Official Magic Box discussion thread

[LimpNoodle]

Ur kind hard to understand by not using any kinda of sentence structure and periods. Is English not ur native language? 

Enlish wits dat

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[speedingcheetah]

4 minutes ago, LimpNoodle said:

Enlish wits dat

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

tlhIngan Hop Dunmo' Hol puS English Hol.

(Klingon is far better language than English)

I also was editing my post when u replied.

 

Edited April 5, 2018 by speedingcheetah

[LimpNoodle]

tlhIngan Hop Dunmo' Hol puS English Hol.
[emoji4]
(Klingon is far better language than English)
I also was editing my post when u replied.
 

Baka baka baka equincyocha

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[Paynefanbro]

With having the ability to broadcast WiFi, do you guys think Sprint has thought of using Magic Boxes in rural areas to operate as a WISP sometime in the future? 

[LimpNoodle]

With having the ability to broadcast WiFi, do you guys think Sprint has thought of using Magic Boxes in rural areas to operate as a WISP sometime in the future? 

The company that makes the majhic box can add the function of wifi but as stands right now now the magic box cannot be used as a wifi router as I understand it it can only be used as a mini cell tower non Sprint device cannot use it someone can correct me if I am wrong


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[LimpNoodle]

With having the ability to broadcast WiFi, do you guys think Sprint has thought of using Magic Boxes in rural areas to operate as a WISP sometime in the future? 

Their is a product Sprint has called the air wave 4g that I believe can be used for wifi but also needs a active internet connection to function

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[nexgencpu]

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

With having the ability to broadcast WiFi, do you guys think Sprint has thought of using Magic Boxes in rural areas to operate as a WISP sometime in the future? 

I've been thinking the same exact thing from day one. Sprint could potentially provide home internet via the MB.

[Paynefanbro]

2 hours ago, LimpNoodle said:

The company that makes the majhic box can add the function of wifi but as stands right now now the magic box cannot be used as a wifi router as I understand it it can only be used as a mini cell tower non Sprint device cannot use it someone can correct me if I am wrong


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In it's current form the WiFi network can't be accessed by end users but it has the capability to provide WiFi while using the Sprint network as the backhaul/broadband connection for it. It's just not enabled. Sprint could possibly enable it via a firmware update if they wanted to but I'm not so sure they will anytime soon.

55 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

I've been thinking the same exact thing from day one. Sprint could potentially provide home internet via the MB.

If Sprint ever chose to do that, it'd be one of their most ingenious plans.

[ingenium]

I'm not sure if Sprint has the capacity to provide home internet through the magic box. Maybe if it's a limited data allotment (similar to hotspot caps).

I could see it more as a possible incentive offered to businesses for them to install magic boxes. Provide wifi for their POS terminals and such in exchange for hosting the MB. That wouldn't eat into Sprint's capacity very much, and would make it an easier sell to the businesses.

Right now, the wifi chip seems to only be turned on when the magic box fails to connect to a donor. It broadcasts an SSID allowing a technician to connect to the box and manually configure it and view logs and such.

The 544 model (gen 2) actually has an inferior wifi chip compared to the 540 (original beta unit) and 545 (gen 1). I want to say it's 802.11g only versus 802.11n on the others. Which is a sign that they don't intend to really deploy it for anything other than diagnostics.

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[nexgencpu]

11 minutes ago, ingenium said:

I'm not sure if Sprint has the capacity to provide home internet through the magic box. Maybe if it's a limited data allotment (similar to hotspot caps).

I could see it more as a possible incentive offered to businesses for them to install magic boxes. Provide wifi for their POS terminals and such in exchange for hosting the MB. That wouldn't eat into Sprint's capacity very much, and would make it an easier sell to the businesses.

Right now, the wifi chip seems to only be turned on when the magic box fails to connect to a donor. It broadcasts an SSID allowing a technician to connect to the box and manually configure it and view logs and such.

The 544 model (gen 2) actually has an inferior wifi chip compared to the 540 (original beta unit) and 545 (gen 1). I want to say it's 802.11g only versus 802.11n on the others. Which is a sign that they don't intend to really deploy it for anything other than diagnostics.

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In certain markets Sprint has over 200Mhz of spectrum, so it could totally be possible. But my hope is that they use as much of that for mobile as possible.

