ingenium

http://imgur.com/7rWYg8Q

http://imgur.com/87S2mMp

Last question: do you have GPS coordinates or a Google map link to the approximate location?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Just experienced my first small cell in battery park.

 

Hit 50mb down 15mb up GCI is similar to B25 starting with 129.

 

Also did speed test at observatory deck of the world trade hit 110mb down.

Next time you see one can you post screenshots of SCP and/or engineering?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

That makes a lot of sense. Are there any current plans to do similar upgrades that AT&T and Verizon to improve b25 and b26 reception? Or is all the focus currently on identifying with b41?

I could be wrong, but I believe it's possible on sites where they have 2 NV 1.0 antennas per sector. Usually this is only seen at high capacity sites currently. They put CDMA on one antenna and LTE on the other. I think it would allow for either 4x4 or 4x2, but I'm not certain. In theory they could go back and add a second set of antennas to every site, but I don't think it's likely any time soon.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

I think a lot of folks are underestimating the effects of adding pop to a limited 5x5 block without other bands to relieve it.

 

In some cases dropping to 3G is probably better than a completely saturated B26.

Yup. In SF B26 may be everywhere such that you rarely see 3G, but trust me you don't want to be on it. It's so saturated that it's unusable, 0.3-0.5 mbps and timeouts. B25 isn't much of an improvement usually. 3G is better in most cases. They really need to increase B41 site density, that's the only solution.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Anyone else notice the GPS is significantly worse than the Nexus 6? I can't say I'm surprised, seeing as the 6P is a metal case, but it's definitely frustrating at times.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Furthermore, if Verizon shuts down CDMA, that means the demand for CDMA capable handsets decreases dramatically. That'll likely start happening soon (aren't there already some Verizon phones that don't have CDMA?). It could make Sprint have to pay manufacturers more to include CDMA capabilities and make it more difficult to get compatible handsets.

 

Hopefully this lights the fire under Sprint to actually enable VoLTE, even if it's only testing and opt-in with lots of hoops to jump through. Personally, I'm usually in strong LTE coverage areas and would be able to use VoLTE without any issues. It's frustrating to lose data every time a call comes in. Plus the ability to have wifi calling on Nexus devices would be a huge plus.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2016/07/05/Wireless-carriers-to-install-equipment-to-prevent-lost-calls-in-tunnels/stories/201607040008?utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1467692867

 

Some info about the tunnels as well a couple snippets about Sprint in particular...

 

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Sounds like they finally plan to upgrade all the GMO or legacy sites along the highways within a year

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

That's disappointing, if true. I'm wondering why it wouldn't be something resembling SRLTE, where it's authenticated and listening to both at once while only actively connected to one. That doesn't require two modems, right?

 

- Trip

That's the way the old dual SIM phones worked (around 2011). My friend had one and it would show his signal on both networks. He set one as the default for data and texts and calls, but incoming texts and calls on the other would still work, and it would default to using that one if the other one lost service.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

I also saw an autonomous Uber car yesterday driving down Penn Ave.

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Makes sense Uber is testing them in Pittsburgh, since they poached all the autonomous car researchers from CMU. I didn't know PA had regulations in place yet to allow them on the road?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Post engineering screen shots.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

Yeah I'm curious to see what channel it is. As of yesterday going from downtown Pittsburgh north on 279 -> 79 -> 76 I only picked up the 5x5 carrier on the normal channel according to my SCP logs.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Anyone going to the parade today? Hopefully they have some COWs and small cells in place for today. I don't think any network could survive the crowds that are going to be coming.

I doubt they got COWs installed that quickly, usually they set them up a few weeks in advance (or did in SF for the Super Bowl anyway). I was downtown for Pride this weekend and didn't pick up anything new. So it's unfortunately probably just going to be the regular macro network.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Regarding the phone sticking to B26, I've noticed that the phone can sometimes get into an "unstable" state where it continuously band cycles every few seconds to B41, then B25, and lands back on B26 where it sits until the next cycle. Nothing seems to fix it other than a reboot. For me, one site in particular seems to trigger it when I get in a weak signal area (ie a basement).

 

So you might want to try rebooting if you find your phone sticking to B26 when it shouldn't be.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Pittsburgh has a ton of Wimax only sites that aren't colocated. Clearwire used Motorola equipment in Pittsburgh, which can't run B41. So the only B41 is 8T8R. There are many Clearwire sites in the perfect position to fill in Sprint coverage gaps, but they haven't been replaced yet.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Unfortunately, I don't think Sprint can do a B25 10x10 in SF or Houston unless they trade spectrum to pair their 5x5 blocks and thin out EVDO & 1x. There's information about this on the sponsors page, so it's definitely an option for Sprint. I just doubt they do it in SF and Houston.

