kytopgun

Are they working on this tower with an expired permit or does this tower have an active permit?

Hmm...sounds like either an ecsfb issue or site optimizations/testing being done. It should get on the accepted sites list soon then you will have to see if you can connect to LTE without forcing it.

Rancho has been experiencing Roaming and 1x without any 3G all day today. Still couldn't get 3G anywhere after driving around at lunch. Hopefully this is a good sign of something.

Most likely yes. Normal backhaul orders when placed usually take a minimum of 90 days and usually end up taking more around the 120 day mark before new backhaul is installed and fired up. This is if there are no issues between the integration team and the LEC etc...working with AT&T for backhaul can be a pain for the integration teams and everyone needs to be on the same page. As a Network Engineer I experience these things on a daily basis. Most likely the backhaul orders were placed a while ago and they have usually pulled fiber from wherever they need to up into the MPOE. Most of the time the fiber is terminated and actually connected to the cell sites base station switch ahead of time, but the ports are turned down. The integration team's job is to up those ports and integrate the site into Sprints network sending traffic over the new backhaul (fiber) and disconnecting the old backhaul. T1's...DS3's etc. It is to their advantage to submit the backhaul orders ahead of time because of the lead time that is required, that way the integration team can usually flip the switch to the new backhaul overnight.

Definitely Sprint and Definitely has new NV Samsung Gear already installed. They just need to flip the switch....soon....

Sounds like work on the LTE Core......

Interesting...they must be testing some LTE on those towers that are closeby. Nearest tower's are Auburn Blvd/Sunrise and another over on Fair Oaks/Greenback near the Mt. Vernon Cemetary. There is another further away over East of Hazel closer to Old Auburn/Hazel...but I think that one is too far. Although it could be the one at Hazel/Greenback too...hmmm

Lilo, Do we know which contractor yet is taking over for Vinculums? You could probably just keep an eye on the permits that you already have scope of no? Just watch for them to have fee's paid and get picked up to know how many more sites we are waiting on? You can probably tell which permits didn't get picked up too no?

Same here. Rancho's got a huge dead spot. Also Another big Dead Spot I have noticed as well is up on Antelope Rd/Roseville Rd all the way over to Antelope and Highway 80. Hopefully progress though...keeping my fingers crossed.

This could be good news...maybe they are testing.....a large cluster of cell sites...

Same thing today. No data again today in Rancho and I am having the same thing with calls dropping after just a minute or two. Must be Sprint testing or doing something.....

Something was definitely going on in the Rancho Area Yesterday. There was virtually no data connection all day yesterday. Have to see how today goes....

AT&T up on the top with the Orange Boom Lift and Sprint working on the bottom using the Blue Boom Lift.

Oh ok...Force LTE...

Dang! So it's working then with the Nexus 5? Did that site go 3G accepted now as well that you are connecting to?

This makes complete sense why our market has not seen more activations lately. More or less it is involved with the new (Samsung) OEM's equipment not being able to talk to another old (Nortel) OEM's equipment, but also more strictly to a newer device using eCSFB. We would have huge Gaps everywhere for normal voice coverage if they brought sites online slowly. Reno was a non-incumbent market....so are we in Sacramento. My guess is they are going to light up all of Sacramento with NV 3G first or maybe NV 3G and 4G at the same time, but not just sites with NV 4G. Then turn on NV 4G on sites that have at a minimum been NV 3G accepted. Roseville for example is one area where they have NV 4G, but are running Legacy 3G. The tri-band phones will have problems out there until they cluster launch NV 3G. I think were just going to wake up one morning and Sprint will have flipped 100+ sites in Sacramento to NV 3G or NV 3G+4G. Something big here is imminent..

Nexus 5! Alright! So now you can tell us where your getting TD-LTE all over Sacramento and test the speeds!......but probably not right away until they push an update for Sprint Spark correct?

The Nexus 5 is a no contract phone.

I was talking about the play store...don't know what the individual carriers are doing...

They are already sold out of Nexus 5's already in pre-order. Delay is 2-4 weeks probably close to a month from the Nov.8th date.

This tower definitely has NV Equipment up on the top rack though, so it should be near complete and ready to go on the list of hundreds of Sacramento Area sites waiting to be accepted.

Lilo what do you think? And also I am seeing this exact same setup on the Winding Way and Hazel Intersection Sprint Site. Looks like 1 Samsung RRU and then that 2nd RRU is a TD-LTE RRU? It's different from the standard of 2 Samsung RRU's that we are normally seeing. That 2nd RRU is alot bigger it looks like? Altogether it's still 2 RRU's per Samsung Antenna though which is a pretty sweet setup.

Wow so it looks like you can get the hardware to support all the bands now, but you can't actually use all 3 bands 800/1900/2500 until Sprint officially releases Spark update in early 2014? Seems to me there is no point to get a tri-band phone right now at the moment until they release Spark.....

I'm thinking short fat panel might be TD-LTE Sprint....excuse me...lilotimz would say TD-LTE Antenna!

Sprint is on top rack I believe...looks like lots of new stuff based on your 2nd picture, maybe even TD-LTE Antennas up there as well now? Better picture would help.