vB Easy Archive - Any word on 3G in Madison or Green Bay, WI

Pages: 1

Any word on 3G in Madison or Green Bay, WI
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: rkklinke

I was told by my local AT&T business rep. that all the equipment was here just waiting to be installed. She told me that last summer. It is almost February and still no 3G.

I realize that we are not the biggest market that still is lacking 3G but AT&T/Cingular has always been the dominant player here and Verizon and Sprint have had EV-DO here to over two years. If I has known that it was going to take this long I would have switched years ago.

My business rep told me that the biggest reason she is loosing customers or not able to attract new customers is lack of 3G. So I ask again as someone looking for 3G. When is it going to happen???

Posted by: msatlas

AT&T is currently installing Ericsson UMTS base stations at their cell sites in the Madison area. Market will launch by the end of April. We should start seeing individual sites go active on occasion.

FYI the site that covers the area north of Lake Mendota is on a farm off 19 between the Beltline and Waunakee. Rollout to that site specifically has to wait until all this snow melts. The site is under too much snow for the crews to get to it and hook up the new T1 lines and base station.

I'm tempted to buy a 3g phone now that I know the service will launch in the very near future, but I'm holding out for the Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1.

Posted by: rkklinke

Quote:

Originally Posted by msatlas

AT&T is currently installing Ericsson UMTS base stations at their cell sites in the Madison area. Market will launch by the end of April. We should start seeing individual sites go active on occasion.

FYI the site that covers the area north of Lake Mendota is on a farm off 19 between the Beltline and Waunakee. Rollout to that site specifically has to wait until all this snow melts. The site is under too much snow for the crews to get to it and hook up the new T1 lines and base station.

I'm tempted to buy a 3g phone now that I know the service will launch in the very near future, but I'm holding out for the Sony-Ericsson Xperia X1.

Thanks for the info, by the way, how did you get your info. Just wondering. I have a treo 750 but I know from my experience in Milwaukee that the battery doesn't last as long in a 3G market. I tend to get a really low battery signal by the end of the day so I will probably be looking into something new once it does go live. I also am purchasing an HTC Shift when they come out. I don't know which one I am more excited for. The Shift or 3G in Madison.

Agian thanks for the info.

Posted by: damba98

3G in the Mad-City? Now that's good news (since it's my home town).

But FWIW, Hwy 12 that far north is really know as the 'beltline'. That part ends around Middleton.

I'm frankly surprised the tower would be located closer to Lake Mendota- somewhere along either Hwy M or maybe 113(?)

best,
Pedro

Quote:

Originally Posted by msatlas

FYI the site that covers the area north of Lake Mendota is on a farm off 19 between the Beltline and Waunakee.

Posted by: msatlas

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkklinke

Thanks for the info, by the way, how did you get your info. Just wondering.

I know some people who know some things about AT&T.

I know Madison is somewhat low down on AT&T's list for adding 3g service, but when they put out that press release about "80 new markets" I made a few calls and it just so happened the work was just getting started.

Quote:

Originally Posted by damba98

3G in the Mad-City? Now that's good news (since it's my home town).

But FWIW, Hwy 12 that far north is really know as the 'beltline'. That part ends around Middleton.

I'm frankly surprised the tower would be located closer to Lake Mendota- somewhere along either Hwy M or maybe 113(?)

There may well be sites closer to Lake Mendota. I don't have the full build plan by any means.

I live on the west side of Madison and work in Waunakee, so I spoke with one of my sources about what site provides my coverage while at work. This person isn't from Madison but described the site as "on a farm off 19 about four miles west of Waunakee."

I'm not sure about UMTS range, but I do know that a GSM 850 site in a low-population area (i.e. not enough calls or data sessions to use up the site's capacity) with extended-range mode turned on can propagate out for 22 miles if the terrain is flat enough. So this location is certainly within reason.

Posted by: rkklinke

I had to go into the East Wash. ATT store this morning to get a new sim card and asked about 3G in Madison. Up until now everytime I asked I got nothing. They would usually roll their eyes in disgust, not at me, but just at the fact that we still did not have 3G and they had no clue as to when it would be here. This time however she had an answer. March 15th. She did say that I shouldn't be worried if I did not actually see it on that date but that it would be done by the 1st of April. Just a little bit of confirmation to the info provided by "msatlas". Not that I didn't believe you, I just wanted to add my confirmation since I was able to get it right from the store. Hopefully by next weekend we should have it. Of course I will be out of town and may not get the joy of waking up one morning and seeing the "H" on my treo but if they do go live while I am away I can live with that.

Posted by: privax

I'll double check the internal coverage map when I get to work and let you know later if there is a date set for Madison or Green Bay.

