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Benjamin Kerensa

The Ramblings of a Beautiful Mind

Sprint

Sprint LTE now live in parts of Portland Metro Area

March 25, 2013 By Benjamin Kerensa

 

Sprint LTE in Portland, Oregon Metro Area
Sprint LTE in Portland, Oregon Metro Area

It looks like Sprint is up to something good even though they have not announced it yet (surprisingly) I found that there is quite a bit of LTE service rolling out in Washington County (Clackamas, Oregon) just on the border of Portland, Oregon.

This is really good news for Sprint customers in Oregon because it means LTE is coming even though Sprint has not officially listed any place in Oregon as on their roadmap for LTE.

Since I know I get a lot of readers to my blog from Oregon I’m wondering if any other Sprint customers in Oregon have noticed any unannounced rollouts of LTE?

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Clackamas, LTE, Oregon, Portland, Sprint

Upgrade Sprint Galaxy Nexus to 4.2.1 on Ubuntu

January 18, 2013 By Benjamin Kerensa

Screenshot_2013-01-18-01-23-51 On Tuesday I discovered (which resulted in lots of buzz) the new Sprint Android 4.2.1 Update that is still being staged as a OTA for Sprint Customers. Now you can wait for Sprint to roll the update out through a normal OTA or you can follow the steps below which do not require root or even a unlocked bootloader and since you’re not flashing a custom ROM but instead just sideloading a official update your warranty should stay intact.

 

 

Step One: POWER Phone Off

Step Two: Hold UP and DOWN VOLUME + POWER until you land in fastboot menu then use the up arrow to select “Recovery” and press POWER to confirm the choice. You will then be taken to a screen showing an android with a red exclamation mark on this screen press UP and DOWN VOLUME + POWER until your taken to the next menu where you will tap the DOWN VOLUME once and use POWER to select choose the option “apply update from adb.”

Step Three: Connect your Galaxy Nexus to your Ubuntu system via USB cable.

 

Step Four: In terminal run the following command without the quotes “wget http://android.clients.google.com/packages/ota/samsung_proxima_toroplus_sprint/c5ea6e959840.update_mysidspr_FH05_to_GA02.zip && adb sideload c5ea6e959840.update_mysidspr_FH05_to_GA02.zip”.

Now you should see progress in terminal and then after about 10 minutes your phone will complete the update procedure and you can use the volume control to select the reboot option. You should now have Android 4.2.1 on your Sprint Galaxy Nexus and to check just go to “About Phone” under Settings and it should look like this:

Screenshot_2013-01-18-01-24-35

 

Filed Under: Android, Open Source, Technology, Ubuntu Tagged With: 4.2.1, Android, GA02, Galaxy Nexus, Jelly Bean, Sprint

Sprint to start rolling out Android 4.2.1 to Galaxy Nexus

January 15, 2013 By Benjamin Kerensa

Sprint Galaxy Nexus (L700) If you use Sprint like I do and own a Galaxy Nexus (L700) then its very likely your running Baseband Version FH05 which has Android 4.1 and there has been lots of predictions about when Sprint and Verizon will push Android 4.2 to its customers since the GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus has had it for months now.

Well the waiting is almost over for Sprint customers since they have a Galaxy Nexus Baseband update in the pipeline called GA02 (see here) which is CDMA driver update with Android 4.2.1. From the looks of it this new update is in final testing with a release date next month and so far Verizon is still quiet on a Galaxy Nexus update for its customers.

So if you were about to root to get Android 4.2.1 you don’t necessarily need to do that unless  you really want to!

 

Filed Under: Android, Technology Tagged With: Android 4.2.1, Galaxy Nexus, Sprint

The Shocking Truth About Wireless Coverage Maps

December 27, 2012 By Benjamin Kerensa

Awhile back I blogged about some excellent crowdsourced coverage maps available to customers of major wireless carriers and today I put together this infographic on the state of coverage maps provided by the carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. The inaccuracy of coverage maps does not just exist with major carriers but it’s also a problem with smaller carriers too.

The Truth About Wireless Coverage Maps

Filed Under: Business, Technology Tagged With: AT&T, Cellular, Coverage Maps, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Wireless

How To Debunk Wireless Carrier Coverage Maps

October 28, 2012 By Benjamin Kerensa

Cell Phone Coverage Maps Carriers are using every spin on words they can in every advertising medium possible to try to hook consumers into expensive multi-year contracts and many don’t want you to know that although they may promise you the “Best Coverage” or “Fastest 4G Network” in reality people are constantly getting stuck with service that is nothing close to exceptional.

But don’t fret there are three amazing free web services that give you coverage maps you can rely on. I remember when I started using AT&T I checked my neighborhood on their coverage map and it said “Best Coverage” which is their highest level of service quality and for months they told me the dropped calls, failed call attempts and bad voice quality was just an issue specific to me or my phone.

Come to find out they were pulling my leg because I looked at the following sites and signal and speed data from hundreds of customers on AT&T in my neighborhood and surrounding areas showed the service sucked.

Open Signal

Open Signal is a free crowd-source open coverage map platform which means users install an app on their phone which checks real service quality in 2G/3G/LTE and conduct speed tests to give true coverage data showing you how your current carrier or potential new carrier stacks up in your neighborhood or city.

In my opinion Open Signal appears to have the most data of any platform.

http://opensignal.com/

Note: Feel free to install their app and test signal in your current city/neighborhood so their coverage map grows in accuracy and that way it benefits other considering getting service with your carrier.

Sensorly

Sensorly was probably my favorite crowd-source coverage map tool because not only does their mobile app check for cell service levels and speeds but it can also use the wifi chip in your phone to scan for open/free wifi networks in your city/neighborhood to help build a map showing where the most wifi is deployed. Sensorly goes further than Open Signal in that it has a Trip Mode that lets you run it while doing trips so it can plot signals over maps while Open Signal can do the same it seems Sensorly’s app works better and provides more data when moving.

http://www.sensorly.com

Note:  Like Open Signal you can Install Sensorly and help grow their data for the benefit of yourself and others

 

RootMetrics

Root Metrics was my least favorite crowd-sourced tool because it had the least amount of settings on the app side although their website came in second place when it came to the amount of data they had on various carriers and how complete their maps were.

http://www.rootmetrics.com/

Note: Help grow Root Metrics data by installing their Android App or iPhone App.

All in all if looking for a carrier I would suggest using Open Signal Map while also looking at the data Root Metric’s has to offer and consider them both when deciding on a new carrier. Notably of the carriers coverage maps I found AT&T’s to be the least honest while Verizon was more honest and Sprint and T-Mobile seemed somewhat honest. Small carriers like Cricket and MetroPCS seemed to have inaccurate coverage maps too and I assume the carriers with the least honest coverage maps are not using real signal level data to show coverage but instead have some sort of “Coverage Projection” that they guess based on cell tower placement with no consideration for interference from freeways, adjacent towers or buildings or just faulty older equipment.

If you are already stuck with a carrier providing you horrible service consider reading your wireless contract as there are usually portions you can use to your advantage for instance AT&T has a part that covers their liability during service interruptions and I have personally used that since if they are claiming “Best Coverage” yet not providing it then that’s clearly an interruption in the service they promised.

Filed Under: Business, Technology Tagged With: AT&T, Cell Phone, Coverage, Cricket, Maps, Open Data, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Virgin Mobile, Wireless Service

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