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Disappointed in Sprints speeds in your area?

Idle perhaps but not capriciously.

Something may have not passed the field tests and so isn't ready to turn over to support the area. That can be anything - bad tower equipment, bad broadband service - anything.
LOL, Sprint cheerleaders are still making excuses? 21 months since NV implementation and you are hard pressed to get a solid 4G LTE connection if you are not within a 1/2 mile radius of a Tower that is actually broadcasting 4G LTE, pathetic! Now we hear about Spark when NV is a joke, so when does Spark show up, another 21 months?
 
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LOL, Sprint cheerleaders are still making excuses? 21 months since NV implementation and you are hard pressed to get a solid 4G LTE connection if you are not within a 1/2 mile radius of a Tower that is actually broadcasting 4G LTE, pathetic! Now we hear about Spark when NV is a joke, so when does Spark show up, another 21 months?
There's no reason for you to get all snarky and call me a cheerleader.

I know the techs in my town for Sprint and the phone company - both organizations are screwed up.

We watched the new towers go in, flash signals like you saw - and we saw the phone company run the new fiber to the old towers.

Both build schedules 180° out of sync.

It took nearly a year for both sides to match up.

And down in the nearest big city here (probably small to you) a number of places have gone live with Spark.

I'm sorry that my facts and experiences don't match your rant. They got over extended financially and have had less than stellar management.

Granted.

But I never said that you had sunshine and just because it's raining where you live doesn't mean it's raining where I am.

So rather than act foolish and call names without justification (and besides, it's neither polite nor within the rules here) - change carriers.

If someone doesn't give you what you pay for, take your business someplace else. It's not that adult of a puzzle.

I threatened to move to another carrier when they screwed us up - they gave me some free time and I gave them a chance to make good.

And for me, they did.

But your assertion that they just do LTE all willy nilly is a slap to the tower techs and I don't think that they have that coming.

I think that someone in management in your area is the problem. But that's just my opinion.

That they're not throwing tower money around capriciously, as I said, is just common sense.

In the future, I would appreciate being treated with the same courtesy I've shown you.
 
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Those designations disappear after 6 months, so why would a tower be labeled with 1 speed upgrade, disappear after 6 months and then reappear with the designation 1 speed upgrade again, if what you said "all the new CDMA/LTE hardware has been installed at the site" is to be believed ???
I have a tower .5 mi away that has been designated 1 speed upgrade then disappeared popped up again with 1 speed upgrade 3x over the last 21 months since this Network Vision Farce was implemented and it still does not broadcast 4G LTE, even though it appeared to at one point, and 3G is abysmal? So they installed all the new hardware 3x and let it sit idle??
Once a site has been upgraded on the 3G CDMA side it has to be tested and optimized. Since you receive voice calls through Sprint's 3G CDMA 1x service it has go through a series of tests including 911 tests, if any of these test fail the new equipment can't be turned on. When they install the new basestations, radio units, and antenna/panels the legacy stuff is kept in place if situations like I mention above happen to arise. Once the new equipment is optimized and accepted the new NV equipment is put to use and the legacy equipment is turned off. LTE is a different story, it can't be turned on unless the new high-speed backhaul is installed at the site (fiber, AAV, microwave). So it is possible that the site you are referring to has failed multiple times due to faulty equipment or just poor installation of the new equipment from the contractors.

In Ericsson markets original deployment contractors are being sent back out to replace the RRUS11 (radio units) with newer RRUS31 which are the 1900 PCS side. In original Ericsson markets deployments consisted of utilizing three radios per sector 2 for 1900 PCS and 1 for 800 SMR. The new RRUS31 will do the work of two 1900 PCS radios which will help out on weight constraints. With the extra space available from de-installing the older RRUS11 they can use that extra space for a B41 8T8R radio.
 
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Sprint works great in my area. Customer service has gotten a lot better as well.
Sprint has made a lot of mistakes and then screwed up trying to fix those mistakes a lot, but I am now seeing a Sprint that is moving in the right direction......
Don't jump my ass and call me a "sprint fanboy" or whatever because I'll use whatever carrier benefits me the most period lol...
 
