nexus 5 it would only show lte and not spark because the update hasn't been pushed to the device yet... But if you switch to an enabled trband spark device it will show up...

[tlacott1]

Coverage is shown depending on the device used if you were to check coverage and you had the nexus 5 it would only show lte and not spark because the update hasn't been pushed to the device yet... But if you switch to an enabled trband spark device it will show up...

Yes I know that. And it's gone. 

[transitwatch889]

Yes I know that. And it's gone.

 

Mmmmmm don't know what to say to that maybe one of the premier members can better answer as to why.... It would help if you had a spark device and was receving band 41 coverage but since your city isn't even announced yet they may be doing network matainence and aligning maps of covered annouced regions appropriately....with actual availability.... Even my area is still undergoing matainence I have no lte and a sporadic 3g connection....

[Guest DigiClaws]

I saw before on the Sprint coverage map that Baltimore had B41. Even if you pick a device with Spark (Samsung S4 Mini) you still don't see B41 coverage in Baltimore. Weird.

[afazel]

Picked up some Band 41 in downtown Fort Worth on my Nexus 5.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[tybo31316]

Picked up some Band 41 in downtown Fort Worth on my Nexus 5.

 

uploadfromtaptalk1391037090342.jpg uploadfromtaptalk1391037100144.jpg

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

did your Nexus by automatically connect to Band 41 or did you have to force it?

[afazel]

It was automatic. I just looked down at my phone to see how my signal strength was and saw the asterisk by Sprint* in SignalCheck. Looked at my engineering screens and ran a speedtest and took screenshots.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[tybo31316]

It was automatic. I just looked down at my phone to see how my signal strength was and saw the asterisk by Sprint* in SignalCheck. Looked at my engineering screens and ran a speedtest and took screenshots.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I guess I'll enable all my bands after losing hope but good to see reports of band 41 though.

[S4GRU]

It was automatic. I just looked down at my phone to see how my signal strength was and saw the asterisk by Sprint* in SignalCheck. Looked at my engineering screens and ran a speedtest and took screenshots.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

What is your band enabling/priority set to?  Maybe you have the secret sauce?  

 

Robert

[lilotimz]

Spark will not work on the N5 by simply enabling those bands. I have mine enabled and no spark and my desk sets next to a window dead in a perfect Spark area. 

 

I researched more and found that there are new APN's and a new radio and updated APK that allows the phone to use the multiple bands for data. 

 

We are about a week or so away from getting the update. LG finally sorted out their issues with Spark and dumped it on the G2. Right now google has it and they are working it into the rom and testing. I've been told one to two weeks if any issues occur with testing.

 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=49877999&postcount=10

 

 

There's this post on XDA but I'm not holding my breath. 

[cdk]

There's this post on XDA but I'm not holding my breath. 

 

Well if its right that would make my WAG I posted in the N5 thread right.

[afazel]

What is your band enabling/priority set to? Maybe you have the secret sauce?

 

Robert

All Bands enabled.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

All Bands enabled.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

All right S4GRU Nexus 5 owners in Band 41 areas.  Give these exact settings a try and report back!

 

Robert

[Destroyallcubes]

I was possibly thinking an APN would if been added to the g2 update allowing the connections. Hmm. Getting closer to the update anyways.

[SpenceSouth]

All right S4GRU Nexus 5 owners in Band 41 areas. Give these exact settings a try and report back!

 

Robert

I spend most of my day on an area within a quarter mile of an active B41 tower but with no B25 LTE anywhere in sight. You will know early tomorrow if this works.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Terrell352]

I have a friend that lives in Spring Hill Fl which is supposedly covered in Sprint Spark and I want to go visit soon but the problem is Spring Hill only has a Wimax protection site so how is this possible? If the map is wrong then this is a HUGE overstatment on Sprint because Tampa is still a good 35 mins away. Its around 25 miles to get to Tampa from there. I just want to know if maybe the protection site got the upgrade and maybe thats what the coverage is