scubajwd

Denver was picked by Clearwire with input from Sprint based on usage and need to offload among other things. Furthermore it already has a sizable wimax rollout with equipment (huawei) that can be relatively "easily" upgraded to TDD-LTE with mostly a software upgrade with no actual physical work on the equipment other than the base stations.

 

Vegas was one of the few  early Wimax markets with equipment that must be completely replaced which might've been a too costly affair for Clearwire who was quite money strapped. Phoenix had a test FIT and was not a wimax market. All current Band 41 conversions are in fully deployed markets. 

Then one can infer from this that band 41 implementation is going to be in fits & starts thru out 2014-2015

presumably and that some markets will be way ahead of others with the promise of "Spark"; I suppose

Softbank (aka Sprint) simply has to decide at the margins which markets have potential to give ROI (read added 

subs) sooner than others; it appears to me that NV will be fragmented at best for a year or two..I know this is drifting

off-topic but Colorado has been a pathfinder for Spark since last July and seems to me to be a harbinger of

the form NV will eventually take..

Why was Denver picked by Sprint to be an early adopter of band 41?  Why not Vegas or Phoenix or

other suitable Wimax locals with similar topology?  I've often wondered about this..Perhaps Denver

had smaller market share?  Little Wimax usage?

Not to much south of 215 yet other than a corridor of service south on eastern

for about three miles; most of GV and Anthem are still barren of LTE but

yes it seems to be getting better albeit slower than we would like

The few places that I have frequented in the last 6 months on the strip have had excellent

3G coverage (mostly Caesars Palace complex & the Bellagio); inside & out; I've yet to connect to LTE

anywhere on the strip (limited samples..mind you)..speeds mostly sub 1 mbps down for data simply

due to numbers; here at the house my 3G downloads average 1.3 -1.5 Mb; two miles from my house I've

seen 20-27 mbps downloads routinely with 4G LTE; what Vegas needs badly is for all the Wimax towers

to be updated and then this place will rock with LTE love..

It's spotty; I live here (actually in Henderson); yes, you would think the entertainment

capital of the world but be first tier on the NV rollout..you would be wrong..third tier

and band 41 is no where in site here...but hey, there are other larger burgs that do not

have nearly as much LTE love as we do yet..say Denver and Phoenix altho Denver is

rapidly catching up with Spark and 800 Mhz..probably will pass LV soon; I'll say this

about LV 3G service: it's never been better!!

Hello Josh..welcome back..hope your school semester went ok...just a note:  I just set my

personal best LTE download of 22 mbps set at south-west corner of eastern at horizon ridge

on the starbucks outside patio; I've never experienced cellular speeds of this nature so it was quite a

treat; the tower south of starbucks on Eastern is blasting out LTE & was accepted about 1 month ago;

I'm still waiting on the Vivaldi park tower to go live but I guess there is backhaul issues with it..

 

NTG9X15C_45.04.12.00

 

12/20/2013

 

Enhancements:

• Improved Network hand-offs between LTE bands
• B41 throughput improvements
• Spark icon
• Wi-Fi popup when tethered

 

Raw...my tri-fi comes up for an upgrade here in 10 days; do you like your Zing?  Do the radios have

good reach?  Have you actually connected to band 41 with your device here in Vegas?

Thanx, hog...have you stopped using Wimax all together, then?; my

tri-fi comes up for upgrade in 20 days and I'm leaning towards the

Zing but wonder if that's wise given lack of LTE  south of the 215..

What are your thoughts on this?

Really?  Where?  Seems good one minute and then a day or two later in the same location..nothing..

Sensorly maps have not changed much in 4-6 months as far as I can tell...still loads of light shades of purple

Yup...all you early adopters...keep us posted...my tri-fi hotspot contract is up soon

Not sure of the Zing but the older SW Tri -Fi has connected for me at -104 at about 4 mbps; you also need to

look at signal quality as well not just strength..this was for 1900 mHz (inside)

Somehow I think the eCSFB issues elsewhere have siphoned of resources here in Vegas land; just my opinion as it seems like towers get accepted but the LTE experience is spotty at best everywhere I travel and nonexistent south of the 215; I've pretty much stopped looking at this boiling pot of water as the more I watch it the longer it takes to boil; for now I just hope my WIMAX continues to be as good as it is at the house; 3G for my money has never been better and since my wife uses the Galaxy S3 for voice & text mostly we've become ambivalent towards 4G LTE

I see...then I sit corrected..it MAY be possible that SLC & Denver beat Vegas after all; I know that Denver has a leg up with Clear tower conversions on band 41..I'll keep an eye on the sensorly maps as I travel to both places

LV,IMHO, is way ahead of both SLC/Provo & Denver Metro; and with winter coming I expect that SLC/Denver will slow and Vegas will accelerate some simply due to weather conditions...your mileage may vary as always..

