Joeynach

Sprint in Chicago is working better than Derrick Rose.

The space shuttle is working better than DRose right now, and its been retired!!

Not sure about the west loop, but as of an hour ago I'm roaming on Verizon when I normally get a decent 1x800 & EVDO signal in my house. Something is definitely going on in my area..

Where u at?  Suburbs?

Sam Smith's take on the Derrick Rose SAT "scandal."  

 

 

 

Question:

 

What's going to happen to Derrick Rose now after the Memphis allegations about SAT's?

 

April

 

Answer:

 

Sam Smith: Nothing. The NBA doesn't require SAT's. You're referring to the latest pathetic NCAA probe, this one about Memphis and someone, maybe Rose, not taking the SAT exam. Yup, a bunch of old white guys somewhere involved in the most hypocritical organization in the world making fortunes on the backs of mostly poor black kids whom they refuse to pay and with a cadre of money hungry blood sucking coaches throwing the kids under the bus all the time while they change jobs and haven't the slightest concern for a contract. So Tim Floyd supposedly paid O.J. Mayo and I don't think anything is happening to him. I wish kids went to college and I think it would be better if kids stayed in college a few years. But it's not for everyone, and I can see more kids going overseas like Jennings did. I think the NBA could make a developmental league work, but they probably can't match in salaries the bribes paid to players at most big time college programs. I know of a Hall of Famer who was in college the maximum because it was way before the high school and one and done eras who had a 10 or 12 on his ACT. Who cares? He was a genius at his chosen profession, more successful than the bean counters and back stabbers who run college basketball. College basketball has long been a cesspool of corruption and hypocrisy in which kids were taken advantage of to please the old fella network. Not the NBA. The most deserving get paid and get paid well. Shame on college sports. I don't give a crap what the NCAA says Rose did or didn't do. And you shouldn't either. He's a good kid, hard working, respectful, polite and responsible. And he's going to be a terrific player. I'd much rather spend time with him than any of the phonies on the NCAA enforcement committee.

Best post in the history of this forum!

If Dish can strong-arm AT&T into selling them their 700MHz D block spectrum in return for Dish's not opposing the DirectTV merger Dish will have 12MHz to use LTE Broadcast for special events such as the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, etc. Any other time that spectrum can get aggregated via carrier aggregation with one of their other downlinks. Maybe, Sprint can tie up with Dish somehow, not necessarily through a complete merger. I hope that Sprint has enough visionary thinkers that think strategically....

Why is Dish, a satellite tv provider, interested in offering LTE service at special events like the Super Bowl and Daytona 500?

OK, this is a living example of "be careful what you ask for, 'cause you just might get it".  I sorta meant, "How about we talk about SPRINT in Chicago?"  Silly of me, I know, but, hey, I thought that's what this topic is all about.  I'll shut up now. 

Maybe Jabari has Sprint over in the englewood community?

Does it matter?  Derrick Rose's injury karma from cheating on his standardized tests will continue to stymie the Bulls.

 

 

AJ

As if that matters.  Do you really think Jabari Parker aced his ACT to get into Duke?  We all know they all take fluff classes with no accountability.  Haven't you seen the scandal unfolding at UNC?

Chicago? Chicago???  Helloooo, anyone out there have anything to say about Chicago?  Y'know, my kinda town?  Toddlin'?  2nd carrier?  Anything?????

Yeah can we get Melo now that Lebron is going back home to Cleveland.  Is that Chicago relevant?

Roger that, but my main question is still can they compete with AT&T, Verizon, and tmobile? Would you think the proposed merger is good or bad?? Sorry again for the two part question, and I really do APPRECIATE the educated comments..

I dont think reducing the number of major players from four to three is really ever good for the consumer.  Does anyone think from a consumer point of view the airline industry is better off now thats its down to UAL, AA, DAL, & SW.  There were about ten major players just 7 or 8 years ago.

The Town is covered (LTE) piss poor.  Every little bit helps.  

I didn't know coverage in Crystal Lake is so bad for LTE, I also didn't know Best Buy still has stores open.  Go figure.

I know I have the scars from those flame wars to prove it.

Shouldn't the article make some sort of assertion about subscriber volume along with the spectrum holdings.  Its the balance between the two that creates an attractive LTE network.  Throwing just the LTE spectrum maps up doesn't tell the whole story.  A ten year old can read the maps and see VZW has the biggest assets nationwide but without the inclusion of how many subscribers they have on their 10x10 or 20x20 pipes its almost meaningless.

Here's the size up of the situation with the other carriers:

 

T-Mobile has devices that work with AWS LTE B4 but most don't work with upcoming rural PCS LTE deployments or upcoming 700 A B12 deployments.

 

Verizon has devices they still sell with no XLTE access. They only started selling XLTE devices last year. Lots of people can only hit B13.

 

AT&T devices mostly support B2, B4, B5, and B17. Yet there's also future frequencies they'll add that even those devices will not support like B29 and B30.

 

Sprint is fairly straightforward with their band situation when you compare it to AT&T and Verizon. And even T-Mobile is going to deploy a bunch of spectrum most of their current devices don't support.

