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Question for former Verizon users

Pardon the cross-thread. I have been a VZW customer for almost 10 years, now I am on the verge of leaving for sprint. I want the One very bad, but VZW has it locked down, plus if I upgrade I lose my unlimited data.
If you are recent convert from VZW to Sprint, lets say 6-12 months, I would like to hear your opinion. Was it a good move for you? Do you plan to stay with Sprint when you contract expires or go back??
Thanks for any feedback!!

It's never a good move to switch to Sprint.
Sent from my One using xda app-developers app

Forgot to say that I am in the Houston area, so bonus points if your from here!! :good:

Sprint 4g lte is building out quick. I am happy with sprint.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4

I switched from Verizon to Sprint in July 2011 for the HTC Arrive, so I'm not a recent convert but this does give me better insight on the experience. I had no problems until the end of the year when Sprint started selling the iPhone. It seems like everyone in my area bought one, because the network quickly became unusable, especially near the university. Sprint's network was by far the worst network in the area from the end of 2011 through earlier this year. With NV upgrades in my area, things improved. The improvement was enough that I upgraded to the HTC One when it came out instead of waiting a few more months for my contract to end.
The 3G is still not as fast as Verizon, despite our area being mostly NV upgrade complete. Neither is the 4G. However, the data actually works now. This is a big improvement from where it was, and rarely are the speeds too slow to stream music / browse the internet. Watching videos is tricky over 3G, but on 4G it's no problem. The only other issue with Sprint is that their coverage is not nearly that of Verizon's. If you are going to be in civilization most of the time this won't be an issue, but if you venture outside the city you will quickly notice the downside of 1900MHz plus fewer towers. If you are in an area where Sprint has no service, you will roam on Verizon (typically 1X and voice only, it's "unlimited" but if you use excessive roaming Sprint may boot you). Oh, and the handoff between Sprint and Verizon towers is rarely smooth - expect dropped calls if you are moving in and out of roaming coverage.
Even with the slightly over 1 year where my phone was useless except for phone calls, I'd say it was worth it for unlimited data. Houston is seeing a lot of NV upgrade activity, so I don't think you'll have a problem.

Anthrax79 said:
Pardon the cross-thread. I have been a VZW customer for almost 10 years, now I am on the verge of leaving for sprint. I want the One very bad, but VZW has it locked down, plus if I upgrade I lose my unlimited data.
If you are recent convert from VZW to Sprint, lets say 6-12 months, I would like to hear your opinion. Was it a good move for you? Do you plan to stay with Sprint when you contract expires or go back??
Thanks for any feedback!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been a VZW customer for over 20 years and dealt with a LOT of their horrible administrative BS only because of their "superior" 4G LTE /FiOS service in my area.. which is the ONLY reason they are tolerated. (FiOS and 4G LTE Networks are awesome..seriously awesome.)
That being said..a LOT has happened with Sprint the last several months that is becoming a significant game changer.
A recent merger with SoftBank (Tokyo) has catapulted Sprint into a new echelon communications carrier .. one where significant investments will ramp expediently their 4G LTE technology and coverage areas. And plans for national coverage and technology advancements are a PLENTY.
This coupled with their copious UNLIMITED DATA My Way price plan ..UNLIMITED for LIFE which is an instant savings in itself from VZW best effort 4gbyte/mnth SHARED DATA plan limited...was a "no brainer" contract switch for me.
I also was able to include my beloved HTC One with a number of rebates accumulating to for all intended purpose.. a *FREE phone at no charge with a 2 year commitment.
And the intangible reasoning.. I have a much warmer feeling with Sprint customer service and support than I ever did as a customer with Verizon the clunky uninformed push you around hierarchy of service representatives and coping with their accounting and billing nightmares..
Come December into 2014 ..I will wager Sprint as the strongest contender for carrier supremacy..and rapidly progressing FTW.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Data speed is my only issue, especially 3G. It makes me want to smash my phone on the ground (I have anger issues). 4G is good enough though whenever I'm within its coverage.
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4

I love Sprint, I get 15-22mbs in my area. I've used 6.2GB's of Data this month so far.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium

On LTE I get two or three megabits down if I'm lucky, although its alright because even 1 megabit is about something like 128kbits. Load most webpages in a few seconds. 3G isn't as good, but for me, if it's working - it works well enough. Most of the time, though, it seems as if my web requests go nowhere. The tx/rx arrows stay grayed out and nothing happens. Started happening out of the blue one day and happens on both 1.29 and 1.31, so I don't believe it's a hardware issue - but a Sprint issue.

My 2 cents on Sprint Service...

Hello,
Just a FYI, this is NOT a direct rant or rave. I believe these are obvious facts. Just wanted to see peoples thoughts.
I am from New York. I mainly work in the 5 boroughs in NY, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, and Manhattan, and I live in Long Island. I have been through the 3G, 4G wimax, and 4G LTE Transition. I have also been through multiple phones. HTC Evo 4G, HTC Evo 4G LTE, HTC One (M7), and HTC One (M8).
Unfortunately when driving around, all the LTE phones dropped back to 3G way too often. I assume this is because some towers have not been LTE upgraded yet, weak spots, and I may be driving past those towers with no LTE.
I gave the M8 a shot and it helped with the Tri-Band Spark (connecting to the 800 mhz spectrum when the 1900 was out of range). I understand Spark roll out isn't complete yet. A prime example is driving around and having Pandora internet radio cut out because the phone loves to swap between 3G and 4G when there is a weak 4G signal. Pandora is NOT critical, it's just the principle of the matter if it cutting out. I will not rave about any other carriers, but let's be honest, there's some carriers out there where you could drive around ALL day long, go inside buildings, etc, and not loose LTE once.
The situation was all too common where I would be in a mall, or large store (such as walmart or sears) trying to look up something in the store on my phone. Not only would it be on 3G but pages would not load. Indoors in a mall or a store I almost never was able to acquire 4G. Only in Spark areas where I would actually hit the 800mhz spectrum.
Also another example. Yankee Stadium in the Bronx which is outdoors, Address 1 E 161st St, Bronx, NY 10451. My friends have different carriers and I wanted to rave about sprint's new Spark service on my HTC M8. Both times I was there I got FULL LTE service, but it was completely unusable. Webpages would not load, speedtests would not work at all, and I was laughed at. Changed phone to CDMA Only mode and webpages actually loaded, but barely. I know it wasn't the phone because LTE worked at home in Long Island with no problem. I had the most up to date software on my phone at the time.
The M8 was my last hurrah with Sprint for now. Here is the main flaw in my book. Spark would need to have strategically picked the frequency band with the best speed, but I guess that's not possible. It's counter productive for my phone to be connecting to a Band 41-2600MHz frequency with weak signal/slow speeds, over a Band 25-1900MHz signal. It's also counter productive for my phone to be connecting to Band 25-1900 MHz spectrum with slow speeds over a Band 26-800mhz with high speeds. I was in a hotel for a few weeks at a time in a Spark enabled area. I was near a window getting LTE Band 25-1900MHz and only pulling about 1.5 mbps. I strategically had to put my phone further into the hotel room away from a window to obtain Band 26-800 mhz which gave me over 10MBPS!
I will miss Sprint. I liked them, they had great customer service, and I may come back in a couple of years when New York / 5 boroughs are fully ready. Network Vision has definitely improved speed and coverage, just not how I expected yet.

