Jump to content

Network Vision/LTE - Northern & Southern Connecticut Markets (includes all cities)


shmget

Recommended Posts

I've been following this board for some time now. I've always had an interest in cellular technology (such as understanding modulation schemes (GSM, CDMA, etc.), PRLs, and debug screen info. I switched to Sprint last year because of their 4G network here in this area. It was helpful during a period of time I did telecommuting.

 

I live in the suburban area of Hartford, CT. I noticed that man towers in my area have received upgrades, and will be getting upgrades in the next 6 months on the network.sprint.com website. I'm wondering if that is Network Vision, or another upgrade.

 

I'm eligible for a phone upgrade in January. I'm also wondering: does it make sense to get an LTE phone right away, or stick with my EPIC 4G until I'm sure I have LTE? Most of the time, I'm at home and using Wifi. When I am at work, I'm deep inside a building, and barely get a Sprint signal. Sometimes I roam on Verizon. I'm thinking if I upgrade to a phone capable of 800mhz 1X, then when the towers get upgraded, I'm hoping to get a better voice signal.

 

I was glad when Sprint mentioned reusing Nextel frequencies. I used to have Nextel, and the signal strength at my house is pretty strong. Sprint is just ok. I think Nextel has the highest spot on a tower near my house. I'm hoping when they upgrade that site that I get a big boost in coverage.

 

So my questions are:

 

1. Are there any timetables for Network Vision in Hartford, and is it the same schedule as LTE (since Northern CT has not been announced to my knowledge).

 

2. Would it be worthwhile to upgrade as soon as possible?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Network Vision/LTE deployment will not begin in your market until some time in 2013. 2013 market schedules have not been finalized yet. Should later this Fall. Upgrades shown at network.sprint.com are not Network Vision related, but rather are maintenance upgrades to their legacy system.

 

2. If you use WiMax heavily, you may want to hold off on upgrading until LTE deployment starts in your area. Unless you find 3G to be acceptable where you go. Currently, Sprint LTE devices only support LTE on 1900MHz. Whereas, some time next year, Sprint LTE devices will also support LTE on 800MHz (Nextel frequencies).

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

A user on the Macrumors forums posted an LTE speedtest from Hartford:

 

http://forums.macrum...8&postcount=306

 

Deployment has not begun in the Northern Connecticut market yet (where Hartford is located). So this is suspect.

 

Robert

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Deployment has not begun in the Northern Connecticut market yet (where Hartford is located). So this is suspect.

 

Robert

I agree with Robert there has been no mention of tower upgrades in that location on the ct website.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been following this board for some time now. I've always had an interest in cellular technology (such as understanding modulation schemes (GSM' date=' CDMA, etc.), PRLs, and debug screen info. I switched to Sprint last year because of their 4G network here in this area. It was helpful during a period of time I did telecommuting.

 

I live in the suburban area of Hartford, CT. I noticed that man towers in my area have received upgrades, and will be getting upgrades in the next 6 months on the network.sprint.com website. I'm wondering if that is Network Vision, or another upgrade.

 

I'm eligible for a phone upgrade in January. I'm also wondering: does it make sense to get an LTE phone right away, or stick with my EPIC 4G until I'm sure I have LTE? Most of the time, I'm at home and using Wifi. When I am at work, I'm deep inside a building, and barely get a Sprint signal. Sometimes I roam on Verizon. I'm thinking if I upgrade to a phone capable of 800mhz 1X, then when the towers get upgraded, I'm hoping to get a better voice signal.

 

I was glad when Sprint mentioned reusing Nextel frequencies. I used to have Nextel, and the signal strength at my house is pretty strong. Sprint is just ok. I think Nextel has the highest spot on a tower near my house. I'm hoping when they upgrade that site that I get a big boost in coverage.

 

So my questions are:

 

1. Are there any timetables for Network Vision in Hartford, and is it the same schedule as LTE (since Northern CT has not been announced to my knowledge).

 

2. Would it be worthwhile to upgrade as soon as possible?[/quote']

 

I will also add that sprint will not be using nextel cell sites in many situations. While sprint should enjoy a signal boost when rolling out 800mhz voice and later 800mhz data, the signal from a nextel iden site may not be a good sample to compare to sprint 800mhz.

