ingenium

I figured out how to get to Field Test/Engineering Screens on my LG V60 DS (*#546368#*600#).  I went to the Downtown site with the 5G NR live and went to the Engineering Screen and see this. 

So this probably explains why it's not populating in Cellmapper.  It's not even populating any data in the LG hidden screens. It just shows connected to 5G and that's it. No band info, no bandwidth info.  No PCI.  No signal strength.

I also noticed that as I drove away and my 5G signal transitioned to 4G LTE, the signal bars never dropped from full signal.  So it never was showing the "bars" for 5G in the signal indicator.  It was the 4G LTE strength. Because where I drove out of 5G NR coverage was near another 4G LTE tower.

So I wasn't able to determine which NR band I was on using Engineering Screens or Cellmapper. But I was able to turn on and off NR bands using the LG Field Test options under Modem Commands.  

So I first tried under NR bands, n71 only and then hit Save. The signal indicator changed to 4G LTE for 2-3 seconds, and then the 5G indicator came back. Still nothing on the engineering screen or Cellmapper, except to say 5G = True.  So I then went back and changed it to Auto select NR band.  It flickered back to LTE and settled back on 5G signal indicated. 

Next I selected n66 only.  Save.  5G disconnects.  Connects to 4G LTE. Then nothing.  After 5 seconds, 10 seconds. Nothing. Stays on 4G LTE. Does not connect NR.  Go back to automatic, reconnects to 5G.  Try it again with n71 only...connects.  Try again with n66 only...stays on LTE.  OK, maybe I can determine that I was on n71 then.

Next I tried n41 only and saved.  It too immediately went back to 4G LTE indicated.  But, BAM!!!  It settled back on 5G indicated. Is it actually connected n41? 

Excited by the prospect of finding n41 in WA State, but highly skeptical, I decide to try other NR bands only.  I was thinking that maybe the phone was overriding my selection and forcing it back to n71, though requested not to.

I went back to auto select NR bands, and reset. It then went thru its normal reset...first 4G LTE and then settling back on 5G indicated.

OK.  Try with n2 only.  Nothing, stays on 4G LTE.  They with n12 only.  Nothing.  When it comes to NR, it would connect to the local site using n71 only, n41 only, or automatic.  No other NR band selections.

Does this mean NR is broadcasting on n41 in my town?  I cannot definitively say. I did run speedtests. But these are not revealing. On n71 I was getting approximately 6-8Mbps up and down. On supposed n41, I was getting approx 10-12Mbps up and down. On 4G LTE I was getting 50-60Mbps. But I hear new 5G sites start out very slow and then drastically approve.

So I don't know what to think.  I can't really get access to this site to take pictures of equipment.  Thoughts?

Robert

 

 

 

Sprint does not have their 5G indicator configured this way. Also, with N41, usually using B41 as the anchor band, you're like getting NR and LTE from the same site. I'm not sure if Sprint even supports NR+LTE from separate sites.

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I was having issues inside of Grocery stores. I was using an iPhone XS MAX. I’m now using an iPhone 11 Pro it seems to have better reception than my old device. I’m having a better experience now. Those same stores instead of my phone placing calls on a weak LTE signal it would switch to CDMA which doesn’t bother me because I could then use the stores WiFi for data.

 

I was also having issues with my calls when driving on the highway. My calls would get really choppy and I could only hear like every second or third word.

Normally I almost never drop B41, so the move to b26 was definitely an optimization for VoLTE. As soon as I ended the call, my phone moved back to b41.

I'll add that I have noticed that I'll occasionallyhave brief cutouts when doing VoLTE via my MB or Airave (both with Ethernet backhaul), but not on macro VoLTE, and that wifi calling sounds better (I have a very good wifi setup though). So I generally keep my phone set to wifi preferred. VoLTE to/from vowifi handoffs have been flawless for me, minus the brief blip of silence during the handoff, so I see no reason not to do it.

