S4GRU

The half of consumers that pay attention to the exact speeds of their phone would probably agree with you. The other half just want it to work when they need it and where they need it. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

It's scalable in the sense more can be added relatively easily. However, given Sprint's backhaul providers problems at deploying (especially CenturyLink) I wonder how effective they will be at increasing backhaul upon demand. This should be easy. Let's hope it goes well. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Sprint doesn't need to be the fastest. They just need to be competitive. Which is probably what you mean. Their Band 41 overlay will make the competitive or better. Band 26 will make the competitive or better. Good solid steps toward the future. Band 25 alone is not enough. Which I think we all agree with. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

I wouldn't call it a duct tape solution. Let's say this site wasn't going to get Band 4 for another 18 months. Should VZW let their LTE 750 deteriorate even further than 1Mbps? Or should they institute an effective stop gap until then? Especially when the site's traffic is 75% on one sector. Splitting that sector further makes a lot of sense. It's not a cheap solution and highly effective. Sprint in the past would have done nothing in the same scenario. I'm hopeful the New Sprint with the new network would employ any means in its arsenal to keep performance at acceptable levels. What remains to be seen is if this is VZW just taking care of a really large customer, or if they will employ this everywhere that is suffering from performance problems on 750 with no AWS deployment imminent. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

At my office, my VZW LTE 750 speeds on my hotspot had dropped to less than 1Mbps most of the day for the past 6-8 weeks. I was going bonkers. And AT&T WCDMA was running 200k - 1Mbps. I'm on a heavily used sector, including a large middle school, high school and most of Ellsworth Air Force Base with 10,000 airmen and about 15,000 contractors. Suddenly, my VZW speeds shot up to 20-30Mbps last week. Since my hotspot is AWS capable, I assumed that maybe VZW fired up some Band 4 LTE on my local site. I figured the reason it was only 20-30 was because either my market was limited to 10MHz channels, or the backhaul couldn't handle speeds faster than that with the current load. Finally, yesterday I drove by the site. There is no AWS deployed. What they did was add a narrow beam LTE 750 panel in between the two busiest sectors. Essentially making a four sector site. Whoa! It looks like they also re-aimed the other panels slightly away from the new sector. This is a great idea for sites that have one heavily burdened sector and not ready (or able) to deploy another band. Part of me wonders if VZW only addressed this problem because of the military, or if this is something they employ commonly when needed. There are other places in Rapid City that could use this as well. We'll see if it only occurs at the Ellsworth site. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Juicy Juice It's purple flavored!!!! Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

I was just in that area at Yearout Mechanical's office in September and my Sprint 3G data kept timing out. So that was a pretty bad area. A much needed improvement. I couldn't get a Tmo signal inside the building at all. AT&T LTE was unusable. I had to use my VZW hotspot. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

orange rind Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

We definitely don't see eye to eye on every issue. But I appreciate that you mention the good things with the bad. It's not a one sided discussion, every time. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

pork belly Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Sensorly is showing LTE signal from Band 25 and Band 41. The HTC One only supports Band 25. I've used Band 41 LTE at Park Meadows before. You need a device that supports Sprint Triband LTE to use the other bands besides 25. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

There is no "typical" until build out. Because the sites that are live are serving more customers that they are designed to. Thusly, the range of expected LTE performance is from less than 1Mbps all the way up to 37Mbps.

I get varied experiences on all networks. I have had more LTE speed tests under 1Mbps on AT&T than I have had over 30Mbps. I have also seen more than 50 VZW LTE sites under 1Mbps in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Colorado and South Dakota in the past 6 months. Granted, these are at peak times. But still. I just want to illustrate there are no perfect networks. And 5Mbps throughput is not worthy of complaint on any network, in my opinion. I do get speeds greater than 20Mbps on Verizon and AT&T occasionally. However, the majority of my speed tests are 3-6Mbps with them. That's a fact. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

That's my theory. It seems way too many sudden improvements across the metro with low ping times to be coincidence. I think we are on the edge of some LTE acceptances. It's hard to get excited though. We have been let down before. Robert

I sure wish my VZW and AT&T was faster than that too. Robert

Also, no Sprint device to date supports Carrier Aggregation, as far as I'm aware. Additional PCS LTE 5MHz carriers will not work in aggregate with anything to allow greater throughput that 37Mbps. However, an additional LTE carrier would double airlink capacity instantly, allowing much greater performance if there is sufficient backhaul available to support both carriers. Robert

I'm not saying that people should ignore now. But in context to the conversation, I am referring to people drawing complete conclusions about SoftBank because of their current Sprint experience right now. Robert

Yes. It does indeed. Robert

That has been one of the worst spots historically. Both the site behind Cliffs off San Mateo and the one off E. Osuna by the golf course have been very, very bad the past 2 years. I hope the integration teams are coming in soon. Even though I could not see the glorious day of LTE in New Mexico the four years I lived there, I hope it comes on soon for all of you! Robert

I'm still not of the mind set we have gotten to the problem level. We are just now at the, yeah it happens sometimes level. But that may be worth pursuing in the future. When we actually start having to put any significant resources towards spammers. Thanks for the suggestion. Robert

Sprint will not be able to compete with Verizon calling it an antiquated network. They would compete saying that they offer less expensive service that is unlimited. And when the network improvements are systemwide, they can add thst they provide an equal or better experience within their coverage area. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

To start things back on topic, back to the sentiments of the OP, I do believe that SoftBank is lighting a fire under Sprint. And most of these changes will result in an improved Sprint for the consumer. We have a tendency to focus on now. The Sprint ship will not get righted immediately after being taken over by SoftBank. The deal closed less than six months ago. Positive steps have been taken already. SoftBank does not have any impact on the past. Only the future. The current deployment plan was made years ago, and all the contracts were issued a long time ago. Network Vision 1.0's destiny cannot really be altered. We will still feel the impacts of the old Sprint for a long while. That being said, we will feel the impacts of SoftBank a little more every quarter. One of the big decisions of SoftBank is to take Band 41 to all Clearwire sites, most NV Sites, and even add additional Band 41 sites to create a seamless high speed LTE experience in the Top 100 markets. We are going to start experiencing that decision in a few months time. We are nowhere near the time to say any current Sprint network shortcomings are illustrative of any SoftBank failings. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

I didn't take it as disrespectful at all. I appreciate your participation. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Timmy Time Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

We need to get back on topic, or the astroturfer won. He derailed the thread and just has everyone talking about Sprint negatively. He may have been banned, but his legend lives on. He is laughing his ass off. We have all been played. Even me. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro