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Spark v. Spark Turbo


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What kind of speeds will we be seeing on average with spark turbo? My cousin on Verizon hit 88mbs download and I was shocked.

Band 41 has a theoretical max download speed of 101 Mbps/carrier, with real-world peaks of 80-90 Mbps.

 

Non-turbo Spark downloads tend to be about half as fast (upload is the same), with many 8T8R sites still rate-limited to 40-50 Mbps to help ensure the other bands will have enough backhaul to work well. Clearwire sites (which only have B41 & Wimax to worry about) are not explicitly rate-limited, and run as fast as the backhaul allows.

 

As for average speeds, like any other band or network that may vary considerably based on a number of factors, but I would expect them to try to maintain the advertised rate of 50-60 Mbps as best they can.

 

Is it gonna improve?

Yes. Peak download rates will eventually double or triple thanks to 2x20 MHz or 3x20 MHz Carrier Aggregation. However, you will need a Cat 6/7 or Cat 9/10 device to take advantage of such speeds when they become available.

 

It is currently unknown whether upload rates will also double anytime soon. That will depend on whether device manufacturers include support for uplink CA (Cat 7 or Cat 10), and whether Sprint enables it on their end.

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I know this has been discussed before but I totally forgot. I know on the iPhone apple is picky about showing if you're on b41. But how about android devices. What's to stop them from showing people when they're on spark (b41). I really feel like people that test out sprint and see the spinning logo of death but are stuck in b25 are getting a bad perception of sprint. Is it a phone limitation?

 

I've personally had people confused as hell when they see the Walmart logo but don't have fast speeds.

 

 

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It is currently unknown whether upload rates will also double anytime soon. That will depend on whether device manufacturers include support for uplink CA (Cat 7 or Cat 10), and whether Sprint enables it on their end.

 

As far as I know, CA on the upload side is not coming anytime soon.

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I know this has been discussed before but I totally forgot. I know on the iPhone apple is picky about showing if you're on b41. But how about android devices. What's to stop them from showing people when they're on spark (b41). I really feel like people that test out sprint and see the spinning logo of death but are stuck in b25 are getting a bad perception of sprint. Is it a phone limitation?

 

Well, previously all devices didn't reliably report which band you are on. Currently, most now do. However, I have no idea what would be required to show a different icon on the main signal notification. I think it's pretty unanimous that the "spark" icon was a bad idea. 

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As far as I know, CA on the upload side is not coming anytime soon.

Hearing that is a little disappointing considering when I have a low B41 signal (-115 or less) the upload speeds struggle to eclipse 4mbps. This may put Sprint at a disadvantage with Root Metrics data speed/performance scores if upload speeds won't be bolstered with CA like they will be with download speeds.

 

Also, I'm not trying to be an e-penis advocate with this criticism. Sprint needs high data speeds on both the downlink and uplink to compete with the other three. If they wish to one day beat the other networks in overall performance, they should keep that in mind.

 

 

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As far as I know, CA on the upload side is not coming anytime soon.

Hearing that is a little disappointing considering when I have a low B41 signal (-115 or less) the upload speeds struggle to eclipse 4mbps. This may put Sprint at a disadvantage with Root Metrics data speed/performance scores if upload speeds won't be bolstered with CA like they will be with download speeds.

 

Also, I'm not trying to be an e-penis advocate with this criticism. Sprint needs high data speeds on both the downlink and uplink to compete with the other three. If they wish to one day beat the other networks in overall performance, they should keep that in mind.

A few thoughts...

 

Uplink carrier aggregation has the potential to be a real power hog, since the mobile would be actively transmitting two or even three separate uplinks. That is a key reason why W-CDMA and LTE oft have implemented downlink carrier aggregation but not uplink carrier aggregation.

 

Now, 4 Mbps uplink throughput is actually pretty decent. You will not greatly eclipse that on the ubiquitous 5 MHz FDD band 25/26 carriers. You are also using a low signal illustration to make your point. Try that low signal example with any LTE carrier from any operator, and the uplink is going to be slowed because of path loss.

 

If the 20 MHz TDD band 41 uplink speeds really do become a problem, Sprint can pursue several possible solutions that do not involve uplink carrier aggregation. As 3x carrier aggregation becomes common next year, Sprint can adjust the TDD ratio to trade some of the excessive 300 Mbps downlink capacity for greater uplink capacity. Further down the road, as Sprint refarms PCS spectrum for additional 5/10 MHz FDD band 25 carriers, it can use FDD+TDD carrier aggregation, keeping the uplink on the band 25 carriers.

