avb

Franklins BBQ (TX) >>> all

 

Sent from my SM-N910T

Haven't had Franklins BBQ, but I thought Killen's BBQ is the best I've ever had.

That would be the wonderful carrier update that is with iOS 8.4. They're aware of it, but they're acting like nothing is wrong. It will probably be fixed when iOS 9 is pushed on iPhone 6s launch day.

I thought the network decides which band you're on?

By the way, here is what other people think of Houston as a destination...

 

 

http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-sucks-2015-houston-texans-1724117994

 

The "no zoning laws" and "titty bar inside an elementary school" could not be more spot on.  You can go from wealth to trash within a block in Houston.  Is the sex shop with the huge sign still open right by The Galleria, your most upscale shopping center?

 

So, you can take that, greenbastard and Houston_Texas.

 

 

AJ

The "titty bar inside an elementary school" is all about convenience.

Houston needs a real mass transit system.  Everyone drives so rush hour sucks, and when it rains, actually when it just look like it might rain, traffic comes to a stand still.  Still I'd rather be here than Kansas 

With how terrible Sprint is with SMS (VZW too....CDMA in general) I'm surprised there aren't more of you who would want RCS implemented. That would take out the 160 character limit for one and I would imagine it would cut down on delays in receiving texts. Nothing would bug me more than receiving a long message, or one with an emoji in it causing the message to break up and come in out of order. I would welcome it and would be a reason for me to come back to Sprint.

You should checkout the T-mobile section of reddit with all the complaints about not receiving sms/mms. It's been several months and there's new posts that come up daily.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint is balancing Triband capable devices off B25 whenever possible to keep it open for Uniband customers. I too noticed being on B41 or B26 most of the time. I would only be on B25 at those rare times when I could not get a signal from any other band.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

When B26 first launched I thought that made sense as there were a lot more single band phones and B25 was starting to get crowded, but at this point I don't think it's necessary.  I hope there is some type of software at the network level that can do the load balancing instead of defaulting to {if triband = yes then skip B25}.

I just ran into one very bad experience with this service. The Des Moines Airport has Boingo hotspots with the boingo SSID but that airport apparently is not part of this program. The phone went nuts constantly trying to connect to that SSID automatically but then disconnecting when apparently it learns that it couldn't make the connection. There was basically nothing I could do because it is an automatic process.

That sounds like it'll kill your battery too.  Maybe try contacting Sprint and letting them know so they can hopefully fix this.

I've said this 1000 times. Sprint can get some quick network wins in Airports. It's a self-contained area. Lots of people pass through from all over the world. It's an easy place to gain a great reputation or lose it...

 

With reports like these, Sprint is losing it.

 

For starters, Marcelo needs to sit down with the administrative folks at the 50 airports on this list and put a Triband DAS in each one. Period.

Agreed.  Also, I'd imagine most of the airports do have a DAS system in place that's already built out, so it should be relatively quick to latch on to what's already there.

It depends. What band where you on? If Band 26, the, the answer is yes. Sprint has yet to implement a proper way to balance load between their bands. If no B41 is present, B26 seems to be preferred over band 25 for some odd reason.

 

Also, Houston is a Clearwire LTE market, so most B41 won't travel very far from its tower. Any 8t8r radios out here seem to have been installed and left on low power (probably to protect Clearwire sites spread throughout the area)

 

If speeds get really bad. I would recommend turnig off B26. My tower sees B26 crawl to 0.10 Mbps at times, while B25 sits open around 5-7 Mbps. It's an inconvenience, but at least work is being done to fix this issue. Crews are active around town installing 8t8r on some towers as of early this year.

The load balancing is something I don't understand.  In Houston I'm either on B41 or B26, but rarely on B25.  Is there any chance Sprint has yet to implement a software update that will do a better job of load balancing?  I remember when I was in New York back in October I would see my phone switch between all 3 bands.  In my hotel, I was on B25, but during the day speeds were sub 1mb/s.  Walk towards the bathroom and the phone loses B25 and switches to B26 like it's supposed to, and B26 in that situation would give me 8-12mb/s.  That's another situation where load balancing between B25 and B26 should have worked better.  Walking on the streets I saw B41 the majority of the time so that was nice.

Yes. In most LTE markets, 3G now works pretty well. But not everywhere. But B25 and B41 operate so much better than 3G. So it may not be worth it.

 

Using Tapatalk on Nexus 6

3g is usable whenever I'm on it, but the nice thing in Houston is I'm rarely on it.  I remember 3-4 years 3g was practically unusable, but now when I do speed tests I'll see 600kb/s - 2mb/s.

Glad to see Houston is on the initial list (we always are), but they really need to add NYC for good will from the press.

