Jump to content

doug526

S4GRU Premier Sponsor
  • Posts

    237
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by doug526

  1. I'd like to get my hands on a "budget" LTE800/1900 handset, if only for the purpose of checking for possible LTE 800 signals in my area, and testing the LTE800 strength/coverage/performance. I looked at a Nexus 5, but they are simply too expensive, even pre-owned.
  2. 3,217 of them?? Please, go into further detail... I gotta know what I'm missing out on!!
  3. I have seen very few Android phones other than Samsung that easily show you the LTE band UARFCN that is in use. I know it's easy to find on the Galaxy line of devices, but good luck with any other brand, it's a total crapshoot. Some brands have field test/engineering mode, some don't. And the ones that do, don't show UARFCN. NONE of the apps I've seen in the Play Store show you the LTE band. But more power to ya if the Nexus shows you the UARFCN. What use is it if it only shows you the Cell ID and dBm? I want to know the exact UARFCN that is in use so I can tell which LTE frequency my phone is camping on. That is a critical piece of information when trying to determine connection problems, and every model of iPhone across the board is guaranteed to give you the UARFCN in the field test.
  4. I just had a lengthy discussion with Jose at customer care about post-NV 3G data speed problems in my area, and the constant problem with fallbacks from LTE to 3G on my iPhone5. Jose sounded knowledgeable and up-to-speed about radio frequencies and 800 MHz technology. I live in an area that is blanketed in complete NV towers, with all but LTE 800 running on our sites. But my iPhone5 routinely switches from LTE to 3G as the 1900 LTE is very fragile, and there are often long delays (1-2 minutes) switching back up to LTE even when I'm right next to an LTE tower and my iPhone data is idle. Of course, toggling airplane mode puts it right back on 5 bars of LTE. Jose tells me that starting around March, Sprint is going to activate LTE 800 data service on its towers in my area. He also assures me that my iPhone5 is going to support that band. I told him that everything he told me is contrary to my research and what I've read, as well as Apple's offical specs, about LTE 800 on the iPhone5. He mentions that the 13.1 carrier update supposedly does something to resolve the 800 LTE problem. But I haven't found any evidence to support this. (Update: I checked my carrier, and mine says 15.5 [PRL 51099]). It makes sense, given that the CDMA as well as GSM version of the A1429 supports Band 5 LTE which is just a +10MHz offset of Band 26, and Band 26 appears to even be a superset of Band 5. It could just be as simple as a baseband firmware update to enable the extra 10MHz, so could there be hope that the iPhone5 baseband does indeed support Band 26? I haven't seen the FCC OET docs, but is that what gives the final say in this matter? Can Apple or Sprint retroactively change the FCC specs to include Band 26? Band 5 Downlink: 869-894 MHz Band 5 Uplink: 824-849 MHz Band 26 Downlink: 859-894 MHz Band 26 Uplink: 814-849 MHz (Source: http://niviuk.free.fr/lte_band.php) I asked repeatedly, about 5 times, if he was absolutely sure that my iPhone 5 would support LTE 800, specifically Band 26... He made it sound like he was 100% positive that this is the case. He said the only thing it would not support is Sprint Spark. But unfortunately, that is still ambiguous, as Spark is technically TRI-band service 800+1900+2500, and the iPhone5 definitely does not support the 2.5. Jose also said something to the effect that his father has the iPhone5 and it works on the better in-building coverage in his area. Like his dad happens to live in one of the 4 cities where 800 LTE is active now or something. It would be nice if the iPhone5 supports 800 LTE. I wish there was just a shred of evidence that supported Jose's claim, or if he is just lying through his teeth to keep me as a customer.
  5. I wonder how much weight and wind load all those RRU adds to a tower. From what I can tell, a Samsung high-capacity site does the same amount of work with 2 panels and 3 RRU's per sector. If it is just a normal site, a Samsung uses 1 panel and 2 RRU per sector. AT&T and TMobile sites are just as bad... In many cases using 3 or 4 of those big fat low+high band panels per sector and a hodge podge of RRUs. Verizon is starting to roll out RRUs here in my market. Looks like only 1 RRU per sector on theirs so far, but they have 4 antennas per sector.
  6. The question for him regarding 800 LTE was in the context of his Nexus 5 not the Evo.
  7. You mentioned you had a good signal at the game, but was it usable? How was the throughput and how responsive was your connection? Do you think 800 LTE might be up and running, as you're getting a better signal in the center of the government building?
  8. I have an LG Viper and iphone5. Every time I switch between them, the voice mail system resets. I lose all of my voicemails each time I do the switch. Had AT&T for 7 years and could switch my handset anytime I wanted by swapping the SIM. Never once lost a voicemail.
