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

[Galaxyguy]

That's definitely different than the two I found in my area. Very interesting find.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[chamb]

That's definitely different than the two I found in my area. Very interesting find.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

Maybe they are trying more than one type to see what works best.  This location appeared to be a fairly recent install.

[leozno1]

I have a M9. Like I said up until Friday morning I never had an issue with handoff.

 

I too have an M9 and have experienced the same thing. It doesn't happen on EVERY tower handoff but I have notice it happen very often lately. I haven't been able to notice a trend yet tho in regards to if the issue is when handing off from 1 band to another while on the phone, or moving from my Shentel Market (York, PA) to a Central PA Sprint Market (Lancaster, PA).

 

I have had my call drop a few times about a minute or 2 after crossing the susquehanna river going into Lancaster county, so I'm not sure if that would be what's causing it. 

[chamb]

I too have an M9 and have experienced the same thing. It doesn't happen on EVERY tower handoff but I have notice it happen very often lately. I haven't been able to notice a trend yet tho in regards to if the issue is when handing off from 1 band to another while on the phone, or moving from my Shentel Market (York, PA) to a Central PA Sprint Market (Lancaster, PA).

 

I have had my call drop a few times about a minute or 2 after crossing the susquehanna river going into Lancaster county, so I'm not sure if that would be what's causing it. 

BEFORE any NV upgrades, that spot was going to drop a call every time. I would have thought that the issue would have disappeared with all the upgrades.   I have not been going through that area lately, so I do not know if I still have the problem or not.

[A2CKilla]

Well, the last few trips I had to york...band 25 second carrier is well.....really slow, feel like it was a step back honestly...

[Galaxyguy]

Well, the last few trips I had to york...band 25 second carrier is well.....really slow, feel like it was a step back honestly...

It could be that they haven't increased the backhaul yet. I would hope they wouldn't even add the second PCS carrier without doing so, but it's hard to tell.

 

It has helped speeds in my area. The tower closest to my home, and most towers around me, now have three 5x5 carriers and speeds definitely bumped up since Shentel began doing so.

 

Have you seen any 2nd carrier B25 in Lancaster yet? I realize it's central PA, but I'm curious if Sprint has activated it yet there.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[A2CKilla]

It could be that they haven't increased the backhaul yet. I would hope they wouldn't even add the second PCS carrier without doing so, but it's hard to tell.

 

It has helped speeds in my area. The tower closest to my home, and most towers around me, now have three 5x5 carriers and speeds definitely bumped up since Shentel began doing so.

 

Have you seen any 2nd carrier B25 in Lancaster yet? I realize it's central PA, but I'm curious if Sprint has activated it yet there.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

 nope, or I haven't ran into it for the areas I'm in, just a lot of b26 and the one area of b41 I hit, but it's like progress has stopped out here. Haven't seen speed increases, just adjustments, so I connect to b26 more often indoors. I just don't understand how they're working on the towers out here and adding things, it's very random at least from my perspective. From my individual testing and my talks with a local sprint rep, the signal strengths are the only thing that's staying consistent right now.

[nexgencpu]

nope, or I haven't ran into it for the areas I'm in, just a lot of b26 and the one area of b41 I hit, but it's like progress has stopped out here. Haven't seen speed increases, just adjustments, so I connect to b26 more often indoors. I just don't understand how they're working on the towers out here and adding things, it's very random at least from my perspective. From my individual testing and my talks with a local sprint rep, the signal strengths are the only thing that's staying consistent right now.

Abit confused, your saying that the second carrier is slow or that the network is slow in general.

 

My guess is that your being parked on B26, and yes that has slowed down considerably. Its more of a lack of load balancing between bands.

 

I also believe that peoples obsesion with signal strength bars has lead sprint to allow people to park on B26, just so that the device can display a higher signal strength without any actual benefits to performance.

 

All device manufacturers should switch to a better way of displaying actual signal quality (like the nexus 6)and not just strength, personally I don't care whether its 1bar or 5bars as long as the network is performing well enough to get the task completed.

 

Unfortunately, I'm in the minority.

[Galaxyguy]

Abit confused, your saying that the second carrier is slow or that the network is slow in general.

 

My guess is that your being parked on B26, and yes that has slowed down considerably. Its more of a lack of load balancing between bands.

 

I also believe that peoples obsesion with signal strength bars has lead sprint to allow people to park on B26, just so that the device can display a higher signal strength without any actual benefits to performance.

 

All device manufacturers should switch to a better way of displaying actual signal quality (like the nexus 6)and not just strength, personally I don't care whether its 1bar or 5bars as long as the network is performing well enough to get the task completed.

