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Mjrtom7's profile

Explorer

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25 Messages

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 6:57 PM

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Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

I've heard talk about how ATT is "working on their network coverage" and plans to provide 3G service in Northeast MI "in the coming months".  Well, now that another 2 year contract has expired, I'm seriously wondering if I would be better off jumping to Verizon.  The EDGE data network up here if virtually useless.  5 full bars, yet extremely poor data transfer.  

 

Can anyone provide an HONEST answer as to when this coverage is planned to be upgraded???  Verizon has had 3G for quite a long while up here...

Scholar

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136 Messages

11 years ago

I have heard some rumblings that HSPA+ may be active in the Cheboygan area.

Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

If Sprint has LTE coverage popping up in northern Michigan, then AT&T should have the same or more spectrum shouldn't they? Or is Sprint deploying LTE on another band other than 700MHz? Spotted that little bit of coverage northwest of Gaylord but it is in the extended area on Verizon's coverage map. I mapped Verizon 4G on 75 up to around the 197 mile marker. On the return trip the signal was on and off so they must be still testing.

Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

@Tpeltz

 

Went by Big Red's tower in Lewwy today and guess what I saw sitting at the base station?? Here is a clueSmiley Very Happy

 

P1130496.JPG

 

 

1 Attachment

Scholar

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136 Messages

11 years ago

Sprint uses 800Mhz and 1900Mhz for LTE. 

 

Looks like Lewwy is going to get some LTE love very soon. Those are three brand 700Mhz antennas. 

Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

I drove by there this morning and was disappointed that there was nothing new but something caught my eye. Put it in reverse and low and behold:) Glad I had my camera. Looks like it is going to happen:):)

Scholar

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151 Messages

11 years ago

I have a question. Since Gladstone and Escanaba have HSPA+ 4G now, when the time comes when we get 4G LTE does AT&T have to add new equipment to the towers for LTE or is it as simple as "flipping the switch"?

Scholar

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136 Messages

11 years ago

AT&T will need to add more antennas to the cell sites that are currently HSPA+ only, since their LTE network runs on different frequencies than HSPA+. But in order to launch LTE in northern MI (including the U.P), AT&T needs to aquire more spectrum for LTE or wait a while until hardware manufacturers can create radio baseband processors that can handle LTE on 700/800/1900/1700/2100Mhz bands

Scholar

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151 Messages

11 years ago

Ah ok, thank you for the info. What do LTE antennas look like?

Scholar

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136 Messages

11 years ago

The LTE antennas looks extremely similar to HSPA+ antennas in AT&T's case. The LTE antennas may be a few inches longer than the (850Mhz) HSPA+ antennas. Other than that, it is hard to tell with AT&T.

Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

@Tpeltz
You have more knowledge of spectrum than I do so I will ask a question. We know AT&T currently doesn't have the needed paired 700 Mhz spectrum to launch LTE in northern Mi but from what I gather they do own a lot of AWS spectrum statewide. Could AT&T use strictly that spectrum to launch LTE/LTE-A instead of using 700??
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