Breaking Band: Tri-band LTE / eCSFB issues thread

[uh60james]

Is Sprint still activating 4G only towers? 3 towers just went LTE live today near my ome, but I cannot connect to any of them on my Nexus 5 unless I force 4G. I thought Sprint would only be activating LTE if 3G was activated at the same time. 

 

The issue here is the exact opposite, I actually hope they only activate 4G (in my area) until they sort CSFB issues.  Can connect to LTE on 4G only upgraded but not on 3G/4G upgraded towers.

[HotblackDesiato]

My LTE issues seem to related to the switch, the Philadelphia MSC sites seem to be fine while  Pennsauken MSC sites are not, at least some of the time. I'd never realized quite how mixed up sites the were in this area.  

[S4GRU]

My LTE issues seem to related to the switch, the Philadelphia MSC sites seem to be fine while Pennsauken MSC sites are not, at least some of the time. I'd never realized quite how mixed up sites the were in this area.

That is a helpful observation.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[The_Chemist]

I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer for me.

 

I have an LG G2 phone. Using Mike's SignalCheck Pro, I noticed that when I am on LTE and a call comes in, the phone falls back to 1xRTT.

 

When the G2 is set to CDMA only and I receive a call, the call comes in on 1x800.

 

Isn't 1xRTT 1900 MHz? So when my phone falls back from LTE, I am not getting as good of a call signal as I would if I were on CDMA

 

First, am I correct in my thinking about the call signal quality, and secondly, why is this happening?

 

Thanks in advance for a response.

[WiWavelength]

Isn't 1xRTT 1900 MHz?

 

No, 1xRTT is an airlink, like LTE.  It does not matter whether it is on Cellular 850 MHz (band class 0), PCS 1900 MHz (band class 1), or SMR 800 MHz (band class 10) -- it is still 1xRTT.  But I prefer the CDMA1X terminology, as in CDMA1X 1900.

 

AJ

[The_Chemist]

No, 1xRTT is an airlink, like LTE.  It does not matter whether it is on Cellular 850 MHz (band class 0), PCS 1900 MHz (band class 1), or SMR 800 MHz (band class 10) -- it is still 1xRTT.  But I prefer the CDMA1X terminology, as in CDMA1X 1900.

 

AJ

Thanks AJ.

[uh60james]

CSFB issues fixed in Birmingham, AL along with the Alabama market launch.  And wow are Sprint's coverage maps generous.

[HH_Harjot]

eCSFB issues fixed near my my house in Auburn, Washington. Thanks sprint, i was regretting getting the nexus on sprint. we will see how this relationship works out. 

[MacinJosh]

e/CSFB was fully working properly when LTE launched in Visalia 2 weeks ago. I'm a happy camper.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[The Dave]

It seems that I still cannot connect to half the towers in Jacksonville since my signal is constantly bouncing between 3G and 4G and having issues dropping all data connection until I manually reset it with airplane mode. Fortunately, my signal is amazing in St Augustine. Yesterday I got some LTE coverage at Vilano Beach, which I haven't seen before. I don't think any new towers have been accepted or upgraded in this area, though.

[HotblackDesiato]

Still struggling to understand my LTE issues

Towers on the Philadelphia MSC always work as they should but the Pennsauken MSC is very odd.

The N5 will connect to a tower using LTE but after 30sec it gets forced back to 3G, it then attempts to re-connect every 12minutes. As soon as i drive on to a Philadelphia MSC tower all is fine, and If i spend more than a couple of hours on the Philadelphia MSC (on LTE) then i can typically drive back to the Pennsauken MSC and have no further LTE issues for days at a time BUT if i turn the phone off for a few hours then, once switched back on, it reverts to being kicked off of LTE after 30sec.

[S4GRU]

Still struggling to understand my LTE issues

Towers on the Philadelphia MSC always work as they should but the Pennsauken MSC is very odd.

The N5 will connect to a tower using LTE but after 30sec it gets forced back to 3G, it then attempts to re-connect every 12minutes. As soon as i drive on to a Philadelphia MSC tower all is fine, and If i spend more than a couple of hours on the Philadelphia MSC (on LTE) then i can typically drive back to the Pennsauken MSC and have no further LTE issues for days at a time BUT if i turn the phone off for a few hours then, once switched back on, it reverts to being kicked off of LTE after 30sec.

 

This is the CSFB issue.  The Pennsauken switch does not have CSFB active, yet.  It will keep shunting you back to 3G when on a Pennsauken LTE site until that switch receives CSFB upgrades.  It will probably be resolved within 2-3 weeks.

 

Robert

[HotblackDesiato]

This is the CSFB issue.  The Pennsauken switch does not have CSFB active, yet.  It will keep shunting you back to 3G when on a Pennsauken LTE site until that switch receives CSFB upgrades.  It will probably be resolved within 2-3 weeks.

 

Robert

Thanks, yes i understand the basic CSFB issue shunting me back to 3G, what was puzzling me was why being on the Philadelphia switch for a few hours then meant LTE worked well when i returned to Pennsauken switch, at least until the phone was switch off again. 

[JohnHovah]

This is the CSFB issue.  The Pennsauken switch does not have CSFB active, yet.  It will keep shunting you back to 3G when on a Pennsauken LTE site until that switch receives CSFB upgrades.  It will probably be resolved within 2-3 weeks.

 

Robert

Hey Robert, does this also seem to be an issue with ALU in SoCal? I believe I mentioned before that as soon as LTE became official here, we are experiencing all sorts of headaches.  I know it will get worse before it gets better, but I may need to triple check for open trouble tickets in the area.

