Network Vision/LTE - Missouri Market (includes St. Louis)

[riddlebox]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone had any idea on when the LTE upgrades would happen in St. Louis? I have been a loyal sprint customer for a long time and just realized that my 3G speeds are around 120kbps and that is horrible! Also 4G is around 1-2mb! I work right in the middle of STL and these are the speeds I get? I am excited about the new LTE and cant wait but I am hoping for a nice 3g speed increase too.....

[ericdabbs]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone had any idea on when the LTE upgrades would happen in St. Louis? I have been a loyal sprint customer for a long time and just realized that my 3G speeds are around 120kbps and that is horrible! Also 4G is around 1-2mb! I work right in the middle of STL and these are the speeds I get? I am excited about the new LTE and cant wait but I am hoping for a nice 3g speed increase too.....

 

Check out this article.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-158-is-sprint-going-to-show-up-sooner-in-the-show-me-state/

[njt462]

Do we have any new information as to when they may be starting work and launching LTE in the St Louis Market?

 

Reason why I am asking is because their Wimax footprint of the St Louis area never covered the whole St Louis market to begin with they left about 5 counties out in the dark.

 

A person that I was talking to at the gas station who works for a cell tower sub contractor said that work has already began and it will be on around Christmas time weather depending.

 

Just didn't know if anyone had any solid information based of this small talk I had with this person.

 

 

Thanks.

[ericdabbs]

I think you were fed wrong information. As of right now, St. Louis is still scheduled to be a 3rd round market and the earliest we will probably see St. Louis is mid 2013.

 

Please see this thread for more information on market updates.

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/212-network-visionlte-deployment-running-list/

[S4GRU]

I think you were fed wrong information. As of right now, St. Louis is still scheduled to be a 3rd round market and the earliest we will probably see St. Louis is mid 2013.

 

Please see this thread for more information on market updates.

http://s4gru.com/ind...t-running-list/

 

I wouldn't quite put in those terms. I would say that it appears that the Missouri market may start deployment this Winter, right after 2nd Round markets have all started. The design work is complete in this market. Some work may start early with subcontractors, especially backhaul deployment and base cabinets delivery and install. Some of that work may be under way very soon.

 

If Sprint wanted to, they could probably move up deployment to start a little early in this market, so long as backhaul deployment can keep up with an accelerated schedule. However, I have yet to see one shred of evidence that this is going to occur...yet. I think the absolute earliest deployment start that could happen in Missouri is October/November. And that would be very aggressive if that happened.

 

Robert

[xplod]

The other day I working on building that had cell tower along side of it and a tower company stopped by and was measuring the area around it. I asked him what was going on. He said making sure new sprint equipment would fit. I asked him if these were bandaids , he specifically said network upgrade. Hopefully this will help make the roll out faster in St. Louis.

 

 

[S4GRU]

The other day I working on building that had cell tower along side of it and a tower company stopped by and was measuring the area around it. I asked him what was going on. He said making sure new sprint equipment would fit. I asked him if these were bandaids , he specifically said network upgrade. Hopefully this will help make the roll out faster in St. Louis.

 

Planning for base equipment typically happens 6 months in advance of deployment. So it sounds like the market is right around my Projections of Winter. Thanks for this info.

 

Robert

[ericdabbs]

I wouldn't quite put in those terms. I would say that it appears that the Missouri market may start deployment this Winter, right after 2nd Round markets have all started. The design work is complete in this market. Some work may start early with subcontractors, especially backhaul deployment and base cabinets delivery and install. Some of that work may be under way very soon.

 

If Sprint wanted to, they could probably move up deployment to start a little early in this market, so long as backhaul deployment can keep up with an accelerated schedule. However, I have yet to see one shred of evidence that this is going to occur...yet. I think the absolute earliest deployment start that could happen in Missouri is October/November. And that would be very aggressive if that happened.

 

Robert

 

What you said is true but I think what most people want to hear in the forums is when does Sprint plan to officially release LTE in that market. Of course from reading on this site that there are going to be LTE sites being erected well before mid year 2013. Getting a few LTE sites up and running to play with can be fun if you are a wireless geek but its not really usable. However Sprint could easily block LTE connections until a week before launch just like they did with the 5 initial markets which makes testing useless other than improved 3G.

 

Since no information has been released about potential first LTE sites, I thought it was safe to give an honest answer of at least mid 2013 for market launch.

[bkrodgers]

Is there any sense how long these 2nd tier markets and beyond will take, on average? I realize that will vary by market size, conditions, and specific local legal/zoning issues. But I'm assuming that future markets will go much faster than the initial markets. So if they were to start St. Louis in Sept/Oct, are we talking 3 months to launch? 6?

[S4GRU]

Is there any sense how long these 2nd tier markets and beyond will take' date=' on average? I realize that will vary by market size, conditions, and specific local legal/zoning issues. But I'm assuming that future markets will go much faster than the initial markets. So if they were to start St. Louis in Sept/Oct, are we talking 3 months to launch? 6?[/quote']

 

We have details in our article series about the dates specifically for all the first and second round markets. We talk about start dates, finish dates, launch dates and average sites per month to be completed. There is a lot of variability from market to market. The biggest factor being backhaul in front of deployment.