 

Unfortunately, I'm in the minority.

I've been noticing much better load balancing in my area. I've been pretty impressed with how each of the three carriers are pretty equal in speeds. I've been able to test all three carriers back to back between our phones. All are within 1 or 2 mbps of each other.

 

Edit: For those not in our market, by 3 carriers, I mean both PCS (B25) carriers and the SMR (B26) carrier. Still no B41 that anybody has found yet.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[A2CKilla]

Abit confused, your saying that the second carrier is slow or that the network is slow in general.

 

My guess is that your being parked on B26, and yes that has slowed down considerably. Its more of a lack of load balancing between bands.

 

I also believe that peoples obsesion with signal strength bars has lead sprint to allow people to park on B26, just so that the device can display a higher signal strength without any actual benefits to performance.

 

All device manufacturers should switch to a better way of displaying actual signal quality (like the nexus 6)and not just strength, personally I don't care whether its 1bar or 5bars as long as the network is performing well enough to get the task completed.

 

Unfortunately, I'm in the minority.

I have a nexus 6....and use signal check pro, so i look at db signal (refer to my op), not the bar representations    and I was talking about second carrier band 25 when I visit the york area (shentel), it's really slow at least from my testing.Sometimes I try to force a b26 connection just to get better speeds. second carrier, again, in my testing, seems to be just as over-saturated as b25 was before b26 came into play

[chamb]

I have a nexus 6....and use signal check pro, so i look at db signal (refer to my op), not the bar representations    and I was talking about second carrier band 25 when I visit the york area (shentel), it's really slow at least from my testing.Sometimes I try to force a b26 connection just to get better speeds. second carrier, again, in my testing, seems to be just as over-saturated as b25 was before b26 came into play

Yep, Shentel was quick to install the second Band 25 carrier a few months ago and it sure did help.  But now, even with two Band 25 and one Band 26 carriers, things are really slowing down. It is not only York either.   Shentel built a very good NV network and very early.  The problem is that the local people saw it or heard about it and are really jumping on it.  Band 41 is needed and soon.

This really surprised me as it is happening in areas that are not really considered as high density.

 

Shentel is not sitting still.  They are preparing for Band 41.  Backhaul is being increased and Band 41 will arrive. It is  a long process.  If they install band 41 antennas and RRU's without having adequate backhaul established, things will not improve.

Due to some of the sites being in some very difficult spots, it was difficult to get just a little backhaul established in the past. Shentel did it but taking it to the next level requires much more work in some cases.  

 

A site that has been fed with a little mini microwave system now may require that a new fiber ring be installed. Many times this requires a contract crew go out and actually run new fiber for miles either on poles or underground. This can take months.

[bretton88]

Yep, Shentel was quick to install the second Band 25 carrier a few months ago and it sure did help. But now, even with two Band 25 and one Band 26 carriers, things are really slowing down. It is not only York either. Shentel built a very good NV network and very early. The problem is that the local people saw it or heard about it and are really jumping on it. Band 41 is needed and soon.

This really surprised me as it is happening in areas that are not really considered as high density.

 

Shentel is not sitting still. They are preparing for Band 41. Backhaul is being increased and Band 41 will arrive. It is a long process. If they install band 41 antennas and RRU's without having adequate backhaul established, things will not improve.

Due to some of the sites being in some very difficult spots, it was difficult to get just a little backhaul established in the past. Shentel did it but taking it to the next level requires much more work in some cases.

 

A site that has been fed with a little mini microwave system now may require that a new fiber ring be installed. Many times this requires a contract crew go out and actually run new fiber for miles either on poles or underground. This can take months.

Fortunately microwave can support up to 10gbps, more than enough for B41. But the site it's chained to will require some beastly backhaul.

 

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

[A2CKilla]

Well today was a proud day to be a sprint customer, was at York college for a friend's party, Verizon....

Roaming, AT&T....3g,t-mobile......edge,me with good old sprint....LTE!!!!! And the signal was great around - 92, yet they were still saying that sprint was bad...this is why I'll stick with sprint for the long haul!!!!

[Galaxyguy]

Well today was a proud day to be a sprint customer, was at York college for a friend's party, Verizon....

Roaming, AT&T....3g,t-mobile......edge,me with good old sprint....LTE!!!!! And the signal was great around - 92, yet they were still saying that sprint was bad...this is why I'll stick with sprint for the long haul!!!!

Was Verizon roaming on Sprint?

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[A2CKilla]

Was Verizon roaming on Sprint?

 

Sent from my Note 4.