What is the point of your rate plan ideas?  We get it you want cheaper rates, we all do, but if we're just going to come up with fantasy numbers I propose a plan that's $7/month (after taxes it's roughly $10) with unlimited minutes and 14gb of data.  That's $0.50 per gb.

I believe Boost Mobile allows you to self throttle with their Smartstream option, but at least you have the option of streaming at better speeds.  Does this mean watching Youtube will be worse on Sprint than Boost?  smh

http://www.boostmobile.com/enhancedstream/

My mention of "could" doesn't mean they will, or even that I think they will. I know Sprint wants the three bands together as part of their Spark system. My point is that the 1900mhz PCS is slow and much less spectrum rich in contrast to Sprint's 2.5 band 41. Slow meaning more easily congested than band 41, due to differences in the spectrum amount.

 

Most likely, the aspect of Sprint's "cost effective" nature of the NGN project is to have the density with band 41 in cities and mass/moderate suburban areas, while allowing the less moderate, smaller suburban, and rural areas to be served by adequate PCS coverage, while still adding some towers to fill in coverage gaps, hoping that will ease some of the congestion despite the less spectrum amounts of their PCS holdings.

 

Doing this certainly will allow Sprint to improve their service, though the only areas likely to match or beat Verizon and AT&T will be those areas densely covered with band 41. Other areas served by PCS will likely see some improvement, though doubtfully anything that will match or beat the Duopoly in those areas. I know from my experience in the areas I've been to with PCS, the speeds are quite slow, especially in contrast to those areas I've been to with band 41, where speeds are quite fast.

 

I'm not bashing Sprint at all by saying this, but if Sprint were to decide on a less cost effective plan by expanding band 41 as their primary band in conjunction with 800mhz band in most areas, except for mid-rural to really rural areas, where there truly is no need for band 41, that strategy would help Sprint have a network where they could crush the competition much more than with their current plan. Although, it would also cost much more to do it the larger way.

 

Therefore, if they were to do that, it would help for Sprint to financially cover those additional costs by selling the excess PCS spectrum. After all, it would be much better for Sprint to sell some PCS spectrum to cover network densification costs, in which are far more financially beneficial for Spint, in selling for more money than what selling band 41 spectrum would earn for Sprint, which many of these analysts have been suggesting for Sprint to sell its band 41, to which I say "No!!!" to, which is the insanely idiotic thing for Sprint to do. Whereas selling off PCS spectrum that Sprint doesn't have enough of to easily avoid congestion, in favor of expanding their plentiful, capacity-rich spectrum, is quite smart.

Still no.  In fact if any other carrier decided to sell their PCS spectrum Sprint should jump on it.

If Sprint works great in your area why wouldn't you take more data vs AT&T/Verizon?

I don't think there will be a bidding war. DT stated that Dish only wanted to buy a part and they are hoping Comcast will buy the whole enchilada.

DT wants to get rid of T-Mobile altogether, so Comcast looks more attractive to them than Dish.  Dish has spectrum it needs to deploy and if they lose T-Mobile they won't have much leverage when negotiating with other wireless carriers to build/host a network.  Comcast and Dish are competitors so I don't think Comcast wants to help Dish with their build out requirements.  I wonder how it will all play out.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-17/deutsche-telekom-rises-on-report-comcast-interested-in-t-mobile?cmpid=yhoo

Uh oh

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Interesting.  Can Dish afford to get in a bidding war with Comcast?  And even if they decide to do so and win, Comcast will drive up the price like when Dish drove up the price of Clearwire for Sprint.

It's too bad that the level at Lake Berryessa at the Monticello Dam wasn't high enough to go into the overflow. That is a really neat sight. The over flow there is a concrete cylinder, hollowed out in the middle. When the lake level gets high enough to the top brim, it overflows into the cylinder. It looks like a huge whirlpool. Almost like someone pulled the drain plug for Lake Berryessa.

 

 

The picture is awesome. But seeing it in person is amazing. I lived in this part of California from 1977-1987.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

Looks like someone decided to divide by zero.

Well, perhaps they haven't shown you and possibly others anything, though like practically everything in life, some think one way about something, others think differently.

 

There are people who view what Dish has done as very fast work trying to accomplish something which they appear close to accomplishing. It is that which I was referring to.

 

I'm not one to really deep much into Dish and their actions and whatnot, and am not a fan of theirs by any means, though I recognize they have a good thing going for them and they appear to be the best match for T-Mobile, which was the main point of my post about it.

Wait a minute, you view that Dish has done very fast work, but you view it that way because you don't base it on their actions?  Did you just seriously say that?  Because if we view things on their actions, well...

Dish is in a position where they have to scramble.  They have all this spectrum, but build out requirements are looming, and they haven't done a single thing.  

