jaybiz81

I'm hoping someone will, I'd like to see how sprint performs there especially with Spark.

 

 

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I've found when I've gone to games at CitiField and Yankee Stadium this year, as recent as 6 weeks ago, it was best just to put my phone in EVDO only mode.  LTE was way overcrowded and on EVDO I was enjoying about 1.5 down consistently.  No issues and better than everyone around me.  I wonder if they have COW for the WS.

I use Google Voice for voicemail/sms/calling so I'm guessing I don't see it since the voicemail app is never used for me. Have you tried disabling the app?

I used to use Google Voice for voicemail and never set it back up. *28 wasn't working from my phone so I had to call customer care to get it working again, which it now is.

But, I was equally concerned as others now... the Voicemail app is using just as much battery as the screen and probably explains the larger drain as of yet.

But, on the Note 5, I can't disable the app, only force stop it and when I notice it is running again stop it again. Is anyone else having luck disabling it?

Sprint service is live at 125th on the 4/5/6! Let's hope the entire Lex line north of 42nd is up. I'll find out when I get to 110th soon but was too excited to have service not to post.

Edit: it's live at 116th and 110th too...

Edit: it is B25, but it looks like Transit Wireless also has B26.

I didn't realize it was so carrier specific.  I thought that once the system was on, all participating carriers were good to go.  The 6 still doesn't have cell service (Verizon or Sprint) north of 42nd, but, TransitWireless WiFi is on, and you can use WiFi calling so I'm able to text.

Also, has anyone noticed problems with MMS messages since the latest system update?  I have to update my profile each time a MMS message won't download or send, and after the profile update it does.  I have to do this repeatedly.  After major upgrades I usually do a factory reset, but haven't done it yet at this point.  The phone also gets really warm now while wirelessly charging, and part of the update said it worked on improving wireless charging experience.  Anyone else experiencing this?

This is all conjecture.  But maybe downlink reception is very good.  And if people are judging RF performance by signal strength, that is purely downlink, which is not included in any FCC OET test reports.

 

However, as a fact, uplink transmission will fail in more places on some bands on recent Samsung handsets than it will on other handsets.  The ERP/EIRP simply is below average on some bands.  As one example on band 41, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is about 13 dB less powerful than the iPhone 6S.  That means it is about 20 times less powerful -- an absolutely huge difference.

 

AJ

I'm guessing this is why sometimes a weak connection won't work (when it used to on my Note 3) simply because the data request transmission isn't making it back to the network?

The macro site is two blocks away from there.  In that same image, if you rotate almost 180 degrees towards the off-ramp from the Cross Bronx, you can see a brick building with antennas on it.  That's the macro site (or the one that's traditionally been on), and microwaves backhaul only to the G.C.  I can't imagine they deactivated that one because it's an NV upgrade.

But if they did, and the antennas you show are the new ones (which at -60dBm makes sense) that is pretty damned sweet.  This area needs more fill!  We should meet up and try to figure out where what actually is, hah.

No, there was no site in that area whatsoever. Now its co located with what looks to be an ATT site.

 

Also,I drove with in 100ft of that new macro site and had B25 signal in the -60's.

I don't think it's a new macro site; there's one that had NV equipment one block west of there (you'll see it as 3G/800 accepted).  It microwaves to a site on the Grand Concourse (brown dot on the accepted at 174th/Grand Concourse, via FCC information).  I bet the macro site at 174th/GC got the backhaul update.

Looks like Sprint added an infill site by Webster ave/Cross Bronx. I go to wendy's a couple blocks away from the new site and would sit on very weak B26 signal, now getting -95dBm B25, speeds between 4-10mbs..

 

Filled a nice gap between 3 other sites.

I work at 3rd Ave and the Cross Bronx. I've noticed myself that I'm having B25 more in the building where I wasn't. I'll try to do some more research. But maybe the site that it microwaves to is finally upgraded. No change in B41/B26 (weak to begin with).

Edit: this appears to have gone online today. Last Friday there was no B25 below the 4th floor of the school I work at.

It's unfortunate 1X can't be displayed as 1X, like it is with other carriers.  Without Signal Check (Pro) it's such a misleading icon.  Question though, does the iPhone show 1X on the Sprint network when on 1X?  I can't recall if it even had the Spark spinning sun logo after looking at my friends' phones.

Next time you're there, can you get me the serving cell ID for the eHRPD/1x? Depending on your phone, it might say PN.

Will do.

Is that the site located on top of the apartment buildings? I wonder if they are having a tough time getting access to the roof for upgrades.