 

In the near term, this worry over uplink carrier aggregation seems like much ado about nothing. Most people -- general public, network testers, even e-penis stretchers -- tend to focus their attention on downlink speeds far more than they do uplink speeds. And their network usage patterns bear this out. Look at speed tests from congested LTE sites. Quite often, the downlink has dropped to disappointingly low speeds, yet the uplink is still humming along a few Mbps higher. The demand is simply much greater on the downlink.

 

AJ

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I got this tonight in Visalia, CA tonight.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk

How'd you get the -dBm to stay up there? I try it all the time never works.

 

 

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And question about this whole Spark Turbo stuff. Is it only gonna be available on back haul upgraded sites and is S.T. going to be on every Clear & Sprint tower available or just limited selection where it's needed.

 

 

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And question about this whole Spark Turbo stuff. Is it only gonna be available on back haul upgraded sites and is S.T. going to be on every Clear & Sprint tower available or just limited selection where it's needed.

 

 

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Every Band 41 site should eventually have the appropriate backhaul. It's just clear sites that initially didn't (don't) have the appropriate backhaul. Many of them will be decommissioned next year. Sprint sites will have fully provisioned backhaul, otherwise B41 is rather pointless. Really wish Sprint hadn't made the "Turbo" distinction.
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How'd you get the -dBm to stay up there? I try it all the time never works.

 

 

Sent from my shiny new Space Grey iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

It's hard to keep it up there. I sometimes have to do it 3-4 times in a row to keep the signal number up there, and sometimes it stays up there with no issue. Press and hold the power button until the slide to turn off slider shows up, then press the home button until Field Test crashes. Of course, it helps to have lots of apps open when doing it.

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Every Band 41 site should eventually have the appropriate backhaul. It's just clear sites that initially didn't (don't) have the appropriate backhaul. Many of them will be decommissioned next year. Sprint sites will have fully provisioned backhaul, otherwise B41 is rather pointless. Rather wish Sprint hadn't made the "Turbo" distinction.

I think it's just for competition purposes. Sprint has Spark and Spark Turbo and Verizon has LTE and XLTE. Just names to draw the customer in and make them think they're super fast. Lol

 

 

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It's hard to keep it up there. I sometimes have to do it 3-4 times in a row to keep the signal number up there, and sometimes it stays up there with no issue. Press and hold the power button until the slide to turn off slider shows up, then press the home button until Field Test crashes. Of course, it helps to have lots of apps open when doing it.

Thanks bro appreciate it.

 

Edit: it worked. I missed it. I had it on my iPhone 5 during the iOS 6 days lol.

 

 

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Edited by IsaiahL
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So, once we have 20+20 (or 20+20+20) CA, does that give us Super Turbo Spark max on our Samsung Galaxy S6 Epic Super Turbo Spark Touch phone? :)

 

In truth, I'm bitter about being hundreds of yards out of B41 coverage at my apartment. Though the coworking space I go to has it, I believe (will check within the next 24h if things get a little warmer).

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So, once we have 20+20 (or 20+20+20) CA, does that give us Super Turbo Spark max.

That's really a mouth full. Super Turbo Spark Max lol. I could only imagine the marketing commercials for that. "join Sprint and experience the new Super Turbo Spark Max, guaranteed to be faster than anything you've experienced before" [emoji23]

 

 

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For reference on uploads, my AT&T and VZW 10MHz upload speeds tend to be 3-5Mbps and my VZW 15MHZ upload speeds tend 6-9 Mbps. So Sprint Spark upload speeds are competitive. I don't see the need for upload aggregation all things considered.

 

If you need to do massive sized uploads (measured in GB's), you shouldn't be using a wireless service anyway. And wireless providers know that if they make the upload pipe larger than demand, they are just inviting new forms of abuse.

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For reference on uploads, my AT&T and VZW 10MHz upload speeds tend to be 3-5Mbps and my VZW 15MHZ upload speeds tend 6-9 Mbps. So Sprint Spark upload speeds are competitive. I don't see the need for upload aggregation all things considered.

 

If you need to do massive sized uploads (measured in GB's), you shouldn't be using a wireless service anyway. And wireless providers know that if they make the upload pipe larger than demand, they are just inviting new forms of abuse.

 

I think some people like to point to the Super Bowl, the Olympics, and other mass spectacles -- in which uplink traffic is competitive with or even exceeds downlink traffic.  Ideally, they want their wireless networks bulletproofed for those situations.  But that is flawed thinking.  If wireless networks were designed with Super Bowl type situations in mind, they would be compromised for the other 99 percent of common usage -- in which downlink traffic trumps uplink traffic by many multiples.

