4g for the 1st time - EVO 4G General

so after almost a year i have NEVER USED 4g due to the fact that my state DOES NOT HAVE 4g and im forced to pay for 4g. Well i went away this week and the place im at have 4g, but to be honest i dont see a difference. seems like 3g is just as fast.

Warrior 3000 said:
so after almost a year i have NEVER USED 4g due to the fact that my state DOES NOT HAVE 4g and im forced to pay for 4g. Well i went away this week and the place im at have 4g, but to be honest i dont see a difference. seems like 3g is just as fast.
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Click to collapse
What did you expect for $10 . . . .

It depends where you are. South of Boston I pull down 7-14Mbps on 4G vs 100kbps on 3G. Trust me, I can tell the difference. Streaming Netflix is smooth as can be and I can barely stream Slacker radio without pauses on 3G here.

4G is great here, when it is working, but it is sketchy at best as far as the actual coverage here.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

3G speeds, I average 900k-1.7mbps. This was my last 4G speed test: http://i.imgur.com/BSsYE.jpg

I used it today for the first time in Baton Rouge and i got speeds of 6-8 Mbps. I was impressed. I just wish it reached my apt. I was in the car when I did this.

Warrior 3000 said:
im forced to pay for 4g.
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Click to collapse
People on these forums pride themselves in not being as "uninformed" as Apple users.... yet we keep having people say **** like this.
You don't pay for 4g.
Whether the phone is 4g capable OR NOT, every new line has this charge.

Depends on the network in your area. Check out the SpeedTest.net app. Here are the typical results I get:
WiFi: 9M Down, 4M Up
4G: 4M Down, 1M Up
3G: 700K Down, 50K Up
A good signal on 4G is 10x faster than 3G and half as fast as my home WiFi. Hope this helps.

its not a 4G access fee, its a PREMIUM DEVICE FEE....which apparently applies to a POS Palm Pre that I wanted to connected temporarily to one of my lines, however does not apply to the TP2. (which is much more "premium" than a Palm Pre ever will be.)
With all of that said, it seems that day by day Sprint service gets worse and worse.
I don't think its just my area, but many others.
In the past 6 months I have spent time in:
San Francisco (where 4g causes random reboots)
Los Angeles (painful, think prostate exam, speeds)
Long Beach (where the 3g is faster than the 4g)
Ventura (average slow sprint speeds, 4g does not work, but appears to be present?)
Sacramento (here I roamed on verizon with excellent speeds)
Elk Grove (the FASTEST speed I have even seen on a cell phone, on of course Verizon) This place was in the middle of nowhere.
Fresno (slow sprint speeds)
Visalia (roamed on verizon, great speeds)
Bakersfield (slow sprint speeds)
San Bernardino(slow sprint speeds)
Palmdale (i live here, slow is not slow enough to describe how slow it is)
Lancaster (slow slow slow)
Tehachapi (fast verizon roam)
Arizona:
Phoenix (slow 3g speeds, occasional slow 4g)
Gilbert (slow 3g speeds) *NOTE* I went to the Sprint store here, it has the best sprint service I have ever seen.
Mesa (slow 3g)
Tucson (slower 3g, almost pointless trying, even on handset)
Tolleson (decent 3g)
Nevada
Henderson (decent 3g)
Las Vegas (decent 3g)
North Las Vegas(decent 3g)
There were many other in-between places, that were of no significant value of information, except to say SLOW SPRINT.
As you can see, I have moved around quite a bit with work. At each location I spend an average of 2+ days in a stationary location. The only thing that is consistent is the fast speed when roaming on verizon.
I have been with Sprint for many years, and I keep hoping things improve, yet they never do. The connections are no better than they were on my Sanyo 5300 tethered.

Houston, TX, 4g is stable and consistently get 4-7M down, it definitely depends on location.

mattykinsx said:
People on these forums pride themselves in not being as "uninformed" as Apple users.... yet we keep having people say **** like this.
You don't pay for 4g.
Whether the phone is 4g capable OR NOT, every new line has this charge.
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Click to collapse
Let's cut the rhetoric already. And lets say what it really was and how we got here. I live near Phoenix and unless I want to drive to the east valley or Prescott I pretty much won't be seeing 4G in this area anytime soon. I have come to that reality. But when I bought the phone I was told the $10 in easy terms was for Wimax service. And at that point, living in a population of 4.1m it didn't seem we would be forgotten. Fast forward a year and paying for a service that I have yet to turn on, it is still a 4G fee. And that is simply because my data is the same 3G that my wife's Samsung Moment and daughters BB Style gets. And we activated my daughters BB Jan. 30, right before Sprints Data got upgraded from regular 89 octane to Premium 93 Octane. But for some reason I am not seeing anything Premium about it. So you see, I don't have a new line, therefore I pay a 4G fee, which at the time was "Premium Data.", and everyone else in my family is paying a less than premium data fee. Which is alright, just lets me know my 3G is that much better than theirs.
This is/was Sprint's way of handling a bunch of disgruntled customers and keeping their investors happy. I mean, why would you remove a surcharge? Instead charge everyone a flat rate. Increase profit margin and keep investors happy. It was a class action law-suit just waiting to happen. Charging millions of people for a service that couldnt be rendered.
And if you want to hear it from the mouth of a Sprint employee from when the Evo was released and why the charge was introduced here it is.
This is from John Taylor's blog from May 12th last year. John Taylor is basically the spokesman for Sprint that talks to the press about Public Policy.
" There have been a TON of questions about this monthly Premium Data charge. I hope this will clear things up.
If you buy the Sprint 4G EVO, you have to pay this $10 charge each month. This is specific to the device. It's not related to whether you are using 3G or 4G. It is required if you have the phone.
Because the phone has a faster processor, a huge 4.3 inch screen and an 8 megapixel camcorder/camera, we expect you will be using a lot more data than you would with our other devices. These features will give you capabilities that have previously never been available on a wireless device and we think they provide a premium experience. (Remember, this is the world's first 3G/4G Android phone.)"
http://tech.johntaylor.co/more-detail-on-the-sprint-evo-4g-10month-prem
So you can say what it is now. But it doesn't give a customer that purchases a Samsung Transform 4G abilities and that data is not any more premium for a 3G device anymore the day before or after February 1st when the Premium Data charge for all phones went into effect.
So in closing. We pay for 3G for my wife's and daughters phone. And I pay the Premium Data so that I can have the ability to turn on 4G if I am in a 4G area. Because when I bought my phone under this contract it was device specific.
Thank you for informing me how uninformed I am.
Typed on my CyanoSavaged SuperEvo.

Related

Hsdpa capped?

