Morningside78

If you would've asked I could've told you that your area is a sea of Phase 2 sites which means that these sites have not been scheduled to be touched by Clears TDD-LTE deployment. Your area will and are being overlaid for Band 41 via Sprint sites utilizing the new 8T8R Alcatel-Lucent equipment which have not been activated there or anywhere else in the US. 

 

If you get LTE 1900 then you will get LTE 800 within the next 4 months. The ultimatum laid down by Son has been clear as day and John Saws new regime has been making up much lost ground in the past 4 months including actually meeting a deadline for once of covering 250 mil by mid year (254 mil pops covered). 

 

So yep. There you go. 

I did ask, though.  Also posted my frequent use location a couple of pages back when asked.

I should have included "and" after "area"...

 

Also, yes, the GS5 is probably the worst of all the next gen devices, coming from an iphone i would have gone with the M8. It is a considerately better device in everyway than the sub par GS5..

yeah but really only needed the ability to mess around with Sprint's data network in the city.  have zero intention of switching permanently from the iPhone but did need something tri-band. 

What made you choose the S5?

having owned Galaxy devices previously and wanting a tri-band to play around with it.  I've only had it a few days and will be returning it before the end of the 14-day window.  but having been using iPhones for the last several years, I realized pretty quickly I made the right choice to leave Samsung behind.

I travel all over the city to do IT work, mostly in the midtown area between Chinatown and 59 st. There is soo much B41, I tend to be on B41 about 80% of the time around those areas. 

 

One thing you must take into account is the simple fact that the Band 41 does not penetrate as well as B25 (for now, until the 8t8r antennas are powered up) So your mileage will vary indoors. But outdoors, im almost always on B41.

sorry, "the midtown area between Chinatown and 59st?"  that's about half of Manhattan.  :-)

all of my speed tests were outdoors btw.  to this point I've had no band 41 connectivity in a building. 

Don't fret, Manhattan has massive amounts of B41, no need to chase it. In fact, looks like some more clear sites that were missing eCSFB came online last few days..

 

BTW, B26 is in a massive amount of places, they just lack optimization. So with time that will change..

not yet seen any proof of that, at least not from Midtown up.  as I said yesterday, with my job near Columbus Circle and playing with the S5 for the last few days, I've found a fairly narrow strip with band 41 and everywhere else was 25.  overall, it seems quite a bit like the initial testing period of LTE on the UWS where the service was fast but coverage minimal.  based on my use, there's no access to band 41 on the West Side north of CPS. to this point, I've not seen band 26 anywhere.

also, I so wish there was a tri-band iPhone.  having not used a Samsung device for several years and going back to this S5 has me longing from my iPhone again.  the S5 is a disaster.

finally had my first experience with band 41 today.  was able to connect to it around 55th and 6th and stayed connected until 58th and 8th roughly.  here are the data speeds:

(1) 17.37 down, 6.82 up, ping 80

(2) 23.24 down, 11.30 up, ping 57

(3) 6.92 down, 6.03 up, ping 62

test (2) was on 55th between 7th and 8th.  by the time I got to 8th approaching 58th street, the signal was considerably weaker and test (3) was what I obtained at that point.  as I work in midtown, basically everywhere north of 55th and east of broadway is solely band 25.  really only found band 41 in that very narrow strip I described.  will try farther downtown tomorow.

If you can give us a general overview of  the areas where you go about we have maps in  the sponsor areas that allow us to look exactly at each and every sprint cell site in the area and their status on upgrades. I'm sure we can give a pointer or two at the nearest clear or sprint cell site for you to test if you're willing to do so. 

thanks for the offer.  most of the time I'm between 86th and 105th, from West End Ave. to Columbus. 

what I can report is a bit interesting is that if I literally sit right up against an east facing window in my apartment pointed toward Central Park from a very high floor, I can get the RSRP down -88 to -90, still on band 25.  with that, however, speed tests run in Ookla render basically the same results as when I'm on my couch with a -106.

