moving to T-Mobile from Sprint for a G2? - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

so, i have an HTC evo "4g" with sprint that i got on launch day, but im really disappointed because sprint 4g has sucked in seattle and chicago. it only works outdoors and even then it feels like sudden bursts and not sustained speed.
i had a g1 on T-Mobile and was happy with it, but I've been in the evo/sprint world for a while so i need some help:
i see that T-Mobile is having an "any phone free" deal this weekend. it seems like it might be worth it to sell my evo, pay the etf fee with sprint, and go back to T-Mobile. what I'd like are some honest unbiased answers if possible, to the following questions.
1) sprint seems to have good prices, $69. unlimited data and 450 any mobile minutes + $10 data fee. is it the same price with T-Mobile? seems to be (500 minutes)
2) what rate of speed does T-Mobile throttle to after 5gb is exceeded?
3) the g2 is what im looking at, but what are similar phones from T-Mobile that I should look at and what are the drawbacks or advantages of the top two or three other phones?
4) can any new T-Mobile phone be rooted easily or do recent hboot/radios/firmware updates make it difficult on the g2 or other phones?
5) how is indoor T-Mobile hspa+ or hsdpa signal? wimax at its 2.x ghz and barely penetrates windows so indoor reception is basically none. what frequency is T-Mobile 4g, how is their coverage?
thanks for any responses. I'd like to make a decision tonight or tomorrow morning to switch or not (and choose the right phone).
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Short awnser: BUY A G2.
Sent from my HTC Vision

I'll try to answer as best I can.
Although the G2 is my very first Android device, I've been so impressed by it. I would definitely recommend it!
I believe that you're throttled down to EDGE speeds, which is damn pretty horrible because I actually get EDGE where I live and only get HSDPA signal (3G signals) on campus. When I'm on EDGE, I only get about 10kbps... yes, it sounds horrible. But when you are in a good part of town, I've seen mine go to as high as 7mbps!
As of right now, I'm sure that if you get a G2 this weekend, that the root process will be the same. I rooted last month using the gfree method by first getting a temp root and then permanent root. It's pretty cool since a lot of people say that this is the method that results in the least bricked devices. If I can do it, it'll be easy.
T-Mobile signal will really just depend on your location.
The alternative to the Tmobile G2 is the MyTouch4G. I've read that the MT4G is faster; however if the physical keyboard is what you want, then the G2 is the way to go. Both devices are pretty similiar.
Hope I helped.

interesting. thanks for the replies. so when you get throttled after 5gb they always restrict you from the hspa+ network and only let you connect to edge, at whatever connection speed you can manage to pull in from those towers? I figured it would be a set kbps limit. I was also looking at the mytouch 4g and dell streak because I love the huge screen, but the dell streak support community seems to be basically non existant for some reason.
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I actually did EXACTLY this almost a month ago (kinda weird since I live near Seattle too, lol). Bought an Evo on launch day because of the hype etc. and don't get me wrong its a great phone, but the battery life left a lot to be desired, and the 4G sapped battery extremely hard and almost never worked indoors, even when the area was blanketed in 4G coverage.
Eventually I really got put off by the way Sprint treated me after I went through 4 different replacement phones but thats a whole different story. I demanded to be let out of my contract and I've been with T-mo since then w/ a G2. They're great so far and I really love the Even More + plans. $59.99/month and no contract. Can't be beat in my opinion and there's just no way I can go back to a contract, I know I wont have the G2 for 2 years that's just impossible the way technology goes.
So anyways.
1) Plans are about the same price, except the one good thing about Sprint is unlimited calling to ANY mobile carrier, not just T-mo. But it really depends how you call, I really don't call much. Also as I said the Even More+ no contract plans are the beeeest if you're like me.
2) I can't give you good info, never capped. I know a lot of people can give you good info though.
3) Most hardcore Android users will say to just get the G2. It is 99.9% stock android, and has great features. The Streak doesn't have the best support but that's your own deal depends wat you're into. The MyTouch4G isn't your best bet because man that skin is terrible, and to be honest the design is just terrible compared to the G2 (chrome + cheap plastic = ew).
4) G2 is easily perm-rootable, not exactly one click but not impossible. Can't say for the other T-mo offerings.
5) I get great cell penetration inside. Haven't had tons of HSPA+ experience, but its on the same spectrum as their UMTS and HSDPA (1700 I believe?) which is pretty high frequency but I think they space their towers well. A quick comment on the UMTS/HSDPA speeds is that I've been consistently pulling 1.8mbps down AND up. On Sprint I could maybe push that down, but never up. Oh and one other thing, WiFi calling is awesome. I'm home for the weekend and there's very weak service here. Hop on WiFi and you can make calls/texts. I don't like having to rely on it because I wish service would just work here, but its nice to have just in case.
Obviously you're gonna get some positive views of the G2 in this forum but I think I can offer some good perspective cuz I did have the Evo before.

