Related
Reposted on AC also,trying to get as many peoples input as possible!
Going to start of by saying this isnt a slam against Sprint. I was happy as hell to go back to them after having ATT with my iPhone. This post is to get a general feel for the speeds people are experiencing.
Sum it up as short as I can, I wanted to watch the Seahawks playoff game tonight, so I fired up the ole Slingplayer. To my disappointment, it looked like complete crap and was literally freezing up. So I decided to run a speedtest to see what kind of up/down speeds I was getting.
This is where it gets crappy. I had a friend with a DroidX on Verizon,and another friend with the Samsung Galaxy phone from AT&T next to me, and asked them to run a test also. Speeds were as follows
Verizon- 2.1mb down 950 up
AT&T- 2.3mb down 650 up
Sprint - 393kbps 655kbps up
Uh...yeah. So I ran it again,186kbps down 397 up...WTH
I know Sprint isnt exactly the best carrier and all (and yes I do still love em for the prices) but is the network THAT crappy?
Alittle info about my phone is this:
Android 2.2
2.15.00.11.19 Baseband
2.6.32.15 netarchy-toastmod 4.1.9.1 cfs
3.70.651.1 Build #
Azrael X 3.0
PRI 1.90.003
PRL 60674
I have tried to update my radios with the combo pack at first, but the radio itself stalled at Formatting Cache, so i tried to use them seperately, and once again, stalled at formatting. Everytime I try to update my radio (to actually have it run the full course), it stalls at the formatting part after the self reboot. I thought I would give it time, but 10min of sitting on that screen and nothing, I manually reboot and manually format cache thru recovery. I also updated my profiles each time I try to reinstall the radios.
Am I missing something here or doing something wrong? I know about tower signals and all, but since the area I live and work will NOT be getting 4G anytime soon (as its outside Milwaukee and 4G will not reach that far when and IF Milwaukee gets it), I would at least expect my 3G service to be better than that!
Don't feel so bad. I live in Milwaukee and...
About a year and half ago I could consistently hit 2 mbps on my Touch Pro / Diamond. Then a few months later I was down to about 1500 kbps, which was more then fine. About 6 months ago me and a friend (different plans etc) both started experiencing close to 400 kbps. On our TP2's. It has gotten much worse. I have an EvO, he has a TP2 still so it is not phone related. There are days I can't get above 47 kbps. Most of the time I seem to hover around 87-187 kbps. I have literally waited 2 minutes for webpages to load. And this has been going on for about the past 2 months. Numerous calls and troubleshooting has lead me to believe sprints network is just way to overloaded. I am about to leave Sprint and grab some t mobile and HSPDA+ love. I give till March 31st, only because someone I know claims Sprint 4G may become active here. Apparently there is already a network in place and it is a licensing issue. I doubt it is true, but that is how long I give sprint to get their network together.
Regrettably T Mobile isnt an option for me since I live out in the Falls. I have a store about a 5 min walk from me and the sales reps told me not to even bother about a year or so ago lol.
Even walking thru malls when those sales people approach me, all I say is I live in Meno Falls, and they stop the sales pitch lol
The formatting cache screen is normal, it should do that. It doesn't mean it froze. Just click reboot and you're good to go.
To the OP, your speeds are indicative of 3g (or less) speeds. Was the phone in 4g mode when you ran the test?
Sadly, sprint and verizon 4g technology is not compatible, otherwise swapping out to a verizon prl might be the trick.
Come to think of it, there was another thread here regarding using verizon's 3g even in areas where sprint does have coverage. Did you try that?
Around the oshkosh appleton area I get 300-1000 kbs down and around 700-800 up.
So wait. How can I piggyback off Verizon with a Sprint phone?? I know both are CDMA but thought theres a big difference between chipsets etc.
Oddly enough too I used to able to use my IPad sling player at work also, thought somewhat choppy at times,but it's NEVER been as bad as it's been the past week or so. I did read somewhere that people are having issues with the new radios so I wonder if that could be the culprit and if flashing to a previous radio would clear things up. Then again I think the 3.70 update requires the new radios to function properly though I could be wrong
Anyway back to crying over my non functioning sling players on iPad and Evo due to lack of any decent reliable bandwidth lol
It's not your radio. I've been running the same radio since the 3.29 update. I'm on the 3.70 build now but, the radio hasn't been updated. I used to get close to 1st meg down here in louisville but since christmas it's lucky to get 150 k.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
gpz1100 said:
To the OP, your speeds are indicative of 3g (or less) speeds. Was the phone in 4g mode when you ran the test?
Sadly, sprint and verizon 4g technology is not compatible, otherwise swapping out to a verizon prl might be the trick.
Come to think of it, there was another thread here regarding using verizon's 3g even in areas where sprint does have coverage. Did you try that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, we aren't talking of 4G. And no, his speeds are less then 3G. And the issue with Verizons PRL is if more then half or like 500MB is roaming data, then Sprint likes to terminate you.
xcellerate said:
Around the oshkosh appleton area I get 300-1000 kbs down and around 700-800 up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. What Radio/Rom? Not that it makes a diff.
Tower1972 said:
So wait. How can I piggyback off Verizon with a Sprint phone?? I know both are CDMA but thought theres a big difference between chipsets etc.
Oddly enough too I used to able to use my IPad sling player at work also, thought somewhat choppy at times,but it's NEVER been as bad as it's been the past week or so. I did read somewhere that people are having issues with the new radios so I wonder if that could be the culprit and if flashing to a previous radio would clear things up. Then again I think the 3.70 update requires the new radios to function properly though I could be wrong
Anyway back to crying over my non functioning sling players on iPad and Evo due to lack of any decent reliable bandwidth lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not your radio. Several phones in my area do this.
baknblack said:
It's not your radio. I've been running the same radio since the 3.29 update. I'm on the 3.70 build now but, the radio hasn't been updated. I used to get close to 1st meg down here in louisville but since christmas it's lucky to get 150 k.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You and me, in the same boat.
Milwaukee Area
I was recently up in the Milwaukee area over the holidays and the 3G was actually pretty solid at about 1 meg.
