Chris**

I went and read that article.  Great info in there, and explained almost every question i've had lately.   This restored my faith in this rollout, as it appeared things weren't going so well. 

I'll be sure to keep checking back and providing any updates i see locally. 

Keep up the good work fellas.

Well being a customer for 12 years is a reason. Up until recently I was very satisfied with the product I received. Unlike you, I have the expectation that my cell completes calls.

dial ##873283# and see if that helps.  it will update your prl.

Probably. It's still irritating knowing that you're paying 100% of the bill for 30% of the service. They wouldn't be so forgiving if you told them you were only going to be paying 30% for the next six months so bear with me through it.

you could ask verizon how much they charge for unlimited data and it will be about 3000% of what sprint charges.... bear with this conversion because once it is wrapped up, you will be happy you stayed put with sprint for what we pay vs what we get in return.  Plus, Michigan was on the front edge of the upgrades nationally.  Be happy you don't live in ohio.

I put some purple on Sensorly on the lake. NE side sucked for me with my EVO LTE once I got in the shadow away from that tower in Roscommon. You can see where my phone kicked over to 3G.

 

I guess I feel fortunate then.... I got LTE UNDER 106 db basically all day. I didn't really get too close to the east side of the south lake. Mainly sunken island on north, around the island north side and toward the south state park posted up just north of the beach. Signal was strong, every time I pulled phone out lte... So I streamed some slingbox and I got 3000k and up... Full hd when I wanted it. This is why I am a dedicated sprint customer. They heard us and are doing a commendable job getting us all up to speed in merely 8 mos. don't forget jan1 2013 zero lte in MI. This isn't aimed at you RCM, just offering some positive insight to those who may not feel like sprint has the customers in mind. If I had android I'd be mapping too... Keep up the great work guys.

I would not be so sure that "everyone else can use their phones."  Michigan Stadium, among many others, may never get any better -- 100,000 people are way too many unless there are 50 different wireless networks.

 

AJ

Totally agree, Saturday's in Ann arbor during the game is equivalent of michigan's 3rd or 4th largest city but only using a couple towers, not spread out across the entire city.. Same thing in bay city during 4th of July when 250,000 people descend on the city.... Grin and bear it. Nobody gets service during times as such... And honestly, when events like that happen....shut your phone off anyway because the battery will die in an hour or less looking for a tower. Airplane til you need it. My 2 pennies.

Higgins Lake most likely coming from the site near Roscommon. I'm actually heading up that way this weekend. Wife groaned when I said I had a some tower hunting to do while up that way.

correct, northeast side of the lake.  I was able to get it all across the lake too.  On 55 you can get it pretty much across hougton lake as well.  I was able to use my slingbox and watch football out on the boat... Not sure life get's much better!

I was pulling strong LTE <100dB on Higgings Lake all this past weekend.  Boy was that nice.  Bay City has added quite a few towers as well and the LTE footprint expanding around Tri-Cities.

Text message from sprint today said something to the tune of watch out for lte to turn on in bay city Michigan... However my excitement ended there. No love in the city limits, but I see a tower on the east side now shows 3g4g hybrid tower on donor map...

the third is I run my lte discovery app- I think you have given me exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks man.

Is there an app for iPhone 5 that allows me to do a manual tower search without using airplane mode? I guess what I'm asking is airplane mode toggle the only known way to effectively cross your phone over to 4g?

85-90 dB is an excellent strength for lte. Unless I am wrong and am corrected lte is the priority but your phone is programed to check it after a set time. I've noticed in new areas I go that have lte and my phone does not know it I have to cycle airplane mode, but usually areas that I visit that has lte my phone will do one of three things. The first one is switch immediately, the second is wait for the lte scan timer, and the third is I run my lte discovery app.

the third is I run my lte discovery app- I think you have given me exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks man.

To add to my last post, I love to stream YouTube personal selections or pandora via Bluetooth... In my car. But another issue is... As soon as I leave the 4g/3G tower threshold into 3G data... Even though 3G was provisioned, it sucks. Barely keeps up with pandora.. Buffers big time. I understand lte was not rolled out in my area, but it was avail in mid feb 2013, and hasn't been adjusted since. The 4g is awesome even for me on the distant end of service range of my tower at 117 db on lte. Why does the 3G make me suffer so much once the lte is not accessible on the same tower? They are combo... Midland mi. I am on the edge of the 4g service area with most strengths in 110-114... Anything above 117 sends me to 3G and the signal is low 90's. I've done *3001#12345#* and I see signal strength. Apple from my understanding... This is data.

Any help as to why the 3G is so bad once it cuts over from lte on these combo towers?

Why do these 3G/4g combo towers not immediately grab lte when I am clearly in 4g wheelhouse? I have to cycle airplane, but my Bluetooth pairing in my Avalon won't recognize my Bluetooth device after airplane cycle... I can't wirelessly stream without restarting my vehicle... Frusterating. For the record, iPhone 5 with 6.1 . Battery saver app which I love is saying Bluetooth 4.0. Anybody have a suggestion how to "trick" my iphone5 into picking up lte without airplane cycle?

looks like some mapping was done in bay city and also saginaw township in the past 4-5 days...  (fingers crossed)

 

 

Scroll all the way down to the "The S4GRU Club" and you'll have access to the Interactive S4GRU maps and S4GRU Sponsors forum. I think you'll like what you find inside of there.

In what screen? I am not seeing anything...

So I just made a small donation... What does that entitle me to.. If anything? It was only 25 bucks...

100 bucks does it?

U just struck a nerve. I need to see that info. I am embattled with my brother who has Verizon LTE. And pulls 55+mb everywhere. He has grandfathered unlimited for peanuts. I've been a huge proponent of sprint going on 8 years now. I was just told at sprint store that every Nextel tower is fully decommissioned by July 2013 and each tower will be converted, enhancing sprint's footprint. I need it on Higgins lake before Verizon... So I gotta see those maps and tower locations.

