gf11speed

Still a black hole in south east Orlando near downtown. Terrible data speeds.

Think I'll be making a trip down to the police department this weekend and do some mapping!

Don't get arrested. And furthermore, don't let the police overhear you talking about Sprint. If the police are anywhere near as pissed off as I am you might get Rodney Kinged during a routine Sprint 2G speed test.

What I don't understand is why do you stick around if all yall do is complain. You should choose the carrier that's right for your area. If your expecting softbank to magically give you lte tomorrow... the deal closed yesterday... wait it out or switch.

I'm sure some of us are stuck in contracts. As for me, I'm a masochist. I enjoy the pain and suffering that Sprint provides me on a daily basis. The "hope" that comes along with it all. Life is all about "hope" anyways.

Well... I meant that in 2 years, the project should be complete and I should have LTE or network vision 3g EVEYRHWERE I go. I expect to have lte in all of orlando before christmas time here. It would be unacceptable for them not to have it done by then....

In 2 years, Verizon and AT&T will have fully rolled out LTE Advance I'm sure.

Well this is the solid truth now. Sprint has the cash, they have the spectrum, and the Nextel/Clearwire drama is over. No more excuses for terrible data speeds, slow LTE roll out, and spotty coverage.

 

Get it done, or lose customers. And that's it. If I don't have EXCELLENT coverage in 2 years when my contract is up, straight to AT&T I go.

2 years? You're a patient, patient man. Enjoy your Sprint unlimited 2G speeds for the next year and a half. lol

Markets? Ha. Lawton, OK is a market? (No offense to anyone living there) But that's not really a "market." It's a town. They launched 35 more towns/cities today. It's a marketing ploy, same one that Sprint is playing. Be prepared for a ton of Sprint "markets" to "launch" in the next week or two. 

Couple things to note here.

 

One, is that even launched markets are not complete yet. There is not a single market that is 100% complete at this point. There are some areas within a market that have been mostly upgraded, but very few areas that are actually complete. And even then, you won't see the full effect of NV until 800MHz LTE is online, and Clearwire has their 2500 LTE running. 

 

Two, due to differences in the way the network is set up, Sprint's PCS and SMR LTE will never be as fast as Verizon's. This is because they have less spectrum to use than Verizon does. The max speed for Sprint's PCS and SMR LTE is 37.5Mbps. 

 

Once Clearwire is online, they should offer speeds much faster than that, but it will only be in congested metro areas, at least at first.

 

Finally, Sprint's network doesn't need to be faster than Verizon or AT&T, it just needs to be consistent. With pings generally below 100ms, all you need is a consistent 5-8Mbps or so and you will be fine. In my experience in Kansas City (where the network is largely upgraded) LTE performs very well, and I have seen on average 10+Mbps speeds, and great coverage. 

 

So, yes, it is worth the wait.

This pretty much sounds to me like we're just "waiting" now for an inferior network to appear. And then sometime down the line we'll see one that is somewhere remotely comparable to what other carriers currently have and have had for over a year in Orlando. Scary thought.

So Sprint's claim to fame is "consistency" over pure speed. Are other carriers having a problem with being consistent? Do they have more extreme highs and lows? I wasn't aware of them being unreliable.

So, what are we seeing in launched cities as far as Sprint vs AT&T vs Verizon? How does the completed Sprint LTE network compare? Is it faster/slower than the other LTE networks? Is this even worth the wait?

I got stuck on I4 and I had no voice or data service. I've had the last straw with Sprint. I've been with them for over 12 years. AT&T launch 25+ new market every two weeks. They launch 35 new markets today and have had LTE in Orlando since January of 2012

Maybe in two years I'm come back.

My feelings exactly. Only reason I'm still with them is because they are taking $30 off my bill every month until their garbage network is fixed.

When are we going to have LTE in the heart of downtown Orlando?

What do you think? 1-4 weeks? 2 months? 3 months? 2014?

Well if I'm picking up LTE, them that means there's progress so woooooo......now I continue waiting until one day, I wake up and see 5 bars and LTE sitting next to them. Yay

Yep! Should make for a great Christmas present.

Could it also be down tilt adjustments? If I remember from the wimax threads down tilt played a roll in signal. Maybe not as much at 1900 mhz vs the 2600 but still a possibility.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Perhaps. Any changes made to the towers could affect it.

Why is it that places that have previously been mapped in Sensorly as having a good signal, there is no signal now?

Because the tower that provided the service may have been turned off or was just being tested. That's why the sensorly coverage map is misleading. The map should represent whatever signal was reported last, instead of just if there has ever been service there.

Have not seen any new towers light up in a month or 2? Do you mean like brand new towers or upgrades? If you meant LTE upgrades since May 28th there have been 33 acceptances; 17 of which were LTE. As for BRAND NEW I have no idea.

