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Mjrtom7's profile

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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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391 Messages

11 years ago

AT&T is really moving in the area around my cabin. There are now 3 towers that have been fitted with broadband antennas in the last month. Red Oak, Lewiston, and the tower on 491 and M-32 about 8 miles north of Lewiston. This pic was taken Saturday and by evening time the work was completed.

 

P1130910_Downtown Lewiston.JPG

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Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

@JREwing53

 

Looking on AT&T's coverage map it looks like they fired up the tower in Pickford, MI.  Is 4G live there??

Scholar

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151 Messages

11 years ago

I have a question. How do you normally tell when you're going to be getting 3G/4G on your phone? Will you lose cell service voice/data for a few hours that day or something?

Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

I'm not really sure because AT&T uses quad-band for voice/data, excluding LTE. When my home area was upgraded to 3G back in 2008, I had no issues with service. My phone simply restarted itself and when it came back online it was on 3G.

Scholar

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173 Messages

11 years ago

No 4G here yet in Pickford. But I did drive by the local tower located about five miles south of town. A big roll of wire on the pole at the entrance to the site. Drove back to the tower. They have cleared out a bunch of trees, which I think is to allow the wire to be buried. But then there was some big wiring on the side of the tower.

From the looks of everthing, I'll be suprised if 4G is up and running around here by the end of summer.Tower 1.jpgTower 2.jpg

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Scholar

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136 Messages

11 years ago

@JRE - That tower is HSPA+ '4G' ready. Those are new coax lines on the tower and it looks like they will be using Charter fiber for backhaul. The ILEC doesn't use aerial distribution, so it could only be from Charter (which their fiber backhaul is great).

 

If you look closely on the coax lines when they run into the cell equipment shelter, you can see some wrapped in a blue tape and some wrapped in red. These color differentiators denote specific 3G/4G frequency. The blue might denote 850Mhz HSPA+ and the red might denote 1900Mhz HSPA+ (or visa-versa). 

Scholar

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391 Messages

11 years ago

Wow. If there is no 4G coverage in Pickford they blew it on the map, as it shows the blob of dark orange completely engulfing the town. I would say by late summer it should be on. Nice clear pics btw.

Scholar

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138 Messages

11 years ago

From my sources online I can tell you that Verizon Wireless is using Charter fiber backhaul for their LTE network. AT&T maybe using the ILEC. Double check the antennas and make sure its an AT&T site and not a VZW site (or they maybe sharing the same site).

Scholar

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136 Messages

11 years ago

AT&T can use Charter fiber for backhaul if the ILEC is more expensive. Niether carrier is locked into any deal for backhaul contracts. But you are right, Verizon is using a ton of Charter fiber for LTE backhaul. In my area all but 2 towers are using Charter. The other two sites are using Frontier fiber.

It is an AT&T site, owned by Global Tower. The address is: 29255 SOUTH M-129
PICKFORD, MI

Verizon doesn't have a site in or around the Pickford area.

Scholar

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173 Messages

11 years ago

@Lewyman..... If you are looking at the orange on the map, you are looking at cell coverage. You need to hit the data tab and the data will be displayed in blue. We have just average cell reception in Pickford, but zero data coverage, contrary to the map.

Verizon has no cell coverage in Pickford. Rumor has it that they are trying to get access to the tower about two miles west of our ATT tower.

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