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Sorry, I should not have used cheerleader. I meant to use Apologist and the Apologists are are all alive and well here.
It is not just my area, it is the same up into the Santa Clara Valley, CA. where my mom lives and down into most parts of LA where my brother lives, where I get the same garbage service! Only two small markets I know.
The only reason I am with Sprint service still is that I am still exhausting freebies with Ting. Come March, which will mark TWO frigging years since NV was implemented and not long after labeled a 4G LTE market, if we do not see Spark we will move over to the GSM side using Consumer Cellular.
 
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Sorry, I should not have used cheerleader. I meant to use Apologist and the Apologists are are all alive and well here.
It is not just my area, it is the same up into the Santa Clara Valley, CA. where my mom lives and down into most parts of LA where my brother lives, where I get the same garbage service! Only two small markets I know.
The only reason I am with Sprint service still is that I am still exhausting freebies with Ting. Come March, which will mark TWO frigging years since NV was implemented and not long after labeled a 4G LTE market, if we do not see Spark we will move over to the GSM side using Consumer Cellular.
Ah yeah - I travel to California enough to know what you mean - Sprint is just pants out there.

And apologists is still the wrong term entirely.

People, including me, including you, are and have been posting facts.

You made an assertion, I posted a few facts.

The rest you went and read into it.

Not all of us suffer as you do and believe it or not, yours isn't the worst case - personally, I think that Phoenix is.

California != whole country
 
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The only reason I am with Sprint service still is that I am still exhausting freebies with Ting. Come March, which will mark TWO frigging years since NV was implemented and not long after labeled a 4G LTE market, if we do not see Spark we will move over to the GSM side using Consumer Cellular.

Not sure if you know, but Ting will have GSM service through T-Mobile in February. Of course that would require your area having good T-Mobile reception. :)

But yes, the Network Vision deployment has definitely been dragged out, hope your area sees an improvement. :thumbsupdroid:
 
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Sorry, I should not have used cheerleader. I meant to use Apologist and the Apologists are are all alive and well here.
It is not just my area, it is the same up into the Santa Clara Valley, CA. where my mom lives and down into most parts of LA where my brother lives, where I get the same garbage service! Only two small markets I know.
The only reason I am with Sprint service still is that I am still exhausting freebies with Ting. Come March, which will mark TWO frigging years since NV was implemented and not long after labeled a 4G LTE market, if we do not see Spark we will move over to the GSM side using Consumer Cellular.

California has the slowest deployment of Network Vision due to slow construction permits, unresponsive property owners, etc. LTE is being deployed slowly because ISPs are not holding up there end of the contracts and getting high-speed backhaul to sites in a timely manner.
 
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California has the slowest deployment of Network Vision due to slow construction permits, unresponsive property owners, etc. LTE is being deployed slowly because ISPs are not holding up there end of the contracts and getting high-speed backhaul to sites in a timely manner.
Ok, so was that unique to Sprint or what's up there?
 
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i could not wait.. tired of spring marketing excuses here in Dallas/FW...
2 yrs waiting.. for what ever the real excuse was.. for them to fix it.

1 yr a go.. I moved on to ATT.
with a group plan... it cost the same... but with only 3 gigs to use a month (not Unlimited)
I get close to the limit each moth... but fast and reliable service is sooo GREAT!!!!
night and day!!!.

with sprint unlimited... I could barely get 100 kb/s downloads ..
GPS for directions was so frustrating at low speeds.
.. so don't even get close to 2gb a month.

PS.. they may have gotten better now.. but they lost my trust.
if I am desperate.. I might try them again.
I am afraid that I am not alone.
and they will be losing customers... and Tmobile will become the 3rd largest soon.
 
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Ok, so was that unique to Sprint or what's up there?

Sprint's LTE deployment in California isn't slow everywhere statewide, just large metro and surrounding areas take much longer to upgrade.

  • T-Mobile's LTE deployment is going faster in larger markets due to backhaul being installed years earlier before T-Mobile decided to rollout LTE/HSPA+ Not to mention T-Mobile only hand picked the golden real-estate first in larger metro areas to cover more POPs faster, not all of T-Mobile's sites have new backhaul and a lot of their rural coverage is still on legacy 2G EDGE.
  • Verizon and AT&T are able to cover twice as many people with their 700MHz LTE spectrum and not having to deploy LTE on every cell site due to the lower spectrum, not to mention Verizon and AT&T have been deploying LTE for about five years now and not every site has LTE and probably never will.
  • Sprint is deploying 1900 PCS LTE on every site which should closely match their 3G EV-DO footprint once it's been 100% completed along with Band 26 800MHz LTE. This alone is a challenging task due to ISP contracts, work permits, and engineering that is required at EVERY Sprint site.
  • Sprint isn't the one to blame if you don't have LTE where you work, sleep, and play, Network Vision hardware upgrades are approaching 96% completion. Blame your local ISPs and city government for slow LTE deployment, if work permits are dragging to get approved in a timely manner it's a city governments fault, if the new hardware has been installed and LTE isn't broadcasting blame your local ISPs for dragging there feet getting fiber, AAV, or even microwave to the site, Verizon and AT&T went through the same problems.
 
