Network Vision/LTE - Shentel Market (Shenandoah Valley/Hagerstown/Harrisburg)

[Musclehead84]

I live on the Hagerstown MD and Martinsburg WV area and we do have the eCFSB gap problem. I have a Nexus 5 and can't get LTE at all while my Note 2 and gs4 always have strong LTE. my trip to Baltimore I picked up. LTE while I was ther.  Any word on a fix for this? I have a LTE tower right next tomy hhouse and i can't stand not having LTE on this phone. Thanks. 

[gr8nuguy]

I live on the Hagerstown MD and Martinsburg WV area and we do have the eCFSB gap problem. I have a Nexus 5 and can't get LTE at all while my Note 2 and gs4 always have strong LTE. my trip to Baltimore I picked up. LTE while I was ther.  Any word on a fix for this? I have a LTE tower right next tomy hhouse and i can't stand not having LTE on this phone. Thanks. 

check out the article on the wall

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-357-nexus-5-and-lg-g2-experience-temporary-sprint-lte-connectivity-issues-due-to-circuit-switched-fallback-technology/

[phynal]

Great news. Shentel LTE in Altoona PA is working on my tri band device . I happened to look at my phone this evening and its connected to LTE On my Nexus 5! This gives some hope to the people from Harrisburg.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 

[Musclehead84]

Same here in Hagerstown md. I saw lte on my n5. My problem is now that I can't make phone calls. It's like it can't get off lte to make calls. R u having any problems with making calls? 

[phynal]

Same here in Hagerstown md. I saw lte on my n5. My problem is now that I can't make phone calls. It's like it can't get off lte to make calls. R u having any problems with making calls?

No that was the first thing I tried. I tested calls and texts. When making or receiving a call, LTE disconnects and then the phone receives or makes the call. Signal check only shows LTE connection also, and the engineering screen shows proper connection, unlike before when forced, it was emergency calls only.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

[Musclehead84]

Well that's good but when I try to make a call it says call sent then immediately says call ended. I can receive calls just fine. Lte drops and then when I hang up it reconnects just like it's supposed to. It's just making calls that does this. 

[phynal]

Well that's good but when I try to make a call it says call sent then immediately says call ended. I can receive calls just fine. Lte drops and then when I hang up it reconnects just like it's supposed to. It's just making calls that does this.

Actually mine does too, unless I dial without an area code which is really strange. Try it out.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[phynal]

Actually mine does too, unless I dial without an area code which is really strange. Try it out.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Ok, I fixed it by switching from "Global" mode to "LTE" mode in the Mobile Networks menu. Hopefully that works for you also.

[Mustang46L]

Good news, my Nexus 5 is now on LTE in Shentel markets (mostly used in York). Bad news, it doesn't like to make phone calls now. I've switched from Global to LTE and after using that setting for the past day no improvement. I guess I'm glad that my Moto X will be here tomorrow.

[phynal]

Good news, my Nexus 5 is now on LTE in Shentel markets (mostly used in York). Bad news, it doesn't like to make phone calls now. I've switched from Global to LTE and after using that setting for the past day no improvement. I guess I'm glad that my Moto X will be here tomorrow.

 

Did you try making calls without an area code? That for some reason worked for me. I was able to easily duplicate it also, no idea why that would be an issue, but it was.

[Mustang46L]

Did you try making calls without an area code? That for some reason worked for me. I was able to easily duplicate it also, no idea why that would be an issue, but it was.

 

No, I could try that but most of my wife's calls are outside of our area code since she calls family and out of town friends a lot, so that wouldn't help very much.

[The_Chemist]

I read through this thread and didn't see any mention yet of band 26. 

 

The folks at the Shentel Sprint store in Harrisburg said they have some 800 MHz sites up around Harrisburg.  Has anyone seen this or been able to connect?

 

Secondly, does anyone know which sites they are?  I'm in Swatara Township and have not yet seen any live Band 26 sites. 

