Flow LTE

[prentice]

You bastards. You bloody bastards...

So, in Q4 of last year, I was on the lookout for FLOW's LTE offering. But then on October 12, they announced that they "would likely avoid investing in LTE infrastructure for its network", which took the wind out of my sails. Oh well, I thought..their HSPA+ network is pretty decent.

So yesterday, my brother calls...wants to know what I think about Caricel, and I'm the family techie. I've never used their service, but I remembered that there was a thread here about it, so I came by the forum, and came across this very thread...good ole Brandysull spilling the beans on the rollout in progress.

You bastards. You bloody bastards. Flow was rolling out LTE, and none a y'all told me?

Of course I went straight to the Flow Store in Boulevard Supercentre a few hours later. The rep (surprisingly, based on others' experience in this thread) knew all about the SIM change required, and replaced it free of charge:
http://i.imgur.com/BleXEyu.jpg (Receipt)

My heart sank when I realized that it was series 07.00 SIM, and not the 08.00 that Brandysull recommended. But then I realized that they must know what SIMs can give you LTE, and sure enough:

http://i.imgur.com/R02ZAiz.jpg (Pic of SIM card front)

Gotcha.

Popped that baby in, and right after reboot, it found that sweet LTE signal. The network sent some Config Messages for browsing and MMS, but I could browse without installing it. I did install the MMS one though (side note: Does anybody use MMS? I don't think I've ever gotten it to work, nor tried that much, tbh....).

Now of course, the obligatory speedtest, right in front of the cashier:

And that's on 2 bars. Prentice is a happy camper

Brandysull, I made sure to capture this for you:

My phone is a Galaxy S6 Edge, model SM-G925I. Band 4 support, but no Band 13. Does have Band 28 and 700APT, tho

At home, in Patrick City, I still have LTE signal, but not as strong:
http://i.imgur.com/M1bLW0w.png (Pic of speed test at home)

Just one bar, and sometimes 2 or 3 depending on where in the house I am. Here are typical SNR readings:



Brandysull, in the image immediately above, when it says "Voice network type: LTE", are we to assume to VoLTE? I think not, as I made a few test calls and everytime, the signal switched from LTE to H/H+, so it definitely feels like a CSFB is occurring.

All in all, I'm really happy though. We're living in an amazing time. I still remember the days of bmobile GPRS, where I used a Motorola "Peanut Phone" as a USB modem, and was thrilled when I could download Table Tennis videos from Chinese FTP servers at 2Am at 4.4KB/sec. It was supposed to be $9/day, but they never charged hehehe... Yes, kids...there was an Internet before YouTube...now get off my lawn, goddammit!

But this is great. And to think it's been happening right under my nose. Then again, that's what makes it such a pleasant surprise.

Y'all are still bastards for not telling me tho...

[876]

I am wondering as well if it's normal for it to say voice network lte

[Brandysull]

You bastards. You bloody bastards...

So, in Q4 of last year, I was on the lookout for FLOW's LTE offering. But then on October 12, they announced that they "would likely avoid investing in LTE infrastructure for its network", which took the wind out of my sails. Oh well, I thought..their HSPA+ network is pretty decent.

So yesterday, my brother calls...wants to know what I think about Caricel, and I'm the family techie. I've never used their service, but I remembered that there was a thread here about it, so I came by the forum, and came across this very thread...good ole Brandysull spilling the beans on the rollout in progress.

You bastards. You bloody bastards. Flow was rolling out LTE, and none a y'all told me?

Of course I went straight to the Flow Store in Boulevard Supercentre a few hours later. The rep (surprisingly, based on others' experience in this thread) knew all about the SIM change required, and replaced it free of charge:
http://i.imgur.com/BleXEyu.jpg (Receipt)
http://i.imgur.com/WLed7Hx.jpg
My heart sank when I realized that it was series 07.00 SIM, and not the 08.00 that Brandysull recommended. But then I realized that they must know what SIMs can give you LTE, and sure enough:

http://i.imgur.com/R02ZAiz.jpg (Pic of SIM card front)

Gotcha.

Popped that baby in, and right after reboot, it found that sweet LTE signal. The network sent some Config Messages for browsing and MMS, but I could browse without installing it. I did install the MMS one though (side note: Does anybody use MMS? I don't think I've ever gotten it to work, nor tried that much, tbh....).

Now of course, the obligatory speedtest, right in front of the cashier:
http://i.imgur.com/fJ7ARJ8.png
And that's on 2 bars. Prentice is a happy camper

Brandysull, I made sure to capture this for you:
http://i.imgur.com/5MJ19pT.png
My phone is a Galaxy S6 Edge, model SM-G925I. Band 4 support, but no Band 13. Does have Band 28 and 700APT, tho

At home, in Patrick City, I still have LTE signal, but not as strong:
http://i.imgur.com/M1bLW0w.png (Pic of speed test at home)

Just one bar, and sometimes 2 or 3 depending on where in the house I am. Here are typical SNR readings:
http://i.imgur.com/dAARasQ.png
http://i.imgur.com/kexeZso.png

Brandysull, in the image immediately above, when it says "Voice network type: LTE", are we to assume to VoLTE? I think not, as I made a few test calls and everytime, the signal switched from LTE to H/H+, so it definitely feels like a CSFB is occurring.