Posted by: rkklinke

Quote:

Originally Posted by privax

I'll double check the internal coverage map when I get to work and let you know later if there is a date set for Madison or Green Bay.

That would be great. Also, I live just outside of Madison, actually straight East of Madison, in Cottage Grove and am wondering if I will have 3G coverage there? I currrently have excellent coverage with them right now.

Posted by: privax

cottage grove will get 3g but the date says unknown -- there is also a new tower planned near route 94 north west of you.

same goes for 3g in madison no known date... and for green bay there isn't anything about 3g.... not even saying its coming.

I saw 2 new towers planned in green bay one should be coming this month and another in september....

Posted by: rkklinke

I am at home in Cottage Grove right now and Rock'n 3G. AWESOME.

Posted by: msatlas

Keep your fingers crossed that you keep that 3g connection, they may have the site nearest you turned up for the time being to make sure it's working but it may go dark again.

My contacts are saying the Madison market should be finished by end of April but there's no set launch date on the books. So until end of April there may be gaps in the coverage.

Posted by: rkklinke

Quote:

Originally Posted by msatlas

Keep your fingers crossed that you keep that 3g connection, they may have the site nearest you turned up for the time being to make sure it's working but it may go dark again.

My contacts are saying the Madison market should be finished by end of April but there's no set launch date on the books. So until end of April there may be gaps in the coverage.

I think that is what happened. It seemed weird that they would be doing that kind of work over the weekend but I had 3G service from Friday afternoon until late on Saturday. It has since disappeared. But it is a good sign that it will be on soon.

Also, I had to go to the west side of town on Saturday and never got signal except at my house. Which also tells me that they were probably testing the tower.

Posted by: ironhayden08

I can give some info regarding the Green Bay-area 3G scenario. The three planned sites are GSM only, to fill in what are basically dead spots in heavily populated areas. All the sites that have gone up in the last few months in NE Wisconsin are GSM only as of now. There was a site planned north of Green Bay on US 41 that basically fills the hole between the AT&T network and the former Dobson network. That site disappeared from our internal maps.

If anyone would like to know any other info about NE Wisconsin, including the recently aquired dobson network, PM me. I'd be happy to share some insights.

Posted by: WiJackSeller

madison 3g was set to be launched today. However it looks like know its Tueday the 18th instead of today. Everyone was firm saying it was the 15th though.

Posted by: NoLimitz80

Madison was supposed to unofficially launch today in Madison like WiJackSeller says but it has been pushed back just a lil bit. It will be soon. And for Green Bay, WI do NOT hold your breath for this. Will be more then 2 years before you see it there.

Posted by: Interenter

At midnight last night, Madison, WI went 3G!! I know there had been some testing, but it's been up and runnign since midnight. As I write this, the 3G symbol on my Nokia N95 is proudly displayed. Download speeds are vastly improved over EDGE and the 3G voice quality improvement is evident. Forgive the hyperbole, but after months of delays it's good to see it up and running at last.

Posted by: en4rcer

I'm also pleased to see the "3G" on my V3xx in the Madison area. It seems as though not every site in the area is 3G yet, just judging by signal strength. I know someone mentioned one of the sites that was slated to be upgraded was snowed in. Maybe more sites were not accessible or perhaps it's just a slow roll-out??

Either way, I'm glad 3G is in Madtown!

North side Madison - 3G.
DeForest area seems to be hit or miss for 3G.
Downtown Madison seems to be 3G covered, but spotty inside the City-County Building (reverts to 2.5G off & on).

Posted by: gortosi

Middleton also has 3G activity. I did not even know about and was amazed to see it on my Tilt today!

Posted by: beatniks3

super hot news, should have been coming to this area for updates, i have been calling into the att store on mineral point and asking for info.

sweet news, but now i got to get a phone with us 3G!

nice to see another madison folks on hofo here

Posted by: beatniks3

hoping someone can answer this question: is the 3G 850MHz or 1900MHz or both in our area?

thanks

Posted by: alhanson

Here is the 3G Madison coverage map

al

Posted by: rkklinke

alhanson, do you have a better image that can be posted? It is a little blury. Is there somewhere that I can download it? Thanks.

