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swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec to disconnected

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Re: [Hardware] iDEN Shuts Down; Sprint Network Vision 800MHz CDM

800 Mhz portion of network vision wont be coming for awhile. I suggest you take a look at »s4gru.com to get the information that you need. Also has maps and shows completed / in progress cell sites for much of the country and tracks updates weekly.

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Anon

Am I correct in ascertaining that this 800MHz is 4G/LTE? My phone is only 3G and CDMA. Either way, that's too bad that nothing's coming out this way for some time.

I'm testing a Wilson cell signal booster, but with poor results. Apparently, up on the roof, I get -98 to -105dB of signal, depending on wind direction. The cell tower is just on the other side of the forest, about 900' south of me. As I drive past that tower on my way downtown, my phone gets service and 6 bars of signal. But at the house it's 1 bar. The thing is, the trees aren't even in bloom!

The Wilson kit has a panel antenna for the exterior and a 'desktop' antenna for indoors. With that setup, I am getting -88dB at the antenna, within 8'. However, downstairs I'm at -114dB, which is no good.

I'm going to look into ordering a high gain parabolic grid antenna from Andrew and a panel antenna for the indoor side. Hopefully that will produce a big enough signal that I can get usable coverage througout the house.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Sprint is deploying LTE on 1900 right now. Voice and 1xRTT will be on 800 upon deployment and I believe LTE MIGHT be on there later on.

Are you sure that specific tower is a sprint tower and you arent picking up one further away?

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Anon

I'm quite certain of it, because it's a MAJOR site. FM/AM and over 50 cell antennas on this 499' tower, plus another 100' self supporting tower in the back woods behind the FM tower, with more then 3 dozen cell antennas there. I think that site was AT&T. But Nextel iDEN is on the big FM tower, and so is sprint, evidently, because standing in front of that tower, and approaching from either direction, I get 6 bars of signal, which decrease rapidly in either direction, north or south of it. By the time I get to the intersection of my private road, I'm down to 4 bars. Then as I drive down my road (perpendicular to tower, so distance remains constant), the signal drops to 1 bar. Boost rep tells me that my area has prime coverage. Theoretically, yes, based on distance, but their map doesn't take into account that trees are blocking the 1900 signal. What a terrible band to put phones on.