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Sprint has proven once again that their Network vision upgrade needs to have happened yesterday. These results show not only that sprint's network is struggling in some areas but MOST areas.
They only managed a 480kbps average EV-DO (3G) speed, the slowest speed tested. Their 4g and 3g networks were also some of the least reliable networks tested.
Get the picture Sprint. We need a real 4g network on a real spectrum. A 2500mhz Wimax network spottily thrown together isn't going to cut it, neither is 10 year old backhaul. It's make or break time Sprint.
Are we looking at the same chart?
Sent from Godot's place.
All I care about is if I get good reception.
And I don't.
Should have come to Baton Rouge. They would have scored 0.05 megabit on the speedtest all day long!
The old adage holds true, you get what you pay for..
Well, first I'd like to mention these stats offer no souce or details on how/where and how many times these figures were tested, which I usually like to see (I'm the skeptical type)
That being said, I agree. I'm lucky to be in Chicago, pretty decent 4g and 3g coverage, but 3g's been slowing down more and more and it shows in many places. They need to pick it up on 3g (their main network). No reason for a tower to only offer 1.2 (1 T1 line minus 300kbps for sprint control) even at 4am on a Tuesday in the suburbs, when Verizons almost always 2mpbs or more with full bars on 3g (and has been for years), same network technology. Its data speeds on 3g I've never been quite happy with.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
makes me miss verizon =[
Ya know, they all suck right now. Verizon's going metered and is cdma (less support), T-mobile's going to get eaten by AT&T because our government can't do the only thing it's supposed to do while it's busy doing everything it isn't supposed to do, Sprint is suffering 3g data slowdown, and again is cdma which means less support.
I've been toying with an idea lately to get the World version GSII, do the iphone trick (get an att sim card with basic voice, pop that in a 2g orig iphone to get on the edge data plan which is ONLY available as unlimited, pop that in a 3g iphone to get auto-upgraded to the $30, grandfathered unlimited data plan) and use it on AT&T with unlimited data. The ONLY issue I have with this (as I'd have my unlimited data, GV for sms) is I'd be paying money to a truly terrible entity (AT&T) and I sincerely morally object to everything they're doing. And yet it would mean a much much larger community...
ksmullins88 said:
makes me miss verizon =[
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I know someone who says they can see their data speeds die on Verizon with evry new phone launch. Especially the 4g signal.
compuw22c said:
Ya know, they all suck right now. Verizon's going metered and is cdma (less support), T-mobile's going to get eaten by AT&T because our government can't do the only thing it's supposed to do while it's busy doing everything it isn't supposed to do, Sprint is suffering 3g data slowdown, and again is cdma which means less support.
I've been toying with an idea lately to get the World version GSII, do the iphone trick (get an att sim card with basic voice, pop that in a 2g orig iphone to get on the edge data plan which is ONLY available as unlimited, pop that in a 3g iphone to get auto-upgraded to the $30, grandfathered unlimited data plan) and use it on AT&T with unlimited data. The ONLY issue I have with this (as I'd have my unlimited data, GV for sms) is I'd be paying money to a truly terrible entity (AT&T) and I sincerely morally object to everything they're doing. And yet it would mean a much much larger community...
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My sister is doing an even easier and cheaper trick. Get a t-mobile vibrant or motorola defy for $200 then unlock it your self and use it with a $15 a month medianet unlimited data plan. You could take advantage of at&t's $50 unlimited everything prepaid plan too. You just need to make sure to get a phone which works with att's 3g frequency bands (moto defy/vibrant/i9000/sgs 2/rogers nexus s) but isn't on their system as a recognized smart phone ,(in other words one they don't sell).
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Until Sprint gets rid of their unlimited data plan, I will tolerate them for now.
Jayavarman said:
Until Sprint gets rid of their unlimited data plan, I will tolerate them for now.
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+1 Hopefully they won't go the route of everyone else. If they did I'm going back to a dumb phone because unlimited data is the main reason I have a smartphone.
lynyrd65 said:
My sister is doing an even easier and cheaper trick. Get a t-mobile vibrant or motorola defy for $200 then unlock it your self and use it with a $15 a month medianet unlimited data plan. You could take advantage of at&t's $50 unlimited everything prepaid plan too. You just need to make sure to get a phone which works with att's 3g frequency bands (moto defy/vibrant/i9000/sgs 2/rogers nexus s) but isn't on their system as a recognized smart phone ,(in other words one they don't sell).
