Wireless Junkie

Well it's looking extremely unlikely that Southern Linc will be a roaming partner for Sprint to latch on to. My T-Mobile phone had no service in an area that only Southern Linc covers as well as Verizon and my S8 was able to catch Southern Linc's LTE info for a second. Looks like they are transmitting as MCC 312-720 and only a 1.4MHz block. 1.4MHz would only be enough to support their own subscribers at a very slowly rate. For their sake, I hope they increase it to 5+5MHz when it fully launches.

Where is there any B41 coverage now? They need B41 desperately around Hoover and 280.. My speeds have been steadily decreasing whenever I return home, but all I see is B25 or B26.

Verizon being the only CDMA carrier right now with nationwide VoLTE seems to be able to handle it just fine. They have enabled it as default on accounts now and has a very low failure rate. T-Mobile and AT&T of course have the advantage because calls will fall back to their older HSPA networks. Sprint I hope can come up with a way to facilitate fall back to the 1x network when they implement VoLTE.

I feel like the speeds around Hoover and Homewoos have dropped lately, especially around the summit on 280. I've had to take all but 2 of my lines to AT&T because of the vast amount of 3G outside of the metro.

For whatever reason, my phone roaming will have spotty 3G and bumping to 1X with no usable Verizon EVDO. However in all those same areas, I can force my Verizon Blackberry Classic down to only 1XEV and attain a stable connection and 1-2Mbit/s easily. Could it be how they interact when roaming, like is it scanning too much for the tiniest bit of Sprint (would make sense). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This poor lady couldn't even have phone sex.. The guy below made fun of them blasting Verizon while he said his phone has been a "potato" all day.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's hilarious that T-Mobile ranked dead last in the most recent root metrics scores overall and for reliability.. Sprint pulled ahead overall past T-Mobile. Immediately all the T-Mobile fan's started bashing Sprint and saying this is just absolutely flawed methodology (ironic when most of them cited Root Metrics when they did great), however this is just epic that they are having a NATIONWIDE VoLTE outage right after these scores were announced. Whats even more hilarious is how they just released ads saying 40% of all calls on T-Mobile are VoLTE. So guess 40% of people are SOL, and especially those people in B12 areas that have nothing else.. HAH

They use AT&T here Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are they removing some Verizon roaming? Sent from my LG-V495 using Tapatalk

I have the $100 Family Data Unlimited, so works out to about $50 per line + $19 x2 for iPhone 6S 64GB on the iPhone forever lease.Much cheaper than what I am still paying Verizon and soon to be $20 more when Verizon has their way with me. And it's funny because on my plan and my sisters $70 unlimited plan, we are able to stream videos at HD, never have we had our videos limited to 1.5Mbit/s [emoji23][emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The iPhone distinguishes between 1x and 3G still. But really the only way you know who you are connected to is by the field test mode. Sprint doesn't have any Cellular EVDO, and I was about 50 miles away from the nearest Sprint site so I kinda figured it was Verizon [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have been roaming on Verizon tonight and unlike before, it shows 0GB of roaming used. Usually it will say X MB has been used, however is showing Gigs and showing no usage at all! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Odd, my Sprint.com account shows 0GB of roaming usage.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They are the only other CDMA/EVDO carrier here. It doesn't give any information about who I am roaming on unless I dial an invalid number which plays the "welcome to Verizon Wireless" message Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like since the new 55051 PRL update I have been able to pick up Verizon 3G Extended on all my iPhone 6S's on my account.. I am on just a regular Family Unlimited Data plan.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm able to see SoLINC LTE broadcasting throughout Hoover and West Jefferson.. However that being said, I realize the only reason for SouthernLINC existing is because of Southern Utilities needing a long range digital PTT network.. Benefits to locals and a lot of government and construction entities was just subsidizing their network costs. However their core focus is not in consumers, it's built mainly for the power company and now LTE is being deployed from what I understand for a "mission critical" fixed LTE applications. However is they did a roaming plus agreement with Sprint, it could be mutually beneficial as Sprint's entire network could be like Telus/Bell in Canada where it's just a tower sharing agreement and Sprint could have a network built to SouthernLINC standards which is very very resilient.. Btw I believe LINC stands for Long Range Integrated Network Communication Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ha, now say it out loud with a southern accent from Talladega Nights. [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I received a call from Sprint executive's office unexpected after I made a simple tweet asking about Birmingham's spark upgrades (if any). The person I spoke to was super friendly, however she stated I am not the first person to talk to from Birmingham but I was super polite. According to her after I have her zip codes ranging from Tuscaloosa to Hoover To Alexandria she states there are no planned upgrades in the near future and they just say to be determined. She said the 3G only towers in West Jefferson and also one near the racetrack have no planned upgrades to 4G. She even said that if I wanted out of my lease, she would allow me to return both our 6S's and port to another provider at no charge... That being said, my voice service is great and data for the most part is ok. 8meg on average so I told her I would stick it out especially because I am on iPhone forever.. Not promising news especially from executive services.. And in other news on Cheaha this past week I found LTE was pretty good, spotty In some areas but mostly native 3G and SMR LTE Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One of the many iDEN Sprint owns and hasn't taken down to this day, but have no CDMA/LTE Then on this same site at the top of the 450FT Guyed tower, right below the iDEN Omni's sit SouthernLINC's new SMR LTE panels installed by Ericsson .. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One can be hopeful of some of the many iDEN sites that Sprint still has a lease for but is "decommissioned". Heck we still have a cell site that has iDEN equipment still up, no reason they can't add old CDMA equipment or something. Would've saved them a bit in roaming and maybe a few customers.. Old Nextel iDEN panels up, however at the top of this 450ft mammoth are new SouthernLINC SMR LTE panels [emoji24] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not terribly upset by it, but up in Birmingham backhaul is no excuse. AT&T, Verizon, and even T-Mobile have been able to get all their sites fiber optic ran from AT&T. Heck even T-Mobile somehow got AT&T fiber optics out to Talladega!! Up on Cheaha they have Fiber relayed through Microwave. Granted, coverage is much better than T-Mobile but they don't even have a lot of the groundwork laid to even begin B41 deployment here. My friend is an Ericsson Engineer and told me the other day SoLINC has them busier with their LTE rollout than Sprint [emoji23][emoji23] I am very optimistic though and crossing my fingers!! From West Jefferson County to Delta Alabama I have been much needed B26 densification out here which is thrilling Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please tell me there are plans for Birmingham, Alabama or anywhere in the state. Besides SMR, we have been pretty neglected lately :/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well in the Birmingham Market, we still have live WiMAX protection sites but absolutely no B41 LTE in sight... Hattiesburg looks like it just got a blip of B41... Where the heck is Alabama!!!!!!! Every carrier in Birmingham has enhanced LTE speeds except Sprint.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats good to know, I know when VoLTE is enabled on my Droid Maxx 2, CDMA shuts off completely. Now if they are csfb, how are they able to do LTE roaming, I'm assuming their LTE Rural America partners have enabled the needed solutions as they are deploying per VZW specs. Now with my iPhone 6S able to access Sprint LTE while connected to Verizon for 1X, it should be possible to have data only LTE roaming? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

True, I forgot Verizon doesn't use CSFB. I was thinking of the iPhone because I have been roaming on Verizon 1X but still connected to B26 LTE on Sprint, I forgot Android's which utilize CSFB may not be able to accomplish this though.