I'm assuming so because he was on 1x,and the only other CDMA carrier is sprint, unless Verizon roams on someone else that I'm not aware of

[ajm8127]

Maybe they are trying more than one type to see what works best.  This location appeared to be a fairly recent install.

 

What you found was a DAS fed by a nearby macro site.

[ajm8127]

Fortunately microwave can support up to 10gbps, more than enough for B41. But the site it's chained to will require some beastly backhaul.

 

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

 

B41 is coming. From some of the conversations I have had I gather Shetel has been given the OK to start putting 2.5 equpiment on their towers. I still do not think they can legally transmit yet. I think it has to do with Clearwire still being on-air until November.

[Galaxyguy]

Does anyone know if Shentel will be able to add more B25 LTE capacity with the spectrum gained from the purchase of ntelos? I know we already have two 5x5 carriers in B25, but will there now be room for a third 5x5, or possibly a 10x10? If so, that would almost push off the need for B41 in many areas.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[lilotimz]

Does anyone know if Shentel will be able to add more B25 LTE capacity with the spectrum gained from the purchase of ntelos? I know we already have two 5x5 carriers in B25, but will there now be room for a third 5x5, or possibly a 10x10? If so, that would almost push off the need for B41 in many areas.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

Sprint pcs equipment are only capable of two lte carriers if they run dual rat mode. They can extend one of the carriers to 10 mhz if they got enough contiguous spectrum or more pcs spectrum that they could allocate cdma to.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Galaxyguy]

Sprint pcs equipment are only capable of two lte carriers if they run dual rat mode. They can extend one of the carriers to 10 mhz if they got enough contiguous spectrum or more pcs spectrum that they could allocate cdma to.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

I appreciate the quick reply. Hopefully there's enough contiguous spectrum to do a 10x10. As I said, that would help in areas that are starting to slow down but might not be congested enough to qualify for the initial B41 rollout.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[Trip]

In Shenandoah County, nTelos has 10x10 immediate adjacent to the G block. 

 

- Trip

[Galaxyguy]

In Shenandoah County, nTelos has 10x10 immediate adjacent to the G block.

 

- Trip

That's my homeland. I'll be glad to help test it out.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[ajm8127]

Does anyone know if Shentel will be able to add more B25 LTE capacity with the spectrum gained from the purchase of ntelos? I know we already have two 5x5 carriers in B25, but will there now be room for a third 5x5, or possibly a 10x10? If so, that would almost push off the need for B41 in many areas.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

 

A wider channel like a 10x10 in the PCS A and B Block has come up. I have heard nTelos was using the PCS B Block in the BAWA MTA and Shentel/Sprint was using the A band. If Shentel could re-purpose B Block in that area, they can gain a 10x10 channel immediately, however, much more important is the 2.5 spectrum Sprint picked up in this deal. nTelos owned 2.5 BRS spectrum from Winchester south to Harrisonburg. Shentel will be able to use that as well.

 

As I type this is see nTelos has 10x10 already adjacent the the G Block. Ultimately there are limitations, one is the devices, but another is the base station. You can only have 3 different FDD LTE channels on a single ALU eNodeB (eCCM2 with three bCEM cards). Right now I think Shentel has a 5x5 800, a 5x5 A or B Block (depending on MTA) and a 5x5 G Block carrier. Adding a 10x10 carrier means removing a 5x5.

 

I am sure it is still to early for even people within Shentel to know what is going on. The spectrum exchange has to be approved before the deal can close and Shentel can use the acquired spectrum. I expect 2.5 to be deployed on at least a few sites before that happens.

 

There is lots to think about for the Shentel engineers.

[chamb]

In Shenandoah County, nTelos has 10x10 immediate adjacent to the G block. 

 

- Trip

HOT DIGGITY DOG WITH AN ICE CREAM SUNDAE.     GREAT news.  Hope they take advantage of it.

Trip, Ntelos has cell sites as far north as Chambersburg. Do you know if they have the same spectrum that far north? What do they have in Martinsburg, Hagerstown, Chambersburg?

[lilotimz]

As I type this is see nTelos has 10x10 already adjacent the the G Block. Ultimately there are limitations, one is the devices, but another is the base station. You can only have 3 different FDD LTE channels on a single ALU eNodeB (eCCM2 with three bCEM cards). Right now I think Shentel has a 5x5 800, a 5x5 A or B Block (depending on MTA) and a 5x5 G Block carrier. Adding a 10x10 carrier means removing a 5x5.

 

 

There is lots to think about for the Shentel engineers.

 

Already being done in at least one market with G block being canablized for a 10 MHz carrier and setting up an adjacent 5 mhz carrier for 15 mhz (5+10) contigious C+G.