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userkv8031

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Everything posted by userkv8031

  1. userkv8031
    A lot of those phones also had the plug in the back for external antennas. I miss ext. antennas as they help immensely in some areas. All of the various bands seems like it would start raising compatibility issues between carriers. I can see 600 being helpful for Sprint if they ever plan on expanding to rural areas. I know the FCC has been debating a spectrum screen but I thought they were thinking about excluding frequencies above 2 GHz or something around there. That makes sense to me as it takes a lot to build a mobile network with such a high frequency. I don't expect to see LTE on 2500 in more rural areas except at protection sites.
  2. userkv8031
    One question I have is does Sprint currently have iDEN towers in some of those locales? I know MT is a no but I was thinking they had some coverage in ND and SD where Sprint was a bit thin. The whole affiliate/partner thing then complicates things. Ntelos is not a sure thing right now even for network vision. Swiftel, they are thinking about it and will get back in a year about network vision. They are not swift about anything related to the wireless network. It doesn't seem like they want to be bothered. I imagine if Sprint is still having issues with affiliates/partners that a waiver will be given for those areas. One question I do have relates to the loss of partners. If they lose the partners which help Sprint satisfy a buildout requirement how is that worked out? Does the FCC ask Sprint to fill in those areas as they are no longer meeting buildout requirements and give a time period to complete the work?
  3. userkv8031
    It will get there eventually. I wouldn't be surprised to see LTE appearing in the next month or so in the central IL market. Once they start It seems like the first month or two goes kind of slow but after that things really move. I hope Sprint adds more coverage with them taking over the USCC PCS in the area. I doubt it will happen but one can always wish.
  4. userkv8031
    I do think that Nex-Tech had the right approach to building out the coverage which made it fairly successful locally. Instead of placing towers all over they put them in the towns. In KS that works out well since everything is laid in a grid pattern. You can count to be fairly close to a town no matter where you are. My definition of close and what those in metro areas use are completely different. None of the towns are huge by any means but it would seem Nex-Tech hit those up with about 500+ in population. Verizon service is not the greatest out there but neither was Alltel. They spaced sites too far apart. I remember before the Nex-Tech coverage came to being trying to find service in Goodland and Colby. It was touch and go in so many places out there. There are areas where I do see Sprint covering such as US50, US40, US287, US36 and of course I-70. I would hope they would look into offering some sort of coverage around some of the more popular state parks. I must say I do enjoy Wilson...spent a few nights under the stars there. One of the few places I will sleep without a tent. Not in KS but I would love to see I-80 get more coverage.
  5. userkv8031
    Stole this from howardforums but I think this map really illustrates the loss in coverage.
  6. userkv8031
    I was given a rough estimate of when the Rushville site will be on air with 4G...end of May. If that happens remains to be seen. They do have an easier time with that particular site as it already has fiber. Fiber (Cass Comm) was run to the Industry, Rushville, Frederick, Beardstown, Virginia, and Pleasant Plains towers when they were installed in 08-09.
  7. userkv8031
    I really hope they do add coverage not just in those areas but nationwide. I have had enough dealing with the coverage I have been getting lately. They changed the coverage pattern of the tower I have been connecting to and I no longer get service. Business Care told me there is nothing that will be done but the tower does have an on air date for NV toward the end of May. I have real problems finding any carrier that serves where I live due to being on the Cellular A/B boundary. USCC has A to one direction and B to the other. Creates havoc when trying to actually use a phone as they all flip between the towers. PCS is the only service that would be consistent but the build out here was scuttled by Sprint when all expansion stopped a few years back. After reading that KS coverage is going I find it very hard to justify staying with Sprint. I am probably one of the few that uses that coverage often. I loved the service Nex-Tech provided and wish all of the Sprint network performed as good as it did. The signal strength they had all over the place was nothing short of amazing. I would guess Sprint is ending all of these agreements to try to save costs. I thought they were paid a nominal fee for servicing these customers by the rural alliance partners. Sprint did have to pay for customers that used the network built by the partner. It may be that Sprint ended up paying more than expected due to I-70 being covered. It does make sense to cover I-70, US 50, and US 54. The shortcut between I-70 and CO Springs is probably worthwhile. I would be very surprise to see Sprint let the Limon-Denver corridor go to roaming due to the traffic there.
  8. userkv8031
    I notice a blip on sensorly in Branson West. Glad to see that area is starting to light up.
  9. userkv8031
    I was in Bloomington a few weeks ago and data was useless. Lots of network busy errors or the page would just time out. I wish the 3G was at least somewhat usable. They haven't really done much for network improvements on the 3G side according to the Sprint site. I would guess some of that may be due to the hardware in place in the iPCS footprint.