 

There are different backhaul vendors for each market. Most markets have more than one backhaul vendor. Some have 3 or 4. And how rapid they end up deploying in the market determines the NV conversion rate and schedule.

 

I would say it appears if I try to average, markets take 8-13 months start to finish. All of the points you list above are variables with the backhaul. So, I would say most markets will launch on average 3-6 months after first work begins.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[riddlebox]

I talked to a Sprint employee yesterday who told me that LTE will be on in June of 2013.

[S4GRU]

I talked to a Sprint employee yesterday who told me that LTE will be on in June of 2013.

 

I can see a market launch around that time. Thanks for the post.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[Dkoellerwx]

I would assume that Springfield, MO would see LTE around the same time as St. Louis, as it's in the Missouri market? I only ask becuase it appears that I will be moving to Springfield for a job here in the near future, unfortunatly away from the LTE in Kansas City! Oh well..

[doomstang]

I really like reading information like this. I'm lookin forward to seeing a LTE signal on my Evo!

[bkrodgers]

I would assume that Springfield, MO would see LTE around the same time as St. Louis, as it's in the Missouri market? I only ask becuase it appears that I will be moving to Springfield for a job here in the near future, unfortunatly away from the LTE in Kansas City! Oh well..

 

Springfield is actually closer to KC than it is to STL. And for that matter, it's closer to Tulsa, OK and Fayetteville, AK (WalMart) than STL. I don't know how they'll handle it, but I wouldn't take for granted that it will be handled alongside STL.

[Dkoellerwx]

Springfield is actually closer to KC than it is to STL. And for that matter, it's closer to Tulsa, OK and Fayetteville, AK (WalMart) than STL. I don't know how they'll handle it, but I wouldn't take for granted that it will be handled alongside STL.

 

Yes, it is closer to KC and Tulsa, but it is technically in the Missouri market. So, like Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan, and Junction City are being upgrading along with Kansas City in the Kansas market, I would assume that Springfield would receive the upgrade along with St. Louis since it is in the Missouri market.

[Rickie546]

 

 

Yes, it is closer to KC and Tulsa, but it is technically in the Missouri market. So, like Wichita, Topeka, Manhattan, and Junction City are being upgrading along with Kansas City in the Kansas market, I would assume that Springfield would receive the upgrade along with St. Louis since it is in the Missouri market.

You are right, anything west of a line from sedalia to Collins to Nevada is in the Missouri market which is set to start in 2013.

[newalker91]

This information is for people in the St. Louis area and surrounding. (See Missouri market map)

 

Despite receiving a mass email to employees recently stating that LTE should be live in St. Louis by the end of the year, I worked one on one with a project director for MasTec today who was telling me that bidding for St. Louis LTE expansions have just began. Sprint is currently collecting estimates for pricing on what the cost would be to begin installing the necessary hardware and revamp the base-stations. These events precede rollout by a matter of months.

 

What does this mean for St. Louis customers? We probably will not even begin to see LTE towers begin to turn on for consumers until shortly into the next year, or possibly late into Q1 2013.

[S4GRU]

This information is for people in the St. Louis area and surrounding. (See Missouri market map)

 

Despite receiving a mass email to employees recently stating that LTE should be live in St. Louis by the end of the year, I worked one on one with a project director for MasTec today who was telling me that bidding for St. Louis LTE expansions have just began. Sprint is currently collecting estimates for pricing on what the cost would be to begin installing the necessary hardware and revamp the base-stations. These events precede rollout by a matter of months.

 

What does this mean for St. Louis customers? We probably will not even begin to see LTE towers begin to turn on for consumers until shortly into the next year, or possibly late into Q1 2013.

 

This is along the lines of what I've been saying. That the earliest that the Missouri market is likely to begin deployment is around the first of the year. Thanks for the update and corroboration.

 

Robert

[WiWavelength]

No disagreement here. S4GRU has reported all along that Sprint's Missouri market (St. Louis) is not in the first round, maybe not even in the second round. It is likely a later round market.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-158-is-sprint-going-to-show-up-sooner-in-the-show-me-state/

 

AJ

[newalker91]

That's why I love you guys. Always on the ball and accurate way before we get word from the home office. That plus the fantastic network articles that've taught me more than any training Sprint could offer.

[PetranJello27]

How do they usually deploy in a city? Especially if it already has Wimax?

 

Basically do they start from maybe city limits and go out ward or is it random? I work in Festus,MO(20-25 miles from St. Louis County) and was hoping it comes down here. Would it be way after city/county of St. Louis or maybe around the same timing?

[steveholt]

I live near Arnold MO (Oakville), and I remember that when Wimax was being deployed the entire area of Arnold was covered before my area got anything, so it filled out in patches.

[newalker91]

I'm supposing they go by areas of densest population and fill outward around them.

[xplod]

I though they would start in the outskirts and work their way inward. Like how they are doing in Chicago.