So after the update my hsupa (upload speed) is fine but my hsdpa (download speeds) are still bad.. im lucky if i get 2mbps (i get it 1/17 times)
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I didnt mean to say hsdpa is still capped i meant slow...sorry
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
The download and upload speeds are still impacted by network capacity and limited backhaul. At&t still doesn't have enough bandwidth from the tower to the web in most areas to provide 4g speeds. The amount of people using the same tower impacts speed as well.
Think of it like a funnel. You can have as many people as you want pouring in the big end, but the only thing flowing is whatever fits out the skinny end.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
goscrewsir said:
The download and upload speeds are still impacted by network capacity and limited backhaul. At&t still doesn't have enough bandwidth from the tower to the web in most areas to provide 4g speeds. The amount of people using the same tower impacts speed as well.
Think of it like a funnel. You can have as many people as you want pouring in the big end, but the only thing flowing is whatever fits out the skinny end.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't you think that's something that's getting out of control from ATT. They chronically are refusing to spend their money on beeping up the backhaul and they are sitting on billions. No 4G launch dates nothing is firm in ATT land yet they claim they have almost 100% of their territory covered with hspa+
It's a shame folks.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Please quit being a tool. AT&T is constantly improving the network, and backhual is in place in many of the major markets. As with anything, this isn't just a switch that can be thrown to make stuff faster, it takes time and money. 19B is being spent on this backhaul, and everyday new cell sites are being put into major areas. The 4g craze just started, there are only a couple of devices that even support the speeds, and laying all new fiber isn't an overnight thing. Tell verizon to get their LTE everywhere overnight, see how that works out for you.
Updated and all my DL speeds are the same and in some cases better. Upload is way better of course. Web browsing is noticeably faster too.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I thought i'd pop the ole simcard back into the captivate to see how it worked. I was getting almost double the download speed then on the 1.83 update for atrix (upload was about the same, slightly in captivates favor).
Speeds
My HSDPA speeds vary. Ignore the horrifically low speeds...terrible signal @ work
link12245 said:
Please quit being a tool. AT&T is constantly improving the network, and backhual is in place in many of the major markets. As with anything, this isn't just a switch that can be thrown to make stuff faster, it takes time and money. 19B is being spent on this backhaul, and everyday new cell sites are being put into major areas. The 4g craze just started, there are only a couple of devices that even support the speeds, and laying all new fiber isn't an overnight thing. Tell verizon to get their LTE everywhere overnight, see how that works out for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think anyone (else) is coming across as a tool. I'm sure they are working hard and writing checks left and right, but the fact of the matter is that they consistently boast 4g coverage and near 100% hspa+, and I have yet to hear of anyone that is getting consistent speeds of anything that would even remotely resemble 4g.
I completely understand that this isn't an overnight process, and I am pretty sure most of the XDA community gets that as well, but when basically every other carrier has faster data speeds you are going to get backlash from your customers. If they were a bit more committed to giving people a timetable, then I think they could avoid so much criticism.
I don't know if I'd say the "4g craze just started", but somehow AT&T was the last one to get the memo.
-Doogs™
I get download speeds between 1-5 Mbps dependent on location and time. Upload is between 1-1.2 Mbps. Think that's more than ok and I never got faster speeds on t-mobiles's "4G" either.
Yeah i just posted in another thread...I'm getting 50% faster DLs than my iphone4 roughly 4000 kbps consistently...but the upload speeds are identical on a handful of tests 1275 kbps...
I guarantee AT&T is again capping upload albeit at a higher speed now....
Location is such a HUGE factor in speeds. I live in Virginia Beach, VA. No Verizon LTE here, Tmobile has their 4G up to about 5 miles from my house, no Wimax from Sprint, just left them b/c fastest 3G I could get was 700kbps. AT&T here is just 3G, but I get 1.5-4mbps everywhere I go. I am no fan of only having 4 major choices and none of them caring about me except for my money, but the grass isn't always greener......and for some of you, it doesn't matter who you had, you would be complaining about something. Just saying.....
milan03 said:
Don't you think that's something that's getting out of control from ATT. They chronically are refusing to spend their money on beeping up the backhaul and they are sitting on billions. No 4G launch dates nothing is firm in ATT land yet they claim they have almost 100% of their territory covered with hspa+
It's a shame folks.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please stop spouting misinformation. AT&T is spending money on backhaul, improvements, etc. It doesn't happen overnight. They just announced at the beginning of April that $100 million was being thrown into Denver's (and the rest of Colorado) network, including enhanced backhaul and new cell sites.
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_17772169
:/ i live in a small-ish town... i bet we wont have any improvements for months or maybe even years
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
MrCooper2012 said:
I don't think anyone (else) is coming across as a tool. I'm sure they are working hard and writing checks left and right, but the fact of the matter is that they consistently boast 4g coverage and near 100% hspa+, and I have yet to hear of anyone that is getting consistent speeds of anything that would even remotely resemble 4g.
I completely understand that this isn't an overnight process, and I am pretty sure most of the XDA community gets that as well, but when basically every other carrier has faster data speeds you are going to get backlash from your customers. If they were a bit more committed to giving people a timetable, then I think they could avoid so much criticism.
I don't know if I'd say the "4g craze just started", but somehow AT&T was the last one to get the memo.
-Doogs™
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that was directed at co.ag.2005 the guy with the Verizon logo as his avatar. Just trying to start stuff for no reason.
Per what you said about every other carrier has better speeds, that's not true at all. AT&T is still the fastest nation wide. Yeah, with verizon you can get 12mb/s, but only in what, 48 cities now? T-mo has like 52, and Sprint has the most with 80 something. Either way, from coast to coast, at&t is the fastest, and you don't find many 3g areas where you'll get the 800kb/s that you get with Verizon's 3g. The only real 4g competition is Sprint because they have so few people using their network that there is alway free bandwidth. AT&T was only last because we were trying to stay away from the 4g hype until t-mo started touting HSPA+ as 4g, so we had to jump on that wagon because, as a hole, consumers are pretty dumb. The HSPA+ is rolled out 100% (all the towers have been upgraded to new nodes to support the faster speed), but fiber has to be laid to the towers. For that we have to pay contractors that work for Time warner, cox, verizon ect (local landlines providers) to get the faster speeds. Until that gets done, we have no control over the speeds that go out. Technically, the 100% hspa+ roll out is true, and because they are a business they will tout those features because, again, most consumers are dumb. They see that AT&T has the largest 4g footprint and they buy products. Just as any business, there's fine print to be read. Don't be mad because your Honda doesn't get the 46mpg they say you will.
jank0023 said:
Yeah i just posted in another thread...I'm getting 50% faster DLs than my iphone4 roughly 4000 kbps consistently...but the upload speeds are identical on a handful of tests 1275 kbps...
I guarantee AT&T is again capping upload albeit at a higher speed now....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guarantee your wrong. AT&T has no way to cap upload on your device once HSUPA is enabled. There are no tiers of upload speed, it's either on or off. Thanks for the misinformation though.
(check for articles online about how the speed test apps aren't all created equally, and make sure your testing on the same servers)
No, I believe it's just ATT has the worst setup out of the big 4 (at least in the NYC/Tri-State Area).
Our "4G" is considered to be 4-5 down, 1.25 up where as true 4G speeds from what i've been hearing from Verizon and T-mo users are 20 mbps.... And we are lucky if we get 5/1.
And ATT had the nerve to sell a device labeled as "4G" and CAP the uploads, I don't see how a company could deceive its customers that way. I mean, the data plans are ALREADY capped at 2gb for most new users, thats a huge letdown on its own!
Currently, I get max 3/1 with an average of 1.5/350.
after updating to .83 i am getting around 1.6 upload speeds.
so i don't think that they are capped at 1.25.
maybe it is a regional thing.
Prior to updating my network icon showed H+, now it only shows E.
fsturbo15 said:
No, I believe it's just ATT has the worst setup out of the big 4 (at least in the NYC/Tri-State Area).
Our "4G" is considered to be 4-5 down, 1.25 up where as true 4G speeds from what i've been hearing from Verizon and T-mo users are 20 mbps.... And we are lucky if we get 5/1.
And ATT had the nerve to sell a device labeled as "4G" and CAP the uploads, I don't see how a company could deceive its customers that way. I mean, the data plans are ALREADY capped at 2gb for most new users, thats a huge letdown on its own!
Currently, I get max 3/1 with an average of 1.5/350.
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Click to collapse
You've been misinformed if you think t-mo is getting 20mb/s. Tmobile has hspa+21, which has a theoretical speed of 21mbps, but you will only get between 5 & 7mbps. As far as verizon's speeds, they get around 20, but only in the few areas they have lte, and that's only because they don't have any traffic on their lte network yet. Around the Tampa area, most people I know are getting around 12mbps. Get the facts straight please, no more misinformation.

