Network Vision/LTE - Colorado Market (Denver/Colo Springs/Fort Collins/Pueblo/Grand Jct)

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

Also Merlin did some farmer in the Hotchkiss/Cederedge area really topple a couple towers?

Yes, that is my understanding... Except it wasn't a farmer :-) Service it terrible in the Hotchkiss area.

 

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When?

[PA32driver]

When?

I believe it was some time in October. Early if I remember correctly. 

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

I believe it was some time in October. Early if I remember correctly. 

There are three sites that serve that area, none of which are on one single farmers land. It could be a coordinated effort, i guess. but still unlikely as all three sites are showing green to me, but we could have a COW (cell on wheels) out there. All three towers are pretty big locations with almost every carrier sharing a mount. If someone did knock one down then it would be pretty big news. I can't find anything about it.

 

My BS-meter is pretty high on this story.

[PA32driver]

All I know is there on Highway 92 about 2 to 4 miles west of Hotchkiss there used to be very good service then around Oct. the service dropped off in that area. When looking at SignalCheck Pro is only ever connect to the tower right outside of Hotchkiss. It might have changed in the past few weeks though.

I thought it was BS as well because I could still see the tower but my phone would never connect to it, it would connect to the 800 mhz signal coming from the tower in Hotchkiss so I could still usually make a call but it was nowhere near as good as before. 

 

Edit- Just went back to the NV upgrade map and the tower I was talking about is no longer shown as being there... It was close to 3300 road.

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

Looking at the map there isn't anything in that area. Not even a decommissioned iDen site. There could have been a change in antenna positioning, but I have no way of looking that up.

[PA32driver]

I don't know, was strange to me. I distinctly remember there being 2 towers close to Hotchkiss on the upgrade map a couple months ago. 

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

I don't know, was strange to me. I distinctly remember there being 2 towers close to Hotchkiss on the upgrade map a couple months ago. 

 Could have been a misprint on the map. There is only one record of a location near Hotchkiss. It's a strong one too. Stretches half way to Austin, Cedaredge, Crawford, and Paonia. 

 

Toss me some debug screenshots in PM and I can look into what might be happening

[Dkoellerwx]

I don't know, was strange to me. I distinctly remember there being 2 towers close to Hotchkiss on the upgrade map a couple months ago. 

 

There have been no sites removed from the map. If a site is decommissioned, or otherwise removed, it is marked with a red dot on the NV Sites Complete map. If there is nothing there, then there never was anything there. 

[Phazer]

Good Lord.....turn it on already.  Man, this is so damn frustrating.  

 

Sprint should say, "Hey...thanks for hanging around and putting up with all our crap for so many years.... so our next flagship phone that comes out is yours...On us!  We just want to say thank you and We hope we can regain your trust enough for you to stay around for many more years to come.... Enjoy!"

 

The towers here in fantasyland are all 5G BTW.

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

Good Lord.....turn it on already.  Man, this is so damn frustrating.  

 

Sprint should say, "Hey...thanks for hanging around and putting up with all our crap for so many years.... so our next flagship phone that comes out is yours...On us!  We just want to say thank you and We hope we can regain your trust enough for you to stay around for many more years to come.... Enjoy!"

 

The towers here in fantasyland are all 5G BTW.

You obviously have no idea how difficult this project is. Let me put this into one simple sentence that might help you figure it out.

 

Every single piece of equipment Sprint was using for their network 6 months ago is being replaced and will be operational in about 3 months.

 

Think about that for a second. Every antenna, every cabinet, every cable, 95+% of their switch tech, ... everything.

 

All of this while attempting to keep the existing maintenance nightmare of a network running at the same time.

 

I know in some fantasyland of yours it only involves a switch, but you're wrong. Plain wrong.

 

They don't owe you a phone, they owe you a network, and over the course of a furious paced 9 months they built you a ground-up top-tier network on top of an already operational network.

 

I want to caution everyone here about what will be happening in the next few months. These transitions are tough. Antennas will be misaligned, sites will go down, speeds will flux. This will not be the christmas morning that some think it will be when they finally do "turn it on already".

 

Everyone I know is busting ass to get this thing online. And once it is up were are going to need people like those in the forum to help us tune it. People that know what they are talking about. People that can tell us where the dark spots are, and be patient while the chain of command confirms>assesses>plans>initiates>contracts>permits>adjusts the network.

