Mr.Nuke

There are numerous factors one of them is what digiblur alluded to. My phone regularly bounces off 3 different towers at home. I should've clarified that a bit better. Legacy in this equipment means it is still running on the old equipment not the new NV equipment. Any site marked as "in progress" on the spreadsheet is still a legacy site, we've just observed some or all of the new equipment has been installed there. So on the spreadsheet, click the link to open the Central Iowa Spreadsheet in a new window. On most browsers hitting "Ctrl F" will bring up a find window. Type 1251 in the window and your browser should take you to the site in the spreadsheet. Clicking the Site ID on the first column will pull up the site location on google maps.

You are connected to a legacy site in that screenshot. Sprint Legacy sites in Nebraska and Iowa broadcast their location as a sector offset from an actual site, not the actual location. So you are correct, there is not a tower there. There is one to the Southeast of that address that you can see in the sponsor thread. The spreadsheet and map have the BID that you are connected to in your screenshot confirming what site it is.

Congrats. We've got that one marked on the spreadsheet.

Very helpful. The first and the third are the same site. We can talk specific sites that I believe those to be coming from on the sponsor side (the link in my signature).

If you are getting a new LTE connection in the Des Moines metropolitan area we'd be interested in a screenshot of your LTE engineering screen. Instructions on how to get to said screen depending on the device manufacturer can be found here. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2198-network-visionlte-new-orleans-market/page-38?p=90231&do=findComment&comment=90231

There is a bit of irony here because the issues are precisely because of the upgrade. Approximately 1/2 of Omaha has been upgraded they are working hard daily on the other half. You have access to that information as a sponsor via the link in my signature.

We'll send them when we are done with them (we know there was an acceptance crew in Omaha still as of this morning based on what our phones are indicating). . My guess it is the same one that eventually makes it to you guys. And at this point like bmoses said, it really makes more sense to let the tower crews finish sites with only 5 left. There are plenty of sites here that can be fired up in the mean time. You have access to the spreadsheet and map, c'mon man . bmoses picked up that site two weeks ago. Based on Omaha and Lincoln I wouldn't expect anything on the LTE front immediately. We are seeing significantly higher 3G speeds from some sites which would be a pretty good indicator the switch to fiber has occurred there.

Best guess is the schedule bmoses had got pushed back by 1 week.

Dkoellerwx expects the Quad Cities and Cedar Rapids to be officially "launched" as LTE markets by Sprint imminently based on Sprint updating coverage maps (which they tend to do before launching a market). Keep in mind this is largely a marketing decision as there are still sites that will get LTE in both the Quad Cities and Cedar Rapids that don't have it yet (where those sites are located is available to site sponsors by clicking the link in my signature). http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5175-sprint-launching-new-lte-cities-december-2013/&do=findComment&comment=251609

Seriously I think your acceptance crew is in Omaha right now.

While technically true, there are numerous reasons why it probably isn't going to take all that long, many of them having been previously discussed in this thread and elsewhere on the site. The 800 (26) equipment was simultaneously installed on every site that went full build (new antennas). Theoretically, it could be fired in mass at any time. And as this thread and the Sprint Spark PR release mentioned band 41 sites are out there ready to be accessed by tri-band devices in Chicago when the updates get pushed to the phones. The flip side of this is there will be relatively unburdened bands in Chicago for early adopters. Whether or not you chose to upgrade early your choice as a consumer. That $400-500 seems excessive. A Nexus can obviously be had for $350 and your average Sprint year old phone can be sold for ~$200.

They've been converting a fair number of sites over to NV equipment this week. We expect occasional issues to pop up with the network while this continues.

Welcome to the board. As a sponsor of the site I want to make sure you know you have access to the spreadsheet and map in my signature. The map shows all of the 1x800 sites we've connected to in Nebraska and Iowa among other things including the location of every Sprint site in both states and their overall state of NV progress.

No worries there was no infraction there all as far as I'm concerned. We've just put a lot of effort into those maps and spreadsheets to help us and ultimately the site as well out. I'd prefer people (like you did) support the site and as a perk of that you get access to the detailed information we have there. I responded to you on the sponsor side. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4711-nebraska-iowa-market-spreadsheets-and-maps/?p=248679

I'd prefer to discuss items pertaining to the spreadsheet and other perks of being a sponsor in the sponsor thread.- Thanks.

Umm... Getting 3G acceptances and 1x800 acceptances would be the result of the "switch getting flipped" so to speak on December 10th or around there. What you are essentially saying is I don't think it is realistic that there will be more 1x800 at some point next week, because it isn't there this week.

No. It just means the new equipment is installed and voice and 3G has shifted to the new equipment. Thus there are no more "legacy" or "old" sites in East Iowa right now. LTE activation is separate, but the equipment is there no on every site. Fiber backhaul and acceptance by Sprint are still needed on many of the East Iowa sites before LTE begins broadcasting. Maps of where sites sit progress wise in East Iowa are available to sponsors of the site in my signature line.

On the city side, we can see the permit status though. On average permits are being issued within 2 weeks of being filed in Omaha. Once that is issued, Sprint has the go ahead from the city to go forward with the project. A recent site in Omaha was applied for on 9/27, the permit was issued on 10/18, and by 11/7 we had observed all of the NV equipment was there including the fiber backhaul. At this point, the local government is out of it. Sites will still need to be inspected by Sprint via Ericsson to make sure Samsung's contractors did the work properly. Our main wait right now is for them to finish installing the NV equipment on all of the sites.

I would report it to Sprint.

Permits are public record and most of the Omaha permits have been filed since the first quarter of this year... As to the other article pointing to fiber as the primary delay, most of the sites in Omaha have had fiber before work has commenced indicating fiber isn't an issue. Lincoln is a smaller market with less sites it is going to be finished before Omaha. Omaha is will follow soon after.

Probably at that intersection.

bmoses connected to it on Wednesday. We have a really extensive map on the sponsor side of this site with all of the sites, their current stage of NV deployment, and the identifying data that lets you know where you are connected to for voice and data. The BID number from signal check pro is a column on the sponsor spreadsheet. This you can go there and compare the signal check pro number to see if it matches an existing site. You can also see the BID for a given site if we have it by clicking on one of the pins on the map. Your second screen shot we have on there. Your first screenshot we don't have, but without an address for the BSL in your screenshot I can't do anything with it. Sometimes signal check pro needs to be restarted if the "Click for map.." persists.

Oversimplifying it a bit.

It is a bit of a catch-22 at this point as due to the tri-band issue others pointed out, getting sites 3G accepted and then moving onto other markets to get sites at least 3G accepted is priority number 1 right now. The paradoxical catch is at the pace they were moving before the issue became known, it looked like there was no chance of meeting the original Q1 target date for Iowa/Nebraska. Now that suddenly seems more possible. Getting the NV equipment installed and the 3G acceptances (as they must coordinate sites and cluster them and do the 911 testing, etc) is the difficult part). Within a month at this point, that is probably done for every Sprint site in Nebraska and Iowa. The LTE will follow thereafter as at that point the equipment is already there (assuming fiber is present), there and there is minimal integration to do with other sites.

I don't think permitting or site availability are issues issue here. It isn't as if Omaha's permitting process is somehow more difficult or that Lincoln somehow has more accessible sites. It really is just a function of number of sites and a desire to get cities on NV asap at this point.