  9. If I had the time and money I would independently audit the Verizon coverage in the Dakotas and Nebraska and Kansas. I mean, the population density is so low in those states, how could they possibly afford to cover them edge to edge with LTE? Methinks their map is showing licensed areas in those states rather than actual coverage. Hopefully if/when Sprint activates their 800 LTE, there will be a lot more green on their map.
  10. There is a site downtown that is not working properly. It has new antennas and RRUs, but when I am within eyeshot of the building the site is on, I have maybe 1-2 bars of slow LTE at best. For some reason it is down or something. Could be why you're experiencing the problem.
  11. Judging from the sponsor maps, I think they are still working on the upgrades in Lafayette. I see a bunch of yellow and red markers. It's definitely nowhere near as solid as Indy, but hopefully when they turn on 800 1x/ LTE it'll be better. At this point I'd be happy if they would just hurry up and upgrade the sites between Crown Point and Remington along I-65. The 3G along that stretch of road is horrible.
  12. I got one of those Tabs from verizon a few months back. Tried to test Sensorly mapping. Sensorly only had 50% functionality on the tab. It didn't have access to the network info to upload to Sensorly. I returned it. Afraid to get one on Sprint due to the same issue.
  13. I've had times where my iPhone said Extended LTE for brief periods of time. I would go to check the field test screen, and was on Sprint LTE, but I didn't check the 1X screens. I'm guessing I was doing voice roaming somehow, but was still getting an LTE signal.
  14. That's an AT&T sector, and no the backhaul is not terminated behind the antennas. There is separate fiber that goes to the base of the site for the backhaul, and then fiber that goes from the base station up to the RRU.
  15. GSM as an air/radio standard hasn't been mainstream since like 2008. Since then, WCDMA has supplanted GSM/EDGE. So, in the event you are trying to compare Sprint/Verizon iPhone battery life against AT&T/TMobile iPhone battery life, I don't think there is a recent precedent or study to this. Would be nice if someone did one, on a level playing field, and compared the two iPhone models' battery life in a real world environment (i.e. 50% of the time on LTE and 50% on 3G.)
  16. Here is a high capacity Samsung site in Indianapolis, currently 3G/4G/800 complete.
  17. To me, the lack of 2600 is not a cause for concern. I don't even live in a city which has existing Wimax 2600. The fact that the 7th generation iPhone will have 800smr LTE support is going to entice me to stay as a Sprint customer. I'm excited about having rural LTE coverage that is on par with Verizon and AT&T's and also the in-building penetration of 850mhz. Keep 2600 as an option for those people with Mi-Fis and portable hotspots, let them eat up that 2600 service because in most cases it wouldn't be accessible to me anyway.
  18. I played with Signal back in like 2009 when I had AT&T. It was fascinating but it just plotted random dots all over the map, put in some bug reports and suggestions and never saw any updates so thought they had abandoned it. If Signal 2 came out, I'll have to revisit a jailbreak.
  19. I'm in an Ericsson area, surrounded by 3 LTE towers w/legacy CDMA and 1 legacy tower. When people call me, I can hear them fine but they can't hear me. It has happened on multiple calls, even when I'm outside or driving in a good 1X signal. This has been going on for a couple weeks now.
  20. I was in Indy a couple weeks ago and had a great Sprint NV experience. LTE almost everywhere I went, and good fast 3G where I didn't have LTE. Didn't really run many speed tests, but based on how fast MMS's were sending and how responsive my apps were, I'd say that it was a night and day difference from the old Sprint network. Once you get outside the Metro Area though, LTE was spotty as expected and had pretty unusable EVDO service in rural areas, even along major routes like I-65 and I-69. This is a polar opposite of my experience so far in Texas. Still nonexistant LTE in downtown Austin, whereas Indy had pretty thorough LTE penetration throughout the city. Ericsson needs to take a few hints from Samsung and get these southern markets lit up more quickly!
  21. Took some more pics today of a high voltage mounted Samsung site in Indy. This site is currently marked 3G/800 complete on the Sponsor maps. Here is the base station cabinets.
  22. Hopefully the 5S will support SMR800 LTE. That's all I really care about. Also I wish Apple would update their Field Test menus to fit the iphone5 screen and provide more CDMA network info.
  23. Had a very similar experience to you as I drove from Chicago to Indy yesterday. There are still several pockets between Lafayette and Indy where I didn't get LTE, and 3G was slow, but nowhere as bad as the Crown Point to Lafayette stretch of I65. But in Indy the LTE and 3G is working much better than it is in many other markets.
  24. I bought a Canon Rebel T3 and a 75-300 lens today and snapped some photos of some Samsung sites in my hometown. All of the camera settings were on Full Auto... so if anyone has any tips on how to use this camera to take the best shots of cell sites I'd appreciate it!! Here is a water tower site: Here is a site at the Avon CSX rail yard.
×
×
  • Create New...