Flow LTE

[Brandysull]

Okay so, I've found one site that had Carrier Aggregation enabled. The network dynamically switches between using LTE Band 2 or LTE Band 4 as the primary band (what we call the Primary Component Carrier). LTE Band 2 is still being optimized for speed but, in the interim, FLOW has gone and enable Carrier Aggregation over this one site. Band 2 was under powered so the site was pushing around 25 Mbit/s on the downlink on that layer. However, these are the results I got when my phone aggregated both bands.

Note: FLOW's Band 4 layer has a max downlink speed of 150 Mbit/s but real world speeds have been as much as 142 Mbit/s. FLOW's Band 2 layer is at a Maximum of 75 Mbit/s on the downlink as well meaning that when deployment, integration and optimization is finished in Montego Bay, users will see speeds of up to 225 Mbit/s.



...and, here's the fastest speed I got on the network. It actually spiked at 172 Mbit/s on a previous test but this is more representative of what one can feasibly get from the network right now. The uplink speed says to me that the PCC was Band 2. FLOW seems to have a soft limit on Band 2 similar to what they did with Band 4, of 20 Mbit/s down and 5 Mbit/s... for now at least.

[Nathan77791]

Okay so, I've found one site that had Carrier Aggregation enabled. The network dynamically switches between using LTE Band 2 or LTE Band 4 as the primary band (what we call the Primary Component Carrier). LTE Band 2 is still being optimized for speed but, in the interim, FLOW has gone and enable Carrier Aggregation over this one site. Band 2 was under powered so the site was pushing around 25 Mbit/s on the downlink on that layer. However, these are the results I got when my phone aggregated both bands.

Note: FLOW's Band 4 layer has a max downlink speed of 150 Mbit/s but real world speeds have been as much as 142 Mbit/s. FLOW's Band 2 layer is at a Maximum of 75 Mbit/s on the downlink as well meaning that when deployment, integration and optimization is finished in Montego Bay, users will see speeds of up to 225 Mbit/s.

https://i.imgur.com/lUCV2Ae.png

...and, here's the fastest speed I got on the network. It actually spiked at 172 Mbit/s on a previous test but this is more representative of what one can feasibly get from the network right now. The uplink speed says to me that the PCC was Band 2. FLOW seems to have a soft limit on Band 2 similar to what they did with Band 4, of 20 Mbit/s down and 5 Mbit/s... for now at least.

https://i.imgur.com/HVmQzuu.png

This is awesome, cant wait for them to go nationwide with Carrier Aggregation.


I do notice that my phone doesn't pick up 3G on 1900Mhz anymore. Its strictly 850Mhz for 3G and for voice calls. Is this because Flow is re farming its PCS 1900Mhz for LTE?.

[Brandysull]

I do notice that my phone doesn't pick up 3G on 1900Mhz anymore. Its strictly 850Mhz for 3G and for voice calls. Is this because Flow is re farming its PCS 1900Mhz for LTE?.

It could be the case... Personally, my phone is always on 850 MHz 3G for voice and when I'm out of LTE coverage. They may have shuttered 3G because there is an upper carrier of UMTS, with UARFCN 9763 that sits in the block FLOW uses for Band 2 LTE. They only have 3G over 1900 MHz at UARFCN 9788 and I assume this would be the case in Kingston if they were to go the route of what they did with the Huawei sites. They'd have to take 1900 MHz offline and then bring it online with Band 2 (which, in the case of Ericsson, they'd have to switch out the RRUS 01 and install the same they use for Band 4, RRUS12 or RRUS02 in mixed mode, GUL). I do truly hope this is precursor to 2G GSM turn down or something better over 850 MHz....

What truly surprises me btw is that FLOW has not touched a single solitary thing at the top of the mast... everything is done on the ground. I really would not be surprised if FLOW has GUL RRUs mounted for 850 MHz too. If they switch off GSM 850 MHz, they could simply enable LTE Band 5 from the ground and make the requisite adjustments as necessary. FLOW's network is pretty simple & elegant; the competition uses 6 different frequencies on their masts and still has yet to provide enough capacity to match FLOW... RF Department at Carlton Cresent must be grinning!

[876]

The question I'd like to ask in all of this is why flow always have issues either calling other numbers or in the past to topup your phone?

That was one of the things that ran persons away ,their capacity issues. Always circuits busy etc. So the same is perhaps expected of their lte network as it seems more like an issue at their central office or mobile switching center

[doritez]

Guys quick question. Does anyone in here gets LTE coverage on their Galaxy S5? (G900F or G900T) Tried on both my variants and I only get H+/4G icon. Yes I have Flow's new sim.

[Brandysull]

Guys quick question. Does anyone in here gets LTE coverage on their Galaxy S5? (G900F or G900T) Tried on both my variants and I only get H+/4G icon. Yes I have Flow's new sim.

I think the G900F is HSPA+ only actually...

[doritez]

I think the G900F is HSPA+ only actually...

G900T from GSMArena

NETWORK Technology
GSM / HSPA / LTE
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
4G bands LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 17(700)
Speed HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A Cat4 150/50 Mbps
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes

G900F from GSMArena

NETWORK Technology
GSM / HSPA / LTE
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800)
Speed HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A Cat4 150/50 Mbps
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes


Also I've seen videos on youtube where LTE is enabled. Also on XDA Forums too for both handset models.

[Brandysull]

G900T from GSMArena

NETWORK Technology
GSM / HSPA / LTE
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
4G bands LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 17(700)
Speed HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A Cat4 150/50 Mbps
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes

G900F from GSMArena

NETWORK Technology
GSM / HSPA / LTE
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800)
Speed HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A Cat4 150/50 Mbps
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes


Also I've seen videos on youtube where LTE is enabled. Also on XDA Forums too for both handset models.

The G900T should work on FLOW LTE islandwide but the G900F is only compatible with LTE in Montego Bay (for now at least).

[Brandysull]

The question I'd like to ask in all of this is why flow always have issues either calling other numbers or in the past to topup your phone?

That was one of the things that ran persons away ,their capacity issues. Always circuits busy etc. So the same is perhaps expected of their lte network as it seems more like an issue at their central office or mobile switching center

I've never had capacity issues with FLOW in the circuit switched domain... Especially not now... FLOW has gargantuan LTE capacity and I think its pretty much undisputed at this point IMO.

[Nathan77791]

I've never had capacity issues with FLOW in the circuit switched domain... Especially not now... FLOW has gargantuan LTE capacity and I think its pretty much undisputed at this point IMO.

Just Curious though, Will Digicel ever be able to have similar capacity for their LTE Network like Flow?. I mean Digicels primary LTE band gives them excellent penetration and coverage capability. But they suffer in the speed department. What causes this, and how do they get out of this mess. And provide similar speeds to Flows Network.