 

 

[Cloaker]

Hey Merlin, this might be a long shot and we won't hold you to it (RIGHT GUYS? -_-), but can you give us a rough hint when the next cluster will go live?

 

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[PA32driver]

As long as it works correctly when they are finished with the job I will be happy!

 

Merlin, I will try to get you a debug screen shot today.

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

Hey Merlin, this might be a long shot and we won't hold you to it (RIGHT GUYS? -_-), but can you give us a rough hint when the next cluster will go live?

 

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I really wish I (or anyone else) knew this info. We really are at the mercy of the backhaul on this one. But once it's all wired up they flip the switch within days. I honestly think all the Denver area will come online within a couple weeks of each other but they may be waiting until all the clusters are ready to start that wave.

 

I wish I had better news.

 

 

As long as it works correctly when they are finished with the job I will be happy!

 

Merlin, I will try to get you a debug screen shot today.

"Finished with the job" is kind of bad way to think of it. The job never gets fully finished. There are always sites down, improvements to be made, tickets to track down. The maintenance will be more software and networking side (hopefully) and less hardware related (as it is with the legacy equipment).

 

Maybe someday I will share the story of the site that had a literal meltdown in the heat.

 

It never stops. The only difference between sprint and verizon, once the NV is full live, is only the resources that get put into troubleshooting the network.  

[PA32driver]

I guess what I was meaning was the official finish the nv upgrades.

 

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[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

I guess what I was meaning was the official finish the nv upgrades.

The thing is, it wont work correctly everywhere. There will be tough length of time as all the coverage gaps are located, as equipment experiences it's first real load test, and as the techs get used to the equipment. 

 

This is a huge jump in tech. The legacy equipment was pretty simple and most of the time a quick reset or hardware swap was able to fix problems. The new stuff is all IP fixes. Very little on site. There is a damn steep learning curve for it. 

[PA32driver]

It's all exciting to me! Thank you for taking the time to inform those of us who have little idea of what is really going on in the background.

 

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[Phazer]

You obviously have no idea how difficult this project is. Let me put this into one simple sentence that might help you figure it out.

 

Every single piece of equipment Sprint was using for their network 6 months ago is being replaced and will be operational in about 3 months.

 

Think about that for a second. Every antenna, every cabinet, every cable, 95+% of their switch tech, ... everything.

 

All of this while attempting to keep the existing maintenance nightmare of a network running at the same time.

 

I know in some fantasyland of yours it only involves a switch, but you're wrong. Plain wrong.

 

They don't owe you a phone, they owe you a network, and over the course of a furious paced 9 months they built you a ground-up top-tier network on top of an already operational network.

 

I want to caution everyone here about what will be happening in the next few months. These transitions are tough. Antennas will be misaligned, sites will go down, speeds will flux. This will not be the christmas morning that some think it will be when they finally do "turn it on already".

 

Everyone I know is busting ass to get this thing online. And once it is up were are going to need people like those in the forum to help us tune it. People that know what they are talking about. People that can tell us where the dark spots are, and be patient while the chain of command confirms>assesses>plans>initiates>contracts>permits>adjusts the network.

 

 

Merlin...Look, I appreciate all the information you have provided above and in this forum.  Your corporate enthusiasm is admirable. Good Lord Man you are the voice of Sprint for all of us!  Thank YOU!  The bottom line...it is sad when the only LTE information we get is from an unofficial Sprint Tech source.  Please realize my frustrations lay far from you.  

 

Where I do find my frustration is from the sales person telling me on release morning at a Sprint Store here in fantasyland, after securing a reservation and waiting outside for two hours for my EVO LTE 4G, to be sold on the fact this new phone will be just a bit slower than my EVO because Denver's LTE network was just two short months away!  He didn't even offer up that little tidbit until I inquired if the speeds on this phone were going to be faster.  Then only to be told again the same damn thing again 10 months later when I bought my wife's Galaxy and re-upped for another two years.  All of this only to add it had been years not being able to make a full cell phone call without a drop from my home in a north west suburb.   An Airave finally put a band-aid on that.

 

Merlin, I pay Sprint $3500 a year, and have been a loyal customer for what I believe is over 11 years now.  I cant tell you how many people I have referred to Sprint.  I even have a great relationships with the repair guys at my local store.   Hell, I even told them about you and this forum because they had heard MAY 2014 and you were a wealth of knowledge.  I just want what I was sold.  I think you would have to agree I and many, many others have been more than patient.  If Sprint Corporate knew what sales was saying to long term customers they should have at least provided better information and better PR.