 

It boils down to the fact that sprint is a company based on pcs spacing. It only makes sense to use a Nextel site if it integrates into the network design better than the existing cell site

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw a posting here a few weeks ago about some areas of Southern Connecticut getting approved or getting rollout of LTE in there towns. One of those towns that was listed is where I live. I happen to live in North Branford area and have not seen anything upgrade at all to the towers. There is no sign of activation of LTE as of today. I do have an LTE phone to check. Was the towers just approved and they will be starting work in a few weeks? Does anyone really know when this is going to happen?

 

 

"Kevster1321 posted in another closed thread that these towns were getting LTE, but didn't go into details:

 

1 in bethel

1 in Cheshire

1 in Easton

1 in Guilford

1 in Litchfield

2 in Monroe

1 in Newtown

2 in North Branford

1 in Oxford

1 in Plymouth

1 in Southbury

1 in Wallingford

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw a posting here a few weeks ago about some areas of Southern Connecticut getting approved or getting rollout of LTE in there towns. One of those towns that was listed is where I live. I happen to live in North Branford area and have not seen anything upgrade at all to the towers. There is no sign of activation of LTE as of today. I do have an LTE phone to check. Was the towers just approved and they will be starting work in a few weeks? Does anyone really know when this is going to happen?

 

 

"Kevster1321 posted in another closed thread that these towns were getting LTE, but didn't go into details:

 

1 in bethel

1 in Cheshire

1 in Easton

1 in Guilford

1 in Litchfield

2 in Monroe

1 in Newtown

2 in North Branford

1 in Oxford

1 in Plymouth

1 in Southbury

1 in Wallingford

 

I interpreted Kevin's report meaning the State has authorized for these sites to proceed. I didn't interpret it to mean work has already started at these sites. And if that is the case, they still may need local county, city and/or neighborhood advisory board approval to begin. The State of Connecticut is just one jurisdiction that would sign off on them.

 

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

here are the locations in North Branford

41.3283333333333 -72.8191666666667

41.3310805555556 -72.7561527777778

 

Thanks.

 

I'll have to take a ride to these locations to see if new equipment is being delivered.

 

 

Is this going live before the end of the year?

 

I will let you know if I see anything. Will my Navigation input longitude and latituder with those many decimal points?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this going live before the end of the year?

 

Only fools, charlatans and liars predict LTE.

 

I sometimes feel like I qualify as the fool.

 

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

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sprint is on the same tower I mentioned that has Nextel. I know because we had an outage yesterday, and that tower was totally out, leaving us with basically no service at our house. The reps tell me the tower will be fixed today, and they also said in my zip code there is a network vision upgrade happening. I don't have an LTE phone to test, but I figure one of the towers by I-91 might be getting the upgrade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am smack between Hartford and Springfield. Confirming, NO LTE. I do have ehprd everywhere basically, but I have no LTE until I get into Springfield. I work at Bradley Airport, and definitely no LTE here.

 

My house is 800 feet from the highest cell tower between the two cities, 500 feet off i91 and no work has been done. I can see the tower out my living room Window, and no one has been on it. (water tank and metal tower based)

 

We got wimax nearly first, so i suspect LTE could be last. Though I am hoping that's wrong, sooner the better!

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the update. I kind of figured that we wouldn't have LTE yet, as that has been mentioned already. I'm not sure if the rep was confused, or what. I'm probably holding off unless there is a really nice sale on LTE phones around Thanksgiving/Christmas, as my Epic 4G at least gets WiMAX on my way down to Hartford everyday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we actually have decent 3g speeds in this area, i typically get 1 mb down from the tower near my house, and 2mb down from the tower at the airport, but i do miss my wimax since I picked up the S3

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, I can't be sure what tower I was connected to this morning, but... the one on the water tower by exit 47E on I-91 might be getting upgraded. My speedtest results from one minute to the next varied by a great deal. Sometimes it was 100kbps/50kbps (with a very strong signal), and re-running a test got me 1500kbps/900kbps. I kept re-running, and it went back and forth between slow and fast. You might notice after the 15th some significant improvements. At least, that is what the CS reps have been telling me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am within 800 of the water tank tower in EW near exit 45. Its on the hill directly above the old movie theater that closed a few years back. I havent seen anything going on up there, and definitely see no panels. Now, that doesnt mean jack for Enfield, because you can get LTE just over the line in Mass.