Posted by: alhanson

rkklinke,

I got the map from a Tec in the store on the west side of Madison. Don't know if I should have posted it. That was the biggest size the forum would let me post. The Tec got it as an email from AT&T. I have the original scanned on my computer. What I thought of interest was the finger print image over the four lakes. It all so should Lake Mills clearly out side the blue. I know you have posted that you got 3G in your home in Lake Mills. Also driving around the Lake Mendota on the north side I dropped out of 3G into E at Governor Nelson Park for awhile. I all so thought it strange that AT&T didn't bring 3G along 94 from Milwaukee to Madison. 3G leaves off just out side Ocnomowoc when come from Milwaukee on 94. I did get 5 bars 3G at the Werner Park boat ramp come i think from a tower near the Capital. Maybe you could head out on 94 toward Milwaukee on 94 and see if you can pick up 3G any close to Madison then Ocnomowoc. Well then you could have peace of mind knowing it just a matter of time before it at Lake Mills again and the map is only what they have turned on thus far. The tower that i would need to be turned on is the far west Dane County one out beyond Pine Bluff. I drove by it the other day and the road in is still snow covered and there hasn't been any one in there all winter. Sad! So i went and payed up my Wildblue satellite for 2 more months today.

al

Posted by: beatniks3

alhanson, is the 3G 850Mhz in our area?

Posted by: n33d0n3

Quote:

Originally Posted by beatniks3

alhanson, is the 3G 850Mhz in our area?

It is in the Milwaukee area.

I was wondering why they didn't push it out past Oconomowoc. Thought for sure they would link that up via I-94 and come back and build out the rest at a later date.

Posted by: russianbill

Any chance of at&t filling in the gaps north of Green Bay up to the peninsula?
3G would be nice but GSM would be welcome at this point. Currently the only coverage is through a roaming partner called Einstein Wireless / Airadigm with very few towers.

Posted by: alhanson

Well guys

I believe all 3G is 850 MHz. The reason i say this is because in Madison on the west side at my Mother house I have installed a repeater system for her cell phone. The repeater system is only a 850 MHz system. The antenna is a 850 MHz Omni directional one. She can only get one bar with in her house with out the repeater but 6 feet away from the repeater antenna i can get 3G on my LG phone with 5 bars. Sprint, Alltel and Verizon EVDO are 1900 MHz but some times Verizon can be 850 MHz. I believe this has been reported in the 3Gstore forum. I believe that AT&T 3G is only a 850 MHz protocol. I do know that in Richland Center out side the Wall-mart today I got 4 bar on my LG AT&T phone and it is 1900 MHz. That is the Edge network. Also in Dodgeville I can use my LG phone on AT&T but it is one some one else 1900 MHz network.

al

Posted by: beatniks3

thanks for the answers guys.

Posted by: russianbill

Quote:

Originally Posted by alhanson

I can use my LG phone on AT&T but it is one some one else 1900 MHz network.

Einstein Wireless is 1900 MHz.
If you go over a certain percentage of your use on a "partner" network, at&t may get crabby about it so be careful.

Posted by: ironhayden08

Quote:

Originally Posted by alhanson

Also in Dodgeville I can use my LG phone on AT&T but it is one some one else 1900 MHz network.

You are most likely using Bugtussel Wireless's towers. They are a Green Bay-based wholesaler of wireless service in rural Wisconsin. Basically any towers you use outside of the home AT&T or T-Mobile network south of Hwy 29 is Bug's towers. They operate on an 1900 PCS license. You can check out their coverage maps here: http://www.bugtusselwireless.com/index.html From what I've been told by our RF techs, we do not used Aradaigm for any roaming as we don't have to based on our relationship with Bugtussel and the purchase of Dobson Cell One.

As far as going up the peninsula, I am assuming you mean the Door County Penninsula. AT&T does not have licensure in Door County. In Southern Door county, you are typically bouncing off the former Dobson towers from the other side of the bay (850 MHz) and Bug's network which for all intents and purposes is like a giant repeater system and it is awful.

Posted by: russianbill

I didnt know about Bugtussle. Thanks!

Posted by: yuri1419

I noticed that they added Madison to the list of 3G cities, with a map:
http://www.wireless.att.com/coverag.../Madison_WI.pdf

Posted by: mattmcd4free

did anyone have any problems with the 3g last thursday and friday? my phone wouldn't make calls or send texts most of the time. When I switched over to a non 3g phone it worked perfectly.

Posted by: Konceptz

BREEZE STEVENS FIELD 917 EAST MIFFLIN STREET MADISON WI 100

HOMBURG TRUCKING 5901 COMMERCIAL AVENUE MADISON WI 100

MONONA 2800 INDUSTRIAL DRIVE MADISON WI 114

These are some of the towers around madison. The search engine is a little bit prolific so I'm not sure i got them all.

Posted by: rkklinke

Do you have a link to the search engine?

Posted by: Konceptz

www.atttowers.com

Registration does not require email confirmation. In other words, you can give a fake email addr.

Posted by: rkklinke

There is one in Deforest as well but otherwise that is it in Madison/Dane County for AT&T owned towers

Posted by: BroadcastDoc

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironhayden08

That explains a lot!

I've spent the past few weekends in Egg Harbor and Ephraim working, and I've noticed that there is a HUGE delay on the GSM voice connection, on the order of 1 to 2 seconds. Makes it very difficult to have a conversation!