When will sprint update coverage maps...

I wish I knew. I used to e-mail some guy who worked in that line of field and that's how I got a little bit of info on it. He told me what version number the carriers were currently using and that a new version was coming soon that would be implemented by the CDMA carriers. That was about 1 year ago.

 

it sounds like bouncing back and forth between 3 towers would throw off the network.........and the network would get confused...........i guesss its smarter than i thought

 

CDMA technology is very capable of a phone bouncing around among 3 or more towers with no problems. The problem comes when 1 or more of the towers is on a different NID (Switch) then the other ones it's also picking up.

 

They did another update of the towers added in the past 90 days today! There are a few new ones added on the Los Angeles and New York City maps that weren't on the last update which was just last week.

The green shaded areas have not been updated to reflect these improvements yet.

Shot of NYC:

 

That's quite a few towers in the last 90 days, I wonder why the delay in showing the improved coverage? wouldn't it make sense to show the improved coverage before adding the new towers to the maps?

 

It's gotta be a lot harder to re-engineer the signal maps than to just add the icon for now.

FYI: Sprint is listing a "new tower in 90 days" in my home town. This is not infact a new tower, but a site moved across the street to a Nextel pole. Beware!

 

It would be nice if they could keep the maps updated at the same pace as the new tower locations but like Yankees368 mentioned it's probably not that easy to do.

 

Yeah but it had a new site ID cascade number. So that's why they show it as a new tower. Obviously that type of info is not relayed from the RF dept. to the web master who's in charge of showing the new site locations. Even repeaters are shown as new sites. Basically if it has a new cascade number then it counts as a new tower added regardless of what type of site it is. I think moving the location of a site is very rare so your case is very isolated and is not likely to happen in too many places.

 

yeah that could get confusing after a while.......but it reallyis a little confusing when a repeater counts as a tower...........and we're lucky that print is even bothering to make that communication between the RF dept. and the webmaster...........some companies really suck at that or lack it completely

 

hehe, i'm special....

 

I guess it would be easier to add the bullseye vs making the map colored for the increased coverage now available, it just seeme like it would make more sense to show the improved coverage 1st, so people doing some shopping using the maps would get a truer picture of coverage.

I am just trying to look at the normal person that doesn't think or realize once they put a tower up, the coverage in that area improves, as well as how many may select the "Show new towers within 90 days" as a choice.

We know how people can be when it comes to technology

 

yeah......most people dont really understand

 

It takes them about 2-3 months before they update the coverage to reflect the new towers.

 

I can't wait for the next round of coverage map updates to see how their work here in Utah is coming. As soon as I find NEXTEL/Sprint synergy sites I will start snapping pictures to share.

 

It will probably be at least another month or two before another update I would think. I'm hoping that they update the green areas next.

 

Well one would think that once the green areas have been updated, most of southern Cali should be blanketed.

 

I have a question that might introduce opinions or can be answered with facts:

What is Sprint's priority during their upgrades right now?

is it upgrading all towers to Rev A?
expanding coverage in general?
introducing QChat?

what is it........because coverage has gone up a lot in my area in the last month or two but i'm pretty sure that all of it is Rev A

 

I'm not sure but if I had to guess, expanding coverage through Sprint/NEXTEL synergy sites is close to the top, especially in highly populated areas such as the Northeast and Southern California.

 

You know it! I'm still in shock over all of the synergies that went up in Los Angeles. Also keep in mind that these synergy sites are for the most part going up on old legacy Nextel towers which have better height and range then any towers that go up new today. These are towers that were put up in the early to mid nineties before there were NIMBY's and city zoning regulations for height and appearance.

 

damn NIMBYs :biggrin:

 

I spent the weekend in and around Salinas, Calif., including the Toro Park area. The signals of both Sprint and Verizon were poor in Toro Park but my Sprint service was usable, while my daughter told me they couldn't get any Verizon service at all there. On Sunday we went up to San Juan Bautista. I was getting 4 bars (the max on my phone) while my daughter was getting a very shakey signal on Verizon.

So maybe the Sprint system isn't too bad after all. I get good strong signals in most places, except (of course) at home, and even then it usually works.

 

Sprint service all over the state of CA is improving literally by the week. IDEN after IDEN site is being given CDMA which is making a huge difference in areas that previsouly were weak or areas that Sprint didn't want to cover due to budget.

 

so i think it appears that CDMA addition to iDEN sites..........is prolli Sprint's priority.......and i guess as they get to a certain region..........they add CDMA to iDEN sites and upgrade 1x and original EVDO to Rev A.......priorities seem to be coverage expansion above everything else.........Sprint needs to ready their network for Nextel customers........once they begin to turn off the Nextel network........and they need to make their network hard as steel to coax the Nextel customers over

 

Of course that doesnt really matter if there are no nextel towers in your area! Like in mine! Northwest corner of connecticut has some coverage, but not a lot. Come on sprint! I'm sick of depending on alltel for roaming because it sounds like garbage!

 

Those dBs are typical for most of Metro Atlanta and north GA unless you are very close to a tower.

 

That sucks because here in LA I'm rarely without full bars these days and into the -60's or -70's.

 

the capabilities of ALLTEL in Virginia were pretty crappy too.......my mom took her Samsung A640 and was roaming on ALLTEL down there even when there was full Verizon service on my friends phone.......Verizon was perfect but it was lower on the PRL

 

Hey Tom have you seen all of those new synergy sites that Sprint has been adding in Atlanta metro? Check the street level maps. There must have been some improvement there recently.

Here's just one section of the area as an example:



That's quite an expansion for just a couple of month period.

 

yeah Sprint is really cracking down.............ive heard people talk about Sprint likes its trash but they are really moving up...........look out Verizon and Cingular

 

I have not ben looking for them, as most of the Atlanta close-in metro was/is already covered by both. It's on the fringe areas that you probaly see the new dual sites coming on line. I'm sure they have been making some changes, but I have not seen them, not have I been seeking them out.

It you use zip code 30152, and look al little west, you will see some new Sprint towers (green areas not yet updated). These appear to center on the dark blue areas for the Nextel coverage.

As to signal strength, it just seems all the trees in Georgia really play havoc on the 1900 signal.