In KC, I am lucky to get 256 kb on any given day. Wisconsin doesn't have the 4G network yet - but honestly 4G is over rated (Great speeds if you are outside standing next to the tower and don't mind being tethered to an power outlet)
It is easy to forget that Sprint and other cell phone providers Internet access is still cell phone technology in a world of cable modems and DSL... That the speeds are comparible but there is cell phone "lag" due to the wireless transmissions. And that lag definately will be a factor in gaming and streaming video where packets have to be on time.
weidnerj said:
In KC, I am lucky to get 256 kb on any given day. Wisconsin doesn't have the 4G network yet - but honestly 4G is over rated (Great speeds if you are outside standing next to the tower and don't mind being tethered to an power outlet)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's more of a Wi-Max issue than Sprint. LTE doesn't have that problem because they operate at a higher frequency. I believe Sprint and Clear are going to switch to LTE and that might actually be the reason for the delay in some areas. I read an article yesterday about Clear having an LTE network running in Phoenix right now with speeds touching 90 megabits. Google it.
As for my speeds in Brookfield the best I got today was 787 down and 621 up. That's been normal for me.
MordyT said:
Hey, we aren't talking of 4G. And no, his speeds are less then 3G. And the issue with Verizons PRL is if more then half or like 500MB is roaming data, then Sprint likes to terminate you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. Bottom end of 3g. Fwiw, this little tweak might help
##3282# from the phone menu
advanced
look at the bottom, http pd proxy port and proxy address
I changed mint to
port:0
proxy: 0.0.0.0
I was having issues with shoutcast streaming in winamp and other programs. This change bypasses the proxy, but may also help in the op's case.
DOh! Forgot about that... It's right there in sprint's terms and [email protected]# So really, such use is suitable when traveling, where bulk of the data usage is in a sprint market. But where less than majority (49%?) is while roaming. Of course the 49% is my interpretation. They don't really define what majority means.
http://shop.sprint.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml
Off-network Roaming: The primary use of your Device must be for domestic purposes within the Sprint-owned network. Domestic means use in the 50 United States and U.S. Territories (except Guam). Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. The display on your device may not always be on and will not indicate whether you will incur roaming charges. You can monitor usage online through My Account. Roaming is not available with single-band phones, or to customers who reside or whose primary use is outside an area covered by the Nationwide Sprint Network. Sprint may limit or terminate service if you move outside of the Sprint owned-network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone notice sprints new coverage maps?
Seems better than verizon lol
churro7 said:
Seems better than verizon lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does that make you laugh?
Yeah why are you laughing lol
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
looks better than verizon but not by much..since when did it change..last time i looked they barely had coverage
Coverage maps are estimations which really have no basis in reality.
Easily manipulated (like a few years ago with Verizon vs At&t where the maps used were not even close to accurate).
Talking about the Sprint.com/Coverage map? Because the Voice section doesn't differentiate between roaming and not.
Evilsj said:
Talking about the Sprint.com/Coverage map? Because the Voice section doesn't differentiate between roaming and not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it seems like Sprint finally figured out that the best way to sell their service is to lie like everyone else has been for years.
it only differentiates between roaming when zoomed in
mattykinsx said:
Yeah, it seems like Sprint finally figured out that the best way to sell their service is to lie like everyone else has been for years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah thats what i figured when I noticed I didnt see any roaming..every little thing sprint does now gets put under the microscope
This is actually an interesting topic because over the weekend I got a call from Sprint saying I live in a 100% roaming area and if my roaming usage doesn't get under 80%, they are force closing my account and waive ETF. The agent had me pull up their coverage map and come to find out I live 25 miles outside of sprints coverage network. I've only been with them going on three months now. And the store that I started my service at in my home town is getting "reported" for sale to an "out of network coverage customer". I just left the faschist nazi regime of AT&T to be able to actually afford to have a smart phone that I can actually use without being charged for going over my data limit. Now I'm being kicked from the company that has the perfect plan for my needs and go back to AT&T and go to the 2G limit cap data plan and pay $30 more a month then I am paying now as well. Verizon would cost me $55 more a month then what I pay now and I'm in roaming for them too. I'm basically stuck with AT&T now. And they dint have a single phone I would want either.
cev2387 said:
This is actually an interesting topic because over the weekend I got a call from Sprint saying I live in a 100% roaming area and if my roaming usage doesn't get under 80%, they are force closing my account and waive ETF. The agent had me pull up their coverage map and come to find out I live 25 miles outside of sprints coverage network. I've only been with them going on three months now. And the store that I started my service at in my home town is getting "reported" for sale to an "out of network coverage customer". I just left the faschist nazi regime of AT&T to be able to actually afford to have a smart phone that I can actually use without being charged for going over my data limit. Now I'm being kicked from the company that has the perfect plan for my needs and go back to AT&T and go to the 2G limit cap data plan and pay $30 more a month then I am paying now as well. Verizon would cost me $55 more a month then what I pay now and I'm in roaming for them too. I'm basically stuck with AT&T now. And they dint have a single phone I would want either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about tmobile also if u get a airrave u could plug it in n u wouldn't be roaming at your house
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
ckoadiyn said:
What about tmobile also if u get a airrave u could plug it in n u wouldn't be roaming at your house
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat, except I recently moved two miles outside the coverage area. They wouldn't do anything for me, including an airave. So, when at home, the old lady and I turn roaming off. We bought an Obi110 and set it up through google voice. So both our cell phone calls ring our VOIP phone, and texts come to our cells through our wifi.
cev2387 said:
This is actually an interesting topic because over the weekend I got a call from Sprint saying I live in a 100% roaming area and if my roaming usage doesn't get under 80%, they are force closing my account and waive ETF. The agent had me pull up their coverage map and come to find out I live 25 miles outside of sprints coverage network. I've only been with them going on three months now. And the store that I started my service at in my home town is getting "reported" for sale to an "out of network coverage customer". I just left the faschist nazi regime of AT&T to be able to actually afford to have a smart phone that I can actually use without being charged for going over my data limit. Now I'm being kicked from the company that has the perfect plan for my needs and go back to AT&T and go to the 2G limit cap data plan and pay $30 more a month then I am paying now as well. Verizon would cost me $55 more a month then what I pay now and I'm in roaming for them too. I'm basically stuck with AT&T now. And they dint have a single phone I would want either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you go shopping in a coverage area, leave your phone in the car and stream high bitrate music to get your in network usage over 20%
cev2387 said:
This is actually an interesting topic because over the weekend I got a call from Sprint saying I live in a 100% roaming area and if my roaming usage doesn't get under 80%, they are force closing my account and waive ETF. The agent had me pull up their coverage map and come to find out I live 25 miles outside of sprints coverage network. I've only been with them going on three months now. And the store that I started my service at in my home town is getting "reported" for sale to an "out of network coverage customer". I just left the faschist nazi regime of AT&T to be able to actually afford to have a smart phone that I can actually use without being charged for going over my data limit. Now I'm being kicked from the company that has the perfect plan for my needs and go back to AT&T and go to the 2G limit cap data plan and pay $30 more a month then I am paying now as well. Verizon would cost me $55 more a month then what I pay now and I'm in roaming for them too. I'm basically stuck with AT&T now. And they dint have a single phone I would want either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, that sucks.
mattykinsx said:
Yeah, it seems like Sprint finally figured out that the best way to sell their service is to lie like everyone else has been for years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What company doesn't lie? You can tell just by watching the commercials. Everyone company says their better than their competitors, that's just the way it is.
