UnlimitedDataIsInBeta

 

A missing link is the US Cellular spectrum which Sprint has bought in the Chicago Market, and which USCC will shut down on January 31st. This is 1900 PCS spectrum, and can be re-farmed to provide at least one more Sprint LTE carrier (I think actually more than one). This will vastly improve LTE speeds and feeds in all of Chicagoland, and will work on all current Sprint LTE-capable devices. At this time, Sprint hasn't announced any details (such as dates) for this enhancement.

It cannot happen soon enough. But I'll still have USCC customers complaining to me that "you guys bought my towers, why won't my phone work?" after the shutdown.

But yes, that 1900 spectrum should help all existing LTE devices. I apologize for not including that in my explanation. The HTC One will surely benefit from the USCC acquisition.

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How would one go about finding out about the towers in their area? I didn't mean to come off as complaining about Sprint, I would like to learn more about Sprint's Network Vision and the timetable for it to be rolled out/completed in west Cook County.

 

I assume the 800LTE & 800SMR is the spectrum being brought over from Nextel and/or Clearwire. Is there a set schedule for the activation of that spectrum in the Chicago area that I could look up? Also, would such spectrum be available to my existing phone, or just newer phones going forward?

Easiest way to learn your towers and their upgrade path is by becoming a Sprint employee. Fastest way is by becoming an S4GRU sponsor. Maps are available to sponsors that give out tower information. That's all I'll say.

Clearwire spectrum is 2.5, Nextel is 800. Your phone can take advantage of the 800SMR, which increases voice coverage. 800LTE is not available for every phone. IIRC, your phone only does LTE on the 1900 band, meaning you wouldn't benefit from 800LTE except where it brings users off 1900, which means faster speeds for you.

If you're that concerned about 4G coverage indoors, you'll need a phone or carrier that has a low-frequency LTE with a network to match. 800LTE hasn't really launched anywhere, but it'll penetrate walls better once it has.

AT&T is 700 & 1900, same as Verizon. It's really the 700 band that sets the networks apart. Once Sprint gets their 800 fired up, any 800LTE device will get solid 4G indoors.

800LTE devices on Sprint so far are the Zing, the MiFi 500, the HTC One Max, the Galaxy Mega, the Galaxy S4 Mini, the LG G2, the iPhone 5c, the iPhone 5S, and the Nexus 5. Look for a Galaxy S4 and Note 3 re-release marketed as "Spark-compatible".

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New user here, so forgive me if I'm not posting in the correct thread.

 

I recently switched to Sprint from US Cellular since USCC is in the process of exiting the Chicago market and wanted to get some insight from people more in the know that I.

 

While overall I'm satisfied enough with Sprint's call quality (dropped calls somewhat regularly, not as good as USCC), I am pretty upset with Sprint's data service. I did quite a bit of research on the matter, and learned all about Network Vision, rip and replace of the old network, etc. Sprint Customer Service tells me the Chicago market is complete, and I should not be experiencing any issues. They have issued me a trouble ticket and assure me that engineers will be checking out the towers in my area (not holding my breath on that) in the following week. I have also taken my phone (HTC One) to a corporate Sprint store to make sure the device itself isn't faulty and that all its settings are correct. They ran a number of tests, including adjusting the phone's reception compatibility and profile updates (which all sound like pointless busy work, really) but concluded that nothing was wrong with the device.

 

What worries me is Sprint customer service telling me that they have completed Network Vision in Chicagoland, because that's essentially telling me my service isn't going to be getting any better. I keep hearing that Chicago is supposed to have a huge density of Sprint towers in comparison to other markets in the US, and that the 4G service here is supposedly among the best in the US for Sprint, but I'm not seeing it. What is the opinion of everyone here regarding the data network in Chicago? I'd love to keep my phone (which is awesome) and stick with Sprint, but it just seems like it might be all too much to deal with. Paying the hefty ETF might be worth it in the long run rather than paying 2 years for lackluster service.

 

I've run speed tests on Ookla, Sensorly, and the FCC app and for the most part, I do not get above 1mbps (sometimes as low as 0.01 mpbs up/down) at home (Near West Cook burbs) or work (Berwyn), whether I'm connected to 3G or 4G. A bit of a different story in the city, where at 4G I can get speeds upwards of 6 to 8 mpbs in the Loop, Wicker, Lakeview, etc. and ~2 mpbs on 3G. But even then, inside buildings that can drop down to 1 to 2 mbps on 4G and lose data entirely if on 3G.

 

TL;DR: Do I merely live, work and play in a coverage black hole, or is Sprint still rolling out network upgrades in Chicago? And if so, how much longer until Sprint begins to compare favorably to AT&T and Verizon?

 

 

Thanks in advance!

The big two got a 3 and 2 year head start on LTE, respectively. Sprint had to finish getting its pants on (Nextel) before it could focus on finishing the network anywhere.

Sprint probably hasn't finished the rollout in your area (become a sponsor to see!), but you can only placate the masses with "a few months" for so long. So, I imagine many reps are telling people Network Vision is done in Chicago, when that's not really the case. If you live in an area that's completely done, then yes, the network isn't going to get better till they turn on 800LTE or 800SMR, if they haven't already.

Complaining about Sprint won't get you far here. Knowing your towers and what they're capable of is going to make your Sprint tenure a better experience.

If CSR says a ticket is open, then a ticket is open. That's no lie. Someone will actually be on it.

Coverage varies everywhere. It's a cellphone network, not electricity. I regularly get 5-6 down at -108dBm on the one LTE tower in my town. Move just a few blocks over, and the 3G is almost unusable.

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I only heard the chirp when in an HD Voice call. I'll try later and see what was fixed.

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Who are the immediate benefactors of the 800LTE; iPhone 5, GS4, etc?

Only Sprint Spark devices, the 5S, the 5C and Mobile Broadband

LG G2, Nexus 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, Galaxy Mega, Galaxy Mini, HTC One Max, Netgear Zing, MiFi 500.

But the iPhones don't support B41.

Also, look for re-releases of the Note 3 and Galaxy S4 as "Spark-compatible" versions. They'll have a T on the end of their SKU.

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Band 25 is 1900 PCS Block G and Band 41 is 2600Mhz or 800Mhz spectrum block?

800 B26 , FDD

1900 B 25 , FDD

2500 B41 , TDD

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I live in a market with several towers yet to have their 4G switch turned on. My G2 holds till -120ish before it drops the data connection completely and takes 10 seconds to grab a usable 3G connection and authenticate. Is this normal?

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Has a specific date for the update been announced yet?

 

Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE

Last I heard was Q1 2014. Heard this from an internal memo.

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In my market B41 GCIs start with a different set of numbers then B25. So I just use signal check. Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

I'll have to check that out. Maybe once I get to an area I know is B41.

Is there any way to see what band I'm on without ##DEBUG#? I've been enabling and disabling 26 and 41 on and off, but I'm fairly certain my main tower is only 25.

SignalCheck doesn't provide this information, and I'm just curious. I know i can keep checking, but it would be nice to have an option to alert, like 800SMR does.

Does anyone have any deals for the cyber Monday sale? I checked my account today and mysteriously my upgrade date from Jan 1st to eligible now. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

Likely for the One Up program. I think they're doing that because they do actually make money on the program, and they're aware people want to know when they can get a new phone to replace the EVO Shift they got for free on contract a few years ago. If they see "eligible now", they'll rush to sign any piece of paper that gives them a phone.

At this time, there isn't a good way to BYOD to Sprint As You Go. I think they're trying to prevent people out of contract (low churn) from just switching to a SAYGO plan to save money.