techfranz

In general which Sprint & Verizon phones can be unlocked and used on GSM carriers?

Generally speaking, any of the more recent LTE Phones can be put on GSM if unlocked?

Are the SIMS compatible?

 

I assume the answer is yes or this thread wouldn't exist. Long time ago I used an AT&T Sim in an unlocked Verizon Imagio Smartphone and it worked. It was an HTC Imagio.

The reception was awful on both AT&T and Verizon.

Quick question... as I mentioned on another thread, I have a family share plan with 20 gb and have the promotion that added another 20 gb (Was supposed to be 2gb per line) that adds up to a total of 40 gb. My understanding is that the additional 20 gb was a promotion that is supposed to go away? Anyone know when those additional gbs are due to go away?

Any idea how I could get that 20GB Promo added to my existing 20GB? 

The new WordArt in Office 2016.  Make a new corporation logo while sitting on the can!

Yes Verizon's new logo is very weak compared to Google's New Logo. The checkmark might fall off the end

"Time to change our logo. Lets start by changing the font. Then lets stop by changing the font...Oh no where does the checkmark go??????"

 

I will like Verizon's logo more if they lower Sprint's Roaming Rates and Sprint gives us more roaming voice and Data Allowance.

Yeah, halfway between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, right on the line of the two markets and Semi-Rural. Still the patches of LTE here and there is really fast!

Sorry to interrupt the important foodie matters here...but I think I figured out what happened around here...we got GMO sites during Network Vision. So our we must not have got new panels, just ground upgrades.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-340-sprint-deploys-special-ground-mount-option-network-vision-sites-in-some-low-capacity-and-high-engineering-locations/#commentsStart

 

Does anyone know if the GMO upgrade included eHRPD because that is everywhere around ...no more EV-DO. 

 

Anyone seeing a full fork-lift upgrade on sites on the low priority list of NV?

I just figured out the text message issue....Sprint decided to take my advice and turn all the B26 on. However, they forgot to configure the MMS Gateway for B26. Upon fixing that issue they mistakenly routed all MMS's from the lat 24 hours through the Wi-Fi Calling infrastructure and around the Globe using the newly developed Open World platform until they finally arrived at their destination....OK maybe that not what happened:)

I think this has been the plan, install and activate in a non interference manor I have a feeling they are prioritizing the optimization in large markets (makes business sense) unfortunately optimization is a slow and time consuming process (the way i under stand it) so it might take some time before smaller markets get fixed.       

Yeah, halfway between Harrisburg and Philadelphia, right on the line of the two markets and Semi-Rural. Still the patches of LTE here and there is really fast!

I say...Flip the Switch on B26...Optimize later....( No I really don't mean that and I don't want to fry equipment and cause interference, but this is indeed taking a long time.) The only time I see Tower Climbers in these parts are AT&T installing 4g Panels, New Verizon Tower, & Sprint removing Nextel Antennas.

Sorry, was a bit too general there, the Nextel Panels came down around here in 2012, the new Verizon tower was like in 2010, and the AT&T 4G Panel replacement was in 2013.

Having trouble receiving texts for the first time in awhile, thought it might be the Hangouts App.

That doesn't really address or even acknowledge what I'm getting at... I just wanna know what the hold up is for optimizing B26, and even B25. The last thing I heard was Nextel repeaters still being live interfering with B26, ok fine, but even that is apparently taking forever to take care of so include that with my wanting to know what the hold up is. Unless of course making what they already HAVE work to its best ability is just not a priority at all...

 

I tend to be like Marcelo in the matter of wanting to GET THINGS DONE and why signal optimization isn't one of them drives me crazy. And apparently leaving the network hasn't helped as it's still driving me nuts watching from AT&T. In fact I think becoming more intimate with the other networks has only made it worse.

I say...Flip the Switch on B26...Optimize later....( No I really don't mean that and I don't want to fry equipment and cause interference, but this is indeed taking a long time.) The only time I see Tower Climbers in these parts are AT&T installing 4g Panels, New Verizon Tower, & Sprint removing Nextel Antennas.

So essentially, both B25 and B26 are, in general, capable of covering a larger area, but are left dialed back distance-wise because of insufficient capacity to provide usable data service for all individuals in that theoretical larger area? And at some point in the future, this is likely to change once densification of B41 is sufficient to allow it?

 

I'm just trying to make sure I read what you said correctly. If this is true, it would certainly explain a lot about relative differences in propagation distance between the bands in reality vs. what is expected/possible.

I like that explanation... broadcast the signal too far and you will have more clients than you can support. That explains some of the mystery signals that come and go. They don't leave them on because too many phones would connect to them and the tower would be at capacity. Essentially a cellular "Brownout" or like saying, "We have too much coverage and not enough capacity". Strange problem....

I say flip it on high anyway, maybe nobody will notice the difference [emoji4] between poor coverage and insufficient capacity. Actually, it would be neat if we could opt into using the new frequencies as beta testers... or have a switch on settings to turn on " extended range". Our feedback would be submitted to the network engineers.

 

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Yes, exactly.Money for towers, money for backhaul, etc....

 

Really, Sprint does have a lot of towers around and sufficient coverage for my needs. My coordinates just happened to fall right in the middle of 4 towers in our area and I walternatively getting 1xrtt, LTE and 3G sometimes with no connectivity.

 

I reported it with the Sprint App and the service immediately seemed to improve. Was that a placebo effect or what?

 

And we save a bit a bit of money over the big two carriers till they get everything in place.

 

Another two questions....

-There are some extremely skinny Antennas on some towers...I thought one was a gutted Nextel Tower until I saw what I am guessing to be a 4" x 48" panel on the extreme edge of the Antenna Array.