Problem is the roaming agreements. After "buying up" all the mom and pop local companies over the years and Alltel, Verizon pretty much has 100% coverage on their own, thus do not have to rely on mutually beneficial roaming agreements with Sprint. Hence starting in 2011, it equates to 69 cents a minute charged back to Sprint from Verizon for every minute I roam (bend over sprint...Thanks, your friends @ Verizon.)
Note --- this is not made up, it is information shared with me from management at Sprint after I got "the letter" to where Sprint was demanding an end to our 12 year relationship....One of which I had been very happy with (and hold no ill will towards them -- I actually think Verizon is the evil one here.)
Just 2 bad I live more than 1 mile away from the interstate and Sprint has no incentive to install towers in lesser populated areas.
alero said:
I'm in the same boat, except I recently moved two miles outside the coverage area. They wouldn't do anything for me, including an airave. So, when at home, the old lady and I turn roaming off. We bought an Obi110 and set it up through google voice. So both our cell phone calls ring our VOIP phone, and texts come to our cells through our wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
txt's use the 2g radio.. you don't need 3g or a wifi or 4g to get text messages.
txts arent going to raise your data usage in roaming. I don't think text's even count towards anything roaming since its just a few bytes of data it is so insignificant.
Exiled44 said:
What company doesn't lie? You can tell just by watching the commercials. Everyone company says their better than their competitors, that's just the way it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really sick of that response, with all due respect.
That is not an excuse to do something.
sog1971 said:
Problem is the roaming agreements. After "buying up" all the mom and pop local companies over the years and Alltel, Verizon pretty much has 100% coverage on their own, thus do not have to rely on mutually beneficial roaming agreements with Sprint. Hence starting in 2011, it equates to 69 cents a minute charged back to Sprint from Verizon for every minute I roam (bend over sprint...Thanks, your friends @ Verizon.)
Note --- this is not made up, it is information shared with me from management at Sprint after I got "the letter" to where Sprint was demanding an end to our 12 year relationship....One of which I had been very happy with (and hold no ill will towards them -- I actually think Verizon is the evil one here.)
Just 2 bad I live more than 1 mile away from the interstate and Sprint has no incentive to install towers in lesser populated areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon's voice network may cover a good portion of the country but their 3g doesn't cover as much as that map they used against At&t said.
Verizon roams on Cricket, Virgin, Sprint, Boost, and Metro towers as well.
cmsjr123 said:
txt's use the 2g radio.. you don't need 3g or a wifi or 4g to get text messages.
txts arent going to raise your data usage in roaming. I don't think text's even count towards anything roaming since its just a few bytes of data it is so insignificant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? Texts do not use any data or any data radio.
Texts are over the cdma radio with voice.
You can turn data off and text.
wtf verizon roams?
churro7 said:
wtf verizon roams?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really...Duh?
I have had my evo for a while now, and lately I have been getting ridiculously slow 3g speeds... around 950ms pings 95kbps down and 150kbps up... and I have spent the last month or 2 trying to get it up... nothing worked, (updating profile, PRL, changing radios, disabling gps, flashing a verizon PRL, trying everything in different orders, etc)
After a while I gave up thinking It must just be the area I live in, Untill today, a budy of mine came over with his evo 3d, natrully I jumped on the chance to bench his 3g, he was getting scores arround 100ms ping 300kbps down and 250kbps up
so I looked into it some more and actually got my evo back up and beyond, I now have scores arround 100ms ping, 850-1000kbps down and 650kbps up
Heres what I never found before that fixed it for me
Go to the phone and pres ##72786# (##SCRTN#)
enter your MSL, I used msl reader from the market to get mine, but sprint gave it to me when I asked too
pres menu
pres reset
reboot by presing ok
let it run through the hands free activation
and presto...wala... boom...fast data
THC Butterz said:
I have had my evo for a while now, and lately I have been getting ridiculously slow 3g speeds... around 950ms pings 95kbps down and 150kbps up... and I have spent the last month or 2 trying to get it up... nothing worked, (updating profile, PRL, changing radios, disabling gps, flashing a verizon PRL, trying everything in different orders, etc)
After a while I gave up thinking It must just be the area I live in, Untill today, a budy of mine came over with his evo 3d, natrully I jumped on the chance to bench his 3g, he was getting scores arround 100ms ping 300kbps down and 250kbps up
so I looked into it some more and actually got my evo back up and beyond, I now have scores arround 100ms ping, 850-1000kbps down and 650kbps up
Heres what I never found before that fixed it for me
Go to the phone and pres ##72786#
enter your MSL, I used msl reader from the market to get mine, but sprint gave it to me when I asked too
pres menu
pres reset
reboot by presing ok
let it run through the hands free activation
and presto...wala... boom...fast data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to tell you but this is a placebo effect. All you are doing in clearing out the slot 1 (data profile) for your username and password, this has nothing to do with speed. Is it possible that while your phone was going though its HFA that it also did a PRL update? It is also possible that you were affected by that streaming media issue from awhile ago and during the HFA the fix was pushed to your device. Many have reported, myself included, faster data speeds after applying the streaming media fix.
KommodoreHeinz said:
Sorry to tell you but this is a placebo effect. All you are doing in clearing out the slot 1 (data profile) for your username and password, this has nothing to do with speed. Is it possible that while your phone was going though its HFA that it also did a PRL update? It is also possible that you were affected by that streaming media issue from awhile ago and during the HFA the fix was pushed to your device. Many have reported, myself included, faster data speeds after applying the streaming media fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no I didnt clear data profile settings, not ##data#, I reset my SCRTN settings ##SCRTN#,
this affects MDN, MSID, and 2 M.IP settings
THC Butterz said:
no I didnt clear data profile settings, not ##data#, I reset my SCRTN settings ##SCRTN#,
this affects MDN, MSID, and 2 M.IP settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes while ##scrtn also clears out the mdn and msid it is essentially a ##data. I hate to tell you but that ##scrtn is just glorified ##data.