[Paynefanbro]

7 hours ago, ingenium said:

I'm not sure if Sprint has the capacity to provide home internet through the magic box. Maybe if it's a limited data allotment (similar to hotspot caps).

I could see it more as a possible incentive offered to businesses for them to install magic boxes. Provide wifi for their POS terminals and such in exchange for hosting the MB. That wouldn't eat into Sprint's capacity very much, and would make it an easier sell to the businesses.

Right now, the wifi chip seems to only be turned on when the magic box fails to connect to a donor. It broadcasts an SSID allowing a technician to connect to the box and manually configure it and view logs and such.

The 544 model (gen 2) actually has an inferior wifi chip compared to the 540 (original beta unit) and 545 (gen 1). I want to say it's 802.11g only versus 802.11n on the others. Which is a sign that they don't intend to really deploy it for anything other than diagnostics.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Clearwire operated as a WISP with less spectrum on air than Sprint has right now. With the push to bring Band 41 to all of their sites, something like this would be more targeted toward rural areas with no broadband provider or that only have access to satellite internet. 

AT&T offers fixed wireless internet for $60 per month in some areas with a data cap of 170GB per month. Why can't Sprint do something similar?

[RedSpark]

Interesting development today: https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/sprint-confirms-magic-box-deployment-trial-mastec

I think this is a great idea to get more Magic Boxes out there.

[speedingcheetah]

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

Interesting development today: https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/sprint-confirms-magic-box-deployment-trial-mastec

I think this is a great idea to get more Magic Boxes out there.

well...sure. They gotta have some plan to try and get their network to the level of the other major networks.  I've tested them all in my area, sure, Sprint has its places where is very strong and good speed, but 7 out of 10 times, when i am in a spot where i want to stream video, or just decide to check the data speeds at the location...its terrible. I end up having to move a bit to see if i can get better speed to stream smoothly.  When i tested Tmobile and VZW, every place i tried was great. 

The idea of these micro cell towers they call "Magic Box" is good for business and retail stores, malls etc. Places where others will be in and out and may not take the time to switch to the free wifi that may be also be at the same location. But home use, why wouldn't u just use your own home wifi? (Unless u have very bad ISP with slower than Sprint speeds. Even then u have a tether cap so u can't really use Sprint LTE as your home ISP.)  A buddy of mine asked his boss at Starbucks about getting a M.B for the store....but he was like "why...we have free wifi that is much faster?".

I contacted Sprint via tech support chat to inquire about the MB....not expecting to be offered one, but they did. Had it for a while now. Tested it heavily for the first few weeks, now, it sits unplugged. Why would i use the Sprint LTE at my home when my home has Fiber speeds via wifi. I was hoping it would have the range to cover my entire apartment complex, mainly down in the lobby/mailroom and party room and exercise room, where there is no wifi. But it doesn't even come close to that. My home wifi reaches 2x as far as the MB LTE signal. I tired to ask for the return kit, but had no success the 2 times i called. and the chat is always closed when i have the time to use it.

EDIT: Also in the news, Sprint and Tmobile are in preliminary merger talks.....again.

Edited April 11, 2018 by speedingcheetah

[nexgencpu]

52 minutes ago, speedingcheetah said:

well...sure. They gotta have some plan to try and get their network to the level of the other major networks.  I've tested them all in my area, sure, Sprint has its places where is very strong and good speed, but 7 out of 10 times, when i am in a spot where i want to stream video, or just decide to check the data speeds at the location...its terrible. I end up having to move a bit to see if i can get better speed to stream smoothly.  When i tested Tmobile and VZW, every place i tried was great. 

The idea of these micro cell towers they call "Magic Box" is good for business and retail stores, malls etc. Places where others will be in and out and may not take the time to switch to the free wifi that may be also be at the same location. But home use, why wouldn't u just use your own home wifi? (Unless u have very bad ISP with slower than Sprint speeds. Even then u have a tether cap so u can't really use Sprint LTE as your home ISP.)  A buddy of mine asked his boss at Starbucks about getting a M.B for the store....but he was like "why...we have free wifi that is much faster?".

