tommym65

Hah! I am even righter than I thought I was!!! (Smiley to be inserted when I am not ryping on my phone) (In another thread, I crudely projected the max NV network capacity as 505 Gbits per sub per month, based on 38,000 cells x 3 x a projected 65,000,000 subs. I misquoted my own calculation in my post above. However you peel the onion, it will yield a huge amount of bandwidth, if you can just tolerate that oniony smell.)

I think we may be peeling too many layers off the onion, too soon. 1 year ago, the thought of getting a consistent 20-25 Mbps anywhere on the Sprint network was still a dream. Now, it is rapidly becoming reality, and 1 year from now, it will be the norm virtually everywhere Sprint has coverage. So the sustainable data capacity per sub will have increased a hundredfold in just 2 years. It is reasonable to project a Sprint capacity of 70-80 Gbits per month per sub by March of 2014. I fully realize that most subs (except for Robert and all the rest of us S4GRU addicts) are not using the available bandwidth at 3 in the morning, so even though the theoretical capacity might be 70-80 Gbits per month, bandwidth simply disappears into the ether if not used when available, and the practical capacity is much lower. Still, that's a lotta bits. When 800 and 2500 MHz become available within a couple of years after that, network capacity will more than triple from 2014 levels, especially when you take into account the enormous capacity in the 2500 segment. It is reasonable to project a raw, theoretical Sprint network capacity in excess of 300 Gbits per month per sub. Given that most subs are likely to actually use far less than that, and even accounting for time-of-day congestion, there will be lots of room for data hogs. Nonetheless, it would probably make sense for Sprint to throttle all users at times and in areas of peak congestion, or to at least throttle either the heaviest users or the ones who pay less money. The DSL and cable internet providers do it today. I will leave it to Son-San and Hesse to iron out the details. Please understand that I mean no disrespect to anyone else's opinion as expressed in this thread, but I think that it is too early to declare that unlimited data is already condemned to death. The market will make that determination, and if there is money to be made providing unlimited wireless data, somebody will find a way to make that money.

Sort of like their spelling. I guess I'll just have to go on an extended rant about the injustice of living near Chicago, of the GS3 showing only partial data, of the installations following a pattern known only to Mayor Rahm and the Pope, etc., etc., etc., etc. Le Sigh . . . (Anyway, thanks AJ for the clarification.)

Luisrodg is correct: I have driven around several known LTE towers in my area. I was looking for the "169" sector offset per your reference (which I have read multiple times), or something approximating it (the formula can be interpreted to allow a value of up to "9" different from the predicted 169 as the serving cell ID approaches 502). I am unable to find any such pattern on my local cells. For example, a tower on Hanson Road near Algonquin Road in Algonquin, IL, apparently squawks "428" to the northwest, "153" to the northeast, and "433" to the south. Other towers in the vicinity seem to be equally arbitrary, for example one further west which looks like it squawks "3", "145", and "164" clockwise from northwest. The "169" formula may work in other places, but does not appear to do so in my part of the Sprint world. I am asking if anyone has better insight than I do about how Serving Cell ID's are assigned specifically in Chicagoland.

Just curious: Why do you say he is on the northern sector? I have been trying to map serving cells in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, and can't seem to find any logical geographic pattern to serving cell ID's. Because I have a GS3, of course the serving cell is all I can get my phone to tell me. Thanks in advance.

Yeah, but Belgrade, Singapore, and Buenos Aires? That seems like a stretch. I also get bizarre location names with NetMonitor, but on its "map" screen, cells seem to be located exactly as they squawk. Therein lies the rub: In NE Illinois where I spend most of my time, squawk locations are dead on. When I bring up a map like the one above and zoom in, I am directly on top of the cell -- in satelite mode, the placement is perfect. But in places like Milwaukee and Las Vegas, the squawks are offset for each sector, usually in a triangular pattern with the cell near the center of the triangle. Note BSID's 00509, 00510, and 00511 on this 2-week-old map of northwest Las Vegas, below: They are almost certainly 3 sectors on the same tower (I think it's near W. Ann Rd and the 215), but are shown as miles apart. Thus, the usefulness of the map, and the ease of finding your cell(s) depends on where you are mapping. To get back to TheBigCandy's question, I have used NetMonitor for over a year, and have had not any problem with it ruining any of the phones that I have used it on. Although, just to be safe, I will probably not take any of my phones to Belgrade, Singapore, OR Buenos Aires.

No sarcasm. I really do like the chimes, especially because where I drive is fringy for LTE, and I also get a lot of mail, so the notification tone can be confusing.