Just did this to see what would happen. I went from 0.15Mbps down and 0.3Mbps up to 1.36Mbps down and 0.52Mbps up
Edit: After two speed test it went back to crappy speeds. Back to Verizon Prl I go!
Sent From My Evo 4G Amped Up On Verizon Tower Power!
JDM Civic EG8 said:
Just did this to see what would happen. I went from 0.15Mbps down and 0.3Mbps up to 1.36Mbps down and 0.52Mbps up
Edit: After two speed test it went back to crappy speeds. Back to Verizon Prl I go!
Sent From My Evo 4G Amped Up On Verizon Tower Power!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did u get on Verizon prl?
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
There is a thread around here somewhere with instructions.
Not Sent
FYI
fierceeagle2003 said:
How did u get on Verizon prl?
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind that, while on the Verizon data network (using the hacked PRL), Sprint will consider that as Roaming even if it does not show you as roaming on your phone.
You also have a cap on maximum data roaming Dispite having the unlimited plan. correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Its about 300mb before they start charging you for DATA Roaming.
Yea, as stated above you are just getting a placebo effect. Just like when you update PRL and Profile, your speeds may be slightly higher for a few minutes, then go back down. NOTHING can make the towers push out more data when they are overloaded, there is nothing that can be done from the phone.
aety9 said:
Keep in mind that, while on the Verizon data network (using the hacked PRL), Sprint will consider that as Roaming even if it does not show you as roaming on your phone.
You also have a cap on maximum data roaming Dispite having the unlimited plan. correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Its about 300mb before they start charging you for DATA Roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They only charge data roaming on connection cards.
However sprint does take data roaming seriously. After spending 3 months in a roaming area, sprint sent me a warning letter about data roaming. During those 3 months I was not using my data like if I was in coverage.
Sent from my RamenizedEvo on Cricket.
I'm so glad I don't have to deal with big brother sprint!!
I can roam around like a wet dog on a summer afternoon..hahahhahaha
I can tether, use all the freaking data I want and NOTHING happens....Oh and best part of it all.....I get better speeds then most people on Sprint and ONLY pay 45 dollars...YES!!! Ok, go back to talking about sprint...just wanted to rub it in a bit..haha
aety9 said:
Keep in mind that, while on the Verizon data network (using the hacked PRL), Sprint will consider that as Roaming even if it does not show you as roaming on your phone.
You also have a cap on maximum data roaming Dispite having the unlimited plan. correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Its about 300mb before they start charging you for DATA Roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never got charged for going over the 300mb limit. Back in august I moved to an area that sprint signal was very weak phone always roamed. There wasn't high-speed internet so i couldnt use my airwave. I started using the prl hack. First month 7gb,September 9gb, October was around 13gb,November i used a little over 15gb(downloaded alot of roms,YouTube videos,apps, songs etc) and got a warning letter. So i stopped using it for a while.
I just moved back home up north where i didnt really need the hack. But now it feels like i do. My speeds are crawling. And the only way i can get 4G signal is if i put it by the window fml
Sent From My Evo 4G Amped Up On Verizon Tower Power!
KommodoreHeinz said:
They only charge data roaming on connection cards.
However sprint does take data roaming seriously. After spending 3 months in a roaming area, sprint sent me a warning letter about data roaming. During those 3 months I was not using my data like if I was in coverage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JDM Civic EG8 said:
I never got charged for going over the 300mb limit. Back in august I moved to an area that sprint signal was very weak phone always roamed. There wasn't high-speed internet so i couldnt use my airwave. I started using the prl hack. First month 7gb,September 9gb, October was around 13gb,November i used a little over 15gb(downloaded alot of roms,YouTube videos,apps, songs etc) and got a warning letter. So i stopped using it for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What was the warning about? Were they threatening to take action or anything?
aety9 said:
What was the warning about? Were they threatening to take action or anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The warning letter is just the first step. It just said that i had excessive roaming and was in violation of the terms and services and referred me to review my contract.
There are subsequent letters that get sent out if the excessive roaming continues. In the end sprint does have the right to terminate the contract and they have done this in the past. You will be warned at least once before action is taken.
aety9 said:
What was the warning about? Were they threatening to take action or anything?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The warning was letting me know that the contract states data roaming no more then 300mb/month and voice I think it said no more then 700minutes. And my account will be monitored for three months. And if I don't changing my data usage habit they have to right to take action and terminate my contract. But then why does my account say unlimited data roaming when its only 300mb? I even talked to a few customer service reps. And they said unlimited. I was doing it so I could get out of contract and switch over to Verizon plus I was getting better coverage and speeds. But I changed my mind once I found out Sprint will be getting LTE haha.
Roaming~
JDM Civic EG8 said:
The warning was letting me know that the contract states data roaming no more then 300mb/month and voice I think it said no more then 700minutes. And my account will be monitored for three months. And if I don't changing my data usage habit they have to right to take action and terminate my contract. But then why does my account say unlimited data roaming when its only 300mb? I even talked to a few customer service reps. And they said unlimited. I was doing it so I could get out of contract and switch over to Verizon plus I was getting better coverage and speeds. But I changed my mind once I found out Sprint will be getting LTE haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On Sprint's web site, they state in the disclaimer:
Off-network Roaming: The primary use of your Device must be for domestic purposes within the Sprint-owned network. Domestic means use in the 50 United States and U.S. Territories (except Guam). Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. The display on your device may not always be on and will not indicate whether you will incur roaming charges. You can monitor usage online through My Account. Roaming is not available with single-band phones, or to customers who reside or whose primary use is outside an area covered by the Nationwide Sprint Network. Sprint may limit or terminate service if you move outside of the Sprint owned-network.
I was just wondering what the opinions of T-mobile was for the members here. I have been on a Radioshack/AT&T employee plan since 2006 and even though I quit in 2008 I have continued to be on this plan. It was amazing (2000 minutes, unlimited text, and unlimited data for $25 a month), however I just received notice today from my old AT&T rep that I will finally be taken off it. I am currently looking at switching to one of the major US carriers and am looking at the plan prices. I want to stick with an Android phone, so I'll need data. Verizon's cheapest plan looks to be $89.99/month for what I want (450 minutes, unlimited text, 2GB of data), with AT&T and Sprint's around $10 cheaper. I rarely use minutes (average of 250 a month), but I text quite a bit so I would want unlimited text. I also don't use data much. My max in the past year has been 134MB, however I know if I have a faster phone I will probably use data more. I was looking at T-mobile's plans and noticed they are drastically cheaper. $49.99/month for 500 minutes, unlimited text, and 2GB of data. Is their service much worse than AT&T, even though they are both GSM? I'd hate to switch to them and end up hating my service.
