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.
Related
Well, I've had this phone for a good 3 months now. I used to have an S2 with H+. I'm not exactly sure how fast 3G(EVDO) is supposed to be, but I'm assuming I should be able to, at the very least, do a Google search. I can barely browse sometimes on LTE, let alone 3G.
Well, today, my buddy showed be a website on his Verizon iPhone 4. It was, at the very least, ten times faster than my browsing experience. It felt as fast as my Wi-fi!
This raises a serious question for me:
Is the HTC One slow? Or is it just Sprint being Sprint? Because I have yet to see such browsing speeds, even in strong(ish) LTE areas.
I have only the One on Sprint, so I have nothing to test it against, but can Sprint's 3G be that bad? Can verizon's 3G be that good?
Are you guys able to browse comfortably on 3G? Is my device defective?
I have no idea. I just want to be able to use my mobile phone as a mobile phone. As in, able to use the internet outside of my house. It's very frustrating sometimes when I want to look something up and the connection times out.
So, how fast is your browsing experience?
sauprankul said:
Well, I've had this phone for a good 3 months now. I used to have an S2 with H+. I'm not exactly sure how fast 3G(EVDO) is supposed to be, but I'm assuming I should be able to, at the very least, do a Google search. I can barely browse sometimes on LTE, let alone 3G.
Well, today, my buddy showed be a website on his Verizon iPhone 4. It was, at the very least, ten times faster than my browsing experience. It felt as my Wi-fi!
This raises a serious question for me:
Is the HTC One slow? Or is it just Sprint being Sprint? Because I have yet to see such browsing speeds, even in strong(ish) LTE areas.
I have only the One on Sprint, so I have nothing to test it against, but can Sprint's 3G be that bad? Can verizon's 3G be that good?
Are you guys able to browse comfortably on 3G? Is my device defective?
I have no idea. I just want to be able to use my mobile phone as a mobile phone. As in, able to use the internet outside of my house. It's very frustrating sometimes when I want to look something up and the connection times out.
So, how fast is your browsing experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3g maxs out at around 2-3 mbps I'm not sure but this is the limitation of the evdo technology that's is being used. Sprints internet service has been decreasing over the years probably due to their backhaul but as network vision is being applied your data speed rates should be increasing. Verizon has fast 3g because of their network as of now sprint is playing the catch up game but it shouldn't be that long until it's there. If you just want ur mobile phone to work like a mobile phone shouldnt that just be calls?
luigi311 said:
3g maxs out at around 2-3 mbps I'm not sure but this is the limitation of the evdo technology that's is being used. Sprints internet service has been decreasing over the years probably due to their backhaul but as network vision is being applied your data speed rates should be increasing. Verizon has fast 3g because of their network as of now sprint is playing the catch up game but it shouldn't be that long until it's there. If you just want ur mobile phone to work like a mobile phone shouldnt that just be calls?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To the question: No. By mobile, I mean being able to move around. Smartphones are the new definition of mobile phones.
And 2-3 megs on 3g? Ha! That's a good one... I barely get 2 on LTE. I get like 80kbps, if even, on 3G. Is there something wrong with my phone or is it just Sprint?
sauprankul said:
To the question: No. By mobile, I mean being able to move around. Smartphones are the new definition of mobile phones.
And 2-3 megs on 3g? Ha! That's a good one... I barely get 2 on LTE. I get like 80kbps, if even, on 3G. Is there something wrong with my phone or is it just Sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just sprint ... Sprint made a bad call when they invested in wimax while others like Verizon went lte ... Verizon's 3g is pretty fast especially now that a ton of their devices prioritize lte.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
sauprankul said:
To the question: No. By mobile, I mean being able to move around. Smartphones are the new definition of mobile phones.
And 2-3 megs on 3g? Ha! That's a good one... I barely get 2 on LTE. I get like 80kbps, if even, on 3G. Is there something wrong with my phone or is it just Sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If ur really fedup with sprints 3g u can always SIM unlock and load up a at& or tmobile SIM and use their 3g. Theres also just leaving sprint completely and going to another company
luigi311 said:
If ur really fedup with sprints 3g u can always SIM unlock and load up a at& or tmobile SIM and use their 3g. Theres also just leaving sprint completely and going to another company
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I tell Sprint that I'm getting crappy-a$$ speeds and ask for a free contract termination? Or, at least, a discounted ETF?
