Jump to content

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


Boosted20V

Recommended Posts

Just passed the Walmart in Lebanon, PA and noticed a bunch of new equipment hanging on a Shentel tower next to it. Stopped in to take a closer look and there sat an Alcatel Lucent truck and another truck and trailer. I spoke with the fellow from Alcatel Lucent and he was doing testing. I asked him how soon he expects it to go live. His response was that he does not make that determination, however he has seen them go live as soon as the next day and as long as 2 weeks. So Lebanon, PA you are about to experience some LTE!

 

I did not have a camera along but did grab to pics from my phone. They are pretty bad due to the rain.

 

al.jpg

tower.jpg

 

Exact tower location is here 40.353298,-76.385411

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If Sprint is, when should we expect it? End of next year?

Winchester is in ShenTel territory.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

Which means that you are at their merci, ShenTel's I mean. What is their track record?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So that means no? What's shentel

 

Shentel is one of Sprints last affiliate markets. Shentel owns/operates the network in your area but it is completely branded as Sprint. From everything I've seen honestly, Shentel service in my area is much better than the Sprint areas I travel to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It means ShenTel is a Sprint affiliate and runs the network from Harrisonburg, VA. to Harrisburg, Pa. along the I81 corridor and is currently upgrading the network. ShenTel is short for Shenandoah Telephone.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shentel's NV deployment is already underway. They don't have quite as aggressive a plan for the rollout, and we do not have much information on this site, but they are upgrading their network.

 

Let us know if you see anything in your area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It means ShenTel is a Sprint affiliate and runs the network from Harrisonburg, VA. to Harrisburg, Pa. along the I81 corridor and is currently upgrading the network. ShenTel is short for Shenandoah Telephone.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

I think ShenTel goes as far south as Radford, VA, and possibly even further.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In Hagerstown at intersection of I 81 and I 70. Shentel territory. Great speeds 1450kbs down. Interestingly the system showed EvdoA. I saw them hoisting antennas up the towers 2 weeks ago.

 

You weren't able to get LTE there?

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too have not connected to LTE in Harrisburg yet. However, I noticed this morning in my office (where I usually have to force roam because I get zero reception) that the native Sprint signal is giving me 4-5 bars, then zero, then 4-5 bars, back and forth. I've never received more than 1 bar in my office (concrete building). I wonder if I'm about to get a boost in signal downtown?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nope EvdoA 3_g Hagerstown md.

 

This has been beguiling me as well. We know this is an active deployment area and yet we are all still seeing EVDO-A. Which is strange because most Sprint deployment markets show ehrpd well in advance of deployment. Also, Shentel stated in their last conference call that the new core was completed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think ShenTel goes as far south as Radford, VA, and possibly even further.

 

Nope, Radford and most of SW Virginia (down to Marion or so) is nTelos wholesale territory. The dividing line is NE of Staunton.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This has been beguiling me as well. We know this is an active deployment area and yet we are all still seeing EVDO-A. Which is strange because most Sprint deployment markets show ehrpd well in advance of deployment. Also, Shentel stated in their last conference call that the new core was completed.

 

We have had confirmed report of a LTE connection in Hagerstown and the results posted on Sensorly. It must have just been up for a day. :td:

 

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have had confirmed report of a LTE connection in Hagerstown and the results posted on Sensorly. It must have just been up for a day. :td:

 

Robert

 

