aackmann

Yea Waukesha! I mapped some LTE down Arcadian this morning on my way to work, then picked it up again at the top of the hill on Moreland Blvd near the county jail/courthouse and right into the parking lot of my building at work! (You can see just south of the airport on Airport Rd where the purple deviates into a parking lot I even had it inside the building for a little while before it finally died out. I wasn't expecting it to see it at all once I stepped inside the building.

Yea man, the Racine people need to step it up. I'm sick of watching you all dog it out there on the field!

Aw man, I drove past it at like 4:15 and got nothing. Tried PRL update, Profile Update, LTE Discovery app, nothing. I hope that signal will reach out to the southern part of the airport where I work.

Hmm, doing the PRL update is what worked for me when one of those first couple LTE towers were completed in the northern part of Milwaukee. LTE discovery app works for LTE towers that I have connected to previously, but for new ones I'll have to give the PRL update near the tower a try.

The Waukesha one on 164 is not broadcasting yet, as of like 7:20 this morning. I took side streets to work today instead of the freeway to see if it was live. I drove right past it with LTE discovery running the whole time. I'm still waiting to see some LTE from the one near Loomis Rd and Layton Ave. That one's been accepted for almost a week I think.

When? And were you connected to LTE?

Wow, that's a whole-lotta panels. I really can't tell there. So many of those look alike. I'd say the 3rd ones from the left look like it because I see the RRU's mounted up there with them, but I think Samsung is using bright white panels, not grey ones... So I'm stumped.

Very true about the receivers. I'm happy with the current crew I don't think that there are a bunch of completed sites just sitting out there not being turned on, I'm guessing these crews are starting to ramp up and get more efficient. The UW Waukesha one is being worked on as we speak, and we just saw the RRU's get mounted next to the panels on the Goerke's Corners building.... I also saw a crew working on the water tower on 84th St just north of i94... So that's 3 sites (Milwaukee, Brookfield, Waukesha) that are basically in progress. Who knows how long the 21st and Pierce panels have been up there, but I'm just very happy to see alot of stuff moving now. Not to mention I saw the AT&T fiber guy at the radio station-mounted tower near 124th and Beloit. So we know the backhaul for that one is done now. I watch the sites complete map and sensorly every day cuz I know more sites will be popping up any time now!

That's even worse! You deserted us, then come back and yak it up in the Milwaukee forum! And you stole Greg Jennings too!

So the site on the building at goerkes corners along i94, I mentioned about seeing white boxes next to one of the panels. Well, I did verify on my way home from work last night, there was one white box on either side of a panel, then a few hours later, when I drove back out that direction for my volleyball game, they were painted brown to blend in. So I'm assuming those 2 boxes were RRU's, and the fact that there is two of them, one on either side of a panel... would that indicate that both LTE and 1x800 are being installed at that site? On another note, I drove by another Sprint site that's on top of a building on 21st and Pierce in Milwaukee, it looks like a NV panel with an RRU behind it to me.... And I know we're supposed to be careful about posting too much info in a non-sponsor forum, but I don't want to use the Milwaukee/Minnesota/ Dakotas forum cuz there's too many people talking about different areas. I feel like we could have our own little topic just for the greater Milwaukee area, like separate from Madison even

Welcome! there's a ton of great info out here. You can get an awesome mixture of "official" information directly from the site owner himself, combined with first-hand accounts of people in our area reporting work they see going on and so on. If you become a sponsor of the site then you can get access to all the official maps and see exactly which towers have been upgraded. The maps get updated pretty frequently, like every few days usually.

haha. I saw that guy in the cherry picker too. It looks like he was just painting though, I saw a big white spot where he was working. I think all the Sprint panels are on the next building up (to the west). Both of them look the same, but I think the one to the West, I'm pretty sure I saw like white-ish boxes next to the panels. The panels are painted brown to blend in, but I've never seen anything next to them until today. It's weird though... because I don't think I ever saw new panels get put up, they look like the same ones that have been there for a year now... So I have no idea what's going on there.

Yea, I saw that this morning too.... I do not believe that is a Sprint site. Along i94 at goerkes corners, the barker Rd exit... There are Sprint panels on one of those black-ish buildings to the South. I've been watching those every day because I drive right past there to and from work. Today, I thought I saw RRU's mounted next to a couple of the panels.... I'm not 100% sure, but I will definitely check again on the way home.

I saw another crew working on a tower in the Milwaukee area this morning. I dropped my girlfriend off at work downtown this morning and I was on my way out to Waukesha. The water tower on 84th St. between Bluemound and Hwy 94 had a guy in a cherry picker doing something with the panels that are strapped onto the tower. I'd say it's pretty safe to assume it's for Sprint. I pulled over to snap a couple quick pictures, but I couldn't stick around since I had to get to work. And yes, these pictures are pretty terrible, but I was rushed. I think in this first pic, you can see RRU's at the top, but I'm not certain. I'll probably take a drive past there after work to check it out since I have to go pick up the girlfriend from downtown anyways.

Sweet! Found it. Thanks!

Can you tell us where to find that page? I find it very difficult to find anything on this website. I have like 3-4 topics/pages that I check regularly and then there's a giant pile of other pages.

