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Project Cedar / LTE - West / East Montana


lilotimz

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Found Sprint LTE in Billings! Driving into town first I got a Sprint 1X signal on the East edge of town. And then cycling through airplane mode didn't get me anything more. Then I went to lte-only, and there it was on Band 25.

 

The signal was never very strong along I-90. And the speed was dog slow. They must not have upgraded their backhaul yet. Just hooked up what is available to meet the substantial service deadline, most likely. I didn't have time to drive around town and check things out, because the wind has slowed down my progress today.

 

I went ahead and mapped it on Sensorly and Cellmapper. Check out my screenshots below. I will check Bozeman and Butte on my way to Missoula tonight.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Can you provide exact coordinates maybe my contacts can provide more info. I will sent them your screenshots.

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It looks like PCI 218 is the beta sector of that site, you posted the 218 sector earlier.

I don't know why I read the GCI number different between the screenshots. Maybe it was because I was driving 75 MPH. [emoji14]

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

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I don't know why I read the GCI number different between the screenshots. Maybe it was because I was driving 75 MPH. [emoji14]

 

Sir, please step out of the vehicle.  Do you know why I pulled you over?  Suspicion of DUSI -- Driving Under S4GRU Influence.  Now, I am going to administer a field sanity check.

 

AJ

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Robert, did you get any pictures of these sites?

 

I doubt it.  They were located off the Interstate, and it was after dark.

 

AJ

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  • 4 weeks later...

Stopped in Bozeman for lunch. Did some mapping on Sensorly and Cellmapper.

 

41ffaae17bd9705d270d37d74ef4f9a0.jpg

 

7e4892bcaf2cf1df9bfd4a8bc1eae109.jpg

 

I then got excited because SCP said I had B41 after having B25 for about 30 minutes.

 

e65cf9fdb11808c9cc53e26a04945488.jpg

 

But after checking LTE Engineering, running speed test and realizing the PCI number was the same, it's not B41 after all. But why the different GCI? Strange.

 

5fc858917cd98f705ff5e3ef388d0bda.jpg

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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Stopped in Bozeman for lunch. Did some mapping on Sensorly and Cellmapper.

 

41ffaae17bd9705d270d37d74ef4f9a0.jpg

 

7e4892bcaf2cf1df9bfd4a8bc1eae109.jpg

 

I then got excited because SCP said I had B41 after having B25 for about 30 minutes.

 

e65cf9fdb11808c9cc53e26a04945488.jpg

 

But after checking LTE Engineering, running speed test and realizing the PCI number was the same, it's not B41 after all. But why the different GCI? Strange.

 

5fc858917cd98f705ff5e3ef388d0bda.jpg

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

How do you get SCP to show the possible CDMA BID line?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

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How do you get SCP to show the possible CDMA BID line?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

It's under settings.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

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Will you be doing anymore mapping ? Just move there and keep us updated :) also do we know the progress from ND, SD or Wyoming at all ?

 

 

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Move there? No way, I'm done moving. Hopefully for a long time!

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

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It's under settings.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

Under which category? I've looked several times and don't see it. Or maybe it's on and my device just doesn't support it...

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

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Move there? No way, I'm done moving. Hopefully for a long time!

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

 

 

Fair enough [emoji57] are you going to billings or Missoula or even Helena anytime soon ? Maybe coverage is more solid there and you can map the progress

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Fair enough [emoji57] are you going to billings or Missoula or even Helena anytime soon ? Maybe coverage is more solid there and you can map the progress

(Or kalispell? We haven't had anyone up there yet)

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But after checking LTE Engineering, running speed test and realizing the PCI number was the same, it's not B41 after all. But why the different GCI? Strange.

 

11ygcl.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok so I'm hearing that sprints cedar project expansion is on hold. Is there any truth to this ?

 

 

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No.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

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  • 3 weeks later...

Although they definitely aren't moving as quickly as T-Mobile. It's been two months now since the site covering Missoula was first turned on. 2 months after the first two T-Mobile B12 sites showed up in Missoula they put it on their coverage map.

 

When I tweeted to Sprint Care last week asking why my LTE/3G speeds were starting to slow down (I'm now seeing ~300k down on 3G and 1-2M down on LTE) and why people can no longer hear me when I make phone calls from my dorm building, their response was that since I was roaming, they couldn't guarantee my experience.

 

After asking them why a Glance report on the area shows one site online covering the area, they then revealed that they've only got that one site online, that it's 5 miles away from my dorm building, and that 5 miles is about as far as they expect the signal to reach so of course I would be roaming.

 

Except my only two options are "home only" and "automatic" and 1X signal reaches into my building (about -113dBm), just isn't very useful. Quite a change from the first time I tweeted to Sprint Care asking whether they were going to work on this area some more and they said they were working on it. 

 

I'm most likely going to have to switch away if I can't find a "roaming only" mode on my 6P.

 

In my area: 

 

Sprint: 1 site located ???, B25 LTE, eHRPD, and 1X

 

T-Mobile: 2 sites located on buildings around town, 1 on a tower, B4/B12 LTE and AWS HSPA

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Tweet them to turn it off for customer use, lol.

 

Pick up a TMobile sim when they go on sale for 99cents.  Pop it in your 6P, see what coverage/speeds are like. You still may not get coverage in your school buildings, and TMo might have disabled in-network roaming.  So it could actually possibly be worse. :-O

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The thing is, I already have second-hand experience from some of my friends who switched to T-Mo and have been yelling at me to join them. The only one seeing problems is using an iPhone 6+, which doesn't have B12. He roams on AT&T while indoors, so they haven't turned that off here yet. Everyone else is seeing solid LTE.

 

The reason I don't want to switch is, well, when am I ever going to see a 25GB for $65 ($50 data + $15 line fee) plan again? That and Sprint support has actually been pretty good to me except for this.

 

With the purchase of Cellular One sites, they should have a couple more sites than that, that I'd rather they get a move on with (in part to prevent rumors such as "Project Cedar on hold") rather than kick customers off the one site they've got online now.

Edited by jamar0303
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I had a similar experience in Orange County where they said there were no plans to fix the areas on the interstate and surrounding my house which would drop to no coverage. It just seems like they have no fight anymore. Then, after I switched off sprint, I receive postcards to come back. Why spend money to get me back when you had an opportunity to keep me in the first place? Also, I keep receiving two postcards at the sign time. They should probably only have one per household.

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Project Cedar is not really in full swing yet. These sites in Missoula, Helena, Great Falls and Billings are just license protection sites required to maintain their PCS G block license.

 

More sites will be added in the future. I just don't think it's going to be soon given Sprint's tightening of their capex belt. Priorities, priorities.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

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Project Cedar is not really in full swing yet. These sites in Missoula, Helena, Great Falls and Billings are just license protection sites required to maintain their PCS G block license.

 

More sites will be added in the future. I just don't think it's going to be soon given Sprint's tightening of their capex belt. Priorities, priorities.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

 

Sounds like a nightmare for Sprint. So it'll be a long while before Southern California sees any real improvements if this lower capex spending is real

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