S4GRU

baking soda

Did you notice any new panels on the East Imperial County sites? Robert

Lancaster is in the Central PA market and will not begin until 2013. However, York is a Sprint affiliate market controlled by Shentel. We don't have any detailed info about Shentel deployment. But we have heard reports from other members that Shentel is already working in the Harrisburg area. They may already be in the York area too. Let us know if you see anything on Sprint towers in the area. Robert

Doesn't look like it. First 3G site is scheduled for August 9th and the first LTE site is scheduled for September 8th. Robert

There is a level of irony that communications companies are the worst at communicating with their customers. Robert

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Monday, July 2, 2012 - 12:30 PM MDT The next market in our Network Vision/LTE deployment schedule update series is ...San Diego. The San Diego market has yet to be announced by Sprint, but is expected to be announced in the near future. Perhaps around the time of the first market launches. The Sprint San Diego market encompasses San Diego County and parts of Imperial County, including the San Diego Metro Area, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Escondido and Calexico and El Centro to the East. Sprint's Network Vision OEM Alcatel/Lucent is scheduled to begin mobilizing their subcontractors around the market this month. The first completed Network Vision sites are scheduled to start coming online in August. San Diego Market Launch It was Sprint's original plan to launch markets when they reached 50% of sites converted to Network Vision. However, it has now been determined that Sprint will move up launches sooner than 50% completion in several markets. This is likely to maintain a Mid 2012 launch in markets that have already been announced. However, in an unannounced market like San Diego, we don't know if they will resume pushing back market launches to 50%, or if they will now settle on a 40% completion to be the new normal for market launches. If Sprint waits for 50% completion to launch this market, it would make the launch approximately February/March (should the OEM stay on schedule). If they plan on a 40% market completion for launch, that would be January. You may think that 40% - 50% site completion is not enough to launch LTE service, but it would provide pretty good coverage. Even Verizon doesn't launch on all sites in a market initially. Usually less than 50%, then filling in with more and more sites every few months. Anticipated Sites Complete at Market Launch. According to the Network Vision schedules that S4GRU has reviewed, if Sprint launched the market in January, these are the anticipated sites that would likely have LTE complete at that time. This would provide fairly good LTE coverage over many parts of the market. Schedule details and the bottom line Sprint has not selected a date to formally "launch" LTE service in San Diego, yet. It is difficult to try to pick a date now this far out, but we will take a stab at it. In looking at the schedule as of today, it would indicate a January market launch (going on a 40% - 50% completion for launch). But there is no way to know if AlcaLu and their subcontractors will actually hit their schedule dates this early in the deployment for this market. We will be able to gauge better after a few months of production. Alcatel/Lucent needs to hit a production rate of approximately 70 sites per month to stay on schedule. This market shouldn't have problems staying on time as 70 sites per month is a steady rate that can be achieved with proper planning. S4GRU has examined the schedule in great detail in this market and sees that most of the sites will be complete by May 2013. However, there may be a few sporadic sites that will linger past the completion. Photo of the Downtown San Diego provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. NOTE: S4GRU Sponsor Members can track regular updates of Network Vision sites completed nationwide. Completed sites are shown in an interactive Google Maps interface. Information about sponsorship can be found here: S4GRU Sponsorship

I added that verbiage just for you! Robert

LOL. That was an embarrassing typo. Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

Ummm, no. But thanks.

There is no definite timelines in advance that eHRPD gets operational in advance of LTE. I just don't think they will allow LTE sites to go live without eHRPD live around it. Especially since LTE will start out as islands. They want customers to be able to Anne off seamlessly between 3G and LTE. Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

That's a good question. You would think so. I'm not sure how they will handle market boundaries. My guess is if the CT site is on the same exact 4G core as the site across the border in MA, then I believe they will. Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

That's good news. I know the Marengo site backhaul wasn't upgraded as of 6 weeks ago or so. So we know that backhaul upgrades are indeed occurring at completed 3G NV sites around Chicago. Sometimes be it late. Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