Yeah it's at 1700 Grand Concourse.  There are permits for telecommunications work, but there was scaffolding on the building and it's possible they had trouble getting to the roof.  Granted the LTE-live dates on S4GRU are estimates only, but it's way behind schedule.  The Department of Education just put blocks in place for streaming services so for some things I use work-related it'd be nice to have a good signal here.  But, I'm picking up a new Galaxy Note 5 today so tri-band should take care of that.  

110th and what cross street?

 

Keep in mind that densification as far as we know will be LTE only, so your 1x and 3G signal are coming from another site. 

It's 110th and Lex.  Nextgencpu pointed out it's probably a Clearwire full conversion, and there are two sites within a one-block distance.  It definitely was not coming from a macro site established on the maps here.  The signal was way too strong based on me looking at signal strength every time I ride the subway.  Sunday I'm going to see if I can find it.

The best thing to do first is report it using the Sprint zone app, also tweet @marciCarris with your issue, she is SVP of customer management at Sprint, and will definitely escalate the situation for you, and might even get you results.

I'll certainly tweet her next time.  It happens for a week at a time about once a month, and I report it via the app frequently, then it returns.  It's almost as if the site is stuck rebooting itself (if that's a possibility)... full 1X1900 signal, no calls or texts go through, then a minute later, roaming on Verizon, then a minute later back on dead full 1X1900, then back to roaming.  Love that Sprint Zone app though, it really does make reporting stuff easy.

Check these out for reference on what the Antennas and RRU's look like, and report back(pics!!) with your findings! 

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3915-how-to-spot-sprint-antennas-and-rrus-alcatel-lucent/

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5183-how-to-spot-sprint-8t8r-td-lte-rrhs-alcatel-lucent/

 

Good Luck, hopefully you'll have a nice discovery in your hands.

Thanks, good refresher for when I go looking.  Stopped trying to spot antennas once the one next to my apartment was done, hah.

Now only if the could convert the site at 174th/Grand Concourse which is the backhaul via microwave to the 3G/800 site near my work, I'd be in Sprint happy land 100%.    (It's not just data anymore, voice/text are having problems for all of us at work with Sprint.)  But I digress... 

Interesting find, if you look at the premier maps I dont see any Sprint macro sites for a few blocks. But what I did notice was a couple of Clear B41 sites very near. 

 

Could be Clear to full Sprint conversion happening.

That would be awesome.  I wasn't even thinking of that.  I'll pull those maps and look tomorrow or over the weekend.  Hopefully it's a site I can see from the street and not on the center of a roof or visible only in an alleyway. 

So, I have some loose evidence that densification is happening.  I was at 110th on the 6 tonight waiting for a downtown train and I noticed a had a significant 1X800 signal and an actual EHRPD signal with data on the platform.  I thought it might be Transit Wireless as we just had the antennas installed last month, but it wasn't strong enough for that and when I stood under the antennas there was no signal change.  The 6 pulls in and I'm off on my merry way to Bryant Park to get some work done.

Coming home, I noticed the strong 1X800 signal again, and again it wasn't peaking when standing under the antennas in the station. As I climbed the steps to the street, the signal went as high as -59 dBm, and there is no way that's coming from the nearby sites as they are avenue blocks away, and I've never had that strong of a signal before there.  I also got -65 dBm on EHRPD, again never that strong before there, and certainly never on the platform.  There has to be a new site near 110th/Lex!  But, as it was midnight, I wasn't about to go around looking at buildings with my phone out walking for where the signal peaks.  No LTE on the mysterious site.  And no, I highly doubt East Harlem has a COW in that area, but I suppose it is a remote possibility.

When it's better weather and daytime, I will walk around and see if I can find it.  But if it is a new site, and not a COW, densification is underway here!

So, I was on the phone with Sprint Customer Care, and they say our tax rate for New York City is 10.8490%, which doesn't match the $124 in taxes quoted over the phone (and on the website).  I called the 86th Street store and they said that there are additional taxes on top of the sales tax, including the mobility tax and a transit wireless tax.  When I said taxes on the Note 5 were about $124 he said that sounded right because for the $720 phone it was totaling around $850 in the system.  The guy at the 86th Street store said the invoice would show all applicable taxes, so today when I go buy a replacement hot spot for my plan, I'll see what the taxes amount to.  It's just weird I can't get a straight answer until I actually purchase a device.  If the $124 is right, that's about 17.34% in taxes.  There's no mention of fees to finance, and there shouldn't be.  When I financed a phone for my grandmother in New Hampshire where there is no sales tax, nothing was due at all and the payments are exactly the price of the phone divided by 24, with no noticeable change in NH-based monthly taxes on her line.

