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
Related
Check out this article. Verizon's data is WAY faster than Sprint's.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2241...x_the_battle_for_your_smartphone_dollars.html
I thought I read on here some where that talked about the Epic having both LTE and WiMAX chips. Anyone else see that thread and is it true??
EDIt: decided to title the thread to better to describe to the discussion.
If you want to be nickeled and dimed sure go ahead also they have data caps and are easy to exceed with these phones and they don't have a full unlimited plan and their customer service is worse than sprint. Also if you switched just cuz they had faster data your a bonehead cuz you could just use wifi at your house or almost anywhere you go if your really wanting faster data.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
the table showing average download and upload speeds is pretty obscure. I rarely see anything below 4 Mbps in Atlanta.
DjBacon, do you get 4g in Atlanta?
I live down in woodstock and don't get **** for signal or 4g here
jbadboy2007 said:
If you want to be nickeled and dimed sure go ahead also they have data caps and are easy to exceed with these phones and they don't have a full unlimited plan and their customer service is worse than sprint. Also if you switched just cuz they had faster data your a bonehead cuz you could just use wifi at your house or almost anywhere you go if your really wanting faster data.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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everything is true except the customer service part. I used to work for verizon, only reason I switched was because of the "real" unlimited plan, and the phone itself. Other than that yes they do have a better data coverage (they always have I think), especially with their LTE service coming up so quickly. but I dont use data as much, maybe more on pandora than anything else. but if you need to be constantly connected for whatever reason, then switch to verizon.
You know what's stupid? So what? Who ****ing cares that its faster. What good is all that speed when your capped at 2gb. Sprint wins. Ill take a slower speed for unlimited data. Not to mention the speeds differ depending on area. Fastest I've gone is 900KB/s. My home connection gets 1300KB/s max. Also I've realized that these phones don't need all that speed. Its become so fast that the phone is the.bottleneck.
To be fair, its true but I'd rather have 3mb DL speed wimax (average speed i get now) at UNLIMITED than 5gb capped 12mb LTE.
Fuuton: Atsugai
Seanc13 said:
DjBacon, do you get 4g in Atlanta?
I live down in woodstock and don't get **** for signal or 4g here
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Yup, i have 4g in downtown atlanta (obviously) pretty much everywhere I go and also out at my house out in lilburn area (northeast of atlanta). Also have it pretty much everywhere I go here. And like I said, I rarely see it below 4 Mbps, I consistently hit 5.5+ in my house
I'm on sero so im paying less for 2 lines than I would for one verizon line.. faster or not verizon can kiss my ass..
Tapatalkin' it from my Epic 3g
The only time I've ever had it or hadmore than 2 bars is if I go downtown, which I never do
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Yeah sprint is much cheaper and actually has a TRUE unlimited data plan... besides did you consider that they just released LTE so no one actually owns a 4g device to be pulling from the connection, unlike sprint who sold millions of Evos, some amount of epics, and and 4g network cards... Verizon will eventually slow down I'm sure
I've only used 4g once on my epic and its when I was passing through north carolina, and it was ridiculously fast.
No unlimited data = no business from me. Sprint already ensured my loyalty by my plan discounts but Verizon's LTE is going to be a fustercluck until they're forced to really compete for data dollars. And AT&Teabag is a joke when it comes to 4G right now as well. These tests aren't to be believed anyhow since they barely have anyone on their LTE network as it is. I live in a town with a lot of difficult zoning and get a minimum of 4 down and 1 up, sometimes much more, just about everywhere I go now. The only big tech advantage I see LTE having is better inside building reach and you will pay out your a-hole for that with Verizon.
Enjoy
Sent from Snarf with an Epic
I'm perfectly happy with my unlimited 4g data with speeds of 2-5kbps. Sprint Customer service has been great too, during my difficult times paying my bill while I'm currently laid off.
shook187 said:
I'm perfectly happy with my unlimited 4g data with speeds of 2-5kbps. Sprint Customer service has been great too, during my difficult times paying my bill while I'm currently laid off.
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that is some pretty slow internet
imtjnotu said:
that is some pretty slow internet
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lol. Mbps? ;-)
epicslayer said:
Yes that's because sprint uses wimax version 1 . If sprint switches to wimeax 2.x then it will do 300megabits per second. Lte on verizon is about 40mbs
Lte will be on sprint in 2012 and full deployment in 2013
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
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Actually its more because sprint is running wimax of 10mhz while verizon is 20mhz plus in a better frequency...that said even without wimax 2..if they just update to wimax-enhanced which is a minor upgrade..you would get 40% more efficiency (60% more for new towers) and speeds on par with Verizon's 20mhz LTE in only 10mhz spectrum....