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Out of curiosity did anyone have a respectable  experience with voice over LTE on Sprint? I never had a reason to use my data while on a call but when I had VoLTE toggled on, I'd always have garbled calls inside of stores where a band 25 or even 41 signal was available, nevermind band 26 (which always resulted in unusable data and calls that were completely unintelligible). It was frustrating so I normally turned it off but was trying to give it a chance as others seemed so happy with something that I had little use for and barely worked in practice. This with a Galaxy Note 10 plus. 

That being said, I've been on rural towers with a very weak 1x800 signal and had it sound very clear. So it's definitely a capacity problem. When 1x becomes congested, it cuts quality to increase capacity. In cities this results in absolute garbage calls.

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But, wouldn't you need a new simmm card?
 

Not sure if this still works: 
 

The issue with forcing people onto the new network when they upgrade their device is that it can cause churn if the network isn't ready yet. For example, in area where I typically am, Sprint's network is much denser than T-mobile, and I'd be giving up coverage until T-mobile rebuilds Sprint sites. It would force some of my family members to change providers since they'd have no service at home.

I suspect/hope there will be a time (a year? More?) where you can still stay on Sprint as the default network if you want. People with iPhones or Pixels can use either network as is, so the devices are already ready. They might be able to just push a SIM update OTA eventually, but I've heard that providers have sometimes bricked a bunch of SIMs in the past doing that.

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It's possible that it was an engineering unit and is on an engineering account at Sprint instead of your personal account. Some of us have engineering Magic Boxes (pre-release models) that are on internal engineering accounts instead of our personal accounts.

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So what box do I have...I'll take a few pics and show it..but I don't understand the purpose of being sent the box if it wouldn't help voice, and didn't help data either. It really just sat there with some pretty solid green lights all the time...

Well...at least you guys KNOW which device you have. I don't know what the hell Sprint sent me in may of 2019...but it doesn't look like an Airave 3 (like I was told it was)...and it's not a magic box.
When the Magic Box area was fine-tuned around me, I am outside of the license area by about 1 mile..so they turned off my MB back in March of last year and left me not knowing why until I contacted George Schnellbacher and talked with him. He said he was sorry and would send me an Airave to help my service since I was about to have gig fiber installed...and that's what I thought they sent.
never paid much attention to it once I got it in. I hooked it up..and noticed I didn't hear the "3 beep thing" that the Airaves had always done...because I had an airave since the Samsung days of Airave at Sprint. So I know how they should work..I just figured the new Airaave didn't do the beeps anymore.
Noticed I had B41 LTE but thought it was normal...and I finally decided to call this past week because my calls are dropping and shouldn't be if the Airave works like it should.
They couldn't find the Airave on my account. It just wasn't there. And I don't have a MB.
I rec'd the Airave 3 today ...and it don't look nothing like this box that GJS sent me last year. 
The box GJS sent says "Airvana" on it. And he had mentioned sending an S1000...but I didn't know what that was and if that's actually what he did send. Anyone want to see a pic to try and guess at what I've got?

Wasn't live for a few I know including myself until today. 

TDD is a lot more sensitive than FDD when it comes to these things. This is why LTE Airaves are also unavailable in markets without high-low separation. 

I thought they were going to use DSS which allows them to run LTE AND NR on the same bands simultaneously.

Since when did VPN start counting against your hotspot allowance?

Odd change of events, my iPhone X seems to perform damn good on b25 in Columbus, OH. My V50 parks itself on B41 and is not as good. The download varies but the upload cannot even complete due to the configuration on the network. I personally don’t mind staying on b25 if I’m getting these kind of speeds. I reinstated the Sprint bands on my V50. I’ll just wait until whatever OTA gets pushed out to it to access T-Mobile.




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I’m on an iPhone XS. I can get screenshots if you tell me what you need from field test.

T-mobile roaming got uncapped today on my home site. So seems like it was a gradual rollout versus an all at once thing. No VoLTE, calls went over 1x.

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I just noticed I’m making calls over VOLTE while roaming on T-Mobile. Has anyone else seen this yet? I’m posting this comment while on a phone call and on band71.