tl;dr

exSD said:
tl;dr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And the world is a better place now because of your wise words. Seriously, there was no point to making such a garbage post. None.
OP, thank you for this. I also live in NYC and have Sprint. I'm due for an upgrade on August 1st and trying to decide what phone to get. I've read things on Sprint's own message boards that suggest that HTC's firmware conflicts with Spark and Sprint and HTC know this. HTC is supposedly working on a fix, but who knows. I really wanted to get this phone but I think I'll look at the G5 or new LG instead. I've read they work much better in NYC. Leaving Sprint isn't an option right now, unfortunately. Thank you again.

BretonGirl said:
And the world is a better place now because of your wise words. Seriously, there was no point to making such a garbage post. None.
OP, thank you for this. I also live in NYC and have Sprint. I'm due for an upgrade on August 1st and trying to decide what phone to get. I've read things on Sprint's own message boards that suggest that HTC's firmware conflicts with Spark and Sprint and HTC know this. HTC is supposedly working on a fix, but who knows. I really wanted to get this phone but I think I'll look at the G5 or new LG instead. I've read they work much better in NYC. Leaving Sprint isn't an option right now, unfortunately. Thank you again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey BretonGirl,
Thank you for the response! I believe certain areas had an issue with making/receiving phone calls at times (i had the issue) with the M8 when on LTE. However the most recent firmware update fixed that for me.
I hope this post doesn't persuade you go for the S5. Sense blows TouchWiz out of the water! From what I've read the radio is actually better in the M8. I've never had an issue in Manhattan itself due to how saturated it is with cell sites.
Most of the time while driving around my phone kept LTE and bounced off between towers with no problem. Other times it would revert to 3G (I assume when the phone couldn't find an LTE signal at all after it was going out of range).
All in all, I don't believe it was an issue with the M8 itself, but rather the gaps between different LTE sites.
For example, driving from point A to C in a straight line for 3 miles. A, B and C are sprint cell towers. A and C have LTE active, however B does not. Once you get to point B (say 1.5 miles down the road) you loose LTE and revert back to 3G because LTE signal from A and C are both too weak to reach you. It may take your phone *up to* 5 minutes depending on how far through the LTE scan timer your phone is.
As for the LG. I've never used one, but have heard good things Good luck on your pick!

bigblueshock said:
Hello,
Just a FYI, this is NOT a direct rant or rave. I believe these are obvious facts. Just wanted to see peoples thoughts.
I am from New York. I mainly work in the 5 boroughs in NY, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, and Manhattan, and I live in Long Island. I have been through the 3G, 4G wimax, and 4G LTE Transition. I have also been through multiple phones. HTC Evo 4G, HTC Evo 4G LTE, HTC One (M7), and HTC One (M8).
Unfortunately when driving around, all the LTE phones dropped back to 3G way too often. I assume this is because some towers have not been LTE upgraded yet, weak spots, and I may be driving past those towers with no LTE.
I gave the M8 a shot and it helped with the Tri-Band Spark (connecting to the 800 mhz spectrum when the 1900 was out of range). I understand Spark roll out isn't complete yet. A prime example is driving around and having Pandora internet radio cut out because the phone loves to swap between 3G and 4G when there is a weak 4G signal. Pandora is NOT critical, it's just the principle of the matter if it cutting out. I will not rave about any other carriers, but let's be honest, there's some carriers out there where you could drive around ALL day long, go inside buildings, etc, and not loose LTE once.
The situation was all too common where I would be in a mall, or large store (such as walmart or sears) trying to look up something in the store on my phone. Not only would it be on 3G but pages would not load. Indoors in a mall or a store I almost never was able to acquire 4G. Only in Spark areas where I would actually hit the 800mhz spectrum.
Also another example. Yankee Stadium in the Bronx which is outdoors, Address 1 E 161st St, Bronx, NY 10451. My friends have different carriers and I wanted to rave about sprint's new Spark service on my HTC M8. Both times I was there I got FULL LTE service, but it was completely unusable. Webpages would not load, speedtests would not work at all, and I was laughed at. Changed phone to CDMA Only mode and webpages actually loaded, but barely. I know it wasn't the phone because LTE worked at home in Long Island with no problem. I had the most up to date software on my phone at the time.
The M8 was my last hurrah with Sprint for now. Here is the main flaw in my book. Spark would need to have strategically picked the frequency band with the best speed, but I guess that's not possible. It's counter productive for my phone to be connecting to a Band 41-2600MHz frequency with weak signal/slow speeds, over a Band 25-1900MHz signal. It's also counter productive for my phone to be connecting to Band 25-1900 MHz spectrum with slow speeds over a Band 26-800mhz with high speeds. I was in a hotel for a few weeks at a time in a Spark enabled area. I was near a window getting LTE Band 25-1900MHz and only pulling about 1.5 mbps. I strategically had to put my phone further into the hotel room away from a window to obtain Band 26-800 mhz which gave me over 10MBPS!
I will miss Sprint. I liked them, they had great customer service, and I may come back in a couple of years when New York / 5 boroughs are fully ready. Network Vision has definitely improved speed and coverage, just not how I expected yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to actually agree with a lot of what op is saying. Wimax signal was an absolute joke, not only did they not finish the wimax network the parts that were done you couldn't even drive down the road without the signal dropping. I have had friends leave Sprint after 10+ years of service just because they couldn't take it anymore. The unusable 3G data speed, the dropped calls (which I NEVER had dropped calls with sprint since NV begun). Some have jumped ship, I have stayed. The signal issues have got much better in my area over the last year where but it is still at an embarrassing level at a lot of places. My home tower was broken for oh maybe 6 months. It was SO BAD that my local news station did a story on it for all the people complaining of dropped calls. Most of those issues are now gone and I am finally starting to see actual results such as 800 coverage and I even picked up the new Spark Bad the other day
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If someone wants to leave, I 100% understand why but I am holding out and think the network can get there someday. It's been a very painful road and a lot if it goes back to the Nextel disaster and betting the wrong horse with wimax. I also stream music and you are right it's not critical but when driving around the signal cuts in & out all the time all over it pisses you off. I suggest checking it out in another year so how it's going, I am hanging tough and it has been getting better all the time. HD voice is awesome and Sprint will get the voice network back to what it use to be and I do notice most of my data usage is now 4G over 3G.
You do gotta remember what I try explaining to people is they are rebuilding the network tower by tower, one by one. Imagine if they did road construction on the entire system at the same time it would suck.