Thank you all for the added information. I also went back and read the thread on the signal bars and LTE and saw how to enter the engineering field (and also that the signal bars do actually show LTE signal strength on tri-band devices). In my apartment on the UWS - I no longer live in Morningside Heights - I'm getting 1 bar of LTE. The RSRP ranges from about -105 to -107 and next to band is: 25. So to this point it looks as if bands 41 and 26 are either unavailable in my area. To that end, I'm getting virtually identical LTE performance with the S5 as I did with my iPhone 5s. I will see how things shake it out in other parts of the city this week.

hey guys, for those of you who were helpful yesterday, thanks so much for your assistance and patience in explaining the situation to me.

following what was recommended here, I picked up a tri-band device (Galaxy S5) and will be using it for the next few weeks to see if the LTE is noticeably better.  just as an aside, a. is there a way to force the device onto band 41 and b. is there a way to check which band I am currently connected to?

When you realize that the peak throughput possible on 5x5 Band 25 carrier is 37.5Mbps, it makes sense why a few devices actively using a particular sector can slow it down. That is why the 10x10 deployments can support more people. However, those other carriers are in a similar situation as Sprint, with their original LTE spectrum slowing to a crawl in many places.

 

For tri-band, I would recommend the Nexus 5, LG G3, or HTC One M8.

 

The Samsung Mega, Samsung GS5, LG G2 and One Max are also good tri-band devices

thank you again for all of your help.  I'll give the S5 a whirl for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Fewer than 20 devices actively using a Band 25 connection on any particular sector is enough to slow it down considerably, if not make it unusable. That is why Sprint is scrambling to deploy Band 26 and Band 41. Band 41's capacity is considerably larger than Band 25. But it will take widespread adoption of tri-band devices to spread usage out enough to make all bands usable at all times.

wow that's amazing.  and while I understand why they wouldn't advertise it, just how inadequate the bandwidth was is a pretty staggering thing.

if I were able to demo a tri-band device, is there one (or more) in particular you'd recommend?

from my understanding and reading sprints network was intially suppose to be band 25, refarmed and repurposed band 26 from Nextel and and spectrum hosting agreement with lightsquared. Which went backrupt due to spectrum interference of GPS signals. The contingency plan was to use clearwire spectrum but Sprint didn't have the funds to continue to build out the lte network they had planned until Softbank came and purchased Sprint and then helped finance the purchase of clearwire as well. Sprint has had a lot of against them to be where they are currently a lot of mismanagement and wasted resources and just had timing. But! Brightside is that they have the management in place now and the funding. Now it's just being patient. I've jumped and left all carriers besides never having Verizon. I see the most positive in my perspective from sprints position. It's just about being an educated consumer.

I think these all seem to be excellent points though I'd hasten to add that "just be(ing) patient" has been the tagline for the past 3+ years.  that they are evidently far better funded and supposedly better managed are major boosts for the company. I may do as another user suggested and jump ship until Sprint actually makes any of these claims a reality. 

Band 26 I'd available to triband devices and iPhone 5s/5c devices.

is there a way to force my 5S onto this band?  it seems I'm only ever on 25.

The lte 800 setup is immediate activation for capacity purposes and Rf engineers will arrive later to optimize the antennas for coverage and capacity.

hehe sorry...don't really know what any of that means.

Band 26 is available and when j need to stream i can force it down

is this accessible to those of us who don't own tri-band phones?

Let me paraphrase a famous aphorism.  Fool me for one year, shame on you.  Fool me for a dozen years, shame on me.

 

Why put up with as you see it "Sprint's utter ineptitude over the previous 12 years"?  You have at least partly yourself to blame.  Why would you stay?  If it is because of credits, perks, discounts, or other enticements, then you have accepted the Faustian bargain.  And you have to assume some personal responsibility for that.

 

AJ

all of the above.  and that I've been stupid enough to continue paying Sprint is a major source of my frustration.  a couple of things that have made things more difficult for me in the past few years was that I basically had no choice but to bring some family members on board with me, and that's virtually embedded me in the Sprint camp.  trust me, I was completely gone in early 2012 and then some life situations intervened.  beyond that,in terms of what Sprint offers, there's zero they are doing other than the threat of damaging my credit rating and possible litigation that keeps me as a paying customer - but please just accept that those situations I alluded to were/are way beyond my control. 

Everything has improved and continues too, there is always going to be something to wait for because upgrades are constantly happening... Otherwise the company would go bankrupt due to not implementing new tech, and yes, buy a new phone. The reality is that spark uses 3 different LTE bands on 3 different frequencies. No devices except for the newest android devices and the 5s and 5c can pick them up. The 5s and 5c will not do band 41.