Sprint has horrendous customer service, though I dont know if anyone else is any better.
Verizon has better coverage out in the boonies, when you need it most.
Unlimited data is Nice with Sprint, though you have to be a hacker to take advantage of it.
Does anyone know if they throttle?
Nick_Djinn said:
Sprint has horrendous customer service, though I dont know if anyone else is any better.
Verizon has better coverage out in the boonies, when you need it most.
Unlimited data is Nice with Sprint, though you have to be a hacker to take advantage of it.
Does anyone know if they throttle?
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Here is your answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlkT7gRM0xo&feature=player_embedded
Then again its coming from the CEO of sprint..the same guy who said who said 4g will be as free as TV....
I just wish I had 4g. I would take 4mbps down anyday. I get about 1 to 1.5 on 3g
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
Ok,i got my Epic when it first came out.The Sprint rep told me that 4g was coming October 11th 2010 and that Sprint's 4g was way faster than my TMobile hsdpa and cheaper.
So I figured I will drop Tmobile and go with Sprint and wait two months until Buffalo NY gets WiMax 4g.
Needless to say that 4g never came and probably never will,sinse Sprint is switching to LTE and now Sprint reps tell me that they dont have a date for 4g,lol.
All that is cool and I was still gonna stick with Sprint even though I droped my ultra fast Tmobile with 500-700kb/s(that was a year ago now its way higher) download speed for 80-200kb/s on Sprints 3g(thats what I get now).
But what really bugged me is that a few days ago I was in Rochester and Saracuse NY where they have WiMax 4g and my speed was only 50-100kb/s faster on 4g than on 3g and sometimes it was even slower with 4g(due to latency) it was never over 300kb/s,when my Tmobile had 700kb/s on regular 3g a year ago and now its something like 3000kb/s with Tmobile!!
Isnt this a breach of contract?
Not only did they lie to me but their "4G" service is twice as slow as 3g,thats false advertisement.
Im looking to get out of contract and get my money back that I paid for my Epic,is it possible?
Or if not trade my Epic in(free of charge) for upcoming Sprint LTE phones.
Can anyone give me some tips on who to ***** at and what to say to accomplish this?
Man,im really heated bout this whole situation because me and my girl download alota movies on the phone and at day time my 3g speed is 40-120kb/s(which is 2g speed,lol) and even at night when speed picks up its never over 200kb/s-which is rediculous.Even their 4g speed is never over 350kb/s(i tested in two cities).
I will be going back to Tmobile.
Its not a breach of contract for a Sprint rep to tell you something false. Only things actually within the contract itself can be taken as 100% true. There is no way you are getting out of your contract free and even less of a chance of getting the money back for a phone you've used for 7 months.
063_XOBX said:
Its not a breach of contract for a Sprint rep to tell you something false. Only things actually within the contract itself can be taken as 100% true. There is no way you are getting out of your contract free and even less of a chance of getting the money back for a phone you've used for 7 months.
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Yeah I know that its not a breach if sprint rep told me something,thats why I didnt complain for 7-9 months and took it as a loss.
However it is a breach when their 4G service is almost 3 times as slow as 3G!
Thats like selling me a V12 Ferrari and have it perform like 4 cilinder Civic.
Something has to be done bacause they cant walk all over people like that.
Just do the roaming thing and roam on other networks towers all the time, eventually they will terminate your account. Make sure you eat up a lot of data.
There is no contractual guarantee of "4G speeds" in fact they go as far as saying UP TO in their speed quotes which removes any chance of an argument over their speeds. The point is, you're not getting anywhere if you try calling them and complaining about 4G speeds so either suck it up or pay your ETF.
4G speeds in Rochester have been considerably slower lately. The 4G speed is not slower, the system itself has suffered due to whatever reason. This may be because of the ongoing network upgrade.
We have had 4G in Rochester (at my current location) since June of last year and it has been consistently 3-5mbs down until just recently.
Because of the nature of what I due for a living I can assure you that the speed you experienced is NOT average for WiMAX in Rochester.
Don't discount WiMAX for LTE just yet, or in the near future. Although that would be awesome!
heathmcabee said:
Just do the roaming thing and roam on other networks towers all the time, eventually they will terminate your account. Make sure you eat up a lot of data.
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Yep, if you really want to .... warning though they will blacklist your for like 6-7 years or something like that also you will have to roam ALOT for a few months before they terminate you so it'll take awhile...
Have you tried this?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=925898
Has tweaks for 4g and 3g in there.
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).
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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...
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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
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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...
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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...
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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.
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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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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Bigger is better. Lol
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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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