mrmiyagisr

Hey, all:

 

Was poking around the Virgin Mobile coverage map (they use Sprint) and got a surprise today. It looks like Camden and Burlington Counties now have LTE! I double checked Sprint's actual site and it seemed to confirm this.

 

Can anyone back this up, or am I still hung over from last weekend?

Camden and Burlington counties DO have LTE, but it's not complete yet.  There are still a number of sites in both counties that have yet to have LTE turned on.

so my tower is broadcasting band 25 LTE but the signal is bad its giving off -112DBM is this pre testing?

Since you're a sponsor, you can see on the map if the closest site to you has been LTE accepted.  Is that the case?  Also, about how far are you from it?  My nearby tower is only 3G accepted but it's broadcasting one bar of LTE.  I'm not even 1/4 mile away from the site, and I only get one bar of LTE, so I know they're still in the testing phase of things.

Over the past week the 4G signal has been getting stronger.  I'm consistently getting 3-5 bars in the house.  I also got a SMS from Sprint notifying of network improvements.

Which SMS did you get?  Was it the one that said "Over the next month, the new network will be largely completed in your area"?  If so, pretty much everyone got it.  Even in markets that are FAR from completion, so take it with a grain of salt.  This site is the best resource to figure out how far along the rollout is where you live.

I was in the area on Saturday, and picked up that tower. Unfortunately once I turned down 130 and drove to the Shoprite, coverage dropped to <1 bar, roaming.

 

They really need to bring 800mhz onair there.

Yeah, every once in a while I'll go to that Shoprite and I notice the same thing that you do.  It appears that there's a tower that would be better served for that area (which is just north of there on 130), but it's a legacy site.  So just having it brought to NV would be a great help (but even better of course with 800).  It's just good that there's a tower in North Brunswick that's on (and it happens to serve a couple of strip malls and the Shoppes across Route 1).

This is at the Walmart/Office Depot on Route 1 in North Brunswick. Not sure if this is live or just testing, but I think this is from the tower not too far away near the Rt 1/130 exit.  The tower is still being shown as 3G, so I'm hoping to see it in the list of LTE acceptances soon.

For a market to be considered for an official launch, they have to surpase 40% POPs coverage, and have the center of the main city covered. For Jersey... not sure how that'd work. Maybe just a POPs thing for your area.

 

As far as recently updated, there's now a map for that! Check the NV Sites Complete thread, and scroll down a couple posts.

I gotcha.  Well Camden, NJ is the first "market" in NJ to officially be launched, and since it looks like all of the sites there are 4G accepted, that would make sense.  I'm hoping whatever city in the Central Jersey market "launches" soon, because I've come across a couple of towers that have been 3G/4G accepted for months now yet still can't get an LTE signal from them.  Or maybe they'll be live as soon as the market is launched?

And I just saw the new map!  That helps me (and I'm sure plenty others) a great deal.  Looking forward to seeing more yellow and green pins in Jersey soon (less red pins and legacy dots, too).

I'm getting sporadic 4G signal in the 3 to 5 bar range in my living room in Hillsborough. It can't be long now before it's official.

I would think that our market will officially be launched soon.  I don't know what the exact threshold of LTE sites accepted that would make that happen (or POPs), but it can't be much longer.  Though to be realistic, the current "polar vortex" can't be helping things all that much.

Also, is there any other way to figure out which specific sites get accepted for LTE or 3G (from legacy)?  It's considerably easier when there are multiple sites that get accepted in a report, but a little bit of a challenge if it's, say, just 1 site acceptance in any given market.  I wasn't sure if there was some sort of automation that would help indicate whether a site is newly accepted and then after the subsequent update, those pin colors would revert to what they are on the legend.

I apologize if this has been answered in advance.  If there isn't anything that can be done, then taking a current screenshot of whatever part of the map is needed and using that to compare future acceptance reports will do just fine.  Thanks in advance!

no i m insinuating that its basically most places besides my area that has it complete and i know it still on going the band 25 rollout plus i m on the coverage edge of two towers so i m curious of how it will perform and what not

I don't know where in East Brunswick you live, but I was there a couple of days ago visiting a relative who's unfortunately in a long-term care facility off of Cranbury Road (CR 535) and that seems to be an almost dead spot (which is the complete opposite for how coverage is driving along Route 18).  Occasionally I'll get 1 or 2 bars of 3G (or it'll switch over to 1X), and sometimes it will roam onto Verizon.  I think the closest tower from that place is the one off the Turnpike, and according to the sponsor maps it's still a legacy tower.  Not sure if that's the closest tower from your place.

Glad to help.  And bear in mind two things about the Sensorly maps for Sprint LTE:

1) I personally wouldn't count the parts of Philly and South Jersey where the 4G signal is one bar, it's likely where LTE hung on a little longer than it should before switching over to 3G.  Basically stating that LTE is probably unusable in that area.  However, LTE on the 800 spectrum will definitely help out with that issue.

2) Since it's crowd sourced, it's dependent on people mapping those areas where LTE is present.  There are some sites broadcasting LTE where people haven't mapped coverage on Sensorly.  In South Jersey, 27% of LTE sites have been accepted since around the end of August (and that's only counting information as of the end of last month, so you gotta think that percentage is a bit higher now).