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Only problem with this is I don't believe the i9000 or gsII (or any world phone) works on tmo 3g aws bands. Only att plus they'll be att soon...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
yeah Verizon did this test.. and im sure they did it in Verizon areas.. These test are like benchmarks on our phones... yeah its cool to say.. hey I have the fastest internet on my phone.. but truthfully it doesn't mean anything.. I personally use my WIFI for the most part and use my 3g/4g randomly when im bored shopping with my wife.. besides... I have unlimited 3g/4g.. I guess sprint lost bc of that too?
Spring is the new tmobile
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
xTmDarren said:
yeah Verizon did this test.. and im sure they did it in Verizon areas.. These test are like benchmarks on our phones... yeah its cool to say.. hey I have the fastest internet on my phone.. but truthfully it doesn't mean anything.. I personally use my WIFI for the most part and use my 3g/4g randomly when im bored shopping with my wife.. besides... I have unlimited 3g/4g.. I guess sprint lost bc of that too?
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I also use wifi most often when I am surfing with my phone. This test was performed by Verizon? I didn't catch that part. Where did you see that?
In the end Sprint will show us that sticking with them meant nothing. As soon as Verizon gets their tiered data underway. Sprint will go that route too, and give us just a little more than ATT and Verizon. They know we will have nowhere else to go! I just wish I had ditched sprint in February when I started too. Verizon 4G is in my area and i'm stuck with slow speeds.
nebrando said:
I also use wifi most often when I am surfing with my phone. This test was performed by Verizon? I didn't catch that part. Where did you see that?
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Well, the whole line is highlighted and there's no source listed so, probably. We still haven't seen any testing method data so I call shenanigans til I see a source named.
That said, my moms droid charge pulls in 16/4 (my home internet is only 12/1.5). But that's 4g and not all their new phones are...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
The test was done by PCMag (http://www.pcmag.com/Fastest-Mobile-Networks-2011)
That being said, my work is a VZW Deadzone, where-as I get at least some Spring signal. I average 9mb/1.5mb down/up on 4G in and around my neighborhood and if my 3G signal can be slower than what is on the chart, its still far faster than anything I need to do daily. If I need more, I'll go 4G/Wifi and be done with it. I abuse the hell outta my unlimited, averaging upwards of 6GB a month data on my phone alone (the wifey also has a Epic on the plan) and I've now thrown a GTab 10.1 into the mix and tether of the phone.
compuw22c said:
Well, the whole line is highlighted and there's no source listed so, probably. We still haven't seen any testing method data so I call shenanigans til I see a source named.
That said, my moms droid charge pulls in 16/4 (my home internet is only 12/1.5). But that's 4g and not all their new phones are...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Undoubtedly there is a correlation between the all-you-can-eat data and the slow speeds - ie burden on the network.
Thinking of jumping ship to tmobile since 4G has never been offered in my area for Sprint. Also the pricing is a little better than Sprint? However outside of my area service is non-existent unless I force my phone into roaming? I like the data plan Sprint has but believe Sprint will change there data plan in the coming months. With that I will be grandfathered in until my contract ends. So if someone could tell me if they have trouble with data and signal or if it is great, or what they have to do get signal since tmobile is gsm instead of cdma?
mikerowes69 said:
Thinking of jumping ship to tmobile since 4G has never been offered in my area for Sprint. Also the pricing is a little better than Sprint? However outside of my area service is non-existent unless I force my phone into roaming? I like the data plan Sprint has but believe Sprint will change there data plan in the coming months. With that I will be grandfathered in until my contract ends. So if someone could tell me if they have trouble with data and signal or if it is great, or what they have to do get signal since tmobile is gsm instead of cdma?
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What?!?!
I'm not sure what you are asking. Not knowing where you are at, generally speaking if you have good sprint signal you would have good t-mobile signal. If you do not have good sprint signal, you may have just as poor t-mobile signal as their tower footprints are similar. If you live out from a city or something, AT&T or most especially Verizon have much larger footprints.