  10. userkv8031
    I remember when EVDO was being deployed and Swiftel and Sprint got into a spat about those upgrades and reimbursement per sub. That delayed EVDO for awhile in those areas. I am sure that Sprint is investigating all avenues as that would open a hole in the network that I'm sure they don't want. I would guess that there is a buyout clause in the contract. I would guess that option has been explored but they may wait until NV is done in other areas to take on that market. If Swiftel was looking at selling to Crossroads a few years ago they may be ready to get out of the cellular business. I would imagine that any offer would include the infrastructure currently in place. While the area is not heavily populated it is heavily traveled.
  11. userkv8031
    Amazing post AJ...I always dropped calls on I-88 in the Sterling/Rock Falls, IL vicinity when going from the corp. network to iPCS network. When I talked with the iPCS engineers they knew about the problem and was told it was equipment incompatibilities. The write up above shows the complexity of switching a call between markets. I imagine it is more complex with another party involved such as Nex-Tech or one of the remaining affiliates.
  12. userkv8031
    Went around and looked in Quincy. No Sprint RRUs that I could make out. I did find that T-Mobile has been rather busy in the area having several towers upgraded recently. I'm not sure if Sprint is on the tower near 54th and Broadway but that tower is in the running for having the most panels of any tower I have seen. http://www.americantower.com/SiteLocator/SiteBrochure.aspx?lngSiteId=82852&towerId=0&towerNumber=277318&country=united%20states
  13. userkv8031
    I was in Quincy a few days ago and EVDO kept disappearing on the phone. Full bars voice but when it went to connect to EVDO it was just a tower icon. I was in Bloomington Monday and the data is useless there. Anytime data tried to connect it timed out or gave a network busy error. Kind of wonder if it is harder to find cards and such for the equipment iPCS used. It seems like the iPCS markets are in worse shape than the Alamosa markets. I think the iPCS markets were even more spectrum constrained than the Alamosa markets which plays into the problems.
  14. userkv8031
    It is easier and faster to put all the RRUs up at once.
  15. userkv8031
    I would guess you are trying to make an issue out of KC being deployed before NYC. That might just be due to the fact that Sprint HQ is in the KC metro area.
  16. userkv8031
    No LTE yet but I haven't had a problem using the voice network in the Champaign-Urbana area. 3G data is slow but that may have improved since the last time I was through that area.
  17. userkv8031
    I find the tower IDs usually on the tower sites such as American Tower. You can also drive up to the tower as that information is displayed on the fence around the tower.
  18. userkv8031
    Robert I think you just provided one of the best explanations of all the factors involved in the ping times for the end user. I think that would be helpful to a lot of the people that are not as big into the tech as most of us here.
  19. userkv8031
    Is there a Sprint tower near mile marker 37 on I-44? I noticed some work taking place on a tower at like 37.6 or something close to that. I didn't stop to look or ask questions since I was on my way to OK. It looked like the contractors have been making progress in the Joplin area. I was surprised to actually have signal near the OK/KS/MO border. My phone has dropped signal in that area for the last three years. The speeds on 3G weren't bad in the Joplin area...they sure do suck in Tulsa.
  20. userkv8031
    I bet it is just box one and box two of the frame.
  21. userkv8031
    The west does not have many agreements. Sprint used to have more but those went away with Alltel. There are some agreements in KS (Nextech and I think one other), an agreement with Swiftel for the Sioux City area, and another for the OK panhandle(IIRC). I'm not sure on all of them and I am sure someone can fill in the details a bit better.
  22. userkv8031
    I'm kind of surprised Sprint hasn't moved toward ArcServer. The newer interactive USGS maps use that and it works pretty well. I'm sure Sprint has Arc software in the mix. I think if they did move toward an ArcServer environment that they could easily have the nicest interactive maps of all the carriers. Most carriers don't have the best online mapping solution at present. I do like the clear maps much better and they load fast.
  23. userkv8031
    Why aren't they done yet?
  24. userkv8031
    The window size kind of sucks and having to zoom in so close really makes it hard to judge coverage over a wider area. The maps just suck and it is probably last on the list of things they have to fix.
  25. userkv8031
    I imagine some of the dispute with Ntelos is that Sprint can start building in the area...I want to say in 2014. Sprint may not want to relinquish that so that they can build in roaming support where Ntelos may not see a profitable customer base. They may also just not renew as they want to start serving that area. If Sprint can start building in 2014 and the contract ends in 2015 they have a year to build. With NV there would be a fair amount of contractors that could quickly get equipment on towers. Since space is leased building new towers would likely be kept to a minimum. So many possibilities. No doubt that Ntelos is trying to get more money from Sprint. Sprint could also buy Ntelos once the other mergers and acquisitions have gone through the feds. There was speculation a few years back that Sprint would buy Ntelos. Going to be interesting to watch.
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