MReiser4670

The software update that allowed SDC to work over 1X was released in September I believe. Even with the capability, I used to see extreme lags in excess of 2 minutes to get a connection. But with the Admiral, the DC performance is the least of its troubles.

I was told by my dedicated care rep that the SDC issue with LTE is supposedly software-related and will be fixed in the future. However, this is the same rep who last year told me that the EVO 4G LTE would be able to use SDC when the app was made available since it had a compatible chipset. Sounds plausible but I'm not sold on whether a solution will ever roll out

I'm now on my 4th day having a Note 2 alongside my EVO LTE. The Note 2 is a known LTE powerhouse, and my observations on signal strengths in both phones bear witness to that fact. However, I have also noticed that the EVO very rarely hangs onto an unusable signal, while the Note 2 will keep dragging -114 to -124 dBm instead of switching back to EVDO. Of course my market is still in the infant stages of LTE rollout. Perhaps there's a happy medium & the One can fill that gap?

It seemed like there was a lot of tower activity today in the Bensalem area. LTE was off & on several times and my BSL for 1xRTT was bouncing all over the place while I sat in my office. At one point my voice service was practically non-existent while I was connected to a tower in Willingboro, NJ (almost 5 miles away). This went on throughout the day for several hours...it was extremely frustrating trying to get business done, but hopefully it will result in some more LTE accepted sites over the next few days/weeks.

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago driving the PA Turnpike from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh meant enduring an 80 mile 'black hole' in Nextel cell service...not even roaming was available. Ivthink it was between mile markers 200 & 120 or so? That lack of service was fairly common not so long ago...now it's frustrating if you can pick up only 1xRTT. I think the progression that has been made over the years is amazing when you look at the long view.

After having my Note II for 2 days, I am really impressed with it's capacity as a workhorse. Nothing slows it down! The large size is not an issue using it as a phone like I feared. It can find and hold an LTE signal like a champ too; I had a usable LTE signal 2 miles over the Betsy Ross Bridge in New Jersey...my EVO lost the signal before I had arrived on the other side of the bridge. Call clarity and volume was excellent. The only thing that disappointed me was the screen resolution. Compared to the EVO LTE, the screen is choppy & pixelated. Scrolling through facebook just wasnt as smooth or clear. The color clarity and vibrancy is good however, and movies look really good on the larger screen. Overall I am really happy & excited to be able to get my hands on such a nice piece. I know none of this was groundbreaking information, but this was a big deal for me as a month ago I was 100% certain that my next phone would be the HTC One. I might still replace my EVO with a One, but I am seriously impressed with the Note II.

I wasn't able to replicate this issue today so I will have to try another day. On another note, the Note II really does have a much stronger LTE antenna than the EVO! I was able to hang onto an LTE signal for well over a mile into New Jersey when my EVO lost the signal before I was off the bridge! If only SignalCheck had the ability to provide cell tower data on the Note, that would be icing on the cake.

Well then it's perfect timing for me to receive my new Note 2 today so I can compare the two devices side by side. I will report back in the next few days.

Yes, completely stock EVO LTE. I mentioned that the signal strength varies because sometimes the signal is as strong as -84 dBm while it's not connecting. I have another screen shot for you from today I was able to capture before it failed: The LTE signal is plenty strong @ -89 dBm, but the RSRQ is -20 dB & the SNR is 0.1 dB so that's a ton of interference. That's why I thought it might be a blocked signal? And once the connection fails & I revert to eHRPD, the LTE values that toggle on & off do not change. LTE will look like this off & on all day regardless of where I go: As of today, I know this tower actually is transmitting a valid LTE signal as I picked up 01A1B102 this morning right outside my house about 2 miles away from this spot. As I moved closer to Horsham, I traded towers to 01A1902 but dropped LTE soon after. I've learned these towers by location thanks to your app & the Sponsor Maps...the Serving Cell ID doesn't directly match any data in the maps, but they do indeed work to identify the tower. When I drive to work every morning on the PA Turnpike, my connections go like this: 01A16A03 --> 01A16A02 --> 01A17A03 --> 01A17A02 --> 01A01D03 --> 01A02901 (these 3 toggle 2-5 times within a minute right near my exit) I know the location of all these towers except for 01A01D03 by watching when they switch sectors. As you can see your app is a valuable tool for HTC users to track towers. I *think* SVDO makes that impossible but I'm certainly no expert. Before I started using your app, I would have several instances of 1-2 minutes without data in certain areas where an LTE approved tower was in the vicinity. I just had no way of diagnosing it. This situation is the likely culprit; the phone desperately wants that LTE signal but is somehow blocked from connecting. Eventually either you move out of range of that tower or the phone eventually defaults to EV-DO. One spot where it was happening constantly is now where I pick up tower 01A16A03 going the other direction which is EXACTLY adjacent to a non-LTE NV tower. My phone would try to connect to LTE for a good 2 minutes but getting that non-LTE tower in between my phone and the LTE tower broke the cycle. That makes sense...it just seemed interesting that it only appears to happen in areas that have actual LTE signal. When I was in Delaware this past weekend, I didn't have this happen once in 3 days. I was cycling pretty consistently too. As soon as I cycled data across the PA border close to an area with LTE active, it started to happen again. I don't think it's a SignalCheck bug at all, but the evidence suggests that an actual LTE signal might play a part in that brief report. Sorry for the really long post...just trying to get all the information out there. Hopefully there are 1 or 2 points brought up which help with the SignalCheck experience.