But if I turn off wifi on my phone, i should be able to hit that B41 connection with my phone...but, the phone instead grabs a roaming AT&T B12 data, and completely ignores the B41 femtocell signal. If the Airave is supposed to boost service, and it doesn't boost voice service (at all) and it doesn't boost data service (at all), then what exactly is the purpose behind having it?
And they can't even find the thing in my account...
And she said according to her map, the closest Airave is 7 miles from my address..
not sure what it's connected to, or what it's broadcasting...but it's not something my note 10 will latch to unless I'm on wifi (then it just reads that there is B41)... Soon as the wifi on my phone is switched off, that B41 disappears and it reverts back to that B12 from AT&T

Ok yeah..I just did some sleuthing...and the data connection shows it's connected to B41 on SCP..but the data connection isn't active. So if I turn off wifi, I resort to flipping constantly between active, inactive on SCP for data. Something definitely isn't right...I just never noticed.
Not sure why it displays B41 when I turned wifi on...but soon as I turned wifi off, it started switching between active/inactive...over and over.
Even with all the lights on the Airave solid green. What the heck is that thing broadcasting if it's not a signal that I can use?

So I spoke with Sprint about my Airave 3. I'm not sure why I didn't think about posting here about it..just hasn't been a huge deal..but the LTE part of the Airave has worked fine...since I got it back in May of 2019. The history with me and the Airave started with George Schnellbacher...we exchanged emails for quite a while..because I had a magic box that worked GREAT...for like, 2  years..until Sprint started losing licenses or adjusting the areas where they could deploy magic boxes..and suddenly one day my magic box quit working. Exchanged some emails with GJS and he finally determined that the area had shrunk for licensing around me, and I was about a mile too far from the line to have the MB deployed at my address...but he had an airave sent to me instead. 
I rec'd the Airave and hooked it up as normal -- cause before the MB came along, I had kept an airave since the Samsung version back in 2010..and they all worked great here. So plugged in, set-up the Airave..and lights went green. Figured all is well. Never noticed the 3-beep sound before a call..but didn't think much of it. GJS referred to the box as an S1000.  Finally today I decided to try and swap out the airave 3 for the airave 4...as I missed having the calls on the airave.  Talked with support this morning for an hour and half....they can't find the airave on my account..and I don't get the 3 beeps when calling. Plus, the agent said the closest airave to me was 7 miles away. Very odd...
I'm still getting all green lights..and the airave DOES give me LTE service on my phone (B41)...but nothing else. NO calls. 
 
So..what the heck??? I mean, the box says "Airave" on it..so it's GOT to be an airave...but it doesn't let me do calls? Even on VoLTE?
I have a note 10, note 9...etc ...all of my lines are capable of VoLTE..and Wifi calling. But this particular airave doesn't have calling or just does LTE?
 
Either way, i'll have the new airave in a day. And it'll be the Airave 4..and it's actually provisioned on my account. 
She said I needed to send back the current one..but if it's not provisioned on my account and doesn't come up in a search...would it really hurt to hook it up at my fire department just to have some better data inside (we have NO service on Sprint devices)...
 
I don't really know but I tend to think that they don't even know how this particular box is provisioned for use since she couldn't find it..and my station really needs a femtocell....
 

Look at your ping though. They are getting it ready I think. That's what happened to me. Still fluctuates but I've seen as low as 25

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So I force my sprint note 10 plus on tmobile network. I no longer get cap at 5 mbps down or up. I did speed test 110 mbps now. This great sign of allowing us sprint people first on there network take more advantage. This is in BALTIMORE MARKET.

If they eventually stop new activations, what happens to people on family plans? Does everyone need to get a new SIM at once and the whole plan migrated to T-mobile for one person to upgrade their device?

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I wasn't aware of this one.. when did it start? Are you both on the latest beta (4.592b)?

Mike how have you been?  Its been awhile!  Anyway one of the last updates has borked SCP, I do not get any LTE info and it takes a few trys of reopening the app to get it to work.  Background services and location are all enabled as I haven't messed with any settings, is this a known issue?