Third Base Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

There is not always a pay off/reward in insurance purchasing. A lot of people around these forums don't pay for TEP, because they have concluded it is less expensive to replace the phone for cash after six months buying a used model from eBay then it is to pay the deductible plus the monthly payments. Deductible plus one year of premiums is roughly $196, or in a new premium device it is $232. Most devices after a year old are between $100 -$200 used in good condition. And Asurion insurance replaces devices with refurbished units. If you have a flagship device, it may make sense to buy TEP for the first year, but after that, it probably doesn't make sense. The risk/reward is something the buyer needs to consider. Not Sprint. The insurance is offered as a service for those who want it. Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Monday, July 2, 2012 - 6:00 AM MDT The next market in our Network Vision/LTE deployment schedule update series is ...Raleigh/Durham. The Raleigh/Durham market has yet to be announced by Sprint, but is expected to be announced in the near future. Perhaps around the time of the first market launches. The Sprint RDU market encompasses most of Eastern North Carolina, except the coastal areas. This includes the Research Triangle/Raleigh-Durham metro area, Fayetteville/Fort Bragg, Southern Pines/Pinehurst, Rocky Mount, Wilson, Greenville, Kinston and Goldsboro. Sprint's Network Vision OEM Alcatel/Lucent is scheduled to begin mobilizing their subcontractors around the market this month. The first completed Network Vision sites are scheduled to start coming online in August. Raleigh/Durham Market Launch It was Sprint's original plan to launch markets when they reached 50% of sites converted to Network Vision. However, it has now been determined that Sprint will move up launches sooner than 50% completion in several markets. This is likely to maintain a Mid 2012 launch in markets that have already been announced. However, in an unannounced market like Raleigh, we don't know if they will resume pushing back market launches to 50%, or if they will now settle on a 40% completion to be the new normal for market launches. If Sprint waits for 50% completion to launch this market, it would make the launch approximately January (should the OEM stay on schedule). If they plan on a 40% market completion for launch, that would be December. You may think that 40% - 50% site completion is not enough to launch LTE service, but it would provide pretty good coverage. Even Verizon doesn't launch on all sites in a market initially. Usually less than 50%, then filling in with more and more sites every few months. Anticipated Sites Complete at Market Launch. According to the Network Vision schedules that S4GRU has reviewed, if Sprint launched the market in December, these are the anticipated sites that would likely have LTE complete at that time. This would provide fairly good LTE coverage over many parts of the market. Schedule details and the bottom line Sprint has not selected a date to formally "launch" LTE service in Raleigh/Durham, yet. It is difficult to try to pick a date now this far out, but we will take a stab at it. In looking at the schedule as of today, it would indicate a December or January market launch (going on a 40% - 50% completion for launch). But there is no way to know if AlcaLu and their subcontractors will actually hit their schedule dates this early in the deployment for this market. We will be able to gauge better after a few months of production. Alcatel/Lucent needs to hit a production rate of only 35 sites per month to stay on schedule. This is a pretty low rate. This market shouldn't have problems staying on time, or maybe even getting ahead of schedule. S4GRU has examined the schedule in great detail in this market and sees that most of the sites will be complete by August 2013. However, there may be a few sporadic sites that will linger past the completion. Photo of the Downtown Raleigh provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. NOTE: S4GRU Sponsor Members can track regular updates of Network Vision sites completed nationwide. Completed sites are shown in an interactive Google Maps interface. Information about sponsorship can be found here: S4GRU Sponsorship

Let us know when you notice 3G performance improvements. It will allow us to better understand how far behind the backhaul improvements are. Thanks. Robert

We did get an Epic donated to the cause. However, no one would part with an iPhone. Go figure... Robert

There are three separate upgrades that are occurring with Sprint. One is Network Vision, which adds improved 3G performance on 1900 MHz and adds 4G LTE on 1900MHz. All Sprint 3G devices will be able to use the improvements at post Network Vision sites. With 20% stronger signals, and much better improved data with new site backhaul. However, only new 4G LTE devices will be able to experience the new 4G upgrades at Network Vision sites. Then, another upgrade is happening where Sprint is adding CDMA 800 to sites. This is happening in a small way now, but will happen in a much larger fashion toward the end of the year. CDMA 800 improves voice coverage and building penetration tremendously. Most Sprint smartphones since 2011 support CDMA 800, and an upgrade will not be necessary for customers to be able to use it when the upgrades arrive if they have a CDMA 800 capable device. Unfortunately though, Apple did not include CDMA 800 support in neither the iPhone 4 or 4S. And it is not even known if Apple will include it with the new iPhone coming up. Apple doesn't bother to try to cover every band that their carriers use. T-Mobile is suffering through this inconvenience now. It is possible that Apple just sticks with 1900 coverage for Sprint. The final upgrade is LTE 800. Sprint will not even begin rolling out their LTE 800 network upgrades until late in 2013 and it will take some time to take over nationwide. LTE 800 will allow better coverage and building penetration for their LTE network and offer an even better LTE experience than just 1900 alone. However, there are no devices on the market now that support LTE 800 at all. Purchasers of LTE devices now will have to upgrade their device again when LTE 800 arrives in order to be able to use it. But this is really not a big deal because LTE 800 usage is not necessary as the LTE 1900 network will still be going along strong. Also, most people won't start seeing LTE 800 arrive in their market until they are approaching the end of their contract anyway. LTE 800 and LTE 1900 will not perform differently. Speeds and pings should be similar with similar signal strengths. It's just that LTE 800 may be more usable in areas where LTE 1900 signal may be faint. On the same token, CDMA 800 will not perform differently than CDMA 1900, it just will be usable in more places. What will be very noticeable is the difference between a legacy 3G site and a post Network Vision 3G site. At a 100% completed Network Vision site, 3G typical performs between 1Mbps and 2.6Mbps and pings in the 75ms - 130ms range. And just for grins, Sprint LTE performance is speeds of 6Mbps to 30Mbps with pings 90ms and less. The huge range in LTE speeds is because LTE performance is very signal strength dependent. Hope this clears up some of your questions. Robert

I have not had an update of any more information on the Austin market since posting this article. In our Sponsors section, we post completed NV sites as we receive the information approximately every 7 to 10 days. Robert

I can tell you that based on my experiences, when you have what you are describing, the culprit is usually power outtages. The reason why you may have two bars is the site closest to you that you usually experience the strong signal from is down. So you are now getting a weaker signal from a more distant site. The site closer may have had its UPS back up fail or already be completely exhausted. Or its possible the closer site has sustained wind damage. We had an issue with sustained power outtages a few years ago. Initially we had one or two sites down, but over 36 hours, we would lose another one every few hours until we were down to one serving the whole area. Then the power came back on and they all went live in approximately 30 minutes. So either you are having a similiar issue with power outtages, or some sites sustained damage. Neither would be unusual given the circumstances DC has endured recently. Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

The purpose of this article is to compare radio performance from the standpoint of signal strength, not so much speeds. I will do speed tests to compare if there is any correlation between decreased signal and speeds, not to try determine if one device is faster than another. eHRPD is totally irrelevant to this exercise. Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

I know I'm old compared to you whippersnappers, but I really like Fleetwood Mac. At least you didn't pick Tusk. Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner