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am I right in presuming O2, Orange, Tmobile and Vodaphone will be selling the Universal.
which has the widest G3 coverage.
Which will be the cheapest.
Will the different models be the same spec with different cosmetics.
cheers
SteveW
T-mobile hasn't technically launched their 3G network (except for a laptop data card). It is due to happen in October. So no coverage or tariffs yet - but the rates they offer for their data card are here: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=phones_im_cc3g_wic
Vodafone - god knows. They seem to believe that their 3G tariffs should be a secret. Coverage is here: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/coverage.htm?zl=5&x=-1&y=-1&st=UK Postcode&ct=gprs
Orange - offer 30 minutes free video calling per month and 1000MB data per month free of charge for three months. Then you choose one of their standard data plans (currently here - http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sa...=OUKService&t=Service&cid=1096023564495&tab=2). Coverage is here: http://coverage.orange.co.uk/uk/UKCoverageSearch.htm
O2 - data tariffs are here: http://www.o2.co.uk/business/tariffs/datatariffs/0,,203,00.html Coverage - no idea.
I would imagine the hardware will be the same for all - it has been with previous HTC models. The only prices for buying the actual Universal itself have come from O2 - from free to £179.99 to £229.99.
You are forgetting the BEST 3G network in the UK.
80% coverage and always increasing, best 3G phones, best expertise, been going the longest and approprately named!
3!!
I am planning on buying one from O2, unlock it asap and then bung in a 3 sim card and happily vid call from there.
I'll be honest.
Currently, the other networks which have 3G services, Orange, Vody, T-mob and o2 are rubbish at it.
Vody have the second best coverage (about 40%) but they have seemless connections between 2.5g and 3g unlike 3 who's 2.5g service is provided by O2.
And in case you didn't know... O2 have the worst 3G coverage in the UK, they started too late and know if they don't have 80% by 2008 (i think), I am not sure whether they will loose their 3G operating license. They current;y have around 12%.
For more info on 3g go to www.3g.co.uk
would they not roam on eachothers networks ?
they do here at least with gsm
mainly because 3 have a very poor coverish and only have utms
so they have to change to gsm when ever they cant get strong enough signal
Biohead said:
You are forgetting the BEST 3G network in the UK.
80% coverage and always increasing, best 3G phones, best expertise, been going the longest and approprately named!
3!!
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Is this an ironic use of the word 'best'? 3 have the dubious distinction of being the officially most compleined about technology company of 2004. Their network stinks, their phone return rate is through the roof, their customer service (based in India) seems to believe that answering the phone is entirely optional.
As a company and a service they stink worse than 3 month old fish...!
I am planning on buying one from O2, unlock it asap and then bung in a 3 sim card and happily vid call from there.
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Tell me - how do you expect to use your Exec to surf the internet - being as 3 restrict you to a 'walled garden'...?
I'll be honest.
Currently, the other networks which have 3G services, Orange, Vody, T-mob and o2 are rubbish at it.
Vody have the second best coverage (about 40%) but they have seemless connections between 2.5g and 3g unlike 3 who's 2.5g service is provided by O2.
And in case you didn't know... O2 have the worst 3G coverage in the UK, they started too late and know if they don't have 80% by 2008 (i think), I am not sure whether they will loose their 3G operating license. They current;y have around 12%.
For more info on 3g go to www.3g.co.uk
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I don't know whether those figures are correct or not (source please?) but 3 has an incredibly patchy network full stop. Not only are you lucky to get reception at all in some areas but moving from a 3G area into a GPRS area gets you cut off virtually every time. The same applies to voice calls - move from an area with 3 coverage (so very easy to do) and the transfer to GSM cuts you off.
I'll take a smaller 3G coverage with seemless GPRS transfer every time.
Not to mention - in order to do what you suggest you need to take out a minimum contract with O2 on top of your 3 contract.
Bad, bad advice...!
I suppose I only use them now since I actually live in a reliable signal. If I want to surf the net I will use the wifi. I have access to 2 of my own network (long story) and tens more where I live.
3 do have a patchy network, but it is also the largest one.
Don't forget, that many people complained about the original hansets (the NECs) and they believe that that is how three will always be. The latest handsets don't have any problems
As for the O2 contract, I'm taking it out for the wife who will use it on her Moto V620.
O2 coverage is here: www.webmap.o2.co.uk
Last I heard was around 40% 3g coverage but that was some time ago. I use their 3g data card and its pretty darn good.
here 3 are becomming inc unpopular they are the only utms network currently but i bet very soon after the other phonecompany's here
just the utms bandwagon they will have a bigger network and 3 will roam more on their network then the other way around
I'm not saying anything for definate, but theres been a leaked memo from 3UK about 3 offering a data service as of 1st september.
