AR 4G LTE Markets

[palmdroid1]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

Of course I wasn't expecting it here, but I wasn't impressed with this new "rollout". I have a screenshot of the map yesterday, compared to today. It's definitely progress, but I think everyone was hoping for more.

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

I wasn't too impressed, either. Then again, I didn't expect the expansion to go far south, since one cell site near Benton just got upgraded, and there may be a few sites in Hot Springs that don't have LTE (the one on Malvern Rd / MLK Expressway doesn't look like have LTE antennas, and there may be other VZ sites, too. I haven't seen all of Hot Spring's VZ antennas). I have a feeling we'll be waiting 2-3 more months. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[palmdroid1]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

I wasn't too impressed, either. Then again, I didn't expect the expansion to go far south, since one cell site near Benton just got upgraded, and there may be a few sites in Hot Springs that don't have LTE (the one on Malvern Rd / MLK Expressway doesn't look like have LTE antennas, and there may be other VZ sites, too. I haven't seen all of Hot Spring's VZ antennas). I have a feeling we'll be waiting 2-3 more months. I hope I'm wrong.

Most of the rural sites in this area were upgraded last March or April. The 2 in Paragould were in March. If you look at SBA and American Tower websites you see a lot of the towers that include pictures show the dates of March and April. I'm not sure if they were adding LTE or bolstering 3G coverage. I know for sure the 3G coverage either stayed the same or got worse after the upgrades in Paragould. The noticable difference when they did those upgrades was a 2nd sector on most of the towers, or higher density (more panels) on the VZW sectors.

I got over 40 mbps several times in Jonesboro yesterday evening! So it's still running strong over there.

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

Most of the rural sites in this area were upgraded last March or April. The 2 in Paragould were in March. If you look at SBA and American Tower websites you see a lot of the towers that include pictures show the dates of March and April. I'm not sure if they were adding LTE or bolstering 3G coverage. I know for sure the 3G coverage either stayed the same or got worse after the upgrades in Paragould. The noticable difference when they did those upgrades was a 2nd sector on most of the towers, or higher density (more panels) on the VZW sectors.

I got over 40 mbps several times in Jonesboro yesterday evening! So it's still running strong over there.

Dang! I actually surpassed 20Mbps earlier in West Little Rock several different times. I hit over 28Mbps at the max. It was the first time I've seen speeds that high ever in person.

 

[palmdroid1]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

Dang! I actually surpassed 20Mbps earlier in West Little Rock several different times. I hit over 28Mbps at the max. It was the first time I've seen speeds that high ever in person.

Same for me!

Before I experienced LTE, the fastest I'd ever seen was the T3 we had at my old job.

I was sitting in Ruby Tuesday in Jonesboro when I got my fastest speed ever. It was 53 down and almost 20 up, back in September when the network was a little newer and less loaded. I imagine I had a goofy grin on my face when my phone pulled in a higher rate than a T3 is capable of.

 

[aparker2005]

Sitting here in LR now on my GNex. This 4G is ridiculous. I'm getting 28 dl. Love this!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

Still no LTE equipment in my city, I heard Sheridan is getting upgraded, if they haven't already. Does anyone know if one of the towers near JJ's Truck Stop got upgraded? I think it did, but I was driving, so I didn't get a good look at it (I think Verizon might be the one somewhere with the multiple antennas). I saw earlier today that the site nearest to the Martin Luther King Expressway and Malvern Ave. in Hot Springs added a fourth set of antennas (the addition is between the second set and the bottom), I'm guessing that's going to be Verizon's LTE antennas (it would be separate from VZ's CDMA/EVDO antennas), which I think are on the bottom set. If so, that would be a unique placement for the antennas. I wasn't able to get a photo, though. Does anyone else have any news or updates for areas of Arkansas that have not officially launched LTE service?

