tommym65

I presume the Derrick Rose posts are relevant because he is tall enough to be a cell phone tower because NOTHING ELSE ABOUT HIM HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH SPRINT OR WITH CELLULAR TELEPHONY!!!

Thanks for the update. I hope 3GB works, 'cuz that extra $180/year is a deal-killer.

In Chicago (and I think Minneapolis) the Clear B41 MCC-MNC is 311-870.

According to the Sprint web site, the minimum LivePro data plan is 6 GB/$49.99. So besides the $18.75/month EasyPay, subs who now have a 3 GB/$34.99 plan would have to shell out another $15/month forever. As someone who already has a very good (but slightly heavier) data projector and a perfectly good Zing!, this puts the LivePro out of reach: extra $809 in the 1st 2 years. IMO, very poor marketing decision by Sprint.

OK, this is a living example of "be careful what you ask for, 'cause you just might get it". I sorta meant, "How about we talk about SPRINT in Chicago?" Silly of me, I know, but, hey, I thought that's what this topic is all about. I'll shut up now.

Closer than a bunch of posts.

Chicago? Chicago??? Helloooo, anyone out there have anything to say about Chicago? Y'know, my kinda town? Toddlin'? 2nd carrier? Anything?????

It has probably already started. Load the WiFi Analyser app on your GS5 (if you haven't already got it), and it will show you if the Comcast channel is open (plus all the other access points in your neighborhood.

2. Comcast claims that the public and private networks are completely separate. I personally am very skeptical, as they seem to share the same antenna(s), and they certainly share the same Ethernet channel on the actual Comcast coax cable. 1. (OK, so I can't keep things in order) As currently implemented, the public WiFi port does NOT have its own bandwidth, either on the physical cable (see 2, above) or on the air link. Regarding the air link, the public and private access points are on the same 2.4 GHz channel, and changing the channel assignment of the private one seems also to change the channel of the public one. Thus if someone latches onto the public channel and uses a lot of bandwidth, it will directly reduce the bandwidth available on the private channel. The more public users, the larger the reduction. Comcast will counter that I am getting fast enough speeds on the air link, so I should be ecstatic with my speeds. I will snarl back at them that as soon as a bunch of people camp on my router, none of us will get anywhere NEAR fast enough speeds. And, the air link is Wireless-N, so it ain't that fast in the first place. I live in a single family house in a residential neighborhood, so the personal effect on me would be limited, even if I did allow access. I also use the Comcast WiFi for very limited functions (Chromecast to an adjacent TV and to serve a wireless printer). I have a really spiffy 5 GHz Wireless-AC router for everything else that I use on WiFi (I routinely get over 120 Mbps on my GS5 on WiFi!), plus I have run Cat-5 to several points in my house. (I am something of a LAN geek -- need any cables crimped?.) But someone less geeky, in a denser neighborhood, or in a condo or apartment, could certainly see a major hit on the bandwidth that they are paying a significant amount of money for.

The Comcast router actually has 2 WiFi access points, 1 public and 1 private. You can google how to disable the public one. I did this, and while WiFi Analyser can still see that there is a signal, it has no name and is impossible to connect to. In my opinion, it is unconscionable for Comcast to do this, as I am certain a good hacker could break into the public one and get to the private side.

Your first point is extremely helpful. I am so addicted to Sprint subsidies, I hadn't even thought about how EasyPay is different. Looks like I'm marching down the Sprint store this very Friday! (Unfortunately for your second point, I am a self-employed manufacturers' representative, so there's no one to expense it to. I will get the tax deduction, though.) Thanks for the insight!!!

This response is not directed at dstar2002, he just happens to be the last post. Nor is it specifically directed at darickster09, although he has made himself a tempting target. S4GRU members have gone on and on and on about unlimited and its imminent/likely/possible/unlikely demise for years, with no agreement about what will actually happen. Yet Sprint continues to offer it, even as an option in this newest set of test-marketing plans. Unlmited Sprint data does not seem destined to go away, at least in the near- to medium-term future. And I have observed that the "Top 5% Throttling" panic has totally quieted down: If Sprint has enabled throttling, it seems to have gone virtually unnoticed, probably because it has affected few subscribers. Moreover, throttling of heavy/abusive users is likely to extend Sprint's ability to offer unlimited data for a long, long time. Spark has a lot of spectrum, and Sprint and its vendors are coming up with novel, ever-increasing methods of using that spectrum to transfer ever-increasing amounts of data. While I personally disagree with darickster09's use of his Sprint service, it is up to Sprint to enforce reasonable restrictions on his use. If at any time he is heavily using a loaded sector, he should be (and likely will be) throttled. This will prevent other users from having terrible experiences. Now can we get back to looking at the new rate plans? Thank you.

