Why 1x service in Jax.

[martosprint]

Yesterday I was at the St. Johns town center apple store in Jax. I just wanted them to check the battery on my wife's 6 plus. Now that whole complex is a very busy place.
We went to get a bite at the cheese cake factory restaurant...(newton's apple) should be familiar with that area. Well anyway inside the restaurant both my wife's iPhone 6 plus and my iPhone 7 we were only getting Sprint cell phone 1x service. Why would that be at such a busy area and an Apple store right around the corner from that restaurant? In front of the Apple store outside I was getting my usual LTE with 3 bars. I live out in the country and consistently get LTE service with 3 bars. Just seems strange to get poor service at the restaurant in Jacksonville..Just curious, no big deal..
thanks for a reply

 

[Applejuiced]

Maybe bad signal or poor signal penetration inside that restaurant.
If there's a lot of walls or signal constructions sometimes I drop down to 4G from LTE until I get in an open area or near a window.

 

[eyoungren]

Band 25 (Sprint) tends to be their most congested LTE band. Band 26 is designed to alleviate some of that, but if you are not in an area that has Band 26 then you're either on Band 25 or Band 41. Band 41 is a higher band and faster, but it has less range and less penetrating power.

If I had to guess, you probably had Band 41 outside and lost the signal inside while out in the country you're getting Band 25.

In any case, what AJ has said is entirely appropriate.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Why would that be at such a busy area and an Apple store right around the corner from that restaurant? In front of the Apple store outside I was getting my usual LTE with 3 bars.

That assumes that Sprint thinks the way that you do. Do they check the map and decide, "There's an Apple Store here, we need to supply extra capacity?" Sure, they'll know that a mall is a busy area, and they undoubtedly analyze traffic/usage of every cell to understand where they need to bolster coverage. But in the end, short-term demand for circuits can outstrip supply. It's not likely any provider is going to over-build their system to handle peak worst-case scenarios.

Your phone could have fallen back to 1x for several reasons. Number one is certainly poor reception. It's radio. Poor reception can occur due to any number of factors. I'm not familiar with carrier practices in this regard, but it's also at least conceivable that there's older hardware in place to provide backup/supplemental capacity and you just got lucky.

 

[willmtaylor]

That assumes that Sprint thinks the way that you do. Do they check the map and decide, "There's an Apple Store here, we need to supply extra capacity?" Sure, they'll know that a mall is a busy area, and they undoubtedly analyze traffic/usage of every cell to understand where they need to bolster coverage. But in the end, short-term demand for circuits can outstrip supply. It's not likely any provider is going to over-build their system to handle peak worst-case scenarios....

And THAT assumes that Sprint thinks anything at all.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Yesterday I was at the St. Johns town center apple store in Jax. I just wanted them to check the battery on my wife's 6 plus. Now that whole complex is a very busy place.
We went to get a bite at the cheese cake factory restaurant...(newton's apple) should be familiar with that area. Well anyway inside the restaurant both my wife's iPhone 6 plus and my iPhone 7 we were only getting Sprint cell phone 1x service. Why would that be at such a busy area and an Apple store right around the corner from that restaurant? In front of the Apple store outside I was getting my usual LTE with 3 bars. I live out in the country and consistently get LTE service with 3 bars. Just seems strange to get poor service at the restaurant in Jacksonville..Just curious, no big deal..
thanks for a reply

DO not have Sprint but most of Town Center gets me 3 to 5 bars on AT&T. Even when I do get 1-2 bars I have not had a problem getting or receiving a call.

The Cheese Cake Factory is good for sure.

 

[willmtaylor]

Yesterday I was at the St. Johns town center apple store in Jax. I just wanted them to check the battery on my wife's 6 plus. Now that whole complex is a very busy place.
We went to get a bite at the cheese cake factory restaurant...(newton's apple) should be familiar with that area. Well anyway inside the restaurant both my wife's iPhone 6 plus and my iPhone 7 we were only getting Sprint cell phone 1x service. Why would that be at such a busy area and an Apple store right around the corner from that restaurant? In front of the Apple store outside I was getting my usual LTE with 3 bars. I live out in the country and consistently get LTE service with 3 bars. Just seems strange to get poor service at the restaurant in Jacksonville..Just curious, no big deal..
thanks for a reply

As a future reference point for Sprint and its coverage, here's how it has St. Johns Town Center on its coverage map:

Zoomed out a bit, it's described as "4G LTE."

Zoomed in just a bit, it's described as "4G LTE Best."

 

[eyoungren]

That assumes that Sprint thinks the way that you do. Do they check the map and decide, "There's an Apple Store here, we need to supply extra capacity?" Sure, they'll know that a mall is a busy area, and they undoubtedly analyze traffic/usage of every cell to understand where they need to bolster coverage. But in the end, short-term demand for circuits can outstrip supply. It's not likely any provider is going to over-build their system to handle peak worst-case scenarios.

A case could be made for your argument concerning just Sprint. However, I can tell you there is a two-story mall that I frequent (Arrowhead Towne Center, Bell Road and 101 freeway) that T-Mobile serves with extra small-cell towers. I've seen them on the light poles in the area of the mall. So, at least in T-Mob's estimation, the mall is worth those small cells.

There just happens to be an Apple store in this mall, but that's coincidental I think.
[doublepost=1488390914][/doublepost]

…but most of Town Center…The Cheese Cake Factory…

I'm quoting you because it's a small world.

There's a Cheesecake factory in the area of the mall I just mentioned and that mall happens to also have Town Center as part of it's name.