 

So I'm sorry that this is hard and at the end of the day I really don't care.  Get out some lights and work at night.  Hire more crews. Pay overtime. Offer incentives...whatever....just meet the expectations you sold me $6000 ago.  

 

Your Company had better flip the damn switch (horribly sorry for my lack of your tech-speak here) soon or sadly I'm going to be forced to fire them.  Too bad they probably wouldn't miss me nor care but now I hope you can sympathize with my frustrations.

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

Merlin...Look, I appreciate all the information you have provided above and in this forum.  Your corporate enthusiasm is admirable. Good Lord Man you are the voice of Sprint for all of us!  Thank YOU!  The bottom line...it is sad when the only LTE information we get is from an unofficial Sprint Tech source.  Please realize my frustrations lay far from you.  

 

Where I do find my frustration is from the sales person telling me on release morning at a Sprint Store here in fantasyland, after securing a reservation and waiting outside for two hours for my EVO LTE 4G, to be sold on the fact this new phone will be just a bit slower than my EVO because Denver's LTE network was just two short months away!  He didn't even offer up that little tidbit until I inquired if the speeds on this phone were going to be faster.  Then only to be told again the same damn thing again 10 months later when I bought my wife's Galaxy and re-upped for another two years.  All of this only to add it had been years not being able to make a full cell phone call without a drop from my home in a north west suburb.   An Airave finally put a band-aid on that.

 

Merlin, I pay Sprint $3500 a year, and have been a loyal customer for what I believe is over 11 years now.  I cant tell you how many people I have referred to Sprint.  I even have a great relationships with the repair guys at my local store.   Hell, I even told them about you and this forum because they had heard MAY 2014 and you were a wealth of knowledge.  I just want what I was sold.  I think you would have to agree I and many, many others have been more than patient.  If Sprint Corporate knew what sales was saying to long term customers they should have at least provided better information and better PR.

 

So I'm sorry that this is hard and at the end of the day I really don't care.  Get out some lights and work at night.  Hire more crews. Pay overtime. Offer incentives...whatever....just meet the expectations you sold me $6000 ago.  

 

Your Company had better flip the damn switch (horribly sorry for my lack of your tech-speak here) soon or sadly I'm going to be forced to fire them.  Too bad they probably wouldn't miss me nor care but now I hope you can sympathize with my frustrations.

I wish I had a better answer for you. But at the end of the day it's your money and phone lines. Sprint is last to the LTE game and that is a bit unfortunate.

 

You are certainly not alone in being frustrated by what the retail side employees have said. I hear people all the time with almost the exact same story about promises not kept. Sprint never has, and still has not set a date as to when LTE goes live. With so many contracts downwind and different contractors it would be impossible until the reports come back that the work is complete. Hell, Sprint doesn't even manage their own network, that's all a contract. I try to hit up the larger sprint stores and pick their brains about it but they are all clueless.

 

If only it were a problem of "boots on the ground". It's not. There are only so many crews trained, there are only so many supply distributors, and only so many capped budget-hours to work with. That's the unfortunate fact of contract work, you can't control it after the contract is issued. Sprint contracts out to the vendor, the vendor contracts out to the distributor and to the crews. The crews say work is completed, Sprint contracts out to Ericsson to verify, Ericsson says BS, Sprint sends out corrections to the vendor. The damn chain keeps going and going. There is nothing that any one person, or even one company can do.

 

I'm sorry that an underpaid, commission salesperson at a retail store sold you on a bad promise that was never in writing. Just like a used car salesmen, they will do and say what the have to say to get a sale because their rent payment depends on it. And $6000 is nothing sort of a cars worth of money. I wish people would start seeing it that way. 

[CrimsonKnightDX]

Speaking of sprints network being managed by contractors. Do any of the carriers actually manage their own networks themselves, is this a standard in the industry?

 

I assume if att is laying there own back haul they have more leverage and ability to manage there own network than sprint would, seeing the back haul is being provided by century link and att ?

 

 

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[ashirley751]

I would love nothing more than to jump into this conversation with my opinion about how the poor training or communications from sprint is a systemic leadership issue but that would require a ton more effort than I am willing to put forth at this very moment. That and, this is a forum for us to share information about the LTE rollout, not bash sprint. I'm as frustrated as anybody but I'll digress for now.