wrb123 said:
so, i have an HTC evo "4g" with sprint that i got on launch day, but im really disappointed because sprint 4g has sucked in seattle and chicago. it only works outdoors and even then it feels like sudden bursts and not sustained speed.
i had a g1 on T-Mobile and was happy with it, but I've been in the evo/sprint world for a while so i need some help:
i see that T-Mobile is having an "any phone free" deal this weekend. it seems like it might be worth it to sell my evo, pay the etf fee with sprint, and go back to T-Mobile. what I'd like are some honest unbiased answers if possible, to the following questions.
1) sprint seems to have good prices, $69. unlimited data and 450 any mobile minutes + $10 data fee. is it the same price with T-Mobile? seems to be (500 minutes)
2) what rate of speed does T-Mobile throttle to after 5gb is exceeded?
3) the g2 is what im looking at, but what are similar phones from T-Mobile that I should look at and what are the drawbacks or advantages of the top two or three other phones?
4) can any new T-Mobile phone be rooted easily or do recent hboot/radios/firmware updates make it difficult on the g2 or other phones?
5) how is indoor T-Mobile hspa+ or hsdpa signal? wimax at its 2.x ghz and barely penetrates windows so indoor reception is basically none. what frequency is T-Mobile 4g, how is their coverage?
thanks for any responses. I'd like to make a decision tonight or tomorrow morning to switch or not (and choose the right phone).
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
I was in the exact situation as you. Loved my EVO but Sprint's customer service is absolute ****, 4G coverage is poor, reps constantly lied about when coverage was coming to my area, and the battery life of the EVO was horrible.
1.) Base plan is $79.99. I get 10% off through student rate and talked customer care into giving me Android preferred web plan which is $20 instead of $30. So my net bill is quite a bit lower than my Sprint Everything Plus bill was.
2.) Don't know. I've personally never gone over 5 GB of data on any phone I've owned.
3.) Galaxy S 4G and MyTouch 4G. Both have FFCs. Neither have keyboards. GS4G has faster data but poor upgrade history and it's yet to be seen if the Vibrant dev community efforts will be compatible.
4.) Don't know. This is better handled at whatever other phone your considerings respective community.
5.) T-Mo 3G is 1700 MHz downlink and 2100MHz uplink. Coverage is fair in Eastern Washington. Certain areas are still EDGE only. Haven't had any issues keeping a decent 3G signal indoors in dense areas. My EVO actually roamed indoors in a few places which I thought was pretty pathetic. My average speeds range from 2-6 Mbs down and 1-1.8 Mbs up.

I was in the same boat. Wanted to leave Sprint for T-Mobile.
It's 2011 and all T-Mobile could give me was EDGE indoors and out. Not worth the money. Especially when the coverage map showed HSPA+ coverage. I live in Tampa, FL.
Sprint isn't any better (claims indoor 4G, can't get it outside or inside), but it was cheap at the time. Not so much now since they keep jacking up prices. First removal of employee discount on almost everything, and then the stupid +$10 premium data on EVERY smartphone.
I guess I'll be letting AT&T or Big Red milk me for money in the near future.
TL;DR - Coverage maps are bull****. You have to take the hard credit pull hit and try the phones out for yourself. I returned my T-mobile phones in less than 24hrs with no questions asked.

Man I am LOVING my G2. And believe it or not, one of my favorite things about it is the battery life!!!! I've gone almost two days without much charge at all and I'm still sitting at 22%. Seriously impressive. I am running the cyanogenmod 6.1.1. It's pretty damn smooth but it seems to have a few quirky behaviors. But then again, most custom ROM's do too. But for the most part it's simply the ****. I show this phone off to the iphone 4 followed by plenty of questions afterwards.
It's a dope phone. Go for it. You won't be disappointed.

Hot_Hands said:
1.) Base plan is $79.99. I get 10% off through student rate and talked customer care into giving me Android preferred web plan which is $20 instead of $30. So my net bill is quite a bit lower than my Sprint Everything Plus bill was.
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Could you give a little more info on the $20 Android Preferred web plan over the normal web plan? never heard of this.

martonikaj said:
Could you give a little more info on the $20 Android Preferred web plan over the normal web plan? never heard of this.
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I also have have the $20 andriod preferred web, you have to ask to speak to customer loyalty dept. And you have to have been with Tmo for a certain number of years, I don't know how long the requirement is but I have been with Tmo for Nine Years.
Sent from my HTC Vision

I believe the requirement is 1 or 2 years. I was a customer for 4 before my EVO misadventure so I smooth talked them into letting me have it. You must talk to the loyalty department. No other department will be able to do it and will probably have no idea what you're talking about.

joemm said:
I also have have the $20 andriod preferred web, you have to ask to speak to customer loyalty dept. And you have to have been with Tmo for a certain number of years, I don't know how long the requirement is but I have been with Tmo for Nine Years.
Sent from my HTC Vision
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Alright thanks, well I got a while to go before I'm there . It just seemed like they were pretty reluctant to make my plan any cheaper than it already is. The Even More+ $59.99 plan is pretty cheap already and I can't argue with it.

