Sprint's Vision Network, including 4G LTE, has just landed in the City of Chicago

[Adam G]

The LTE signal is very fragile. What you're experiencing isn't implausible. For instance, I have two towers approximately equidistant from my house. One is an active LTE tower. The other is in the process of its upgrades (and may be slightly closer; I don't know the exact location of either tower). At my house, I can connect to LTE on the active tower, but only for a minute at most. I'm assuming it's because the phone is trying to connect to the closer, unfinished tower and getting rejected. The LTE signal I get at my house from the finished tower is pretty weak, "meh at best". However, if I drive just one block closer to the completed tower, I get a steady signal to the completed tower with no disconnects.

My point: One block can make a noticeable difference with LTE signal, especially in a city with lots of buildings and other obstructions, like Chicago. Consider that my story is taking place in the suburbs with no tall buildings in the way.

Good post. Thanks.

 

[skidmark]

Has anyone noticed a significant improvement with 3G?

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

Has anyone noticed a significant improvement with 3G?

Yes, I have. The signal is stronger, even wifi is stronger

 

[kgilbertsen]

Sprint Coverage Map has changed...

Now, when I go to the Sprint site and check the coverage map for my area (Chicago's south side) it shows as solidly '4G WiMax' instead of the usual '3G'. I don't get any 4G coverage with the 'mobile network' set to 'LTE/CDMA'. Weird. Hopefully this means that LTE is close at hand...


EDIT: I just re-checked the Sprint site, and it now shows solidly 'Sprint 4G LTE'! Turned on the phone and I've got 4G coverage. So I ran several speed tests at speedtestDOTnet and got results that are all over the place. 4.69D / 1.19U, 2.20D / 1.47U, 1.32D / 1.76U, and lastly 3.69D / 3.21U. (That last result gives me better upload speeds than my home DSL)
Couple of questions: Is SpeedtestDOTnet an accurate site to use? Are these speeds what we should expect from LTE? Or is this what the early implementation looks like, and we should expect things to improve/stabilize over time?

 

[Ntchwaidumela]

Re: Sprint Coverage Map has changed...

Has anyone had the chance to check out the coverage in the downtown (Loop) area yet? I'll check it out when I get down there next week and post back here then. But if anyone checks it out sooner, please let us know.

 

[Adam G]

Re: Sprint Coverage Map has changed...

There is no coverage in the Loop yet. I'm there everyday.