But if it is the destruction of the walled garden, it's gotta be better than Vodafone £7.50 per mb for payg people.
i-mate JASJAR
Just to let you know I have ordered a i-mate JASJAR (Crap name) from expansys UK. 4 day delivery.
I went for the Vodaphone because we just moved premises this weekend and the O2 coverage is poor.
Cheers
SteveW
Haha, the hatred for 3 in this thread is funny.
Also unfounded. Network of the year two years running, guys..... if you didn't buy from e2save and other cashback dealers you'd get fine customer service from the likes of myself in your local 3point.
I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the recent Orange contract change palarver and move to T-Mobile. Much cheaper contract, twice as much data and not having to deal with Orange's 'interesting' outlook on customer service.
Not sure what this will mean but http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8243226.stm
I don't think so large mergers are ever good for the customer though.
Practically-speaking they will probably get past the regulator with a bit of begging as O2 and Voda still own a decent chunk of the market, and the T-mob people will benefit from the better backbone capacity of Orange. The whole contract escape thing will still apply as it's in EU law - if the new company ups prices in the future, people can envoke the cancellation clause then just as they did last month. I imagine they'll reprice only when the brand names merge, and only to the bare minimum, as they know people will exploit it to death. You can't keep the same prices forever though, as everyone's copying each other so switching will be less tempting as time goes on.
Sidebar - if you're using data a lot, Voda UK is the place to be as they're finally rolling out their new backbone. HSDPA at up to 14 mbits to all existing customers instead of the 3 to 7 mbits everyone else caps at, and no handset upgrades required. Initial testing proves it works as advertised, though of course depends on the signal strength.
Does this mean that if the do merge, we will be able to cancel our contracts etc again???
Thanks for the reply Spartan. Will look into Vodaphone.
I don't think contracts will be able to be broken unless they change charges or similar. . .
c_lee said:
Sidebar - if you're using data a lot, Voda UK is the place to be as they're finally rolling out their new backbone. HSDPA at up to 14 mbits to all existing customers instead of the 3 to 7 mbits everyone else caps at, and no handset upgrades required. Initial testing proves it works as advertised, though of course depends on the signal strength.
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Pull the other one.
Vodafone may be rolling out 14.4Mbps in about 3 places but for those of us who live in the majority of the rest of the country, it's just a slap in the face.
Personally, given the choice between HSDPA coverage with O2, Orange or T-Mobile or not even getting 2G coverage with Vodafone, let alone high-speed data, I know who I won't be choosing.
As for all this talk about cancelling contracts, read the article again - even if the merger is approved, both brands will operate under their own names for the first 18 months or so whilst all the admin gets sorted.
Step666 said:
Pull the other one.
Vodafone may be rolling out 14.4Mbps in about 3 places but for those of us who live in the majority of the rest of the country, it's just a slap in the face.
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Their service is currently live for the centers of London, Birmingham and Liverpool simply because those are the three cities with highest HSPA usage density, though it's apparently being rolled out to the whole country over the next 6-12 months. It's a heck of a lot of work, but Voda insist it will happen, and none of the other operators will say they're even considering it. Some say they can't afford it, some say they're waiting for HSPAE/LTE before doing any upgrades.
As I said it is indeed dependent on your RF path and the cell load, but the point is a BTS capped at 14M will be able to run far more users at typical 3-bar rates (1 to 5M), which if you've tried to pull data in the centre of a city with 5 bars on your phone you know is a big problem - we hit the backhaul capacity very easily. Of course in the middle of nowhere your data rates won't be any good, but it's supply and demand; if it's only you out there it's uneconomical for anyone to install a cell tower. Femtos are available though, so you can turn your DSL line into a domestic 3G base station.
As I also said, T-mob/Orange prices are only likely to change at the rebrand stage and only where absolutely necessary, but it's still the case that when they do happen the contract escape clauses are still very much there. I doubt you'll get to save much as I guess all the operators will have upped their prices (specially if there's less competition), but we we've seen many people want to get out of long contracts for other reasons.
As my sig says, I don't use Voda nor do I have any connection to them. In theory I use Orange, as they provide Three's 2G capacity, but I wish I didn't!
c_lee said:
...though it's apparently being rolled out to the whole country over the next 6-12 months.
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Last I heard, it's continuing roll-out was 'on an ongoing basis'.
