Joeynach

Mostly Palos/Orland/Tinley area. Didn't go south to Frankfort. What do you mean "you're responsible?" Are you a technician? We sure have some questions if you are.

He probably reported some service issues to Sprint and they told him they would send a technician to the tower or something.

I'm in highland, Munster, griffith, Schererville and all of the sites are band 25 live and I still have a lot of coverage gaps. I have a 5S and definitely no band 26 here. NWI could actually benefit greatly from band 26 since the cell spacing is only optimal for voice on PCS. EVDO and LTE suffer in a handful of places.

Yeah I hear ya, knowing what we know now about just how signal strength dependent LTE performance is, the properties & coverage characteristics of the 1900Mhz (data) signal, and the fact that our first couple years of LTE were going to be all B25, I may have even gone in a different direction a couple years ago. 

There are several LTE devices (most) that support international GSM. The Galaxy S4, S5, Note 2, Note 3, LG G2, G Flex, Moto X, Moto Photon 4G, Nexus 5, HTC One , One Max, and One M8.

 

Pretty much every mid-range to high-end LTE device released in the last year, and a few older than that.

I think the N5 takes it even further right.  Because it supports international LTE, not just the old GSM present in many countries.

They probably do have roaming agreements with GSM carriers in other countries. But you're better off just getting a local SIM and popping that in.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Oh yeah for sure, thats what I was planning on doing.  Just excited I don't have to take a 2nd GSM phone (unlocked) with me like I did last time when I travel and want to purchase a local prepaid plan.

What do you consider time????     Is this only true in Spark markets???    Last night when driving into Charlotte, it switched on its own to LTE without any effort..  In LTE Discovery App signal page, it also shows GSM now when in LTE mode on my GS5 on the voice side...  On my GS3, it showed LTE and 1XRTT ...  Is that because of the single antenna???

If so thats huge, I have been clamoring for the day my Sprint (CDMA) device can roam on GSM networks instead of turn into a brick when I travel to GSM network based countries....like most of the world.

I'm noticing a ton of LTE holes this past week. Places where that never was the case. When band 26 is readying for launch, do they aim the 25 antennae down more because they no longer need as much reach?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

When I said holes above I was referring to NV Sites complete that still show 3G/800, I actually haven't noticed any dead B25 data in areas that I traverse like you have.

Nowhere I go that isn't lit up, only a handful of sites left for them. What my problem is around here is the PCS LTE doesn't reach far enough, each site is like an LTE island that only reaches for about a mile. I wish they'd get LTE 800 up and running around here sooner then later, I'm having too many thoughts about cheating! Haha.

 

Actually what I was really referring to was driving out west to Southwest Colorado. No LTE anywhere near that area.

There are still a few 3G/800 sites on the Indiana Toll Road corridor in both Gary and LaPorte, thats what I was asking.  Still a few in the loop and a few outlying suburbs so I know there are holes out there.  I guess in the city its less of an issue with the density of adjacent towers.  Maybe to find B26 in NW Indiana you can find a Sprint person with an iPhone 5s or find a Sprint store with the 5s on display and pop in and test for it once in a while.

Yeah and as I'm right about to leave town to an area that still has NO Sprint LTE anywhere near it for a month or so. This is why I've been thinking about switching to one of the Big Two but sprint EVDO in town and Verizon roaming everywhere else should suffice. Plus I have att and VZW SIM cards for my iPad Air.

 

I hope when I come back band 26 is nearly everywhere as well as the second PCS LTE carrier! If they can get these band 25 issues nipped I'll be able to hold off on a tri-band phone for awhile, which is what I want to do because I don't trust that the iphone 6, getting a redesign as big as it is will be without major teething issues for the first few months.

What part of NW Indiana is still w/o LTE?  Like LaPorte?

I also latched onto the uscc spectrum, this was in northeast Naperville bordering lisle, forgot to run a speed test doh...

I have signal check pro too, but I don't see the UCF and DCF data on the LTE section on mine like you do.  What gives?

This might sound like a dumb question but I'm no expert so I apologize in advance. In my office I usually get a weak LTE signal (2 bars) but sometimes my connection jumps to a 3G connection and all of the sudden I get 4-5 bars with the 3G signal. What does that mean? Does it mean I have a strong signal from an antenna which has not been converted to LTE yet?