Visiting my parents tonight in Huntingdon Valley, I was very surprised to find an LTE signal throughout the house. The closest LTE tower is a couple miles away. There is a clear line of sight to the tower though, so I guess that helps.

I can definitely vouch...I passed through Chester on I-95 over the weekend & LTE was strong all the way through town.

That was my little attempt at humor about being so quick to forget about Direct Conect.

With rare exceptions, I can consistently count on 1Mbps down & up wherever I go. NV upgrades have really made a huge difference over the past 3 months, and the LTE footprint in my area gets bigger by the day. Patience is being rewarded.

Thanks, I actually already use SignalCheck Pro on my EVO LTE. I'm really looking forward to the improved LTE reception, I hear it's freakishly good. I use my phone for tethering my laptop when I'm on the road (yes I pay for it) so good LTE reception is critical for me.

That BSL is right next to the PA Turnpike / Rt 1 interchange...I picked up strong LTE from there all the way through Feasterville & Southampton and beyond, but I didn't see that LTE tower ID. Perhaps you were grabbing a signal from a distant tower like the one in Richboro? Either that or I just didn't notice it...I swapped towers three times in 5 minutes around Parx so I may have missed it.

I spoke to my dedicated care rep today since I've been looking to upgrade 2 phones on my business plan. My original intention was to talk about pre-ordering the HTC One & get some feedback regarding whether the LG Optimus Elite or the Kyocera Torque would be the better option for my salesman since we still use Direct Connect. BUT THEN, my rep made me an offer I couldn't refuse...she said she could offer me a Note 2 for each line for $149 per phone. Direct Connect? What Direct Connect? I have two Note 2s due to arrive on Thursday. Mobile to mobile is free now anyway right? Just wanted to put it out there...speaking to someone at Sprint might get you the same deal if the price is what kept you from pulling the trigger.

I have an issue where I'm showing a false LTE signal, but I think I understand what may be happening. Take a look: This has happened now 3 days in a row in the same general vicinity. Here in Philadelphia, we're seeing new LTE towers popping up every day so it's kind of like a scavenger hunt. At first I thought it might be just too weak of a signal, but the LTE tower that might cause that issue is currently off. Since this is coming up again & again in the same area, I have to assume that there's more to this than just a bug. Also, the signal strength varies each time, and even though I'm connected to eHRPD in this screenshot, my phone will sometimes take a minute or longer to make the connection. What I think might be happening is the phone is recognizing a blocked LTE signal. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption? Also, in areas like this, when I hit the "Reset Data Connection" button, I get the chimes before the cellular radio goes into disabled mode and won't reset without hitting the reset button again. This doesn't happen unless I'm in an area known to currently have (or have had) an LTE signal coming from somewhere. I'm starting to learn how these little quirks are actually clues to where I will pick up LTE. I'm not sure if any of this is new information, but I thought I'd share for the benefit of everyone.

On my way in to work this morning on the PA Turnpike, I picked up LTE in Hatboro right near Byberry Rd. I carried it all the way to the Street Rd slip ramp, even handing off towers twice. One of the handoffs happened right in the slip ramp, then I lost the signal. I picked it up again a few blocks east on Street Rd, and then handed off to another tower which took me all the way to my office near Street Rd & I-95. The "blanket" is starting to come together...I'm happy to see my EVO LTE swapping towers. I also picked up a weak LTE signal in Dresher once I was on the west side of the big hill on Susquehanna Rd near Twining Rd.

After my experience with the Admiral, I don't know if I could ever trust Motorola to make a competent Android phone ever again. While I understand the DC functionality made the phone unique, the utter lack of usability of the keyboard & the dialer are beyond forgiveness. Surely they could have (and should have) done much, much better. Now that I've said all that, that has been my only experience with a Motorola smartphone. Can someone convince me to give them another try? It's possible...but it won't be easy.

I was finally able to get an LTE signal in Bensalem on my way home today. Very strong signal & even swapped towers past Parx before losing 4G. Also, it appears the tower in Willow Grove was shut off today.

So I picked up 3 4G points on Sensorly while running to Taco Bell for lunch...and I don't know where it was. It's a short drive, and none of it is LTE mapped yet, so I want to find it but it won't show up on the map. I'm way too impatient for my own good.

I did a nice big circle around the neighborhood...mapped up Rt 611 all the way to Fitzwatertown Rd and Rt 63 from Rt 611, past Willow Grove Mall, and then along the PA Turnpike behind Sam's Club & Walmart before I lost signal. I posted my guess on which tower is transmitting in the Sponsor forum.

Crazy enough, I actually picked up an LTE signal right as I pulled up to my house tonight. Based on how I'm sitting on the west side of a decent sized hill, that probably means another tower is active in the Willow Grove area. You know I'll be out & about later doing a search!

As a business customer, I do it through my dedicated customer care rep. We get upgrades on all phones (except iPhones) every 12 months, but it's problematic to get this done through any other channel plus, if I go to a retail store, I have to buy the phone out of pocket then get reimbursed. Through dedicated care, they do bill the phone through he account. Once I get a phone, I go to a corporate Sprint store to activate the phone to ensure all the contacts switch over properly. This isn't an issue with smartphones as much as the direct connect devices we have for most of my staff.

I still think widespread tri-band LTE is a year or more away. The iDen network @ 800 MHz is still operational until at least June 30th, 2013 so I don't think it's at all practical to release tri-band phones that support using bandwidth still operational under an old infrastructure. You may not see tri-band phones until 2014.