So in short, does anybody who has had AT&T and T-mobile notice a major difference between the two? Would I be better with sticking with Verizon or AT&T or are they all about equal nowadays?
Thanks in advance!
I recommend you buy an unlocked phone (hello Nexus!) and get a sim card from Straight Talk. They are a MVNO that runs on the AT&T network. I believe plans are $45.
It always depends on your area. For years I used Cingular(now At&t) and I had pretty decent service. About 5 years ago, T-Mobile was carrying a phone I wanted, so I decided to switch. (This was before I knew about the glory of unlocking ;P). T-Mobile's network was so horrible I never (read:NEVER) got service within a 2 mile radius of my home, and about the same at work.
I couldn't make a phone call with out it dropping, so I was forced to switch back to At&t. The guy at T-Mobile pulled up a "coverage map" and it claimed I should have the best service right in the area I needed it. So it was a bunch of bull if you ask me.
My suggestion has always been to talk to people who you know in the area of where you will be using your phone. I know some people from around my area who get great reception with T-Mobile and get awful service with At&t. I honestly have no idea how it happens, but it does.
Another route would be to get the phone to test (perhaps one of their pre-paid, no contract options?) and use it for a few days. If you are unhappy, simply return it. If you are returning it because of bad coverage they HAVE to take it back and give you a full refund.
I still think the asking people around the area is the best option. Perhaps you could give a general location, and ask people on the forums who are located near by to give you some of their opinions on their coverage? Its probably the best way to be sure, if you ask me.
T-Mobile was great to me in the East Bay area of northern California, until last November, when they instituted traffic-shaping policies that meant every single JPEG image on the internet was horribly compressed into an ugly mess of artifacts and banded gradients.
I really miss T-Mobile's HSPA+ speed. AT&T just can't quite get as fast. But I'll take a 20-25% slower connection that isn't adulterated over a faster one that's been tampered with.
I've had ok experiences with T-Mobile. When I lived in Atlanta there were many areas where I simply didn't get a signal, but that's probably due to to the terrain. As suggested you should probably ask others in the area where you will be how their coverage is. In regards to plans, I'm on a contracted unlimited talk/text, 2GB data for $90. I'll be modifying that at the soonest opportunity... I guess at least the phone itself was cheaper at the time :/
Thanks for info!
.
Thread moved. Would advise you to read forum rules and post in correct section.
Failure to comply with forum rules will result in an infraction and/or ban depending on severity of rule break.
I've had T-Mobile for a few years now, and I can't wait to leave this company. I'm currently in the process of jumping ship. I've driven from California to Tennessee, Tennessee to Iowa, Iowa to Michigan, and back again. I've never seen such garbage coverage from a cellular company. I have a 4G compatible phone, but I've only ever seen 4G when I fly through Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Their 3G coverage area is also terrible.
So, Cons are as follows:
4G: What 4G?
3G: Doesn't exist
2G: Covers the entire country with data speeds barely faster than dial-up, unless you live more than 25 miles outside a big city, or in North Dakota in general.
Reception: It's a well known fact that T-Mobile cannot maintain or even guarantee any sort of standard level of service indoors.
Pros:
Pricing: They are cheap for a reason.
"Unlimited" Data Plans: They "throttle" them after a certain amount of time, and it's throttling to less than 2G speeds. In fact, you should try being throttled while trying to drive across the country using Google maps...
Customer Service: The only pleasant part of my time with T-Mobile.
cdchris12 said:
I've had T-Mobile for a few years now, and I can't wait to leave this company. I'm currently in the process of jumping ship. I've driven from California to Tennessee, Tennessee to Iowa, Iowa to Michigan, and back again. I've never seen such garbage coverage from a cellular company. I have a 4G compatible phone, but I've only ever seen 4G when I fly through Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Their 3G coverage area is also terrible.
So, Cons are as follows:
4G: What 4G?
3G: Doesn't exist
2G: Covers the entire country with data speeds barely faster than dial-up, unless you live more than 25 miles outside a big city, or in North Dakota in general.
Reception: It's a well known fact that T-Mobile cannot maintain or even guarantee any sort of standard level of service indoors.
Pros:
Pricing: They are cheap for a reason.
"Unlimited" Data Plans: They "throttle" them after a certain amount of time, and it's throttling to less than 2G speeds. In fact, you should try being throttled while trying to drive across the country using Google maps...
Customer Service: The only pleasant part of my time with T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those may have been YOUR experiences and I'm not discounting that BUT....
I have FIVE LINES with T-Mobile
NEVER HAVE I HAD an issue with signal or coverage indoors.
Full bars in my home, excellent signal (68dBm-72dBm).
Very good coverage in Jersey City, NJ where I live.
My husband whom travels all over the tri-state area (NY,NJ,CT) doesn't have any reception issues either.
Fast HSPA+ (yes, it's a 3.5G technology) speeds depending on the device used. (I have the Amaze,,Sensation and, a Nexus S on T-Mobile ATM)
Wasn't me!! I didn't do it!
I completely disagree with cdchris12 however I always lived in area with good T-Mobile coverage and their throttle speed is fast enough to view website and use Google Maps. I do find that depends on the phone, usually older ones can have problem keeping data and gps in door, unless you're next to a window. With newer big phones with good antenna is not so much a problem.
I'd say get an unlocked phone and go with T-Mobile prepaid $50/month plan which give you unlimited everything and throttle to 2G after 2GB of usage. Unless you need roaming which isn't available with prepaid. I have family and friends who use ATT 3G and T-Mobile 3G network is always faster to me. In fact, with a Galaxy SII with dual HSPA+ antenna I get speed excess of 20mbps. Straight Talk has the same plan for $45 I believe and they go through T-Mobile network.
T-Mobile also allows you to tether which ATT don't, although recently I heard they changed that for people with $70 plan.
You might also find this useful: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21604722&postcount=2
To get T-Mobile 3G you need a phone that support 1700/2100Mhz band.
In the East Bay area T-Mobile's HSPA+ speeds are really quite fast. I often saw 8-9Mbps downstream on my Galaxy Nexus before I switched to AT&T.
Unfortunately a fast internet connection is useless if your carrier alters all images on the internet so everything looks like dogpoo.