Do you mean they have a better price but for less services? Like not having unlimited texting or something? I thought Sprint had the best price.
Evo_Shift said:
Do you mean they have a better price but for less services? Like not having unlimited texting or something? I thought Sprint had the best price.
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I believe the pricing is very similar, but you get speed cut back on data once you go over the limit of your specific plan. Sprint data on thier network is not throttled or limited.
raptoro07 said:
What?!?!
I'm not sure what you are asking. Not knowing where you are at, generally speaking if you have good sprint signal you would have good t-mobile signal. If you do not have good sprint signal, you may have just as poor t-mobile signal as their tower footprints are similar. If you live out from a city or something, AT&T or most especially Verizon have much larger footprints.
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Sprint and Tmobile have very good signal in my area. However No 4G for Sprint, but 4G for Tmobile is here. Once you leave my city since I travel outside it for work alot the signal fades. I then use "ROAM Control" to force into to roam mode. I need to know is there a way to force Roaming on the Nexus S or any other phone on the TMobile network?
US Cellular is very good in the rural areas but it is CDMA and the pricing is quite a bit higher.
Well TMobile post paid plans are better, I think for 45 dollars you get, one hundred mins, unlimited texts, and five gbs of data
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
raptoro07 said:
I believe the pricing is very similar, but you get speed cut back on data once you go over the limit of your specific plan. Sprint data on thier network is not throttled or limited.
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Thanks for your info. It will not bother too much since I dont use over 2 GB a month.
BrianDigital said:
Well TMobile post paid plans are better, I think for 45 dollars you get, one hundred mins, unlimited texts, and five gbs of data
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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T-Mobile pre paid is 30 dollars for this same plan. Just throwing that out there. That's what I'm using right now. Unlimited data but it gets throttled at 5gb
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
tycruickshank said:
T-Mobile pre paid is 30 dollars for this same plan. Just throwing that out there. That's what I'm using right now. Unlimited data but it gets throttled at 5gb
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
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What are the limitations of your plan, and the cost outright for the phone?
tycruickshank said:
T-Mobile pre paid is 30 dollars for this same plan. Just throwing that out there. That's what I'm using right now. Unlimited data but it gets throttled at 5gb
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
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That's what I meant do you have any trouble getting phones to work, or is it as simple as popping the Sim in, I'm really thinking about jumping ship I'm getting sick of paying 80ISH dollars a month
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
mikerowes69 said:
Sprint and Tmobile have very good signal in my area. However No 4G for Sprint, but 4G for Tmobile is here. Once you leave my city since I travel outside it for work alot the signal fades. I then use "ROAM Control" to force into to roam mode. I need to know is there a way to force Roaming on the Nexus S or any other phone on the TMobile network?
US Cellular is very good in the rural areas but it is CDMA and the pricing is quite a bit higher.
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Click to collapse
Sprint is CDMA and T-Mobile is GSM, the phones are not interchangable on each other's network. You would have to get a GSM phone, and it would have to have T-Mobile specific frequencies for HSPDA+ (Their "4G" which is 1700mhz, different that AT&T's 1900mhz) in order to get 4G speeds.
mikerowes69 said:
What are the limitations of your plan, and the cost outright for the phone?
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BrianDigital said:
That's what I meant do you have any trouble getting phones to work, or is it as simple as popping the Sim in, I'm really thinking about jumping ship I'm getting sick of paying 80ISH dollars a month
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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I bought my phone (i9020T) used for around 200, but you can still find new ones around on the internet for I think around 400-500 USD maybe cheaper if you can find a good deal. The i9023 (the SLCD screen) is usually cheaper. I found some online for around 300 - 350 USD. Both the i9023 and the i9020T will work with 3G on T-Mobile's network. The data speeds I get are quite good as well. Some places I'll get as much as 5 megs down but the norm is usually around 3 to 4 for me. There are no limitation with the plan really that I can think of. I mean the only thing is that you only get 100 minutes but I've bought Groove IP (VOIP app in the Play Store) so essentially I have unlimited minutes now as well. Only paying $30 a month.
All you have to do is get a T-Mobile prepaid sim from the website and pop it in the phone and you're good to go.