So, donation is clearly in order... Im thinking 20-30 based on the info ive obtained prior to my reception of lte...is fair...

Are you guys really this dedicated? I presume sprint doesn't directly employ you...so I'll add this much. If sprint hired employees on the cust serv side who were about .001% committed as the crew on here.... They'd be on top of the fortune 500. The knowledge base alone, and the quality of information is light years above the 2nd or 3rd level of support sprint can supply.

 

 

Sponsor data is not to be shared in public forums. Donate a few bucks and find the wealth of knowledge within.

I don't have the time to read everything in hindsight to get up to speed... In one sentence... What do I need to do to make donation and dive in head first? I am a quick study...

But what makes someone in Hart or Howell or Big Rapids or Clare or Outer Nowheresville less important than someone in Metro Detroit or other large metro area?

You're absolutely right, neither customer is more important. However, the economical impact is not quite as simple. Those 300 customers in Clare might be thrilled with their LTE... but the 300,000 in Metro Det, and the 30,000 in Saginaw Township, to Bay City, to Midland who aren't so thrilled... comprise of a lot more revenue stream for sprint than the few in the less dense population areas which are upgraded. I happen to have LTE in Midland, but prior to that... we have been dealing with sub 250k 3g which i called about every 2 weeks just to remind them. We were sold wimax phones as 4g, and also told they could be upgraded to support LTE at some point (Evo3D). The only wimax I ever saw was in Mt. Pleasant, and Outside Flint, which I maybe used twice total since 2010. People have been patient, I know I'll continue to be, as I have upgraded 5 lines in the last 3 months to Iphone 5's based on the LTE rollout I've seen so far.

That Said, do any of the sponsors have any recent info on towers on M-47 between Saginaw and Midland?

It actually does not make sense at all to wait on cell sites in a specific area when others cell sites in other areas are ready and waiting to be worked on. This 1) waste the time of the contractors who could be making money by working, 2) delays the rollout as that means towers that could be upgraded are left sitting there while contractors are waiting on others towers to be ready, and 3) delays network vision project.

 

The shotgun approach that sprint is doing may be inconsistent but it's far better than sitting on their asses and doing nothing. ATT and Verizon or T-mobile may have that luxury of waiting to complete an entire area but sprint has a failed legacy network that must be replaced as soon as possible. They cannot delay this project as it's their bread and butter for the future.

I understand what you are saying... I suppose I should have added another thought vs crews moving around. I have noticed on sensorly that places like Clare MI, and Standish MI are fully functioning... so I suppose the fault lies with the planner who scheuled the first phase of the upgrade to start in these areas, rather than the higher population density demographics, where you know, sprint has lots of customers who are impatiently waiting, for the "bread and butter"... to be put on their plate before the few hundred people in the BFE get theirs. I can tell you first hand that at least 15-20 people I know have moved to verizon out of sheer disgust, of what is mentioned above. I've done eveyrthing in my power to convince them my LTE service is great, and it will be here soon enough... but my comments fell on deaf ears. I get it... I just feel like many of the sprint customers are uninformed, have no idea about sensorly, this forum... In fact, yesterday on Mlive, there was an article about the LTE coverage in MI, and I linked sensorly to hopefully educate a few people who otherwise would have had no idea... as the article clearly stated Sprint had no LTE in MI, which I informed them was not at all true.

I would just have a beer and be patient. This is not the WIMAX rollout that started and then stopped permanantly.. Every cell site in the market will be upgraded. Every transceiver at every cell site is going to be replaced. Every antenna array is going to be replaced. It's going to take some time.. When it's done, it's done.. If it's not anywhere near you now, it eventually will be.

 

If you think waiting for LTE/NV is bad, try waiting for Sprint to announce when they're going to sell the Galaxy S4 and you have a Galaxy S2 that you want to upgrade badly..

I actually have LTE where I live in Midland. I occassionally bounce between 3g/4g if my phone is in my pocket and i am in my basement...

It just seems to me, it would make more sense to have a crew finish an area they are currently working, rather than send them all over, only to return to an area they've already been.

As far as the s4... sprint just asked me Monday evening if I wanted to pre-order one when I called to enquire about the iphone 5s release in June/July.... you might wanna give them a call and find out if you can get on the list to pre-order now.

Does anyone know why the progress in midland MI seems to have gone to lets light it all up to nothing new here? half the city still without LTE the other half seems spotty in lots of places...

I wondered the same thing about Midland, the areas where the most money is located... have been neglected for upgrades. The area by the mall is a dead zone for 3g at best. I can't pull over 250k around there. I am also wondering how soon Bay City, Saginaw Township, mainly m-47 between Midland and Saginaw, and the surrounding towers will be completed. Does anybody know the timeline for the upgrades to be completed in MIchigan as a whole? I just want to have an end date in sight...

Great info on this thread by the way. Keep up the good work guys.

That was me took a drive up there since that's the closest tower to where I live and having no LTE down in Toledo or Ohio yet. I posted pics in the sponsor section of the fastest speed test I got.

Sorry to hear there is a buckeye in need... Who am I kidding... No I'm not. GO BLUE!!!!

If anybody reads this and has ability to upload data to sensorly... Please do your due diligence and take a ride through midland... From the corner of wheeler and garfield, all the way to Washington, south from there to... Salzburg n Saginaw? Salzburg to Waldo... Waldo back to wheeler... Everything encompassed inside that region should rightfully be lte. I see it daily. Best speeds r 33 down, 10+ up, and -60ish dBm in high signal strength spots.

I have to say, this is like Christmas morning getting lte service when u own a slingbox. :}