I have no idea what you are talking about, you might be accessing website through some kind of proxy like Opera Mini/Turbo. I know you will reply that that isn't the case, but I really can't think why that would be the case, but it has to be through some kind of proxy. I also notice some roms are set to connect to SimpleMobile by default instead of T-Mobile, which also causes problems. With Opera Mobile using desktop user agent, it looks exactly like my PC, and I've tried 5 different Android phones with T-Mobile. I haven't heard of millions other T-Mobile users complaining about degrading pictures quality from browser.
eksasol said:
I have no idea what you are talking about, you might be accessing website through some kind of proxy like Opera Mini/Turbo. I know you will reply that that isn't the case, but I really can't think why that would be the case, but it has to be through some kind of proxy. I also notice some roms are set to connect to SimpleMobile by default instead of T-Mobile, which also causes problems. With Opera Mobile using desktop user agent, it looks exactly like my PC, and I've tried 5 different Android phones with T-Mobile. I haven't heard of millions other T-Mobile users complaining about degrading pictures quality from browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a proxy, but the proxy is on T-Mobile's end, not mine. It's a transparent proxy and it works exactly like the Opera Mini proxy, but I can't choose to turn it off. Connecting through a VPN would obviously fix the problem, but there's no easy way to force Android to auto-connect to a VPN every time I open the browser.
Trust me, I was thorough. The user agent wasn't an issue. The APN was set correctly. I spent over ten hours on the phone with T-Mobile's technical support and I hard reset the phones on both lines multiple times, restored to unrooted stock multiple times, and nothing fixed the issue. When I bought my Galaxy Nexus, I tested it before unlocking the bootloader and rooting it, and had the same exact issue.
Just to be absolutely sure, I even tested the issue on an iOS device (iPhone 3GS) and a WP7 device (HD7) with the same results--heavily compressed JPEG images when viewing any unencrypted page.
It no longer matters since I left T-Mobile for AT&T, which uses no such proxy.
Edit: I should note that I'm not the only one with this problem. Every person I know in the SF Bay area who uses T-Mobile has this problem. It may be automatic traffic shaping algorithms used on a tower-by-tower basis (which would explain why some people don't have the problem), but yeah, it's all over the place here. I tested demo phones in every T-Mobile store I could easily reach in the area--three in SF, two in Oakland, one in Berkeley and one in El Cerrito, and they all exhibit the same problem.
For example:
Actual quality, downloaded over wifi (180kb)
Very low quality, downloaded over T-Mobile 3G (55kb)
Yea, the compression thing on TMo is a well known thing. It doesn't bother me personally.
To throw in my experience with AT&T/T-Mobile here, I review phones as a side project. I've noted several differences in the two networks. Most are well known things that others have commented on. T-Mobile EASILY has better customer service. They always have. They pride themselves in their outstanding customer care. As long as you aren't being retarded or yelling at them, they will do everything possible to make you a happy customer.
As far as coverage goes, check the maps. AT&T has a bigger network footprint. T-Mobile has better network speeds. I get better speeds on T-Mobile 3G than on AT&T LTE. Obviously this is very dependent on location, but that's how it is here.
If you have coverage from T-Mobile and don't mind the picture compression, I strongly suggest it. I lived without 3G from T-Mobile for 2 and a half years while I was in the Army on base in Georgia. EDGE speeds are respectable from them. Their customer service and my ridiculously old $50 unlimited everything plan kept me going.
T-Mobile does throttle users once you reach your limits. I've never been throttled personally, but I've maxed out a test SGS2 just to see what it's like. You are still able to browse the web. No videos or streaming music, though. Speed tests put the throttling at around 70-110 Kbps. This is within EDGE speeds. Their unthrottled EDGE speeds are between 160-320 Kbps here. By comparison, GPRS speed drops down to about 20-40 Kbps.
My preference is for good customer service. T-Mobile has always been there for me, even when things got tight for me. I see no reason to leave them now. Look at the news just within the last 6 months. AT&T couldn't care less about its customers. It doesn't change anything until it gets sued.
cajunflavoredbob said:
Yea, the compression thing on TMo is a well known thing. It doesn't bother me personally.
To throw in my experience with AT&T/T-Mobile here, I review phones as a side project. I've noted several differences in the two networks. Most are well known things that others have commented on. T-Mobile EASILY has better customer service. They always have. They pride themselves in their outstanding customer care. As long as you aren't being retarded or yelling at them, they will do everything possible to make you a happy customer.
As far as coverage goes, check the maps. AT&T has a bigger network footprint. T-Mobile has better network speeds. I get better speeds on T-Mobile 3G than on AT&T LTE. Obviously this is very dependent on location, but that's how it is here.
If you have coverage from T-Mobile and don't mind the picture compression, I strongly suggest it. I lived without 3G from T-Mobile for 2 and a half years while I was in the Army on base in Georgia. EDGE speeds are respectable from them. Their customer service and my ridiculously old $50 unlimited everything plan kept me going.
T-Mobile does throttle users once you reach your limits. I've never been throttled personally, but I've maxed out a test SGS2 just to see what it's like. You are still able to browse the web. No videos or streaming music, though. Speed tests put the throttling at around 70-110 Kbps. This is within EDGE speeds. Their unthrottled EDGE speeds are between 160-320 Kbps here. By comparison, GPRS speed drops down to about 20-40 Kbps.
My preference is for good customer service. T-Mobile has always been there for me, even when things got tight for me. I see no reason to leave them now. Look at the news just within the last 6 months. AT&T couldn't care less about its customers. It doesn't change anything until it gets sued.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This^^^^ %110. That being said, I've only experienced image compression in NYC, in a few areas (mostly midtown Manhattan). I live in Jersey City, NJ and haven't experienced it here. Even with image compression, images don't look THAT BAD....at least IMO.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Babydoll25 said:
This^^^^ %110. That being said, I've only experienced image compression in NYC, in a few areas (mostly midtown Manhattan). I live in Jersey City, NJ and haven't experienced it here. Even with image compression, images don't look THAT BAD....at least IMO.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, they looked so bad I was willing to pay $40 more a month to AT&T in order to make it go away permanently. The other line on my account is used by my partner, and she would frequently read manga raws on her phone. When the image compression started, the Japanese characters in the raw manga scans became totally illegible. She was, to put it mildly, rather upset. This is probably 90% of why she owns a smartphone and is willing to pay for it, so I'm sure you can see the issue here.
For me it was an aesthetic issue, but for her it was a functionality issue. In any case, we pay a little more a month, but we also get more--and I personally prefer AT&T's method of handling data. At least on AT&T if I want more than 3GB a month I can pay to get extra GBs. On T-Mobile, you'd get throttled regardless and EDGE in the East Bay is completely unusable.