 

What I do have effort for is, has anybody been watching sensorly this week? I posted a question over the weekend in this tread regarding a new LTE hit showing up south of Park Meadows mall on C-470 between I-25 and Yosemite. I looked again today and now there are LTE hits reporting along Santa Fe in the south part of town starting from C-470 and stretching up to the Littleton Blvd intersection. They seem to be faint, but not as terribly so. Does anybody have insight as to what this is being caused by?

[AcctDeleted_Merlin]

Speaking of sprints network being managed by contractors. Do any of the carriers actually manage their own networks themselves, is this a standard in the industry?

 

I assume if att is laying there own back haul they have more leverage and ability to manage there own network than sprint would, seeing the back haul is being provided by century link and att ?

 

 

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Most carriers use contract work at points. The extent to which the other carries use it is a mystery to me.

 

I would love nothing more than to jump into this conversation with my opinion about how the poor training or communications from sprint is a systemic leadership issue but that would require a ton more effort than I am willing to put forth at this very moment. That and, this is a forum for us to share information about the LTE rollout, not bash sprint. I'm as frustrated as anybody but I'll digress for now.

 

What I do have effort for is, has anybody been watching sensorly this week? I posted a question over the weekend in this tread regarding a new LTE hit showing up south of Park Meadows mall on C-470 between I-25 and Yosemite. I looked again today and now there are LTE hits reporting along Santa Fe in the south part of town starting from C-470 and stretching up to the Littleton Blvd intersection. They seem to be faint, but not as terribly so. Does anybody have insight as to what this is being caused by?

I do have insight into what is happening but systemic leadership issues prevent me from expressing it properly. ;]

[ashirley751]

Most carriers use contract work at points. The extent to which the other carries use it is a mystery to me.

 

I do have insight into what is happening but systemic leadership issues prevent me from expressing it properly. ;]

Well played =)

[aaronjknox]

I would love nothing more than to jump into this conversation with my opinion about how the poor training or communications from sprint is a systemic leadership issue but that would require a ton more effort than I am willing to put forth at this very moment. That and, this is a forum for us to share information about the LTE rollout, not bash sprint. I'm as frustrated as anybody but I'll digress for now.

 

What I do have effort for is, has anybody been watching sensorly this week? I posted a question over the weekend in this tread regarding a new LTE hit showing up south of Park Meadows mall on C-470 between I-25 and Yosemite. I looked again today and now there are LTE hits reporting along Santa Fe in the south part of town starting from C-470 and stretching up to the Littleton Blvd intersection. They seem to be faint, but not as terribly so. Does anybody have insight as to what this is being caused by?

Re. the spots by Santa Fe & C470. That may have been me yesterday as I drove that route south from lakewood.  I recently bought an LTE phone and was cycling LTE on and off while mapping.  At several locations LTE shows up in the status bar and speedtest momentarily registers LTE-level DL speeds. The LTE indicator goes away very quickly and 3G connects right after.  I haven't noticed any LTE in the Park Meadows area yet and I drive 470 every day.

[DE7573]

Sensorly is showing somebody mapped LTE by Park Meadows Mall. Between the Costco/Best Buy and 470 westbound. Any thoughts?

 

Not the old hit from the call center by Centennial airport. This one is new, first time I've seen it on the sensorly map and I check that bad boy just about 3 times a day.

Most likely that was our tower location. (Willow St and county line road) Yesterday we had an Ericsson

truck and a guy in the cabinet "room" and some major drops in signal (normally I get 64-84dbm) and for awhile I was getting -125dbm or so. 

 

So during that time someone might of got a hit off the tower.

[Santa Claus]

This is for Merlin. I have been trying to get information on Sprint's 4GLte rollout in Denver for 6 months. Online I found the Sensorly site, and am cranked to see the LTE network moving into the Denver area. Sprint needs to take your article below and publish it for all of Denver to see. You are the first person with the Company I have heard that speaks clearly, answers all of the questions I have, and offer insight on tearing down one infrastructure and replacing it with another, while trying to maintain the current 4G Wimax system. Needless to say, I am cranked. One question, will this new network require the new tri band phones (Samsung Mega,Mini, Htc Mega etc.) to work, or will the 4GLTE Sprint phones on the market work with these new towers? Thanks Santa