 

You can't judge a network when you're not utilizing the full potential off it.

again, the exact same things were said 3 years ago, just using the names of different devices.  at no point was there any indication given to me that Sprint's LTE would be wholly unable to deal with the customer demand in New York City.  that the issue has morphed into being one that results solely from Sprint's mismanagement of either its infrastructure, its public relations or both is why I think anyone should meet any of these claims with skepticism.  nobody disputes the rapid progression of technology.  what rings a bit hollow is how it seems that whatever Sprint does consistently leaves the bulk of its customers a generation (or more) behind the means to benefit from it. 

This much is true, it's virtually impossible for Sprint to deploy a 10x10 or 15x15 LTE carrier as it's competitors have done in some markets. However, that limitation will be mitigated by Carrier Aggregation and LTE-A when it becomes possible early next year. That is when Sprint plans to begin aggregating it's Band 41 carriers to produce 40MHz, and eventually 60MHz channels.

ok, thank you for your help.  I also appreciate your courtesy and civility.

The sprint you are familiar with is dead and long gone. This is the new sprint. Things are getting done, and spark is going to be a hell of a game changer.

look, I really don't want to continue being argumentative here but I must say the following.  since LTE started being discussed in earnest or even addressed by Sprint in my conversations with them back in July 2011, I've heard the following:

we've improved everything

wait another year

buy a different phone

it's now nearly August 2014 and I'm hearing almost exactly the same thing.  I hope you can appreciate my frustration. 

Well, Sprint is already deploying 1 carrier of Band 41, and intends to deploy a 2nd carrier by years end. With a 3rd carrier coming by mid-2015. That was the whole point of the new 8T8R equipment that is rapidly being deployed all across the country. To significantly increase the capacity and peak speeds of the network.

 

Additionally, we are already seeing the 2nd Band 25 carrier come online in markets such as Chicago and the Shentel area, with more markets expected this fall as Sprint is able to clear out some EVDO and CDMA carriers.

fair enough.  I read an article that quoted the Sprint CEO a number of months back saying that one of the big challenges for Sprint is that although they have more bandwidth than their competitors, Sprint's bandwidth lacks the contiguousness of its competitors and this has made delivering a faster product slower and more challenging.  I would be fine with all of that except for Sprint's utter ineptitude over the previous 12 years I've been a customer.  hopefully they're able to manage all of the bandwidth they now have and can also deal with what will likely be some pesky FCC investigations.

I suppose you were probably typing this while I replied, but check my post on the previous page for the answer.

thanks for the reply.  basically still would have to see some proof to support any of it as just saying there will be a lot of bandwidth is something I've already heard umpteen times from Sprint.  the "just wait until next year" line is also one I've heard from Sprint since about 2011.  just feels like a lot of the same spin with different dates and numbers.  I do hope I am wrong about all of this. 

Because Sprint has more B41 spectrum than AT&T and Verizon have all their spectrum combined. That's why. And that means mondo capacity. Way more than their competitors.

do you have any proof of this?  I'm not quite sure why you're being hostile, but try to understand that not everyone can justify throwing away $250/month every month for several years on service that's failed to deliver on any of its promises.  to just say "Sprint has so much bandwidth" without anything to back it up just sounds like marketing to me.  I heard virtually the exact same pitch over 2 years ago and yet here we are with LTE slower than competitor 3G.

The difference between the first round of LTE (Band 25) and the second round (Band 26 and 41) Is specifically for capacity and coverage. The reason that tri band phones can achieve these massive speeds is simple, wider highway lane's. Where band 25 is running on a 5x5Mhz lane, and Band 26 on another 5x5Mhz lane for capacity and more coverage, Band 41 is on a 20Mhz lane (twice as wide, and there adding another 20Mhz before the end of this year)

 The end result is that all bands complement each other.

 

I do feel your frustration, if your on a single band device and are in a high traffic area, (like anywhere in Manhattan) it can be pretty bad.