Best Buy taxes amount to the exact 8.875% NYS/NYC rate.

Sorry if this is getting lengthy, but if this helps anyone on S4GRU in the NYC area make decisions in the future on where to buy devices, all the better.

And if you finance your taxes and fees will go up 2 to 3 dollars i already got all the break down with sprint, so you will be charge taxes and fees on the payment plan

 

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I get that but I don't see why we're being charged additional taxes other than sales tax for a device.  Makes me wonder if years from now we get a class action settlement letter in the mail, hah.

Sprint taxes are higher than other carriers when i got my iphone on two years contract the taxes were like 120 , if you to best buy you will paying just the sales tax

 

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Did you get a breakdown of what the taxes were?

Note 5 bruh 

 

Weird, the sales tax on a Note 5 is $124... Now I'm confused. Is there a different sales tax when it comes to financing? No, right?

Yeah I'm debating the Note 5 too  Honestly, I wish they still had band-25 only devices.  I have the Note 3, frequently use SVLTE, and Band 25 rocks now, faster than Band 41 or 26 on my Hotspot in East Harlem and the South Bronx.

Yeah looks like the sales tax calculations aren't right, glad I'm not the only one.  The only way taxes should be that high is if the device is over $1000.  But being NYC, there's probably some hidden additional tax (joking).  I'm going to try chatting with Sprint Care online and see what I can get for an answer.

Where did the $112.39 get calculated on? Sprint's site? Because if you didn't enter in your zip code it's possible Sprint believes you to be in a higher sales tax county. 

 

PS, shouldn't go M9, camera sucks! 

Hah yeah I'm pretty hesitant on the M9 but I was curious as to pricing.  I might go Note 4.

And the zip was 10029, my zip code, so it was correctly listed as NY County, and yes it was on the Sprint site.  So odd.  I can handle contesting one-time tax errors but the problem for me is if I choose to lease and they keep making monthly errors.

Hey all, I'm asking here first before calling Sprint as I dont' have time to call them until later today...

I'm trying to get a new phone on Easy Pay, yet for the M9, which is $648, it's saying taxes will be $112.39.  Sales tax is 8.875% so it should be $57.51.  Anyone have insight why the taxes are so much higher?  I'm going to go to the Sprint store later today but want as much info as possible in advance.  (And I might not go with the M9, but I was just using it as an example.)

I'm up in Maine and USCC 3G is working great.  I had to do a PRL update and restart the phone, but I'm consistently getting between 1 to 2 Mbps down.

I did discover something interesting.  Occasionally, my phone would lose the 1X voice carrier and only have the EVDO carrier connected.  In these instances, the roaming icon would disappear from my phone and all roaming warnings would disappear until it picked up the USCC 1X signal again (or hopped onto Verizon 1X voice and data).  I'm obviously aware it wasn't a Sprint signal, but this could mislead the average consumer.

Overall though, a great experience with roaming here.

That's probably what happened.

 

Now, if it were 3 cents per mb, wouldn't all of you roamers be willing to pay that? That would be 30 dollars for an additional 1gb of roaming data. Sprint and USCC could make some additional revenue and everybody wins.

 

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They're also doing their conversions wrong with KB to MB.  It should be $92.16 for 300 MB at $0.0003/KB. 1GB = 1,024MB = 1,048,576KB. Normally they actually get this right since my screen used to say I had 41,943,040KB/month which is really 40GB, but now it says just plain old 40GB.  I kind of liked the old way because it says I've used 0.0018GB of roaming this month and that's not as easy to visually see for roaming caps mesuared in MB.  In case anyone is wondering 100MB is 0.09765625GB and 300MB is 0.29296875GB.

FYI I'm on the family share pack and according to T&C I'm with a 100MB limit and $0.25/MB after that up to a hard cap of 300MB.  I'm about to go up to a USCC area in Maine next week so I'll see how it really goes down.  It's the only time of year I am in a fully roaming area (and not just a random roaming moment like my 0.0018GB this month) and I use about 250MB.  I was hesitant to switch plans and lose the 300MB "free" roaming, but the cost savings on my monthly charges far outweigh the charges I'm about to encounter.  Though since I won't be on 1X, I'll probably consume more data because it'll be more responsive and I'll want to multi-task, so I gotta remember one thing at a time to prevent myself from overusing, hah.