Anyone with new LTE device in Chicagoland area?

[EndlessDissent]

It is possible that the areas showing LTE on the Sensorly map than your not seeing in person when on the ground is possible "test" areas. We know Sprint said it was around 50% or so finished when they went official back a few weeks ago. It wouldn't surprise me if some areas that are listed as having LTE could have been caught during test phases of newly upgraded towers that will be going live very soon. We had this all over down in the Plainfield area for a good month or so, one day you would grab LTE in a certain spot and return the next day and have no sign of LTE anywhere.

Otherwise were all waiting patently for all of Chicagoland area and the burbs to receive its fully finished LTE upgrade so we can put the guessing games and peak a boo with on & off LTE signal to rest

This. One day, I had LTE all over Schaumburg in a ton of new places and mapped it all out on Sensorly. The next day, a couple of the towers were turned off. At least one still hasn't been turned back on. So, even though Sensorly shows LTE there (because I mapped it myself), I no longer get LTE in those areas.

Like I said, Sensorly is the "boots on the ground" source you want. If it shows LTE there, there either is or was at one time LTE in that location, and if you don't get it when you go there, either blame it on your Evo LTE or Sprint's subcontractors testing the towers. There's nothing wrong with Sensorly's data.

 

[Mellimel22]

Sprint officially launched Chicago on October 22.

Even though sprint announced it in Chicago all the cell sites isn't complete yet

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[Mellimel22]

This. One day, I had LTE all over Schaumburg in a ton of new places and mapped it all out on Sensorly. The next day, a couple of the towers were turned off. At least one still hasn't been turned back on. So, even though Sensorly shows LTE there (because I mapped it myself), I no longer get LTE in those areas.

Like I said, Sensorly is the "boots on the ground" source you want. If it shows LTE there, there either is or was at one time LTE in that location, and if you don't get it when you go there, either blame it on your Evo LTE or Sprint's subcontractors testing the towers. There's nothing wrong with Sensorly's data.

That's what I told buddy but somehow he thought I didn't know English lol

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[buffdaddy72]

That's what I told buddy but somehow he thought I didn't know English lol

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I have nothing against Sensorly folks, hell I use it on my SIII and it's a great app! But I'm just saying that in addition to Sensorly I like reading the posts here on AC from someone who is actually staring at their phone with the 4G icon who posts yeah I have LTE here. One day Sensorly may show an area that is lit up and someone in that area looks at their phone and says nope no LTE here.

 

[Mikey47]

I can confirm LTE in Rockford, IL. Well at least I had it for about 2 minutes while doing 73 mph past Hwy 20. Had it lo g enough to get a SpeedTest.net test run.

So I know my phone does work on LTE. Had it since pre-order arrived and it's been on LTE for probably less than 5 minutes total. ;-)

 

[RandomNickname]

Getting it in the park along LSD in Lakeview. specifically right near the Diversey driving range. 10k up and down. (Will upload a pic soon of SpeedTest). Have also had it live along Montrose, near the Brown Line stop there at Montrose and Wolcott.

Weirdly, I can;t get the signal in my apartment, and if I move slightly west into the buildings near Broadway, 4g dies for me. Definitely need to pump up the signal, or get more towers live. Still, nice to see it in the city proper.

 

[RandomNickname]

More LTE from inside Chicago proper -- this time at the Montrose Brownline Stop

 

[bearballz72]

Getting it in the park along LSD in Lakeview. specifically right near the Diversey driving range. 10k up and down. (Will upload a pic soon of SpeedTest). Have also had it live along Montrose, near the Brown Line stop there at Montrose and Wolcott.

Weirdly, I can;t get the signal in my apartment, and if I move slightly west into the buildings near Broadway, 4g dies for me. Definitely need to pump up the signal, or get more towers live. Still, nice to see it in the city proper.

Yeah I have the same issue here in Oak Park. Get decent LTE outside, but in my apartment back to 3G. Not sure what the deal is. I live in what they call in OP a "vintage" brick building and live on the 3rd floor free from any obstructions like powerlines or anything like that.

