gerhardt52

And you are right about my complaints. Off topic to be sure. No more posts from me. Just monitoring information. Thanks

But I thought this was a forum. Not a diatribe.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ruffle so many feathers

Just about every provider has this tool available to help customers. Every cell provider can not provide cell coverage to every single square inch of every building in a city. Some providers do it better than others and it varies by area. If you don't like this "jury-rigging" then I would suggest switching to a provider that has better coverage indoors at your home. 800SMR will help with this issue in the near future though.

Were talking about a downtown area in a major suburban city, and not indoors only but outside extending several blocks. You sound like a Sprint employee to me.

I think the real crux of the issue here is why does a Sprint customer have to supply their own internet connection, share it with nearby sprint users in order to have a signal that is usable? Before Sprint gave me their Airave 2.5, I called and bitched about the signal quality at my apartment complex and mentioned that other Sprint subscribers were having the same issues with dropped calls, failed calls, delayed text messages, etc. They then proceeded to look at their "BIG BOARD" and tell me there were no signal issues in my area. Other posters have mentioned valid concerns about terms of use violations with ISPs. Besides, why should we have to shell out $ for an internet connection when Sprint charges the types of fees that they do? They should have plenty of operating capital for network improvements and modifications without resorting to this ridiculous jury-rigging to remedy the problem.

I was out driving around checking out the 4G LTE reception, running speedtest.net. Drove through areas with all bars near Grand River and Halstead. So I decided to try downloading an app from the PlayStore. It was a 2.5 Meg app and took nearly an hour on 4g to download. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

I was out driving around checking out the 4G LTE reception, running speedtest.net. Drove through areas with all bars near Grand River and Halstead. So I decided to try downloading an app from the PlayStore. It was a 2.5 Meg app and took nearly an hour on 4g to download. Anyone have any thoughts about this?

I run an Airave 2.5 too. Airaves don't actually extend the signal from the tower. They broadcast their own signal from your broadband and in essence are a mini cell tower - not a repeater or booster. Airave 2.5 is only 3G capable. Any LTE signal you are receiving at your house is coming from a Sprint tower.

 

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Which is exciting news because I received that marginal 4g signal (1 bar) while employing the Airave 2.5! From what I'm seeing, the reach of 4g LTE signals is quite impressive.

Sensorly.com or app is really your best friend in this case. Couple that with a sponsorship to this site and you'll get coverage updates and info on an almost real time basis. At least more real time than you will get even from Sprint.

 

While Sprint has only announced the Tri-Cities as LTE coming soon, coverage is fairly widespread, though sporadic, across the lower half of the state. Take into consideration that Michigan sites just started going live with LTE in January.

It is interesting that Sprint is playing their cards so close to the vest when you have so many subscribers impatiently awaiting the arrival of (and paying for) 4G LTE. You'd think they would be happy to say Detroit is under development at this time. Come on Sprint, throw us a carrot!

This link from Sensorly clearly indicates the extent to which Sprint is building out 4G LTE throughout the Detroit area. You might note as in my previous post about 36MB/s down at 696/telegraph and the strength and concentration of towers in that area.

http://sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=48336

My original discovery of a 4g signal was in my bed room on the 2nd floor of my apt building. I happen to be running an Airave 2.5 extender device due to the crappy voice reception at this location. I'm extremely curious whether or not the Airave was extending that signal, since supposedly those devices are unable to route 4g (from what I've read).

Also of note is the fact that I'm seeing decent download speeds (1.5-7 MB/s) even with barely 1 or even no bars! Anybody know what frequencies these signals broadcast on?

to:

Joshmccullough

My bad. That was a network improvement list, not 4g LTE. However, while driving across I-696 over Telegraph Rd last night 3-23-2013, I ran a 4g speed test that ran up to 36 MB/s down. Due to the apparent multiple locations these signals are occurring, Sprint is obviously wiring the Detroit area for 4G LTE, officially listed or not. Granted, during this test phase, they're probably not capping throughput. The old WiMax protocol was having difficulties due to interference from a Canadian broadcast station, and Detroit is problably lucky they didn't employ WiMax, considering the changover complications.

Just discovered Sprint 4g LTE last night 3-21-2013, over by Grand River Rd and Orchard Lk Rd. Drove up Grand River to Power Rd and did some speed testing. Periodically topped out at 20 Meg/S down, over 10 Meg/S up. Fastest test was at approx. 17.5 MB/S down. I was impressed to say the least! Ran these tests with 2 bars, up to 3-4 bars up the middle of Grand River Rd. Lesser results on side streets 1.5 MB/S to 6 MB/S with almost no bars! Saw on the Sprint site that Ann Arbor is officially listed as having 4g LTE.