I don't wanna pay $1000+ for phones I'll have to sell for like <$300 each.
sauprankul said:
To the question: No. By mobile, I mean being able to move around. Smartphones are the new definition of mobile phones.
And 2-3 megs on 3g? Ha! That's a good one... I barely get 2 on LTE. I get like 80kbps, if even, on 3G. Is there something wrong with my phone or is it just Sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have any problems with 3g or lte. There was problem for a month, or so when they were working on lte towers. Brooklyn, NY. The only thing that I didn't update radios.
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In Manhattan on the other hand speed is not good at all.
Sent from my lair.
volk9029 said:
I don't have any problems with 3g or lte. There was problem for a month, or so when they were working on lte towers. Brooklyn, NY. The only thing that I didn't update radios.View attachment 2161342
In Manhattan on the other hand speed is not good at all.
Sent from my lair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In absolute disbelief at your 3G speeds. Do you think that the problems around South Bay area are because of Network Vision upgrades and LTE? The Sprint rep told me, when I bought my phone, that we would get LTE by August (this month).
I really like this phone, and Sprints prices are very reasonable. How long do you think before South bay gets a stable 3G network?
sauprankul said:
Can I tell Sprint that I'm getting crappy-a$$ speeds and ask for a free contract termination? Or, at least, a discounted ETF?
I don't wanna pay $1000+ for phones I'll have to sell for like <$300 each.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very unlikely you'll get any adjustments towards contract termination. If you happen to get ahold of a sympathetic Care rep, they may be able to reimburse you x amount of dollars per x months, but that's probably going to be about it. They give you 14 days to "try" their network. If you did not cancel within that 14 days, you are stating that you are OK with everything and agree to roll with it for 2 years.
As far as speed issues, I have seen ups and downs as well. I believe ever since the Network Vision expansion, Sprint has devoted less attention to general tower maintenance on the whole and more towards beefing up for future performance. Therefore a local cell site with a capacity issue does not get repaired/upgraded/tweaked as fast as it should, and all of a sudden your phone is pinging towers even further away just to establish data connection, hence the lower speeds and reliability.
sauprankul said:
In absolute disbelief at your 3G speeds. Do you think that the problems around South Bay area are because of Network Vision upgrades and LTE? The Sprint rep told me, when I bought my phone, that we would get LTE by August (this month).
I really like this phone, and Sprints prices are very reasonable. How long do you think before South bay gets a stable 3G network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I live in union city and I have ****ty 3g and spotty 4g but I see a bunch of areas lighting up with 4g... The roll out has been slow. I checked the sprint website and if I search for my address it says I have lte in my are which I don't
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
Man. I wish I had read up more about Sprint. I would have known about how much of a failure wimax was and would have stayed away.
Well, here I am.
My other concern is: Does anybody have a different brand of phone on Sprint and get better data speeds? I am utterly shocked that data speeds could be so slow in Silicon valley. Its really hard to believe that Sprint is so bad that it barely covers the 680 and 101 here.
Really, the slow speeds limit basic functions like searching and browsing. Forget about streaming and downloading.
sauprankul said:
Man. I wish I had read up more about Sprint. I would have known about how much of a failure wimax was and would have stayed away.
Well, here I am.
My other concern is: Does anybody have a different brand of phone on Sprint and get better data speeds? I am utterly shocked that data speeds could be so slow in Silicon valley. Its really hard to believe that Sprint is so bad that it barely covers the 680 and 101 here.
Really, the slow speeds limit basic functions like searching and browsing. Forget about streaming and downloading.
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I've had almost all devices on sprint and it makes no difference the speed is crap. Only reason I'm still with sprint is because my business pays for it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
I get about 700kbit download and 600kbit upload on average which is good enough for browsing and video calls but forget about downloading 50+mb apps.As long as texts work all the time and I can roam for free I'm good to go.
Just remembered thanks to that guy mentioning roaming. Apperently people in the past people would flash a Verizon prl that would allow them access to their 3g service by forcing roam. After a while sprint would message them via a letter or something telling them they are excessively roam and their account will be terminated. This was a method that some were using to get out of their sprint contracts without having to pay the etf. Although this is morally indecent so it is up to u to try it. I don't know how the results for u will come out though since u just opened ur account just tossing it out there
Lmao!!! This is the very reason there is a sick of sprint thread. 3g is not usable in most areas. I was with them for 10 years b4 I finally got myself kicked off and went to att. Their data speeds are disappointing. I was never able to stream a YouTube video. I do think that call quality was a little better on sprint tho. I would suggest anybody who wants to use their networks data DO NOT GO WITH SPRINT
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
N0wy0ud1e said:
I get about 700kbit download and 600kbit upload on average which is good enough for browsing and video calls but forget about downloading 50+mb apps.As long as texts work all the time and I can roam for free I'm good to go.