You know what, for $25 per month (without managing a big family plan or being managed), I don't complain at all.

Sim-X said:
I have to actually agree with a lot of what op is saying. Wimax signal was an absolute joke, not only did they not finish the wimax network the parts that were done you couldn't even drive down the road without the signal dropping. I have had friends leave Sprint after 10+ years of service just because they couldn't take it anymore. The unusable 3G data speed, the dropped calls (which I NEVER had dropped calls with sprint since NV begun). Some have jumped ship, I have stayed. The signal issues have got much better in my area over the last year where but it is still at an embarrassing level at a lot of places. My home tower was broken for oh maybe 6 months. It was SO BAD that my local news station did a story on it for all the people complaining of dropped calls. Most of those issues are now gone and I am finally starting to see actual results such as 800 coverage and I even picked up the new Spark Bad the other day
If someone wants to leave, I 100% understand why but I am holding out and think the network can get there someday. It's been a very painful road and a lot if it goes back to the Nextel disaster and betting the wrong horse with wimax. I also stream music and you are right it's not critical but when driving around the signal cuts in & out all the time all over it pisses you off. I suggest checking it out in another year so how it's going, I am hanging tough and it has been getting better all the time. HD voice is awesome and Sprint will get the voice network back to what it use to be and I do notice most of my data usage is now 4G over 3G.
You do gotta remember what I try explaining to people is they are rebuilding the network tower by tower, one by one. Imagine if they did road construction on the entire system at the same time it would suck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I would have not minded Sprint skipping wimax from the beginning so they wouldn't be 2 to 3 years behind on LTE. I was even in a WiMax area and still never used it due to how fast it killed the battery.
ljwnow, You must be on the Framily plan or SERO? Yeah definitely cant go wrong with that lol.

bigblueshock said:
Yeah, I would have not minded Sprint skipping wimax from the beginning so they wouldn't be 2 to 3 years behind on LTE. I was even in a WiMax area and still never used it due to how fast it killed the battery.
ljwnow, You must be on the Framily plan or SERO? Yeah definitely cant go wrong with that lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember the 1st time I tried wimax, I pulled just over 10 down was like wow. No other carrier had 4G but yea it just killed the battery. I just don't know what they were thinking with wimax especially put it on a such a high frequency the coverage was absolutely horrendous. Yes I am on SeroP, I use to have the old $30 (plus 25% discount) plan but of course that doesn't work with "smart phones". So that is part of my reason for staying. However there are plenty of people who don't have that plan and are paying much higher rates for crappy service. While Framily is pretty good deal, you give up subsidized phones which rightfully so but if I was a new customer in the market I would overlook sprint at the moment for at least another year. Even when I'm close to a tower on 800 a lot of times I still have a very week signal but you still gotta give it some more time. Overhauling a network tower by tower takes a long time.

ljwnow said:
You know what, for $25 per month (without managing a big family plan or being managed), I don't complain at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SeroP for $25/mo? Do tell.

Kisakuku said:
SeroP for $25/mo? Do tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Framily plan. Not SERO...
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

ljwnow said:
Framily plan. Not SERO...
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha. Sim-X answered the question directed at you, which got me confused.
I've been thinking about Framily, but hard to let go of SeroP. My feeling is that if the merger goes through, Sprint will solve my dilemma by making SERO go the way of Premier Gold and all the other good perks.

I've been a Sprint customer for 12 years now. It's been painful and frustrating at times but I believe they have finally gotten their act together and are on the right track.

Kisakuku said:
Gotcha. Sim-X answered the question directed at you, which got me confused.
I've been thinking about Framily, but hard to let go of SeroP. My feeling is that if the merger goes through, Sprint will solve my dilemma by making SERO go the way of Premier Gold and all the other good perks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would never give up SeroP for Framily. Framily would be 25+20 unlimited data with no phone upgrade. SeroP 40+10 with upgrades and don't have to work about keeping framily full. Technically I only get 500 min but n/w starts @ 7 (I use to have 6) but mobile 2 mobile is free (anynetwork) and I also have any pick 6 #'s (landlines) on my account for unlimited. The few land lines I do call anymore I have set into my picks so basically unlimited.
My old plan was 500 Anytime for $30, -$7.50 a month discount. N/W at 6, first incoming min free, unlimited data, sms & picture mail. plus a few bucks in taxes and fees my bill would come out lil over $25 after taxes. All my addons were free except for insurance which I did have for a little bit was $7 a month back in 2009 so about $32 with insurance and taxes but SeroP is still pretty solid especially with being able to get upgrade pricing. I would never give up SeroP. if they got rid of subsidizes phones then you could make a switch to Framily.

Sim-X said:
I would never give up SeroP for Framily. Framily would be 25+20 unlimited data with no phone upgrade. SeroP 40+10 with upgrades and don't have to work about keeping framily full. Technically I only get 500 min but n/w starts @ 7 (I use to have 6) but mobile 2 mobile is free (anynetwork) and I also have any pick 6 #'s (landlines) on my account for unlimited. The few land lines I do call anymore I have set into my picks so basically unlimited.
My old plan was 500 Anytime for $30, -$7.50 a month discount. N/W at 6, first incoming min free, unlimited data, sms & picture mail. plus a few bucks in taxes and fees my bill would come out lil over $25 after taxes. All my addons were free except for insurance which I did have for a little bit was $7 a month back in 2009 so about $32 with insurance and taxes but SeroP is still pretty solid especially with being able to get upgrade pricing. I would never give up SeroP. if they got rid of subsidizes phones then you could make a switch to Framily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough, I was just thinking about options. Also, lucky you for keeping pick 6; guess your SERO account never got audited for additional discounts. I used to have all the good addons on SERO back in 2008.
The thing about upgrade pricing on SERO-P is that since you can only buy handsets from Sprint Online or corporate stores, you miss out on all the crazy discounts and rebates that places like BB have. That's easily $100+ extra every upgrade cycle.