 

Thanks!

I second that.  I use the signalcheck app, the paid version to monitor mine.  And I experience the same jumps between LTE and 3G like you, in my office building too.  Since I use the app I can tell when my LTE is fading, anything past -115dbM, I know the spots on my floor in and my building, then I watch it fall back to 3G.  The strength of my bars on 3G depends if my phone goes to 1XRTT (a 1900Mhz signal) or 1X800 (an 800mhz signal).  Again, the app displays the strength in dbM and that correlates to how many bars you see. 

The clock on my phone has been jumping back and forth 1 hour since about 11pm. Anyone else? I read about this in another thread earlier today. It almost caused me to miss the blood moon that was cancelled by Chicago cloud cover

About a week ago I noticed my phone would start up with the incorrect time and then correct itself 10-15 minutes later.  Not sure if the issues are related.

sprint is tied into the das, sadly it still hasn't helped from what I heard. The last time I went, they were on not on the das. So I can't say

Same, I had an awful experience there during that storm delayed game against the Ravens in November.  No way Sprint was hooked into the DAS system there as the NV Sites Complete map reports.  Everyone and their mother was on their phones during the delay, our Sprint devices were literally bricks, no service.  The others must have had access to the DAS because they were rocking and rolling with streaming other games and monitoring the radar.  The Bears won in OT, so the day ended well at least.

Bears can win a super bowl with Cutler. As long as he can stay healthy; He's actually a great quarterback

I just want my Sprint phone to actually have usable service at Soldier Field during a game.  After that, then I will worry about the Bears run defense and Cutler's health issues.

I can bet 3g, maybe band 25 if you had a nexus(the beast) but it would have been weak band 25

Cubs suck!

I must say, band 26 has the propagation that's been promised. I'm in a pretty bad area for signal (near where I suspect that a 26 cluster came online) and I'm sitting in a doctors exam room, in the middle of the building, with 2 doors closed behind me. I have a -98 b26 LTE signal with speeds of 6mbps/4mbps. Awesomeness.

If B26 wasn't there what would you have gotten.  Any B25?  3G only?

Excellent. That was approximately the end of my several mile band 26 cruise last night. It turned off around Halsted on I-55. Look at your sponsor map. You'll see you're very, very close to a tower. But with a band 26 signal of -114, it's doubtful it was coming from your nearest site. Thanks for the report. Keep them coming, folks.

I dont want to reveal too much from the premier section but you and I both know from Robert's latest LTE800 schedule map there is a huge swath of towers slated for B26 activation first in the the West and SW parts of the city, other city areas will have to remain patient.

If it was in fact a cluster (as I suspect it was) I can't wait for Robert to update the LTE 800 map and see exactly where these acceptances are, and how many are out there. I know I was hitting different towers as all the numbers on field test were changing while driving. Signal levels were changing, too. It was handing off very well. I can't seem to connect to 26 now when returning to that area, so the network is doing what it's supposed to do. I'm guessing it's because it's late, and this is usually the time of night in Chicago that band 25 is usable. All the data pigs are tucked away at home on wifi

I'm happy to hear B26 is making its presence known in Chicago, but I think you know where I stand.  I am more interested in the core LTE band working as advertised than the B26 glory that say oh currently 3% of Sprint subscribers (outside of this S4GRU community) could even pick up given their device.  Not just because I have a B25 only device, its time is coming to an end, but I believe for Sprint to succeed with NV their 1900 PCS LTE needs to work as advertised. 

LTE on PCS 1900 is what a majority of Sprint users access and will continue to access in the future for LTE connectivity, its what 3rd parties/blogs/review sites are testing Sprint against, and since its the first piece of their nationwide LTE build-out its what their reputation as an LTE provider is going to be anchored on.  If B25 is continually stuck in the slow lane, than to me it doesn't really matter how good a few insiders like us feel B26 and B41 are.  Still I am happy to hear B26 is falling in line with the expectations and schedule most of us have to come expect.  That is definitely good news.

You guys need to stop this either/or, or priority thinking. The two deployments are unrelated and handled by different contractors. They don't have to stop one to do another, or focus less on one to do more of another. They can do both at the same time. They are pretty much unrelated.