Yeah SF is spectrum crunched for Sprint. They only have 20mhz because they sold some to ATT back in the day. I heard they were planning to thin the CDMA carriers to make room for another 5x5, but last I checked the CDMA carriers were still spread out all over their block assignment.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

If you off load to B41 80% of the time and B25 15 % of the time, the 5% of the time you are on B26 can be decent.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Unfortunately a lot of places still only have a single 5x5 B25 carrier. If they can get a 10x10 in addition to a 5x5 in most areas, then that load balancing would work (3:1 B25:B26)

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

That's what I thought but AJ made it seem otherwise...

I mean they COULD roam on LTE. But for throttled speeds it doesn't really make sense.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

B26 speeds aren't the greatest but more than adequate for streaming music or videos, problem is B26 isn't optimized for crap at least in my area so it's hit or miss if I get 3G or LTE even though I should get LTE everywhere considering the tower density here.

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

That depends heavily on the area. In a lot of the SF Bay area B26 is often under 1 mbps. It's completely unusable during peak hours. My home site would be 0.2 mbps every day until late night, but it also (along with the adjacent sites) didn't have B41. That being said, anywhere in Oakland or SF, if you drop off B41, you can absolutely forget about a Hangouts / Google Voice VoIP call, you won't be able to hear a thing.

 

In other places where site spacing allows a majority of people to be on B41, then B26 is probably adequate for browsing or music streaming. But I've never had a "good" B26 experience.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

How's this:

Does sprint offer international LTE roaming?

Not currently to my knowledge. It roams on HSPA.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Yup. On the Northside I pull 60mbit during the day/evening on Sprint, indoors. At night I've gotten over 100mbit. Verizon in the same location peaks at 20, and is around 2mbit in the evening. Where Sprint has B41 in Pittsburgh it works very well. Now downtown and on the southside slopes is a different story...

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

I'm guessing no one has mapped this on Sensorly

 

 

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I tried to, I had it open and mapping but the Nexus 6P apparently has a poor GPS and Sensorly and Cell Mapper rarely get an accurate enough location to count the data (usually is more than 50ft, which isn't good enough apparently, seems to need less than 30). My Nexus 6 always worked perfectly.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

 

And the city wants it taken down...

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2016/06/01/City-issues-cease-and-desist-order-for-Mount-Washington-

sign/stories/201606010227

That Bayer sign is ugly and hasn't worked in years...

Haha I just saw that last night and took a picture of it, but forgot to post it. Is that the old Bayer sign?

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Any LTE roaming at Yellowstone National Park? I see some purple for 3G, whom is that roaming provider? On coverage maps says "Nationwide Sprint Network"

Nope, I was just there this week. No service period actually on any of the big 4 in most of the park. Verizon had CDMA service at Old Faithful that I could roam on, and Verizon LTE was there too. But once I left the buildings there it was back to no service on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.

 

I think this is the microwave relay Verizon was using (no wifi at any of the buildings), and there was a corresponding one at the west entrance to the park.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

 

 

I did get an email from Sprint though, that mentioned the unlimited plan at $75 for the first line and $45 for the second line. I'm not sure if this is a new offer or not, but it is a pretty good deal.

That's an older plan from several months ago. I heard it was being phased out in the middle of April. Each additional line gets cheaper, and the 4th is free. Then I think the 5th+ lines have the same pricing as the 3rd line. For 4 lines it price matched the ATT unlimited plan for DirecTV customers.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

"We now have our 2.5 network reinforced in major cities under LTE Plus thanks to carrier aggregation and MIMO. Our speeds have essentially doubled and are much faster than the competition according to Nielson ratings. Our densification plan is rolling out and in affected neighborhoods the customer response has been positive in terms of speeds and coverage. We will have 2/3 of major cities covered by the end of next year. We've cut a lot from our budget and Claure keeps finding new ways to do so without damaging the quality of the network. We posted a positive operating income and will continue to increase in subscribers thanks to the increased LTE Plus coverage. We're on track to posting a positive net income."

 

Not too hard to predict what Sprint management say at this point.

Only 2-3 major cities covered by the end of 2017? That doesn't seem like that much, considering the relative ease and low cost of small cells.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

I thought you meant 15MHz PERIOD, not 15MHz FDD. That should be usable for refarm!

Yeah it is. SF only has 20 MHz period (10 FDD). lilotimz said he heard they intent to slim CDMA down to 5 MHz FDD here Soon™, and then deploy a second 5x5 B25 carrier. But they haven't started even shuffling the CDMA channels yet, so I think it'll be a while. The last I checked there was 1 1x carrier on channel 75, and 3 EVDO carriers on channels 25, 150, and 175.

 

NYC has more spectrum, so that might happen sooner.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P