Network Vision/LTE - Utah Market (Salt Lake City/Ogden/Provo/St. George/Cedar City)

[CG4BYU]

TD???

 

and it might not be till 1st quarter that we are what 75% covered....

I hope not. Come tax time I might be bailing for Verizon, I have family that work for them and Im tired of waiting for LTE. I watch what looks like a Sprint tower outside of my office at the Raptors stadium to see if anything gets done but so far I haven't caught anyone up there.

[lvanders]

totally sucks... i wish we would see more accepted sights...

 

realisticly, when do yuo guys predtict we will see TD-LTE here in utah? the reason i ask is because im torn on what phone to upgrade too.

Honestly I'm not sure. For our market I'd say 1st or 2nd quarter of next year probably. What phones are you looking at? Are you in salt lake area and was WiMAX really good for you? Because for everywhere north of salt lake it hardly worked and I don't see TD being effective up here so I would go with any phone offering both 800 and 1900 LTE. Obviously if you get a TRI band phone then great. Personally that would do me no good here. I just need the dual band. Though I'm still waiting for a single band of LTE haha.

[lilotimz]

The entirety of the wimax network is slated to be 100% converted to TD-LTE by the end of quarter 2 with the second priority markets starting now.

[lvanders]

So I was pretty accurate

[bosox801]

Ive heard they are testing some 2600 in slc currently but havent been able to verify it.

 

Sent from my rooted G Note 2 Using TapaTalk 4 Beta

 

 

[illest_ios]

thanks all. i really want the 5s but not rereally if 2600 isnt supported. well... i mean if 2600 doesnt come to utah anytime soon maybe i will get it. but still not sure.

 

bosox, that would be uber sick.

[dmplus]

thanks all. i really want the 5s but not rereally if 2600 isnt supported. well... i mean if 2600 doesnt come to utah anytime soon maybe i will get it. but still not sure.

 

bosox, that would be uber sick.

I wouldn't touch a new device that doesn't support all 3. If I were you I would think about grabbing the nexus 5. I also heard that the 5s won't support wireless ac. AND the sprint device is the odd man out with the other 3 carriers all sharing the same model number (although it is still not clear if verizon will activate a phone that was originally activated on tmo or att)

[illest_ios]

I wouldn't touch a new device that doesn't support all 3. If I were you I would think about grabbing the nexus 5. I also heard that the 5s won't support wireless ac. AND the sprint device is the odd man out with the other 3 carriers all sharing the same model number (although it is still not clear if verizon will activate a phone that was originally activated on tmo or att)

 

weird... i thought us and VZW would share that same model number... yeah i mean if LTE on the 2600mhz doesnt come soon(based on the current rollout i dont see it happening soon) i would be ok with 800 and 1900 LTE coverage. but still not 100% sure with what im going to do yet, i just dont want to waste an upgrade and regret it if 2600 rolls out, you know?

[Itchybum]

weird... i thought us and VZW would share that same model number... yeah i mean if LTE on the 2600mhz doesnt come soon(based on the current rollout i dont see it happening soon) i would be ok with 800 and 1900 LTE coverage. but still not 100% sure with what im going to do yet, i just dont want to waste an upgrade and regret it if 2600 rolls out, you know?

The iPhone has a very high resale value. So worst case scenario you can always resale it if you regret it. I am personally not looking forward at 2600 LTE spectrum and apple doesn't also because If it is anywhere close to being as fragile as what WIMAX was I personally don't think it will be worth using. I will just be happy it is there so people can offload on it When they are done with NV there 3G will be plenty fast on the 800 spectrum. If network vision is anything they are promising. We will all be happy for waiting this out.

[oldpapa2003]

Its not that bad a road I walked once too not bad either way. Sprint and nextel are one the old tower.

 

Sent from my rooted G Note 2 Using TapaTalk 4 Beta

 

The question is, is there room?

That thing is full of antenna's but the new one has activity.. as of tonight, there where lights on it again.

 

I know DC Communications has fiber, I have DCI for my internet.. 

 

Any guess what that tower is?

[S4GRU]

Anyone who lives in a current WiMax market will regret not buying a Band 41 device. All major WiMax markets will have usable Band 41 coverage before the end of 2013. Including SLC.

