MtnSierraSprint

http://imgur.com/5yLycrQ,fsnykB1 They are both positioned low and in areas where they would seem to have limited coverage. However they are ideally placed for traffic by the Caldecot Tunnel (Green Painted ones, "First Image") and the "Second Image" is right next to the BART Tunnel (Orinda/Contra Costa Tunnel) and Chabot Canyon area.

I was checking Permit Applications for Berkeley, CA at the following link for those who are interested: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications_Log.aspx The Regent St. location is very well situated on the Ashby/College Av. corridor. The application is dated 3/30/15: "Sprint is upgrading its wireless network to LTE service throughout the City of Berkeley. The new antenna and equipment configuration will provide improved phone and data service for existing Sprint customers. Currently Sprint is the only carrier on the rooftop. 1. Statements Related to Needs Sprint is upgrading its wireless network to LTE service throughout the City of Berkeley. Currently, there is no 2500MHz LTE service in this area of Berkeley. The proposed antenna and equipment modification will provide new 2500MHz LTE service to the area of Berkeley surrounding 2999 Regent Street. The service coverage area is approximately a 0.3 mile radius extending north to Stuart Street, south to Alcatraz Avenue, west to Telegraph Avenue, and east to College Avenue. " This is good news, but the .3 mile radius highlights the level of densification needed to achieve continuous consistent coverage. Anyone know if this site is activated yet?

Well that went well. I was hoping you could paste .PNG image files directly into a post. I saw an S4GRU "How To" on posting images using Imgur.com, but as of now Imgur.com is over run with Google and Social Networking tracking scripts, which seem to be required to register. As you may have guessed I am a firm proponent of online privacy policies that actually meet the definition of privacy. Imgur.com's privacy policies do not in my view. I am glad that S4GRU in so far as it uses Google Analytics, Facebook Conect and a few others, allows you to block them and still have a fully functional web site. Back to posting images. Any tips on how to do that without using Imgur. I tried posting jpegs (341K and 237K respectively) and that did not work either. Actually the png's were twice as big.

I was looking at some images posted by dbsynergy of Sprint sites in SF and I think these two may be Sprint. They are both positioned low and in areas where they would seem to have limited coverage. However they are ideally placed for traffic by the Caldecot Tunnel (Green Painted ones) and right next to the BART Tunnel (Orinda/Contra Costa Tunnel) and Chabot Canyon area. There is another pair facing 90 degrees to the right mounted on the side of this building.

It looks to me as though Sprint and Verizon wil be using/selling the same model iPhone 6s (A1688). The A1688 also looks to be the best cross carrier compatible model available (if not only cross carrier model given its CDMA compatibillity). However when looking at the following spec page the A1633 seems to support, at least "officialy", the smaller carriers many of whom are potential Sprint Roaming Partners. http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/ I have no interest in ATT, but do hope to test Sprint (including roaming partners), TMobile, and Verizon, which are listed as supported by the A1688. I am assuming if you get an unlocked A1688 you are good to go on everything except ATT's Band 30. Any word on Apple SIM for iPhone 6s, and in particular that none of the carriers, like ATT, lock up. Regarding Sprint's IMEI requirement is that a one time deal where you get your device with an Apple SIM registered and you are fine from there on out? http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/07/16/apple-samsung-carriers-working-together-on-e-sim-standard-for-mobile-data-plans

I have been checking out towers/antennas along the Route 24/13 interchange from the Caldacot Tunnel down to the Rockridge BART station and between the Claremont Hotel and Lake Temescal. I have some photos of several of them. Two I think are likely Sprint. The newest tower over by Lake Temescal and the PG&E substation is probably Verizon because my signal strength seemed to increase as I got closer, although I forgot to check when I was closest to it, since I was there to take a picture of it . The other set of antennas in that spot are marked as being ATT. Anyway I did not want to post images of antenna sites if they are not Sprint. I have looked at the "How To Spot" Sprint towers section and if anything none of the antennas look exactly like the ones in the examples. Definately some that look like Samsung but they have 4 cables instead of six to my untrained eye. I can post a couple of them or maybe have one of you check via Personal Messenger first if it is possible to send jpegs that way.