 

Spark phones are tri-band. The iPhone 5S and 5C are dual band phones. Older models with 4GLTE but no Spark are single band.

Fierce Wireless recently posted an article on exactly what you were summarizing, nat'l spectrum holdings by carrier.

Article Link.

There's a way to enable the other bands without the OTA with root and flashing the .15 radio.

Oh yeah, I know what you speak of, but the whole root thing is too advanced for me to do on my own and some of my friends who did it permanently F'd up their devices.  Scared the crap out of me.

For the network experience that you seem to want, that would be "cheaping out."  Or going with a "cheap" transition handset -- as you suggested you should have done in hindsight -- would have compromised your network experience for a year or two while you waited for a multi band handset.  Either way, you basically have to spend money or accept less.

 

AJ

Well to clarify the transition or "waiting period" I was talking about I only would have done if I felt I would be waiting a few months to get to a tri-band device, not a full year.  That wasn't an effort to save money persay, it would have been an effort to not upgrade and get left in the dust in just a few short months.  I can't remember the landscape of devices at that time and how far we actually were from Tri-Band, but I was on WiMax before my GS3, it wasn't that bad actually.  My phone had turned into a terd after 2 years of being beat up, but the WiMax service was pretty stable I recall.

At least you aren't in as bad of a boat as my parents and sister. They all got iPhone 4's a year ago when we upgraded. Still rocking the 3G. I got the GS3 at the time like you did, and I bought the Nexus 5 full price back in December with some xmas money after I found out B41 was live at my school. Made a world of difference.

How did you hit the B41 in December, I thought the B41 was disabled until they pushed the OTA to enable it which didn't come until like April.

Here's the size up of the situation with the other carriers:

 

T-Mobile has devices that work with AWS LTE B4 but most don't work with upcoming rural PCS LTE deployments or upcoming 700 A B12 deployments.

 

Verizon has devices they still sell with no XLTE access. They only started selling XLTE devices last year. Lots of people can only hit B13.

 

Sprint is fairly straightforward with their band situation when you compare it to AT&T and Verizon. And even T-Mobile is going to deploy a bunch of spectrum most of their current devices don't support.

 

Spark phones are tri-band. The iPhone 5S and 5C are dual band phones. Older models with 4GLTE but no Spark are single band.

Thanks for the rundown Fray, most of this I have pieced together already, the landscape is definitely crowded with all sorts of crazy one off things you have to know for each provider. It's insane, I don't know how the average dude of the street can really make an informed decision, but I think its safe to say when I get my next device I will be a much more informed consumer and will definitely be going for the highest technology stacked phone to take advantage of the latest LTE technology roll outs.

So, accept the reality of the situation.  If you are going to be "cheap," then you are going to have a less than optimal experience on any major network or operator these days.  You can never get ahead of the curve for very long.  Just keeping up with the curve requires spending money frequently on new handsets -- something that you do not seem willing to do.

 

AJ

I guess I never really viewed signing a 2 year contract and using the device purchased with for the full 2 years before upgrading again to be "cheaping out".  If the landscape of the market has changed I would expect the industry's whole 2 year contracts thing to go the way of the VCR.

 

But your continued ad nauseum complaints stating the same thing over and over again are not welcome.  You will continue to suffer the limitations of a uniband device based on your choices.  We don't want to hear it anymore. 

I disagree with your "ad naseum complaints" statement.  I am trying to make observations, often time ask questions, and sometimes like above just express my opinion (or desire).  Whether it's this market or others I travel to.  Some of those observations have a pattern to them given my device limitations, but not once do I rant off about poor service like a Sprint.com forum.  I have been here too long now for that.  I know 100% my device sucks and my experience is limited by it, but I also don't believe there is anything wrong with expressing being "disappointed" when appropriate. I am trying to be unbias, I want Sprint to succeed too, I'm a freaking shareholder.  If you feel differently PM me and let me know your stance, its your site Robert, not mine.

So why haven't you gotten it from Vince. If I was in your area in chicago, I would've gotten a nexus 5 a long time ago. A few bucks is a lot better than an unusable phone. You should just do it. 

Because I just discovered the 20% discounts through my employers and needed some time to compare everything.  Now I am sitting here 2 months away from a contract upgrade, right when GS5 Prime vs. iPhone 6 comes out, wouldn't you just wait for that now too?

You knew full well the limitations of your GS3 when you bought it and that it was not future proof.

Actually I didn't, I was a S4GRU rookie, didn't know half about NV and Sprint's architecture then compared to what I know now after two more years on this site.  If I did my decision would have probably been different.  I probably would have decided to find some cheap transition phone until I could get my hands on a tri-band.

The Nexus 5 is $349. That's really good for a non-contract device. Either that, or see if Sprint accelerates the end on the contract. They might just do that. Either way, you will have the contract date up soon after you get back to Chicago.