 

Robert was said that nothing was going on in our area until at least 2013, and I dont see evidence first hand to say that it may have changed. Would be nice to see LTE light up, but honestly, I would imagine seeing it at Bradley Airport before Enfield saw it....but thats just a hunch

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only work being done right now is in southern Connecticut these are the only sites right now that will be worked on or have permits for

 

1 in bethel

1 in Cheshire

1 in Easton

1 in Guilford

1 in Litchfield

2 in Monroe

1 in Newtown

2 in North Branford

1 in Oxford

1 in Plymouth

1 in Southbury

1 in Wallingford

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the info. I'm suspicious as everyone else. But more than one rep explicitly said it was a network vision update. However, it probably is just the updates on network.sprint.com, as there are towers in Enfield that are scheduled for data upgrades. I'm getting excited, and might just do an early upgrade one of these days. I'm trying to decide between the Photon LTE and the Galaxy SIII. I like the keyboard on the Photon, since I do some SSH to servers, and it is easier for me to type with a real keyboard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So it appears that the rest of New England is starting early third market work. Once it's launched, you will be able to go from Baltimore to Canada and have LTE, except in the northern ct and Rhode Island market.

 

Odd. It's like Northern CT was forgotten about. I guess it's payback for early wimax.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

update of towers being worked on or have permits for.

Bethlehem

Goshen

2 Hamden

North Haven

Plymouth

Prospect

Sharon replace 12 existing antennas with 2 dual band antennas. must be a typo

Torrington

2 Wallingford

Wolcott

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Seeing Providence sites come into the list now too. Still nothing for the large footprint in CT they are not starting yet? Guess no love for the 860.

 

From a business stand point you would think LTE was a bigger priority in the entire CT, now business travelers will get LTE everywhere except the middle of their trips up and down the east coast.

 

I find it very odd to say the least. Especially on the highway towers, you are literally talking less than 20 total sites in this region to have all the major interstates covered in LTE from Baltimore to Boston (and really New Hampshire and Maine)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seeing Providence sites come into the list now too. Still nothing for the large footprint in CT they are not starting yet? Guess no love for the 860.

 

From a business stand point you would think LTE was a bigger priority in the entire CT, now business travelers will get LTE everywhere except the middle of their trips up and down the east coast.

 

I find it very odd to say the least. Especially on the highway towers, you are literally talking less than 20 total sites in this region to have all the major interstates covered in LTE from Baltimore to Boston (and really New Hampshire and Maine)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

It's not a choice. It's not like Dan Hesse sits in his brick palace in Kansas and says, "Connecticut sucks. Screw them!" The issue is Connecticut. They are an anti-business and expensive place to do business with high barriers to entry. They make it very difficult to convert a tower.

 

Many states/counties/cities (about half of all Sprint sites) do not have any permit requirements at all to switch out equipment on an existing site. And half of the ones that do, it is a relatively easy process. However, Connecticut (one of the few states to do so), requires permitting, planning an zoning review on every level. On the state level, county level, city level, and in many locations, even the neighborhood level. Almost no state requires permitting on a state level too. It's absurd. Cell companies have to get permits and approvals for all those different levels. However, in Texas, they can just do the work without asking in most cities. In Connecticut, it is very expensive and very time consuming. And the consumers are the ones who get the shaft.

 

The permitting and planning in Southern Connecticut started at the same time as Philadelphia. And they have started and much farther ahead. Northern Connecticut started permitting and planning the same time as Providence. And look where they are at.

 

So, instead of being vocal about Sprint in Connecticut, maybe you should direct your attention to your local and state political leaders and bureaucrats? It's actually quite amazing that they are even willing to go through the trouble in Connecticut at all. I wouldn't.

 

Robert

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting, I knew CT was bad, but that bad? Jeeze.

 

So, I guess my next question is, how long has it been this way? Is this a new level of "junk" carriers have to wade in? We were nearly the first to get wimax, I had wimax on my evo less than 2 months after its release. Did they get a big jump on things here or were they just much easier to work with then?

 

So I guess that leads me to the next question, why wouldnt they have started permitting earlier? It seems like the muck of CT causes things to slow down, but when they started in Baltimore, Boston, NYC, the next ones on the list you saw were the major pieces connecting those sectors. I frankly am surprised Providence is so far behind as well. It too had wimax fast, infact, something tells me they might of been first nationwide.....