Data Speeds slow? Its not sprint... its the phone.

So one day I was browsing around on craigslist and I saw a new condition Moto Photon for $250.00 ( I know, Its not the galaxy s 2) but hey its was a good price and its a nice world phone. Anyways, I couldn't believe how much faster my data speeds were!
Previously, I was getting around 200-300 kbps with the latest SRF on my Epic. I am now getting 500-700 kbps in the same location with the Photon. Its a fantastic device. The antennae on the phone is really top shelf, areas I would get 1 or maybe 2 bars with the Epic I get 3-4 with the Photon. In areas I couldn't even get data, I am watching netflix with not buffering. I really forgot you could stream Netflix and YouTube on 3g because with my old epic.... you just couldn't. Anyways I am not hating. I love the Epic. I will miss the the everyone in here. Trust me, there isn't much developing going on in the photon forums yet but I am sure things will pick up in time.
Overall I am really happy with the Photon. Just wanted to share my experience with everyone. Thanks for all the support and help along the way. Having the Epic and the support in the forums have really helped broaden my understanding of Android and the entire rooting process.
Thanks Again,
Justin
After having read some early reviews it did seem to have great antenna/reception. How is moto in terms of providing source to developers? I suppose its too early to tell how fast they release updates as well?
dunno if I buy this argument, though I do have my doubts about the Epic. I'm inclined to think Sprint has plenty to do with the problem.
I drove all over Manhattan today and whenever I was stopped in traffic - which basically every 2 minutes - I'd run speed tests for both 3G and 4G. Suffice it to say that from about Times Square up through Morningside Heights, the service is (with a few exceptions) dreadful. When you get a bit south, speeds are much better. Both my wife and I (she's on a Nexus S 4G) were able to get about 6Mbps on 4G down near the Holland Tunnel. Up where we live, it's a total crapshoot. Every so often it's ok, most of the time it's garbage. 3G is on par with dial-up where we live. A colossal waste of time.
Oh, and just for a little extra chuckle, consider this: at the moment we're in upstate NY, about 75 miles north of the city. Just ran a speed test and 3G is faster here than in most of Manhattan.
Yeah I am getting pretty consistent 5-7Mbps download speeds on 4G in SoCal. I don't have any complaints here
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Moto is releasing updates for the stock rom almost every other day it seems. As of now there is no source code available to Dev's. I am not sure if/when that will happen. Right now we are just getting Pseudo Roms and themes. I haven't come across any noticeable bugs yet. Although Unlocking the Boot loader breaks 4g. In my case that is a non issue because we don't have 4g in most of Riverside County.
JohnCorleone said:
Yeah I am getting pretty consistent 5-7Mbps download speeds on 4G in SoCal. I don't have any complaints here
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SoCal? Where? I've been all over San Diego (almost to Mexico) and I can't find anything.
Or did you mean Central California...you know, LA and all that NORTH of San Diego?
dead78 said:
dunno if I buy this argument, though I do have my doubts about the Epic. I'm inclined to think Sprint has plenty to do with the problem.
I drove all over Manhattan today and whenever I was stopped in traffic - which basically every 2 minutes - I'd run speed tests for both 3G and 4G. Suffice it to say that from about Times Square up through Morningside Heights, the service is (with a few exceptions) dreadful. When you get a bit south, speeds are much better. Both my wife and I (she's on a Nexus S 4G) were able to get about 6Mbps on 4G down near the Holland Tunnel. Up where we live, it's a total crapshoot. Every so often it's ok, most of the time it's garbage. 3G is on par with dial-up where we live. A colossal waste of time.
Oh, and just for a little extra chuckle, consider this: at the moment we're in upstate NY, about 75 miles north of the city. Just ran a speed test and 3G is faster here than in most of Manhattan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in a non 4g area so I am not really concerned with 4g speeds. My focus is 3g. I reside in a rural area of Riverside County in Southern California. I would get atrociously slow, spotty data. Getting the Photon made a huge difference. In the same location I would rarely ever hit 400 and frequently run between 200-300 kpbs I am getting 500-700 consistently. I'm just sharing my experience for others to draw on. Granted your location may keep this from applying to you specifically. But one of the things that drew me to the Photon in the first place was the well regarded hardware specifically the radio in the device.
Also Networks are different all over the place. The user load in Manhattan is presumably higher then a rural area of So-Cal. As well as the obvious building obstructions. When I was in Manhattan about 6 months ago I enjoyed my 4g speeds on my Epic which ranged anywhere from 4Mbps-7Mbps. Granted most of what I was using the phone for was uploading videos and looking for places to eat ;-) Sure its not as fast as WiMax can get but what do you need it faster for on your phone anyway? Video Streaming, Music Streaming all worked nearly instantaneous for me.
Again just my 2 cents I am not claiming to be a sprint messiah or anything. My first android device got faster data speeds too (HTC Hero). It was a big deal for me when I got my epic and noticed the data speeds were much more choppy and slow. In case this is a big issue for other Epic users getting ready to jump ship I wanted to share my experience with the Moto Photon 4g. Not to mention the Hardware is pretty sweet and its a world phone.
othan1 said:
SoCal? Where? I've been all over San Diego (almost to Mexico) and I can't find anything.
Or did you mean Central California...you know, LA and all that NORTH of San Diego?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol.. well you know San Diego isn't a major city. kidding of course. I am right in between Orange and LA counties in Uptown Whittier. I have bull bar 4G inside my apartment and basically I have one small dead spot about a half mile away but it's rock solid everywhere else. I heard there's a small pocket in San Diego but I haven't heard of it working for anybody down there though.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Its not the phone I just pulled 1100kb down with 2 bars. I also just had my modem wiped and re programmed
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Test Date: Sep 23, 2011 6:19:26 pm
Connection Type: Unknown
Server: Minnesota City, MN
Download: 12.03 Mbps
Upload: 1.64 Mbps
Ping: 159 ms
External IP: 184.225.237.43
Internal IP: 184.225.237.43
Latitude: 38.74700
Longitude: -90.65400
A detailed image for this result can be found here:
http://www.speedtest.net/android/86974782.png
just sayin...
watermoore said:
So one day I was browsing around on craigslist and I saw a new condition Moto Photon for $250.00 ( I know, Its not the galaxy s 2) but hey its was a good price and its a nice world phone. Anyways, I couldn't believe how much faster my data speeds were!
Previously, I was getting around 200-300 kbps with the latest SRF on my Epic. I am now getting 500-700 kbps in the same location with the Photon. Its a fantastic device. The antennae on the phone is really top shelf, areas I would get 1 or maybe 2 bars with the Epic I get 3-4 with the Photon. In areas I couldn't even get data, I am watching netflix with not buffering. I really forgot you could stream Netflix and YouTube on 3g because with my old epic.... you just couldn't. Anyways I am not hating. I love the Epic. I will miss the the everyone in here. Trust me, there isn't much developing going on in the photon forums yet but I am sure things will pick up in time.
Overall I am really happy with the Photon. Just wanted to share my experience with everyone. Thanks for all the support and help along the way. Having the Epic and the support in the forums have really helped broaden my understanding of Android and the entire rooting process.
Thanks Again,
Justin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When roaming my epic is super fast occasionally it's also fast on sprint's network. I think the 1900mhz antenna in this phone may not be so great. While roaming on 800mhz I get 1100k+ all the time.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
JohnCorleone said:
Lol.. well you know San Diego isn't a major city. kidding of course. I am right in between Orange and LA counties in Uptown Whittier. I have bull bar 4G inside my apartment and basically I have one small dead spot about a half mile away but it's rock solid everywhere else. I heard there's a small pocket in San Diego but I haven't heard of it working for anybody down there though.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
San Diego has so many hills, not sure if they want to invest in wimax there at this moment
It's not the phone! It's SPRINT! For the last time I have talked to Sprint and they have had outages throughout different areas, mine included. My and my girlfriend, my kids and my ex all have Sprint and all have different phones. Epic, EVO, EVO 3D and Moto Photon. All were great then they ALL sucked. Issues in my area are fixed now and I have no data issues any longer and neither does my gf, kids or ex. None of us did anything to our phones to make the signal better. So for the last time, IT's SPRINT.... not the phone.
MikeyLee said:
It's not the phone! It's SPRINT! For the last time I have talked to Sprint and they have had outages throughout different areas, mine included. My and my girlfriend, my kids and my ex all have Sprint and all have different phones. Epic, EVO, EVO 3D and Moto Photon. All were great then they ALL sucked. Issues in my area are fixed now and I have no data issues any longer and neither does my gf, kids or ex. None of us did anything to our phones to make the signal better. So for the last time, IT's SPRINT.... not the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AGREED! Sprint service in my area was great a year ago and now it's slowly gone downhill. EVO 4G; Epic 4G; Epic 4G Touch; It doesn't matter which phone I use, Sprint's 3G performance is TERRIBLE.
Um, actually it's both. The Epic, (and the nexus too) have mediocre signal reception. Couple that with low signal strength and you get really slow data. If Sprint's coverage were better the weak reception wouldn't be as big an issue. If the phone were more sensitive it could deal with the lower signal strength better.
i have the eh07 modem and ecop5 rom and my 4g sucks..it hardly connects not sure whats the issue
I know for sure its the phone. nothing posted higher 3g speeds than my old HTC HERO.
I was around 2.5mb/s peaking and 1.8+ normal rate.
Now when I got the evo, the speeds were down. Epic the speeds were down. Photon speeds were down. Epic 4g Touch the speeds were up at 1.8
So my experience for fastest as follows:
Hero: fastest 3g @2.5mbs
Photon: fastest 4g upload @1919mbs
EpTouch: fastest 4g download @15.179mbs
poit said:
Um, actually it's both. The Epic, (and the nexus too) have mediocre signal reception. Couple that with low signal strength and you get really slow data. If Sprint's coverage were better the weak reception wouldn't be as big an issue. If the phone were more sensitive it could deal with the lower signal strength better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not the phones! Again until about a month and a half ago my phone used to scream and now it sucks! I never had reception problems ever. Sprint has done something (at least in my area) to slow down data service. It's obvious.
Sprint certainly had outages in various areas. Common sense would say check Sprint Forums or do a simple Google search.
Phones certainly can have an effect on your speeds but not as much as a Tower.
Having both phones side by side its Sprint and not the phone....
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Sprint VS T-Mobile or Tmobile and Throttling