I'm not sure if it'll apply to Even More Plus plans since the data plan is included and not a separate add-on.

Related

Swithching Verizon with ... Help me out:-)

I would like to dump my relations with Verizon a hope that some of you guys can help me. Sprint.T-Mobile.at&t is what I have to use so thanks lol
Sent from my Incredible 2 ReMix using Tapatalk
Edit I have a incredible and really love the hell out of it so you could call me an HTC fan boy
Sent from my Incredible 2 ReMix using Tapatalk
You didn't request anything you need help with.
Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T are not compatible with the Verizon CDMA phones so you won't be able to use your Verizon Incredible on their networks. AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM networks. Sprint I believe uses a different bandwidth than Verizon besides their old PCS network being incompatible. This is why you only see threads for how to use Verizon smartphones on Cricket and Boost mobile. W
When my first Verizon Eris died it was going to be a week before I could get a new phone so I called Verizon to see if I could activate my old Sprint Motorola Krzr as both companies sold them. Verizon can activate old phones from other companies, they verified this when I called, but unfortunately Sprint phones aren't ones they could activate.
@slim I did but will help you understand. I need to switch carriers and would like to see what people use and like to offer me suggestions on what company and phone to get. That's what I wanted to know lol
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Well, I'd say to go with Sprint, as they are pretty much the only carrier left to offer truly unlimited data without throttling (although that probably won't be for long). They have some nice HTC phones over there like the Evo 3D, Evo Shift 4G, etc.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
computerwiz908 said:
Well, I'd say to go with Sprint, as they are pretty much the only carrier left to offer truly unlimited data without throttling (although that probably won't be for long). They have some nice HTC phones over there like the Evo 3D, Evo Shift 4G, etc.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
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I mow through between 10 and 20 gig a month on my phone and I've NEVER been throttled on either the dInc or Tbolt I'm using. The last Sprint rep I spoke with 3 days ago made no attempt to hide Sprint's data throttling policy. I'm not sure where you heard that wasn't the case.
Concerning the OP's post, Sprint has consistently brought cream of the crop Android devices to the table. The primary reason the dInc garnered the dev community that it did was because the EVO 4G is nearly identical under the glass. Sprint has announced a transition away from WiMax for 4G in favor of LTE. When it appears they're making dramatically more headway on that front than they ever did with WiMax, I'll likely switch. I wouldn't be a customer of AT&T if they paid me. Or T-Mobile. I mean, unlimited 20-30 Mbit LTE in my pocket for $40 a month... you can't beat that with a stick!
OP the best way for you to decide is to look at each providers coverage in your area then go with the one with the best coverage. If they all have equal coverage then go with the one that offers the best plan that fits your needs/budget.
ew. I switched from Sprint to Verizon and don't regret a thing. I didn't have a bank account and couldn't get one until I paid off some debts and regardless of this, I was charged $4.99 every bill for NOT using their automated payment crap. on top of this, my plan originally was 69.99 for unlimited data, text, and maybe 450ish minutes. out of nowhere, random surcharges kept getting added to my bill and it got to the point where I was paying $102 because they added $30+ surcharges and taxes onto my account. I also never had good reception. really think going to Sprint is a bad idea.
if you are switching so that you can pay less, I can recommend that you go to Verizon and ask if your employer makes you qualified for a discount on your bill or (if you attend a college) see if you can use that. I get up to 17% off my bill and since I was grandfathered in with the old data plan, I pay only $47 a month for my phone bill with unlimited data+text.
I would also recommend sprint but wait until a better phone than the 3d come our since like the Htc evo soon after it came out the shift came out and now the 3d so that could mean that theres another one coming out with better specs... I personally was thinking on swtching to T-mobile and get the Thc Sensation but like "computerwiz908" I dont like the idea of getting rip with throttling..... Also if you decide let us know what you got...
dincdoes.me said:
@slim I did but will help you understand. I need to switch carriers and would like to see what people use and like to offer me suggestions on what company and phone to get. That's what I wanted to know lol
Sent from my Incredible 2 ReMix using Tapatalk
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Well take note you're asking a bunch of Verizon users.
Sprint is the best company out of the bunch as far as price but it depends on what type of reception you get where you're at. Sprint also has a nice selection of android phones, and if you like the INC then sprint has the EVO line of phones that are sort cousins to our phone- I actually like them better than the INC and INC2.
If you're switching to Sprint, you could get the Photon 4g. They're unlocking bootloaders now. The Photon 4g seems like a better upgrade to the Evo 4g rather than the Evo 3D. (Kickstand?!)
http://androidcommunity.com/motorola-photon-4g-bootloader-unlock-available-now-20110815/
Keep your DInc and switch to Pageplus. Their service is over the Verizon network, but costs a lot less. You get the superior coverage of Verizon's network, without the add-on fees. Search "pageplus" for more detailed posts on this.
DInc with CyanogenMod 6.1 & Invisiblek #28 kernel.
OlafTheOx said:
Keep your DInc and switch to Pageplus. Their service is over the Verizon network, but costs a lot less. You get the superior coverage of Verizon's network, without the add-on fees. Search "pageplus" for more detailed posts on this.
DInc with CyanogenMod 6.1 & Invisiblek #28 kernel.
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100mb data limit?
100$ per GB over
.10 per MB
cvbcbcmv said:
and that's where they get ya.
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Click to collapse
yeah I used 30GB last month, I'd rather pay $60 on verizon than 3,000$ there lol
Looks like a good deal as long as you don't use data
I think ill stick with the Dinc for a bit I'm thing of switching carriers bcuz of horrible data coverage where I live.. but I'm moving at the end of September so I think ill tuff it out I saw that there is a chineese phone coming unlocked with the choice of 16gb dual core or a 32gb ver. With 4 cores which sounds tasty to me!! But .. from what I understand it can't be used on Verizon .. so I might switch to a carrier that allows similar cards and works on GSM not CDMA
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No way id switch from verizon here in the midwest. Excellent service out in the sticks.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
Donny in Traverse City Mi I average about 1 - 2 bars ... lol
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Im always about 1-2 bars, but thats even out of town where tmobile, sprint, and att get zero signal, atleast in kansas and oklahoma. I rarely get 4 bars. Coverage area more important to me than a smaller high signal area.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
donnyp1 said:
Im always about 1-2 bars, but thats even out of town where tmobile, sprint, and att get zero signal, atleast in kansas and oklahoma. I rarely get 4 bars. Coverage area more important to me than a smaller high signal area.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
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Yeah having full bars doesn't do much. You don't get faster rates and the quality isn't lower, if you have 1 bar or less is the only reason you should worry about slowdowns and possible dropped calls.
Honestly I've never had 0 signal except while on a plane in high altitude or underground / tunnel. I live in VA and traveled out to California, went out to a rather remote lake and still got very nice 1x coverage, although 3G was very weak- it went in an out. Still good considering how far out it was and how there was practically nobody for miles and it wasn't near any interstates.