Kisakuku said:
Fair enough, I was just thinking about options. Also, lucky you for keeping pick 6; guess your SERO account never got audited for additional discounts. I used to have all the good addons on SERO back in 2008.
The thing about upgrade pricing on SERO-P is that since you can only buy handsets from Sprint Online or corporate stores, you miss out on all the crazy discounts and rebates that places like BB have. That's easily $100+ extra every upgrade cycle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea you can certainly miss some deals. I use to like going to best buy back in the day when Sprint did mail in rebates and BB was instant. I can't stand going to the Sprint store. I refuse to go there unless it's for a warranty swap only. So I like to order directly from Sprint anyway and since I get my phones on release day there really isn't any deals anyway and ordering direct from Sprint it shows up usually earlier than sometimes even the stores get them. I don't want some knuckle head at the store touching my phones anyway. I'm sure a lot of customers need the help but certainly not me. Going to the store is just painful. So even if I had the choice to use a 3rd party I wouldn't anyway unless they had some exclusive.
Sent from my HTC One M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

BretonGirl said:
I've been a Sprint customer for 12 years now. It's been painful and frustrating at times but I believe they have finally gotten their act together and are on the right track.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been w/sprint almost as long. It's been a pain in the a&@ . I have to agree service is becoming very acceptable. HD voice is not bad either.
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

63sammo1 said:
I've been w/sprint almost as long. It's been a pain in the a&@ . I have to agree service is becoming very acceptable. HD voice is not bad either.
Sent from my 831C using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HD Voice is awesome, especially with the new update I like how it shows the icon. Even was working with an iphone 5S. I'm hoping HD Voice will work carrier to carrier some time in the future. It it getting much better, one year ago it was an absolute mess. I remember when they announced it with the evoLTE, it did take a really long time for them to upgrade the network. I never got to use HD voice on the evoLTE and really I hardly got to use LTE on that phone either. M7 used 4G a lot more, a little of HD voice and now the m8 with tri-band prefers LTE over anything else. Only thing I don't like about the M8 is it will prefer a very week LTE signal over a strong 3G signal and since it switches back to 1X to take a voice call when you are on wifi I wish it would prefer the 3G signal to save battery. I know you can manually change it, but it's kinda a pain.

After 10 years I gave up on Sprint last weekend. I got tired of just about everything that is sprint. The waiting for the network to come on line while paying the cost of a fully functional network. The lies about plans from sprint employees that remind me of used car salesmen. And so on and so on. I switched to T-Mobile and can finally get a chance to be on a network that works... And very well. It's also a much better experience with the m8 on T-Mobile as well.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app

LTE works for me pretty well but whenever my phone switches to 3G it's complete **** or really ****ing slow.
Las Vegas

tommason1968 said:
I switched to T-Mobile and can finally get a chance to be on a network that works...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wait until the S-Mobile merger.

Thinking about moving over from Verizon for the Note 4...

I just wanted to put a feeler out there. Hopefully those who may have switched from Verizon might chime in and give me some helpful advice.
I've been with Verizon since the GS3 came out and I've had it with that company. They have excellent service, and I have signal just about anywhere I go, but there are a lot of things about them that bother me, and I'm ready to jump ship. This all started when I had a Note 4 in hand at the VZW store the other day, and after speaking to the ASSociate there, I'm ready to leave. I'm on the EDGE plan (kinda like JUMP), and was an early adopter to that, so I had the 50% pay off to get a new phone after 11 mo. First thing I don't like is the cost. With a 21% discount, I was paying $121/mo for the Note 3 with 5GB data, 450min, and 1000 text messages (I never used up the minutes or texts). I didn't think that was too outrageous since I was paying off that N3 every month, and I was OK with it because I'm a complete nerd and like to have a new phone every year. However, they now want you to pay off 75% of the phone over 18 months. What is that bs? If I'm paying 75% of an $800 phone, I might as well just sell it on eBay. Another issue is the bootloader, of course. Verizon locks down their phones hardcore. Even rooting them is a chore on VZW, and I'm tired of it. I'm not even a huge "power-user". I just like to have my Titanium Backup and freedom of controlling my system apps. T-Mobile obviously doesn't have any of these issues, but everyone I talk to says the service isn't that great, especially in rural areas. I take a lot of trips to remote locations, and fear that I will not have signal at any of them. For a person who always has their phone on them and is an extension of themselves, this could be a deal-breaker.
Any advice? I'm seriously considering it, and TMo is sending me an iPhone 5s to test this week, but I'm still afraid of the commitment.

I just traded in my Verizon Note 3 and switched to tmobile. I am loving it so far. I actually get better reception that Verizon here in my part of Pittsburgh. I recently upgraded to the unlimited 4g plan and decided I am going to ditch Comcast too. I will get a Chromecast and/or MHL cable to hook my note up to my tv and occasionally for youtube ans netflix, wifi Hotspot when I am using the computer.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

i made the switch from verizon to t-mobile on friday. i'm giving up verizon's unlimited data plan because they won't let me upgrade unless i pay full price or give up the unlimited. i chose to go with t-mobile's $80 unlimited everything plan w/ 5gb of hotspot. my situation is a little different than yours, though. i was already a t-mobile customer (back when they were voicestream until 2010), so i already know what i'm getting myself into in terms of quality (plus, my parents, brother, and sister-in-law are on t-mobile). i live in chicago also, so that makes a difference. i've never had an issue with t-mobile's service. the only reason i had originally switched the first time is because when the smartphone race began, t-mobile had some of the worst selections.
again, i live in chicago, so your results might vary, but i did a ookla speedtest on my brother's note 4 (on t-mobile) and my galaxy s4 (on verizon) and his numbers beat my numbers consistently (which genuinely surprised me).

Do the T-mobile test drive first available here http://explore.t-mobile.com/test-drive-free-trial?cmpid=WTR_PB_N62kxn2C&002=2202007&004=13691619257&005=47088372328&006=45480286217&007=Search&008=&025=c&026=&gclid=Cj0KEQjwt7KiBRD9lOePpe_BhrgBEiQAHaS_116jcCU3lPFxN-073akQkOmUEMwL_jAlA8fhsqPxLb4aAuDY8P8HAQ. They will send you a phone to try out for a week. I wanted to switch, but found out that they actually have no service at my home and half of the areas on my way to work, even though on their website it says there is full 2g service in all these places. Their coverage map is extremely misleading. Just read all the customer dissatisfaction with coverage via this link. http://support.t-mobile.com/community/coverage/content?filterID=contentstatus%5Bpublished%5D~objecttype~objecttype%5Bthread%5D
Cicatrize said:
I just wanted to put a feeler out there. Hopefully those who may have switched from Verizon might chime in and give me some helpful advice.
I've been with Verizon since the GS3 came out and I've had it with that company. They have excellent service, and I have signal just about anywhere I go, but there are a lot of things about them that bother me, and I'm ready to jump ship. This all started when I had a Note 4 in hand at the VZW store the other day, and after speaking to the ASSociate there, I'm ready to leave. I'm on the EDGE plan (kinda like JUMP), and was an early adopter to that, so I had the 50% pay off to get a new phone after 11 mo. First thing I don't like is the cost. With a 21% discount, I was paying $121/mo for the Note 3 with 5GB data, 450min, and 1000 text messages (I never used up the minutes or texts). I didn't think that was too outrageous since I was paying off that N3 every month, and I was OK with it because I'm a complete nerd and like to have a new phone every year. However, they now want you to pay off 75% of the phone over 18 months. What is that bs? If I'm paying 75% of an $800 phone, I might as well just sell it on eBay. Another issue is the bootloader, of course. Verizon locks down their phones hardcore. Even rooting them is a chore on VZW, and I'm tired of it. I'm not even a huge "power-user". I just like to have my Titanium Backup and freedom of controlling my system apps. T-Mobile obviously doesn't have any of these issues, but everyone I talk to says the service isn't that great, especially in rural areas. I take a lot of trips to remote locations, and fear that I will not have signal at any of them. For a person who always has their phone on them and is an extension of themselves, this could be a deal-breaker.
Any advice? I'm seriously considering it, and TMo is sending me an iPhone 5s to test this week, but I'm still afraid of the commitment.
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I made the switch yesterday . Screw Verizon I had the note 3 and was out of contract . So I just switched over got the note 4 and so far so good . I stay in Caldwell Idaho .