 

AJ

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I did a speed comparison with my friend who is on AT&T, I consistently beat his speed tests. I was averaging around 20Mbps down and 7Mbps up, this was on B25.  He was getting around 13Mbps down and about 4Mbps up, this was at around 4am as we went out for some breakfast so the load was light on the towers. Sprint is in a great place imho.

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Happy New Year to All! I am in a Spark Turbo Best LTE area but my iPhone 6+ will still cycle to 3G and will still have trouble connecting to LTE w/in my home and outside.  I actually have a better time connecting to LTE inside my house rather than outside.  I use *3001#123453* and connect to Band 26 with -108 db.  What other info should I be looking at?  How can you tell if B41 is installed or active on towers? According to the interactive maps, all towers in my area show 3G/800/4G.  Before all the NV upgrades, and I had great service but after it seems as if I'm on a fringe zone that gives me enough speed to get me excited that it's finally getting better, but just fizzles out when it drops to 3G and "stalls" when trying load data.  I had been on the phone with Sprint antenna techs that did "drive bys" and said that everything is functioning great with the towers in the area.  Any info you can provide would be great.

 

Thanks, Tony

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Happy New Year to All! I am in a Spark Turbo Best LTE area but my iPhone 6+ will still cycle to 3G and will still have trouble connecting to LTE w/in my home and outside.  I actually have a better time connecting to LTE inside my house rather than outside.  I use *3001#123453* and connect to Band 26 with -108 db.  What other info should I be looking at?  How can you tell if B41 is installed or active on towers? According to the interactive maps, all towers in my area show 3G/800/4G.  Before all the NV upgrades, and I had great service but after it seems as if I'm on a fringe zone that gives me enough speed to get me excited that it's finally getting better, but just fizzles out when it drops to 3G and "stalls" when trying load data.  I had been on the phone with Sprint antenna techs that did "drive bys" and said that everything is functioning great with the towers in the area.  Any info you can provide would be great.

 

Thanks, Tony

 

 

Well first off you should not be going by what sprints map says you are covered by. everyone on here has said it time and time again each and every service provider exaggerates their maps.

 

second off you are a sponsor and while that does not give you access to B41 and...26? deployment info you still have access to maps that show sprint tower locations and weather they have even been upgraded or not. i suggest you start there then if you really want to get froggy either donate up to $100 or get in a car or ride a bike and go check out your closest sprint towers to see if they even have B41 equipment on them or not.

 

Happy hunting.

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Well first off you should not be going by what sprints map says you are covered by. everyone on here has said it time and time again each and every service provider exaggerates their maps.

 

second off you are a sponsor and while that does not give you access to B41 and...26? deployment info you still have access to maps that show sprint tower locations and weather they have even been upgraded or not. i suggest you start there then if you really want to get froggy either donate up to $100 or get in a car or ride a bike and go check out your closest sprint towers to see if they even have B41 equipment on them or not.

 

Happy hunting.

 

I actually was using the Sprint's website to see what they had to show what they considered my area to be.  I take everything they have to say with a grain of salt.  I used the interactive map on the sponsor's side to see what they had listed for the towers in my area, that's where I saw that it listed 3G/LTE/4G.  I just wanted to know if there was a way to see if B41 was there. I guess I'll "hop" over to those towers because $100 seems to be a bit expensive on a somewhat simple question.  Thanks for your help stuckinohio1.

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I actually was using the Sprint's website to see what they had to show what they considered my area to be.  I take everything they have to say with a grain of salt.  I used the interactive map on the sponsor's side to see what they had listed for the towers in my area, that's where I saw that it listed 3G/LTE/4G.  I just wanted to know if there was a way to see if B41 was there. I guess I'll "hop" over to those towers because $100 seems to be a bit expensive on a somewhat simple question.  Thanks for your help stuckinohio1.

Sprint did a weird thing with coverage maps about a week or so ago, They covered about 95 percent of the chicago market in turbo and it is far from being turbo. Maybe in 6 months after all the 8t8r get installed it will be. But not right now, a lot of turbo areas. I still get 3g in, So I am glad you take sprint coverage map with a grain of salt. I don't know why sprint still hasn't learned. The average consumer looks at sprints maps before they buy. I will say, it is nice that you can actually zoom in and see what type of coverage you will get on the voice side. You have do that with some over carriers *cough* big red *cough* *cough* big blue

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