Yes, the option exists on Android, but how many mainstream apps can you actually buy direct? I do not disagree with you regarding why developers use Google Play, but I still wish Google, Apple, Amazon were not just about the only choices you have to purchase apps. Having so few companies controling the point of sale does not seem healthy to me nor promote a truely free market. The other issue is that these companies use their near complete control of the point of sale to gather information and track your buying habits. I know for many people that is a non issue, but I hold the point of view you should be able to buy things without one or two companies packaging your information and purschasing history and then selling that data to others. I am glad to see some effective push back beginning to happen regarding effective tracking counter-meassures. I actually have had a constructive exchange despite our different points of view with the author of this article concerning iOS 9 and Ad Blocking over at Infoworld. It is unfortunate that right now one has to make the choice between privacy and content creators being fairly compensated for their work. http://www.infoworld.com/article/2976281/web-browsers/apple-ios-9-ad-blockers-dangerous-new-heights.html I welcome the progress Apple is making allowing for a higher level of privacy on the web, but I am still concerned about the lack of control over what apps can do. There are still holes in terms of Permissions that the User has no control over such as MAC Address, Internet Access, and stuff like Google Analytics. I hope the momentum for greater privacy and control of tracking on personal devices and systems continues to build and produce more effective and comprehensive solutions.

This is testing my memory a bit. One of the inadvertant benefits of the exclusive agreement is that it forced the competition (the other wireless carriers) to find an alternative, which gave Android a chance to match and surpas the iPhone in many respects. Unfortunately in the end that resulted in another duopoly - Android/iOS, and iTunes/App Store and Google Play. If I have a rant it is that you can not buy apps at a store like you can any other software application not to mention buy from the developers themselves and sideload it. I do not like being forced to do business and buy products from Google and Apple.

Anyone had a chance to try the "App Ops"/Permission Controls ? If so do you get control of all the permissions listed at instal? Any additional controls?

Excellent! If Sprint partners with them in building out their spectrum that will be even better. It sure looks like Commnet would fill in a lot territory in the West and eliminate the need to roam on Verizon at the same time.

Yes excuse me - this certainly includes other markets in the S4GRU forums in addition to this one. They do seem to have "home cellular" 3G coverage throughout Western and Central Nevada. Verizon must roam on them as there is no other carrier that I can think of that has that kind of coverage in Nevada. By the way they have coverage on I 80 all the way to Elko. Can't say how seamless it is, but they seem to have Nevada covered as good as if not better than anyone else. The Organic Network Expansion forum might have been a better place to discus this, but my initial interest was just Nevada. RE: "CCA Alliance does show their coverage as part of aggregated members coverage map so maybe one day they'll sign some sort of agreement with Sprint." Thanks - I was trying to find that out.

Choice Wireless is part of Commnet Wireless. Commnet is based in Atlanta, GA. My interest in them was if they are or could be a future Sprint Rural Roaming Preferred Provider partner. I was reading a thread about buying out companies vs. building out the network from scratch. Commnet Wireless's territory sure seems like it would fill in a lot of areas where Sprint does not have native coverage. Anyway was just curious if Commnet could potentially be a rural partner or something for Sprint to buy out to increase rural coverage in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. "The areas we focus on are predominantly communities of less than 2,500 people, state and national parks, seasonal areas such as ski resorts and lakes, and the roadways that connect these areas to mainstream America."

I was just "chatting" with a Choice Wireless online rep, which means do not take this as Gospel, but they said it is their own network. Verizon shows areas in Choice's territory where I can hardly get a signal as being "Extended Network". I am referencing my experience in Dyer, CA east of the White Mtns on the CA/NV state line as an example. They use CDMA and look like they roam on Verizon in California. I am still trying to figure out where they are based and who owns them. It seems to me they have some kind of relationship with the Navajo Nation. That is where all of their LTE coverage is. The Choice rep said they roam on Verizon and Sprint.

Regarding Nevada are there any current or expected roaming partners in the state whose coverage is considered native coverage (not counted against your roaming allotment). I have run into people who use Choice Wireless and have told me it offers the best coverage in much of Nevada. They were getting coverage where I could not with Verizon. I had assumed it (Choice Wireless) was running off of one of the major carrier's networks, but I have not seen it listed as a MVNO. I am curious what the story is with them.

