Bell LTE- stable or not?

[Steve Punter]

This is interesting information.

Can you comment on what is "better" in regards to these numbers. For example on my phone I see RSRP (dBm) -95, RSRQ (dB) -3 currently. It registers as 2 out of 5 bars on the general signal indicator.

I believe as the RSRP figures get larger (eg -105) the signal is weaker. For RSRQ i'm not sure if it's better to have say -4 or whether -3 is "better" in this instance.

Yes, the more negative RSRP gets, the l weaker the signal (so -105 is is weaker than -95). The same is true of RSRQ, and so -3 is better than -4.

Since you are getting 2 bars on an RSRP of -95 and an RSRQ of -3, you must have the older baseband code in your phone. I found this problem on both Samsung and HTC phones. I switched to using UCLF6 on my S II LTE and I get much "saner" numbers of bars now.

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[Steve Punter]

Steve, I find this interesting so if you guys start another thread, that would be good. There are 2 Rogers HSPA sites in Woodbridge that don't appear to have LTE despite their coverage maps showing they do. One is at HWY 7 & HWY 400, near the Colossus movie theatres, and the other is at Jane & Teston (tower is on the north side of Teston in between HWY 400 and Jane). I want to note that I haven't done any signal confirmation using phone service modes, etc. I merely looked at the equipment mounted on these towers and didn't see the typical Rogers LTE equipment found on other Rogers LTE sites. The tower at Teston & Jane doesn't even appear to have been updated with their newer HSPA equipment that I've observed elsewhere...the antennae look old etc. My fiance's Rogers iPhone 4S doesn't even pickup full signal being only a few hundred feet away from this tower...I also had spotty 3G coverage in this area when I was with Rogers.

I'll certainly check out those sites, but I would like to note that you can't really tell if a Rogers site has LTE based purely on equipment or antennas.

For example, the site near Highway 403 and Eglinton in Mississauga is an old Hydro tower mounted site inherited from Microcell Connexions. It definitely has LTE, but it still contains the original 1900 MHz antennas and Microcell Connexions equipment shelter. There is nothing there to suggest LTE at all.

Some of the newly constructed Rogers sites do have distinctive equipment that is clearly visible, but the old ones don't (especially the ones on Hydro towers, because only Hydro personnel are allowed up the towers and Rogers can't easily change anything). This may be why none of the Bell Mobility Hydro tower sites ever got HSPA, much less LTE.

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[xtachx]

You know who you're talking to right? I've been tracking and mapping cell sites for 25 years. I know where the LTE sites are and I'm afraid sir it is you who are mistaken.

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I am sorry to join the conversation late, but you are wrong.

There are many many sites with Rogers HSPA but not LTE. I will list some here:

63 DANFORTH ROAD
PARKSIDE DRIVE
NORTH YORK ON SW QUAD OF DON
NORTH YORK ON END OF FENMAR

etc etc. However, Rogers LTE coverage is really quite extensive and looks much better than bell.

[Steve Punter]

I am sorry to join the conversation late, but you are wrong.

There are many many sites with Rogers HSPA but not LTE. I will list some here:

63 DANFORTH ROAD
PARKSIDE DRIVE
NORTH YORK ON SW QUAD OF DON
NORTH YORK ON END OF FENMAR

etc etc. However, Rogers LTE coverage is really quite extensive and looks much better than bell.

I'd like to check those out, but I'm not sure where you mean by the locations you specified (except 63 Danforth, which is explicit). Can you give those sites via the closest major intersections. Thanks.

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[Steve Punter]

I had reason to travel along Highway 407 this morning, and so I decided to check out a couple of the sites recently cited by xtachx and toolcube to see if they really were without LTE.

I started with one mentioned by xtachx and I crossed my fingers that by "NORTH YORK ON THE TOP OF FENMAR" was in reference to the site located on a Hydro tower at Pine Valley Road and Highway 407. Fenmar ends at Steeles and becomes Pine Valley north of there.

At first it didn't SEEM as though the site had LTE because the RSRP was a little weaker than I expected sitting right under the tower at the exit ramp from Highway 407. None the less, I drove around the area so that I could observe the PCIs on all sides of this site and contrary to what xtachx might think (assuming this is the site he was referring to), there really is LTE up there. The PCIs are 72, 80, and 88, which not only conform to the pattern Rogers rigidly follows, but it also isn't the same as the PCIs on any other sites in that vicinity (I checked all of them).

I next headed up Pine Valley to Highway 7 and I headed east toward Highway 400 to check on the site right at the highway onramp (as mentioned by toolcube). It's an old Telus tapered tower that Microcell Connexions originally co-located on, and then that co-location was inherited by Rogers when they bought Microcell. This site too had rather low output, and so other sites in the vicinity were often dominant. None the less, after carefully driving around the site to catch all 3 of its PCIs I can confidently say that this site has LTE as well (the PCIs are 276, 284, and 292).

As for the site up at Jane and Teston, that isn't SUPPOSED to have LTE. The conversion to LTE ends at Major Mackenzie in Woodbridge, and anything north of there is not yet converted. The coverage map DOES NOT falsely show this. It is after all a "coverage" map, not a "where the LTE sites are" map. Signals from sites along Major Mac will provide LTE coverage for 3 to 5 km north of their locations and the coverage map accurately shows this. Check out my Rogers LTE site map (generated from the Industry Canada online database) at http://www.arcx.com/sites/RogersLTEGoogle.htm.

[toolcube]

Thanks for the update Steve...very informative.

[RogerCoutts]

Not sure if this is related or not but on my S3 I would lose the ability to make or receive calls and just get the phone saying not registered on network. I called Bell and they gave me the whole crap about turning off LTE. This has helped but it still doesn't fix it as I will suddenly get a flood of text messages and my wife yelling at me for turning the phone off and I didnt even know it disconnected. Called bell again and now they tell me HSPA+ is also affected by the issue and they are working with samsung to fix it. They told me it should be fixed around the middle of the month with a software update. What gets me is 2 days ago my father in law fell off the roof and split his head open and I couldnt even call 911, all the phone would say is not registered on network.