So, its just about time to upgrade to upgrade my Sprint Phone (Evo). I got it coming up in May, unless something changes I might be going with the SG2, just looks great and it has capabilities for LTE as well as Wimax.
I just got a new job that lets me get a discount on T-Mobile, and I after looking at their plans, it would save me a few bucks (literally like 4). I have heard rumors that HSPA+ is slighly faster than Wimax but I never compared the two.
So HSPA+ faster than Wimax?
-----------------------------------------------
I use my phone 90% of the time as a router. My college blocks everything so I am always on tether. I just looked it up and used 16GB last month, and that seems to be the lower average. My point is that Sprint's unlimited truly means unlimited with no caps. T-Mobile throttles after 2GB or 5GB according to the plan. How much of a throttle? Is it significant?
It throttles you down to EDGE speeds, so 2g. Around 20kbps, which won't load a black and white smiley face on your screen for 20 seconds. If you're going to use more than 5GB's per month, stick with Sprint.
T-Mobile throttles at different tiers on different plans, from 100MB-5GB
Speeds on HSPA+ seem to be faster for me on T-Mobile than on Sprint in Portland, Oregon. That could be different for you, but T-Mobile's 42mbps HSPA+ Is closer to LTE than WiMax in my opinion.
In some areas T-Mobile also forcibly compresses all images pulled down in web pages regardless of your data usage and data plan. There is no way to turn this "feature" off.
Well first the SGS2 does not support Wimax and lte...no device does except for a hotspot...
Imho you will be better off not getting the SGS2 and instead using your upgrade on a truly new device that the hardware spec is not a year old almost. That is unless $ is a big factor and you don't want to spend $250ish on a device...
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Did some research and found you are right. It is really disappointing because I had a Sprint tech and a Sprint sales rep tell me point blank that the SG2 was Wimax and LTE. Can't trust people nowadays.
Battery consumption is much better with HSPA+ vs LTE.
TheBDub said:
It throttles you down to EDGE speeds, so 2g. Around 20kbps, which won't load a black and white smiley face on your screen for 20 seconds. If you're going to use more than 5GB's per month, stick with Sprint.
T-Mobile throttles at different tiers on different plans, from 100MB-5GB
Speeds on HSPA+ seem to be faster for me on T-Mobile than on Sprint in Portland, Oregon. That could be different for you, but T-Mobile's 42mbps HSPA+ Is closer to LTE than WiMax in my opinion.
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Click to collapse
Goes to up to 10.
synaesthetic said:
In some areas T-Mobile also forcibly compresses all images pulled down in web pages regardless of your data usage and data plan. There is no way to turn this "feature" off.
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False.
iball8888 said:
Did some research and found you are right. It is really disappointing because I had a Sprint tech and a Sprint sales rep tell me point blank that the SG2 was Wimax and LTE. Can't trust people nowadays.
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Yeah no problem, didn't want u going out and buying a device being that misled...
It's a shame when that crap happens to ppl.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
sgt. slaughter said:
Yeah no problem, didn't want u going out and buying a device being that misled...
It's a shame when that crap happens to ppl.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to be a Sprint store technician, and when the Epic Touch had the Loss of Signal issue (which has long been fixed, officially), Sprint's Tech Support over the phone told me that I should have bought an iPhone because Android always breaks. Word for word. I was like, ok so give me an iPhone, I'll give back the Epic Touch. And they said no.
These days you have to fend for yourself unfortunately. Chances are, if you're an XDA user, you know more than a carrier's tech support.
chrischoi said:
False.
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Explain. I suffered this issue for four months and had to switch to AT&T to avoid it.
To the OP. I tried switching to t-mobile twice because IMO they have better phones and prices. but both times I had to switch back. my story: i knew tmobile had the 5gb data cap on teh monthly 4g plan i wanted so I checked my sprint data usage for 5 months and noticed i am only using 2-3 gb a month. I figured great so i went and got the Htc amaze after 6 days by data usage was over 1.5 gb. I went to the store and asked them is it possible that the data reading on the phone and website could be wrong? my setup was the same on my sprint evo and my htc amaze so it wasn't a program that could have been using that much data so i returned the phone. 2 weeks later i went back to the store drooling over the amaze but knew i couldn't get it because i would go over the 5gb easy. I spoke with a rep and he said he uses data heavily and never goes over so i said ok ill try it again maybe it was the phone. this time around i didn't tether at all except for 5 min to test it out. hardly used Pandora and made sure my setup was the same as the evo. this time i gave it 10 days and i was already over 3gb. i was half ass using my phone and still i would have been over. I have searched about this called tmobile and haven't come up with a good reason why this phone was using so much data. a buddy of mine went to att and i told him that he would def go over but after a few days he said no man im good . at the end of the month he called *****ing that he went over the att cap which was even lower than tmobile. until the come up with a prepaid plan that gives 10gb i have to stay away. oh yea and when they throttle you the above comments are correct its edge speed and way to slow for anything but email and light web surfing.
iball8888 said:
I just looked it up and used 16GB last month, and that seems to be the lower average. My point is that Sprint's unlimited truly means unlimited with no caps. T-Mobile throttles after 2GB or 5GB according to the plan. How much of a throttle? Is it significant?
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I think this will be the main issue.
When I pass 5GB, I get throttled to EDGE (2G) speeds. For most purposes this is like running out of data. You're going to be stuck at 2GB or 5GB. Email is fine at EDGE speeds - anything else requires too much speed.
Stick with Sprint, as it seems the savings aren't really significant, anyway.
IMO Sprint sucks if you're not in a Wimax area and the Wimax isn't that great anyway.. Sprint's EVDO network is an absolute JOKE. I figured since I'm not covered by Wimax I'd switch my E4GT to Boost to save money, but Boost's(Sprint's) EVDO was nowhere near as fast as T-Mobile's 3G.. It really sucks because my E4GT is hands down the best phone I've ever used, but the internet is almost unusable it's so slow.. I'm putting it up for sale soon to switch back to T-Mobile.
Speeds really depend on where you live. I have spotty 4g in my area but never need it. at my house i have to use wifi but in most places i can stream Pandora without any buffering. everyone always talks about speed but as long as you can stream music and video without and buffering whats the issue? unless you are tethering to your pc and downloading torrents speeds over 250kps will stream just fine.
This is how Verizon does it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDxJoGv3FLA&feature=channel
Now that is throttling right there. They send me a new phone and it does the same. They have lied to me 3 times now, one that was just needed a reset, that I just needed a new phone and they don't throttle. I had only used 12GB and they do that. OK thats BS
itsjefflol said:
IMO Sprint sucks if you're not in a Wimax area and the Wimax isn't that great anyway.. Sprint's EVDO network is an absolute JOKE. I figured since I'm not covered by Wimax I'd switch my E4GT to Boost to save money, but Boost's(Sprint's) EVDO was nowhere near as fast as T-Mobile's 3G.. It really sucks because my E4GT is hands down the best phone I've ever used, but the internet is almost unusable it's so slow.. I'm putting it up for sale soon to switch back to T-Mobile.
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Gonna be leaving right before the network takes a giant improvement with the network vision deployment set to be complete by end of next year....3G speeds 1-3Mbps....most all 3G coverage blanketed by LTE.....
Check S4GRU.com for some details on the rollout schedule. This isn't the sprint.com/network crap that's shown this is completely different and involves backhaul changes from the ancient T1 based to microwave/fiber based...
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