 

[palmdroid1]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

I was surprised to see anyone still posted on this thread, glad you're still posting what you see, One Radical Dude. As far as I can tell, all the hardware upgrades on the towers in Paragould, Jonesboro, and Blytheville (and all the towns in between) are done. Jonesboro has had LTE since August or September, but the rest of us are still waiting. The 3G in Paragould is still dismal. I was sitting beside one of the two towers, at intersection of AR49 and US412 in Paragould and two speed tests never got over .5 down and .7 up, obviously an overloaded network as the ping was crazy high and the upload bests the download. 3G here in Blytheville still rocks, still sub 100 MS ping and 2+ MBPS down. Since they did the hardware upgrade on the tower in February here, I'm hoping it'll be soon. Verizon support said it should be soon, he pointed out, It's all around me, just not here yet.

The last time I went to Memphis, I got 4G a lot sooner, usually it doesn't hit until I'm close to the bridge, about to cross into Tennessee, the last two times, I had 4G before West Memphis, and kept it till past West Memphis, used to drop it shortly after crossing back into Arkansas. They're working on it, but I wish they'd hurry up!!!

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

My data speeds have been a little better lately, though I still get below average speeds at times. Ping is usually around 110-150ms. Maybe the next Arkansas rollouts will be a big one. I hope, anyway. The last Little Rock expansion was not very impressive. It didn't even cover all of Benton (where you are borderline LTE/EVDO near Alcoa). I'm dying to take a photo of my city's sites with Verizon equipment, but so far, I haven't seen the LTE antennas, yet.

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

Last night as I was heading to Little Rock, my ThunderBolt showed 4G near Haskell right off Interstate 30 Eastbound (near the US 70 exit). As I arrived in Benton, however, it went back to 3G. They must be doing a bit of testing in some areas.

I also went to American Tower's website, and one of the sites near DeQueen appears to have LTE antennas. DeQueen isn't even near an Interstate highway, so I found that interesting to see a site get upgraded to LTE.

 

[One Radical Dude]

Pine Bluff, Van Buren, and Siolam Springs are next.

The press release states that Pine Bluff, Siolam Springs, and Van Buren will get LTE on Thursday.

 

[kingoftherapids]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

seriously?!? still no hot springs??!?!? ridiculous.

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

seriously?!? still no hot springs??!?!? ridiculous.

No Malvern or Benton, either -- I'm surprised all of Benton is still without LTE. I know one site was still being upgraded in Hot Springs about a week ago (right near Malvern Rd. and the MLK Expressway). At least there's LTE being installed in HS. I still have not noticed any upgrades in Malvern.

 

[aparker2005]

I'll be glad when Camden or El Dorado get it

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[kingoftherapids]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

you figure that they would have rushed to get it in hot springs before the big summer lake season when there are 20k visitors there every day.

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

It could still happen, but I'm guessing June or July for the Hot Springs area to be activated.

I couldn't tell you about Camden or El Dorado (I don't visit that part of the state). I haven't seen any photos indicating that they're upgrading the cell sites.

I was able to read the press releases for the new Arkansas cities (which you can view at news.vzw.com), and besides Pine Bluff, Siolam Springs, and Van Buren, they include White Hall, Greenwood, Hacket, Alma, Mountainburg, and Mulberry (most locations listed are NW AR, a few in Central). For those hoping the Pine Bluff launch would include Sheridan, sorry guys -- you'll have to wait.

 

[kingoftherapids]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

how often do they come out with waves of activations?

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

This year has been strange for launch dates. Most of them usually fall on the week or on the third Thursday of each month, but some have happened outside of it. It was off to a slower than usual start for the first month or so, but it's picking up steam lately. I'm glad they're picking up steam, but it means nothing to me until they upgrade the sites where I live (I'm sure you guys feel the same way about where you live, too).

 

[kingoftherapids]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

Yes. I agree 100 percent. I live in conway, but when i go to my parents house/lake in hot springs i take a step down to 3g and it SUCKS! i compare it to Cable vs dial up

 

[One Radical Dude]

Re: Little Rock/Central AR LTE

You hit it right on the money. My 3G is variable. At times, it's almost as slow as 1x data (0.20Mbps or less), and other times, it's good for EVDO (1+Mbps download). Most of the time, it's somewhere between. You get variable speeds on LTE, too (the worst I've gotten is the equivalent to excellent 3G speeds) and I have hit over 20Mbps at least three different times.