I did exact as user above, $30 and then Groove IP. For my location T-Mobile is vastly faster, but you have to check your location coverage. In big cities Sprint can be fast. Since their phone is CDMA they don't use SIM so their phones goes for slighty lower value. You can get Sprint Nexus S cheaper than GSM version.
Check here for some prepaid plans: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21604722&postcount=2
I hope this doesn't seem like an ass move but, but I have a Nexus S t-mobile for sale.
I can't wait my etc goes down to a hundred in a month, I'm debating just going galaxy nexus or HTC one x, either one that's for sale at best buy and use that buy back plan which my girl didbwith her new iPhone 4s she's been guarenteed 400 bucks before six months, it almost worth it to be a phone whore
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
I like the Pre-Paid Montly plans in T-Mobile.
$30 100 mins/UL SMS/ 5GB 4G data Walmart and online?
$30 1500 min-SMS /30Mb
$50 UL min/UL SMS/ UL Data(1st 100 mb at 4G)
$60 UL /UL /UL Data (1st 2GB 4G)
I use the $50, You can change every month to any of the plans.
Tip :If you buy the Card in Calling Mart $100 goes for $95 no tax charged.
So if you pick the $50 it would be like paying around 44+Tax in a post paid (Yes $44 for an unlimited everything).
About Signal, I don't have problems, ATT is a little better(3G+) but much more expensive.
Now I don't like Sprint or Verizon because I like the flexibility of having a GSM unlocked phone.
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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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
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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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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
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....
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
iSaint said:
Same with me Christopher...
Except but I'm thinking about that evo man thing looks beast so far....
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
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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.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium
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.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
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.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA
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
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
I am currently on net10 and noticed that during peak hours my data is almost non existant. I learned that att mvno dont have priority on the network so I think that might explain why despite having full bars my data speeds are horrible during peak hours of the day. I heard that Tmobile doesnt deprioritize mvno so I was thinking of trying Solavei. I already have the sim card and free service for a month. I am just worried about coverage on tmobile's network. So my first question is how are people fairing with tmobile or solavei? I know tmobile is working on their network has anyone seen improvements in coverage? Also I was wondering if people are having the same issue with straight talk on the Att side during peak hours in large populated areas? I live in the bay area but i noticed the same speed issues over the holidays when I was in Memphis, Tn with net10.
IM loving it! i work in the bay area and get great speeds here! and at home also which is in fresno! coverage has gotten allot better and its only getting better! if i were you i would join before the 31st cause you get the free month of service and free sim card... if you want to join hit me up [email protected]...
asqwrd said:
I am currently on net10 and noticed that during peak hours my data is almost non existant. I learned that att mvno dont have priority on the network so I think that might explain why despite having full bars my data speeds are horrible during peak hours of the day. I heard that Tmobile doesnt deprioritize mvno so I was thinking of trying Solavei. I already have the sim card and free service for a month. I am just worried about coverage on tmobile's network. So my first question is how are people fairing with tmobile or solavei? I know tmobile is working on their network has anyone seen improvements in coverage? Also I was wondering if people are having the same issue with straight talk on the Att side during peak hours in large populated areas? I live in the bay area but i noticed the same speed issues over the holidays when I was in Memphis, Tn with net10.
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tmo/solavei coverage ain't bad if you live in a big city or populated area. once you leave the city it usually craps down to edge or you lose signal altogether. but when your getting good signal the data is pretty fast, and no they don't prioritize, you'll get the same speeds on any tmo mvno as actual tmo. only thing I hate about T-Mobile is the indoor signal strength sux. but seeing as how I just got throttled down to .23 mb/s by st at&t halfway thru my billing cycle, I'll be switching back to tmo (solavei actually) next month
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
lowrider262 said:
tmo/solavei coverage ain't bad if you live in a big city or populated area. once you leave the city it usually craps down to edge or you lose signal altogether. but when your getting good signal the data is pretty fast, and no they don't prioritize, you'll get the same speeds on any tmo mvno as actual tmo. only thing I hate about T-Mobile is the indoor signal strength sux. but seeing as how I just got throttled down to .23 mb/s by st at&t halfway thru my billing cycle, I'll be switching back to tmo (solavei actually) next month
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
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were you having data issues during peaks hours where you couldnt use data or it was really slow? Also how long ago did you have tmobile im waiting on my sim from solavei but i have been trying to gauge how much of an improvement tmobile has made on their network as far as coverage. Seems like its not much based on research no one has out right said they are experiencing better coverage
Use T-Mobile's coverage map on their website.