But the problem for those of us who live somewhere other than those certain parts of London, Birmingham and Liverpool is that Vodafone's plans are ridiculously vague - sure, they plan to roll it out to the rest of country but what does that mean exactly?
Does that mean they're going to be increasing the amount of the country that they cover or are they merely going to upgrade the speeds in the few places that they already offer coverage? Because, if it's the second option, it still leaves a lot of people out in the cold because Vodafone's coverage is already pretty crummy - they're a long way off being the best network for coverage.
As for femtocells, what a joke.
If your broadband speeds are good enough to make installing one viable, why would you then want to use a mobile-based internet connection and not just your landline instead?
Anyway, speeds are just one element of offering a practical cellular data service to customers - obviously (as I've already mentioned) coverage is another factor, one that Vodafone currents fails quite badly on and there's also the issue of download allowances, another area that Vodafone is really quite poor for.
Going back to the point at hand though, I for one doubt that T-Mobile and Orange merging will cause end customers to be worse off - T-Mobile hasn't been a big player for a while, they're not particularly competitive so I honestly doubt that their disappearance as a separate entity will be that big an issue.
In fact, I reckon it'd probably be better for customer in the long run - being leapfrogged in this manner will, hopefully, force Vodafone and O2 to up their game - both are guilty of a lot of complacency of late so to be taken down a peg or two and forced to approach the market from a disadvantaged position could well be a good thing.
Firstly the roll-out will happen to all existing Voda 3G BTS nodes, as the backhaul upgrade is required for other purposes. Installing new BTSs is a different matter entirely, and I agree they're not great in rural areas (but then no one operator is ahead of the game on that one. Our office is in the middle of the countryside and we get a decent Three signal purely by chance - no 3G from anyone else - but a few miles down the road at home only Orange will work.
All the operators are gradually populating the dead areas where there's a demand, but nobody's going to put 3G in where there aren't enough customers and there's a 2G signal available - the priority is going to the zero signal areas first, and only those where people are calling them and complaining about it.
Agree a femtocell is a strange idea if you use your landline for calls and DSL through a PC, but many people run their entire lives through their cell number, and forwarding it to a landline costs you money when someone calls you. Femtos mean you're not paying for the calls in either direction, and helps people who don't have a wifi-enabled handset to pull down 'free' data.
I would like to start by thanking you for your reply, it makes for interesting reading.
But I reserve the right to remain cynical (I'm Scottish, what do you expect...). Large parts of Vodafone's 3G network don't even support 7.2Mbps yet, so I just don't see them upgrading it all to 14.4.
As for the problems with signal, I'm not talking about rural areas.
Where I work is in a built-up area, near the centre of a large town and, as it happens, right across the road from a mobile phone mast. Every network except Vodafone offers HSDPA coverage but to just make a call on Vodafone you have to hang out a window or head off down the street waving your phone in the air to get signal.
I see what you're saying about some people's lives being run through their mobile but I still cannot quite see the use of femtocells.
If a person's phone is that important, then they would be unlikely to be using a network that offered such poor coverage in their home. Alternatively, if they already have reasonable 2G coverage, then why get a femtocell to aid 3G coverage when you have a perfectly good landline internet connection which will be cheaper to use, almost certainly offer a faster speed and will definitely have a larger usage allowance; not to mention that no-one in their right mind would argue that the web experience on a phone can match that of a proper PC or laptop.
A femtocell doesn't give you free data, nor does it give you wi-fi access - it merely improves the network signal strength/coverage in your home but you still have to pay for data the same way you would if you were out and about.
In your case, you can find the local spread of BTSs using Ofcom's Sitefinder database - www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk - and one trick to see what BTS your phone is hitting for data is to open Google Maps with the GPS option turned off - "your location" is then that of the BTS you're downloading maps from.
If your operator's own map claims good coverage for your house, but in practice you don't have any, then it's ether a line of sight issue (something conductive between you and the antenna) or a terrain dip (sectors put out a roughly-horizontal beam, angled down a few degrees, so if you're above or below it because of your relative heights, you can be over the road from the thing and not get a signal). In modern houses, we've also seen issues with foil-backed cavity wall insulation acting like a Faraday cage and ruining your signal until you're near a window. Either way, phone the operator and let them know - coverage is only altered when someone tells them it's not as good as they think it is.
Just FYI, a femtocell uses your existing DSL ISP's connection for all the data, including voice packets, and simply routes them to the mobile operator's gateway IP address - so depending on your operator and service plan they may or may not be counted as airtime minutes/bytes. Voda does count them, however that's not the norm as you're in effect paying twice for the same megabyte (to your ISP and to Voda); but as so few people have femtos in the UK, nobody's grumbling enough to be heard.
c_lee said:
Firstly the roll-out will happen to all existing Voda 3G BTS nodes, as the backhaul upgrade is required for other purposes. Installing new BTSs is a different matter entirely, and I agree they're not great in rural areas (but then no one operator is ahead of the game on that one. Our office is in the middle of the countryside and we get a decent Three signal purely by chance - no 3G from anyone else - but a few miles down the road at home only Orange will work.
All the operators are gradually populating the dead areas where there's a demand, but nobody's going to put 3G in where there aren't enough customers and there's a 2G signal available - the priority is going to the zero signal areas first, and only those where people are calling them and complaining about it.
Agree a femtocell is a strange idea if you use your landline for calls and DSL through a PC, but many people run their entire lives through their cell number, and forwarding it to a landline costs you money when someone calls you. Femtos mean you're not paying for the calls in either direction, and helps people who don't have a wifi-enabled handset to pull down 'free' data.
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Three is the only provider with any kind of 3G coverage in our town (rural shropshire) they claim to best 3g coverage in the UK - and my experience with them backs that up - im with Orange for my phone and Three for my dongle.
Sorry to bring the speed issue again but I read this the other day, which is rather fitting to some of the discussions we've been having of late.
So I ordered my N1 yesterday, and currently have at&t. wasn't too worried about the whole 3g thing, because I figured one of the smart guys here at xda would figure out a way to make it work. After looking in to it further, I realize the hardware just won't allow that. I would just switch to T-mobile, but they have no 3g coverage anywhere near me yet. this brings me to my question. is it worth switching to tmobiles coverage for faster 2g possibly, or in the hopes that they'll soon expand their network. I don't mind getting out of my contract with at&t, tmobiles rates seem to be a lot better. I'm just wondering if anybody has heard anything on T-mobiles future plans.
I think most anecdotal evidence by most users is that EDGE on TMO is much faster than ATT. Why? Even though the "transport" 2G technology is the same, ATT still suffers from not enough bandwidth at its towers for all the heavy 3G areas due to heavy usage. -- In other words, backhaul contention.
Also, the fact that in places where there is no TMO 3G... EDGE works quite well for the very same reason... Even with towers that only have several T1/DS1's in place instead of T3/DS3's or fiber
Cheers,
Kermee
In NYC, where I have 3G coverage as well, EDGE tops out at 10-15KB/s
hurrycaine3000 said:
So I ordered my N1 yesterday, and currently have at&t. wasn't too worried about the whole 3g thing, because I figured one of the smart guys here at xda would figure out a way to make it work. After looking in to it further, I realize the hardware just won't allow that. I would just switch to T-mobile, but they have no 3g coverage anywhere near me yet. this brings me to my question. is it worth switching to tmobiles coverage for faster 2g possibly, or in the hopes that they'll soon expand their network. I don't mind getting out of my contract with at&t, tmobiles rates seem to be a lot better. I'm just wondering if anybody has heard anything on T-mobiles future plans.
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I personally have ran on EDGE for awhile on tmobile and have never had a problem with wifi while I am at home/school... however the 3g is nice, though my house seems to have 3g signals
its simple business really, though 1 man cannot make a difference... as the company grows, the service grows... verizon has the best service because it has the most customers... i think the reason tmobile has struggled in the US (as opposed to being the number 1 world wide carrier) is because of the lack of appeal from phones... with more phones rolling out and tmobile always having its doors open to unlocked phones i see the company gaining some momentum and it starts with these new android phones making it big as well as now having the fastest network in the nation...
ive had bad experiences with both verizon (contract issues) and att (terrible customer service), tmobile has yet to steer me wrong (other than not giving me an upgrade for the N1 haha)
with that said, try em out, idk if companies still let you trial their service for a week or so but you could ask?
i honestly cant tel a diff between edge and 3 g lol they both are friggin fast as hell
VoLoDaR1 said:
i honestly cant tel a diff between edge and 3 g lol they both are friggin fast as hell
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It all depends on what you're doing Tweeting and reading tweets... probably not so much
Cheers,
Kermee
are you crazy? 3G is AT LEAST 10+ times as fast as EDGE.