I contacted Sprint via tech support chat to inquire about the MB....not expecting to be offered one, but they did. Had it for a while now. Tested it heavily for the first few weeks, now, it sits unplugged. Why would i use the Sprint LTE at my home when my home has Fiber speeds via wifi. I was hoping it would have the range to cover my entire apartment complex, mainly down in the lobby/mailroom and party room and exercise room, where there is no wifi. But it doesn't even come close to that. My home wifi reaches 2x as far as the MB LTE signal. I tired to ask for the return kit, but had no success the 2 times i called. and the chat is always closed when i have the time to use it.

EDIT: Also in the news, Sprint and Tmobile are in preliminary merger talks.....again.

Something is definitely not right I have an MB and it covers 4 floors in my apartment building and I connect solidly, it destroys any wifi I've ever seen. But Sprint is also awesome in NYC so there's that.

[Trip]

I really want a Magic Box for the "new toy" aspect of it, but I know I don't really need one, so I haven't bothered.  I have FiOS available via wifi at both ends of the house, and the moment I step outside, the Clear Band 41 is fine anyway, so I'm not sure it would benefit anyone around me either.

I did send a note to one of my favorite restaurants--in a dead zone--and asked them to consider requesting one.  Here's hoping.

- Trip

[speedingcheetah]

1 hour ago, nexgencpu said:

Something is definitely not right I have an MB and it covers 4 floors in my apartment building and I connect solidly, it destroys any wifi I've ever seen. But Sprint is also awesome in NYC so there's that.

My complex is 3 floors and about 400 feet long (so says Google Maps scale). It was built in 1974 and is all concrete, metal, and stucco(so has metal mesh all around the outer walls. I am in a 3rd floor comer unit with the MB set set on the far back north facing wall where it gets full B41 signal and i get very good speeds in my unit..

The locations i would hope the MB would reach are only halfway down the complex(to the South facing East/West), on the first floor. However, when i go down to first floor, unless i am directly below my unit on the second floor, or up to 2 units down the hall from it in either direction, my phone will connect to a B25 tower that reports a stronger overall signal and will get very slow speeds. With the exception of the North side of the complex, it will connect to the B41 tower that the MB is connected to and will get good speeds.

In the end, its a neat "toy" but their rateing of 30,000 feet range is crap. Maybe that is open air point to point measurement. Or its the construction materials of my complex that are severely hurting the range.

Edited April 12, 2018 by speedingcheetah

[nexgencpu]

13 hours ago, speedingcheetah said:

My complex is 3 floors and about 400 feet long (so says Google Maps scale). It was built in 1974 and is all concrete, metal, and stucco(so has metal mesh all around the outer walls. I am in a 3rd floor comer unit with the MB set set on the far back north facing wall where it gets full B41 signal and i get very good speeds in my unit..

The locations i would hope the MB would reach are only halfway down the complex(to the South facing East/West), on the first floor. However, when i go down to first floor, unless i am directly below my unit on the second floor, or up to 2 units down the hall from it in either direction, my phone will connect to a B25 tower that reports a stronger overall signal and will get very slow speeds. With the exception of the North side of the complex, it will connect to the B41 tower that the MB is connected to and will get good speeds.

In the end, its a neat "toy" but their rateing of 30,000 feet range is crap. Maybe that is open air point to point measurement. Or its the construction materials of my complex that are severely hurting the range.

I live in a six story NYC apartment building built in the early 1900's. The MB is located on the 3rd floor, signal works on half of the 1st floor, the whole 2nd and 3rd floors and 4th, covers most of 5th floor and some parts of the 6th floor. As a bonus also covers the garage behind the building which was pretty important for me as it was where B41 signal was marginal. 

So without question it totally transformed B41 in my building. 

As a side note, it took days and days of tinkering to find the best location. Needless to say, not only am I happy with it, so are my Sprint subscribing neighbors (I know of at least 10 in my building)

With that said, my neighborhood is only running 2xCA and there are a ton of Sprint subs so speeds drop below 5mb during peak times. But off peak now hover 10mb+ all throughout the building. Where as Tmobile is non existent inside here Verizon is decent and ATT works but super slow.

So I am satisfied.

[speedingcheetah]

51 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

I live in a six story NYC apartment building built in the early 1900's. The MB is located on the 3rd floor, signal works on half of the 1st floor, the whole 2nd and 3rd floors and 4th, covers most of 5th floor and some parts of the 6th floor. As a bonus also covers the garage behind the building which was pretty important for me as it was where B41 signal was marginal. 

