Trip

(Cross-posting in the DC Premiere thread.)

Finally!  I'm visiting my parents for the weekend, and just happened to open up my SCP log because I noted along the way that one of the 3G-only sites is now running LTE.  But what caught my eye in the log was actually the fact that my log now contains three more sites with B41 third carrier!  Braddock Road Metro, Huntington, and Mandarin Oriental all now have B41 third carrier in my log. 

- Trip

The network definitely needs some tinkering. Most non-HPUE tri-band devices drop B41 at ~-117 RSRP (as they should due to uplink limitations).

By contrast, my G5 used to hang onto B41 down to about -125 dBm, even though it couldn't actually use the service.  It seems to have been recently improved and drops earlier.

- Trip

My G5 is asking me to do an update.  I'm about to run out the door, so I can't run it yet.

- Trip

what city/state were you on USC? how were speeds? were you using the G5?

Charlotte County, VA.  Speeds were acceptable--better than the 0 kbps my parents were getting on the home Internet.    I was on the G5.

The only catch was that every so often my phone would try to pick up the nTelos 1X 800 from Long Mountain overlooking Rustburg.  It would drop the data session until it realized the signal was too weak to use.  (I do wonder if an outdoor antenna would work for the nTelos signal; I used to watch W60BM, a PBS TV signal, from that mountain almost perfectly clearly until it signed off in 2008.  Channel 60 was in the 700 MHz band, so 800 MHz wouldn't be that different.)

- Trip

To the 100MB roaming limit, last time I was visiting my parents, I am pretty sure I went way over the 100MB of roaming and didn't get cut off or even a notice.  (Their Internet was down and I was really bored, so I tethered my laptop via US Cellular LTE roaming.)

- Trip

Saw it on my G5 last night. 

Mine too.

- Trip

How's this help Sprint if at all?

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/pai-s-fcc-moves-forward-cellular-power-interference-rules-800-mhz-as-well-as-robocalls-and

I'm pretty sure it doesn't, but I'm not certain.  I think it only applies to the Cellular A and B blocks.

- Trip

There's actually a lot of ground west of Richmond, even outside of the Southern Virginia market, where Sprint has no service or very sparse service.  I'd love to see Shentel get involved in those areas.

- Trip

This is excellent news.  I have been across I-68 as well and I know how bad it is there right now. 

I just wish they'd rolled the few Sprint-managed Southern Virginia market counties into it.  It's only 5 counties and the existing sites are nearly all running LTE already, they just need more sites.

- Trip

In Charleston today, I saw Band 2 second carrier on Verizon and it was the _5 set.  (0x0F, 0x19, 0x23)

I'm wondering if _6 is a placeholder for a future second carrier on Band 5.  The Band 5 carrier I saw with _7 was 10x10 centered at 885 MHz for downlink, which would be in the B-block.  Since the entire band is 25x25, even if Verizon controls both licenses, they have to have two carriers to fill it with LTE since, according to Wikipedia at least, the Band 5 maximum bandwidth is 10x10 (though the Band 26 maximum is 15x15, so they could do a 10x10 Band 5 and a 15x15 Band 26).

- Trip

Mike,

When you're ready for it, I have updates on Verizon and AT&T sector ID/band correlations.  I don't have the AT&T handy, but in Savannah, Verizon is running 10x10 Band 5 and it's on sector IDs 0x11, 0x1B, and 0x25.  (That's decimal 17, 27, and 37.)  That makes the Verizon pattern overall, in decimal, from what I can determine:

Band 13:  1/2/3/4/5/6

Band 4:  12/22/32/42/52/62

Band 4 (second carrier) 13/23/33/43/53/63

Band 2:  14/24/34/44/54/64

Band 5:  17/27/37/47/57/67

I assume that _0, _1, _5, and _6 are in use elsewhere, but not sure with what association.  Logically, I could imagine that _5 is Band 2 second carrier, but I haven't actually seen that to confirm.

For AT&T, I was able to see some second carriers and sectors above gamma.  I'll have to dig through the logs for those when you're ready.  The one I do recall off-hand is that I saw a 6-sector site in Naples where 0x95 through 0x9A were in use for Band 30.  (SCP currently only shows 0x95 through 0x97 as Band 30, with the other three sectors being just "LTE".)

- Trip

That's awesome about Florida. Though I'm still not sure the user should have to jiggle airplane mode in order to reconnect to better service.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I give it a minute or two, it'll jump to LTE on its own.  I'm just not that patient. 

- Trip

So let me follow up on my earlier post complaining about my Sprint service in Walterboro, SC with a post about my service in Naples, FL.

Here in Naples, this is what cell phone service is supposed to look like.  I spend most of my time on Band 41, and I've only dropped to 1X when I'm in the Everglades where all the carriers suffer, or when the phone is in my pocket--pulling it out and toggling Airplane Mode brings back LTE no sweat (and if I let it linger on 1X/eHRPD, it's perfectly usable).  Service has been just fine for doing the things I typically do with my phone.  In my hotel room, I'm usually on Band 25; where it's sitting right now, next to my computer which probably makes reception harder, I'm getting -108 dBm on Band 26.  I've tried my phone in every eatery, store, and other destination I've been to here and service has been ubiquitous.

So Sprint is obviously capable of building a good network.  They've done so here.  My guess is that optimization has been done here and in full, and it really shows.  It also helps that most or all sites have B41 and there aren't lingering 3G-only sites here.  (Except, again, in the Everglades, where I came across a single site where Sprint is still non-NV, AT&T is still HSPA-only, and Verizon has B13 only, probably at great expense.)

- Trip

SC and VA are NOT in the southeast.