I know on my touch pro using att 3g over edge. they have 3g where I work, but not at my house. so I always just use wifi at my house, but don't bother at work because the 3g is fast enough. I can definetly tell the difference. granted there is wifi almost everywhere these days, but with my touch pro I have to turn it off and on when I'm using it so my battery half makes through a day. It will be nice if the N1's is more of a automatic thing, if that makes sense. I guess if I knew that t Mobile would actually be implementing 3g in my area at all soon, it would be an easier decision, but I haven't found anything to make me think they'll be adding towers in York, PA any time soon.
Im in Dallas TX and just activated my phone. I was worried because people in some forums where saying phone kept switching to 2g. I just activated my phone and its been on 3 out of 4 bars on 3g last 30-40 minutes...I know this is kind of off topic, but thought it was important do to the nature of all the talk about speed on tmobile.
Ok im scared now, i just looked at the USA map on tmobile https://my.t-mobile.com/Plan/CoverageMap.aspx and looks to hardly be any 3g coverage! What! Tell me it aint so!
that's what I'm saying, I want 3g on this phone, but it's just not in my area on tmobile. we've established it's pretty much going to be impossible to get att's to work on this phone. It doesn't look like tmobile has 3g anywhere, atleast not hardly. what to do, what to do.
dallastx said:
Im in Dallas TX and just activated my phone. I was worried because people in some forums where saying phone kept switching to 2g. I just activated my phone and its been on 3 out of 4 bars on 3g last 30-40 minutes...I know this is kind of off topic, but thought it was important do to the nature of all the talk about speed on tmobile.
Ok im scared now, i just looked at the USA map on tmobile https://my.t-mobile.com/Plan/CoverageMap.aspx and looks to hardly be any 3g coverage! What! Tell me it aint so!
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thats called #4 carrier coverage
as for that map, its ancient... the thing has never worked properly and the maps take forever to load yet i wish i could get a decent detailed coverage map for tmobile somewhere...
hurrycaine3000 said:
I know on my touch pro using att 3g over edge. they have 3g where I work, but not at my house. so I always just use wifi at my house, but don't bother at work because the 3g is fast enough. I can definetly tell the difference. granted there is wifi almost everywhere these days, but with my touch pro I have to turn it off and on when I'm using it so my battery half makes through a day. It will be nice if the N1's is more of a automatic thing, if that makes sense. I guess if I knew that t Mobile would actually be implementing 3g in my area at all soon, it would be an easier decision, but I haven't found anything to make me think they'll be adding towers in York, PA any time soon.
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OMG i live in york to lol. ive asked tmobile many times if we'll ever have 3g and they told me december 09 but that never happened. who knows if we'll ever get it. but edge for me on tmobile works good unless u use media functions like youtube and streaming video but its good for web browsing and email
Make sure T-Mobile has EDGE all around your area because I've found that there are many places that don't even have EDGE on T-Mobile and are GRPS only. That being said, I do find that usually T-Mobile EDGE is faster.... The difference is so small that I wouldn't change networks over it though..
I get around 25KB/s or so, which works fine for streaming music and such. This is quite a bit faster than the AT&T users seem to get here.
Yeah you should be happy with what you've got. EDGE isn't amazing but at least with the 900mhz range you've got coverage. I'm not sure about T-mobile US thought but it has to be better than UK. I live in the UK just outside of town with 3 basestations surrounding my house just out of range with 2100 3g and 1800 2g. I can get signal occasionally with my Iphone 3gs, until I touch it...
The coverage is okish but I get Black-spots everywhere; literally, I can walk round the corner away from a basestation and lose signal. I can only use my phone if I'm underneath a basestation and even then the crappy 4.2Mbit/s (It may even be less than that) limited basestations are overloaded. Each user is then further capped at roughly 1.8Mbit/s
That's 3G and above, which I rarely get as I mentioned. When you get 2G you get EDGE. When I get 2G I don't get EDGE, I don't even get 2.5G, I get slower-than-dial-up GPRS which is unusable. None of T-mo UK's basestations are EDGE enabled; with common black-spots and poor 3G reception, this makes for an appalling network. I can't wait to switch to Three UK. Blanket UK 3g coverage with amazing deals: £15/mo rolling contract with 300 mins, unlimited texts, Unlimited (7.2Mbit/s) data. The only problem is they have shockingly bad phones (no problem for me, or so I thought...)
melterx12 said:
are you crazy? 3G is AT LEAST 10+ times as fast as EDGE.
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That pretty well sums up the problem with TMUS users.
They have no f***ing clue.