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I would kill for this. Maybe 10 days out the the year I get 1500kbits for some reason. The rest of the time? 150kbits down. LTE I usually get about 2. I'm located in a major city along the east coast, 10 miles from the ocean.
gmfeny said:
Lmao!!! This is the very reason there is a sick of sprint thread. 3g is not usable in most areas. I was with them for 10 years b4 I finally got myself kicked off and went to att. Their data speeds are disappointing. I was never able to stream a YouTube video. I do think that call quality was a little better on sprint tho. I would suggest anybody who wants to use their networks data DO NOT GO WITH SPRINT
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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I'm desperate people. I can't go along with this kind of service. I would be perfectly happy with 2 megs down. I dont need 30 megs down or whatever, and chances are, if Sprint has never really taken the effort to put decent 3G around here, they probably won't with 4G.
So about the roaming thing... Will I really get kicked out without an ETF? I think I can because I technically didn't ask them to kick me off, right? I just ended up accidentally roaming a bit too much. Does anybody have experience with the roaming loophole? Will I be able to keep this phone or what? Will they give me roaming fees? Is Verizon's 3G going to be that much faster?
sauprankul said:
I'm desperate people. I can't go along with this kind of service. I would be perfectly happy with 2 megs down. I dont need 30 megs down or whatever, and chances are, if Sprint has never really taken the effort to put decent 3G around here, they probably won't with 4G.
So about the roaming thing... Will I really get kicked out without an ETF? I think I can because I technically didn't ask them to kick me off, right? I just ended up accidentally roaming a bit too much. Does anybody have experience with the roaming loophole? Will I be able to keep this phone or what? Will they give me roaming fees? Is Verizon's 3G going to be that much faster?
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Lol yes sir I just got kicked off July 23rd but I switched to att the day I found out I could. I would just stay with a Verizon prl not like 00003 or something and you have to do it for at least 3 months in a row. I would leave my phone downloaded torrents every night before I go to bed. At least a couple gbs in size. Sprint didn't kick me off right away tho. I did this in December January and February then I eventually gave up BC I didn't think they would boot me. Then in June they sent the letter saying my service would be disconnected ETF FREE!!! So I Porte's my number to att and the rest is history
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
gmfeny said:
Lol yes sir I just got kicked off July 23rd but I switched to att the day I found out I could. I would just stay with a Verizon prl not like 00003 or something and you have to do it for at least 3 months in a row. I would leave my phone downloaded torrents every night before I go to bed. At least a couple gbs in size. Sprint didn't kick me off right away tho. I did this in December January and February then I eventually gave up BC I didn't think they would boot me. Then in June they sent the letter saying my service would be disconnected ETF FREE!!! So I Porte's my number to att and the rest is history
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Seems very doable if I set up a hotspot.
Just to confirm, does anybody else have experience with this? Are there any fees involved? This sounds too good to be true. I've looked this up online, and I see very few people who actually tried this and reported back.
But if I get to keep my phone and sell it and leave Sprint and go to AT&T and not have to worry about fees then I'll definitely do this with no hesitation.
Honestly, it's all about your location.
In areas with no Network Vision upgrades and ancient T1 backhauls, sprint's 3G is going to basically be unusable. While the EVDO towers can easily handle 1.5-2mbit of speed, the backhaul is so clogged that you are lucky to get 128kbps. (.1mbit)
I disabled the 4G Radio in my phone and did several speed tests on EVDO. This was in peak usage time (~1PM). I live in Maryland and I am in the Baltimore market rollout. This is a Network Vision tower, with 4G LTE I am connected to. The backhauls are fully upgraded with fiber. My speeds mostly sat around 1.7-1.8mbit. Enough to stream music on the go, load web pages, stream 360p youtube.
http://imgur.com/a/ygmHN
If you live in an area that is getting a 4G LTE rollout, the 3G speeds will definitely increase - and will probably be equal to those 3G speeds of the other CDMA provider - Verizon.