-Does co-locating a tower require zoning approval since Carriers already occupy the structure? How about the Micro-sites Sprint is planning to install?

A couple more questions:

1. I read about 1900 mhz spacing.

It seems like 1900 mhz would require more towers than 800mhz or 700mhz or 600mhz spacing. Why then are the 1900mhz spread so thinly?

2. Due to the help on this forum I am starting to see a lot of empty skeleton Nextel Antenna Arrays. I know these are not optimally placed and may overlap with Sprint a bit, but there would be a lot of potential gaps filled by using these with directional antennas or something like that. Why doesn't Sprint just mount Panels on these?

3. This is a bit short-sighted but 800mhz LTE and Voice would be be a great forerunner to Spark in these parts. Just wishing for stronger signal. Maybe 800mhz 1900mhz 2.5ghz will take care of it all in one bang.

4. Signal Check Pro is giving me crazy readings like 800mhz 1xrtt from Lime St., Lancaster City over 16 miles away....is Signal Check Pro always accurate?

 

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Is this a Cellular Phone Carrier's club that shares some switches or is it a real roaming agreement?

 

Looks to be me like a great forum for Carrier Discussions amongst themselves but maybe just a small amount of tangible benefits for customers presently.

Well the amplifier wasn't necessary behind the panel, it depends on the length of coax really.

This photo sums up past, present, and future of network gear:

Wow that photo is worth a 1000 s4gru blog words[emoji4]

-I suppose the active heads need a power connection.

-It seems the advantage of the future method seems to be that the active head antenna panels could be mounted anywhere you can get a simple fiber connection and the base station server can be placed wherever it is convenient. In other words less components, less weight, more configurations, more flexibility....

 

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There was never an old way; Sprint started using RRUs in Network Vision, before that it was amplifiers on the coax lines.

 

RRUs are only ground mounted in cases where they don't replace the legacy panels. They hang RRUs when they get the permits to replace the panels with NV ones. Putting the RRUs behind the panel is the smart thing to do because the signal loss from the coax is lowered significantly.

I understand from your comment, before network vision the actual radio was in a cabinet on the ground and the amplifier was where the RRU is now on top of the tower behind the antenna panel?

 

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Certainly is not an ideal condition, but yes they can be put into what some call a ground mount radio unit type setup. Essentially the way most setups were done before network vision decided to pop em up top and get all that distance out of the way.

 

 

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Ok, a radio burns out and needs replaced...am I correct in how this goer?

Old Way -Technician drives to the Cell Site and never leaves the ground to replace the Cellular Radio.

New Way -Technician must climb the tower to replace the radio.

 

Will Maintenance be more expensive with the radios so close to the antennas high off the ground?

Also makes a nice "cabley" mess up top of the tower.

A company’s responsibility is to its shareholders.

 

As a shareholder, my view is that no one needs 4k on their phone.

This reminds me of some old arguments like:

-Who can afford a data plan?

-Why do you need to carry email around with you on your cell phone?

-With such a tiny screen is it even useful to browse the web on a cell phone?

-Cell phones are for making phone calls.

 

Any you know what happened.....

It has to be fast. It's LTE [emoji4] it has no choice but be fast...Actually that is a great speed to be getting on a smartphone. Much better than sub 1Mbs.

 

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Ok, that makes more sense.

 

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I believe he was referring to MetroPCS in NYC, not Sprint.

 

-Anthony

Actually, I thought we were talking about Verizon dropping VolTE calls when you lost LTE signal...oh well it's all good.

Back-haul...the unsung Wireless hero.....

Anyone know what type of connection is needed for a Macro site..

If Cable or Fiber is available in the area are a couple Residential Style connection good enough?

Or are we talking about dedicated commercial pipes?

 

Also, how far can Microwave go....how many towers could you daisy chain together with Microwave backhaul.

 

Keep seeing Microwave dishes attached to Towers in odd spots...as if to provide backhaul as an afterthought.

 

Anyway, i thought of another "Sprint First"...Digital Call Routing technology rather than Circuit Switched calls like the other carriers had.

No problem. I remember them wanting to beat Verizon to the punch. I think the 1st market was Las Vegas or Boston.

 

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My point with my list of "Sprint Firsts" is that they are tenchnologically competent. They use cutting edge technology, rather than just following the market wherever it goes...another example, being Carrier Aggregation, they take the frequencies handed them by Nextel and Clearwire and make the best of it.

 

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I thought this wasn't possible? Did I miss something?

Somewhere I read that Sprints 1xrtt was superior to Verizon's in that it allowed VolTE handoffs. Verizon just drops the call when you leave LTE. I am trying to find the post. It was either 1xrtt or eHRPD that the Sprint version of VolTE can hand off to. But I guess Sprints HD Voice is not true VolTE either...

 

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That's cause you can't do SVD on 1x and LTE isn't made to handoff to 1x. Sprint's working on that though, against all odds.

Sprint is amazing in that it is a first at so many things...

-First at MMS messages...Picture Mail...What was that called?

-First at High Speed Mobile Broadband.

-First deploying Rev-a

-Bought Nextel who invented PTT.

-First real 4G via Wimax.

-First to have VolTE fallback to CDMA.

-Sprint blazes the trail and the other carriers pave the super highway behind them two years later.

 

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Looks like great voice and weak LTE. Wish I had 72 dbm of 800 1xrtt at home.

Makes me ask the question: If I had two choices make voice strong and data weak or data strong and voice weak, which would be best?

 

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How do I text a screenshot in my photo.gallery.....I even scaled down the image size to smallest possible, if my phone is so old and outdated, why is a simple screen grab too big too big to big too post.....

Yeah it's 8kb max or something. Actually, might work better from your phone using Tapatalk. Sorry I assumed you were on your phone.

 

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