Drat! My Zing has an ETF until March 1st. I always carry both the Zing and a projector when I do customer visits, and this thing would be perfect. Drat! Drat! Drat!

Sprint has rolled out WiFi calling to many GS5's, check for updates. I gave been using it for about a week, and except for a few-hour hiccup yesterday, it has worked very well. I have unplugged my Airave.

WiFi calling was working fine on my new GS5, then yesterday, it failed with connection errors. This has been reported by other members in the GS5 thread. Have other members with different phones experienced the same problem in the past 2 days?? EDIT: It came back to life without explanation this afternoon (7/4).

WiFi calling has stopped working in NW Chicagoland also. Nuts, I was starting to like it. EDIT, 1:15pm CDT 7/4: And it has restarted as mysteriously as it stopped.

Does anyone know if local NIMBYs have delayed or prevented NV upgrades? Does Malibu's permitting process actually allow upgrades to happen? Just curious.

You've got better things to do. Thanks for the help (and, again, for the app).

You ask a lotta questions! 1. Location services was on the whole time (as was GPS). 2. It "stuck" and "unstuck" multiple times. PM me an email address and I will send you the log. 3. I did not have the lat/long display on in SCP (because I hadn't read the release notes - it's on now!). 4. I used another location - finding app (Google maps) only briefly when my garmin couldn't find an address, maybe 8 miles out of about 150). Log entries appear complete, no nulls, and the gci's are numerous and interesting, all the sprint LTE technologies show up. [An aside: the B41 plmn is showing up as 310120, which for Chicago area Clear sites should be 310378 or something like that. I am picking nits with that one.]

Mike, Any idea why my GS5 Signal Check LTE log would get "stuck" on a "last_device_latitude" and "_longitude"? For example, I was driving yesterday, trying to find B26, B41, and B25-2nd-Carrier (and found all 3), but in many cases the lat/long would report the same values repeatedly. The worst case I noticed was a series of 15 log entries over a 14 minute period with the exact same location. I know that I was driving the entire time, probably covering about 10-12 miles. The app logged 15 GCI's at 10 different sites during that time, which was wonderful, except that I can't determine where I was when I saw them. [The good news for Chicago people is that in a ~105 mile drive between the Northwest Suburbs and Valparaiso, IN, Signal Check logged 41 B25C2, B26, & B41 GCI's, plus 97 original G-Block B25 GCI's - complete and continuous LTE coverage for the entire trip.]

So am I - my wife has a 5c and works deep inside a masonry building at least 3 miles from the nearest Sprint site, and this could be a big help to her.

GS5, WiFi Calling: Loaded. Configured. Activated. Works. Bye bye, Airave! Yippee! Edit: Band 26. Band 41. GCI logging in Signal Check. WiFi calling. Great battery life. I LOVE THIS PHONE!

Vince (username "Vince" ) has posted a number of B26 sightings in the S & SW suburbs in the Chicago Premier thread, and I have seen 6 B26's in the far Northwest just in the last couple of days (since I got my shiny new GS5). There are others as well, but I don't recall all the details. I'll put in a plug for becoming a Premier, I think Robert still has a promotional rate going (or probably would extend it, if you asked), because there is an enormous amount of B26/B41 info in the Premier threads. There's a link in my signature.

Which burbs? It's on in many places, not on in many others, but seems to be spreading fairly rapidly.

Absolutely you will stay connected if the signal is stronger (probably because you are close enough to the B41 site). In contrast, I live about 3 miles from my closest B41 site and about 4.5 miles from my closest B26 site. I was able to connect to them regularly before Sprint recently upgraded my neighborhood site (~1.3 miles) to B25 (AFTER ONLY 2 YEARS OF WAITING WHILE THEY UPGRADED EVERY OTHER SITE FOR DOZENS OF MILES IN ALL DIRECTIONS - NO, I'M NOT BITTER AT ALL!!!! [Oops, sorry, lost control there.]). Since the upgrade, I can only get B26 or B41 for moments at a time, unless I drive closer to the B41 or B26 site (thus, further from my local B25, which has not yet been upgraded to either B26 or B41. (NO, DAMMIT, I AM NOT BITTER!!! NOT!! NOT!! NOT!!!). This is in accordance with what I would expect from what more knowledgeable persons in this forum have said, that is that the Sprint network prioritizes B41 first, B25 second, and B26 third once you are connected and if signal strengths are comparable, but will pick the strongest signal if strengths are not comparable.