Although I've had coverage issues in my apartment since I've moved in so I called Sprint a couple months back and they said they would submit a work ticket to check it out. Although I don't think I'm on their list priorities LOL.



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[Mellimel22]

Not only do I have lte in my house but I have it in my basement on the westside in Austin

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[Mellimel22]

I have nothing against Sensorly folks, hell I use it on my SIII and it's a great app! But I'm just saying that in addition to Sensorly I like reading the posts here on AC from someone who is actually staring at their phone with the 4G icon who posts yeah I have LTE here. One day Sensorly may show an area that is lit up and someone in that area looks at their phone and says nope no LTE here.

Well I have lte in my basement lol

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[bearballz72]

Yeah still having problems getting LTE in my place. I get whiffs of it from time to time but not a solid lock.

Very vexing why I can get it outside but not inside.

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[Mellimel22]

I seem to get a good signal inside not only my house but my girlfriends house also

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[EndlessDissent]

Yeah still having problems getting LTE in my place. I get whiffs of it from time to time but not a solid lock.

Very vexing why I can get it outside but not inside.

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Chances are, your place is just very RF-unfriendly. The building is probably made from something that's blocking or interfering with the signal. LTE signal can be very fragile. By simple properties of physics, it is naturally much more fragile than EVDO signal. I would bet that you also experience a sharp decrease in 3G signal when entering the building also, and LTE is much more susceptible to interference than that.

I was at Reggie's Rock Club near Chinatown a few weeks ago and got a great 4G signal directly outside the building. Inside the venue, however, I had 0 bars of 1x. It was barely enough to send a text, and it drained 20% of my battery in 20 minutes. No doubt the materials used in the building were the reason.

 

[bearballz72]

I called Sprint a couple weeks back and apparently 2 towers in the area are being upgraded and/or repaired.

I have the ticket numbers so I'll call Sprint CS probably after New Years to see if the issue is being resolved.

Who knows, it could be the towers or the 50-60 years of lead paint build up in my place.

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[Paul627g]

So a few months have passed and what type of speeds are you seeing?

I'm seeing an average of about 5 Mbps down and around 2.5 Mbps upload.

No where near what I was hoping for but better than Sprints slow 3g

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[bearballz72]

Well it's been very good (up to 29mbps down) in certain areas here in the near west burbs and the west side of the city. To pretty average (5-6mbps down) in parts of the North side. Have experienced some up and down speeds in Eastern Dupage Between 22nd and Ogden, but mostly pretty decent.

Still some holes in coverage here and there, and 3G is still pretty bad. But yeah I have to agree, it's been kind of hit and miss so far. Was hoping LTE speeds would be a bit more uniform across the area.

But this rollout is still a work in progress, so hopefully by late Spring/early Summer things will be better. The speedtest below was taken in downtown Oak Park on Lake Street.

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[Almeuit]

Well it's been very good (28mbps down) in certain areas here in the near west burbs and the west side of the city, to pretty average (5-6mbps down) in parts of the North side and in near west Dupage.

Still some holes in coverage here and there, and 3G is still pretty bad. But yeah I have to agree, it's been kind of hit and miss so far.

Hoping things will get better come Spring.

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Yeah I'm in the same boat. In Jacksonville its spotty at the moment. When I do get 4g LTE its pretty fast (see below) but... That's only in those few areas for Florida.

Hopefully Florida and Chicago will both catch up soon!

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[Darth Mo]

I stopped doing speed tests a while ago because I don't do any tethering or have a LTE hotspot device.

But, it is interesting that people are experiencing speeds under 5 Mbps though considering how many people still have WiMax or even 3G only phones.

Hopefully Sprint is just throttling and this isn't an indication of the network being over-saturated. I'm perfectly happy with the speeds right now, just hope they stay at this level.

 

[Paul627g]

I don't believe Sprint is throttling but it does make you wonder if their current setup of the new LTE network isn't as capable as they had hoped. Plus who knows what exact completion rate they are currently at in Chicago land market.

I'll admit the speed I'm getting at even 4 or 5 Mbps average is still better than 3g but I would love to see better.

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[Mellimel22]

We are only 61% lte completed here

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