Im after selling my iphone 3g and buying this phone sim free and using a sim only plan/pay as you go smart phone plan....
anyone seen any good deals on a decent network? im looking for unlimited txts and as much net time as possible, dont care about minutes...who uses the phone part these days eh!
i know tmobile do a basic £10 +£5 per perk which could be internet or unlimited txts but i dont know how good the network actually is....
also tesco mobile seem to be a dirt cheap one too and thats meant to be based on the o2 network?
im quite interested in knowing what vodaphone/orange are like as a 3g/HSDPA provider...my house is just outside the 3g range on o2 but seems to be well in range for orange/vodaphone according to the coverage "maps"
thanks in advance.
3 PAYG has a data add on for £5 which gives you 1GB downloads in a month. Personally speaking I havent had any issues however much I download.
according to the 3 coverage map i may struggle to get a signal indoors.... lol.
orange seems by far the best coverage for me, all excellent coverage for 3g. of course it depends how you interpret these maps...
while on the subject does anyone else think the new 500mb download limits for the majority of UK networks is simply horrible? over 30 days thats around 16-17mb per day.......even browsing and viewing a few videos on youtube might be touching around that.....
Though I think the Fascinate looks better and has a camera flash, the Vibrant seems to look better on paper: More on-board memory, HSDPA offers "potentially" fasters data speeds, Tmo can do voice and data at the same time while Verizon can't, no Bing or VZ apps on the Vibrant, and I can buy the phone out of contract at a reduced rate.
The only thing that makes me hesitate (besides the less-appealing design), is Tmo's coverage vs. Verizon. I'm primarily in L.A. / I.E. and do some occasional traveling, and have no experience with Tmo service. Should I be concerned or just make the jump?
i can't speak for 3G coverage on Tmo vs Verizon but can on voice call svc
Tmo seems to have partnered with every small carrier around the country - every year i make about 5-6 visits to clients or suppliers around the country with two other folks from partner companies - one is on AT&T and one on Verizon - and every time we're in a rural area, their svc drops out before my Tmo's does
Last Dec we were heading south out of derby, VT ((on the canadian border) and about 35 miles south you're heading into foothills - my bud with verizon lost his svc, and had to use my phone for about 20 minutes (my tmo was showing 1 bar signal) - he finished his call and about 5 minutes were were i the hills with no signal
when we started coming out of the foothills (they were really mountains but we were gaining elevation with numerous small rock outcroppings around us), anyway, when we started coming out, my Tmo was first to have svc again
they always notice my Tmo's svc is better than their's
and there's no roaming chgs with Tmo here in US or at least i've never had any
have had similiar experiences traveling thru rural S. Carolina, Georgia, Tenn, W VA, Kentucky and western TX and thru New Mexico
nice info above.. but yes.. T-Mobile is GSM/W-CDMA/UMTS/HSPA+ so u can talk-n-surf over 3G (21HSPA+).. also, our speeds dominates all US carriers (even Sprints 4G/WiMax).. T-Mobile will upgrade its HSPA+ data again in 2011 from 21mbps to 42mbps.. i live in Seattle and we have 21HSPA+, but real world results will be between 5-10mbps (also depending on your device limitation).. also, T-Mobile gives u more bang for your buck.. but yes, they do have a smaller foorprint (mainly in more rural areas).. no problem for me since i stay in cities, and not in the boonies.
Even tho Verizon ADDED flash, it gimped its I.M. to 2GB (also no FFC--only Sprint has FFC).. T-Mobile even packed the Vibrant with a few goodies like the movie Avatar.
The Los Angeles and Inland Empire area have good 3G coverage from what I hear. HSPA+ is growing too. 3G coverage when traveling won't be like Verizon so I would check to see if 3G coverage overall is good enough for you.
sec1has said:
Though I think the Fascinate looks better and has a camera flash, the Vibrant seems to look better on paper: More on-board memory, HSDPA offers "potentially" fasters data speeds, Tmo can do voice and data at the same time while Verizon can't, no Bing or VZ apps on the Vibrant, and I can buy the phone out of contract at a reduced rate.
The only thing that makes me hesitate (besides the less-appealing design), is Tmo's coverage vs. Verizon. I'm primarily in L.A. / I.E. and do some occasional traveling, and have no experience with Tmo service. Should I be concerned or just make the jump?
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I live down in the high desert, and travel all the time between here and L.A. and San Diego, and have excellent coverage all over the I.E./L.A./San Diego area. So I don't think you have much to fear with transferring over to tmo
Looks like I'll be switching carriers.
sec1has said:
Looks like I'll be switching carriers.
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Cool Enjoy Calling People and Going Online at the same time with a faster 3G
sec1has said:
Looks like I'll be switching carriers.