I had LTE in Hagerstown today at least for awhile. Looks like it was coming from a cell site at 937 Commonwealth ave. I took a quick look at the site and could see some radios on top of the tower. No technicians were at the site. Stopped on the street and did a speed test, 26-27 Meg down and 10-12 meg up. That was the best reading I got anywhere. As it moved away from the site, the speeds slowed to 14-16 down and 9 up. I did eventually lose the 4g and did not have enough time to head back toward the site to see if I could get it again. I did not find LTE in any other part of Hagerstown yet. Using a brand new HTC EVO LTE. It did pick up the LTE with out any special action on my part.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had LTE in Hagerstown today at least for awhile. Looks like it was coming from a cell site at 937 Commonwealth ave. I took a quick look at the site and could see some radios on top of the tower. No technicians were at the site. Stopped on the street and did a speed test, 26-27 Meg down and 10-12 meg up. That was the best reading I got anywhere. As it moved away from the site, the speeds slowed to 14-16 down and 9 up. I did eventually lose the 4g and did not have enough time to head back toward the site to see if I could get it again. I did not find LTE in any other part of Hagerstown yet. Using a brand new HTC EVO LTE. It did pick up the LTE with out any special action on my part.

 

Thanks Stan. I added this site to our NV Sites Complete maps for the next update.

 

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • large.unreadcontent.png.6ef00db54e758d06

  • gallery_1_23_9202.png

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • Historically, T-Mobile has been the only carrier contracting with Crown Castle Solutions, at least in Brooklyn. I did a quick count of the ~35 nodes currently marked as "installed" and everything mapped appears to be T-Mobile. However, they have a macro sector pointed directly at this site and seem to continue relying on the older-style DAS nodes. Additionally, there's another Crown Castle Solutions node approved for construction just around the corner, well within range of their macro. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Verizon using a new vendor for their mmWave build, especially since the macro site directly behind this node lacks mmWave/CBRS deployment (limited to LTE plus C-Band). However, opting for a multi-carrier solution here seems unlikely unless another carrier has actually joined the build. This node is equidistant (about five blocks) between two AT&T macro sites, and there are no oDAS nodes deployed nearby. Although I'm not currently mapping AT&T, based on CellMapper, it appears to be right on cell edge for both sites. Regardless, it appears that whoever is deploying is planning for a significant build. There are eight Crown Castle Solutions nodes approved for construction in a 12-block by 2-block area.
    • Starlink (1900mhz) for T-Mobile, AST SpaceMobile (700mhz and 850mhz) for AT&T, GlobalStar (unknown frequency) for Apple, Iridium (unknown frequency) for Samsung, and AST SpaceMobile (850mhz) for Verizon only work on frequency bands the carrier has licensed nationwide.  These systems broadcast and listen on multiple frequencies at the same time in areas much wider than normal cellular market license areas.  They would struggle with only broadcasting certain frequencies only in certain markets so instead they require a nationwide license.  With the antennas that are included on the satellites, they have range of cellular band frequencies they support and can have different frequencies with different providers in each supported country.  The cellular bands in use are typically 5mhz x 5mhz bands (37.5mbps total for the entire cell) or smaller so they do not have a lot of data bandwidth for the satellite band covering a very large plot of land with potentially millions of customers in a single large cellular satellite cell.  I have heard that each of Starlink's cells sharing that bandwidth will cover 75 or more miles. Satellite cellular connectivity will be set to the lowest priority connection just before SOS service on supported mobile devices and is made available nationwide in supported countries.  The mobile device rules pushed by the provider decide when and where the device is allowed to connect to the satellite service and what services can be provided over that connection.  The satellite has a weak receiving antenna and is moving very quickly so any significant obstructions above your mobile device antenna could cause it not to work.  All the cellular satellite services are starting with texting only and some of them like Apple's solution only support a predefined set of text messages.  Eventually it is expected that a limited number of simultaneous voice calls (VoLTE) will run on these per satellite cell.  Any spare data will then be available as an extremely slow LTE data connection as it could potentially be shared by millions of people.  Satellite data from the way these are currently configured will likely never work well enough to use unless you are in a very remote location.
    • T-Mobile owns the PCS G-block across the contiguous U.S. so they can just use that spectrum to broadcast direct to cell. Ideally your phone would only connect to it in areas where there isn't any terrestrial service available.
    • So how does this whole direct to satellite thing fit in with the way it works now? Carriers spend billions for licenses for specific areas. So now T-Mobile can offer service direct to customers without having a Terrestrial license first?
  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...