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Sprint also has decided that they will not turn on their LTE network until the backhaul is in place from the towers. If the backhaul is not upgraded then the performance will be poor. They do not want to turn on LTE if the performance is poor because people will associate it with their LTE service and not the backhaul. So even though they could turn on LTE they have decided to leave only 3G in place so that they can then say we are upgrading please be patient. When LTE goes live they want it to be robust. I can understand that position. Unfortunately Sprint has absolutely no control over the backhaul. They are literally at the mercy of their providers.

This far into their upgrade, I can't for the life of me figure out why people would change carriers. It's like quitting a marathon when you can see the finish line. My advice is to dig into the technical details from services like RootMetrics in the markets where Sprint is fully upgraded and understand how the network is performing once it's done. People should also dig into the actual spectrum holdings each carrier has because the spectrum holdings will foretell what the future will be like with that carrier.
 
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Sprint also has decided that they will not turn on their LTE network until the backhaul is in place from the towers. If the backhaul is not upgraded then the performance will be poor. They do not want to turn on LTE if the performance is poor because people will associate it with their LTE service and not the backhaul. So even though they could turn on LTE they have decided to leave only 3G in place so that they can then say we are upgrading please be patient. When LTE goes live they want it to be robust. I can understand that position. Unfortunately Sprint has absolutely no control over the backhaul. They are literally at the mercy of their providers.

Sprint did not decide to turn on LTE at sites due to backhaul, to put it simply they can't. You can't run LTE on legacy bundled T1 lines that were used back in 2003 when Sprint was rolling out their 3G CDMA EV-DO network.

When an OEM finishes the Network Vision hardware upgrades and after all the new gear has been tested they will plugin the T1 lines back into the net Network Vision router for the CDMA side until new high-speed backhaul has arrived. The new gear is able to accept multiple different types of connections whether its T1, ethernet, etc. Once the new backhaul arrives all it takes is a visit from a technician to integrate the LTE side and plugin the new backhaul on the CDMA side. Additionally Sprint requires its LTE sites to have scale able backhaul with at least 100Mbps connections.
 
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Bottom line, the whole thing is ridiculous. All the technical gobbledygook in the world doesn't change the facts. Bad Management, Broken Promises. Paying for service we do not get, No real deadlines.

The only way Sprint has kept my meager business is because of their cheap rates, prepaid plans and the recent very smart increase in data caps with a slight price decrease. Also, my inertia to change and the fact that my CDMA / LTE phone will not work anywhere else.

I don't want to change carriers and LTE is now awesome in my town, ironically just not at my house, although it was working for about 2 months a year ago.

This ain't putting a man on the moon. It is a people problem in one way or another.
 
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So exactly what do we accomplish by rehashing Sprint's past? It's hardly a secret that Sprint's story is one of turmoil. You don't start down the dead end road of WiMAX without paying for that significantly in future years. In the end, it is a free country and customer should go with the carrier if they think provide them with the best value, service, price for whatever combination of factors are most important to them.

The bottom line is Sprint today is not the same Sprint of 1 year ago either technically or in management. I am extremely impressed with our new CEO. There is really only one way for customers to get detailed facts about Sprint's technical situation and where they are headed in the future. The information is available at S4GRU.com. When you become a scholar of the information that is available on that site, you learn that if you live and travel in the right markets, there are very specific technical reasons why you would be excited about Sprint's future.

The vast majority of customers have no interest in learning the technical details, and they shouldn't have to. If the service isn't working for them then switch. If the grass really is greener on the other side then stay there. It's pretty simple stuff really.

But complaining about Sprint's technical reliability in the past is kind of like duh. It's cold in Minnesota in the winter too.
 
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OK. I stay with the Sprint network because of the reasons I mentioned and without rehashing the past, all I can say is:

One of the few things we can use to predict the future is the past. I agree that things have gotten much better and that is the biggest thing that Sprint has going for it.