Yeah he is a bit of a show boat, but I wonder about how he was able to get his hands on the 6S chasis before release. There is certainly the possibillity Apple arranged it through back channels to eliminate that concern from the source. I did not know the S6 used the 7000(?) series aluminum. My interest in the 6S is its expected cross carrier capabillities and the fact that I trust Google/Android less than Apple when it comes to privacy and protection of personal data. EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation - www.eff.org) actually awarded Apple its highest raiting (which I think might be an idication EFF needs to increase its standards). Still progess is good. https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-report-charts-companies-next-frontier-user-privacy

Just came across this regarding the new iPhone 6s chassis, its strength, and composition. Lewis Hilsenteger the guy who originally disclosed the weakness of the iPhone 6 and "Bendgate" was given two chassis (an iPhone 6 and the new iPhone 6s) to do comparison testing, which of course he demonstrates in a video once again. You can read and or watch all about it on Forbes link below: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/08/19/massive-iphone-6s-chassis-leak/

Regarding the ruling on Dish, I am encouraged to see someone (the FCC) doing something to stop these companies from cheating. Regarding Soft Bank rescuing Sprint - I hope the recent statements from Masayoshi Son and Marcelo indicate Softbank will do whatever it needs to do to help Sprint succeed. The market sure seems to think so. Sprint is up approx 30% in a week while everything else is going in the other direction. I read this article tonight, which is interesting to consider in terms of Soft Bank's and Sprint's future. "Soft Bank's Hired Gun Takes High Road To Ownership" http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/08/20/softbanks-hired-gun-takes-high-road-to-ownership/

Thanks - so is that something that is tailored for each wireless company? or more generaly each band? or is it something that just works better in certain situations than others.

In what way might the OS be effecting reception? I thought I had read somewhere that there was a design improvement of some kind that was going to enhance (6S) reception. It may be my memory mixing rumors and past news up. There was this article recently regarding the new Qualcom chip that should help on VZW and Sprint. http://9to5mac.com/2015/07/01/phone-6s-twice-as-fast-better-battery/

I guess I should include the formula for a complete example. range from tower when inside a building = r/x

Is there a value/number representing indoor/building effect on range, that you could divide estimated range by for each band. For example: r = range, x = indoor factor B25: r=10 x=3 B26: r=15 x=2 B41: r=5 x=4

Well based on the coverage maps from CLEAR that lilotimz pointed me to, it looks like there are not any (Clearwire) sites in the flats north of Powel St. (Emeryville) and 24 in Berkelely/Oakland. Here is the link for those who are interested. Note zooming in displays tower locations: http://www.clear.com/coverage Contra Costa County looks like it will/has benefitted quite a bit, as well as Oakland as you pointed out. The (3G/800/4G) tower out by Briones Reservoir is a Sprint tower, and it looks like Sprint has that area along Bear Creek and Alhambra Valley Rd. out to Pinole nicely covered in a rural suburban area. Look forward to testing it.

No Clearwire sites in the "flats" ? I would imagine there are some out in Contra Costa. I noticed a (3G/800/4G) tower out by Briones Reservoir on Happy Valley. That is one of my favorite places to run and hike. I am not a Premier member just yet, but I always appreciate someone recomending me for a promotion to a senior position. My intention is to test Sprint myself in the next month or two when I upgrade my phone to a cross carrier model that is fully compatible with Sprint and Verizon. When I become a Sprint customer I will think about upgrading my membership then.

Thank you both - I am still learning how to find my away around, particularly when it comes to locating the maps that are mentioned. Actually it is pretty clearly marked, but thank god I bookmarked the NV Sites Complete the first time, because for some reason I keep missing it. Is there a Clearwire map or way to identify Clearwire sites on one of the other maps? Ingenium, see you back on the SF Bay Market Thread lilotimz, look forward to learning more about Nevada

I was just wondering regarding Clearwire conversions if this is something that applies to the Bay Area too. 200 new sites in the Sacramento area I would think will make a big difference. In terms of overcoming the level of inconsistency - what will it take to, or maybe a better way to ask the question is how far along is Sprint to achieving consistent coverage with higher speeds.