Should I switch from VZW to Sprint?

I currently have the droid bionic with a iPhone as my back up. Is it worth me switching to sprint to pick up the Epic touch? How's the battery life and reception with sprint compared to VZW? Right now with juice defender I get about a consistent 20 hrs actually using my phone.
Verizons network is better as far as data speeds go. I don't think it's worth the switch for just a device.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Depends on where you are and where you tend to travel to.
I get 2-2.5Mb 3G speeds with Sprint (250 - 300KBytes/s) at home and and work. I also get 1-1.5Mb 3G in the middle of the forest up in northern Wisconsin. All with a lowly Moment.
There is an active 4G tower where I work (according to a friend's Evo) despite it not being on the coverage map.
On the other hand, if you are stuck anywhere where Verizon has the only network, you will have crappy data speeds because Verizon refuses to allow anything more than 1x roaming to Sprint customers. This also applies if you are on the edge of a Sprint tower... Sprint tends to want to keep you connected to a Sprint signal, regardless of its strength. This can get frustrating at times.
If you do go with Sprint, the first app you should download and pay for is Roam Control.
That all depends on your needs...
Sprint's voice and data plans are much cheaper and 4g data is unlimited. 3g is limited to 5gb per month.
If you do need coverage in remote areas, check Sprint's coverage maps and see if there is signal where you need it.
http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp
If you dont use much data and want to spend more to get faster speeds while paying more for voice as well, Verizon is the way to go. I would only hang with Verizon if coverage is an issue.
I had Verizon for many years and switched to Sprint in 2006. I've never regretted making the change.
-logik- said:
That all depends on your needs...
Sprint's voice and data plans are much cheaper and 4g data is unlimited. 3g is limited to 5gb per month.
If you do need coverage in remote areas, check Sprint's coverage maps and see if there is signal where you need it.
http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp
If you dont use much data and want to spend more to get faster speeds while paying more for voice as well, Verizon is the way to go. I would only hang with Verizon if coverage is an issue.
I had Verizon for many years and switched to Sprint in 2006. I've never regretted making the change.
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Sprint doesn't cap data at 5GB for mobile phones. Only on their usb cards.
eakrish said:
I currently have the droid bionic with a iPhone as my back up. Is it worth me switching to sprint to pick up the Epic touch? How's the battery life and reception with sprint compared to VZW? Right now with juice defender I get about a consistent 20 hrs actually using my phone.
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Click to collapse
Pick your provider FIRST, then pick your device.
As stated be sure to not just check a coverage map but to check with friends and coworkers who have Sprint and live/commute/work in your area.
I've traveled the country a little and I have never been without Sprint coverage except in two tiny holes in my home town...where not a single provider has anything but threshold levels of service out doors, indoors you get squat from any of them. These "holes", however, can be deal breakers if you happen to live and/or work in them. Coverage maps help, a little, but asking people (and looking at their signal meters) is far more precise.
As far as data speed is concerned it's a mixed bag. I came from a line of HTC devices where changing the PRL on-the-go was simple so I used the "00001.prl" a lot. This PRL, essentially, puts you on Verizon's towers, full speed 3G. I can honestly say that while Verizon's speeds tend to be far more consistent than Sprint's that even though I had the chance to get out of Sprint this month (for free) that instead of going to Big Red I used that to upgrade to the Epic Touch without hesitation...The data speeds can drag-ass in a highly congested area at times but unless it's lunch time in a 1-bar area I don't tend to dip below 500kbps and if it is later in the day (or evening) and/or in a sparsely populated area (or higher-income area, draw your own conclusions) I have seen as high as 2.7mbps...my friend lives in a low-population high income area and he may be the only Sprint subscriber for miles, lol, and they get 2.5~2.7mbps all day every day. There are also times/places where Sprint's 3G speed absolutely spanks Verizon's.
...as far as 4G goes it can be blazing fast but you probably won't ever get the signal indoors unless you are in a 4G saturated metropolitan environment. I hear lots of complaints about 4G speed but when I get connected it's always faster than my home internet (6mbps, the most you can get from residential ATT DSL around here), I have seen 15mbps too.
As far as price is concerned Sprint wins hands down especially if you consider the unlimited data and free roaming. Voice roaming is unlimited. There is a "soft" limit of 3G roaming at 300mb, but, that is a floating line. If you aren't usually roaming but happen to travel somewhere that you are forced to roam at worst they will call or send you a letter telling you that if you do it again your contract may be terminated. But as long as it doesn't happen at work or at home they are mostly forgiving...and if not? That's a free out on your contract and now you have a $500-$700 (retail) phone for trade-up or resale to go back to Verizon.
EDIT: Oh yeah, battery life. It's killer. Very very killer compared to a Moment, Hero, Evo 4G and Evo 3D this thing slaughters them all. It's hard to say since I have been using my phone more than breathing these past 2 days, but, considering that I'm very impressed....*very* impressed.