 

Sprint does have the 30day trial period so you can give another device a go, and see if it works for you. The one thing I can tell you with certainty, NYC has pretty great Band 41 coverage. So that might solve your problem.

oh and I definitely get what the upgrade is intended to do, but what proof is there that band 41 won't be completely super-saturated once enough Sprint customers start owning devices capable of connecting to it?  will they be running many bands simultaneously to deal with the demand? 

I have to say, I recall nothing 2+ years ago that said band 25 was going to crash and burn as miserably as it has.  And indeed, as I said in my previous message, when I was one of about 5 people using LTE in my neighborhood (provided I didn't wander off Broadway for about a 10-block strip) it was pretty quick, and that was when LTE in the area was purely in the testing stage.  Then many more people got LTE-capable devices and you get what I'm getting right now sitting by a window on the UWS facing a tower about 2 blocks away:  ~2.5 Mbps down and ~ 0.5 Mbps up.

I know you have been a member here for quite some time. But rarely post, you should probably take a look at some pages back and see what others have been experiencing. In my area it has gone from slow 3G, to quick 4G to slowing down abit, then after picking up a proper tri band phone to extremely fast speeds! I see you mentioned iphone 5S (that has band 26 support that's being deployed and optimized now).

 

 Unfortunately for the GS4 (unless its the spark edition) and the Iphone 5, theyre single band phones. During heavy traffic hours Band 25 can be extremely slow (but I have noticed it speeding up a bit, but nowhere near enough to stream videos) 

 

 So my only recommendation is you look into picking up a proper tri band phone (no iphones) or hold up till the B26 optimizations are complete. 

 

Also,  just to give you an idea of what a tri band phone can do, here is my test at home right this moment.

appreciate the information.  my primary problem with what you've said here is that it's unfortunately similar to what I've heard from Sprint for the last several years and others here: you just don't have the right equipment.  what has me skeptical is that it's just coincidentally never the right equipment.  and according to Sprint and the people I've seen on this forum who sing the praises of the supposed improvements in Sprint's quality of service (and to be completely honest, I've never spoken with a Sprint customer anywhere but the internet who's had anything positive to say about Sprint), I'm just always in need of something else to buy.  my concern is that Sprint's infrasturcture lacks the capacity needed to handle all of the customers in a city as densely populated (by structures and people) as New York City and so that periods where the service seems good are really the result of a very small customer base who possess the devices capable of using the service.  once more and more people get those devices, Sprint runs into the same old capacity issues as they had previously.  WiMax seemed blazing fast until many more people had WiMax devices, then WiMax was too slow to use.  LTE, when first available here, seemed very very quick, until everybody had LTE devices.  Now it's slower than Sprint's competitors 3G service.

again, this is just a theory, but Sprint's track record has been staggeringly poor in my 12 years as a customer.    virtually every speed improvement is fine until the lion's share of their customers are also using it.  then you're back in the toilet bowl.  I'm happy with my iPhone (as is my wife) and will be buying the iPhone 6 later this year.  But in order to be a Sprint customer must one only use a handful of devices or suffer with dial-up modem speeds and dropped calls?  is there truly something different this time around other than a customer lag time?  like I said, I'm willing to listen but I am very skeptical.

gotta say, guys, I'm seeing zero indication of Sprint being able of delivering any of what's been promised.  my wife and I (iPhone 5 and 5s repectively) and our closest friends (husband and wife who both own Galasy S4s) are encountering nothing but horrible service, both in terms of phone and data.  we frequently have to shut off LTE entirely to force ourselves onto the mediocre 3G that's still faster than LTE.  I've been itching to bail on Sprint for the past 3 years and after having to add my parents to my account, decided to hang on a bit longer and give Sprint the benefit of the doubt.  now I've paid them 3 more years worth of exhorbitant fees for terrible phone and data service and I don't know why I'm supposed to believe that Sprint even possess the technical know-how to adequately implement and manage the kind of infrastructure needed to serve New York City.  is there anything tangible (and not Sprint marketing) that someone can point to say I'm wrong about this and should just keep waiting?

Dial *3001#12345#* and then go to lte serving cell.....I think... It will say what band you are connected to there.

iPhone field test mode

 

*3001#12345#* enter this into the dialer and if your connected to LTE click on Serving cell info I do this almost every single day

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thank you gentlemen for this information.  it definitely works as described and next to the entry for Freq. Band Indicator is "25."