So without question is totally transformed B41 in my building. 

As a side note, it took days and days of tinkering to find the best location. Needless to say, not only am I happy with it, so are my Sprint subscribing neighbors (I know of at least 10 in my building)

With that said, my neighborhood is only running 2xCA and there are a ton of Sprint subs so speeds drop below 5mb during peak times. But off peak now hover 10mb+ all throughout the building. Where as Tmobile is non existent inside here Verizon is decent and ATT works but super slow.

So I am satisfied.

Age of the building doesn't  necessarily matter. Its the building materials that does.  Metal and stucco constitution is well known for being RF signal blockers. In some circumstances, they act as a Faraday Cage. (My grandparent's home was built in 1864...had thin walls and poor insulation. Gets any cell signal fine.)

Anywho...U must not have any towers close by that have a stronger signal than the MB then...is my guess. Like I said,  my phone sees a stronger signal from another tower and switches to it. There is no way to force it to stay on the MB signal (perhaps there is via root, but I am not going to root). Also, i had it setup for about 2 months....and "1" is the only number  "Users" it ever reported. which was me. So now one around me has Sprint i guess.

At least i had some fun giving it a try. It also made a nice "nightlight" and clock for my living room.

 

[nexgencpu]

8 minutes ago, speedingcheetah said:

Age of the building doesn't  necessarily matter. Its the building materials that does.  Metal and stucco constitution is well known for being RF signal blockers. In some circumstances, they act as a Faraday Cage. (My grandparent's home was built in 1864...had thin walls and poor insulation. Gets any cell signal fine.)

Anywho...U must not have any towers close by that have a stronger signal than the MB then...is my guess. Like I said,  my phone sees a stronger signal from another tower and switches to it. There is no way to force it to stay on the MB signal (perhaps there is via root, but I am not going to root). Also, i had it setup for about 2 months....and "1" is the only number  "Users" it ever reported. which was me. So now one around me has Sprint i guess.

At least i had some fun giving it a try. It also made a nice "nightlight" and clock for my living room.

 

Pre-war NYC apartments are almost always built with similar materials..

Brick outside, plaster and wood inside and 9-10ft ceilings. Very typical NYC pre war building.

[runagun]

You use a MB to help your signal and people around you signal.  Disconnecting the MB because you have fiber. Doesn't help anyone. I have both a Airave and MB and I have fiber.  Damn straight I wanna help as much people around me that have Sprint.   

 

It's a me-me country, no one looks after anyone else anymore. 

[greenbastard]

1 hour ago, runagun said:

It's a me-me country, no one looks after anyone else anymore. 

Lend people a hand, and they take the entire arm. I never got an Airave because of that. I know my neighbors don't have home internet and they use their Sprint phones as their internet. The moment I hookup an Airave is the moment those cheap bastards will run through my ISPs data allowance. Let them suffer through congested B26 as they attempt to stream Netflix.

[RedSpark]

9 hours ago, Trip said:

I really want a Magic Box for the "new toy" aspect of it, but I know I don't really need one, so I haven't bothered.  I have FiOS available via wifi at both ends of the house, and the moment I step outside, the Clear Band 41 is fine anyway, so I'm not sure it would benefit anyone around me either.

I did send a note to one of my favorite restaurants--in a dead zone--and asked them to consider requesting one.  Here's hoping.

- Trip

Tell them you’ll stay longer and spend more money on food and drinks (and so will other Sprint customers) if they get one! 

Perhaps this new partnership with MasTec will help Sprint get more of these out to businesses. I wish there was a way to officially nominate a business for one to Sprint.

[though]

5 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Perhaps this new partnership with MasTec will help Sprint get more of these out to businesses. I wish there was a way to officially nominate a business for one to Sprint.

YES

[runagun]

9 hours ago, greenbastard said:

Lend people a hand, and they take the entire arm. I never got an Airave because of that. I know my neighbors don't have home internet and they use their Sprint phones as their internet. The moment I hookup an Airave is the moment those cheap bastards will run through my ISPs data allowance. Let them suffer through congested B26 as they attempt to stream Netflix.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Good thing magic box relays the signal from the tower. 

[RedSpark]

56 minutes ago, though said:

YES

I hope Sprint is working on this.