645824

Thanks.  Yes, "Enhanced LTE" does indeed appear to be the same as Spark coverage.  So they appear to have dropped the word "Spark".  In searching around through the Sprint web pages, it appears that "Spark" has been removed/replaced with "Enhanced" (or "Plus").

And  "Enhanced LTE"  is specifically listed as tri-band:

"includes Sprint's tri-band network. Available only on select devices"

The link for "LTE Plus" references the same thing.  The LTE Plus link appears to show the same 103 Spark cities (I'm guessing at that; haven't done a line-by-line comparison).

So their web folks get a  C-  for being confusing. There is  "Introducing LTE Plus"  but the pulldown contains  "Enhanced LTE".

The  "LTE Plus"  November 2015 announcement is mentioned here:

http://www.androidcentral.com/sprint-announces-faster-lte-plus-network-launching-today-77-markets

which I assume they rolled out once they took down Clearwire.

Thanks,

Scott

 

I don't mind paying for data (I'm on Sprint's 120 GB per month plan).  So based on your comments it looks like I just have wait for Sprint to upgrade their backhaul at my tower. 

I noticed this morning that Sprint's coverage map has removed the "Spark" entry (12/31/2015).  I was there the last time I checked several weeks ago. So the maximum now listed is 4G LTE.  Perhaps the marketing folks got overruled...

Scott

You will never see an unlimited hotspot at full speed on LTE. It would destroy a network. In my home, I have a 200Mbps internet that I share with no one. It's great and very useful.

 

But with Sprint B41 LTE, you are sharing one 80Mbps connection with everyone in your sector. I don't think people get that. Two or three people running full HD streaming on that 80Mbps to a device on hotspots and all of a sudden that carrier is maxed out and everyone else has a reduced experience.

 

On a 5MHz carrier, everyone in that sector is sharing ONE 37.5Mbps connection. LTE networks are shared ecosystems that cannot support many people using them as full speed ISP replacements where people are full definition streaming. That's not going to happen with the way technology is now and the way networks are deployed now.

 

LTE cannot be used for a home ISP without significant handicaps. Throughput speed or data limits. Otherwise millions would switch their ISPs to wireless and the networks would crumble overnight.

 

Whether people like it or not, you're sharing 37.5Mbps, 80Mbps or possibly up to 160Mbps in some situations with dozens or hundreds of other customers. And in a stadium it can be thousands. That's what a wireless network does. We try to educate out that ignorance.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

Thanks.  Unfortunately I use wireless as my home's ISP since I don't have any alternative (DSL is only 3 Mbps where I am, cable doesn't come to my house, and I'm avoiding satellite due to the delay). I'm one of those underserved internet folks that Washington keeps talking about.  T-mobile has a horribly low monthly data plan, Verizon's home plan is $440/month for the amount of data I use (and then only 8-12 Mbps), AT&T coverage here is spotty here, and Cricket limits the data rate to 5Mbps.

I don't mind paying for data (I'm on Sprint's 120 GB per month plan).  So based on your comments it looks like I just have wait for Sprint to upgrade their backhaul at my tower. 

Thanks,

Scott

Thanks, but they say only 5 Mbps:

Pay $50 a month and use as much data as you need at up to 5Mbps.  No contracts, no fine print. Cancel anytime you'd like.

To their credit, it is offered where my home is;  "good" on their coverage map.

Thanks anyway for the tip, but I need speed...  5Mbps is so 20th Century. 

Scott

This goes into a little more detail about the injunction that lilotimz mentioned:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sprint-shutdown-suspended-nonprofits-win-preliminary-injunction-protect-internet-for-300000-americans-300173565.html

I had been a happy Clear customer for several year (at 5 Mbps), but made the switch in April to Sprint when Sprint/Clear dropped email service.  Then my family found that our Oppo bluray player does Netflix and the rest is history.  I'm on the Sprint 120GB/month plan, but only getting 8 Mbps.

I'm desperately waiting for Sprint to upgrade my Clear tower.

Thanks,

Scott

I would argue the recent coverage maps update has made it more realistic compared to before (but still quite optimistic).

 

Sprint is in no position to make anymore grand announcements. Too many broken promises and delays already said these past many years.

 

It'll be done when it's done is the motto they're adopting. We'll know it here (s4gru) first as usual and I'll know.

 

Don't expect anything substantial to commerce til next year. Funding has not flowed down to this (and most) lower priority market yet.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

Well, the coverage map here in Patterson dramatically changed again (Oct 10).  Now it is showing a very extensive Spark area.  However, my signal level is exactly the same as it has been for the past several months. 

