4ringsnbr

Anytime you receive or send an SMS or MMS (text / picture) message, your phone will go to 1x. Sprint uses 1x to transmit SMS and MMS messages (which is why pictures take forever). The only phones that won't do this are SVDO-capable phones. The only SVDO-capable phones that exist today (or soon) are HTC Thunderbolt, HTC Rezound, & LG Viper (to be released). It's just like talking on the phone-- you cannot maintain a 3G (EVDO) data session while on a call-- your data will drop to 1x as your phone only has a single CDMA baseband processor.

More important to me than knowing what LTE bands may or may not be supported (at least for the next 2-3 years) is will this iPhone support CDMA in ESMR-- it is a PHONE after all, and if you want to call people, this would be beneficial for Sprint. Unfortunately, there has been no indication that Apple is interested in supporting an unusual band (ESMR), even for CDMA use (which is approved).

Some of the difference in network location accuracy might be due to the timing signaling required by GSM. As a primitive TDMA technology, the timing signals and synchronization must be kept very tight between the towers and the handset so the system will work (timeslots cannot overlap). This is also why there is a strict 35 km limit to a cell size in GSM-- the timing signals keep the system working. Timing signals would help the triangulation done by any device. CDMA towers also sync to GPS time, but the CDMA technology does not rely on timeslots for 1x communication-- only PN timesync skew when syncing pilot channels.

I think you have that backwards. CDMA phones can (and do) connect to multiple towers/sectors all the time-- everybody talks on the same channel allowing soft handoff which is why CDMA calls practically never drop. GSM is a TDMA technology-- it CANNOT connect to more than one tower at a time as they're all on different channels from their neighbors and use different timeslots-- the hard handoff is why GSM is a very, very poor voice technology in comparison. Now GPRS/HSPA (3G "GSM") is W-CDMA, so it can connect to multiple towers.

According to this sketch, they're trying to support LTE bands 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 13, & 17 with a single phone. Slight problem: band class 2 is PCS blocks A-F only; band class 25 is needed to support the G block. Also, band class 5 is Cellular 850-- it does not include ESMR 800. Band class 4 is AWS. I think 8 is European 900 Cellular and 1 is MSS. LTE band 13 is Verizon and 17 is AT&T (but not the regionals that use BC 12).

I just finished adding all Nextel SIDs for the entire U.S. Most regions search 476 then 526; the southeast will search 526 then 476. The native EV carriers are associated with the new CDMA 800 records everywhere. There is no roaming indicator and ESMR 1x is prioritized over PCS 1x.

Wow! It looks like North Mississippi along I-22 is going straight from 1x to LTE! It will leave those folks wondering what the 3G buzz was all about the past decade.

Where's the 2nd Rx antenna for EVDO diversity on 850 & 1900? Maybe it shares the LTE 2nd Rx antenna for that? The antenna spacing (and space allowed for such) will be a significant issue for compact handsets for some time to come.

Those are great speeds for Sprint-- if I got those speeds at any time other than 3am, I would've never left Sprint. I've never seen an upload speed that fast on Sprint anytime. But the download speed would've kept me happy if only Sprint could've made their network perform here... sadly, our speeds here were less than 1/10th of those download speeds-- quite often around 1/100th of those speeds for about 2 years.

Yeah-- I talked with them many times-- and everytime they were shocked at how poor the tower was doing. They have no idea what's going on with their own network-- and can only relay that Ericsson tested out the tower as acceptable or that they did adjustments. I argued with their executive care that they need to send SPRINT employees to survey the market themselves to see if Ericsson was really doing anything because the network performance was abysmal as always. I don't worry now-- big red is solid in BR!

The Galaxy Nexus's CDMA baseband processor is not Qualcomm and does have some issues in marginal coverage areas-- that is a known issue. The 4.0.4 software had a radio upgrade that was supposed to stabilize the EVDO connection, but the hardware does have some issues compared with the Qualcomm CDMA gear in all the other phones. The Droid Charge which used the same non-Qualcomm chip had some similar issues noted in its user forums.

According to my Verizon friend, Sprint laid off all their performance engineers years ago-- only Ericsson maintains their network now. When they have a slow down on Sprint, they have no way to know until you call them to file a trouble ticket.

You should retest to verify that speed. If there is a congestion problem, Verizon will be on it within a week. Their performance engineers monitor their network carefully and respond whenever they see a problem. If the speed persists beyond a day or two, call them and I'm sure they'll fix it immediately. A friend of mine is a performance engineer for them and he is evaluated by his network performance in his area-- they make sure to keep it a priority.

Oh-- I had an EVO 4G for almost 2 years, but never saw 4G operate so I didn't know that... I always thought Sprint 4G was just a myth...

hmm-- new SIDs and channel numbers.... shall I?!?