I might, Vince actually has offered to sell me his N5 for less.  I was looking at getting it late last year when I was getting fed up being on B25 only, but then I heard about the chronic B41 delay there and figured might as well keep waiting.

http://www.mobilesportsreport.com/2013/10/soldier-field-gets-upgraded-das-from-att-boingo/

 

http://www.mobilesportsreport.com/2013/12/stadium-tech-report-boingo-att-answer-call-for-more-das-bandwidth-at-chicagos-soldier-field/

 

DAS systems crumble under multiple providers. That's the whole flaw with them.

 

In Sprint's case, B41 has to be deployed with DAS otherwise it's fully saturated. I anticipate Sprint will have B41 on the DAS by the time the Bears regular season starts.

 

Get a Spark device and you will probably have no issues at Soldier Field. Specifically I'm betting you will have a much better experience over all in Chicago period with a Spark device. When you relegate the GS3 to the bedroom drawer and get something like a Nexus 5 or M8, you'll have a much better experience connecting to the Soldier Field DAS system.

What I don't know about that DAS is what it is providing for Sprint.  Last time I was there in Nov 2013 for a game, the DAS seemed to do nothing for Sprint users, there was no extra coverage or capacity on B25, nor did I notice any service to be had on any 3G technologies.  Looked like users of Red and Blue were working just fine, me and my Sprint friends had our phones turn into bricks.  Makes me wonder if the technology stack on the DAS actually has support for Sprint's LTE bands, or maybe it's just providing 1X for non ATT customers.  The articles don't really say.  I wonder what actually technology the DAS system contains that is compatible with Sprint phones.  However, if the DAS is just providing WiFi access from Boingo (which you have to pay for) and which has been available at solider field for years now, it really isn't doing anything for Sprint customers.  I made the mistake of buying that Boingo WiFi for a game in 2012, big mistake, worse than free airport WiFi, sub dialup and timeouts galore.  It does say the DAS has been upgraded to provide capacity on ATTs LTE Network so we know that's there is LTE transmission on B17.

 

I know my GS3 is out of date Fray, but like I said before Sprint signed me to a contract with this device, then changed their network architecture during our terms.  They made my phone obsolete halfway through my contract without offering me something to keep up with their changes and take advantage of what they built.  There was no way in hell I was shelling out the $600 out of pocket price for a tri band phone.  I consider it similar to when Comcast switched their technology stack from analog to all digital delivery and required people to install those little digital-analog converters if they wanted to maintain basic cable and not upgrade to the full digital product (with digital box).  Comcast gave each subscriber something like three free converters to maintain service, if you wanted/needed more I think you had to buy or lease em. 

 

To me it would have been nice to see Sprint do something to help people transition off being stuck on B25, helps both user and the network by large, which in turn helps other users, etc etc.  If Sprint would have said to me 6 months ago hey Joey want to sign a new 2 year deal now and get a tri-band device for $200 instead of either waiting for Fall of 2014 or just paying the $600 out of pocket price for the same device now I would have said where do I sign.  Instead we still have plenty of me's out there, people waiting for the attrition of their contract to upgrade, stuck on the little old B25 which can hardly handle a shopping mall let a lone a stadium or event, complaining, and then smack talking Sprint all over the web (not me personally, but general Sprint users).

 

And what's worse, the extra time I have spent stuck on (and dissapointed in) B25 has prompted me to at least look around at other providers.  In doing so I saw my new employer offers 20% on a couple of the other carriers.  So now when my contract is up I really have to take a long hard look at Sprint tri-band vs. others because at this point the 20% neutralizes the cost difference. 

I'm scanning STL for this and so far, we have not seen any USCC conversions to Network Vision. I definitely have a few places where Sprint could use USCC sites in rural Randolph County in Sparta and near the World Shooting Complex to cover travelers who are coming in town for that facility's big event, the Grand American.

Yeah it would be nice to see Sprint's networks handle large events without fear no matter where we go.  We'll get there one day.  Looking forward to some people checking in on Soldier Field this coming Bears season with their tri-band, thats been a long time service dead zone during games/concerts for Sprint, before and after NV 1.0.

AT&T is the landline provider in Champaign. That said, Sprint could also use the gigabit network recently built in Champaign as well.

Isn't that the whole conflict of interest thing again, why would ATT do any sort of expedited job on helping Sprint build out its LTE network which competes with its own core business.  The backhaul delays are literally predictable.  If I was ATT I would just make up reasons why I can't get things up and running on time and just slap Sprint with delay after delay.

I have found so much second carrier, band 26, 8t8r, and in-progress 8t8r in the wild. I wish I had the time to make us a premier map, or to even find the time to contribute to someone else's map.

Yeah me too.  Also makes me wonder what other markets are like in these areas.  Not every market has a Vince, AKA truck driver network vision nerd, constantly filling us in on the situation across the metro area.

Not in the western/southern suburbs. There have been a couple of actual downtown second pcs carrier reports. Not sure what the hold up is, but it should happen just as rapidly as it did outside of the city. It was literally in the span of a few days from nothing to fully blanketed. Maybe the tighter spaced sites in the loop are a problem with interference or something.

All that may be, I just wish we had a cool map where we can see confirmed sites broadcasting and like the other maps color coded pins to denote which sites are like in progress, next 30 days, next 90 days, 1H2015, etc.