Then I enabled the 4G radio in my phone, ran another set of sets. About the same time (~1PM.)
http://imgur.com/a/4clVb
My average during peak times is anywhere from 5-9mbit down, with 3-5mbit up. Easily enough to stream HQ Music, HQ Youtube, quickly load web content, and even some HD netflix worked without problem.
During off-peak times, I easily speed test at 15-16mbit down, and 7-8mbit up.
http://imgur.com/a/MJbZc
My favorite has to be off-peak times. After about 11pm, everything is amazing. I can do multiple things online without issues. Tether to my PC, stream music, download files, ect. I've hit 16mbit down pretty easily, and I'm actually pretty far away from the tower. My RSSI is generally about 110-113dBm, which is getting to the edge of usability. I never lose my connection. (75 is right next to the tower, 120 is the edge of the signal.)
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!!
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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.
Post screenshots. As of now I don't think Wideband in Columbus, Ohio is live. My speeds are the same as before. What speeds should we be getting?
Anyone know the screen mode # for the flex to see the information?
I see this hidden menu option but not sure where to find if I'm on 15mhz.
*3845#*959# And don't want to mess my phone up. Lol
http://www.lg-phones.org/lg-g-flex-hidden-service-menu.html
Sent from my LG-D959 using Tapatalk
Hmmmmm i tried them numbers for Sprint and it didn't work but in your menu do you see lte engineering? I know for Sprint what i do is ##debug# takes me to a menu where i can see lte engineering and in there it would show which band your connected to.
yellowman82 said:
Hmmmmm i tried them numbers for Sprint and it didn't work but in your menu do you see lte engineering? I know for Sprint what i do is ##debug# takes me to a menu where i can see lte engineering and in there it would show which band your connected to.
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I looked and don't see that. Maybe I'll post all the options later. It's like 3 screen shots.
3845#*959# This is the hidden menu for T-Mobile. In the OP I had a * in front and was wondering why it didn't work. lol
For AT&T: Go to dialer and enter 3845#*950#
For Sprint: Go to dialer and enter 3845#*995#
39.51 down, 11.86 up, on VOLTE inside my house, outside of Chicago..
wase4711 said:
39.51 down, 11.86 up, on VOLTE inside my house, outside of Chicago..
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Nice but do VOLTE has anything to do with your network speed? Thought VOLTE was voice over lte so you can talk on the phone while browsing the web using lte?
yellowman82 said:
Nice but do VOLTE has anything to do with your network speed? Thought VOLTE was voice over lte so you can talk on the phone while browsing the web using lte?
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Not sure if it does anything for speed, since I am usually on wifi, and dont pay alot of attention to OTA data speed..
If I recall, when I did some tests awhile ago, I never got more than 14-20 megs down, and 6-7 megs up while in my house.
I thought those speeds were acceptable.
T-Mobile has a fantastic network in my area, and I was very happy with their phone/data speeds and quality, even before these updates..
wase4711 said:
Not sure if it does anything for speed, since I am usually on wifi, and dont pay alot of attention to OTA data speed..
If I recall, when I did some tests awhile ago, I never got more than 14-20 megs down, and 6-7 megs up while in my house.
I thought those speeds were acceptable.
T-Mobile has a fantastic network in my area, and I was very happy with their phone/data speeds and quality, even before these updates..
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Yea i just did a google search and basically VOLTE really doesn't improve network speeds either T-Mobile updated something through that update or probably the tower around you got a small upgrade. I'm on sprint and i can't complain much as to they are really improving their network and trying to get everywhere covered here's some speeds of mine on sprint.
wow, where are you located?
before I came to Tmobile in February, I was a Sprint user for many years, and, I never had many problems with their network, although the data speeds were horrible.
when they announced the "new" network last year, I was excited that Chicago was one of the first cities to be upgraded; however, once the "upgrade" started, the network was horrific for me; we couldnt make phone calls from our house, data/calls would drop everywhere, and even with an AirRave, their service went from OK to unusable for me. Fortunately, Tmobile announced their program to pay your cancellation fees and such at that time, so we switched to TMO, and have had fantastic service from Day one.