I agree with most everyone here take a look and see what you are using and what you need. make sure you have coverage at home and work and other places you visit regularly. if it works out for you make the switch. You can save alot of money with Sprint depending on your needs and they have a great selection of phones, I just the the GSII and it is awesome about 50% faster then the evo3d it just flies. but all of that power doesn't mean anything if you can't get signal.
I just switched from Verizon because I wanted the GS2 really bad.
I live in Seattle and Sprint has good coverage here so I'm pretty happy. (i've had Sprint in the past as well)
You can always switch and test drive Sprint for 14 days (or maybe it's 30) and if you don't like it, return to Verizon. No big deal.
PS: I had the Droid Bionic for a few days before switching to Sprint. Honestly, I think the GS2 is simply better in every way. That's just my opinion. Couldn't deal with the Pentile display and the camera was quite a disappointment.
If the service is good in the area then go for it. Of not I wouldn't change. If I could do it all over again I would have switched to vz before they started the data caps.
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
I switched about 6 years ago and never looked back. I had voice and data with them for over 10 years, back in the Bell Mobile days. They kicked me off of a BroadbandAccess for using too much data claiming I HAD to have violated the ToS (P2P, video streaming, web hosting) by using over 5GB in a month. Really, that is only 150MB a day and that goes very quickly with just web and e-mail if you use it daily. I work on the road a LOT so naturally, I went over this regularly. I had to explain what I do and that I did NOT violate the ToS, which said NOTHING about 5GB. I didn't do any of the activities it stated. This was back when everything was unlimited with no fine print. They didn't charge an ETF and asked if I wanted to reactivate the account. I declined and moved to Sprint and eventually took voice too. Have been very happy since.
I still consider Sprint to be the best value in wireless. It always seemed that VZW nickle and dime'd me to death. My bill fluctuated month to month by $20 with no changes in service and additional fees. Just "taxes". They charged for web order shipping, activation, and everything they could have.
I forgot to mention I have unlimited data
Bigjim1488 said:
If the service is good in the area then go for it. Of not I wouldn't change. If I could do it all over again I would have switched to vz before they started the data caps.
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I wouldn't have switched. As stated below I was on them with true unlimited before they started the caps. Then they terminated the account and offered to reactivate, probably to instate a cap on me. I suspect the same would have happened to you.
When I switched data to Sprint, I asked if they had unlimited data and bandwidth, and got multiple confirmations (with chat transcripts) that it was 100% unlimited. They introduced the 5GB limit a year or two later. And, since I haven't renewed the contract or accepted any new modems on that line, it today is still unlimited and I use 8-10GB (sometimes more) monthly. They've called and tried to get me to renew, which would activate 4G but put a cap on 3G... and I've declined. Until 4G is everywhere I need on the road, I can't do it.
Phones are still unlimited, so I wonder if a cheap phone to tether with an unlimited plan is worth it for tethering only?? Just a thought.
I don't need a phone to tether, just need a bad ass phone that looks great, feels super fast and has great battery life. I also want a great looking display and widgets that are good for social media.
daneurysm said:
Pick your provider FIRST, then pick your device.
As stated be sure to not just check a coverage map but to check with friends and coworkers who have Sprint and live/commute/work in your area.
I've traveled the country a little and I have never been without Sprint coverage except in two tiny holes in my home town...where not a single provider has anything but threshold levels of service out doors, indoors you get squat from any of them. These "holes", however, can be deal breakers if you happen to live and/or work in them. Coverage maps help, a little, but asking people (and looking at their signal meters) is far more precise.
As far as data speed is concerned it's a mixed bag. I came from a line of HTC devices where changing the PRL on-the-go was simple so I used the "00001.prl" a lot. This PRL, essentially, puts you on Verizon's towers, full speed 3G. I can honestly say that while Verizon's speeds tend to be far more consistent than Sprint's that even though I had the chance to get out of Sprint this month (for free) that instead of going to Big Red I used that to upgrade to the Epic Touch without hesitation...The data speeds can drag-ass in a highly congested area at times but unless it's lunch time in a 1-bar area I don't tend to dip below 500kbps and if it is later in the day (or evening) and/or in a sparsely populated area (or higher-income area, draw your own conclusions) I have seen as high as 2.7mbps...my friend lives in a low-population high income area and he may be the only Sprint subscriber for miles, lol, and they get 2.5~2.7mbps all day every day. There are also times/places where Sprint's 3G speed absolutely spanks Verizon's.
...as far as 4G goes it can be blazing fast but you probably won't ever get the signal indoors unless you are in a 4G saturated metropolitan environment. I hear lots of complaints about 4G speed but when I get connected it's always faster than my home internet (6mbps, the most you can get from residential ATT DSL around here), I have seen 15mbps too.
