Cubbiefan82

So I might be attending college in Moorhead, Minnesota within a few years, and I'm planning on switching to Sprint so I was wondering when the Dakotas Market would start. I found an article mentioning the Dakotas market was next to the Minnesota market, but after that, I can't find anything mentioning the Dakotas? Estimated start time??

Considering that network vision will be pretty close to done by the end of this year will a little work going into 2014, U will have no problems having lte, voice on 800 and lte 800 by the time u goto school up in moorhead,mn. Dakotas are a third round market and will be starting soon, it is a small market. So it won't take long once it starts

U got to remember that verizon has lte in place in milwaukee, so faster backhaul. If I remember right, they have started nv in milwaukee with permits pulls starting a few months ago and a few bulids are in progess. U can't compare sprint to straight talk(aka verizon) right now, due to backhaul issue. I will say this, verizon may have first lte in a lot of places. But that is due to them just adding backhaul a new lte equipment in the base cabinet and new antenna. Sprint is replacing everything and with brand new equipment. Something verizon has just started to realize and is like oh shoot. We should have done it that way.

This is as good a time as any to say Thanks to Robert for working so hard to keep us in the know!

 

Sent from my Galaxy S3

Oh Yea! "THANK U ROBERT" I wouldn't be able to even type what I just did without this website and all the guys on it. I have learned so much about wireless technology, I love it. I spend more time on this website then facebook lol

Any more info about the Phoenix market? Any rumors? I want the details! you can message me on my sponsor account if you want to keep it more confidential. Thanks Robert!

Phoenix is in the beginning stages of being deployed, a lot of sites in progress and a few sites 3g accepted. I will let u know that alcatel-lucent likes to get the site done and 3g accepted then 4g goes live a few weeks after or sometimes a month or two after. I am glad to see your excited about seeing 4g coming to the valley, yet I am in phoenix for business right now. Honestly it isn't that bad, I have been in a lot worse places for work and the 3g took forever to even load google.

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but robert is really busy with his main job that pays the bills for his family. He does this on his own time and honestly I am amazed how much the site gets updated. Robert is trying to not get mad at some people for asking questions about each own market, when the website has individual market pages letting everyone know what is going on. He understands everyone is excited about 4g, but he gets that question every day by tons of people. The answers are normally in this website, just have to do a little looking around.

I know alot of folks have had experienced a wide variety of devices, I am wondering what everyone considers of the currently available sprint devices, how they stack in order of how you would either use for yourself and/or be good to recommend to your friends/family.

 

 

I would expect a near 3-way tie betweeen the s3, iphone5 and note 2, depending on personal preference and what size factor one would prefer.

 

But what about the other android devices, like the lg viper or optimus, or evo, galaxy nexus, etc.

 

I'd consider battery, signal, voice qual, overall usability, and future updates availability as the primary factors.

 

http://www.unwiredview.com/2013/02/15/sprints-best-rated-smartphones-samsung-galaxy-note-ii-lg-optimus-g-galaxy-s-iii-iphone-5-isnt-it-top-5/ It has note 2 as the best rated so u can only figure that into people buying it.

This article says that galaxy SIII has the most web usage on sprint

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2013/02/24/sprint-subscribers-generate-highest-percent-of-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-traffic-in-north-america/

 

I know for me, I would have bought the note II, just too big for my pockets though. That is why I got the galaxy S3, my mom has the iphone and I play with it from time to time and I still like the Samsung products better :-)

...youngest child heading off to Univ. of Chicago (zip code 60637) in September '13; we've been with Sprint for 10+ years and are currently out-of-contract...hope all is well in Sprint LTE-Land!

By then chicago will be done and 800 will be all over chicago. So voice will be great, network vision will be finished and they will be starting to put lte on 800. So I don't think u will be disappointed, I know sprint hasn't had a good reputation. I haven't had much of issue, besides when they started the upgrade in chicago. Honestly u can't beat the price for it being unlimited.

I started using mikejeep's Signal Check Pro this week and noticed an oddity driving yesterday. I was right next to a Sprint tower and my 1xRTT was -52dBm, an incredibly strong signal, while my EV-DO was -103, an incredibly weak signal. Is it possible for a single CDMA chipset to be attached to different towers for 1xRTT vs. EV-DO?

 

It seems that the 1xRTT was hooked to the tower I was next to and the EVDO was hooked to a tower a couple of miles away.

 

This can happen a lot, and it is happening a lot with the lte development. U can be connected to one tower for voice/3g and different tower for lte. Also this will even change more and more with lte 10 advance, that technology can change you to a different tower if that one your on is starting to get overloaded or close to threshold they set. Oh and when 800 comes into play more(if u have a phone with 800). U could connect to one tower for 800 voice, one for 3g and different one for 4g. It is crazy how it works. Some may say this is crazy, overall though. I think it is going to be great for network management to make sure u have the best network experience possible.

Got it, so as soon I receive my phone I'll check it out. I really hope that this band is enabled in Chicago, because it would really help.

