kn4ds

Definitely hang tight. I spent the weekend in St. Augustine, and finally got to experience the new network. The phone dropped back to 3G only a couple of times all weekend, and even at that, still was able to send photos. Here in middle Georgia, data is basically offline. Photo sends fail, web pages don't load, Gmail fails, etc. It was AWESOME to hit "Post" and see it actually work. Standing outside, on the beach at Crescent Beach, I got: 14085 kbps down, 7284 kpbs up. indoors, with "no bars" I got 2619 down, 5850 up. Good things are coming for you guys. Hang in there.

Umm... Feagin Mill and Corder don't cross... and aren't even all that close to each other.

How's the 4G speed in Macon? I'd drive up to Sardis Church Rd and check, but it's easier to just ask

Sensorly map also shows 4G along I-475 and Eisenhower Parkway on the west side of Macon. I haven't been up there, so it wasn't me that mapped it. Still nothing here in Warner Robins/Houston County, but a local provider says they have completed fiber to all Sprint sites within their footprint.

That was actually my comment. Edit to add... Moody's now updated his blog post to include today's "official" announcement from Sprint.

Usually, Dave Moody is spot-on. His sources go pretty deep - with that said, they're mostly motorsports sources, and the only connection here is that Sprint current is the title sponsor for the top tier NASCAR racing series. Thing is, I see where Sprint announced just today they'd formed the special committee to review the offer - but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't formed in the past couple of weeks, and made a recommendation already. The news could move pretty fast on this one - or it could be that the "sources" got it a bit mixed up in relation to the announcement of the special committee. <shrug> Will have to wait and see, as always, especially when Charlie Ergen's involved (and I say that as a DISH customer since 1998)

Interesting... "Multiple sources say Sprint has accepted an offer from Dish Network to acquire the wireless telecommunications giant for $25.5 billion, with $17.3 billion payable in cash and the remaining $8.2 billion in stock. Sprint employees were informed of the agreement via non-disclosure paperwork earlier this afternoon, but the deal still is subject to FCC approval." From http://motorsports-soapbox.blogspot.com/2013/04/breaking-news-sprint-accepts.html I don't see anything else about Sprint accepting the DISH offer, though, anywhere else.

Good to see some of Jawjuh getting some love - Good for Columbus, Albany and Waycross. Warner Robins and the rest of Houston county will get it eventually, I guess.

Looks like Charlie Ergen's stepping up his mobile network plans by making a somewhat complicated bid to get his hands on Clearwire's spectrum and network: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323482504578230124258195796.html

At the mall, at Wal-Mart on 441, along the bypass, at McDonald's on the south side... every where we went, no data. I just found it odd that there wasn't any connection at all, even with full signal strength. Milledgeville's long had Wimax 4G, and until yesterday, I've never had any problems at all with data connections there.

I had an interesting experience today... I was in Milledgeville, GA, all day, and had no data connection whatsoever all day long. That's the first time that's ever happened... no data connection at all. I'm interested in thoughts about why that might be.

I looked, I don't think those are the same panels... will post photos when I get a chance.

Windstream and Cox are both working fiber for sites... some are easy for them, as they've already done Verizon. I'm not really up on what the NV panels look like, so I'll post some photos this coming week... I don't think it's a Sprint site already, but there are new antennas inside the fence in the past 2 days. These have 2 "something" (could be radios) on the back... when I can get photos, I guess you guys can fill us in.

I will admit this... there are some new panels on the ground at a site in Warner Robins, GA, that I pass daily. I'll try to take a minute and stop to get photos of them. However, fiber deployment is a problem, based on talks with the folks who are doing it. It'll be a while.

I don't expect LTE in middle Georgia until late 2014 at best. Too rural, not enough subs to make the difference. My contacts at Windstream and Cox say they are taking fiber to Sprint sites now, but it's going to take them a while. It took 4 months to get fiber into my data center... so they're having to plow in new stuff to many sites.

We'll have to see where they build/have built. I know I certainly don't care what the transport is. In a past life, I had DS3 on copper into a data center, and that's 30 T1s. Only 45 mb/s, but multiple DS3 via copper is certainly doable. Windstream did some maintenance last night, moving T1s around (I have a couple for backup) to different DS3 muxes in the local office, so they may be making room for additional capacity, either for more VZ sites or Sprint sites, or both. Sprint themselves takes 120 days to even do a T1 move (min 90, they prefer to give FOC 180 days out). Windstream certainly has capacity - I have 50 mb/s on fiber now, so here's hoping they have or will pull fiber out to the sites over the next 6-9 months. I'll be happy just to see better 3G speeds... heading into a weekend where I'll be using my Sprint 3G/WiMax air card pretty extensively, and it'll be painful, I know. In fact, after this weekend, I'm dropping the air card from my account, since I so rarely use it, and I would actually save $10/month by adding hotspot to my phone to use when I need it (relatively rare).

Cox does have their own fiber, and backbone to the ATL, but the same problem... fiber passing the sites. Likely most sites have T1 via copper now... Microwave's been removed over the years from all the sites (all carriers) that I've seen in these parts. AT&T is one ILEC in the area, and they've also got fiber passing sites (sharing many of the sites with Sprint, Verizon, TMobile). Verizon LTE recently lit up around here, but the western part of the area's not served by AT&T, nor by Cox in the southern part. There, we have Windstream (formerly ALLTEL). I'll have to check with some folks and see if I can find out if they're building fiber or additional copper into sites, especially along I-75. In order to make a 2013 roll-out of LTE here, the ILECs need to at least be in engineering NOW.

Perfect sense, and I appreciate the clarification. They'll have a heck of a time getting backhaul to most of their sites here - very little fiber (read: none passing most sites), and not a whole lot of copper available. I won't hold my breath on LTE, even if scheduled, until at least late 2013 (if then) unless I start seeing some fiber and/or copper going in toward some sites. One of the ILECs isn't real good about it (took over 6 months to get fiber into my data center). But if I need a taste, I can ride up north of Macon a ways

Perry/Warner Robins, GA - Macon, GA market (which isn't actually listed on network.sprint.com)

I find myself a little bit confused... I'm in central Georgia, and I realize that rural areas will be far down the list for LTE (except north Georgia, as part of the Atlanta market). I'm ok with waiting for LTE here, I upgraded to the LG Viper last month 'cause I needed to use my Premier upgrade this year, and I decided not to wait to see what comes out later in the year (plus, Best Buy had the Viper on sale for $20, and I had more than $20 in Reward Zone certificates - I got the Viper for no cash - and $25 Google Wallet credit to boot. Hard to beat that). Several Sprint sites in the area have had work done, according to network.sprint.com, and more are on tap to have work done "in the next 6 months." I've been poking around this site a bit, and I see several mentions that eHRPD is only showing on sites that have had NV upgrades complete. Here's my confusion - my phone reports eHRPD connectivity. Everywhere I go in Sprint coverage here in middle Georgia. But NV isn't scheduled here... we're not part of the Atlanta market (this is a former affiliate area), I don't believe. Un-confuse me?