NWNJ said:
Do the T-mobile test drive first available here http://explore.t-mobile.com/test-drive-free-trial?cmpid=WTR_PB_N62kxn2C&002=2202007&004=13691619257&005=47088372328&006=45480286217&007=Search&008=&025=c&026=&gclid=Cj0KEQjwt7KiBRD9lOePpe_BhrgBEiQAHaS_116jcCU3lPFxN-073akQkOmUEMwL_jAlA8fhsqPxLb4aAuDY8P8HAQ. They will send you a phone to try out for a week. I wanted to switch, but found out that they actually have no service at my home and half of the areas on my way to work, even though on their website it says there is full 2g service in all these places. Their coverage map is extremely misleading. Just read all the customer dissatisfaction with coverage via this link. http://support.t-mobile.com/community/coverage/content?filterID=contentstatus%5Bpublished%5D~objecttype~objecttype%5Bthread%5D
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I think my anger with Verizon caused me to leave that part out of my long post, lol. I did that, and they're sending me an iPhone 5s to test, which will be here on Tuesday. I'm excited to try it out, but the consensus around my office with T-Mobile customers is that it's not very good service. Time will tell, I guess.
How is T-Mobile's customer service? I was a T-Mo customer about 10 years ago and it was excellent back then.

JUST DO IT. VERIZON SUCKS. COMPLETELY OVER RATES THEM SELVES.
I've had better coverage data speeds and call quality in the last week with my note 4 then the last 8 years with Verizon. Not to mention Tmobiles not a bunch of ****ing blood suckers.

I switched from att to tmobile two weeks. I'm in northern new jersey and I'm not looking back. I originally got the note 3 but decided I wanted to make sure I had the latest phone so I got the note 4 before the return period was up. I ported over two lines and a tablet. I'm saving about $50 per month on tmobile. The service has been great so far. The speeds have been excellent and coverage at my job and house is five bars. The fact that their phones have unlocked bootloaders is of course a plus. I'd say if coverage is good then make the switch.
Taking Notes on my Note 4

Well these are interesting responses.
As far as my work goes, nothing seems to penetrate that building except AT&T, which would be nice, but they have the same issues that Verizon has. It's interesting, because I thought TMo piggy backed off of AT&T towers for roaming...

Depends on the service in your area. I live in NYC so I've notice hardly any difference in service and faster speeds with T-mobile. However if you travel a lot I would say Verizon is better because that map does not lie, you really do have service everywhere with them.

idelgado782 said:
I switched from att to tmobile two weeks. I'm in northern new jersey and I'm not looking back. I originally got the note 3 but decided I wanted to make sure I had the latest phone so I got the note 4 before the return period was up. I ported over two lines and a tablet. I'm saving about $50 per month on tmobile. The service has been great so far. The speeds have been excellent and coverage at my job and house is five bars. The fact that their phones have unlocked bootloaders is of course a plus. I'd say if coverage is good then make the switch.
Taking Notes on my Note 4
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Ditto. I switched from Verizon this past Thursday and not looking back. I love the freedom with bootloaders. I was with TMob 8 years ago and the service to be honest was horrible. But now TMob has greatly improved. I haven't dropped calls and data speeds are fast.

Cicatrize said:
Well these are interesting responses.
As far as my work goes, nothing seems to penetrate that building except AT&T, which would be nice, but they have the same issues that Verizon has. It's interesting, because I thought TMo piggy backed off of AT&T towers for roaming...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as penetrating buildings goes, earlier this year tmobile just bought the rights to new frequencies that have a lower wave length and will penetrate buildings considerably... they haven't made the activation on this frequency everywhere yet, but the Note 4 is one of the first phones(if not the first?) to have the ability to receive this frequency built in, so as soon as it goes live in your given area, you'll get the benefits! This is a hardware thing too, so it's not like they can just update other phones n they'll have it too, only new phones built to receive it

p()()pypants said:
As far as penetrating buildings goes, earlier this year tmobile just bought the rights to new frequencies that have a lower wave length and will penetrate buildings considerably... they haven't made the activation on this frequency everywhere yet, but the Note 4 is one of the first phones(if not the first?) to have the ability to receive this frequency built in, so as soon as it goes live in your given area, you'll get the benefits! This is a hardware thing too, so it's not like they can just update other phones n they'll have it too, only new phones built to receive it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. I didn't know that. Did they give an eta when they expect to turn on those frequencies?
Taking Notes

p()()pypants said:
As far as penetrating buildings goes, earlier this year tmobile just bought the rights to new frequencies that have a lower wave length and will penetrate buildings considerably... they haven't made the activation on this frequency everywhere yet, but the Note 4 is one of the first phones(if not the first?) to have the ability to receive this frequency built in, so as soon as it goes live in your given area, you'll get the benefits! This is a hardware thing too, so it's not like they can just update other phones n they'll have it too, only new phones built to receive it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you referring to the 700MHz spectrum they're rolling out? Link here: https://sites.google.com/site/cellularbinder/t-mobile-700a-spectrum
If that's the case, I'm in Southwest Michigan, and it looks like they need to clear up some stuff before that happens in my area (if I'm reading that correctly)?
EDIT: Also, is not the 700MHz for LTE band 12 only? I would love to have LTE inside of work, but less necessary than just a regular GSM phone signal.

