leozno1

What I've noticed is that my phone (Note II) tries to stay connected to a very weak LTE signal even when 3G signal is much better.

Sometimes the LTE signal is so weak it is not even usable, meaning the phone isn't able to transmit nor receive data.

 

Very annoying but I guess it will be a non issue once LTE coverage becomes more prevalent

I rather have that than have my phone connect to and disconnect from LTE at will despite still having pretty decent signal strength.

What does it matter if the backhaul is so fast? You would be limited by the LTE connection so the rest would just be wasted.

If the backhaul is faster than the theoretical airlink connection, it is wasted speed. Now if Sprint acquires additional spectrum or hosts Clear's spectrum I understand that can change, but for the most part, having 1gb/s backhaul when your airlink can only support 300mb/s is a waste.

The "thousands of people" comment is misleading. Whether one user is connected to the sector or a thousand users are connected to the sector, the total downlink throughput for that LTE sector·carrier maxes out at 37 Mbps. The airlink is the bottleneck, not the backhaul, so 1 Gbps is definitely not necessary anytime soon.

 

AJ

Its better to have some left over than to not have enough. Not having enough backhaul is part of what has Sprint in this mess to begin with.

I have been following T-Mobile spectrum policy rather closely for the last year, ever since the merger started to dissolve and T-Mobile started to refarm PCS MHz spectrum. I have found no evidence thus far to indicate that T-Mobile will take out of service DC-HSPA+ 42 (which requires fully 20 MHz of contiguous spectrum) in any markets and reduce it to HSPA+ 21 (which requires only 10 MHz of spectrum). That said, T-Mobile may shift DC-HSPA+ from AWS to PCS in some markets, but that matters little, as all T-Mobile DC-HSPA+ capable devices also support W-CDMA band 2 (PCS). The other W-CDMA band 4 (AWS) only devices will be left at least one HSPA+ carrier in all markets for the next several years. And this will all still be quite the awkward juggling act for T-Mobile, as it has enough AWS spectrum for fully 15-20 MHz FDD LTE in some markets, for 10 MHz FDD LTE in some markets, for 5 MHz FDD LTE in some markets, and for no LTE in some markets.

 

AJ

Wow that is pretty ridiculous. I have seen on this site that for Sprint devices they need to have the capability built into them in order to support 10x10 MHz LTE since they are only made to support 5x5 MHz right now. How much work is required to have a device support multiple channel widths like that and will it make it that much more of a headache for device manufacturers to make devices that support 15-20 MHz, 10 MHz and 5 MHz all at the same time?

No, they will still have HSPA on the 1700 band even when LTE is deployed, the only difference is performance will degrade for some 1700 only devices as there will no longer be DC-HSPA+ on the 1700 spectrum.

 

Their HSPA+ coverage could improve with the refarm. It is however EXTREMELY dissapointing that they will not be converting current 2G areas to LTE or even 3G areas. If you have EDGE/GPRS now, expect to have it forever.

Thanks for the clarification. So will they have enough spectrum on the 1900 band to deploy HSPA+ 42 or will their entire network just stick to HSPA+ 21 and LTE from that point on?

Also is the reason for them not expanding their 3G areas due to lack of spectrum in those areas or lack of money or desire to do so?

So I know this is a Sprint vs AT&T deployment thread but I will go ahead and ask about another carrier since they're all competition. With the current T-Mobile Spectrum refarming plan if they are transitioning all their HSPA+ data service from AWS 1700 to PCS 1900 spectrum, wouldn't that decrease their already relatively weak HSPA+ data coverage area and increase the area where you will only have EDGE coverage?

I disagree.... The main savings from NV will be incurred due to much cheaper backhaul, i.e. many T1's vs fiber/microwave/AAV. Many T1's cost > Fiber/Microwave/AAV...?

Ahhh now I'm seeing what you meant. It's a little confusing because of the order its in. If the statement read "The main savings from NV will be incurred due to much cheaper backhaul, i.e. fiber/microwave/AAV vs many T1's."

But either way, thanks for taking the time to clarify, and 2 thumbs up for cheaper backhaul!

I was stating that Fiber/AAV/Microwave is multitudes cheaper than T1's. Not that they were being cheap by keeping T1's.

I know its cheaper, but your post reads as if Sprint was looking to save money by deploying multiple T1's.

 

EDIT - Also regarding 800 mhz and site density. Sprint is not removing towers from their network to lose density. 800mhz will be used with the current desnity and I assume more downtilt to give much greater in-building coverage in the areas it covers. The main savings from NV will be incurred due to much cheaper backhaul, i.e. many T1's vs fiber/microwave/AAV as well as shutting down most of the Nextel towers. Right now Sprint is paying to operate two wholly different networks. The use of 800mhz will also reduce roaming costs incurred.

I really don't wanna believe that Sprint would make the same mistake deploying T1 backhaul just to save money. Especially if the point of NV is to future proof their network. I wouldn't touch T1 with a 150 ft cell tower pole if I were them. Unless they want to have another situation like now where everyone complains about their speed and they have to go back and upgrade their network again.

Sorry, was typing fast on my phone.

 

13708 kbps up

6562 kbps down

53 ms ping

Server Fredrick, MD

 

Think I did the test from the Olive Garden in Westminster at 1 pm on 11/19.

I usually get my best speeds from the Washington, DC server. Would you be able to try that one?