As far as price is concerned Sprint wins hands down especially if you consider the unlimited data and free roaming. Voice roaming is unlimited. There is a "soft" limit of 3G roaming at 300mb, but, that is a floating line. If you aren't usually roaming but happen to travel somewhere that you are forced to roam at worst they will call or send you a letter telling you that if you do it again your contract may be terminated. But as long as it doesn't happen at work or at home they are mostly forgiving...and if not? That's a free out on your contract and now you have a $500-$700 (retail) phone for trade-up or resale to go back to Verizon.
EDIT: Oh yeah, battery life. It's killer. Very very killer compared to a Moment, Hero, Evo 4G and Evo 3D this thing slaughters them all. It's hard to say since I have been using my phone more than breathing these past 2 days, but, considering that I'm very impressed....*very* impressed.
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Sprint does NOT offer unlimited roaming.....I found this out while traveling to Florida in August. When I got done with explaining the Ambiguity in their false claims it has now since changed from unlimited roaming to unlimitting roaming on their network. They are such good corporate game players(liars).
Misleading people is what I don't agree with, but they are the cheapest game in town and suffice "if" you can get a signal. That said you get 800 minutes of roaming on their unlimited plan, and what ever your land line minutes are on their lower plans is the amount of roaming you will have before you have to PAY overages. If the overages happen too much they void your contract after making you aware that their is no unlimited. Now before any one starts debating this look at the advertisements and if that doesn't clue you in call and ask what I said.
They advertised unlimited roaming until I got done with them. They had a little fine print in the back of that agreement letting unsuspecting people that went over know that there was no unlimited roaming. Then they try to collect money for it. But, I let them know that ambiguity in contract law goes to the consumer, and that we can all void our contracts based on this lil tidbit of a lie, because many of us joined because of the roaming plan when we lose their coverage, and since it was a hoax the contract was null and void. They have now changed it to read unlimited roaming on their network only. How can you roam on the very network that you reside.
eakrish said:
I currently have the droid bionic with a iPhone as my back up. Is it worth me switching to sprint to pick up the Epic touch? How's the battery life and reception with sprint compared to VZW? Right now with juice defender I get about a consistent 20 hrs actually using my phone.
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QWIKSTRIKE said:
Sprint does NOT offer unlimited roaming.....I found this out while traveling to Florida in August. When I got done with explaining the Ambiguity in their false claims it has now since changed from unlimited roaming to unlimitting roaming on their network. They are such good corporate game players(liars).
Misleading people is what I don't agree with, but they are the cheapest game in town and suffice "if" you can get a signal. That said you get 800 minutes of roaming on their unlimited plan, and what ever your land line minutes are on their lower plans is the amount of roaming you will have before you have to PAY overages. If the overages happen too much they void your contract after making you aware that their is no unlimited. Now before any one starts debating this look at the advertisements and if that doesn't clue you in call and ask what I said.
They advertised unlimited roaming until I got done with them. They had a little fine print in the back of that agreement letting unsuspecting people that went over know that there was no unlimited roaming. Then they try to collect money for it. But, I let them know that ambiguity in contract law goes to the consumer, and that we can all void our contracts based on this lil tidbit of a lie, because many of us joined because of the roaming plan when we lose their coverage, and since it was a hoax the contract was null and void. They have now changed it to read unlimited roaming on their network only. How can you roam on the very network that you reside.
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Roaming on their network!? I'm trying really hard to find some way to make sense out of that... my legalese-to-english converter is usually pretty good but I just can't....wrap my....anything around that.
daneurysm said:
Pick your provider FIRST, then pick your device.
As stated be sure to not just check a coverage map but to check with friends and coworkers who have Sprint and live/commute/work in your area.
I've traveled the country a little and I have never been without Sprint coverage except in two tiny holes in my home town...where not a single provider has anything but threshold levels of service out doors, indoors you get squat from any of them. These "holes", however, can be deal breakers if you happen to live and/or work in them. Coverage maps help, a little, but asking people (and looking at their signal meters) is far more precise.