 

Does anyone know Shentel's timeline for deployment of 800 MHz around Harrisburg?  I'm really curious. 

[chamb]

I read through this thread and didn't see any mention yet of band 26. 

 

The folks at the Shentel Sprint store in Harrisburg said they have some 800 MHz sites up around Harrisburg.  Has anyone seen this or been able to connect?

 

Secondly, does anyone know which sites they are?  I'm in Swatara Township and have not yet seen any live Band 26 sites. 

 

Does anyone know Shentel's timeline for deployment of 800 MHz around Harrisburg?  I'm really curious. 

800 Mhz VOICE CDMA 1X is very active around Harrisburg.   You might find a few sites that do not have it, but almost all do.

If you are talking about 800 mhz LTE, I do not know of any sites that have it activated yet.

[The_Chemist]

800 Mhz VOICE CDMA 1X is very active around Harrisburg.   You might find a few sites that do not have it, but almost all do.

If you are talking about 800 mhz LTE, I do not know of any sites that have it activated yet.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear on what I stated.  I was looking for 800 MHz (Band 26) LTE.  Possibly I misunderstood the gentleman at the Shentel store.  Maybe he was referring to 1X800.  The tower nearest me has 1x800. upgraded 3G and LTE.  Just no 800 MHZ LTE yet.  I wonder what the Shentel Timeline is for deployment of 800 MHz LTE?

[chamb]

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear on what I stated.  I was looking for 800 MHz (Band 26) LTE.  Possibly I misunderstood the gentleman at the Shentel store.  Maybe he was referring to 1X800.  The tower nearest me has 1x800. upgraded 3G and LTE.  Just no 800 MHZ LTE yet.  I wonder what the Shentel Timeline is for deployment of 800 MHz LTE?

I do not have any real "inside information" on this, but since Shentel is ahead of everybody else in the NV project, I would expect to see them activate 800 LTE fairly soon. I would suspect that the equipment is in place and they may turn it on very soon if Sprint tells them it is ok to do so.

[The_Chemist]

I do not have any real "inside information" on this, but since Shentel is ahead of everybody else in the NV project, I would expect to see them activate 800 LTE fairly soon. I would suspect that the equipment is in place and they may turn it on very soon if Sprint tells them it is ok to do so.

I've heard other sources intimate the like.  Hope it comes to fruition soon. 

[Boosted20V]

From Shentel's earnings calls, they've stated Q1 2014. I'd expect it to go live in January/February.

[Galaxyguy]

Personally, I'm more looking forward to them getting the 2600 band up and running. That should provide some amazing speeds. I know they have to rework their contract with Sprint to do so but I doubt it'll be a problem. 

[The_Chemist]

From Shentel's earnings calls, they've stated Q1 2014. I'd expect it to go live in January/February.

 

 

Personally, I'm more looking forward to them getting the 2600 band up and running. That should provide some amazing speeds. I know they have to rework their contract with Sprint to do so but I doubt it'll be a problem. 

I'm interested in the in-building penetration that 800 MHz should help out with.  I think I'm probably too far from a tower to even get band 41.  Time will tell...

[Flompholph]

New shentel tower? It's right in a hole of towers I wonder what the offset is to the real site.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c0e6li08eey91d9/Screenshot_2013-12-13-10-01-03.png

[miguell2]

I ran across this article while perusing Shentel's site today.

https://www.shentel.com/shentel/news/shentel-announces-completion-of-its-sprint-4g-lte-upgrade

 

I was just in Martinsburg, WV for Christmas and did a quick speed test there and came back less than impressed. HSPA speeds are in the 15 Mb range in AT&T in the same spot.

 

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/683189973

 

That brings me to my questions for anyone who can answer, do we expect this network to keep upgrading as demand increases. I have several family member in the Martingsburg, WV area to Front Royal, VA area complaining about poor speeds even if the coverage is up to par with other carriers.