And I so loved the chimes . . .

Is there an equivalent file or record in the GS3?

Oh, there is despair in Chicagoland. No new posts. No new upgrades. No new LTE. No new nothin'! [Well, okay, there's a lot of new 800 Mhz, but that's just not as exciting as all that shiny new LTE in the rest of the world.] Everyone knows that Chicagoland is the absolute center of the known Universe, yet here we sit pining away for at least the tiniest bit of newness. "Ah", you say, "but Chicago already has SO MUCH LTE, why would you need more?!" Because we are Rahm's anointed ones, that's why!!!! Having had so much newness in the past, we have become addicted to newness, and need our NV newness fix!!! Oh, woe is us (are us?)!!! Has the State Pension Fund slithered its filthy hands into Sprint's NV funding and stolen even our hope? Has Mike Madigan sold all the cell sites to his crooked cronies? Has the ghost of Everett Dirksen talked so much that he melted all the new backhaul?? Please, Dan Hesse, hear our pleas and rescue us from incompletion. Or at least give Robert some acceptances to post. Amen.

I think you misunderstood my post. I included the prl for info only. 800smr has been continuously available in suburban and exurban Chicago only recently, and is easily confirmed by the sid. My question was whether anyone else, when connected to 800mhz, was seeing glitches in sms messaging. I had many messaging problems a few months ago when 3g NV was being turned on, and then for a while, no problems, and now with the increased availability of 800, more problems.

Now that 1X 800mhz has been widely deployed in Chicagoland, has anyone else in the area experienced an increase in delayed and duplicated sms text messages? This seems to affect messages coming to and from my gs3's which are on prl 25012, and are now usually connected via 800mhz.

Fussy, fussy, fussy!!! I suppose you want to make phone calls from that device, too . . .

Try going to www.sensorly.com and selecting "Coverage Maps", then "Sprint 4G". What you will see is that 4G LTE is relatively close to you both from the west, and from the south, but has not reached Stillwater yet. The 4G LTE buildout in the MSP market is proceeding rapidly. Be aware that 4G WiMax is NOT proceeding at all any more, nor will it in the future, so your hot spot will not be able to take advantage of the new 4G, as I believe it is 3G and WiMax only. 3G coverage, however, will improve to some degree as Network Vision is completed. To the best of my knowledge (experts please correct me if I'm wrong), no Sprint phone or device will function as a hot spot in Europe, if you are looking for that..

Just curious how you know that backhaul is what is missing here?? My closest site has had the "3G" NV update since at least September, but has made no sponsor-map-detectable progress since then. Since I am obviously the most important customer out of all of Sprint's 57,000,000, I cannot understand why the site isn't totally surrounded with Samsung contractors working furiously to get me up to LTE, or even 1X 800 (both of which are so very near). So again, I am curious regarding how to find out what might be missing. FWIW, you should probably know that 2 Sycamore, IL, sites (near the Dekalb sites that you mentioned) are also near "Heron Creek Estates". It's a shame that those pesky mapmakers just don't know how to spell!!!

Isn't that the "VoiP" light, not the "Mobile" light? Did you order VoiP?

Modem <=> Airave <=> Router may cause problems if you have other devices on your LAN. For example, I have a VPN-configured router used for VoiP, plugged directly into my AT&T [sorry I have to invoke the devil's name] Uverse modem/router. If I were to plug that in through the Airave as recommended, my VPN would quit. I have seen in other threads that you can plug the Airave into any port on any router or switch on your LAN and assign the Airave a static IP address, which will prevent it from dropping if any of the other devices reset for any reason. I have done so, and have had no problems. Of course, mine is DSL, yours is cable, so things MIGHT be different, but probably not. However, you are getting a flashing red on the "Mobile" LED from the time you hook up. Usually, if not defective and if provisioned right, the Airave will connect correctly the FIRST time you hook it up, but may drop later on if anything else on your LAN causes address changes. Your symptom suggests, as several people in this thread have said, that the Airave itself is functioning incorrectly, not the modem or the router.