So I went to my bookmarked Sprint network map link (http://network.sprint.com) to see about any tower upgrades, but the Network map isn't there any more.  It just goes to a generic page.

Then I checked the Maintenance page (https://www.sprint.net/maint_view.php), but there's nothing specific to Patterson there either.

So it looks like the coverage map has been changing quite a bit (reduced coverage area, then a few months later greatly expanded), but my signal level has been exactly the same.

I have the 120GB/month plan.  So a faster bit rate would indeed make a difference.  At this point, I'm still stuck at 6 Mbps (Band 41, RSRP -109) and the Spark icon is on, but I certainly am not getting Spark'ing speeds.  

Perhaps things will change after November 5.

Scott

It is basically your best bet if you wish to have a Sprint signal of any type now or in the future.

 

I spent the past 3 days overlaying the Clear site locations over Sprint locations via a map for the premier sponsors in my area that are still around. Knowing how to use GIS Parcel data comes in handy.

 

Anyways the red are the non-redundant clearwire sites while the light blue represent Sprints own sites. This should give you a pretty good idea on why I have very high confidence in Sprint keeping them..

Update to our previous discussions a couple of months ago:

I'm in Patterson, California, had been a Clearwire customer, and switched to Sprint in April 2015 when Clearwire shut off email services.  I've been calling the Sprint network support folks monthly to check on the status on their tower conversion.  So far, no maintenance on my local Clearwire tower is planned.  When I checked the coverage map this morning, the coverage area has shrunk even more than it was before.

There is a Clearwire tower in the area and Sprint indicated that the Clear service would be shut down in early November when Clear goes dark nationwide.  That is the tower that I am presently talking to (the closest tower to me; 4km away).  

According to the Clearwire messages going out to Clear users:

Sprint will cease operating the CLEAR 4G (WiMAX) Network and Clearwire Expedience Network on November 6, 2015 at 12:01AM EST

According to the maintenance schedule, there doesn't appear to be anything planned yet to upgrade the Patterson Clearwire tower to Sprint service:

https://www.sprint.net/maint_view.php

The thing is, I've watched the coverage map here in Patterson get worse and worse over time, and yet the Sprint Network Support folks say that everything is fine and nothing has changed since October 2014.

In spite of the coverage map, I do indeed get service on Band 41 since I have a 24dBi antenna bolted to my chimney (30' up) pointed at that tower.  Without that, I basically would get no coverage at all.

2015-09-20 11:53:57:554 PST LTE Signal Info: RSSI -80 SINR 5.2,RSRP -109,RSRQ -9

2015-09-20 11:53:57:553 PST Active Tech: LTE Band 41

Speedtest says that I get a paltry 6Mbps.  I have a Sprint branded Netgear 6100D tri-band unit (Band 25, Band 26, Band 41) and the antenna does indeed support these bands (a 6-foot long Yagi antenna).

I'm surprised that there doesn't appear to be any info about the Clearwire-to-Sprint tower conversions widely available.  Seems that Sprint would be touting this as some grand expansion in service and capability...

Barkada, in post 2048 of the following thread, commented that the conversion may be experiencing a slowdown:

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4950-sprint-spark-official-name-for-the-tri-band-network-was-sprint-to-demo-its-25ghz-network-technology/page-103

Scott

There is two Clearwire sites in Patterson. One in the east on Orange ave and one northwest by the warehouses and distribution centers. 

 

 

...

 

I'll put mighty confidence in saying when they convert those two sites in patterson, they will be backhauled to Sprint NV standards (scalable and up to 1gig) be it from fiber or microwave and be substantially better performing in terms of signal quality / reception / coverage and speeds.

 

Sprint will not be decreasing coverage like they did with the Nextel shutdown. They are expanding coverage and will be keeping over 10,000 non redundant Clear sites and I have high confidence they will be keeping Pattersons and upgrade them to full NV capabilities. 

Thanks lilotimz (Tim), I'll repost when speeds increase.  I'm touching-base with Sprint network support every 30 days as to that tower's status (Orange Ave. in Patterson).  I'm glad to hear that they aren't repeating the situation like the Nextel shutdown.

As to line-of-sight, the tower on Orange Ave. is the only one that I can see from my rooftop (via binoculars) at 4km.  I know the direction to the other two towers on the west side, but I can't find them (inaccurate angular pointing at 8km from my rooftop).  So the tower on Orange Ave. is probably my best bet.

Thanks,

Scott

No problem.

 

Just sit tight and enjoy the show. It'll be converted one way or another hopefully sooner than later.  