 

As mentioned by supersanborn the Orlando Market is way bigger than just Orlando Metro. From as far south as Indian Town to as far north as Palm Coast and west to Leesburg

 

You can track progress by going here:

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3913-network-vision-site-acceptance-report-updates/

 

You are also welcome to become a sponsor by following this link http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1195-information-about-s4gru-sponsorship-levels-and-how-to-become-a-sponsor/.

 

Becoming a sponsor will give you greater access to acceptance/deployment info.

 

@l3x

Not necessarily new towers, but just LTE on the existing ones. I'm assuming acceptance means they're clear to work on it? Or does it mean they have approval and have actually started work on it? And how long will it take from being "accepted" to us actually seeing a 4G icon on our phones? I'm just saying there has been no additional sensorly LTE locations added anywhere near downtown in 2 months it seems like.

So is all this rain essentially halting the LTE rollout here in Orlando? Haven't seen any new towers light up in what, a month or 2?

I get to excited to have LTE nearly everywhere when I'm on a business trip in ATL that I almost end up finding excuses to use my data to make up for all the avoiding using my data I do here in Orlando. 

What kind of LTE data speeds are you seeing in regular use in Atlanta?

Yup......

We're all pretty much just masochistic people at this point. On some level, I'm sure most of us just enjoy following the rollout and looking forward to getting LTE more than actually having it. Living proof by the fact that we have Sprint.

Did a speed test today at lunch with some coworkers near Altamonte. I have Sprint, one of them has Verizon, another has AT&T.

Verizon registered near 10Mbps down, AT&T got 16Mbps, and I got 0.29Mbps.

0.29Mbps. Let's just say I got laughed at. So this weekend, I plan to dance like it's 1993.

So the Network Deployment Running list says:

Orlando

...Sites Complete = 29%; Anticipated LTE Launch = Spring 2013 (Palm Bay/Port St. Lucie launched 4/18)

...Original Scheduled Completion = May 2013; Current Production Rate Completion = February 2015

2015? Please tell me this is a typo.

Link here:

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/212-network-visionlte-deployment-running-list

Ah, doesn't sound good

 

My contract is up in June and I will be seeing how the Sprint network is doing or if I'll be making the jump to big red at that time. Growing tired of the 0.1 Mbps, but I want to hold on to my unlimited.

Yea I'm consistently getting 0.1 Mbps too -- Sprint calls that "premium data." Some blatant thievery going on.

Guys! BEST news I've seen in forever! Orlando was finally announced as a city getting LTE this summer! Check out the 2nd list after the 21 markets that launched earlier this week!

 

http://newsroom.spri...article_id=2563

Great, "within the coming months!" Now lets all go grab $250 S4s and spend half our contract on Sprint's unlimited 2G network until the rollout is complete in Orlando.

Some news is better than none. Finally good to see progress though.

Does anyone know why Sprint is charging $249.99 for the S4 ?

Because Sprint has such a widespread and robust 4G network that they can afford to charge more than the other carriers.

Nothing wrong with that lol

For me I don't even care about full market, I just care about Ocoee/Winter Garden (selfish, I know).

 

Sent from my Galaxy S3

Nothing wrong with that lol

There are days that I've gotten frustrated with Sprint 3G,but Verizon always talks me out of it with their insane data pricing structure. Maybe that's not a concern for you, but I've compared what I would be paying for with the same usage on Verizon and AT&T and there is simply no comparison. I also don't need unlimited minutes so that incentive of the shared data plan is meaningless to me.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S3

I agree, unlimited data is their crux and the single reason why I am still with Sprint. I don't like the data pricing of Verizon & AT&T either. I've been a longtime Sprint customer. But even as a loyal customer, at some point you start to question things when you are given no information and kept in the dark about your city. Sure they are currently "rolling it out" according to Sensorly, but really what do we know for sure? It still might be late summer or end of 2013 into 2014 before Orlando is deployed for all we know. A full 3 years after other carriers. I've been pulling for Sprint since they're the underdog and offer unlimited data, but at some point if Sprint continues to keep us all in the dark, how can people keep paying a premium for 2G data speeds? That's just not right.

It's simple, Sprint has had to rebuild their network from the ground up. They sell LTE devices because there are lots of places other than Orlando that have LTE. This is not a complaint forum. If you have complaints, you need to contact Sprint.

... as he enjoys his Verizon device. Not trying to complain, I'm just giving you an honest evaluation of the current state of Sprint's network in our hometown. I understand the situation and it is what it is. If I want a good network now, then I need to switch to Big Red like you have.

For what it's worth:

-AT&T Launched 4G LTE in Orlando January 5th, 2012. Basically the end of 2011 they had their network up here. Over a year ago.

-Verizon had their network up in Orlando in 2011. Almost 2 years ago.

Why didn't either of these carriers have a problem with "birds nests?" Why didn't these other carriers have to rebuild each of their towers from the ground up?

Where I live less than 3 miles from downtown Orlando I can hardly get 0.2Mbps or send a picture text message. We are talking 2G speeds here, yet they are selling us LTE devices with pride.