asqwrd said:
were you having data issues during peaks hours where you couldnt use data or it was really slow? Also how long ago did you have tmobile im waiting on my sim from solavei but i have been trying to gauge how much of an improvement tmobile has made on their network as far as coverage. Seems like its not much based on research no one has out right said they are experiencing better coverage
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no my data was fine during peak hours on tmobile. I was on tmo up until the 9th of this month then I switched to st at&t
xdviper said:
Use T-Mobile's coverage map on their website.
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I have used the coverage map but user experience is better than looking at a map. Those maps arent always accurate and i feel sometimes the carriers embellish a little bit about their actual coverage. I guess ill just have to wait and see when the sim comes
asqwrd said:
I have used the coverage map but user experience is better than looking at a map. Those maps arent always accurate and i feel sometimes the carriers embellish a little bit about their actual coverage. I guess ill just have to wait and see when the sim comes
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bump
I use att.mvno with H2O Wireless and don't get no peak slowdowns AFAIK. I don't stream videos and in general i view mobile sites rather than full sites as well so maybe that's part of why i don't notice much of a difference. Then again certain parts of AT&T's network are slammed, doesn't matter if it's prepaid of full post paid contract plans.
asqwrd said:
I have used the coverage map but user experience is better than looking at a map. Those maps arent always accurate and i feel sometimes the carriers embellish a little bit about their actual coverage. I guess ill just have to wait and see when the sim comes
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This may sound weird, but I've found T-Mobile's coverage map to be superbly accurate. It's inside buildings where it gets hazy.
To the OP, Straight Talk and Net10 use the same service ..just Net10 charges $5 more for it.
You go with these for the unlimited talk or data? Which is more important? If you can live with 100anytime mins try T-Mobile prepaid they have a 100 anytime min, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G speed then throttled but still unlimited, for $30/month.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
I have been with Tmo for 9 years and 3 months ago cancelled and started a Solavei plan on the Tmo network. I went from a $180/month to $110/month month (2 phones). 4gb (per month) 3G/4G before throttle to 2G was the selling point for me. Tmobile is great if you don't travel out of cities/off the interstate. I've never had problems even when I traveled for my job 100% across America, but I was in cities and rarely went to rural/redneck areas.
The only downside (if its a downside) is that the Solavei website is fairly stripped of information about your phone plan. You really just log in and pay your bill (or setup auto-pay). There is no statistics (minutes/data/call log/etc...) like Tmobile had so you will have to use apps to track that stuff. I re-Rom a lot so it is tough for me to track statistics smoothly but this is really trivial and not a big deal.
The data being used on Straight Talk with TMob is a hairy one..on HowardForums some say they get capped at 4gb then some say at 7-10gb, but supposedly tmob is cracking down on the mnvos for data usage..
Atat on the other hand will straight up kick your ass off data completely on mvnos. But tmobiles own prepaid offerings aren't bad and you know what they say is what you'll get. And the T-Mobile my account info app on the play store works for their prepaid.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
ztmike said:
To the OP, Straight Talk and Net10 use the same service ..just Net10 charges $5 more for it.
You go with these for the unlimited talk or data? Which is more important? If you can live with 100anytime mins try T-Mobile prepaid they have a 100 anytime min, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G speed then throttled but still unlimited, for $30/month.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
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FYI - Straight Talk operates on both AT&T and T-Mobile and even Verizon in some places. You can get SIMs for either service depending on your phone (excepting Nexus and other unlocked devices where you can use both - even swap around if you want to).
ztmike said:
To the OP, Straight Talk and Net10 use the same service ..just Net10 charges $5 more for it.
You go with these for the unlimited talk or data? Which is more important? If you can live with 100anytime mins try T-Mobile prepaid they have a 100 anytime min, unlimited text and 5GB of 4G speed then throttled but still unlimited, for $30/month.