 

If Sprint is not proceeding with deploying a second carrier in Chicago, it may be because they can't yet. We just speculate that they can use the USCC spectrum. Like we are finding out with 800 in a lot of places, there are delays in using the spectrum that occur that are out of Sprint's control. None of us know the issues in Chicago preventing a second B25 LTE carrier being deployed on USCC spectrum.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

This is Chicago, if Sprint wants to get the ball rolling they need to grease the right hands.

Would totally not be surprised if the second PCS LTE carrier is not planned till "end of Summer" like several other markets who need it today. 

Nothing schedule wise surprises me at this point, but the dead silence and lack of rumors on the subject does.  When topics get trendy Robert or someone with their pulse on things usually get some sort of inside track info, but so far nothing on this subject.  Thats the strange part to me.

Yeah! What is taking them so long? Considering this is probably the best short term fix for Chicago's capacity issues, I would have expected the second LTE carrier for B25 do be deployed market wide by now. Hopefully they are doing it on the same schedule as B26, but you never know...

Precisely, and I have been saying without significant number of Sprint users migrating to Tri-Band devices there is no capacity offloading, or demand spread out coming anytime soon.  In one of the premier forums there was a discussion on exactly this, and Robert even guesstimated Tri-Band adoption, "I saw the number of Triband device adoption rate in February was in 3% range. Even adding the number of iPhone 5s/5c's to that, it is likely around 5%.......It will likely not hit 20% until Q1 2015."

Chicago needs more LTE capacity, and we need it in the form of additional LTE carrier on B25.

Well, this is certainly exciting. We need expanded capacity bad in Chicago.

 

 

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Yeah on B25 too, where is our additional LTE carrier from US Cellular?

Wow, you guys weren't lying, service was very hit or miss.  Unfortunately for me I experienced a significant amount of miss with my stay in Delray Beach.  Even though there is a 3G/4G complete tower just about a 1/4 mile away from my location, I was unable to get any signal indoors at the Seagate Hotel where I stayed, nor at any adjacent locations along Atlantic Ave or A1A (bars, restaurants, shops).  My phone was literally No Service once I stepped indoors, with the occasional blip of weak 1XRTT or 3G Roam.  Essentially useless.  As soon as I stepped outside LTE went strong and connectivity was fine.  I was flabbergasted by this.

Just to reaffirm, calling Sprint and telling those prl pusher csr's that a tower has a problem, actually works. There was a tower in Beverly that had a dead LTE connection. This tower happens to be my brother's new home tower. I called on his behalf Friday, and his phone lit up with LTE a few hours ago. Excellent response, Sprint.

 

 

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Good and bad to me.  Good that Sprint actually responds to customers complaint/input and acts, but bad because it implies Sprint needs to the customer to tell them where and when they have service disruptions, outages, or trouble with equipment.  I really figured by now that would be something they would have an expert eye on internally with like a master network operations center that monitors and alerts for these types of things automatically. 

Yeah, unfortunately Sprint works in mysterious ways with pockets of gold data connections (as with other tel companies). In Hialeah, I have 80-90% LTE but with Sprints weak penetration my home is a blanket of nothingness... Outside solid in Hialeah and in alot of parts of Miami.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 4

Similar issues in Chicago.  Our city gets a good rep widely noted as an advanced LTE market for Sprint.  The data experience (on B25) has never been that great, In building coverage in the Loop has always been hit or miss at best, and I have yet to have a positive experience at crowded events and venues.  But even here all the suburbs people have 100x better experiences, that's why I assumed things would be better in SE Florida becuase the urban landscape of Broward and West Palm counties is closer to that of our suburbs here like DuPage and Lake Counties, where people have much better LTE experiences with Sprint. 

Ill be in Delray Beach next week, looking forward to seeing what kind of LTE experience the SE Florida market experiences on the core B25.  Coming from Chicago to a less dense area, though still quite urban, my assumption is I will see better throughput speeds both on/off peak hours on B25 LTE.  I will be over by Atlantic Ave and Ocean Drive, I see the closest couple of towers are 3G/4G for some time.  Anyone have any experience in this area they can share?

I will also be in Boca for a day or so, unfortunately the sites on Yamato and Client Moore show legacy so that stretch along Military Tr. doesn't look like its going offer a good data experience.