RGJ.com: Wireless carriers tell Reno 4G roll-out schedule
The Reno Gazette-Journal posted an article recently that lists the current roll-out schedule for the wireless carrier’s 4th generation data network in the Reno area. Bottom line: T-Mobile’s is already active, the other 3 major carriers had no specific timetable.
Timetable updated July 2013:
T-Mobile: Now
AT&T: By 2013, but nothing more specific – Launched LTE December 2012
Verizon: No estimated date – Launched LTE September 2011
Sprint: No estimated date Washoe County – Expected to launch LTE July 2013
April 16th, 2013 at 10:26 am
Does anyone know what frequency the T-Mobile HSPA+ service is on in Reno? I am trying to figure out if it is 1700 or 1900.
June 23rd, 2013 at 7:42 am
It appears that Sprint has begun their roll-out of LTE for our area. Last week the north towers in Carson City went live. My guess is Reno should be coming up soon, why else would you make Carson LTE?
June 25th, 2013 at 9:22 am
I’ll have to drive to Carson to check Sprint on my EVO 4G LTE because the data situation up in Reno/Sparks with Sprint is beyond horrible. This morning I was set on ditching Sprint because just because of this, which also causes it to miss downloading voicemails. I already have a Verizon account for my iPad and a mobile hotspot, both LTE. I never even considered Sprint for those data-only devices because they’re that bad.
June 26th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Bill,
Well this may be some good news also. Just found out that the new Sprint Tower off of Baring is currently being retrofitted for LTE and should be live within the next few days. Also, Reno/Sparks which fall into Sprints “Upper Central Valley” market along with Sacramento and surrounding areas, are now in the LTE upgrade process. So it shouldn’t belong before all towers get upgraded. It will take time, but at least it’s actually in the works. Like you, the data speeds are horrific now and this is a much anticipated thing for many data users! As I get more info from someone involved in this rollout I will let you know.
July 12th, 2013 at 1:44 am
T-Mobile’s HSPA+ should be on both 1.7/2.1 (AWS) and 1.9 (PCS) bands in Reno since Jan or Feb (the latter since the re-farm to make room for LTE).
More interesting to me is whether they’ve installed/turned on LTE in N.NV yet and in which areas since they wouldn’t even cover the north valleys properly with HSPA before.
I may be coming home permanently soon (from Phoenix, where T-Mobile’s network works well in most areas but Sprint’s is crap like…well, actually WORSE than in N.NV because they have a severe lack of spectrum–we STILL don’t have Sprint LTE here (and only WiMax from a couple of cells in downtown Phoenix from their early experiments)), so I’m keeping a closer eye on things now since I really don’t want to be stuck giving VZW or ATT money.
July 12th, 2013 at 6:54 am
We’ve received information that Sprint will launch LTE in Reno late July. However judging by the lack of Sprint cell sites that haven’t added new antennas yet, the rollout will be limited at first. AT&T did that too – launching in December 2012 on about 2/3 of their cell sites then finally rolling out nearly citywide 6 months later.
July 14th, 2013 at 1:28 am
Of course, if I were stuck with AT&T, it would be nice if they would extend coverage to Yerington where my dad lives: their map only shows “3G” aka (if I’m interpreting right) low-end HSDPA; by comparison, Verizon has apparently upgraded their low-level Yerington cell to LTE some time ago.
Of course, it would be nice if my T-Mobile phone worked at all: they show roaming in southern Lyon county, presumably on the old Western Wireless system now owned by Verizon–this despite being their license territory. This roaming signal also causes my dad grief as his phone (from what he describes to me) likes to switch between this and AT&T depending on location (strength); I’m thinking forcing it to home-only (does a modern phone even allow this anymore?) may fix this.
Final thought: LTE is the godsend for rural areas and–IMHO–should provide near-analog distance-of-service (that is, at extreme (for cell technologies) distances from the base) based on what I’ve experienced on T-Mobile’s system here with my Galaxy Note II on TMO’s AWS band and extreme building attenuation; HSPA+, OTOH, absolutely sucks at even small increasing distances; I can’t tag this problem on cell breathing alone since it seems to occur day, night, and weekends.
July 14th, 2013 at 1:37 am
Clarification: “HSPA+, OTOH, absolutely sucks at even small increasing distances; I can’t tag this problem on cell breathing alone since it seems to occur day, night, and weekends.”
This compared to GSM, not LTE. That is, GSM seems to extremely outperform HSPA+ based on both distance and attenuation in my subjective observation. LTE should theoretically outperform GSM, but in my observation here in Phoenix seems to be nearly the same in most instances, though there are obviously still some coverage holes (and in places you would think they would cover first, not last, like Westgate (where the Cardinals and Coyotes play)). Without widespread LTE in rural areas, though (except on parts of Verizon), it’s hard to test whether LTE should perform as well as analog distance-wise, at least for voice and low-speed data. (Remember GSM has a distance limit due to its TDMA nature–from Wikipedia: “The longest distance the GSM specification supports in practical use is 35 kilometres (22 mi). There are also several implementations of the concept of an extended cell,[10] where the cell radius could be double or even more, depending on the antenna system, the type of terrain and the timing advance.” This is obviously very important in Nevada outside of the cities.)
July 20th, 2013 at 10:05 am
I finally went to Carson to check out Sprint LTE on my phone and it works great, comparable speeds to Verizon LTE on my iPad. I have seen that Zayo maps show new fiber builds to sites I know are Sprint towers.
August 1st, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Sprint started firing up the LTE in Reno/Sparks today!
August 14th, 2013 at 9:08 am
My Sprint EVO 4G LTE broke yesterday August 13 (internal screen connector separated) so I ended up jumping to Verizon since I already had an account for the iPad. I never did see any LTE service from Sprint anywhere I’ve been in Reno/Sparks: from downtown to UNR, south of the airport to the Sparks industrial area and even to the top of Red Peak in Sun Valley. No Sprint LTE anywhere to be seen up to the last day I had Sprint service. I had been with Sprint for at least 10 years. It was a long suffering of poor data speeds and it’s a shame Sprint ended up being the dead last major provider to figure it out.
September 3rd, 2013 at 10:08 am
Is there any way to find out when Sprint will complete the LTE rollout in Reno? The data speed for Sprint 3G makes me want to cry, it reminds me of when I used to access the internet with a 1200 baud modem =/
September 4th, 2013 at 8:57 am
Unfortunately they do not make rollout schedules public – since the schedules always change.