I would have stayed with T-Mobile had I been able to figure out how to automatically log into a VPN every time I opened an app that pulled image assets from the web (the browser, the Android Market, etc). Unfortunately, the only solution I found also wakelocked the phone permanently, preventing it from sleeping and killing any semblance of good battery life.
synaesthetic said:
For me, they looked so bad I was willing to pay $40 more a month to AT&T in order to make it go away permanently. The other line on my account is used by my partner, and she would frequently read manga raws on her phone. When the image compression started, the Japanese characters in the raw manga scans became totally illegible. She was, to put it mildly, rather upset. This is probably 90% of why she owns a smartphone and is willing to pay for it, so I'm sure you can see the issue here.
For me it was an aesthetic issue, but for her it was a functionality issue. In any case, we pay a little more a month, but we also get more--and I personally prefer AT&T's method of handling data. At least on AT&T if I want more than 3GB a month I can pay to get extra GBs. On T-Mobile, you'd get throttled regardless and EDGE in the East Bay is completely unusable.
I would have stayed with T-Mobile had I been able to figure out how to automatically log into a VPN every time I opened an app that pulled image assets from the web (the browser, the Android Market, etc). Unfortunately, the only solution I found also wakelocked the phone permanently, preventing it from sleeping and killing any semblance of good battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's the main problem with the way TMo handles it. It's not consistent. It seems to be worse based on location and usage. More compression in more populated areas or something. For me, I can tell that the images are compressed if I zoom in inside a webpage, but otherwise, it's business as usual.
Same with the data speeds. A lot of people say that it drops to regular GPRS speeds when they get throttled. I only tested it the one time with that review unit SGS2, but it wasn't that bad. 100Kbps is fine for web browsing. The problem seems to be that it's all very much a "your mileage may vary" situation.
AT&T is evil, but at least they are consistent.
They're all evil. We simply pick the lesser evil in any given location.
I'm kind of surprised that nobody's mentioned T-Mobile's Wifi Calling. It allows you to get service anywhere that has a Wifi network available, and you can do everything as normal (Call, text, internet) through your plan. I use it everyday, and I think it's great.
theholyfork said:
I'm kind of surprised that nobody's mentioned T-Mobile's Wifi Calling. It allows you to get service anywhere that has a Wifi network available, and you can do everything as normal (Call, text, internet) through your plan. I use it everyday, and I think it's great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's nice to have, but kind of crappy that it still counts against you, even though you aren't using their towers...
I am currently on net10 and noticed that during peak hours my data is almost non existant. I learned that att mvno dont have priority on the network so I think that might explain why despite having full bars my data speeds are horrible during peak hours of the day. I heard that Tmobile doesnt deprioritize mvno so I was thinking of trying Solavei. I already have the sim card and free service for a month. I am just worried about coverage on tmobile's network. So my first question is how are people fairing with tmobile or solavei? I know tmobile is working on their network has anyone seen improvements in coverage? Also I was wondering if people are having the same issue with straight talk on the Att side during peak hours in large populated areas? I live in the bay area but i noticed the same speed issues over the holidays when I was in Memphis, Tn with net10.
IM loving it! i work in the bay area and get great speeds here! and at home also which is in fresno! coverage has gotten allot better and its only getting better! if i were you i would join before the 31st cause you get the free month of service and free sim card... if you want to join hit me up [email protected]...
asqwrd said:
I am currently on net10 and noticed that during peak hours my data is almost non existant. I learned that att mvno dont have priority on the network so I think that might explain why despite having full bars my data speeds are horrible during peak hours of the day. I heard that Tmobile doesnt deprioritize mvno so I was thinking of trying Solavei. I already have the sim card and free service for a month. I am just worried about coverage on tmobile's network. So my first question is how are people fairing with tmobile or solavei? I know tmobile is working on their network has anyone seen improvements in coverage? Also I was wondering if people are having the same issue with straight talk on the Att side during peak hours in large populated areas? I live in the bay area but i noticed the same speed issues over the holidays when I was in Memphis, Tn with net10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tmo/solavei coverage ain't bad if you live in a big city or populated area. once you leave the city it usually craps down to edge or you lose signal altogether. but when your getting good signal the data is pretty fast, and no they don't prioritize, you'll get the same speeds on any tmo mvno as actual tmo. only thing I hate about T-Mobile is the indoor signal strength sux. but seeing as how I just got throttled down to .23 mb/s by st at&t halfway thru my billing cycle, I'll be switching back to tmo (solavei actually) next month
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
lowrider262 said:
tmo/solavei coverage ain't bad if you live in a big city or populated area. once you leave the city it usually craps down to edge or you lose signal altogether. but when your getting good signal the data is pretty fast, and no they don't prioritize, you'll get the same speeds on any tmo mvno as actual tmo. only thing I hate about T-Mobile is the indoor signal strength sux. but seeing as how I just got throttled down to .23 mb/s by st at&t halfway thru my billing cycle, I'll be switching back to tmo (solavei actually) next month
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
were you having data issues during peaks hours where you couldnt use data or it was really slow? Also how long ago did you have tmobile im waiting on my sim from solavei but i have been trying to gauge how much of an improvement tmobile has made on their network as far as coverage. Seems like its not much based on research no one has out right said they are experiencing better coverage
Use T-Mobile's coverage map on their website.
asqwrd said:
were you having data issues during peaks hours where you couldnt use data or it was really slow? Also how long ago did you have tmobile im waiting on my sim from solavei but i have been trying to gauge how much of an improvement tmobile has made on their network as far as coverage. Seems like its not much based on research no one has out right said they are experiencing better coverage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no my data was fine during peak hours on tmobile. I was on tmo up until the 9th of this month then I switched to st at&t
xdviper said:
Use T-Mobile's coverage map on their website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the coverage map but user experience is better than looking at a map. Those maps arent always accurate and i feel sometimes the carriers embellish a little bit about their actual coverage. I guess ill just have to wait and see when the sim comes
asqwrd said:
I have used the coverage map but user experience is better than looking at a map. Those maps arent always accurate and i feel sometimes the carriers embellish a little bit about their actual coverage. I guess ill just have to wait and see when the sim comes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bump
I use att.mvno with H2O Wireless and don't get no peak slowdowns AFAIK. I don't stream videos and in general i view mobile sites rather than full sites as well so maybe that's part of why i don't notice much of a difference. Then again certain parts of AT&T's network are slammed, doesn't matter if it's prepaid of full post paid contract plans.
asqwrd said:
I have used the coverage map but user experience is better than looking at a map. Those maps arent always accurate and i feel sometimes the carriers embellish a little bit about their actual coverage. I guess ill just have to wait and see when the sim comes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may sound weird, but I've found T-Mobile's coverage map to be superbly accurate. It's inside buildings where it gets hazy.