The remaining Sprint customer base stays out of a strange loyalty, fueled by past investment, faith and hope despite bring let down before. This says a lot about Sprint customers.

I applaud Sprint if they have changed their past ways and we can look forward to a bright future. I hope this is the case. It is like a loyal football fan rooting for a losing team. People do love an under dog.

But Sprint has to follow through at some point. And that time is now. I want Sprint to be around for a long time. Not a fan of Verizon or ATT.

To me it boils down to integrity. Do what you promise to do or don't promise it. Get the back haul problem or whatever it is figured out.

Sounds like everything will be great from now on.

And down in South Georgia it used to never get too cold in the Winter, now who knows? Past experience is not always valid. Good point.
 
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Correct me if I am wrong (or when) but it seems to me that to survive, Sprint has to dance with the girl they took to the dance and take a good look at her while they do.

I know that Sprint signed about 1M new subscribers and many of those are postpay which is very encouraging.

But, the truth is, nobody is going to switch from, let's say, T-Mobile. unless they have to. Sprint will have a hard time getting back all those customers that bled away over the past 2 years or so.

Sprint needs to stop the bleed ASAP. I suspect that your average Sprint customer, especially the prepay MVNO ones are extremely price conscious and also, I suspect, extremely profitable to Sprint on those prepay plans. They can't keep losing these people.

The new Spark is one of the wonders of the modern world if you live in a major market with population density, but the heartland should not be overlooked.

I am rooting for Sprint but sometimes it seems their strategy involves new customers at the expense of the old ones. Maybe not a realistic strategy yet.

Or ever.
 
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OK. I stay with the Sprint network because of the reasons I mentioned and without rehashing the past, all I can say is:

One of the few things we can use to predict the future is the past. I agree that things have gotten much better and that is the biggest thing that Sprint has going for it.

The remaining Sprint customer base stays out of a strange loyalty, fueled by past investment, faith and hope despite bring let down before. This says a lot about Sprint customers.

I applaud Sprint if they have changed their past ways and we can look forward to a bright future. I hope this is the case. It is like a loyal football fan rooting for a losing team. People do love an under dog.

But Sprint has to follow through at some point. And that time is now. I want Sprint to be around for a long time. Not a fan of Verizon or ATT.

To me it boils down to integrity. Do what you promise to do or don't promise it. Get the back haul problem or whatever it is figured out.

Sounds like everything will be great from now on.

And down in South Georgia it used to never get too cold in the Winter, now who knows? Past experience is not always valid. Good point.
They have followed through. The initial network rip and replacement is essentially done. The back haul is in place. There are small pockets that are not complete but very few. The next stage is more Spark build out. So there is no need to look to the past. We only need to look at what is in place now.
 
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Correct me if I am wrong (or when) but it seems to me that to survive, Sprint has to dance with the girl they took to the dance and take a good look at her while they do.

I know that Sprint signed about 1M new subscribers and many of those are postpay which is very encouraging.

But, the truth is, nobody is going to switch from, let's say, T-Mobile. unless they have to. Sprint will have a hard time getting back all those customers that bled away over the past 2 years or so.

Sprint needs to stop the bleed ASAP. I suspect that your average Sprint customer, especially the prepay MVNO ones are extremely price conscious and also, I suspect, extremely profitable to Sprint on those prepay plans. They can't keep losing these people.

The new Spark is one of the wonders of the modern world if you live in a major market with population density, but the heartland should not be overlooked.

I am rooting for Sprint but sometimes it seems their strategy involves new customers at the expense of the old ones. Maybe not a realistic strategy yet.

Or ever.
Customers certainly can, will and do leave T-Mobile. Why? Coverage. T-Mobile coverage and spectrum holdings do not equal their CEOs rhetoric. If customers buy into marketing they could switch to T-Mobile but at some point they also have to experience the network and decide, like they do with Sprint, whether it is everything it's cracked up to be.
 
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Customers certainly can, will and do leave T-Mobile. Why? Coverage. T-Mobile coverage and spectrum holdings do not equal their CEOs rhetoric. If customers buy into marketing they could switch to T-Mobile but at some point they also have to experience the network and decide, like they do with Sprint, whether it is everything it's cracked up to be.
So far to me T-Mobile has been awesome in Chicago.
 
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