Green Valley Ranch Casino: inside at the new Starbucks (north end)  hit -94 dbm on my tri-fi hotspot; but quickly fades as one walks into the interior of the building; little to no LTE south of 215 and south & east of St Rose Parkway; connected to LTE with my GS3 driving southbound on I15 from about Craig Rd to the 215; LV is not launched and I believe they will lite the place up in clusters to avoid some of the 3G-4G handoff issues that plague other areas...no band 41 RF that I can tell..Wimax is still very strong for me..thats your LV metro report..stay tuned

Wimax is still King as far  as I'm concerned here  in the LV metro  area..lots of NV accepted towers..great 3G but very little consistent  & usable LTE sorry  to say....can't wait  for Spark  to become  reality here!

Anectodal information somewhat related to this thread: recently drove from Las Vegas area to SLC; a distance of about 500 miles several hundred of which are desolate; my wife held a phone call on our GS3 north of Beaver Utah for over an hour to her sister in Utah; this has never been possible in the 20 years I have been making this trip; my 3G experience here in the LV area has NEVER been better than it is now;sooooo, not withstanding these results ( I realize that they are CS in nature) I never have occasion to call Sprint CS anymore and I've never had better mobile experience than I have now; I await 4G LTE but fundamentally my wife & I use a cell phone for voice & texts..very little data...your mileage may vary..I realize..

Not sure which thread this question belongs in so I'll ask here: near me is a newly accepted 4G tower ; about 1/3 of a mile away I get .25 mbps ( Thats 1/4) download and 7.5 mbps upload and the signal level is an awesome -67 RSRQ; GS3 shows 6 bars of signal strength so what's up with this?  Is the tower broadcasting but at a very low level?  How can I see such a strong RF signal but get such a lousy download speed?  Why is there so much asymmetry between the download & upload speeds?None of the other towers around me (for several miles) have had NV upgrades so my guess might be that this tower can't hand off to anything so its broadcasting minimally but if so why have it on at all?

or...said another way more simplistic: "there weren't 50 million smart phones,tablets, & iPads all wanting to see the Final of Breaking Bad at the same time"  lots has changed as AJ said above; and the saturation continues with Skype & Netflix and Facebook video more & more; to say that this is sustainable w/o caps  or throttling belies one's understanding of the current state of the art..my

guess is that the cable operators are going to move forward with caps & throttling as well as HD video now is being streamed like crazy thru those glass pipes..

On a recent trip to San Diego County from my home here in Las Vegas I got a variety of speeds thru-out North County: hit 30 Mbps at the junction of 215 with I15; about 5 down in Fallbrook; zero connect at Courtyard Marriott in Oceanside; about 3 down in San Marcos at Sycamore & the 78( this last one was with -92 dBm signal strength); SD is NOT yet launched but has come a long ways with LTE since my last trip in May; 

Just for your info, Mr Hog, I also live in Nevada; a small burg known as Henderson..BUT I happen to live in the NIMBY part

of town in the hills and quite honestly I NEVER expect to see a strong LTE signal at my house..I'm on the fringes of Wimax; the point to this is that I DON'T expect Sprint to move Heaven & Earth so that I may have a strong wireless signal; if you are truly in the sticks in Nevada you're going to have a problem once Wimax is yanked as I doubt Sprint will maintain any but the protected sites for Wimax; this is YOUR choice

Nothing here; lets move on people..if Mr Hog is in the sticks and is using a UNDERUTILIZED tower..well thats ok I guess but like Fray above I'm not sure all of this adds up..

Probably neither; my current PS3 is used only occasionally and the soon-to-be Xbox One is reported

NOT to function as a Media Extender for MS Media Center; so the whole concept of HTPC is being

re-jiggered by MS & the cable monopolies; yes, the Xbox One can control SOME TVs with cutsey voice

controls but unlike the Xbox 360 one CANNOT stream live or recorded TV from one's

central PC via media center over a home network system; since I'm not a GAMER neither upgrade

is in my future unless things change between now & November

Couple data points: at Green Valley Ranch Casino yesterday at Food Court (inside) North end near glass got an

LTE signal from the Pecos/215 tower of about -103 dBm on my SW Tri-Fi: about 3 mbps down and and amazing 7 mbps

up; anyone know why the uplink is so much stronger? Never seen this behavior before; the tower is a good 2 miles away and for inside at -103 dvm I thought these were pretty good numbers

I drove by there a day or so after Robert reported the tower had been accepted and saw no LTE; I think I was there

Weds so hopefully they will leave it on broadcasting LTE; yea...progress in Henderson!  First lit up tower

south of 215!