TMan

Changing to "CDMA only" immediately let my phone "catch up" on what it was trying to do, via 3G.

Today is the first time I've seen 4G indicated on my phone while downtown, in the vicinity of 6th & Grand. However, at the moment, I can't seem to get a data connection with it. Various things I've launched seem to time out as if no data is flowing, despite activity on the little up/down arrows beneath the 4G. Also, the little icon with the two semicircular arrows pointing at each other is staying on, which is what it does when it is having trouble syncing mail stuff in the background.

A little sarcastic dissent doesn't exactly flourish around here. Please report to the principal's office for your spanking.

The signal status helps me remember which level of my house I'm on: upstairs, 4G; downstairs, 3G, despite having the appearance of a strong signal in either place

I seem to be getting reliable 4G at my home in sw Ankeny, and also during some stops near 235 & Euclid. Now, if they can get downtown proper turned on, it will be a Christmas miracle!

4G at my home this morning in the southwest corner of Ankeny. It dropped back to 3G a couple times, but during 4G, I got 4 kbps down/1.8 up. Not exactly Verizon speeds, but it beats 0.2-1.0 down on 3G.

Man, my dropped call rate is through the roof the last couple weeks. I really hope these changes/upgrades get completed soon. Sadly, I'm accustomed to poor data speeds, but frequent dropped calls is a new insult.

As long as they're taking to deploy, it better feel like 5G when they do turn it on!

Yesterday, I was more cynical; today, I am a tad more optimistic based on some of these replies. Thanks for letting me vent (not too harshly, I hope).

Well, I certainly hope that is the case, but I remain unimpressed until I actually see it. After constant disappointment, that's the only response I can muster at this point.

Even when I got my first Evo in June, 2010, I was led to believe we'd see 4G service by the following summer. It is now over two years later than that "following summer," and still no 4G service. It's not even the same 4G service (WiMax vs. LTE). I'm pretty much ignoring any claims or estimates of service at this point, opting instead to be surprised when it does arrive. They'll probably turn on one tower downtown that will instantly be saturated to the point of uselessness, and let that languish for six months or more.

Everything is always "right around the corner" with Sprint, yet the corner never comes. Good thing I've had a 4G-capable phone for the last 40 months. I feel like a fool for falling for it. I am not exaggerating. Really starting to burn through the goodwill they've built up over the last 14 years with me.

Oh look, Des Moines isn't on the list again. This probably means two towers in each of the listed cities. ;-)

Ah, okay, so basically toggling the radios via airport mode or a whole restart expedites the search cycle. That makes sense. When one turns on an app like SignalCheck, will that freshly poll all radios or does the phone need to already be established on LTE before LTE signal will appear in that app?

What are these deliberate steps you speak of? Aside from placing yourself in the footprint of a known LTE tower? I was referring to the more passive situation going about a typical day. I just leave my phone in LTE/CDMA mode instead of CDMA mode, and assume that if it gets a whiff of LTE, it will switch. Are you doing more than that when you're not specifically near a known LTE tower? Are you doing something to force it to poll for LTE more frequently than it otherwise would? The only time I've encountered LTE coverage in this manner in the Des Moines area was a few weeks ago near E. 4th & Locust at the blood center. I didn't do anything to seek it out; the phone just noticed and switched over on its own.

Are you guys taking deliberate steps to make the phone search for LTE signal, or do you just have the radio enabled and take note whenever the phone notices LTE availability on its own?

Ah, okay. A piece of the spectrum. Looks like my HTC EVO 4G LTE is capable of LTE on 1900 only, while capable of CDMA on 800/850/1900.

Forgive what I'm sure is a silly question, but what is 1x800 service? Is that an improved-3G-but-still-not-4G type of thing, or what?

I had the "message sent to invalid destination" error this morning in "uptown" Ankeny at around 9:10am. I repeated my attempt a moment later and it went through.

That's cool. I'm content to contemplate the notion they're late because they're doing it better. To firm foundations, indeed.

Again, I was making fun of Sprint and their laggard upgrade deployment pace. Can you imagine how ridiculously lame it would be if, after what I presume is hundreds of thousands or more dollars spent on securing the naming rights to the Sprint Center located in their headquarters metro area, they didn't put their best effort into the network capabilities serving the facility? Surely it behooves them to make sure that area is well served. I have generally been satisfied with Sprint; I'm a 14-year customer. I just feel like everyone from Verizon to T-Mobile to Bob's Mobile Phone & Yard Service is offering 4G around here before Sprint is.

I had 4G at the Sprint Center. I was just sarcastically acknowledging their effort to ensure that the venue with their name on the door was covered with the preferred service level.

My bad; I didn't mean to spill my drink on the carpet by complaining about the fee. Sounds like that horse has been well beaten. I was in Kansas City three weeks ago. At least they muster up some 4g coverage in the SPRINT CENTER.

Hear, hear. This progress is way overdue. The friendly cajoling I get from a friend of mine about his speedy and long-available 4G with Big Red is getting old. I am so frustrated with having had a Sprint 4G-capable phone for THREE YEARS with no 4G service in Iowa. Of course the first two years of that was a Wimax phone, not that it ever did me any good. I love paying the "4G premium data" surcharge, too, though they eventually changed the wording on that to "smartphone" premium data or some such instead of ostensibly identifying 4G as the reason for the charge. Charge everyone with a smartphone! No 4g in your area? Too bad! Non-4G smartphone? Too bad!

I almost did, but at the particular moment I thought of doing so, it had reverted to 3G. Plus, my left arm was immobilized.