 

Any update or insight would be appreciated.

[The Dave]

Shentel may have basically completed their PCS LTE upgrades, but there are still band 26 and band 41 upgrades. Last I knew, they still haven't had any acceptances yet in the Shentel area.

[S4GRU]

People that are that shortsighted should go to another carrier. You sure are using a very limited scope to explain AT&T has 15Mbps WCDMA speeds. I use AT&T, so I know what to expect. Since they use single carrier HSPA+, you would only hit speeds like that if you were the only person on that site and it had mega unburdened backhaul.

 

The fastest AT&T WCDMA I've ever encountered was 12Mbps. Heck, AT&T LTE at normal burdened sites runs around 15Mbps. So even if your whole family moved to AT&T, they are not going to see 15Mbps with AT&T WCDMA. They would likely see 2-6Mbps as normal. I even sometimes find 100kbps sites. And don't get me started how AT&T couldn't even deploy enough capacity for a busy mall in South Dakota on Christmas Eve.

 

So what is the normal speed of the Shentel network? You show one speed test. Where was it taken? How strong was the signal? Was it in an area with good tower density? What time of day? I am not hearing consistent issues that Shentel speeds are slow. Quite the opposite. I hear that in normal and high density areas that Shentel LTE runs the same speeds or better than Verizon.

 

I no longer have Sprint as I no longer live in a coverage area. I have both AT&T and Verizon. Let me tell you, the grass is not always greener. Not only do AT&T and VZW have some very slow places on their network (even on LTE), but they also limit how much you can use.

 

I wouldn't advise anyone with an unlimited plan that has great coverage receiving at worst average 3Mbps to leave for AT&T or VZW tiered plans that may be faster in some places, but will still find places that run at 3Mbps. Or worse.

 

In Shentel areas, Shentel provides the best coverage. Even better than VZW and AT&T, all things considered. They even have very dense networks in some small cities, like Harrisonburg, York, Winchester, etc.

 

Shentel also is deploying LTE 800 right now. Which will increase capacity and speeds for those with Band 26 devices. For the long term, Shentel does not yet have a Band 41 agreement with Sprint. But they likely will.

 

However, if someone has got to have something greater than 3Mbps (with no guarantee), then they should probably jump ship right this very second. I'm sure AT&T is ready to accept their money.

 

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

EDIT: oh, and I also forgot to mention ping. The Shentel ping is 58ms. I bet the AT&T WCDMA ping is between 150-300ms. The Shentel LTE will feel faster than the 15Mbps WCDMA in 90% of uses. Only in large downloading type situations would the WCDMA feel faster. This is more about seeing one number is bigger than actual performance.

 

[JossMan]

 

That brings me to my questions for anyone who can answer, do we expect this network to keep upgrading as demand increases. I have several family member in the Martingsburg, WV area to Front Royal, VA area complaining about poor speeds even if the coverage is up to par with other carriers.

 

Any update or insight would be appreciated.

     When you say upgrading I am going to assume your referring to the data speeds, since Shentel completed their "network vision" project all of Shentel's sites should have fiber.  I would assume if a site became bogged down to where data was pretty much unusable they could upgrade the data speeds for capacity.  Having 3/1.65Mbps connection on your phone with low pings,  who would be complaining about that?  There are some parts fo the United States that do not have access to a broadband internet connection or even cellular service for that matter.  

 

    

[chamb]

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/686699043

I am in the Shentel area and get something quite different.

The Ping is not as good as I see sometimes, but this test was 3 miles from the nearest Shentel site.  1900 LTE receive level was -107.

I was physically close to the Harrisburg Speedtest server but that may be not a good thing.  I may have had an even better experience with using a Virginia speedtest server that is closer to the Shentel Core switch.

I would not ever expect to see the same results near every site. Some are better than others.

Ahhh, I was even inside a home when I ran the test.