All in all, I'm really happy though. We're living in an amazing time. I still remember the days of bmobile GPRS, where I used a Motorola "Peanut Phone" as a USB modem, and was thrilled when I could download Table Tennis videos from Chinese FTP servers at 2Am at 4.4KB/sec. It was supposed to be $9/day, but they never charged hehehe... Yes, kids...there was an Internet before YouTube...now get off my lawn, goddammit!

But this is great. And to think it's been happening right under my nose. Then again, that's what makes it such a pleasant surprise.

Y'all are still bastards for not telling me tho...

Absolutely fabulous! Loved your feedback.... Also... THANK YOU for the Engineering Menu screencap... It confirms my notion and now I can safely say that FLOW really and truly does have the fastest LTE network in Jamaica. Period. 2x the Bandwidth than that of Digicel LTE.. to the point where they're throttling Prepaid users to 50 Mbit/s down and 10 Mbit/s up and average speeds STILL far outweigh Digicel's. 20 MHz LTE is a big deal, the only other Caribbean countries that have such are The Cayman Islands (where funny enough Digicel has 20 MHz of Band 3 aka 1800 MHz), The Dominican Republic and the French Antilles (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Martin, St. Barths and French Guiana). Hopefully FLOW gives all customers access to the full 150 Mbit/s down and 50 Mbit/s up and for us Cat. 6 and later LTE devices, when they acquire 700 MHz spectrum, well be afforded speeds of up to 225 Mbit/s. Crazy Stuff!

I've seen speed tests from Postpaid subscribers who tested the network on 2 'bars' or sub -100 dB and easily got 55+ Mbit/s down and 20+ Mbit/s up. These were speeds Digicel LTE launched with, under excellent cell conditions.

I'm so glad FLOW went the smart route and purchased not 1 but 2 extra blocks of AWS-1 spectrum (AWS-1 Blocks D, E & F each 5 MHz, 5 MHz and 10 MHz respectively). This network was really worth the wait.

Being first really isn't a good thing... and those who thought that LIME acquiring AWS spectrum was a dumb thing to do... well.. I hope you see the fruits of smart planning.

Oh last thing, yes, CSFB is currently the only way FLOW (and Digicel) deliver voice over their network to LTE customers. I am unsure whether FLOW will be going the Digicel route too and enable HD Audio on 3G for AMR-WB enabled handsets or 1'up Digicel once more and launch VoLTE, which would TRULY set FLOW apart in not only Jamaica, but the hemisphere. In addition to their own LTE network, I hope they're building a Diameter Signaling Controller, which is key to services such as LTE roaming (roaming in the US for example, only affords you the use of AT&T's HSDPA (3G) network and setting the phone to LTE only results in constant network dropouts as I experienced recently) and other things, such as lowered roaming costs to the end user and less stress on the core network.

Wonderful things are happening here

[876]

Absolutely fabulous! Loved your feedback....

I think more or less they may very well go unlimited with those speeds. Any ideas on the launch

[prentice]

Did another Speedtest yesterday, at the stoplight near Andrew's memorial Hospital on Hope Road:



You know, for years I've been telling whoever would listen that C&W/bmobile/LIME/FLOW has the best mobile value...from 10/8 and 'Pressa' days. This here is some needed, if quiet, vindication. Thank goodness Liberty Global stepped in - they're really upping the ante here. Now if only they'd increase the upload speed on their broadband packages. I know there are inherent limitations to DOCSIS, but sheesh, where the hell they think they going with 1 Mbps, in the era of Google Photos, OneDrive and other cloud sync platforms?

Off to google 'Diameter Signaling Controller'. This reminds me of my time working at MegaFone - I was one of the first techs there, and was fed a nourishing and balanced diet of SIP, SBCs, SRTP, G711, Asterisk etc on a daily basis.

[GPRS Internet]

So Flow LTE in testing phase now as in free? I wonder if it's in Mobay???

[prentice]

So Flow LTE in testing phase now as in free? I wonder if it's in Mobay???

Not 'free'...You have to have a data plan. But the connection is now LTE instead of H/H+ (where available), and pretty fast...

[Brandysull]

So Flow LTE in testing phase now as in free? I wonder if it's in Mobay???

Spoke with some guys in Mobay yesterday and they (FLOW) haven't hit Mobay yet with LTE. I suppose by summer they should it covered. By then the network would have been launched too. I suppose you can get the LTE SIMs at Fairview but of course, no LTE service. They're going to be expansive with coverage there as well so it'll be a Mobay wide thing and not just the airport.

[876]

On a side note, has anyone ever noticed that when calling from a LIME/FLOW cell phone that most times u either hear an echo or persons tell you they hearing an echo when u call them?

Is it something inherently wrong with their call setup or what..?

[Nathan77791]

On a side note, has anyone ever noticed that when calling from a LIME/FLOW cell phone that most times u either hear an echo or persons tell you they hearing an echo when u call them?

Is it something inherently wrong with their call setup or what..?

Nope never experience that at all. It could be because of a bad connection at the time. Or an issue with the handset you were using at the time.