When will sprint update coverage maps...

Yes all of the new expansions (where they previsouly had no coverage) are the result of adding CDMA to Nextel towers. Without the merger this expansion would never have happened. So anyone on the forums who's been a critic of this merger should think again.

 

Which area of northern Sandy are we talking about? Is it the area around Union Middle and Hillcrest?

 

Larry, even though I'm a fan of expanded CDMA coverage, I think there are other aspects to look at in order to be a fan/critic of this merger...you know that.

 

My guess is that coverage in that area is not very extensive. Sprint added three sites so far in that area: Morgan, Coalville, and in the Canyon between Park City an Wanship. The area from Park City up to Coalville should be okay; I bet there are a few areas in between that don't have coverage. As for Weber Canyon/I-84, I don't think that One Cellsite in Morgan will cover this mountainous area completely. Morgan itself is covered and the a little in each direction, it's more like a hot spot than anything else, though, until Sprint adds more sites.

 

Not to me there's not! Why would I care about all that other crap when coverage is the most important thing?

 

Look at the improvements the updated map has made here in the Northern part of Los Angeles!

Previous map screenshot saved on 1/17/07:



New map screenshot taken today:

 

South of 80th South along 7th East. The hole for bad coverage has just gotten much larger if one is to believe the map. The old map showed pretty good coverage where I live (Briarwood Springs Condos) but in fact I usually get either one bar or none at my place.

 

Yep see they're on a mission to make it more accurate.

 

Hey, I had a friend who lived in those Condos for a few months last year!!!
Sprint coverage in that area could definitively use some help. T-Mobile and Cricket are on the cell tower by the 7-11 and Verizon and NEXTEL are on Hillcrest, then there's a Verizon site on 84th South and 7th East. You're probably getting your Sprint signal from their site at 80th South State. I will check the coverage next time I drive through the area- I'm 99.9% sure that coverage has not gotten worse, but that the maps are now just better reflecting actual coverage.
Are you still under contract?

 

Yes, until early August. The coverage is very good everywhere else.

 

No doubt. Sprint has gotten a lot better coverage wise along the Wasatch Front. Sadly, my neighborhood in Willow Creek is still marginal at best.

 

its nice to know that companies are trying harder and harder to tell their customers the straight truth

 

It's in their best interest. Imagine all the people calling "The map says I should be in the BEST area but I don't have a signal".

 

The previous maps were actually misleading the other way around (not in Sprint's favor) as well. I had previously seen many areas on there that only showed as 'Fair' or 'good' but were rock solid 5-6 bar service. So they made those adjustments both ways to make the maps more accurate.

 

that way customers dont get POd and so spreading stuff about how Sprint is an awful company and their coverage is horrible..........which isnt true.........its just that you got inaccurate data

 

I also note that while much of the time I get 0 or 1 bars, sometimes I get 3 bars, and the level can change from 3 to 1 instantly. Odd. My daughter and I get better reception upstairs than down. I presume this is because we get above the surrounding houses.

 

if it jumps from 3 to 1 a lot then it might be possible that there are 2 towers in your area and it swapping randomy between the two..........kind of unfixable but if your in a call and it loses one of them...........it will connect to the other

 

You should always expect better reception upstairs then down. I get about -10 dbs better signal when I'm upstairs in my house then downstairs.

 

Right. CDMA phones and technology are not smart enough to lock onto the tower with the best signal strength and/or the lowest noise unless there's a significant amount of difference (usually at least -15 dbs). So you can have a situation where your phone could be bouncing around on as many as 5 or 6 different PN offsets causing the erratic signal meter behavior. This can also cause drops, failed incoming calls, etc. if the neighbor list or NID is out of synch.

 

this almost means that if coverage is too good in an area the coverage will actually suck...........sounds like a lose-lose situation to me

 

No not necessarily. It all depends on how strong the signal is. If you're phone is bouncing around on a number of different PN offsets but yet maintaining under -90 dbs RSSI then it should be fine. The problems arrise when the phone is bouncing around on too many weak PN's that are in the -90 to -105 dbs range.

 

yeah but even if it does mantain a strong decibel and its bouncing around on all different towers........isnt there a chance that the call could get dropped from a screwed up handoff

 

Yeah that can happen. But usually they do a good job engineering the networks so that does happen very often.

 

yeah.......maybe they can make like Cingular an dmake the phones "smart" so they connect to the tower with the best signal.......

 

With CDMA it can't work that way because the technology designed it so that the phone picks up on multiple tower at the same time. It has it's advantages and disadvantages as compared to GSM. GSM is not perfect and has it's techincal issues as well.

 

so true.........like i was saying in another thread.........one day they will have the perfect technology........bandwidth-friendly........perfect call-quality.........everything someone looks for in a network........and you can have your phone custom-made............have a designer work with you to make the phone of your dreams..........pick out which features you want.........and bam...................2 weeks later its made!!!

perfect world.......never gonna happen :biggrin:

 

To be honest I think CDMA can be improved upon greatly to reduce or eliminate some it's problems. The vendors release new platform versions of CDMA every so often. Maybe about once a year. But none of the most recent versions have done anything at all to help with NID and SID border issues or pilot pollution.

 

Like larry said, not necessarily, because the towers your phone is bouncing off from should all have each other in the neighbor list so it shouldn't matter if you're bouncing around when a phone call comes in, unless, like in larry's case, some of the towers you bounce off are on different switches.

 

Where can I find out about those updates the vendors release? Is there a way to find out what carriers implement the new platforms on their networks? How hard is it for a carrier to implement?

 

Or if you live on a hill with a line of sight to a number of different towers it's very possible that they all won't be in each others neighbor list. Therefore any attempt to hand off could fail.