They got a lot of sites in chicago on 800, and it will only get better as they keep shutting the nextel network down. I am sure they will turn 800 faster then most places due to not having a lot 1900 to use for voice in chicago. I use to be on nextel almost 10 years ago and I loved the 800 on nextel. So I can't wait for sprint to use it for lte and voice. U will really love the note 2, I love my galaxy s3 and the note is only a bigger verison of it. I hope your enjoying the site, s4gru and a lot of other guys put a lot of time into it. I find myself checking it out every sunday/monday night for the update from s4gru.

The Chicago market was so bad in the upgrade due to the legacy motorola equipment not being able to talk to the new Samsung network vision equipment, that actually worked in Chicago favor because sprint decided to speed up the market and that is why we are almost done. I say "yes" to upgrade and stay with sprint, yet if you like the Samsung galaxy s3. They are coming out with s4 in april, so u may want to wait until that comes out, I love my gs III.

As u explore this site, u will read about how sprint is shutting down the nextel network in june. They have also thinned out the nextel coverage a lot to help with chicago voice network, u will see this on the maps in the sponsor section. Some towers are 800, they will really help in chicago with coverage on voice and also they will be putting lte on 800 and then when they buy out clearwire be using that for hot spots. Which will be great at outdoor events, I think u will be happy to stay with sprint. Yet that is up to u though, I also have to add they sprint is working on buying the us celluar network in chicago and a few other markets. That will help with more room for lte and voice.

I know a lot guys will share with me that still having unlimited data and seeing where sprint is going is worth staying. It is going to blow verizon and att out of the water.

 

U have any questions, just ask.

I just have to say this is so att, just keep buying instead of doing something like network vision like sprint. So sad, but I guess when u have tons of money. It really doesn't matter

I don't blame u, everything is better with 4g :-)

How are the speeds in vegas? I will be in vegas next week for work

SMR is 800. Sprint doesn't have any 850.

opps! I mean to type 800 smr, not 850 thanks for the correction.

I am split between kansas city and chicago(work and family). I can say that in my apartment in kansas city area, I went from having a hard time keep a conversation in the middle of my apartment and having to be by a window before nv. Went they upgraded to nv, I can have a conversation all though my apartment without a problem. Yet until smr 850, we won't see in-buliding signal that everyone wants. I can't want for it either, One of the reasons I bought the galaxy III. I knew it wouldn't be out of date phone in a year when they start rolling that out.

I don't know how they decided when to announce cities, I agree that coverage hasn't changed much since they announced the Black Friday markets, perhaps they were waiting for coverage in the surrounding area, which has changed.

 

Just be happy you're in a Shentel area, AL is really moving quickly with their upgrades for that market for some reason.

 

Shentel is providing the backhaul for the sites, that is why shentels sites get online faster. So many sites have the panels up and equipment ready in other markets. They have to wait on the slow ilec to provide the backhaul or whoever has the contract for that area. I know in chicago, centurylink is providing the backhaul. But they still have to get it from slow at&tttttt. Either way by next year this time, we will have lte coverage in all sprint market areas :-)

 

A lot of the speeds reported on here show in excess of 20mbps on the downlink, which is on par, if not better, than the other two.

 

Keep in mind, Sprint is deploying LTE on 1/2 the spectrum as Verizon, but thankfully 1/2 the customers.

1/2 the spectrum will be really bad if AT&T and Verizon customers get sick of tiered data and then we don't have enough spectrum, that's a problem.

U also have to remember that even that sprint right now is only doing 5x5 mhz lte in pcs block. Verizon and att are using 700 mhz to deploy there lte. PCS requires more sites to cover the same area as 700 mhz. So actually I would worry about verizon and att customers getting the slow down. Also u have to remember that sprint is still in deployment, give it time. As robert said above, sprint has room to add more lte carriers in pcs. Sprint is actually thinking with network vision, Just wait. U will see verizon and att fellowing steps to merge all the equipment they have into streamline system likes sprint.

Odd thing I've noticed around here is 800 Mhz seems to come and go randomly. Before, it would disappear for maybe a day, then come back and stay on for weeks. Now it seems just a couple weeks after the sites switched from 3G to 3G/800 on the maps, I haven't seen 800 active in over a week. Must be related to testing or something.

I have noticed the same thing driving around today, that a few sites that have been confirmed are not broadcasting it anymore. One of the sites is by route 59 and higgins. Today it was broadcasting the pcs signal not smr, but others that not havent shown as 800 sites yet are broadcasting it. Yet it may show in roberts next update, I know the site by my parents in elgin. That is on top of the old sherman, is broadcasting smr and 4g now. I have been enjoying 25-30 mb download and 10-13 on the upload. I have done a lot of sensorly trips in helping fill in a lot of areas that people havent went around elgin too.

 

Hope ever one had a good thanksgiving!! Also wanted to thank robert for this website, I would have probably canceled my sprint account a long time ago. Yet I am commited to staying with a company that gives you unlimited and doesn't over charge u for everything.