T-mobile rocks over Sprint for data, coverage and price
flexte said:
To the OP. I tried switching to t-mobile twice because IMO they have better phones and prices. but both times I had to switch back. my story: i knew tmobile had the 5gb data cap on teh monthly 4g plan i wanted so I checked my sprint data usage for 5 months and noticed i am only using 2-3 gb a month. I figured great so i went and got the Htc amaze after 6 days by data usage was over 1.5 gb. I went to the store and asked them is it possible that the data reading on the phone and website could be wrong? my setup was the same on my sprint evo and my htc amaze so it wasn't a program that could have been using that much data so i returned the phone. 2 weeks later i went back to the store drooling over the amaze but knew i couldn't get it because i would go over the 5gb easy. I spoke with a rep and he said he uses data heavily and never goes over so i said ok ill try it again maybe it was the phone. this time around i didn't tether at all except for 5 min to test it out. hardly used Pandora and made sure my setup was the same as the evo. this time i gave it 10 days and i was already over 3gb. i was half ass using my phone and still i would have been over. I have searched about this called tmobile and haven't come up with a good reason why this phone was using so much data. a buddy of mine went to att and i told him that he would def go over but after a few days he said no man im good . at the end of the month he called *****ing that he went over the att cap which was even lower than tmobile. until the come up with a prepaid plan that gives 10gb i have to stay away. oh yea and when they throttle you the above comments are correct its edge speed and way to slow for anything but email and light web surfing.
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I picked up my HTC Amaze (a 42.2 mbps device) on T-mobile in early January, and I live in a California city that has T-mobile HSPA+ 42.2 mbps coverage, just to be clear. When I bought my Amaze, I had to re-up my contract and at the time, I was asked to choose between a 5GB plan per month ($25 on top of the monthly $40 value plan) and a 10GB plan per month ($50 + my $40 value plan). So for price, it is impossible to beat T-mobile for the service you get.
I use my Amaze daily to go online, download and upload large files (I am a graphic designer) and watch videos and stream music. For the last 5 months I've had my phone, I've come close to 5GB twice. That is with heavy usage and this last month having a nearly two hour Skype conversation with a friend of mine where I used 2GB in one sitting!!! I also use my phone with the free WiFi Hotspot feature that comes with the 5GB & 10GB data plan as my computer's internet provider. I don't have a physical cable in my house, just my Amaze.
As far as speed, my friends with iPhones on ALL 3 NETWORKS (Sprint, Verizon and AT&T) all get slower speeds than I do. I was challenged by them and shut them all up in contests against google searches, Siri vs Google Voice Search and Speedtest.net. I have also speedtested the nicer handsets by Samsung and HTC running on AT&T and matched or beat them in my city in a few places around town. Sprint's speed was not even on the radar, barely chugging at 1mbps usually. I pull over 12 mbps usually everywhere I go, with upload speeds from 5-8 mbps on average.
As far as data, I have never gone over my 5GB but see how others could, and I bet when T-mobile gets LTE Advance up and running I'll add in the extra 5 gigs.
The greater points I'm making are the following:
A) Sprint's network it a sham. Even when they finally get around to offering LTE in California, which will be who-knows-when, T-mobile will have switched on its LTE advanced release 10 network, with HSPA+ 42.2 mbps backup, nationally. If you're a Sprint user, jump ship now or when T-mobile lights it up in 2013.
B) It's pretty darn hard to use up 5 Gigs per month if your not a power user. I don't know how someone with the HTC Amaze and the Usage monitor that is part of T-mobile's apps and in the HTC phone itself can't determine what was eating up data. That just doesn't make sense. You can easily pinpoint what's using your data by using the included Usage setting on your phone. And if 5GB isn't enough, get 10! But that option does exist.
C) T-mobile may not offer unlimited data speed at 4G, but get a 10GB plan and you will fly over the speeds you get on Sprint and save money while doing it. You could pay one price on Sprint for 1.5 mbps download speed unlimited (SLOW), or you could pay the same, maybe a little less and get 10GB at 4G speeds on T-mobile... and then in 2013 enjoy them lighting up a national LTE advance network that will arguably be the speediest LTE network on the planet.
D) The HTC Amaze is one bad-ass MoFo of a phone.
That is all.
for me i switched from t-mobile to boost because of their lack of 3g/4g in my town on t-mobile i was always on edge it is very slow, i switched to boost and i have EvDO now, its not the best of the best but atleast i can open a website now without my screen timing out. :good:
Product F(RED) said:
I used to be a Sprint store technician, and when the Epic Touch had the Loss of Signal issue (which has long been fixed, officially), Sprint's Tech Support over the phone told me that I should have bought an iPhone because Android always breaks. Word for word. I was like, ok so give me an iPhone, I'll give back the Epic Touch. And they said no.
These days you have to fend for yourself unfortunately. Chances are, if you're an XDA user, you know more than a carrier's tech support.
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Click to collapse
You know what, they did the same thing to my dad. There was a hardware issue with his OG evo (a great phone during its day) where the speaker was going too quiet. The sales guy basically was telling him how it's because it's an android phone, how much better iphone is, etc.
Honestly I think the reason they are doing this is because they literally bet their future on the iphone. They are guaranteed to be paying apple 16 billion dollars over the next 4 years, regardless of whether or not they actually sell that much money worth of iphones. You better believe that they are going to try their damndest to sell them.
Anyways, I'm thinking of ditching sprint for t-mobile myself. I live in phoenix, which has zero 4g coverage from sprint. Several years back they told me that they would be deploying wimax here shortly. Where are we now? Nowhere.
I called them earlier today to cancel one of my lines, and they kept asking me if I want to use it for a data card, or if I just wanted to hold on to it "just in case" etc. I told the lady that I am thinking of switching to t-mobile, gave her all of these reasons why, and she brings up the "unlimited data" talking point. I kind of chuckle under my breath, and then tell her that their 3g service is really slow, their 4g service barely compares to other carrier's 3g service, and finally, they don't even offer 4g in my area, which is the 6th largest city in the US. She then tells me that they are going to be offering it here soon, so I tell her that that's what they told me a few years ago.
Yeah there are "rumors" that phoenix is due early in their second rollout, however similar rumors kept surfacing about wimax coming to phoenix next an entire year after it finished rolling out everywhere else. Other smaller towns outside of the valley (and I mean like over 70 miles away) got it, but not in the valley area.
In any case, I am on my third "4g" phone, and still have not ever had 4g. Even if LTE came soon to my area, I'm not terribly excited about it, mainly because the LTE gnex has a quarter of the battery life of the HSPA version when both are actively using 4g. I don't care if LTE is 10% faster, it's a huge f*cking battery drain.
Anyways, I'm not a heavy data user, so 4g hasn't been a huge priority to me. What is annoying is how I have to fight sprint's billing department every other month because they always manage to screw up something on my bill and overcharge me. I've been dealing with this for the last 7 years and I am tired of it. Sprint sucks, 'nuff said.
I really want to jump off of sprint, but I am hesitant because I don't know if t-mobile's voice service is more spotty, because according to sensorly their coverage is about 80% of that of sprint in my area. However, t-mobile would save me $40 a month, and because of the company I work for, I will have the activation fee waived.
Sprint coverage is so spotty. According to the coverage map I'm suppose to get 4g in my neighborhood and I don't. 98% percent of the time I'm on slow 3g. With T-Mobile I'm on 4g everywhere I go and its a good feeling to pull out your phone and handle your business with ease and speed unlike sprint.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Do you trust Sprint's LTE plans?