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Before you do, find out from people using T-Mobile in the areas that you frequent how their reception is. I love T-Mobile. Their CS rocks and prices are very good, but I couldn't get reception at my desk in my office in Manhattan and had to switch. It's great that it works 35 miles from the Canadian border, but if it doesn't work where you need it, it doesn't work.
Drachen said:
Before you do, find out from people using T-Mobile in the areas that you frequent how their reception is. I love T-Mobile. Their CS rocks and prices are very good, but I couldn't get reception at my desk in my office in Manhattan and had to switch. It's great that it works 35 miles from the Canadian border, but if it doesn't work where you need it, it doesn't work.
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When was that and with what phone? T-Mobile is extremely good in Los Angeles, I don't think you know how good they are out there. There will be weak zones for any carrier but T-Mobile is great in Los Angeles. It's their core market. Also there are some sites planned later this year to go online. Not to mention when I took at look at compass.t-mobile.com, not only was NYC lit up with over 40 new towers (includes microcells), so was the Los Angeles area.. 20 new sites in one zip code earlier this year. So, things are always subject to change.
Drachen said:
Before you do, find out from people using T-Mobile in the areas that you frequent how their reception is. I love T-Mobile. Their CS rocks and prices are very good, but I couldn't get reception at my desk in my office in Manhattan and had to switch. It's great that it works 35 miles from the Canadian border, but if it doesn't work where you need it, it doesn't work.
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can't say anything about manhatten, but worked fine in queens when i visited the inlaws last thanksgiving
I live in the same areas you metioned L.A./I.E. and i have tmo the service is great in L.A. I had verizon and went to school in west la and the service was patchy but with tmo it was at minimum 2 bars all over same area with 3g. the only problem i find with tmo is going to events with a lot of people/cells phones, the phone has service/3g but i couldn't text, make a call, or use the internet. i have problems with this at dodger games and i had problems during the summer at coachella but i love tmo and will definitely be getting the vibrant!!
pinkgabe said:
I live in the same areas you metioned L.A./I.E. and i have tmo the service is great in L.A. I had verizon and went to school in west la and the service was patchy but with tmo it was at minimum 2 bars all over same area with 3g. the only problem i find with tmo is going to events with a lot of people/cells phones, the phone has service/3g but i couldn't text, make a call, or use the internet. i have problems with this at dodger games and i had problems during the summer at coachella but i love tmo and will definitely be getting the vibrant!!
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The Pre-HSPA+ network was pretty limited in terms of how many calls and data it could handle but HSPA+ should alleviate that until the site runs out of spectrum (slots for calls/data).
heygrl said:
Not to mention when I took at look at compass.t-mobile.com, not only was NYC lit up with over 40 new towers (includes microcells), so was the Los Angeles area.. 20 new sites in one zip code earlier this year. So, things are always subject to change.
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Not about to get into an argument about it, just going by my own experience. I used several HTC phones, a MDA, Touch Duo and Diamond. I found the reception great where I live near the Empire State Building, but really crappy in my office in Flatiron and under Grand Central. Even A/B tested with borrowed iPhone SIMs to make sure it was a carrier issue and not a phone issue. I switched to AT&T in Nov of 2008 and haven't had a problem since using a Fuze, Omnia 2 and Nexus One. (Meanwhile T-Mobile went from having only crap phones to a great lineup and AT&T went to becoming a one-trick iPony)
My point wasn't that T-Mobile sucks. I rather like the company, but the service didn't work for me in the places I tend to be a lot. My point was that you should try to actually confirm the reception yourself in the places you frequent rather than just going by others' experiences.
pinkgabe said:
I live in the same areas you metioned L.A./I.E. and i have tmo the service is great in L.A. I had verizon and went to school in west la and the service was patchy but with tmo it was at minimum 2 bars all over same area with 3g. the only problem i find with tmo is going to events with a lot of people/cells phones, the phone has service/3g but i couldn't text, make a call, or use the internet. i have problems with this at dodger games and i had problems during the summer at coachella but i love tmo and will definitely be getting the vibrant!!
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Drachen said:
Not about to get into an argument about it, just going by my own experience. I used several HTC phones, a MDA, Touch Duo and Diamond. I found the reception great where I live near the Empire State Building, but really crappy in my office in Flatiron and under Grand Central. Even A/B tested with borrowed iPhone SIMs to make sure it was a carrier issue and not a phone issue. I switched to AT&T in Nov of 2008 and haven't had a problem since using a Fuze, Omnia 2 and Nexus One. (Meanwhile T-Mobile went from having only crap phones to a great lineup and AT&T went to becoming a one-trick iPony)
My point wasn't that T-Mobile sucks. I rather like the company, but the service didn't work for me in the places I tend to be a lot. My point was that you should try to actually confirm the reception yourself in the places you frequent rather than just going by others' experiences.