 

If you're in a non WiMax market, then dual band won't be so bad as they won't even begin deploying Band 41 in these areas until next year.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Terrell352]

Anyone who lives in a current WiMax market will regret not buying a Band 41 device. All major WiMax markets will have usable Band 41 coverage before the end of 2013. Including SLC.

 

If you're in a non WiMax market, then dual band won't be so bad as they won't even begin deploying Band 41 in these areas until next year.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

Will protection sites at least get band 41 LTE?

[illest_ios]

Anyone who lives in a current WiMax market will regret not buying a Band 41 device. All major WiMax markets will have usable Band 41 coverage before the end of 2013. Including SLC.If you're in a non WiMax market, then dual band won't be so bad as they won't even begin deploying Band 41 in these areas until next year.Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

Thanks for heads up Robert and itchy bum. So I might wait it out and see what I'm gonna do. My dad needs a new phone so I might give him my iphone possible get the G2 if anything just for the2600 LTE.

[lvanders]

All I can say is I agree with itchybum. WiMAX was so fragil and I never received the signal. There was only twice I got a WiMAX signal. With LTE being a fragil signal plus it being in a 2600 MHz frequency range I can't see it being very usable in our market. That's just from my experience with WiMAX. So if you just go with a dual band like the 5s I would say you aren't missing out on anything but this is all my opinion and experience. I will be interested on what you end up with.

[floorguy]

so what is band 41....and what are the devices??

 

nm figured it out...

 

except the devices part

[S4GRU]

All I can say is I agree with itchybum. WiMAX was so fragil and I never received the signal. There was only twice I got a WiMAX signal. With LTE being a fragil signal plus it being in a 2600 MHz frequency range I can't see it being very usable in our market. That's just from my experience with WiMAX. So if you just go with a dual band like the 5s I would say you aren't missing out on anything but this is all my opinion and experience. I will be interested on what you end up with.

You are making an assumption though. And your assumption is incorrect. LTE is more usable than WiMax. WiMax was unusable around a threshold of -83dBm RSSI. LTE is unusable until around a threshold of -93dBm RSSI. That is a huge difference and makes TD-LTE 2600 much more usable in many more places than WiMax 2600.

 

I saw this first hand in Denver. I had my GS2 on WiMax and my Triband hotspot on LTE 2600. In coverage areas I would keep even the most fragile LTE 2600 signals and would lose WiMax. Additionally, a very weak LTE 2600 would still run 7-20Mbps. Whereas a weak WiMax signal would be between 100kbps - 2Mbps. So the difference is significant. In those areas beyond WiMax coverage, you will still have 1 bar and likely faster speeds than LTE 1900.

 

And even with just a fair LTE 2600 signal, I'd get between 8-35Mbps. Much faster than 1900. Also LTE 2600 hands off nicely to LTE 1900 when you do run out of 2600 coverage. But getting 40-60Mbps speeds when you have a great LTE 2600 signal is just very enjoyable. Whereas 800 and 1900 will run 15-37Mbps in only the best conditions.

 

Selling your iPhone is not a bad option. Also getting a Triband hotspot to keep with you isn't a bad option either. But to say LTE 2600 will have coverage and performance like WiMax is a complete misstatement.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

so what is band 41....and what are the devices??

Band 41 is TDD-LTE on 2600MHz (the EBS and BRS bands). These are the same bands that Clearwire deployed WiMax on. Sprint purchased Clearwire and is now deploying 20MHz wide TDD-LTE carriers in WiMax markets. And they will deploy it in Non WiMax markets starting next year.

 

Band 41 used with 20MHz carriers provides a lot more capacity than LTE on 1900 or 800MHz, and provides much faster speeds. At sites with really fast backhaul, speeds can be over 60Mbps.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[floorguy]

so my mom still uses clearwire....she is in a line of site with the tower, at only 2 blocks away...

 

so when they transition, will it shut off the wimax side and run only lte???

 

 

i thought the wimaz was around till end 14- first of 15

[lilotimz]

so my mom still uses clearwire....she is in a line of site with the tower, at only 2 blocks away...

 

so when they transition, will it shut off the wimax side and run only lte???

 

 

i thought the wimaz was around till end 14- first of 15

 

In Samsung TD-LTE markets they're running dual mode TD-LTE / Wimax RRUs that can support both wimax and TD-LTE at the same time. They'll likely leave a single wimax carrier up somewhere in the EBS spectrum as it can still support 3 other carriers.