To the OP, Straight Talk and Net10 use the same service ..just Net10 charges $5 more for it.
You go with these for the unlimited talk or data? Which is more important? If you can live with 100anytime mins try T-Mobile prepaid they have a 100 anytime min, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G speed then throttled but still unlimited, for $30/month.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
I have been with Tmo for 9 years and 3 months ago cancelled and started a Solavei plan on the Tmo network. I went from a $180/month to $110/month month (2 phones). 4gb (per month) 3G/4G before throttle to 2G was the selling point for me. Tmobile is great if you don't travel out of cities/off the interstate. I've never had problems even when I traveled for my job 100% across America, but I was in cities and rarely went to rural/redneck areas.
The only downside (if its a downside) is that the Solavei website is fairly stripped of information about your phone plan. You really just log in and pay your bill (or setup auto-pay). There is no statistics (minutes/data/call log/etc...) like Tmobile had so you will have to use apps to track that stuff. I re-Rom a lot so it is tough for me to track statistics smoothly but this is really trivial and not a big deal.
The data being used on Straight Talk with TMob is a hairy one..on HowardForums some say they get capped at 4gb then some say at 7-10gb, but supposedly tmob is cracking down on the mnvos for data usage..
Atat on the other hand will straight up kick your ass off data completely on mvnos. But tmobiles own prepaid offerings aren't bad and you know what they say is what you'll get. And the T-Mobile my account info app on the play store works for their prepaid.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
ztmike said:
To the OP, Straight Talk and Net10 use the same service ..just Net10 charges $5 more for it.
You go with these for the unlimited talk or data? Which is more important? If you can live with 100anytime mins try T-Mobile prepaid they have a 100 anytime min, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G speed then throttled but still unlimited, for $30/month.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI - Straight Talk operates on both AT&T and T-Mobile and even Verizon in some places. You can get SIMs for either service depending on your phone (excepting Nexus and other unlocked devices where you can use both - even swap around if you want to).
ztmike said:
To the OP, Straight Talk and Net10 use the same service ..just Net10 charges $5 more for it.
You go with these for the unlimited talk or data? Which is more important? If you can live with 100anytime mins try T-Mobile prepaid they have a 100 anytime min, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G speed then throttled but still unlimited, for $30/month.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wanted to try Solavei because I heard it has data roaming while T-mobile prepaid doesnt. I figured that would help a little with coverage for data also 100 mins is too little for me I can run through that easily in a day( I work remotely from home 2 days out of the week so meetings can run over)
Thanks for the reply patiently waiting on the sim card hopefully I get good results on tmobile i just think Net10 and I guess Straightalk are pointless if i cant use data well during certain times of the day despite having full bars. It happened to me on too many occasions this past month in two different cities.
I've been using Straight Talk (with ATT Sim) for about a month and haven't run into any issues with using data throughout the day. I haven't reached the throttle point yet though.. Speeds with ATT are consistently 3mbit (yes, a lot slower then TMobile, but better coverage).
madferretx said:
I've been using Straight Talk (with ATT Sim) for about a month and haven't run into any issues with using data throughout the day. I haven't reached the throttle point yet though.. Speeds with ATT are consistently 3mbit (yes, a lot slower then TMobile, but better coverage).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you live in the bay area or similar place with a lot of people?
Don't do Solavei. I had it for a few days and data is very jumpy. I'm right outside of Dallas and my speeds were worse than Metro PCS. I think at one point it got down to 100-200 kbps. Way worse. And when I tried to set up my APN settings to get MMS and Solavei Web to work when only one or the other was working I went through two customer service reps and they didn't know what the hell they were doing. I got a refund and just went with a tmobile contract plan where I'm getting unlimited everything with no caps for $64 a month. I hate caps. Just stay away from Solavei.
Had AT&T ST, now T-Mobile prepaid, switching to Solavei soon.
For me on AT&T my phone gets decent reception in buildings, but T-mobile's HSPA+ is very fast outside big corporate buildings, which I prefer actually for streaming media. T-Mobile prepaid doesn't offer conditional call forwarding, so that's the main reason I'm switching to Solavei since I can't use Google Voice as my voicemail without that feature. AFAIK they are the only T-Mobile MVNO that offers it.
Did a bunch of reading.
I use/need:
1. ~800 minutes
2. ~1.5GB of data (was using 500MB on sprint, assume I'll use more on faster network)
3. Mostly urban, rarely rural. Willing to forego data when out in the wilderness
4. Google Voicemail
5. Would like to be less than $50/mo and/or 'contract free' (don't want to pay phone subsidy when I own my phone)
T-mobile $30 prepaid plan: Ruled out by 1.
Straight Talk - T-Mobile SIM: Ruled out by 4.
T-mobile $60 prepaid plan: Ruled out by 5. ($10/mo+ * 24 = a new nexus phone)
AT&T $65 plan: Ruled out by 2, 5.
Looks like my options are:
A: Solavei - T-Mobile Network
Pros:
1. Faster when data works
2. Same priority as T-mobile customers
3. 4GB on 4G data before throttle
4. Voice+Data roaming
5. Possible to save $20/mo if I refer 3 subscribers and they're sure to use my referral code (I already have 2 possible)
6. Seems to be better in congested areas (from visually reviewing data on rootmetrics)
Cons:
1. $ more than ST
2. Smaller overall network
3. Weaker building penetration
4. Expects me to become a network marketer to save, new users most likely won't properly attribute my referral
5. If you do sign up 3 referrals, you're basically on-contract and won't want to leave because of the savings, even if quality starts to suffers
B: Straight Talk - AT&T Network
Pros:
1. $5-8 less than Solavei
2. Bigger overall network = better voice+data coverage
3. Better building penetration
4. Easy to switch
Cons:
1. Slower data
2. Random throttling. Is it 70MB/day? Is it 2GB/mo? What is it? You'll end up asking: "WHY DID YOU THROTTLE ME?" They'll end up saying: "Dunno, see if it's faster next month. Everything is fine on our end."
3. Lower priority voice+data in congested areas/times. Network is getting beat up by iPhones+iPads.
4. No data or voice roaming
I looked at:
http://www.airportal.de/
http://www.rootmetrics.com/
I've read several reports of poor T-mobile service in Buffalo, NY, but the fresh maps (-90 days) on these sites say otherwise. Willing to try magenta first, then fall back to random throttling and low priority on ST-ATT.