 

But either way, like I said in my post in the Mass thread, too much "Not in my backyard" syndrome to call this country free anymore.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

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

  • Posts

    • So, in summary, here are the options I tested: T-Mobile intl roaming - LTE on SoftBank, routes back to the US (~220ms to 4.2.2.4) IIJ physical SIM - LTE on NTT, local routing Airalo - LTE on SoftBank and KDDI (seems to prefer SoftBank), routed through Singapore (SingTel) Ubigi - 5G on NTT, routed through Singapore (Transatel) US Mobile East Asia roaming - 5G on SoftBank, routed through Singapore (Club SIM) Saily - 5G on NTT, routed through Hong Kong (Truphone)...seems to be poorer routing my1010 - LTE on SoftBank and KDDI (seems to prefer KDDI), routed through Taiwan (Chunghwa Telecom) I wouldn't buy up on the T-Mobile international roaming, but it's a solid fallback. If you have the US Mobile roaming eSIM that's a great option. Otherwise Ubigi, Airalo, or my1010 are all solid options, so get whatever's cheapest. I wouldn't bother trying to find a physical SIM from IIJ...the Japanese IP is nice but there's enough WiFi that you can get a Japanese IP enough for whatever you need, and eSIM flexibility is great (IIJ as eSIM but seems a bit more involved to get it to work).
    • So, the rural part of the journey still has cell service for nearly all the way, usually on B18/19/8 (depending on whether we're talking about KDDI/NTT/SoftBank). I think I saw a bit of B28 and even n28 early on in the trip, though that faded out after a bit. Once we got to where we were going though, KDDI had enough B41 to pull 150+ Mbps, while NTT and SoftBank had B1/B3 IIRC. Cell service was likewise generally fine from Kawaguchiko Station to Tokyo on the express bus to Shinjuku Station, though there were some cases where only low-band LTE was available and capacity seemed to struggle. I also figured out what I was seeing with SoftBank on 40 MHz vs. 100 MHz n77: the 40 MHz blocks are actually inside the n78 band class, but SoftBank advertises them as n77, probably to facilitate NR CA. My phone likely preferred the 40 MHz slices as they're *much* lower-frequency, ~3.4 GHz rather than ~3.9, though of course I did see the 100 MHz slice being used rather often. By contrast, when I got NR on NTT it was either n28 10x10 or, more often, 100 MHz n78. As usual, EMEA bands on my S24 don't CA, so any data speeds I saw were the result of either one LTE carrier or one LTE carrier plus one NR carrier...except for B41 LTE. KDDI seems to have more B41 bandwidth live at this point, so my1010 or Airalo works well for this, and honestly while SoftBank and NTT 5G (in descending order of availability) have 5G that's readily available it may be diminishing returns, particularly given that I still don't know how to, as someone not from Hong Kong, get an eSIM that runs on SoftBank 5G that isn't the USM "comes for free with the unlimited premium package" roaming eSIM (NTT is easy enough thanks to Ubigi). In other news, I was able to borrow someone's Rakuten eSIM and...got LTE with it. 40 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 40ms latency to Tokyo while in Tokyo...which isn't any worse than the Japan-based physical SIMs I had used earlier. But not getting n77 or n257 was disappointing, though I had to test the eSIM from one spot rather than bouncing around the city to find somewhere with better reception. It's currently impossible to get a SIM as a foreigner that runs on Rakuten, so that was the best I could do. Also, I know my phone doesn't have all the LTE and 5G bands needed to take full advantage of Japanese networks. My S24 is missing: B21 (1500 MHz) - NTT B11 (1500 MHz) - KDDI, SoftBank B42 (3500 MHz) - NTT, KDDI, SoftBank n79 (4900 MHz) - NTT Of the above, B42/n79 are available on the latest iPhones, though you lose n257, and I'm guessing you're not going to find B11/B21 on a phone sold outside Japan.
    • T-Mobile acquiring SoniqWave's 2.5 GHz spectrum  Another spectrum speculator down! T-Mobile is acquiring all of their licenses and their leases. Details are lacking but it looks like T-Mobile might be giving them 3.45GHz in exchange in some of the markets where they're acquiring BRS/EBS to sweeten the deal and stay below the spectrum screen. Hopefully NextWave is at the negotiating table with T-Mobile so NYC can finally get access to the full BRS/EBS band as well. 
    • Maybe. The taller buildings on one side of the street all have Fios access and the NYCHA buildings are surrounded by Verizon macros that have mmWave. I don’t think this site will add much coverage. It’d be better off inside the complex itself.
    • Looks like a great place for for FWA. Many apartment dwellers only have one overpriced choice.
  • Recently Browsing

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