Sprint 4G LTE appearing in some areas of Nashville, TN
If you’re in Nashville, TN, on Sprint, there’s some good news for you on the 4G LTE front. In an odd set of circumstances, while writing a piece on how bad the 3G network has become in my town, I went to Speedtest for proof, turned off WiFi, and something I’d only seen once while in Atlanta appeared in my notification bar: a 4G icon.
A couple tests resulting in 14,000+kbps had me convinced I was still somehow on my work’s WiFi, especially since the 4G snapped on in less than a second and my 3G generally took several seconds to appear.
A quick visit to the American Registry for Internet Numbers confirmed that the IP address I had was owned by Sprint, which is not the network that my building’s WiFi connects to.
It’s not on the Sprint coverage map, but it’s alive and running as now out in the Metrocenter area. This may explain why the 3G has been abysmal in Nashville for the last few days, as people in other markets have complained that the turn on of 4G usually equates to miserable 3G for a few days.
It looks like North Nashville might be getting an early Christmas gift, although with how things roll, there’s a chance Sprint might yank this down until testing is complete or the roll out is officially announced.
For now, though, it looks like Sprint is actually doing something and the sales people at the Nashville Sprint stores are not just blowing smoke when they say 4G will be here soon – at least in Metrocenter, where I don’t need it due to my WiFi coverage, it’s going strong.
One other thing that may or may not be related is that phone calls are always ringing now. Generally, when testing my cell phone from my landline at work, it would ring roughly four rings before the EVO even started ringing, if it did at all. Today, it’s at half a ring before the EVO’s awake and ringing.
I’ll be interested in seeing if the 4G LTE is elsewhere, but for now I feel like I switched from a scooter to a drag racer.
If you’re in Nashville, let me know if it’s live for you and where you’re at.