I hated to leave Sprint after all those years, and especially when there was this promise of their great "new" network, so I am amazed to see you have such fantastic speeds and good call quality with them now.
wase4711 said:
wow, where are you located?
before I came to Tmobile in February, I was a Sprint user for many years, and, I never had many problems with their network, although the data speeds were horrible.
when they announced the "new" network last year, I was excited that Chicago was one of the first cities to be upgraded; however, once the "upgrade" started, the network was horrific for me; we couldnt make phone calls from our house, data/calls would drop everywhere, and even with an AirRave, their service went from OK to unusable for me. Fortunately, Tmobile announced their program to pay your cancellation fees and such at that time, so we switched to TMO, and have had fantastic service from Day one.
I hated to leave Sprint after all those years, and especially when there was this promise of their great "new" network, so I am amazed to see you have such fantastic speeds and good call quality with them now.
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I'm located in Miami and before having a sprint spark phone i had the note 2 which was really struggling on the band 25 network, i too was considering leaving them for T-Mobile but when the flex came out i went to the store to check it out and ran some speed test while i was there and i was amazed by sprint spark new bands so i decided to stay but I'm pretty sure Chicago should be good now or atleast picking up, sprint choose the best route in upgrading their network so it's really going to pay off when they are complete.
Stay on topic please both of you. Hehe j/k.
I left Sprint after 14 years for T-Mobile a little over a year ago. It's kind of funny how Sprint and T-Mobile switched roles at least in some places. T-Mobile use to suck but now Sprint does. I'm really surprised how quick T-Mobile improved the network. I thought Softbank would turn Sprint around quickly but that didn't happen. Now if the Sprint/Tmobile merger happens I don't see that being a good thing. If it does happen I'll probably go to AT&T.
I get around 20mbps with T-Mobile and that's more then enough for me. I'm running a lot of speed test waiting for the Wideband LTE to be active though. Lol
Man those Spark speeds from Sprint are insane! Honestly if Sprint could roll those numbers out for majority of consumers, I'd all be for the merger, lol!
JesseMT4G said:
Man those Spark speeds from Sprint are insane! Honestly if Sprint could roll those numbers out for majority of consumers, I'd all be for the merger, lol!
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I was more shocked when i ran the app and got these results when i'm usually averaging between 25~40mbps. I would like the merger to happen because it will actually give them a chance to compete against the big 2 major carrier especially with their prices.
I cant imagine that with the hundreds of millions they have both spent recently to upgrade their networks, their networks beings incompatible with each other, that there will ever be a merger between these 2..would the "merged" company be GSM or CDMA? Would they have spent 100's of millions to upgrade their incompatible networks, if a merger was in the works?
Doesn't make any sense, but who knows..
Sprint is taking years upgrading it's network even with Sotfbanks $. T-Mobile upgraded the network in a year. I really don't see prices going down if the merger happens. If anything they would go up. I'm just shocked Hesse still has a job. I do want to see Sprint turn things around though.
sweets55 said:
Sprint is taking years upgrading it's network even with Sotfbanks $. T-Mobile upgraded the network in a year. I really don't see prices going down if the merger happens. If anything they would go up. I'm just shocked Hesse still has a job. I do want to see Sprint turn things around though.
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Well you see that's where you don't know the difference the reason they're taking longer is the direction they went by also changing the whole equipment base etc at each site which are going to pay off in the long run tmobile isn't doing that they just upgrading their speed and such that's why they are finishing way quicker which is going to hurt them later on in the future when they really realize that it would have to replace almost all the equipment in that base site which will lead to problems like customer calling and complaining about the issue they are having with their service and such basically its going to be a deja vu all over again.
Here's what I'm seeing in Birmingham, Alabama. War Eagle !
Sent from my LG-D959 using Tapatalk
yellowman82 said:
Well you see that's where you don't know the difference the reason they're taking longer is the direction they went by also changing the whole equipment base etc at each site which are going to pay off in the long run tmobile isn't doing that they just upgrading their speed and such that's why they are finishing way quicker which is going to hurt them later on in the future when they really realize that it would have to replace almost all the equipment in that base site which will lead to problems like customer calling and complaining about the issue they are having with their service and such basically its going to be a deja vu all over again.