Like many other original Evo 4G owners, I'm now looking for the next phone as my contract is about to be over. And luckily enough, we have 2 new devices coming soon - HTC One X (or Evo One) to be revealed on 4th, and Galaxy SIII sometime soon.
Obviously the next phone will be LTE, but I don't know if Sprint can be trusted to give me coverage. Verizon already has LTE pretty much everywhere and its damn fast. Sprint is losing lots of money, who knows if they'll ever catch up. It's also not known if Sprint users will be able to roam on LTE.
im in the same situation and wondering the same thing. i guess we will have to just wait and see?
---------- Post added at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 AM ----------
I am most likely going to be getting the htc evo one too. never seen such a beautiful phone lol
I trust Sprint's LTE plans.
It is a very aggressive roll out plan. If it does not work the repercussions could be huge.
I know personally I am going to stick with Sprint. If it takes a little while to get LTE in my area I know I still have 3G with a good plan.
I'm debating holding off on a new phone until towards the end of the year so there is time to get the LTE going.
Nope, don't trust them at all. Will believe in their LTE coverage when it's available in my area, already got burned once with Wimax.
According to the release maps, my area isn't slated to get LTE til at least the end of 2013. And that's not even technically my area, just a few cities around here, so I might not even get it at all. I am REALLY considering moving to Verizon next month, even though it will cost me at least 60 bucks more a month. But they do have working 4g everywhere in my area, AND 3g speeds that aren't sprint's dial-up speeds.
Just a little info for you guys about lte. When you look at a verison lte coverage map what your really looking at is the data coverage zone,not actual lte coverage. They have been caught doing this several times. Verison will admit that the map you look at is not actual lte coverage but data. Plus who wants a $130 monthly bill and no real unlimited. If you've never had them do yourself a favor and stay away.
Google it, you'll be surprised how they screw you,tell you about it then keep telling lies.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
Being completely selfish here, but Atlanta has great Wimax coverage, so I'm fine if the LTE takes a long time to roll out. That said, I definitely don't believe Sprint (or any tech/mobile company) when they give dates for service/product improvements. Also, I will never go back to a provider with data caps. I use my phone for almost everything. I watch tons of stuff on Netflix, I wifi tether my laptop when I'm out and about (and my wife's Ipad when she needs a wifi connection), GPS Nav, Pandora/Last.fm music, skype video chat, etc. I would hit that 2GB-4GB cap in a matter of days.
Sleestax said:
Being completely selfish here, but Atlanta has great Wimax coverage, so I'm fine if the LTE takes a long time to roll out. That said, I definitely don't believe Sprint (or any tech/mobile company) when they give dates for service/product improvements. Also, I will never go back to a provider with data caps. I use my phone for almost everything. I watch tons of stuff on Netflix, I wifi tether my laptop when I'm out and about (and my wife's Ipad when she needs a wifi connection), GPS Nav, Pandora/Last.fm music, skype video chat, etc. I would hit that 2GB-4GB cap in a matter of days.
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Yea 4g coverage is amazing here in atlanta but I never use it even tho I'm full bars on 4g. It kills your battery to bad and I'm always on WiFi and 3g isn't that bad
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA
The fact of the matter is; when sprint's 3G is back up and running as good as it used to, it's plenty fast enough for almost anything you will be doing on your phone, including streaming Netflix, downloads, etc. Network vision is supposed to be a major improvement so I would have to assumed that the upgraded 3G on it's own would be more than capable of satisfying most data needs. I say this because right before the HTC EVO was released I was consistantly getting between 2 - 3mb download speeds on Sprint's 3G with the much lower spec'd HTC Touch Pro, Blackberry curve, and even the Palm Pre. Once the EVO came out it was like somebody turned off the light switch and 3G went to total crap overnight and never come back since. Just my opinion. I'm going to wait it out and see how the Network Vision performs before I bail or go to a different carrier with much more expensive and capped data plans. i'd advise others to do the same.
I do. After the less than stellar WiMax move, and them not exactly being in the best position, I expect a strong push. Remains to be seen, but I'm looking for a solid next step.
Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
The only thing I trust from Sprint is that my plan will remain 30 dollars cheaper than the other guys. I don't trust any sort of data speed at all from them, haha. If I were rich, I would be on Verizon.
I plan on giving them until May 7th (i can leave ETF free at that point)
If they don't have some decent phone offerings or significant LTE advancement, i'm going to AT&T with my wife. The speeds in Texas are insane and since i've gotten used to using WIFI while on sprint, a 5gb limit on mobile data with ATT should be no problem.
I don't trust them totally. With two different companies that went bust I hope they do something good.
personally i am sceptical, but i think that they should know that a botched LTE rollout would infuriate many customers. A lot of us got screwed with the whole Wimax deal. We got our nice new phones(Evo 4G) and had to pay an extra $10/month for "premium data", not 4G coverage, which never came to most areas. The kicker is if you call sprint and mention anything aboiut their 4G coverage or 3G speeds, they will tell you "go to another carrier". they know damn well they are the only ones offering unlimited and unthrottled data, and they sure do use that to their advantage.
But back to the topic at hand... I think if Sprint wants to stay competative, they MUST stay on track with their 4G rollout.
Well....
Since Baltimore is one of the scheduled first cities, I can't wait! But I will not be surprised if the unlimited plan goes up $10. Despite Verizon and AT&T having LTE first, they still have limitations on usage and data. We shall soon see.
well i hope dis LTE is batter then dis weak 4g
Sprint confirms LTE phones will feature unlimited data.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/sprint-lte-unlimited-data-everything-plan/
I wanted to switch to Verizon as they have lte in Bakersfield but my mom pays the bill at the moment so I'm stuck going to att getting the galaxy note. I would switch screw sprint I've been a customer since 2004 and now seeing everyone else with their new phones and 3g that actually hits pass 1meg.... I'm switching
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dbenney said:
personally i am sceptical, but i think that they should know that a botched LTE rollout would infuriate many customers. A lot of us got screwed with the whole Wimax deal. We got our nice new phones(Evo 4G) and had to pay an extra $10/month for "premium data", not 4G coverage, which never came to most areas. The kicker is if you call sprint and mention anything aboiut their 4G coverage or 3G speeds, they will tell you "go to another carrier". they know damn well they are the only ones offering unlimited and unthrottled data, and they sure do use that to their advantage.
But back to the topic at hand... I think if Sprint wants to stay competative, they MUST stay on track with their 4G rollout.
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They never tell me to go to another carrier. And they know their 3g sucks as I called and gave them **** over that. I would rather go to Verizon pay a little extra and actually get to use the lte network than being stuck with the slowest network offering unlimited data, you can't even use the damn data it's so slow
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA

Long time Epic users, if you could bail on Sprint...

I love the Epic. Love it. So much that even though I used the ET4G for a while, I went back to the Epic. The problem is that I don't love Sprint. For the 10+ years I've been a customer, I've watched the quality of their customer service and technical output decrease considerably. Living in New York City, I'm dealing with data speed slower than a dial-up modem. Sprint claims that they're over capacity in my neighborhood. For a carrier to make a claim like that in NYC is absolutely ludicrous. Nevermind that there are far more densely populated areas of the city with drastically better data speeds than I'm getting, one of the three significant mobile phone carriers should be ashamed to admit that they can't provide adequate service in New York City.
Now, let's suppose you could walk away from your Sprint contract free of charge and go to Verizon for slightly less than you're paying now. Additionally, imagine you've never used more than 2 gigs of data in a month (Sprint's data speeds make using more than 500 MB of 3G in a month impossible anyway) so the somewhat enigmatic lure of "unlimited data" means nothing to you.
Would you walk or stick it out with Sprint?
Only for Droid 4
thats a whole lot of imagining.
i have the opposite experience. 8 yeasr sprint customer here and customer service now blows the old system out of the water. i havent gotten a foreign csr in a long time. i cant stand heavy indian accent on a tech support line. my data speeds are also good. i wont mention the fact that i live in the same city as their corp headquarters though. haha.
my only complaints are the lack of tons of phone choices. att and vzw are constantly rolling out new devices. cant someone throw sprint a bone here?
that and the loss of yearly upgrades, but none of the big carriers have that, so i guess its a non issue.
i think i will stay.
The company I work for was bought 6 months ago and I just learned I get a very decent discount on verizon, enough to make it come within $5 what I'm paying now for 2 epic 4gs on sprint (even though I still get 25% off sprint from my old work). The other limitations of verizon (only having 10 'unlimited' numbers, only 2gb of data per phone) don't really affect us at all. Combined our peak data usage in a given month was just over 1gb.
So that's a long way of saying...I'm in the same boat you're describing. Only thing keeping us around now is not wanting to burn another $400 for 2 contract price phones and of course the ETF from sprint. But my contract expires in december, so if the gs3 is on verizon first I'll almost certainly switch and bring my fiance a few months later when her contract is up. Sprint's data service is really bad in many places, even though I 'get' 4g in grand rapids and columbus, where I spend most of my time (its a good thing downtown grand rapids has 4g because the 3g data is unusable in my experience).
I get <100kbps consistently... no 4g ever, and coverage is even worse one town over where I visit my family.
But I somehow go through 8gbs of data every month so I guess I am stuck with sprint for a while. I plan on getting the galaxy note/journal the day its released.
Sent from my MIUI V4 Epic 4G via Tapatalk 2 beta 5
Restola said:
The company I work for was bought 6 months ago and I just learned I get a very decent discount on verizon, enough to make it come within $5 what I'm paying now for 2 epic 4gs on sprint (even though I still get 25% off sprint from my old work). The other limitations of verizon (only having 10 'unlimited' numbers, only 2gb of data per phone) don't really affect us at all. Combined our peak data usage in a given month was just over 1gb.
So that's a long way of saying...I'm in the same boat you're describing. Only thing keeping us around now is not wanting to burn another $400 for 2 contract price phones and of course the ETF from sprint. But my contract expires in december, so if the gs3 is on verizon first I'll almost certainly switch and bring my fiance a few months later when her contract is up. Sprint's data service is really bad in many places, even though I 'get' 4g in grand rapids and columbus, where I spend most of my time (its a good thing downtown grand rapids has 4g because the 3g data is unusable in my experience).
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That's exactly what's been holding me up. My wife and I don't really feel like dropping $400 on new phones right now. In addition, there will be certain desirable devices hitting the market a few months down the line, and it would be preferable to hold out for those instead. I'm able to get out of my Sprint contract because of the change they made to the way they bill family plans, but according to them, that option is only available to me until the end of this billing cycle. In theory, I should be able to get out of my contract on the basis of the pathetic data speeds available here but they'll lie until they're blue in the face to try to prevent me from doing that. Apart from the potential benefits of their new network whenever that actually hits the NYC market, I don't have a compelling reason to keep giving money to Sprint.
xopher.hunter said:
I get <100kbps consistently... no 4g ever, and coverage is even worse one town over where I visit my family.
But I somehow go through 8gbs of data every month so I guess I am stuck with sprint for a while. I plan on getting the galaxy note/journal the day its released.
Sent from my MIUI V4 Epic 4G via Tapatalk 2 beta 5
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Same with me Christopher...
Except but I'm thinking about that evo man thing looks beast so far....
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iSaint said:
Same with me Christopher...
Except but I'm thinking about that evo man thing looks beast so far....
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bigger is better. Lol
Sent from my MIUI V4 Epic 4G via Tapatalk 2 beta 5
the new devices always look great. the problem is that I'd have to run them on a Sprint network that gives me average downstream data speeds of 0.05 Mbps. What's the point? Maybe 15 months from now or so it'll be another story, but that's a long way (and a lot of months at $170/per) off.
I'm sticking it out. I'm going on 11 years with Sprint and I'm one of those folks that has never had a problem with their CS. I will admit that this is the longest I have ever sat on an upgrade due to a lack of phone options, but I understand they're undergoing changes right now, so I'll be patient. I still like- not love -my device now, and I get full bars of 4G where I live, so it could be worse.
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Been with Sprint for 10 years. What's kept me with Sprint is the price/value. Fortunately we get decent 3G here but no WiMax. My future brother in law works for Verizon and I told him I'd switch in August when my contracts are up if he can get me a similar monthly bill if it's clear Sprint isn't releasing LTE here anytime soon. Verizon has had LTE here since November. I'd prefer to stick with Sprint, but watching every other carrier here turn on 4G (even freaking US Cellular) has really soured me lately.
The data restrictions/throttling on other carriers are the biggest negative for me. I've been burning >15GB/month on the regular over 3G (no 4g within 400mi). I pay for unlimited, so I'll use it (all legit usage). The 2 and 5GB plans out there are just stupid as a whole IMO. Carriers nickel and dime customers to death.
What can I say, I stream music a lot. None of that used bandwidth is from tethering or downloading huge ass files via the phone.
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Don't you have roaming? Why would your speeds suck if you can roam on Verizon?
And if they still do, then why do you think switching would help?
Because I'm not roaming on Verizon, I'm always connected to Sprint. The data issue is the result of Sprint not being able to provide adequate bandwidth for their customers in this neighborhood.
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Last year was a much easier decision. I had been a Sprint customer for about a decade and was dealing with the decline of Sprint 3G data to less than dial-up speed and 4G coverage that was virtually non-existent for the areas where it mattered, home and work and in between. When Verizon offered unlimited 4G LTE the decision was clear. I negotiated with Sprint retention to lower the ETF to ~$75 and jumped ship. In comparison, I get Verizon LTE coverage everywhere I go, the throughput is significantly better than broadband DSL and the latency is optimal for latency sensitive applications like VOIP. I'm even paying a little less than I was paying Sprint. Now that the service issue is out of the way I'm waiting for great phones to appear on Verizon such as Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, etc. Samsung Epic 4G, except for maybe the limited DRAM, is a much better phone than the majority of phones on Verizon including my HTC Thunderbolt.
For me, it's a hard choice. I get 20% off Sprint through my work and 15% through Verizon, so even the cheapest plan from Version would be about $10 extra per month, and right now I'm saving as much as I can. Another thing is I do go over 4GB a month, but it depends. I actually checked my average the other day and it was literally 3.99 GB. Sprint data around here has gradually declined since the iPhone release, making it so even streaming low quality YouTube video is hit or miss (mostly miss). Hell even Pandora takes forever at times to load the next song, and if Pandora is having problems then jesus christ. There is no 4g availability around here, and they don't give us access to the wifi at work (boo). So right now I'll likely stay with Sprint, but my contract is up in June so we'll see then.
mi7chy said:
Last year was a much easier decision. I had been a Sprint customer for about a decade and was dealing with the decline of Sprint 3G data to less than dial-up speed and 4G coverage that was virtually non-existent for the areas where it mattered, home and work and in between. When Verizon offered unlimited 4G LTE the decision was clear.
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wow, they had an offer for unlimited data? and for how long are you able to get that? I would assume that's an introductory offer and eventually you get dropped down to a capped data plan.
I've noticed Sprint 3g speeds vary wildly depending on where I'm at. In my home (small town) I'll get 400-600k down which is good enough for light usage when away from wi-fi. In the nearby city I get around 1.0 - 1.5 mbps down which is really good enough for about anything I'd want to do on my phone while out and about.
However when I visit my family in Omaha (which is a pretty good size city) I get horrendous speeds (like 50kbps) which is just unusable. If I lived in this type of coverage I would have no choice but to switch.
rocket321 said:
I've noticed Sprint 3g speeds vary wildly depending on where I'm at. In my home (small town) I'll get 400-600k down which is good enough for light usage when away from wi-fi. In the nearby city I get around 1.0 - 1.5 mbps down which is really good enough for about anything I'd want to do on my phone while out and about.
However when I visit my family in Omaha (which is a pretty good size city) I get horrendous speeds (like 50kbps) which is just unusable. If I lived in this type of coverage I would have no choice but to switch.
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I'm in Omaha/Lincoln, and at my house in Omaha my coverage sucks.. But it's actually been getting better recently.. I still purchased roam control for that reason.
On the other hand, I get great speeds in Lincoln, and even 4G here on campus
I'm still debating on what I'll do when my contract is up in August. I may just wait around until a huge breakthrough in phone tech, or maybe I'll go for the SIII? I don't really want to switch carriers because my only discount is through Sprint.. Hopefully the network enhancements rock
Id choose tmo over verizon any day.
I'm not gonna bother saying why because from this point on I'm too lazy to rebuke the inevitable "but tmo...att...customer service....4g" lines
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