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November 2008 is far too long ago. HTC/Apple (especially Samsung) phones also really don't offer good reception regardless of sim swapping. A phone with crap reception will be even crappier on PCS and less crappy on CLR (850). I already stated that I've seen over 40 pink "T"'s on compass.t-mobile.com in NYC earlier this year which ultimately means coverage has improved since 2008. ATM there are over 7 new sites showing and that's within the last 90 days.
That doesn't mean the coverage isn't weak, but the phone matters greatly and the ones you listed are all average or below average. I can go out to a warehouse and have my Samsung phone lose coverage, but not my Motorola? If I only had Samsung phones I'd probably think there was no coverage in that warehouse when there actually is coverage, my Samsung just didn't pick up the signal.
I will say this about T-Mobiles service, about 6 months ago the best signal I could get in my house was edge, now mind you the only carriers getting signal at all in my house were Verizon and T-Mobile. AT&T and Sprint could not get a signal whatsoever even at a window.
Well I woke up one morning and saw a full 5 bars of 3G and thought I was dreaming. Well low and behold now I have that all the time just about anywhere I go. For the record I only live about 10-15 minutes from Boston, so it's not like I'm in the middle of nowhere lol.
Just waiting patiently for my HSPA+ now, which the Boston market is confirmed as getting it soon.
heygrl said:
November 2008 is far too long ago. HTC/Apple (especially Samsung) phones also really don't offer good reception regardless of sim swapping. A phone with crap reception will be even crappier on PCS and less crappy on CLR (850). I already stated that I've seen over 40 pink "T"'s on compass.t-mobile.com in NYC earlier this year which ultimately means coverage has improved since 2008. ATM there are over 7 new sites showing and that's within the last 90 days.
That doesn't mean the coverage isn't weak, but the phone matters greatly and the ones you listed are all average or below average. I can go out to a warehouse and have my Samsung phone lose coverage, but not my Motorola? If I only had Samsung phones I'd probably think there was no coverage in that warehouse when there actually is coverage, my Samsung just didn't pick up the signal.
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I think you're basically illustrating my point. All the reasons I switched are irrelevant to anyone that is not me in Nov of 2008. They were highly relevant to me in Nov of 2008, considering that I couldn't get service in a place I spend 1/3 of my life on weekdays. It didn't matter how good the reception would be once they finished the AWS rollout, how good it was in LA or 35 miles from the Canadian border or the fact that the phones I like have sub-par reception. The decision had to be made based on my own experience not someone else saying that it was good.
Drachen said:
I think you're basically illustrating my point. All the reasons I switched are irrelevant to anyone that is not me in Nov of 2008. They were highly relevant to me in Nov of 2008, considering that I couldn't get service in a place I spend 1/3 of my life on weekdays. It didn't matter how good the reception would be once they finished the AWS rollout, how good it was in LA or 35 miles from the Canadian border or the fact that the phones I like have sub-par reception. The decision had to be made based on my own experience not someone else saying that it was good.
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So why would you post here? Seriously though...
heygrl said:
So why would you post here? Seriously though...
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Because this is a phone forum and not a (no offense) network fanboy forum. The phone I want and the phone you want are basically the same and there's more activity here. A root update was posted in the Vibrant dev forum that answered a question on the Captivate forum. Our phone drops 3 days after yours and there's going to be a lot of experimentation going on and the results will benefit both of us.
That and I thought I had something to add to the conversation and couldn't keep my trap shut. Personal failing.
heygrl said:
So why would you post here? Seriously though...
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Drachen said:
Because this is a phone forum and not a (no offense) network fanboy forum. The phone I want and the phone you want are basically the same and there's more activity here. A root update was posted in the Vibrant dev forum that answered a question on the Captivate forum. Our phone drops 3 days after yours and there's going to be a lot of experimentation going on and the results will benefit both of us.
That and I thought I had something to add to the conversation and couldn't keep my trap shut. Personal failing.
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I doesn't really matter whose on what carrier. Each person is going to have different needs and different carriers will support those different needs. I think we can all agree this will be a kick ass phone and blows the iphone out of the water.
I thought engadget did a piece on data rates of carriers & ATT came out on top. Was this incorrect?