Sent from my Nexus 4 16GB using Tapatalk 2
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I wanted to try Solavei because I heard it has data roaming while T-mobile prepaid doesnt. I figured that would help a little with coverage for data also 100 mins is too little for me I can run through that easily in a day( I work remotely from home 2 days out of the week so meetings can run over)
Thanks for the reply patiently waiting on the sim card hopefully I get good results on tmobile i just think Net10 and I guess Straightalk are pointless if i cant use data well during certain times of the day despite having full bars. It happened to me on too many occasions this past month in two different cities.
I've been using Straight Talk (with ATT Sim) for about a month and haven't run into any issues with using data throughout the day. I haven't reached the throttle point yet though.. Speeds with ATT are consistently 3mbit (yes, a lot slower then TMobile, but better coverage).
madferretx said:
I've been using Straight Talk (with ATT Sim) for about a month and haven't run into any issues with using data throughout the day. I haven't reached the throttle point yet though.. Speeds with ATT are consistently 3mbit (yes, a lot slower then TMobile, but better coverage).
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Do you live in the bay area or similar place with a lot of people?
Don't do Solavei. I had it for a few days and data is very jumpy. I'm right outside of Dallas and my speeds were worse than Metro PCS. I think at one point it got down to 100-200 kbps. Way worse. And when I tried to set up my APN settings to get MMS and Solavei Web to work when only one or the other was working I went through two customer service reps and they didn't know what the hell they were doing. I got a refund and just went with a tmobile contract plan where I'm getting unlimited everything with no caps for $64 a month. I hate caps. Just stay away from Solavei.
Had AT&T ST, now T-Mobile prepaid, switching to Solavei soon.
For me on AT&T my phone gets decent reception in buildings, but T-mobile's HSPA+ is very fast outside big corporate buildings, which I prefer actually for streaming media. T-Mobile prepaid doesn't offer conditional call forwarding, so that's the main reason I'm switching to Solavei since I can't use Google Voice as my voicemail without that feature. AFAIK they are the only T-Mobile MVNO that offers it.
Did a bunch of reading.
I use/need:
1. ~800 minutes
2. ~1.5GB of data (was using 500MB on sprint, assume I'll use more on faster network)
3. Mostly urban, rarely rural. Willing to forego data when out in the wilderness
4. Google Voicemail
5. Would like to be less than $50/mo and/or 'contract free' (don't want to pay phone subsidy when I own my phone)
T-mobile $30 prepaid plan: Ruled out by 1.
Straight Talk - T-Mobile SIM: Ruled out by 4.
T-mobile $60 prepaid plan: Ruled out by 5. ($10/mo+ * 24 = a new nexus phone)
AT&T $65 plan: Ruled out by 2, 5.
Looks like my options are:
A: Solavei - T-Mobile Network
Pros:
1. Faster when data works
2. Same priority as T-mobile customers
3. 4GB on 4G data before throttle
4. Voice+Data roaming
5. Possible to save $20/mo if I refer 3 subscribers and they're sure to use my referral code (I already have 2 possible)
6. Seems to be better in congested areas (from visually reviewing data on rootmetrics)
Cons:
1. $ more than ST
2. Smaller overall network
3. Weaker building penetration
4. Expects me to become a network marketer to save, new users most likely won't properly attribute my referral
5. If you do sign up 3 referrals, you're basically on-contract and won't want to leave because of the savings, even if quality starts to suffers
B: Straight Talk - AT&T Network
Pros:
1. $5-8 less than Solavei
2. Bigger overall network = better voice+data coverage
3. Better building penetration
4. Easy to switch
Cons:
1. Slower data
2. Random throttling. Is it 70MB/day? Is it 2GB/mo? What is it? You'll end up asking: "WHY DID YOU THROTTLE ME?" They'll end up saying: "Dunno, see if it's faster next month. Everything is fine on our end."
3. Lower priority voice+data in congested areas/times. Network is getting beat up by iPhones+iPads.
4. No data or voice roaming
I looked at:
http://www.airportal.de/
http://www.rootmetrics.com/
I've read several reports of poor T-mobile service in Buffalo, NY, but the fresh maps (-90 days) on these sites say otherwise. Willing to try magenta first, then fall back to random throttling and low priority on ST-ATT.