Two different areas of the country.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

A case could be made for your argument concerning just Sprint. However, I can tell you there is a two-story mall that I frequent (Arrowhead Towne Center, Bell Road and 101 freeway) that T-Mobile serves with extra small-cell towers. I've seen them on the light poles in the area of the mall. So, at least in T-Mob's estimation, the mall is worth those small cells.

There just happens to be an Apple store in this mall, but that's coincidental I think.

The fundamental nature of cellular service is that the higher the traffic, the more cells there will be in a given area. We don't know that Sprint isn't using lots of mini-cells in that immediate area. I doubt their coverage map provides nearly enough detail to understand just how they're delivering the advertised coverage.

Any given company is capable of delivering excellent service in one spot, and poor service in another. Overall quality of a network is a statistical measure. Poor reception encountered by one person, in one specific location, on a particular date and time doesn't tell us much about the big picture.

Years ago, my dad was on the local planning commission. The town had some major gaps/weaknesses in cell coverage (and it's still not fabulous), due in large part to the lay of the land. As the providers tried to add smaller cells to fill the gaps (proposing antennae attached to the outer walls of apartment buildings), there was some predictable push-back from the community. Dad was very proud that the commission had forced the proposed cells to be relocated to an existing tower at the public safety complex, 1/4 mile or more from the proposed sites. My guess is that they replaced several smaller cells, which would have radiated lower levels of RF, with one more powerful cell. Net effect? Probably poorer coverage, and fewer available circuits (otherwise, they would have proposed that site in the first place). Big win for the non-engineers, huh? (And the town gets the tower rental money, rather than the landlords, a win for the taxpayers, too.) Yeah, I tried to explain this to Dad at the time...

 

[martosprint]

The fundamental nature of cellular service is that the higher the traffic, the more cells there will be in a given area. We don't know that Sprint isn't using lots of mini-cells in that immediate area. I doubt their coverage map provides nearly enough detail to understand just how they're delivering the advertised coverage.

Any given company is capable of delivering excellent service in one spot, and poor service in another. Overall quality of a network is a statistical measure. Poor reception encountered by one person, in one specific location, on a particular date and time doesn't tell us much about the big picture.

Years ago, my dad was on the local planning commission. The town had some major gaps/weaknesses in cell coverage (and it's still not fabulous), due in large part to the lay of the land. As the providers tried to add smaller cells to fill the gaps (proposing antennae attached to the outer walls of apartment buildings), there was some predictable push-back from the community. Dad was very proud that the commission had forced the proposed cells to be relocated to an existing tower at the public safety complex, 1/4 mile or more from the proposed sites. My guess is that they replaced several smaller cells, which would have radiated lower levels of RF, with one more powerful cell. Net effect? Probably poorer coverage, and fewer available circuits (otherwise, they would have proposed that site in the first place). Big win for the non-engineers, huh? (And the town gets the tower rental money, rather than the landlords, a win for the taxpayers, too.) Yeah, I tried to explain this to Dad at the time...

[doublepost=1488395283][/doublepost]Thanks for all the replies. My son mentioned that too much cell phone traffic in the area might have caused it similar to what ApfelKuchen said. Or maybe it was just in that restaurant where the service dropped drastically. I've never had a drop to 1x anywhere else in the whole north Florida area. It's always been 3 bars with LTE. I'm very satisfied with Sprint and I've had it for many many years without a problem.
I thank everyone that replied and appreciate it.....thanks..

 

[Newtons Apple]

[doublepost=1488395283][/doublepost]Thanks for all the replies. My son mentioned that too much cell phone traffic in the area might have caused it similar to what ApfelKuchen said. Or maybe it was just in that restaurant where the service dropped drastically. I've never had a drop to 1x anywhere else in the whole north Florida area. It's always been 3 bars with LTE. I'm very satisfied with Sprint and I've had it for many many years without a problem.
I thank everyone that replied and appreciate it.....thanks..

Next time try P.F. Chang's and see if reception is better. I eat there all the time and the food is great! I will look at my phone next time I am in the Cheese Cake Factory.

 

[martosprint]

Next time try P.F. Chang's and see if reception is better. I eat there all the time and the food is great! I will look at my phone next time I am in the Cheese Cake Factory.

[doublepost=1488403152][/doublepost]

Next time try P.F. Chang's and see if reception is better. I eat there all the time and the food is great! I will look at my phone next time I am in the Cheese Cake Factory.

Hi, I figured you might have been there at one time or another. Yes next time you are in that restaurant just check your reception and let me know what you get. I don't get to go there too often because I live a little too far away in Keystone! Thanks for the reply.....
PS what is going on with all that construction across the street with a huge parking garage and other construction all along that side of the street?

 

[Newtons Apple]

[doublepost=1488403152][/doublepost]
Hi, I figured you might have been there at one time or another. Yes next time you are in that restaurant just check your reception and let me know what you get. I don't get to go there too often because I live a little too far away in Keystone! Thanks for the reply.....
PS what is going on with all that construction across the street with a huge parking garage and other construction all along that side of the street?

Used to be woods with a Great Lake but they mowed all the trees down for more shopping. It is sad

I will check it out next time I get a cheese cake deficiency!

 

[martosprint]

Used to be woods with a Great Lake but they mowed all the trees down for more shopping. It is sad

I will check it out next time I get a cheese cake deficiency!

Okay thanks, can you imagine the traffic that will be on the road when all that construction is completed? It's bad enough now as it is...How far are you from that town center? 