Gorilla Gadgets 4000mAh Extended Battery Case with Flip Cover for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 CODE: CHR-0061-

I bought a juice pack from an outfit called Gorilla Gadgets several weeks ago, after talking to someone who had a Mophie and really liked it. I looked into Mophie pricing and thought the Mophie seemed too expensive (I got each of my GS3's for less than the price of the Mophie, 2 of them for less than 1/2). I bought the Gorilla for about $30 including shipping, although the price is now shown as $39.99 (Gorilla Gadgets 3300mAh Extended Battery Case for Samsung Galaxy S3 CODE: CHR-0055). It comes in a variety of colors. 2 years ago, I had bought extended batteries from the same place for all of my family's battery-challenged 0G HTC Evo's, and had been very pleased with them. Once I received the Gorilla juice pack, I liked it enough that I promptly bought another one for my daughter's GS3. It just about doubles the GS3's battery life, and has the interesting feature that the external battery is turned off by default, and only needs to be turned on when the GS3 battery needs a charge. It also has an LED charge indicator. It extends the GS3's physical length to just about the length of a Note 2, but adds no width and little depth. It also acts a a crash case. 2 negatives: 1. It seems to block NFC; 2. You have to remove the phone from the juice pack to connect to a PC using USB. The second one caused me some frustration until I figured it out. Disclaimer: I am not employed by, nor do I have any financial relationship with Gorilla Gadgets. I just happen to like their products (and prices).

Me, too. I plan to unplug it for a while this weekend and check things out. Thanks, AJ, that makes sense. Warm & tingly would be good, right now: This afternoon, the temperature in the NW 'Burbs has surged to +5 degrees, must be even toastier 192' up with a wind chill! I have been checking BSID's for weeks months -- It has become an obsession, or maybe a sign of onrushing senility: For example, the nearby tower in question shows BSID's of 21153 & 21154 in the directions that I drive (and I presume 21152 or 21155 in the 3rd sector, but I haven't driven completely around it to check), and it and the other towers in my vicinity (and, as far as I can tell, throughout NE Illinois) actually show the true co-ordinates on Netview, CDMA Field Test, etc., and show up on Google maps absolutely dead on top of photos of the towers. One of my daughters lives in Milwaukee, on the other hand, only 1 block from a Sprint cell on an apartment building, and her cell shows up either in the middle of Lake Michigan, or about a mile west of where it actually is (or, probably, about a mile north, but I haven't looked), so I have learned to be suspicious. Besides, you knowledgeable guys will take me out back of the woodshed and whup me one if I get it wrong. [FWIW, Google Maps shows that my new Airave is located in a lilac bush out in my yard, but I guess that's ok, it's only wrong by about 30 feet.]

A question: I live in far northwest Chicagoland. This week, my GS3 has been mostly locked onto SMR 800 (SID=224xx, Ch 476). I live near a Sprint cell which apparently does not yet have SMR 800 enabled, while according to the Sponsor maps, and observations I have made while driving around (thank you, SignalCheck!), most of the other towers near me do have SMR 800 turned on. My question is: When I am really, really close to a non-800 tower (I drove within 100 yards of my nearest cell this morning, so I should have had a really strong signal), will 1900 take over my connection, or will the more distant 800 towers retain "control"? I am fairly certain that I never connected with SMR 800 1xRTT from my local tower, because its BSID has never showed up when I am SMR-800-connected. During the past several days, I seem to have been connected with 800 most of the time, except 1 day when it just went away, and my phone didn't see it again for about 24 hours no matter where I drove. Constant 800 access out in the ex-urbs where I am seems to have improved call quality, but I am not certain, because just after 800 apparently came on-line full-time, I got an Airave. Since I spend my days cloistered in my basement office, I really need the Airave connection for business calls, so I haven't turned it off to check how 800 is working underground (pre-Airave, my 1900 office connections ranged from bad to horrible to none). Does anyone understand this better than I do?

Has anyone else noticed that the GS3 LTE receiver seems to be somewhat directional: When I aim the left side of the phone toward where I think the tower is, I seem to get about a -5 dBm RSRP signal strength improvement. Based on the diagram that Thomas L. posted, this seems plausible. I live in a somewhat fringe LTE area at the moment, so it may be just my imagination. I would be interested if anyone else has had the same experience.

Also, the Blue Line Software SignalCheck Pro app written by an S4GRU Premier Sponsor has a manual "Reset Data Connection" menu selection, and works really well for helping to find LTE.

The latest update does correctly show the LTE RSRP on my GS3. Thanks for all your effort. Question: Is there a dialer code that allows you to see the Cell ID on the GS3? ##debug# will get me to "LTE Enginerring" (at least that's how Samsung spells it), but only the physical cell ID shows up there, and I'm having a hell of a time trying to sort through the values as I try to identify my local LTE cells, as the local offsets don't seem to be exactly 169. My understanding is that the Cell ID shows the cell in the first 5 or 6 hex digits, with the sector value in the last digit or 2. This would be much easier to track than the phys cell ID, but I can't find anywhere that it is reported in the GS3.