[WiWavelength]

Thanks, yes i understand the basic CSFB issue shunting me back to 3G, what was puzzling me was why being on the Philadelphia switch for a few hours then meant LTE worked well when i returned to Pennsauken switch, at least until the phone was switch off again. 

 

With e/CSFB, as long as you are remaining on LTE, you are not actually returning to the Pennsauken MSC.  You are staying registered at the Philadelphia MSC with any paging messages from that MSC being tunneled through LTE to wherever you are located.

 

AJ

[HotblackDesiato]

With e/CSFB, as long as you are remaining on LTE, you are not actually returning to the Pennsauken MSC.  You are staying registered at the Philadelphia MSC with any paging messages from that MSC being tunneled through LTE to wherever you are located.

 

AJ

Thanks! Makes sense now!

[Tajustin95]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has any update on when the ecsfb problem will be fixed here? Thanks!

[cornelious2]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has any update on when the ecsfb problem will be fixed here? Thanks!

Here here or there here?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[The Dave]

A tower in Jacksonville just south of the Town Center just went live about a week ago and I noticed a weird issue.

My phone said 4GLTE and I had between 3-5 bars all over the area. I pulled great data and averaged about 18 Mbps in the heart of the busy mall during pre-Christmas rush. However, Signal Check Pro stated I was not connected to any cellular network and displayed "--" in my notification bar. My phone refused to switch to CDMA to receive or make phone calls and I couldn't send or receive texts. I know this because my wife was in a separate store while I was with my mother in law. My wife called my phone 3 times and texted twice but I didn't receive any of them, but she then called my mother in law and it went through. I tried to call her but the dialer just sat on "dialing" without ringing and I couldn't get it to go down to 1x by airplane mode or switching between global and CDMA/LTE. I had to finally switch my phone to CDMA only in order to make calls while I was at the mall. It was like a reverse CSFB issue. It saw LTE and just parked on it.

[mikejeep]

This tower:in Jacksonville just south of the Town Center just went live about a week ago and I noticed a weird issue.

 

My phone said 4GLTE and I had between 3-5 bars all over the area. I pulled great data and averaged about 18 Mbps in the heart of the busy mall during pre-Christmas rush. However, Signal Check Pro stated I was not connected to any cellular network and displayed "--" in my notification bar. My phone refused to switch to CDMA to receive or make phone calls and I couldn't send or receive texts. I know this because my wife was in a separate store while I was with my mother in law. My wife called my phone 3 times and texted twice but I didn't receive any of them, but she then called my mother in law and it went through. I tried to call her but the dialer just sat on "dialing" without ringing and I couldn't get it to go down to 1x by airplane mode or switching between global and CDMA/LTE. I had to finally switch my phone to CDMA only in order to make calls while I was at the mall. It was like a reverse CSFB issue. It saw LTE and just parked on it.

I am suddenly getting a LOT of reports of this behavior from SignalCheck users -- behind the scenes, these devices appear to have a live EV-DO or LTE connection, but no 1X connection. Android is reporting no connection type at all, however the mobile data network is active and usable, and there is live signal information appearing behind the scenes (SignalCheck Pro users can go to Preferences > General Settings > Show Hidden Data to see it in the app). It is very strange, and just started within the past 3-4 days.

 

I was hoping to find other reports on here about it, hopefully someone can determine what is going on, because I foresee this becoming quite an issue..

 

-Mike

 

EDIT: This issue does not appear to be limited to just tri-band devices either.

[EvanA]

Having issues with my Nexus 5 and LTE in O'Fallon IL. Coverage maps show LTE at my house yet I only get eHRDP. This tells me that LTE is on at the tower site but they still need to implement eCSFB.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

Edited December 24, 2013 by EvanA

[mikejeep]

Having issues with my Nexus 5 and LTE in O'Fallon IL. Coverage maps show LTE at my house yet I only get eHRDP. This tells me that LTE is on at the tower site, which happens to be less than 2 miles from me. Waiting for eCSFB to implemented I guess.

 

Connecting to eHRPD does not have any correlation to the status of LTE at a site; many areas were seeing eHRPD long before LTE arrived. The CSFB issue is separate, eHRPD has nothing to do with it. The Sprint coverage maps are significantly optimistic and inaccurate.

 

Unless you know you have connected to this specific site with other (non-triband) Sprint LTE devices, it's hard for you to know for sure if CSFB is causing a problem or not.

 

-Mike

[EvanA]

Connecting to eHRPD does not have any correlation to the status of LTE at a site; many areas were seeing eHRPD long before LTE arrived. The CSFB issue is separate, eHRPD has nothing to do with it. The Sprint coverage maps are significantly optimistic and inaccurate.

 

Unless you know you have connected to this specific site with other (non-triband) Sprint LTE devices, it's hard for you to know for sure if CSFB is causing a problem or not.

 

-Mike

eHRDP should indicate that the upgrades are either in process or completed though since eHRDP uses the LTE network as a backend. I get LTE at other places in O'Fallon so that lead me to my conclusion that it is the one tower down the road from me that isn't completely finished.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

Edited December 24, 2013 by EvanA

[khammondnm]

eHRDP should indicate that the upgrades are either in process or completed though since eHRDP uses the LTE network as a backend. I get LTE at other places in O'Fallon so that lead me to my conclusion that it is the one tower down the road from me that isn't completely finished.Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Wrong. eHRPD has been rolled out to all legacy sites a while back. Simply being on eHRPD says nothing about the status of upgrades.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[EvanA]

Wrong. eHRPD has been rolled out to all legacy sites a while back. Simply being on eHRPD says nothing about the status of upgrades.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Hmph alright. Maybe I'll go down and check out the tower site sometime and see if the equipment is there.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4