Let's hope there isn't another polar vortex headed our way, and hopefully the LTE acceptances will continue to come at a good clip going forward.

Lower frequency = longer wavelength, which means better signal propagation and building penetration with 800 vs 1900.

So, if I follow Robert correctly, in your situation, you should get more bars and a better connection overall once the towers by you are upgraded.

There's a tower by me that hasn't been upgraded yet.  I'm about 1/4 mile away from it and I'm only getting 2 to 3 bars of 3G, and sometimes it'll switch to one bar of LTE.  I've run a speedtest while it's on LTE and it's only at 2 up/1 down.

Does that suck?  Absolutely.  But, what can you do?  I'm personally used to how slow data on Sprint has been on 3G.  I mean, it can't get any worse.  It can only get better.  And it will.

i m kinda new to this

New to what, in particular?  I'm confused.

Hey, all:

 

Been reading this thread with some interest. I'm looking at Virgin Mobile, for my iPhone. VM uses Sprint's network.

 

So am I correct in understanding that the major towns in Camden and Burlington Counties (Cherry Hill, Mt. Laurel, Evesham, etc.) are actually get 4G LTE?

 

TIA for any help.

Some parts of those towns are broadcasting LTE at the moment, it'll get better as time goes on.  You can see crowd-sourced LTE maps here:  http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4145-sprint-lte-coverage-maps-via-sensorly/

You can also download the Sensorly app from Apple's App Store, if that's more convenient for you.  Either method should give you a good idea of how the LTE rollout is going in your area or wherever your travels may take you.

Yikes, not a single upgraded site in Central Jersey within the last week.  Any of you think they're just waiting to turn on a cluster of sites, or if this is possibly "polar vortex" related?

htc one isnt tri band right                       

It's not, unless you have the bigger HTC One Max version.

so dose this confirm that nj is starting to get band 41 lte because network vision in my area is still going on and also 800 voice and lte is pending for my area but there are still legacy towers in my area that arent upgraded and also lte is spottily deployed frustrating lol 

This should answer your question.  http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4675-td-lte-2600band-41-lte-info-teaser/?hl=%2Blte+%2Bband+%2B41+%2Bteaser

oh so the 4g signal we have been getting is lte 800?

I'm sorry, I should have clarified that a bit. It depends on what band you connect to on your LTE engineering screen. Band 25 is the 1900 band, 26 is the 800 band and the 41 is the 2500/2600 band. Hope that helps. I don't think there are any sites with LTE 800 up yet, but there are definitely sites in NJ with 2500/2600 up and running. Which exact sites, I have no clue.

Why isnt the haddon twp tower u ran a speed test which is across the street where i live isnt accepted as 3g or 4g but yet it emits a 4g signal?

Band 41 and 26 (LTE 800) acceptances aren't shown as a Sponsor, you can see them if you become a Premier Sponsor.

Was at mall I get 3 to 6 mbs down but cuts out alot

Were you able to map any of this on Sensorly?  Regardless, that's still awesome.  It wasn't too long ago that most of the time I was inside Christiana Mall I'd be roaming on Verizon's network.

Well sitting on my toilet in Maple Shade I just got 13.7Mbps down and 2Mbps up.  Now if it holds true to form within a week it will be around 0.12 Mbps down as they "fine tune" for about a month.  It has happened to me everywhere I travel in the area, great speeds then almost no speed for about a month.  When I contact Sprint they inform me each and every time they are fine tuning.  I just have a hard time understanding how it goes from blazing to messed up for so long, and they wonder why people get pissed.

Unfortunately, because none of the New Jersey markets have "officially" launched LTE yet, that is the only response you'll be getting from Sprint.  I think roughly 40% POP is the threshold for Sprint to "launch LTE" in our markets.

Feel free to correct me if I have that wrong, folks.

anyone know if there is any LTE at philly? i will be traveling there first weekend of dec and i cant really check now, my job blocks almost everything

What section of Philly are you looking for exactly? I'd also check the Philadelphia market thread for any updates on specific sections, since you're talking about a big area (though admittedly not as big as NYC).

are they live with lte

Aren't you a sponsor?  You can see which sites have been 4G accepted on the map.  And seeing that he did map them with Sensorly, it does show that they are up.  Of course, it's entirely possible they could be testing those sites, too. 

There's one off 73 in Berlin, and another one near Williamstown off 322.  There's also the one @ Mount Laurel State Park, but that was already mentioned.  Good to see the LTE rollout beginning in South Jersey.

Well, there aren't any towers on in North Brunswick yet.  But the one off Route 1 in South Brunswick reaches some parts of Route 1 in North Brunswick.  It's better than nothing.  It'll get better from here.

I think that site has been on for at least two months (since I've had a Sprint LTE phone), which is why most of Route 18 in East Brunswick has LTE. I travel to East Brunswick often, but live in North Brunswick.

Oh ok and I m picking up LTE in the center of east brunswick

Where is the "center" of East Brunswick? Do you have an Android phone, by chance? If so, you should map it on Sensorly. Any LTE in East Brunswick that's not in the vicinity of Route 18 is welcomed.