In non Samsung TD-LTE markets it get's a bit tricky as Ericsson TD-LTE RRUs and Nokia Siemens Networks TD-LTE RRUs are single mode only but the most likely solution is they'll add the TD-LTE RRUs to the existing setups and hook up only 2 out of the 4 RF ports on the antenna to the TD-LTE RRU. This allows them to broadcast both wimax and LTE from the same antenna. 

[S4GRU]

Will protection sites at least get band 41 LTE?

 

Most Protection sites are using Huawei equipment. As part of the Sprint purchase of Clearwire, Sprint said they would replace the Huawei equipment out to appease National Security concerns.

 

So it is believed that Sprint will replace the Protection Sites to Band 41 TD-LTE when they replace the Huawei equipment. It wouldn't make sense to buy new WiMax only equipment at this stage. We have no details about this change at this time, nor any timelines.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

[lvanders]

Band 41 is TDD-LTE on 2600MHz (the EBS and BRS bands). These are the same bands that Clearwire deployed WiMax on. Sprint purchased Clearwire and is now deploying 20MHz wide TDD-LTE carriers in WiMax markets. And they will deploy it in Non WiMax markets starting next year.

 

Band 41 used with 20MHz carriers provides a lot more capacity than LTE on 1900 or 800MHz, and provides much faster speeds. At sites with really fast backhaul, speeds can be over 60Mbps.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

I thought all sites were getting the same backhaul? Some will get faster backhaul than others?

[Terrell352]

Most Protection sites are using Huawei equipment. As part of the Sprint purchase of Clearwire, Sprint said they would replace the Huawei equipment out to appease National Security concerns.

 

So it is believed that Sprint will replace the Protection Sites to Band 41 TD-LTE when they replace the Huawei equipment. It wouldn't make sense to buy new WiMax only equipment at this stage. We have no details about this change at this time, nor any timelines.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

I was saying that because if they change the wimax protection site in my city to td lte it would be better than having to wait up to a year to see td lte in action around here.

[lvanders]

You are making an assumption though. And your assumption is incorrect. LTE is more usable than WiMax. WiMax was unusable around a threshold of -83dBm RSSI. LTE is unusable until around a threshold of -93dBm RSSI. That is a huge difference and makes TD-LTE 2600 much more usable in many more places than WiMax 2600.

 

I saw this first hand in Denver. I had my GS2 on WiMax and my Triband hotspot on LTE 2600. In coverage areas I would keep even the most fragile LTE 2600 signals and would lose WiMax. Additionally, a very weak LTE 2600 would still run 7-20Mbps. Whereas a weak WiMax signal would be between 100kbps - 2Mbps. So the difference is significant. In those areas beyond WiMax coverage, you will still have 1 bar and likely faster speeds than LTE 1900.

 

And even with just a fair LTE 2600 signal, I'd get between 8-35Mbps. Much faster than 1900. Also LTE 2600 hands off nicely to LTE 1900 when you do run out of 2600 coverage. But getting 40-60Mbps speeds when you have a great LTE 2600 signal is just very enjoyable. Whereas 800 and 1900 will run 15-37Mbps in only the best conditions.

 

Selling your iPhone is not a bad option. Also getting a Triband hotspot to keep with you isn't a bad option either. But to say LTE 2600 will have coverage and performance like WiMax is a complete misstatement.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

It seems like I'm hovering around -93 dBm or less most of the places I tend to be. (Generally -96--101) That's why I was sharing from my personal experience and preference and stated that. Though what you said is awesome information and greatly appreciated.

[S4GRU]

I thought all sites were getting the same backhaul? Some will get faster backhaul than others?

LTE 2600 is currently only being installed at WiMax sites and are using the existing WiMax backhaul. It provides an inconsistent experience. Some LTE 2600 sites with great backhaul are running 50Mbps+ 24 hours a day. Some others are slower based on their capacity. The slowest I found in Denver was about 8Mbps. Those ones need better backhaul. And they will get it eventually.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[illest_ios]

LTE 2600 is currently only being installed at WiMax sites and are using the existing WiMax backhaul. It provides an inconsistent experience. Some LTE 2600 sites with great backhaul are running 50Mbps+ 24 hours a day. Some others are slower based on their capacity. The slowest I found in Denver was about 8Mbps. Those ones need better backhaul. And they will get it eventually.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

8mbps is still better then 0.01!! And usable. Haha