Oh-- well I don't know of any phones that will show two different cellular signal bars as a built-in function. I mean-- it will show your wifi signal next to your cellular signal if you're on wifi of course, but I've never seen any stock device show a separate 4G and 3G signal bar. There used to be an app-- I think it was called Real Signal that would show 1x and Ev signal bars independently in the status bar-- and I'm sure somebody will make something similar for LTE, but I hate bars anyway-- I want a numeric signal strength. Bar mapping varies from carrier to carrier, manufacturer to manufacturer, model to model, ROM to ROM-- it's meaningless really-- it's all relative. For example, most Sprint handsets will show 5/6 or more bars at -79 dBm. On my MAXX, I only show all bars below -60 or so and when I get below -80 dBm, the bars can be 1 - 4 based upon Ec/Io ratio only.

It was just the way pre-ICS kernels were setup-- they weren't designed for LTE/4G. ICS was and everyone with GNexs freaked when it had fewer bars in 4G than their old Thunderbolts and Droid Charges did. That's why Verizon made it "lie" with the 4.0.4 upgrade. That upgrade also did some things to try to help the GNex's non-Qualcomm CDMA baseband try to perform better.

Yet more reasons why EVDO rev. B in a 3 carrier setup giving a solid 14.7 mbps connection would be a better fit in places than a 5x5 LTE carrier occupying the same bandwidth (including CDMA guard bands -- 4 carriers with 19.6 mbps downloads for a full 5x5 without guards). Not only does it have more handset support, but it also is less susceptible to degraded speeds with path loss. I figured as much since LTE, like WiMax, is an OFDM technology that does show that kind of signal quality degradtion-- even when using the same 16 QAM modulation. Now if you have a 10x10 or bigger space, LTE is certainly the way to go, despite the battery drain.

They changed the bar mapping on GNex at 4.0.4 to always map the CDMA/eHRPD signal even when you're on 4G like all the other VZW LTE handsets. The only way to know your LTE signal is to go into the settings menu while you're on LTE. ICS defaults the bars to match the data connection but so many people complained about signal issues with the GNex versus other LTE phones (all pre-ICS with 3G bar mapping even on 4G) that Verizon decided to make the bars map like other phones with 4.0.4. And if it is like my MAXX, the 3G bar mappings are not based upon RSSI but rather Ec/Io ratio. I've never seen my CDMA/eHRPD signal drop below -89 dBm anywhere I've gone so far, but when you get into the -80s, the bar mapping fluctuates with the Ec/Io ratio only.

That tool won't tell you your LTE signal strength. On the GNex while you're on LTE, you have to go to SETTINGS/ABOUT PHONE/STATUS to see your actual LTE signal strength. LTE still confuses most of the 3rd party apps.

Nope-- MOST ISPs do have a monthly cap (some soft some hard). AT&T U-Verse is 200GB / mo. Cox has 250GB / mo. Just about everyone has limits... But to the point of the iPad on Lte... Mobile broadband is not sustainable for this kind of use. Mobile broadband is intended to provide data when you're away from home-- it was never expected to replace a wired (DSL / Cable) internet link with WiFi in your own home for heavy use like watching movies, etc. There simply isn't enough airspace for EVERYONE to use Mobile broadband rather than a landline for data at home. Now at work, on the go, when on vacation or away from home, I would expect to rely on mobile broadband, but I'd rarely expect to use heavy media during these times. The most mobile data I've ever been able to use was 1.6 GB in a single month, and I used to think that was due to Sprint's pathetic speeds, but since on Verizon, I'm only using about 600 MB / month of my 4GB allowance and I know with the consistent 40 mbps speeds, I could easily burn through more, but I just don't see doing heavy media on my phone.

Unless you're on Sprint in Baton Rouge or NOLA, then EVDO is worthless even at -63 dBm!! I'm eager to see how everyone reacts at CTIA in May. Last time I was in the quarter, AT&T guys couldn't connect at all and my Sprint phone timed out trying anything on EV-- I loaded a VZW PRL, jumped on a EV channel in PCS B block and was running 1.5 mbps while everyone else was dead in the water.

Could be so-- I always get in upper 20s to 40 down at my office with a -63dBm LTE signal. The LTE signal here is pretty steady, but the eHRPD/CDMA signal starts at -58 dBm early in the morning and drops to -75 dBm in rush hour afternoons, but the 3G speeds stay around 2 mbps. Right now, I have -68 CDMA / -63 LTE-- no worries.

I'd call Verizon to check the tower ASAP. Lte is always 12-15 mbps upload from my experience-- I've never seen an upload that slow. You must have some serious load in your area. I've never seen the Lte speeds below about 15/12 mbps nor the pings above 70 ms. I know that Verizon plans 3 passes over areas to progressively thicken and enhance coverage after the initial market rollouts.

No... he needs a new carrier. Who in their right mind would get an Airave hotspot or whatever from ANY carrier they know won't bother to cover their home and keep that carrier beyond a current contract? Clearly, they need to select another carrier (national or regional) who DOES actually support their environs. The Airave is an admission of poor coverage-- plain and simple.