Verizon sucks...PERIOD
the ONLY reason to even consider them is if you need coverage in the most obscure areas of the US; if not, kick those scumbags to the curb..
If you have decent coverage in your area, then no one can beat T-mobile for coverage, price, customer service, and everything else.
Do the test drive, go to all the areas you are concerned about, and if you get coverage, then switch

wase4711 said:
Verizon sucks...PERIOD
the ONLY reason to even consider them is if you need coverage in the most obscure areas of the US; if not, kick those scumbags to the curb..
If you have decent coverage in your area, then no one can beat T-mobile for coverage, price, customer service, and everything else.
Do the test drive, go to all the areas you are concerned about, and if you get coverage, then switch
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Click to collapse
My fiancee and I are both geocachers and use an app to post our finds immediately, so we do actually need coverage in obscure areas. We often have trouble even with Verizon, but that trouble is 1-2 bars of 3G. I'm hoping that doesn't translate into zero signal with T-Mobile. You are right, though. The plan is to do the test drive and see how it goes. With an unlocked bootloader and an eventual SIM unlock, I could always switch to AT&T if it ends up not working out very well. I have none of those freedoms with Verizon.

yeah, as much as I dislike "the deathstar", I hate verizon more, so given the choice of 2 evils, ATT would be your way out..
but, here again, go nuts on the 7 day tmobile test drive and see how good/bad they are in your area..

I use AT&T go phone prepaid with my tmo gn4. $60mo unl talk and text and 3gb LTE. I can add additional lte at $10 per gb. Just have to pay full price for my devices. I LOVE my set up. I travel, so tmo isn't an option for me. Hope you find a set up. Also, vz just released their prepaid plan mostly the same at $65mo with LTE service, and they're getting the gn4 developer edition with bootloader unlocked. Again, just have to pay full price.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

I have both so I know. I'd go with TM any day. Don't think about it. Just do it. Depending on your usage, if you don't talk much, the $30 pre paid plan is unbeatable. 5gb of data.

Well I've had this iPhone for an hour now. Hate the phone, but one thing I've seen already is the LTE speed is DOUBLE what I get from Verizon. It gets around 40mbps down and 10mbps up in my house, which is ridiculous. I can't even get that on Verizon outside with full bars.
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] T-Mobile vs Verizon for N6?

Hey everyone, I am looking for some opinions here. I live in Atlanta, GA and have just switched to Verizon from T-Mobile. Originally, I purchased iPhone 6+ and am now using the Nexus 6. I still am debating which I will use day to day, but, I have had nothing but issues with Verizon.
Without too much detail... rep that helped us migrate 3 business lines screwed up. As a result we had a lot of calls with care and managers and ended up getting 30gb of shared web for price of 10gb as well as close to $400 worth of credits atop of $450 in 2 cycles for switching. Great deal overall and helps a ton to cover device costs!
I had no issues with T-Mobile but my business partner is going to Dallas more where he had spotty coverage. On Verizon, he was great there but here... we have issues. From voice quality being much worse than Tmobile (even on VOLTE) to slower data speeds to 3G where we have LTE on T-Mobile. Now, with Nexus 6 I at least will get HSPA while on call with T-Mobile, compared to 0 data on verizon. There are places I get nearly 80mbps on Verizon, but it is cancelled out by overall mediocre performance.
I completely understand that Verizon has amazing coverage and better in-building penetration. However, Tmobile has made huge strides to become a very good data network in many metro areas. While calculating costs, after all credits, we would come out pretty even going back and won't save too much money.
So, given all that, is it worth staying on Verizon? Am I simply seeing greener grass on the other side? I am also worried that with Verizon it will be ages before nexus 6 will get VOLTE and Voice + Data.
Now, I am researching a lot about spectrum and what each carrier is deploying and for some reason T-Mobile just seems to be better when it comes to LTE tech, newly acquired spectrum and overall voice + data.

I was a Verizon customer for 11 years and switched to T-Mobile about 1 and half years ago. Couldn't be happier. Wished there was an easy answer gl with your decision

jbdan said:
I was a Verizon customer for 11 years and switched to T-Mobile about 1 and half years ago. Couldn't be happier. Wished there was an easy answer gl with your decision
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Thanks! Yea, indeed. From one angle I am thinking that the extra coverage is worth it, specially considering how so many others pay way more than what my plan costs. From another, I am seeing such inconsistent service and decreased voice quality makes it hard to want to stay on Verizon. I do like seeing 75mpbs sometimes though .
I rarely had service issues on T-Mobile everywhere I went around the city, now, it is a daily routine on Verizon.

air2k57 said:
Thanks! Yea, indeed. From one angle I am thinking that the extra coverage is worth it, specially considering how so many others pay way more than what my plan costs. From another, I am seeing such inconsistent service and decreased voice quality makes it hard to want to stay on Verizon. I do like seeing 75mpbs sometimes though .
I rarely had service issues on T-Mobile everywhere I went around the city, now, it is a daily routine on Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you've somewhat made your decision then
75mbps or 25mbps it doesn't matter to me but to some it might (I get 50mbps down and 25 up). Love HD voice it's crystal. What I love most though? That I am no longer with the big red corp and am with the most innovative and exciting carrier of the last 2 years

jbdan said:
Sounds like you've somewhat made your decision then
75mbps or 25mbps it doesn't matter to me but to some it might (I get 50mbps down and 25 up). Love HD voice it's crystal. What I love most though? That I am no longer with the big red corp and am with the most innovative and exciting carrier of the last 2 years
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Haha i hear ya. To me, anything over 5mbps is good as on mobile it all loads instant and videos buffer fast. So im not crazy in thinking that tmobile has an overall more advanced network?

air2k57 said:
Haha i hear ya. To me, anything over 5mbps is good as on mobile it all loads instant and videos buffer fast. So im not crazy in thinking that tmobile has an overall more advanced network?
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Good question I really don't know. I don't think you're crazy for thinking that. Tmo has turned the carrier world upside down and I believe all subscribers of all carriers can thank tmo for their lower prices and higher GB data plans.
I had to drop vzw because we moved 1 1/2 yrs ago to suburb of Atlanta and it's a vzw dead spot. No prob with tmo though. Blessing in disguise

jbdan said:
Good question I really don't know. I don't think you're crazy for thinking that. Tmo has turned the carrier world upside down and I believe all subscribers of all carriers can thank tmo for their lower prices and higher GB data plans.
I had to drop vzw because we moved 1 1/2 yrs ago to suburb of Atlanta and it's a vzw dead spot. No prob with tmo though. Blessing in disguise
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So you pretty much live by me sounds like. Interesting, that just means that it may not just be me then. At first I thought it was either my phone or the sim, verizon replaced both though. It seems like service always bounced between 2 and 4 bars of LTE at my house which creates random results. At times I could be getting 2mbps down while another verizon phone is getting 50, and vice versa. Speed isn't eveytbing, but there is no consistency and added with bad voice quality even on volte... A week ago I drove out towards Lawrenceville to help a friend look for a car and I kept dropping to 3G or having data so bad that even mobile sites would not load. My gf has T-Mobile and I grabbed her phone to test, she was literally getting 40 Mbps to my 1!

air2k57 said:
So you pretty much live by me sounds like. Interesting, that just means that it may not just be me then. At first I thought it was either my phone or the sim, verizon replaced both though. It seems like service always bounced between 2 and 4 bars of LTE at my house which creates random results. At times I could be getting 2mbps down while another verizon phone is getting 50, and vice versa. Speed isn't eveytbing, but there is no consistency and added with bad voice quality even on volte... A week ago I drove out towards Lawrenceville to help a friend look for a car and I kept dropping to 3G or having data so bad that even mobile sites would not load. My gf has T-Mobile and I grabbed her phone to test, she was literally getting 40 Mbps to my 1!
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Haha! I live in mableton/Smyrna area. I have great coverage on tmo where ever I go in and around Atlanta. Especially now with the moto N6 its radios rock. 3g on vzw is like edge on tmo. They're both painful. I rarely if ever have seen edge in and around Atlanta on tmo (only one spot I know of) but often saw 3g on vzw. Tmos hspa/umts is super fast

jbdan said:
Haha! I live in mableton/Smyrna area. I have great coverage on tmo where ever I go in and around Atlanta. Especially now with the moto N6 its radios rock. 3g on vzw is like edge on tmo. They're both painful. I rarely if ever have seen edge in and around Atlanta on tmo (only one spot I know of) but often saw 3g on vzw. Tmos hspa/umts is super fast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is voice on n6? I popped Tmobile sim in it and it wasn't very good when I tried. I've read that volte and hd voice won't come to n6 on Tmobile till early 2015? Yea, I always told people about how good hspa on Tmobile was lol. It killed LTE on most carriers originally. Other than having a little higher ping.

air2k57 said:
How is voice on n6? I popped Tmobile sim in it and it wasn't very good when I tried. I've read that volte and hd voice won't come to n6 on Tmobile till early 2015? Yea, I always told people about how good hspa on Tmobile was lol. It killed LTE on most carriers originally. Other than having a little higher ping.
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Already has HD voice spoke with it today. Volte will be a while yeah. I think voice quality is great, HD and non-hd

If anyone else has any input, greatly appreciated. I downloaded root metrics app and looking at places I go T-Mobile seems to have much stronger data than verizon. Although, voice coverage seems a tab better on verizon.

if you live out in the country, or spend lots of time out there, then tmobile is not for you. i love tmobile, and they have wonderful data speed where i live(70mbps download/30mbps upload. southern brooklyn), but out in the country, they arent so good. in cities, they are wonderful.

simms22 said:
if you live out in the country, or spend lots of time out there, then tmobile is not for you. i love tmobile, and they have wonderful data speed where i live(70mbps download/30mbps upload. southern brooklyn), but out in the country, they arent so good. in cities, they are wonderful.
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Thanks for your input!

[Q] Maybe leaving T-Mobile for Sprint - What will I lose? or Gain?

Although I have been a very satisfied T-Mobile customer for the last 7 years, it appears and tech support confirms that the tower that I connect to at home is oversold and instead of the 16 to 20 megs down that I used to get, I am now getting 1.5 meg on a good day and it goes down to .3 meg on bad days. I can't live with that as I have little other access to Internet bandwidth in my neighborhood and it gets worse every week. I use the Internet for business. The only fix appears to be another tower. Not a quick fix.
So, If I make the switch, what happens? Although it may work out better in switching if I give Sprint my existing Nexus 6, I will be using a Nexus 6 with them. I read comments that I will lose simultaneous voice and data use because of their Spark network. Is that true? What LTE speeds should I expect? I also understand that I will lose tethering if I opt for the unlimited plan (I am actually leaning toward the 20 GB family plan which I understand that I can share with my data enabled devices.) I don't read any nice things about Sprint.
Any thoughts you can share would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

Dont do it bro, sprint is horrible. Tell me if you find 25 people you know that love sprint more than T-Mobile. Sprint is a rotting company hiding behind sales gimmicks and ideas from T-Mobile. T-Mobile is still rolling out this year with Band 12 700Mhz and its LTE footprint roll out replacing old edge areas. More people complain about sprint way more than T-Mobile. So if you dont like T-Mobile, you might as well get shartrizon or AT$$$T. I would recommend calling T-Mobile to send a tech. to your area to fix the issue or report it for fixing.

ourtech said:
Although I have been a very satisfied T-Mobile customer for the last 7 years, it appears and tech support confirms that the tower that I connect to at home is oversold and instead of the 16 to 20 megs down that I used to get, I am now getting 1.5 meg on a good day and it goes down to .3 meg on bad days. I can't live with that as I have little other access to Internet bandwidth in my neighborhood and it gets worse every week. I use the Internet for business. The only fix appears to be another tower. Not a quick fix.
So, If I make the switch, what happens? Although it may work out better in switching if I give Sprint my existing Nexus 6, I will be using a Nexus 6 with them. I read comments that I will lose simultaneous voice and data use because of their Spark network. Is that true? What LTE speeds should I expect? I also understand that I will lose tethering if I opt for the unlimited plan (I am actually leaning toward the 20 GB family plan which I understand that I can share with my data enabled devices.) I don't read any nice things about Sprint.
Any thoughts you can share would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is Cricket Wireless an option? They are essentially AT&T with throttled LTE speeds of 8Mpbs down, no throttle up. I am paying $55/month for 20GB of LTE data. They no longer offer that plan, but have the same plan at 10GB of data.

chaunold said:
Dont do it bro, sprint is horrible. Tell me if you find 25 people you know that love sprint more than T-Mobile. Sprint is a rotting company hiding behind sales gimmicks and ideas from T-Mobile. T-Mobile is still rolling out this year with Band 12 700Mhz and its LTE footprint roll out replacing old edge areas. More people complain about sprint way more than T-Mobile. So if you dont like T-Mobile, you might as well get shartrizon or AT$$$T. I would recommend calling T-Mobile to send a tech. to your area to fix the issue or report it for fixing.
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Click to collapse
See, that is my feeling as well. I can't find anyone that has nice things to say. As to AT&T or Verizon, wow does the cost jump. And to the point about getting a tech out there, been there, done that. T-Mobile is very aware of the problem. They have bee running tests for a while. Sadly, it is oversold. Not broken. Don't have too many options. There were some numbers from Verizon that weren't horrible, but I don't think Verizon pays ETFs.

Someone is selling a CricketWireless 20GB LTE plan on Howard Forums...I have had ZERO issues using Cricket with my Nexus 6...in fact I am loving it.

I have looked at Cricket. The problem is that I do exceed 10 GB in some months and there is no provision for tethering or tablets that I could see. One of those options would be necessary.

ourtech said:
See, that is my feeling as well. I can't find anyone that has nice things to say. As to AT&T or Verizon, wow does the cost jump. And to the point about getting a tech out there, been there, done that. T-Mobile is very aware of the problem. They have bee running tests for a while. Sadly, it is oversold. Not broken. Don't have too many options. There were some numbers from Verizon that weren't horrible, but I don't think Verizon pays ETFs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had verizon wireless for 10 years and left them over a year ago for T-Mobile. I didn't regret anything. I didn't switch because of price because I could afford verizon, but their plans and phones suck and they are scam artists trying to rape every penny from you just like John Legere quoted. In my area and even in rural places in georgia I get pretty decent excellent coverage and service. At home I usually get from 80-112mbps down and 7-15mbps up. Verizon couldn't match that and hell, everyone I know that has sprint hate it and are jumping to T-Mobile because they get less than 1mbps and call quality sounds like pure ****. T-Mobile has nationwide VoLTE and WiFi calling and texting and the "Uncarrier" exclusives. I have unlimited data so I use it as my home internet since I have root for tethering unlimited data and its way faster than charters fastest speeds they deliver to my house lol. Sprint is also bad just like verizon because remember they are money hungry companies and they will lock u in contracts and can only use their cdma devices or select unlocked devices like the nexus 6. I heard verizon doesn't recognize the unlocked nexus 6, idk if that is true or not.

Link? And what about tablets or tethering? I need that data sometimes when I am out in the field and I have to remote into something. Yes, even my 6 inch screen is a little small. I don't see any plans for tablets.

ourtech said:
I have looked at Cricket. The problem is that I do exceed 10 GB in some months and there is no provision for tethering or tablets that I could see. One of those options would be necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although tethering is not supported, it does work.
There also would be no issue popping in a Cricket SIM in a Nexus 9. I've considered selling my WiFi N9 and getting a LTE N9 with a 20GB Cricket SIM.

metaphz said:
Is Cricket Wireless an option? They are essentially AT&T with throttled LTE speeds of 8Mpbs down, no throttle up. I am paying $55/month for 20GB of LTE data. They no longer offer that plan, but have the same plan at 10GB of data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
metaphz said:
Someone is selling a CricketWireless 20GB LTE plan on Howard Forums...I have had ZERO issues using Cricket with my Nexus 6...in fact I am loving it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I could see in the Howard forums, the 20 GB promo expired in April. Thanks though.

ourtech said:
From what I could see in the Howard forums, the 20 GB promo expired in April.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It did expire, someone is selling their account.

ourtech said:
Link? And what about tablets or tethering? I need that data sometimes when I am out in the field and I have to remote into something. Yes, even my 6 inch screen is a little small. I don't see any plans for tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an app on the playstore if you have root called "WiFi Tether Router" which will work or if you want unlimited native tethering.
#1 in SQL lite go to /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/settings.db/global
#2 add " tether_dun required " and set the value to 0
#3 in your APN settings add " dun " to APN type and set your APN to IPv4 only since IPv6 doesnt support this.

Either use OpenSignal app or their site and zoom in on your neighborhood. They have a list of carriers with their average upload and download speed.
Personally I wouldn't use Sprint as OpenSignal and Rootmetrics has shown it is the slowest network across the country.
Get a AT&T GoPhone sim and try them out for a month. Walmart sells the sims. They now have rollover data on prepaid just like T-mobile. Plus they're not throttled like Cricket.
I wait for Callingmart to announce their monthly 10% off GoPhone refills on Twitter. Then refill each month saving me $6.

Just my 2¢ but I have been with Sprint for going on 8 years. Their service is great in my area (now) and their customer service has always been outstanding. While I do agree that they don't have the best coverage, they have come a long way in my time with them. You can get unlimited, TRULY unlimited data with them for a good price. They offer payment plans on the top devices and as I said, customer service has bent over backwards for me more than once. Choice is yours, OP, just do your homework and choose wisely.

I have no complaints with Sprint. They recently upgraded my area to LTE and its fast. Its really pointless to ask random people on the internet because they more than likely do not live in your state much less your city. Signal strength is the most important aspect of cell phone service and you wont find that answer here. I would find a coverage map and compare the carriers, make sure it is a legitimate coverage map and not advertising. I would also ask people in your area with Sprint so you can compare.

bob2300nx said:
I have no complaints with Sprint. They recently upgraded my area to LTE and its fast. Its really pointless to ask random people on the internet because they more than likely do not live in your state much less your city. Signal strength is the most important aspect of cell phone service and you wont find that answer here. I would find a coverage map and compare the carriers, make sure it is a legitimate coverage map and not advertising. I would also ask people in your area with Sprint so you can compare.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To each his own. I have learned a lot from this, coverage map aside (I am in a Spark enabled area of moderate strength, the same as I am for T-Mobile and for that matter, likely AT&T, which tells me little that I didn't already know. It is a topology issue.) My question wasn't about coverage. It was about the experience. I have learned that, unlike T-Mobile, Sprint customer service is out of country, but some have had good experiences with the company. I have also received useful suggestions about alternatives. This has been very useful to me. Sprint could have the strongest signal in my area and still be a company to avoid like the plague.

Free data after you reach your limit, and free music service streaming
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app

ceo4eva said:
Free data after you reach your limit, and free music service streaming
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. Hadn't thought about those. Thanks.
This morning my Speed Tests were decidedly better. At least 8 and as high as 12 meg. I haven't seen those numbers in months. So, (holding breath), perhaps my last call got something changed. I won't make changes unless I am sure there is no hope for change.

ourtech said:
To each his own. I have learned a lot from this, coverage map aside (I am in a Spark enabled area of moderate strength, the same as I am for T-Mobile and for that matter, likely AT&T, which tells me little that I didn't already know. It is a topology issue.) My question wasn't about coverage. It was about the experience. I have learned that, unlike T-Mobile, Sprint customer service is out of country, but some have had good experiences with the company. I have also received useful suggestions about alternatives. This has been very useful to me. Sprint could have the strongest signal in my area and still be a company to avoid like the plague.
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Other than calling to activate new phones, I have only had to call once in all my years with Sprint and I have no complaints on it. I don't generally need service, I pay my bill and use my phone lol. As far as overseas call centers, that's not entirely true; there is a Sprint call center in my city (along with a T-Mobile call center). To each their own.

I switched from Sprint to Verizon as my family plan 4 years ago, best decision of my life. Sprint will frustrate you beyond belief with their slow data, you won't even be able to load Google. I know you said the big 2 cost too much, so I'd stay with T-Mobile if I were you, avoid Sprint at all costs. I personally love Verizon, have 5 off contract smartphones with them, 15GB shared data, and pay $153+tax a month.