Says who?  There is no universal definition of the regions of the US.  I consider Virginia to be part of the southeast, and definitely part of the South.  (I note that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who I would argue help to define the South, both were/are based in Virginia.)

- Trip

So you can't connect to 00C07Cxx? Where your at it should only be one exit north. Not saying SC is good by any means as you could see in my logs the big gaps in data points. Another big road I80 the main road in between boston/nyc and chicago just launched parts of lte.

I saw 0C07C as I passed it on I-95, but my phone doesn't even try connecting to LTE inside the hotel.  If I toggle Airplane Mode, it jumps right onto 1X 800 and that's pretty much it.  I was trying to look at Gas Buddy at Crackerbarrel last night and it kept timing out as both the 1X and eHRPD were below -100 dBm.

I'm not even sure if I'm connected to 1X 800 from that site right now, it may be the one east of town.  I'm on the third sector and it's showing as northeast of here.

There are at least three towers at this interchange, with Verizon on one and T-Mobile on another.  Both carriers are on different towers one exit north of here, as well.  (Couldn't locate AT&T when I mapped them last week, so I can't tell you where they are right now.  Once I analyze my SCP logs, I'll be able to tell you.)  As far as I can tell, Sprint's just missing a site here where they should have one.  T-Mobile and Verizon, at least, saw fit to put sites at both interchanges.

- Trip

I hate to be negative on the network, considering how many negative posts there have been here lately, but...

Today I started the first day of my two week trip to Florida and back.  We stopped at four locations (not counting stops I made to collect TV data for RabbitEars).

Bojangles in Fredericksburg, VA

Fried Turkey Sandwich Shop in Fayetteville, NC

Crackerbarrel in Walterboro, SC

Red Roof Inn in Walterboro, SC, where I'm typing this message.

Of the four locations, I only had LTE at the first one.  I could almost look out the window and see the tower from there.

At the others, I had either only 1X 800 or 1X/eHRPD that was so weak that no data would pass.  Meanwhile, my phones for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all had very usable LTE. 

For example, I'm sitting at the Red Roof Inn.  Here's what I have:

Verizon:  B4 -113 dBm

AT&T:  B17 -110 dBm

T-Mobile:  B2 -103 dBm

Sprint:  1X -102 dBm / eHRPD -117 dBm (-117 dBm is the minimum value SCP will report, and is not usable)

I'm surrounded by restaurants and hotels.  I-95 is 30 seconds from the end of the hotel's driveway.  Why does Sprint not have usable service here?  Why were there places on I-95 where my phone showed no service or, worse, started roaming on Verizon?  I-95 isn't exactly a small country dirt road, it's one of the busiest highways on the east coast.

I truly believe things like this are why people are fleeing Sprint.  I'm pretty tolerant of things like this.  I don't think most people are as forgiving as I am, and even I would be looking around if someone else had a US Cellular roaming deal or service in that area I frequent.

- Trip

Not sure if this article is of interest:  http://www.parksassociates.com/blog/article/pr-02232017

The short version is that they predict 10% of people may give up home broadband in favor of moving to wireless-only.

- Trip

Ah!  Gotcha.  I don't do speed tests (3GB shared data plan) so I have no idea whether or not the performance is better.

- Trip

Reread my first sentence in the last post [emoji6]

 

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

I'm confused.  You must mean something different from what I think you mean; I thought you were referencing the fact that I was connected to sector 43 but hadn't noticed the SCC line at the bottom.  What do you mean then?

- Trip

The site is ready for 3xCA but the network may not be ready. Our 8T8r sites in Columbus are that way, but their performance has dropped dramatically with tested sites only offering performance typical of one carrier. Same phone and location will show no difference between CA and 3xCA. CA on Mini Macro sites (former Clear) easily outperforms them and are basically holding our network together.

The engineering screen is in the background.  It has a PCC and two SCCs.

- Trip

The graph in this Washington Post article I think hits on why people are so concerned about Sprint's response this week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/02/14/your-complete-guide-to-choosing-an-unlimited-data-plan/?utm_term=.b6dd5dde9bb5

Look at all the asterisks on Sprint's plan.  Look at the things the others offer and Sprint doesn't. 

For me personally, I'm not terribly bothered.  I don't have a use for unlimited service, I tether rarely, and I have been out of the country thrice in my life, two of those times to Mexico on behalf of the FCC, when I had a government phone anyway.  And, of course, there's Sprint roaming onto US Cellular, which will keep me as a customer for the foreseeable future.

But the optics of it are really bad.  Particularly the "Requires new account?" line.

- Trip

Did you actually get 50% faster speeds than CA?

 

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

I don't do speed tests (3GB plan shared with my wife) so I wouldn't know.  But the proof is here:

http://imgur.com/kwOBG9k

- Trip

Gotcha, wasn't aware of that one - thanks.

Yes, I spotted 3xCA a few days before the Inauguration here in DC on the one tower I've seen with third carrier.

- Trip

that's a lot of money saved per year.  Rural is still a struggle for Sprint, but if you don't live or travel to rural area, 20 bucks a month or 240 a year per line might very well be worth it. 

Ironically, it's Sprint's roaming agreement with US Cellular which keeps me on Sprint.  Verizon and AT&T have no service in the place I need it.

I'm definitely not typical though.  For Sprint, this is probably going to hurt.

- Trip

Yes, and those analysts were influenced by the results of AWS-3.  After that auction ended, all the estimates went up to account for this great jump in value from AWS-3.  As I said previously, if not for AWS-3, this would have been considered a success.

And as far as the Chairman is concerned, I remind you that one of the largest concerns were that supply-side participation (from broadcasters) would be diminished.  Of course he was going to sell it as a big deal to get them to come to the table.  Wouldn't you?

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. 

- Trip