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Dude take off your Sprint blinders. lol I was with Sprint for 14 years and had so many phones I've lost track. lol My point is I know what's going on in the wireless industry. Sprint is taking years to upgrade the network because they keep making bad decisions. Clearwire was a bust. WiMAX was a bust. LightSquared deal was a bust too – granted, that one wasn't really Sprint’s fault. Oh and the big Nextel mistake. Sprints history shows an inability to pick a winner. The only customers calling to complain are Sprints. I feel bad for Sprint customers when Hesse says "just wait for the network of your dreams". lmao They have been waiting for years. Sprint should be giving them a credit since some can't even watch a youtube video. I was one a year ago and Sprint said all 4 of my phones were defective. lol They offered me a one time $5 credit. I laughed then hung up the phone and went to T-Mobile. Then Sprint comes out with Framily. lol I think that's so stupid. I don't want to have recruit strangers and then worry about them paying the bill on time so my bill doesn't change.
T-Mobile has expanded Wideband LTE into 16 total markets, giving all T-Mobile LTE devices a speed boost with capable peak network download speeds up to nearly 150 Mbps. In January T-Mobile bought a swath of unused spectrum from Verizon Wireless for $3.3 billion that will help expand its coverage to more regions outside of the metropolitan areas.
I really hope the merger doesn't happen because T-Mobile is hot and Sprint will just cool them off. lol Hopefully T-Mobile can get another 3 billion for the failed deal like what happened with AT&T. No one can predict the future as far as you saying T-Mobile will go through what Sprint is going through now. Good thing is I'm not in a contract. Hopefully Sprint can turn things around and fix the bad image they have now. No one can deny, 2013 was T-Mobile’s year.
Report: T-Mobile best, Sprint worst carrier in KC
http://m.bizjournals.com/kansascity...e-best-sprint-worst-carrier-in-kc.html?r=full
Seems like I read somewhere that as of Jan 1st 2014 T-Mobile opened up 75,000 new towers in North America, supporting 4g LTE. I had Verizon for years then went to AT&T for about 6 months and now on T-Mobile. Verizon did have the best coverage of 4g lte , at&t was OK but I always had to fight them about BS on my bill and overages. I had a GS4 on AT&T during the 4.2 to 4.3 update, I was rooted with unlocked boot loader I couldn't take the OTA but that didn't stop them from sending the 592mb update 17 times one month and 22 times another month. Forcing me to have overages. I had to call and fight my way out of them both times. And if I didn't know as much as I do about android and our systems I couldn't have convinced the customer service MANAGER that that was what it was. Then after having issues with the network cust. Service told me they couldn't support or help me with my issue until I took the update. They said "Our tech support is trained to handle issues with 4.3" so I asked "what happened to the crew that was trained on 4.2, did you fire all of them?",
Long story short I left and got ETF paid by T-Mobile and got unlimited data again. I average 40-45 mBs download speeds and have had the best customer service experience with tmo.
And I love being able to use thus much data :
thats ALOT of Porno viewing, bro..:cyclops:
Agree with everything you said; Verizon is great if you travel for a living, but I dont do that anymore, so I only care what works in Chicago land; ATT was fine after they updated their network here a couple of years ago, but, their cust svc/tech support was lame at best, and after a brief try with Sprint, and their "Alleged" great new network, we decided our last hope was T-Mobile, and we love everything about them, for us, in Chicago land..
Great Customer service when we need them, great low pricing, great service in our area, and all issues are taken care of immediately, without a question or argument...We couldnt be happier with our cellular choices right now, and hope it stays this way for a long time..
We are moving to the Dallas area in a year or 2, so I hope their coverage is as good down there as it is up here..
I even bricked my first rooted g flex and took it to the T-Mobile store and for $5 shipping charge they sent me a brand new one not refurbished but new. The first one was only 3 weeks old.
The CEO and Head of Marketing are determined to make T-Mobile a monopoly and out to show other carriers it can be done better, faster, cheaper, and unlimited. Any company, mobile carrier or not, that does not take cues or adapt this mentality of business and customer care is run by morons.
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...
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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
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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
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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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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
I'm thinking about jumping from sprint been with them 10 years. But the service is just getting worst and worst. My question is to the folks that have jump ship how happy are you with the service is it a noticeable difference.
???????
Bad ass note 4
???? That doesn't answer anything. Did u switch from sprint is your data and voice alot better. If not no need to reply
You realize you never stated where you from state town so someone in your area can answer you. Right. We like to help but are not mind readers. Sprint sucks plain and simple. You need to ask people in your area what service is like.
BAD ASS NOTE 4
Didnt put where i lived because i was generally speaking no matter the area. But if it helps i am in northern virginia
Well I live in NY and have great service. Have a friend who lives in Vermont and has horrible service.