The tower on South Richland Ave and W Market Street has LTE turned on. I drove by today and managed to hold an LTE signal pretty deep into the city. Did a couple speed tests while mapping on sensorly and got 69ms ping, 23.93mbps down / 10.34 up

I would GUESS that the cell site is in York County. If you zoom in and look closely, the signal gets weak as you go into Lancaster county.

Yea Wrightsville is on the York County side of the Susquehanna river. Its impossible for it to be a tower in Lancaster county because Robert said the Central PA market isn't slated to begin until 2013 probably even mid 2013.

Seems like Shentel is expanding within their coverage area rapidly. Just waiting for a tower or 2 to light up in York City and cover the inner city.

I was just navigating though sensorly and I saw a new patch of LTE across the bridge on Route 30. Seems like there is a tower that just lit up near Wrightsville.

Definitely NV work.

Agreed, with Clear wire up top.

Awesome. This guy should be lighting up soon then. Luckily I drive passed it on a daily basis so I'll report back when it goes live.

It will connect to 1900 first and once signal strength drops below a certain level, it will start looking for 800 and connect if it is available.

Ahh so its the opposite of what I thought. What about my other question about capacity? If everyone is defaulting to LTE 1900 and it starts to get congested, would any new connections connect automatically to LTE 800 instead?

Sprint's/Shentel's are fairly distinctive vs other carriers. If you can get a picture, we can probably tell you.

I was able to get closer to the tower but I only had my LTEVO to take the picture with. What do you think? Sprint/Shentel? or other?

So I have been wondering, next year if you buy a device that supports LTE 800 what would be the process for which the network decides whether you are connected to LTE 800 or 1900? I would imagine your device will want to connect to the stronger 800mhz signal but if every device is connecting to the stronger 800mhz signal it would start to slow down. So will the network decide to accept any new connections and put them on 1900 by default once 800mhz LTE reaches a certain number of connections?

Had Lte in Co op city bay plaza

Ugh iPhone (not hatin, just bummed that you can't map it on sensorly)

Does anybody happen to know if Shentel territory extends into Elizabethtown, or does that cross over into Alcatel at that point?

Well I know Shentel covers Hershey. But Elizabethtown might start cross over into Alcatel coverage and be part of the Central PA market with Lancaster.

My EVO LTE holds an LTE connection at my apartment past -115 which actually becomes troublesome as you mention because the connection is basically non-existent. I imagine if I didn't understand what was going on it would be VERY frustrating.

But does your EVO have any issues connecting to LTE? I feel like I have to jump through a lot of hoops just to get mine to connect to LTE. Perhaps I should consider getting a replacement?

How can i do it.. via paypal that is....

 

posted using J.A.R.V.I.S.

Here you go sir

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1195-information-about-s4gru-sponsorship-levels-and-how-to-become-a-sponsor/

Like the post says, there is a large orange button on the right hand side of the main forum page where you can donate.

Yes, I tried to toggle airplane mode and then start Sensorly. What a disaster that phone is. Really was going to cause an accident somewhere some place. I worried with it three days and then made Sprint take it back. I refused to worry with it anymore. An LTE phone that will not find and hold LTE is not going to be in my possession.

I'm gonna hang on to it and see if it gets better with the Jelly Bean update. Also I'm sure that it won't be much of an issue once we have no more gaps in LTE coverage.

My bad, didn't know.

No worries. It doesn't have to be much either. But remember that your donations are what keep this website running so just keep that in mind when you donate... If you decide to do so that is.

The best way to do it is turn Sensory on and tap on "Map Trip". Then tap "Menu" and then "details". The details screen leaves you see received level and verify points being collected and sent. Put your phone on a power cord. Yes, it is risky to play with the phone while driving. I only look toward the top of the screen where it will either say "LTE connected" or something like "CDMA or maybe EPHRD connected" You will either see LTE or some version of 3G.

 

I also glance at the receive level especially if I have a LTE connection. If you have a signal around a -75 or 80, you are close to the cell site. When you see -115 you are fairly close to dropping the signal. At a -120 level, I usually will drop from LTE to old faithful CDMA 3G.

 

I am using a Samsung Galaxy S3 and it is working very well. I think it has recently improved in LTE signal detection and the ability to hold onto the signal. I do not know if a software update to the phone made an improvement or if the Sprint Core and cell site equipment have been getting an upgrade. I am fairly sure things are better recently, Could also be that some antenna optimization/adjustment was done in my area too.

I did have a HTC 4G LTE phone and it was horrible on LTE. Almost impossible to use on a cell site hunting mission.

I think that is my main issue. Since my phone is so bad at connecting to and maintaining an LTE signal, if i just let sensorly run and do not actively try to connect to LTE may never switch over.

Can someone with access to the updates map please tell me which towers are the one sending LTE in Ponce? It will be greatly appreciated!

That is not allowed. Just donate and see them yourself.

Looks to me like you proved that there is not a NV site active in center city yet. I think you were connected to a site north of Route 30 probably close to Pennsylvania ave. Keep up with the good work. What you did is exactly what we need to see.

Thanks, this takes a lot of dedication. I actually think scanning for 4G and launching Sensorly is almost worse than texting and driving.

Ahh I totally forgot, I actually managed to connect to 4G for a few seconds near the intersection of Route 30 and Bowman Road.