Dish doesn't have a wireless service, but they are desperately trying to get with on fast. Even before purchasing all of their AWS-3 spectrum, they had a plan in mind and were giving quite a fight over the control of Sprint against Softbank, which of course SB won. Although, instead of waiting around on the spectrum they have, they deployed a plan of action in buying a bunch of AWS-3 spectrum which their purchasing power stunned a lot of people in the media writing about it at the time.

 

Now, not too many months later, they are in the process of talks with T-Mobile, which must be at least somewhat serious, considering the reports. Although it obviously isn't going to be fully revealed til their ready. That though is the speed I was mentioning in terms of Dish doing things pretty fast. Getting a national wireless network from scratch very likely isn't going to happen anymore, at least not in the current form.

Dish hasn't shown us anything yet.  As of now they are a spectrum hoarder, and they have to get moving as their build out requirements are coming up soon.  

Also, and this is not an attack on Softbank nor Sprint, but I think Dish would have much more rapidly sped up on the network improvements, due to being more liberal with their finances than Softbank, which seems more conservative on spending. While Softbank obviously cares about Sprint and Sprint's reputation which obviously needs much improvement on, I think Dish would have been more in a rush to improve Sprint faster than Softbank is. Although I'm not criticizing Softbank's approach, and it very well may be that Softbank's more careful, cautious, and closely constructed financial strategy may be better for Sprint in the long run.

 

However, because I believe Dish is much more quick to deploy their strategy than Softbank is with Sprint, this is a reason why Dish business practices in this regard, make Dish more compatible/suitable with T-Mobile's rapid style of deployment. Again, not bashing Softbank nor Sprint, but Dish seems likely to be a company that would have deployed as much of Sprint's spectrum on as many towers as possible, which while having some advantages over the current Softbank/Sprint, would also have the disadvantages of site density issues, where the deployed 2.5 spectrum is, among other downsides to a more rushed style of deployment.

 

I agree.  Look how long it took Sprint to start and complete NV 1.0, where as Dish had their spectrum deployed nationwide in such a short, wait, nevermind.  Does Dish have a single tower up?

Weren't there different power transmitting requirements for the H block?  Therefore you couldn't combine with the G block to make a single 10x10 band?  

Did Sprint ever officially announce which cities will be the focus cities that will be covered in b41?  I still think Sprint can improve on the network optimizations as far as load balancing between bands.

I'll just let that topic die.

 

Thanks for the input.....

To be fair, I took your comment as sarcasm and a joke - nothing malicious towards Sprint.  

Talking on the phone while driving is bad.  Talking while simultaneously checking email/maps/directions and driving is worse.  

Cricket also didn't let you tether (legally at least) with their rate plans.  The big 4 carriers allow you to tether and use your data allotment.  While your plan would be nice for consumers to have more data, I don't see in any way how it would reduce network congestion.  Give people much higher data limits like you're suggesting and people will definitely use more data than what they're currently using, especially if you can tether and use your phone as a hot spot.  Plus all the people that are paying extra for hot spot plans wouldn't need to with the extra data allowance you're plan will grant them.

Here's my personal anecdotal usage example - I have unlimited data with Sprint, and typically use 1.5-3gb/data month on Sprint's framily plan.  Yes you do have unlimited data users that use 20gb or more, but I think they are the exception and not the norm.  For $35 if I had 15gb, and I could use it however I want (i.e - hotspot) - I'd definitely use more data than what I'm currently using with my unlimited plan.  I think this would be the case for most people and thus cripple the network, not help it.

 

Sprint (NYSE: S) parent SoftBank plans to clear out most of the staff of its Silicon Valley offices, according to a Reuters report, following SoftBank's aborted effort to merge Sprint with T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS).

The report, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, said that the downsizing of the office in San Carlos, Calif., reflects a decision within SoftBank that the company will not be trying to forge a deal with T-Mobile anytime soon. SoftBank opened the office in September 2013, shortly after it closed its deal to acquire a controlling stake in Sprint.

 

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-softbank-wind-down-silicon-valley-offices-following-collapse-t-mobil/2014-12-12

 

Uh, if they're closing down the office, which we already know they are, of course they're going to lay off the people that were going to work in that office.  

Bye said that Sprint is not disclosing how many POPs it is covering with 2.5 GHz LTE or how many it plans to cover by year-end.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-hints-upcoming-network-densification-strategy-using-25-ghz-spectrum/2015-05-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

 

My interpretation: only significant markets will get spark by EoY.

 

 

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T-Mobile doesn't mention how many POPs their band 12 covers, Verizon doesn't do it either for their XLTE, and AT&T doesn't breakdown their POPs by LTE bands either.

Sprint names the markets where they have Spark, Verizon does the same with XLTE, and T-Mobile also lists markets where they are working on Band 12.