BAD ASS NOTE 4
I had been with Sprint for 11 years in South Florida. After being tired of dealing with slow data and not having LTE in many areas I did some research. Used Sensorly and OpenSignal. You can use the app or website and see who has stronger service or LTE coverage in your area. FOr me it was T-Mobile and the speeds I've been getting are 30 times better on average. It was a huge difference after switching. I suggest looking at coverage in your area using the sites I mentioned and find what's best for you.
i just switched back to tmobile from sprint and the difference is night and day. bay area, ca my data on sprint is around 7mbps and tmobile is around 70mbps. the voice quality on sprint was so bad and my calls were dropping almost every call. one of the other reasons i switched was the fact the note 4 on sprint can no longer do simultaneous voice and data currently (at least in my area).
FrankthaTank said:
I had been with Sprint for 11 years in South Florida. After being tired of dealing with slow data and not having LTE in many areas I did some research. Used Sensorly and OpenSignal. You can use the app or website and see who has stronger service or LTE coverage in your area. FOr me it was T-Mobile and the speeds I've been getting are 30 times better on average. It was a huge difference after switching. I suggest looking at coverage in your area using the sites I mentioned and find what's best for you.
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Does tmo have simultaneous voice and data?
smooth703 said:
I'm thinking about jumping from sprint been with them 10 years. But the service is just getting worst and worst. My question is to the folks that have jump ship how happy are you with the service is it a noticeable difference.
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I just jumped ship yesterday. You will NOT regret leaving sprint. Unless you like watching 5 min YouTube video in 15 minutes... lol
tt281gt said:
I just jumped ship yesterday. You will NOT regret leaving sprint. Unless you like watching 5 min YouTube video in 15 minutes... lol
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Lol mine just buffers currently
smooth703 said:
Lol mine just buffers currently
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Exactly! ! You will not regret it. Go to a Tmobile store. Download speed test app. Run on your phone and a Tmobile phone and tell me the difference lol
smooth703 said:
Does tmo have simultaneous voice and data?
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Yes! The note 4 supports voice over lte meaning i talk and browse the web with great speeds. But tmobile is gsm so in general yes you have that ability, i switched from sprint three years ago...before they even had lte,tmobile was still 100x better than sprint...i live in west palm beach and we just got wideband lte...and its faster than my comcast speeds.
i left sprint in october. im in los angeles... do not regret going to tmo.
The wifi calling helps with service in the house. Calling in the basement without issues.
In my general area I get good 4G lte service. Though I don't use the data much outside of the house, 1GB plan is fine for me.
For my wife the free unlimited music streaming was a big draw. She tops 3GB per month with that but is on a 1GB plan with no worries.
Sprint was slow to roll out 4G (for the second time) in my area and still hadn't two years into my ltevo contract.
Overall tmobile has better 4G coverage. I pay more money per month though. I had a discount with sprint and the phones were subsidized so it was like $120 per month. tmobile is $140 per month for two phones (iphone6 and note4). If I'm going to pay more why not consider verizon?
Occasionally I go to some more remote areas and I'm waiting to see what the coverage is like there.
Because with sprint I had none. But people with verizon had service.
I was recently in one of those area (outside of gettysburg PA) and while I had bars there was no data service. I couldn't use navigation. I was bummed. But most people didn't have service either. This is why I have a backup gps unit.
I made the jump today sheesh you guys weren't lying speed is killing sprint
its not even just the speed; you will not drop calls any more, and if you want/need it, T Mobile will give you an Asus AC router for wifi calls in your house, for free!
Sprint sucks; I had them twice for a total of 11 years, and after the wimax debacle, I was hoping the "Spark" network would be their saving grace, but it wasnt.
10 months on t mobile, zero issues, great customer service, and never a dropped call..
wase4711 said:
its not even just the speed; you will not drop calls any more, and if you want/need it, T Mobile will give you an Asus AC router for wifi calls in your house, for free!
Sprint sucks; I had them twice for a total of 11 years, and after the wimax debacle, I was hoping the "Spark" network would be their saving grace, but it wasnt.
10 months on t mobile, zero issues, great customer service, and never a dropped call..
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Oh you had to go back for punishment lol.
BAD ASS NOTE 4
I'm a slow learner...and, I wanted an HTC one Maxx, that only Sprint had at the time..
smooth703 said:
Does tmo have simultaneous voice and data?
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Yes they do. I talk and download regularly with no drop in download speed.