I'm still learning how to spot Sprint antennas myself. I usually just look for the thinnest, oldest-looking panels and assume they are Sprint's

I had ANOTHER informative meeting at a Sprint cell site after work today. I stopped at the water tower next to UW Waukesha because it's not too far from my work. There were a few trucks and a crew of about 5 guys walking around the base. So, of course, I parked and walked up. One of the guys walked over (wicked British accent) to talk to me. He said they were supposed to be installing Sprint panels on the water tower, "putting up new 3g and then 4g" I believe the guy said. He said they were supposed to be done by Friday, but they weren't given access to work on the water tower yet. So I'm guessing they just started today, I didn't see anything new on the water tower, and I didn't see any new panels laying around. They did have a truck with an enclosed trailer. Based on that info, I'd say that site should be done early next week I hope. I asked him if they were going to be working on any other cell sites in the area. He said they had one other one in Waukesha they were supposed to do next. He didn't say which one. He also didn't seem to thrilled to be talking to me, so I let him go after that. The AT&T fiber guy was way more talkative.

Holy crap! I must have looked to early. I saw the new sites complete post, but I didn't see anything new on the map. That's awesome! Getting closer to me!

Nice! I see a blip on sensorly. That signal look a little too strong to be coming from the Miller Park tower.... There must be another one in testing near by!

Well as for the radio frequencies thing, the FCC is in charge of setting acceptable rules and making sure RF antennas are at a safe level and all that jazz. So for that part, it really doesn't make sense for each municipality to do their own testing... But yes, the not in my back yard thing is a big deal, which is why tower sharing would cut down on the total amount of towers. I always envisioned, if I were the mayor of a city, it would make sense for the city to hire a specialist and do RF design for the entire city, map out what points of the city would be best for cell tower placement, and cover the entire city, then let tower rental companies bid on those spots, then let those tower companies lease the towers to all the carriers. I know that's too simple and there are inherent downsides, but I like that idea. Then you could have a city with great coverage, and minimal cell sites.

I feel pretty mixed on the subject. I want to see more wireless coverage, and we all know that if each municipality creates their own set of rules, it can take forever to get things accomplished. But we don't want to give companies too much power to do as they please, and put cell towers right next to someone's house. I would support measures that "encourage" cell companies to share towers as much as possible. I think it's stupid to see like 4 or 5 cell towers within a half mile of each other, all from different cellular providers. It makes alot of sense to consolidate cell sites from different companies. As long as there is a mechanism in place that the "owner" of the tower couldn't gouge it's customers. I'm sure it's a very complicated issue with many different variables. I would just like to see more tower sharing going on I guess. Less wasted space. I think Sprint does a good job of slapping cell sites on the tops of buildings and water towers and existing structures in the Milwaukee area though.

Well I got a nice little surprise after work today. I got to map a little bit of very low LTE signal in Waukesha to the East of the Waukesha airport. I pulled out of the Airport Rd Business park where I work (right to the South of the Airport) and my phone chimed. So I immediately fired up Sensorly and mapped what I could. I've never gotten anything there before, so I'm guessing maybe it's the farthest little reach of the LTE tower in Wales... A speed test got me 1.6Mbps down, I closed it before the upload started though. The signal strength was -120dBm at the time. Signal Check pro said "Serving Cell:09805301" under the LTE section. What does that mean? Is that the cell tower ID or something? I have a volleyball game at the Center Court Sports Complex in an hour, so I'll be heading back out to that same spot to see if I can map a little more

Well, I'm sure the whole permit situation comes into play there. I'm guessing it requires far fewer permits to have a fiber line ran to your location than it does to put up industrial electrical equipment and RF panels that broadcast a signal for miles. I dunno. I just can't wait until LTE pops up in areas I actually drive through. I want to drive out to Wales to map some LTE, but I've got a gas-guzzler car and I'm in the process of buying a house now, so I don't want to waste unnecessary money on gas :/ And as for the 1 vs 10Gbps, I'm not too concerned about that either, because Verizon and AT&T have more than double the customers that Sprint has too.

Well, I had an interesting encounter on my way home today! in Greenfield on Beloit Rd and about 124th st. It's on one of the radio station's AM towers. As I was driving, I saw a white work-truck parked in there. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, so I parked near the road and walked over to it. There was a guy sitting in an AT&T truck. I asked the guy if he was, by chance, working on fiber for Sprint. He said he was, and he will be done by Friday. So that tower should be ready for other work any time then! I also asked him about other work going on around here. He said Sprint has 59 sites that are having fiber ran to them around the Milwaukee area. (I don't know if Sprint uses AT&T fiber around here exclusively or not). He said the Verizon site at the radio station used Time Warner fiber. Anyways, he said the fiber is ran to most of the sites in Waukesha already, like in the city itself. He said one of the first ones to be done was a site at the way western edge of Waukesha.(not sure which one) He also said the one at WCTC has the fiber done for sure. He said that Sprint is only going with 1Gbps whereas AT&T and Verizon and so on, are putting in 10Gbps usually. He thought that was kind of shotty that Sprint was only installing 1Gbps instead of 10. That can easily be changed though. He said alot of other Sprint sites currently have like 5 or 6 T1 lines, and they're not bonded, so that limits bandwidth. I know Adding T1 lines was part of Sprint's band-aid phase to hold over until Network Vision came around. He also made the comment that Sprint is moving pretty slow on this work. I don't see how though, if Waukesha's fiber is already pretty much done, and we already have LTE on the East side of Milwaukee, seems like a decent pace to me. I am going to keep my eyes open even more now. That was the first time I've seen any sort of anything being done at a cell tower!