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

[A2CKilla]

still nothing for harrisburg, when I was at work (the tower is right behind the building) just a weak to moderate b25, but when I was heading home I did pick up b26 in strinestown pa, which is almost half way, so it's getting to harrisburg, which is good

[A2CKilla]

what happened...is it just me or did b26 get overloaded now, went from 14Mbps, (decent) to 5-6Mbps, (not horrid, but still) either it's overloaded now just like b25 or Sprints throttling has finally kicked in and I won't be seeing faster speeds anymore, any thoughts on this one? I hope shentel is still pumping out the upgrades and I just seeing the down time

Edited May 21, 2014 by A2CKilla

[lilotimz]

what happened...is it just me or did b26 get overloaded now, went from 14Mbps, (decent) to 5-6Mbps, (not horrid, but still) either it's overloaded now just like b25 or Sprints throttling has finally kicked in and I won't be seeing faster speeds anymore, any thoughts on this one?

 

6 mbps is not overloaded. Overloaded is sub 1 mbps to connections timing out which you can find in many first/second round markets on the PCS G LTE carrier. 

 

As long as the connection remains at minimum within 6-8 mbps DL and 1-3 mbps UL then you're getting what you're paying for. 

[A2CKilla]

6 mbps is not overloaded. Overloaded is sub 1 mbps to connections timing out which you can find in many first/second round markets on the PCS G LTE carrier. 

 

As long as the connection remains at minimum within 6-8 mbps DL and 1-3 mbps UL then you're getting what you're paying for. 

 

sometimes i beg to differ, and you didn't even mention the speeds it went from almost making my post invalid, but I digress, and also, the minimum that sprint says was a little higher, once again, I digress, but thanks for the input, hopefully things will get back up to better speeds soon as shentel rolls out more upgrades to the towers

[Dkoellerwx]

what happened...is it just me or did b26 get overloaded now, went from 14Mbps, (decent) to 5-6Mbps, (not horrid, but still) either it's overloaded now just like b25 or Sprints throttling has finally kicked in and I won't be seeing faster speeds anymore, any thoughts on this one? I hope shentel is still pumping out the upgrades and I just seeing the down time

 

 

sometimes i beg to differ, and you didn't even mention the speeds it went from almost making my post invalid, but I digress, and also, the minimum that sprint says was a little higher, once again, I digress, but thanks for the input, hopefully things will get back up to better speeds soon as shentel rolls out more upgrades to the towers

 

It happens. Loads change. Speeds change. Unless you're crawling at <1Mbps all day long, what you are seeing is typical network behavior. 

 

That is not throttling. As explained elsewhere, Sprint is employing latency throttling, not speed throttling. And ONLY when a site is congested. This means your pings will go up (making streaming difficult) but throughput won't be affected as much. And so long as your site isn't congested and/or it's not peak hours, you don't have to worry about throttling. If you are not in the top 5%, then you don't have to worry about it ever.

[leozno1]

Not to mention that users constantly running speed tests isn't exactly freeing up any capacity either.

[A2CKilla]

Not to mention that users constantly running speed tests isn't exactly freeing up any capacity either.

that's true, I usually test every once in a while if i notice something, hopefully everything will be up to snuff at the end of the year

[bakedc4]

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B26 ON MY HOME TOWER!!!! (about 1.5 miles outside of Winchester. Same strength as B25 in my room)

 

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[The_Chemist]

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! B26 ON MY HOME TOWER!!!! (about 1.5 miles outside of Winchester. Same strength as B25 in my room)

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

Wow, I would have expected that signal strength on 800 MHz would have been better than 1900 MHz.

[bakedc4]

Wow, I would have expected that signal strength on 800 MHz would have been better than 1900 MHz.

It doesn't help that the walls here are brick, concrete, and plaster. Nor does the hill it has to go through to get here. The only carrier that has a slightly stronger signal is Ntelos and that's just because they are at the top of the tower.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[nexgencpu]

It doesn't help that the walls here are brick, concrete, and plaster. Nor does the hill it has to go through to get here. The only carrier that has a slightly stronger signal is Ntelos and that's just because they are at the top of the tower.

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

One thing I did notice is that your connected to wifi, your cellular data idles when your on wifi so that signal is not necessarily indicative of actual signal strength at that moment. Also, alot of the times B26 seems to make its initial appearance with the same signal strength as B25 but once adjusted signal strength improves, so sit tight.

[bakedc4]

One thing I did notice is that your connected to wifi, your cellular data idles when your on wifi so that signal is not necessarily indicative of actual signal strength at that moment. Also, alot of the times B26 seems to make its initial appearance with the same signal strength as B25 but once adjusted signal strength improves, so sit tight.

It had been on B26 for about a half hour and bouncing between - 115 and - 125 depending on if it was in front of the window or not. I shut wifi off after that and had the same results.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[chamb]

It had been on B26 for about a half hour and bouncing between - 115 and - 125 depending on if it was in front of the window or not. I shut wifi off after that and had the same results.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

Are you positive that your Band 26 LTE is coming from the same site as your band 25 LTE??   It sounds like it may not be.

[bakedc4]

Are you positive that your Band 26 LTE is coming from the same site as your band 25 LTE?? It sounds like it may not be.

Unless SCP is getting the GCIs messed up it's the same site. The site 1.5 miles to the east of me only reaches to the neighbors house and it's on a transmission tower so its 1900 only for now.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[Dkoellerwx]

Are you positive that your Band 26 LTE is coming from the same site as your band 25 LTE??   It sounds like it may not be.

The GCI indicates that it is.

 

Band 26 doesn't always mean the signal is going to be drastically better. If it hasn't been optimized yet, it could even be worse than Band 25. Especially if it's being used mainly for capacity rather than coverage.

[bakedc4]

So I found the site broadcasting LTE 800 in downtown Winchester. It's at 39.185328, -78.165876. This site is not listed on any of the maps here. This does appear to be a new site, looking at the satellite images from 2011 it does not appear to be on the rooftop back then. I'm supposed to be working right up the road from there tomorrow, I'll try to get some more info on it then.

[bakedc4]

So the site I found yesterday is labeled nTelos. I couldn't stay long since I was blocking some driveways but I'll upload the rest of the pictures this evening.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[leozno1]

B26 LTE just went live momentarily in New Oxford, PA a few minutes ago!

 

[chamb]

So the site I found yesterday is labeled nTelos. I couldn't stay long since I was blocking some driveways but I'll upload the rest of the pictures this evening.

 

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

This does not always mean that NTELOS is the only one at the site.   Is there more than one power meter from the power company?    Is there more than one rack of antennas??

[bakedc4]

This does not always mean that NTELOS is the only one at the site. Is there more than one power meter from the power company? Is there more than one rack of antennas??

Ntelos is the only name I saw on anything and only 3 panels on the building. 2 1900 and one 800 per sector just like Shentel but no Shentel labeling, just nTelos. I'll run back by there when I get off work and double check as long as it's not raining.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[chamb]

Ntelos is the only name I saw on anything and only 3 panels on the building. 2 1900 and one 800 per sector just like Shentel but no Shentel labeling, just nTelos. I'll run back by there when I get off work and double check as long as it's not raining.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

If I am understanding and following your thoughts correctly, you found this site in Winchester, Va.   Winchester is Shentel territory. They have a contract with Sprint to service Winchester.    nTelos can build sites in Winchester but only for nTelos.  nTelos has their own spectrum & does build sites for their own use. But in Winchester, they should not be building sites using Sprints Spectrum since Shentel already has done it and is the only one with rights to do it. Am I mis-understanding you in some way.

[bakedc4]

If I am understanding and following your thoughts correctly, you found this site in Winchester, Va. Winchester is Shentel territory. They have a contract with Sprint to service Winchester. nTelos can build sites in Winchester but only for nTelos. nTelos has their own spectrum & does build sites for their own use. But in Winchester, they should not be building sites using Sprints Spectrum since Shentel already has done it and is the only one with rights to do it. Am I mis-understanding you in some way.

I was confused as to why nTelos would be doing Sprint in a Shentel area. But that doesn't matter, turns out someone just left that box sitting, it's empty. In my rush to get out of the way I never noticed that it had no conduit hooked to it.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[chamb]

I was confused as to why nTelos would be doing Sprint in a Shentel area. But that doesn't matter, turns out someone just left that box sitting, it's empty. In my rush to get out of the way I never noticed that it had no conduit hooked to it.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

OK, that answers the question.   nTelos probably does have some sites around the area. They have some along i-81 even in Southern Pennsylvania.   I have roamed on them when Shentel had some sites go off-line.   Only had CDMA 1X 1900 service, but it was on roaming and it was the nTelos SID.  nTelos just will not broadcast on Sprint spectrum except in the geography they just signed up for. Basically in southern Va. Shentel is the exclusive provider of Sprint service in Winchester, for sure.

[bakedc4]

OK, that answers the question. nTelos probably does have some sites around the area. They have some along i-81 even in Southern Pennsylvania. I have roamed on them when Shentel had some sites go off-line. Only had CDMA 1X 1900 service, but it was on roaming and it was the nTelos SID. nTelos just will not broadcast on Sprint spectrum except in the geography they just signed up for. Basically in southern Va. Shentel is the exclusive provider of Sprint service in Winchester, for sure.

Most of the Shentel sites around here are co-located with nTelos. My home tower is one and I'm usually on nTelos in my room since they have a slightly stronger signal from being at the top of the tower. My phone shows both as native coverage.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

[chamb]

Most of the Shentel sites around here are co-located with nTelos. My home tower is one and I'm usually on nTelos in my room since they have a slightly stronger signal from being at the top of the tower. My phone shows both as native coverage.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE M8

That does not sound right.   nTelos should not have native Sprint coverage in Winchester.   Are you sure you are not just switching between two sectors on the Shentel site?   Does "Signal Check" show you the nTelos carrier info??   If you do not see the ntelos Sid, you probably are not on the nTelos network in Winchester.    Go to the site and do a 360 degree run around the site. Identify the 3 sectors and then see what you get at home. you should see SID of 4195 and 3 different BID's.  The NID will probably stay on 8 if you stay on Shentel.