As far as data speed is concerned it's a mixed bag. I came from a line of HTC devices where changing the PRL on-the-go was simple so I used the "00001.prl" a lot. This PRL, essentially, puts you on Verizon's towers, full speed 3G. I can honestly say that while Verizon's speeds tend to be far more consistent than Sprint's that even though I had the chance to get out of Sprint this month (for free) that instead of going to Big Red I used that to upgrade to the Epic Touch without hesitation...The data speeds can drag-ass in a highly congested area at times but unless it's lunch time in a 1-bar area I don't tend to dip below 500kbps and if it is later in the day (or evening) and/or in a sparsely populated area (or higher-income area, draw your own conclusions) I have seen as high as 2.7mbps...my friend lives in a low-population high income area and he may be the only Sprint subscriber for miles, lol, and they get 2.5~2.7mbps all day every day. There are also times/places where Sprint's 3G speed absolutely spanks Verizon's.
...as far as 4G goes it can be blazing fast but you probably won't ever get the signal indoors unless you are in a 4G saturated metropolitan environment. I hear lots of complaints about 4G speed but when I get connected it's always faster than my home internet (6mbps, the most you can get from residential ATT DSL around here), I have seen 15mbps too.
As far as price is concerned Sprint wins hands down especially if you consider the unlimited data and free roaming. Voice roaming is unlimited. There is a "soft" limit of 3G roaming at 300mb, but, that is a floating line. If you aren't usually roaming but happen to travel somewhere that you are forced to roam at worst they will call or send you a letter telling you that if you do it again your contract may be terminated. But as long as it doesn't happen at work or at home they are mostly forgiving...and if not? That's a free out on your contract and now you have a $500-$700 (retail) phone for trade-up or resale to go back to Verizon.
EDIT: Oh yeah, battery life. It's killer. Very very killer compared to a Moment, Hero, Evo 4G and Evo 3D this thing slaughters them all. It's hard to say since I have been using my phone more than breathing these past 2 days, but, considering that I'm very impressed....*very* impressed.
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Agreed. Carrier first. A phone shouldn't really be a reason to switch, although this phone is pretty awesome.
Sprint has been AWESOME in nearly all areas. They seem better than VZW for me in rural areas. I live in the middle of nowhere and have EXCELLENT EVDOrA signal.
---------- Post added at 03:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:35 PM ----------
eakrish said:
I don't need a phone to tether, just need a bad ass phone that looks great, feels super fast and has great battery life. I also want a great looking display and widgets that are good for social media.
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Verizon has plenty of phones in that department.. and nearly any Android phone would fill those needs. If you want the best Android phone available right now, this is it.
Also you may want to keep an eye out for the sprint network meeting October 7th. They are going to talk about this new thing called "network vision".
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I switched on Friday and I'm already starting to regret it - I haven't seen a 3G download speed higher than around 90kbps here. The phone is absolutely amazing on wifi and I love the device itself, but out around town it's pretty bad. I tried to download a 2MB or so app at a restaurant where I had a full 5 bars of signal last night and it was still trying to download 15+ minutes later because of how slow the actual download rate was. It's worse than a dial-up modem at time.
I wasn't even thinking about the unlimited data on VZW when I did it too - did I lose that now even if I do a winback?
TabsAZ said:
I switched on Friday and I'm already starting to regret it - I haven't seen a 3G download speed higher than around 90kbps here. The phone is absolutely amazing on wifi and I love the device itself, but out around town it's pretty bad. I tried to download a 2MB or so app at a restaurant where I had a full 5 bars of signal last night and it was still trying to download 15+ minutes later because of how slow the actual download rate was. It's worse than a dial-up modem at time.
I wasn't even thinking about the unlimited data on VZW when I did it too - did I lose that now even if I do a winback?
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I think they are doing something for the launch of the iPHONE. It was never this slow until recently. It had better go back to how it was or I will ditch their asses
TabsAZ said:
I switched on Friday and I'm already starting to regret it - I haven't seen a 3G download speed higher than around 90kbps here. The phone is absolutely amazing on wifi and I love the device itself, but out around town it's pretty bad. I tried to download a 2MB or so app at a restaurant where I had a full 5 bars of signal last night and it was still trying to download 15+ minutes later because of how slow the actual download rate was. It's worse than a dial-up modem at time.
I wasn't even thinking about the unlimited data on VZW when I did it too - did I lose that now even if I do a winback?
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Did you investigate Sprint coverage before you switched? What is signal strength like? Are you metering 90 kbps with SpeedTest app, tethering, or a program like DU Meter?
I'm guessing your PRL is up to date..
I'd also make sure you don't have any background apps downloading stuff.
Also, are you saying 90 kilo-bytes per second or 90 kilo-bits per second. 90 kilo-bytes is almost 1Mbps, and is a low-side average for 3G. That could also vary by network congestion, etc.
90 kilo-bits sounds like 1xRTT and not EVDO.
I'd also check with other users, or try a mobile broadband card if you can.
You will lose unlimited from VZW if you go back, but like I posted earlier, I am surprised they didn't terminate you to get you on limited like they did me.

