Verizon turns up the heat with 40mhz AWS Spectrum now live in a few major cities

[Terrell352]

http://gigaom.com/2013/12/05/verizon-quietly-unleashes-its-lte-monster-tripling-4g-capacity-in-major-cities/

 

[miguell2]

So 80Mbps... That's faster than what we should expect to get with spark...?

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

 

 

[Ascertion]

So 80Mbps... That's faster than what we should expect to get with spark...?

 

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for now...Sprint has a lot of spectrum in places that's live, only scaled down by back haul. Theoretical speeds are about 60mbps down and up to 20mbps up. Of course, when Sprint needs to up the speed all it is is a back haul upgrade.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980

 

 

[WiWavelength]

So 80Mbps... That's faster than what we should expect to get with spark...?

Yes. VZW has some 20 MHz FDD markets. With Cat 4 baseband devices, that configuration can support 150 Mbps peak downlink speeds.

 

AJ

[Rukin1]

They're working on there towers here

[khammondnm]

for now...Sprint has a lot of spectrum in places that's live, only scaled down by back haul. Theoretical speeds are about 60mbps down and up to 20mbps up. Of course, when Sprint needs to up the speed all it is is a back haul upgrade.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980

don't talk to us New Mexicans about backhaul upgrades! I would rather a new panel go up, takes a tenth the time then stupid CenturyLink.

 

Brought to you by my Galaxy Note 2, Android 4.4 KitKat

 

 

[z250kid]

if they have fiber theoretically they can be provisioned to any speed.   If more speed is need call the back haul provider and upgrade the speed.  Or add more carriers to the site that may include additional panels if tower is overloaded. 

[CrimsonKnightDX]

So, is Sprint running on CenturyLinks backhaul, or is Centurylink just laying the Fiber and backhaul for Sprint?

[SpenceSouth]

Yes. VZW has some 20 MHz FDD markets. With Cat 4 baseband devices, that configuration can support 150 Mbps peak downlink speeds.

 

AJ

 

Is there anyway for a technical user to know how much spectrum a provider is throwing at LTE carrier? 

[WiWavelength]

Is there anyway for a technical user to know how much spectrum a provider is throwing at LTE carrier? 

 

Not really.  The engineering screens for iPhone and some 3GPP only (i.e. AT&T and T-Mobile) Samsung handsets include an LTE carrier bandwidth field.  But that is about it.  Otherwise, you need a spectrum analyzer.

 

AJ

[anthony.spina97]

Not really. The engineering screens for iPhone and some 3GPP only (i.e. AT&T and T-Mobile) Samsung handsets include an LTE carrier bandwidth field. But that is about it. Otherwise, you need a spectrum analyzer.

 

AJ

They also tell you the LTE band you're on:

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

[WiWavelength]

They also tell you the LTE band you're on:

 

You miss my point.  Every kind of handset with accessible engineering screens indicates LTE band -- even though the Moto X does so incorrectly.  That info is not in short supply, but few engineering screens display LTE carrier bandwidth.  Hence, my point...

 

AJ

[EXLINE]

Guys over at xda have been posting screen shots just south of 100 mbps

 

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[WiWavelength]

Guys over at xda have been posting screen shots just south of 100 mbps

 

To put this in perspective, that may not be a huge jump over the 75 Mbps peak that VZW has had to offer with its 10 MHz FDD band 13 LTE 750 network the past three years.  And sufficient backhaul could be in question.  What it definitely does represent is an unburdened AWS overlay -- because very few VZW devices support band 4 LTE 2100+1700.

 

AJ

[EXLINE]

To put this in perspective, that may not be a huge jump over the 75 Mbps peak that VZW has had to offer with its 10 MHz FDD band 13 LTE 750 network the past three years. And sufficient backhaul could be in question. What it definitely does represent is an unburdened AWS overlay -- because very few VZW devices support band 4 LTE 2100+1700.

 

AJ

I guess the only cat 4 device is the note 3 which is 150 mbps and the rest is 100 mbps. Regardless verizon has been congested for awhile so like you said will be nice to have that aws to eat up your data. I would be screwed. It's easy to rack up data on speedtests

 

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[WiWavelength]

I guess the only cat 4 device is the note 3 which is 150 mbps and the rest is 100 mbps.

 

I cannot speak for VZW.  I am not a "Droid" attuned to those devices.  But Sprint has Cat 4 basebands in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, LG G2, and LG/Google Nexus 5.  Since the Note 3 is single band, though, the Cat 4 baseband probably means nothing in end use.  So, the LG handsets have center stage right now.

 

AJ

[milan03]

Yes. VZW has some 20 MHz FDD markets. With Cat 4 baseband devices, that configuration can support 150 Mbps peak downlink speeds.

 

AJ

Which makes us wonder if it's the backhaul or software rate limiting us to peak at 80Mbps on a completely unloaded Verizon's 20Mhz FDD layer at 4am on any given day. Should be much closer to 150Mbps with Cat 4 UE.

[hescominsoon]

I cannot speak for VZW.  I am not a "Droid" attuned to those devices.  But Sprint has Cat 4 basebands in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, LG G2, and LG/Google Nexus 5.  Since the Note 3 is single band, though, the Cat 4 baseband probably means nothing in end use.  So, the LG handsets have center stage right now.

 

AJ

how about the mega?  it is a spark device like the GN5.

[WiWavelength]

how about the mega?  it is a spark device like the GN5.

 

Spark means tri band.  It does not mean Cat 4 LTE Advanced.

 

Because both the Mega and the Mini use the MSM8930AB, they should be Cat 3 devices.  Only the two LG handsets thus far use the MSM8974 or MDM9625, making them Cat 4.

 

AJ

[rickerwdi]

Verizon is definitely pushing hard on the band 4. On my way home from school I saw crews working on a tower that upon driving by in the morning had the RRU's that Verizon is using for the band 4. I haven't been able to test the engineering screen yet. 

On a semi side not its great that sprint is pushing on the new network but the rollout is deplorable (at least in my county, and city). I'm not complaining, I know there are lots of challenges to permitting and such but other carriers have long covered my city in 4G. 

[Deval]

Say a Verizon user has a device which supports Band 4, will their device automatically latch onto the new network where available? 

[newboyx]

Say a Verizon user has a device which supports Band 4, will their device automatically latch onto the new network where available?

I read a few months ago that on the GS3 (I think) it would require an ota. Not sure about any other phones.

 

Sent from my LG G2.

 

 

[WiWavelength]

Say a Verizon user has a device which supports Band 4, will their device automatically latch onto the new network where available? 

 

Well, let us just stick a prepaid VZW LTE SIM in a Nexus 5 and find out...

 

 

AJ

[Deval]

I read a few months ago that on the GS3 (I think) it would require an ota. Not sure about any other phones.

 

Sent from my LG G2.

 

Ah ok, was just curious to be honest.

 

Sprint gets a lot of crap for the handoffs between LTE and 3G, and LTE on B41 to 25, so I was curious how the other guys are faring. 

[iansltx]

I tried an iPad SIM in my N5 a bit ago in Austin and didn't get anything. I'll try again later today, but my guess is that I still won't get anything. I didn't even see 3G last time.

 

If I get a chance I'll drop by a VZW store sometime soon and see if AWS LTE has suddenly gone live in this area. But I'm betting that it isn't ehre yet.