I like the optimism, but I'm not so sure; at least not for my neighborhood Clear cell tower.  Patterson has the disproportionate advantage for its size that it is right on I-5 (with 25,000 vehicles per day here).  So Sprint has a couple of upgraded towers over on that side of town to fill-in interstate coverage.  

But the tower that I use is on Orange Ave. on the east side of town.  This is presently a Clear tower, and it isn't certain if Sprint sees the market justification to upgrade this tower.

As was pointed out in a previous post, Sprint is being forced to pull existing cell hardware.  But would they put in the new hardware and upgrade the backhaul in that tower or just abandon it?   This is a low density neighborhood, and the smallest lot size is 5 acres with estate homes, or 20 acres with farm houses.  Most of the higher density housing (1/6th of an acre) track houses are on the west side of town near I-5.  But those folks all have Comcast available.

If Sprint is focusing on competing with Comcast/Verizon/T-Mobile, then they'll concentrate on the west side of town.  If they want an easy monopoly, then they should focus over here on the east side of town.

So my concern is if Sprint doesn't do the backhaul investment on my neighborhood tower on Orange Ave.,  could my high gain antenna see all the way to the Sprint tower by I-5 (about 8km from my home).  

I am presently getting  -109 dBm  RSRP with a RS-SINR of 3.4.  If I allow 6dB (a guess) for my tree that is blocking line-of-sight to the nearby tower, but not the distant tower, I get up to -103 dBm.  If I then scale for the distance difference (8km vs. 4km) I get back down to -109 dBm.  So in theory I might be able to reach that cell tower; I say "might" due to the larger clutter/interference that the greater distance entails.

Thanks,

Scott

 

Sprint is now in the process of beginning to apply for permits to decomission and replace the Clearwire equipment since the federal government mandated that all Huawei equipment be taken offline as a requirement for the Softbank-Sprint takeover. 

 

So that speed you're getting is about what you will get until Sprint deploys their own Samsung macro network equipment to replace that site which is presumably within the next... few months to a year. Patterson doesn't actually have a Sprint site inside or near the city with the actual sprint site is across the highway a few miles south of Patterson. I imagine they will convert the two Clear sites in Patterson sooner than later for coverage purposes.  

Thank you lilotimz (Tim) and WiWavelength (AJ).   

I will sit tight until Sprint rolls out their expanded coverage since it appears that there is nothing more that I can do on my end. 

I had been a Clearwire customer for many years until Sprint bought Clear.  At that time, I had also looked into both T-mobile and Verizon.  T-mobile's data plan tops out a 7Gig (it took numerous phone calls to T-Support to confirm this);  Verizon quoted $400/month for my data quantity and they max out at 12Mbps.  So I went with Sprint.  Other than the slow speed up to this point, I've been happy with Sprint and am looking forward to the increased throughput in the future.

I have a trouble-ticket on-file, and Sprint network support said to call back every 30 days to check the network status.  As-of July they said there weren't any upgrade plans in-place yet for my cell tower.

Thanks,

Scott

Hello to all,

I just wanted to provide to everyone my specs for the Sprint signal that I am getting, and a question on what speed I should be able to get.

Sprint Netgear 6100D

Patterson, California, 95363

cell tower on Orange Ave.

Sprint says that this is cell tower# SF52XC024

My 6100D says that this is serving cell 5786601

The 6100D is a tri-band device with dual external antenna ports.

I have a GiAnt 28dB wide band antenna (6 foot long Yagi antenna, 700 MHz to 2900 MHz, at a height of 30 feet).

The coverage map says that I am in the "4G LTE fair" region.  With my high gain antenna, I should do better than what the coverage maps shows.

I use this for fixed wireless for my home's internet since cable isn't available in my neighborbood (I'm a mile outside of town) and DSL would only produce 3Mbps here.

I am able to communicate on Band 25, Band 26, and Band 41.  I've set the preferences so that Band 41 is preferred (priority 1).

My signal level is:

     LTE Signal Info: RSSI -79 SINR 5.2,RSRP -109,RSRQ -11

     Active Tech: LTE Band 41

The Sprint tower is 4km from my home and there is a clear line of sight except for 1 tree on my property.

I only get 7 Mbps.  Sprint says that,  "Spark network 2500 needs to be completed in the  'Upper Valley'  market".  They didn't have a timeframe for this, but I assume that this will happen in November when the Clearwire system is shut down.

I have the Sprint 60G/month plan.

Other than cutting down my tree, does anyone have any comments or advice on my slow speed?

Thanks,

Scott