Foolish to buy Wimax device now?

With all the hubbub surrounding the Clearwire Wimax deal that was signed for the next few years, and the looming launch of LTE (mid-2012?), is it really foolish to sign a new contract and get a Wimax device?
All of the LTE devices I've seen on VZW/AT&T have atrocious battery life at the expense of crazy speeds (20Mbps+). A few coworkers got the Droid Bionic and barely make it to the end of the work day. Old college roommate works for AT&T and he says most of their LTE stuff needs extended batteries in order to be usable for a whole day.
Frankly I can live with Wimax's 3-5Mbps if it means I don't have to keep hovering around a charger all day. The Epic 4G Touch is so very tempting but I'm afraid I'm committing to "old" tech and that in 12 months I'll have regretted it.
(current VZW customer off-contract with an OG Droid)
dparm said:
With all the hubbub surrounding the Clearwire Wimax deal that was signed for the next few years, and the looming launch of LTE (mid-2012?), is it really foolish to sign a new contract and get a Wimax device?
All of the LTE devices I've seen on VZW/AT&T have atrocious battery life at the expense of crazy speeds (20Mbps+). A few coworkers got the Droid Bionic and barely make it to the end of the work day. Old college roommate works for AT&T and he says most of their LTE stuff needs extended batteries in order to be usable for a whole day.
Frankly I can live with Wimax's 3-5Mbps if it means I don't have to keep hovering around a charger all day. The Epic 4G Touch is so very tempting but I'm afraid I'm committing to "old" tech and that in 12 months I'll have regretted it.
(current VZW customer off-contract with an OG Droid)
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First and foremost the spectrum allocated to Sprint's WiMax sucks. It's a razor thin chunk. That is why Sprint's 4G sucks...LTE isn't inherently better in this regard. If LTE was on the same crappy spectrum it would suck too.
When you can connect to WiMax it's fantastic. I used to get 12-15mbps all day long in my area. Now it's in the 3-8mbps range depending on time of day.
That razor thin strip of spectrum allocated to Sprint/Clearwire's "4G" WiMax makes your connection easily disrupted by such disturbances as a closed window or a stiff breeze...seriously. If you aren't in a very solid 4G area (don't ask Sprint or Clearwire, ask people who have the service in your area) I wouldn't bank on getting a 4G signal very often, if at all. When a rom comes out that doesn't support 4G I don't care at all...yeah, it can be that bad.
With that out of the way it should be noted that you likely won't have Sprint LTE coverage in your area for at least a year, likely 2, maybe 3 or 4. Sprint has some rosy estimates flying around right now, but, I remember how their 3G and 4G rollouts went, so, I wouldn't take their word with a grain of salt...I would outright disregard it.
So where does this leave you? Most likely in an area with sparse (if any) 4G and LTE anywhere from 1.5-3 years away and you want a phone now.
Luckily Sprint's 3G service is improving quickly around the country--quicker in some places than others of course. Also the level of improvement will vary wildly depending on many factors, so, don't even bet on the future...especially when it's in Sprint's hands.
My advice? If you want to be/stay on Sprint and are currently satisfied with your service and would also like the ET4G, well, just go get it. By time your contract is up the LTE devices will actually exist and the LTE will be rolled out and WiMax will still be up and running and hopefully the 3G network is up to snuff.
EDIT: As a current Vzw customer you will likely be either disappointed or even horrified by Sprint's current 3G speeds. Ask around, some markets/areas have amazing performance. Where I live is so-so. I'm now getting 600-1000kbps regularly, though last month it was 300-500kbps. However 5 miles away at my friends house I actually saw 2.8mbps and killer 15mbps 4G all the time. Many people here are nowhere near as lucky as either me or my friend, so, ask around....you can never tell.
I'm in downtown Chicago, so I'm sure that it'll be a high priority area for deployment.
My job is 100% travel though, so for a few months at a time I could be anywhere else in the US (Mon-Fri). Typically it's big cities though, like Houston, NYC, Miami, Denver, etc. I just want something fast but consistent. Voice quality/coverage is priority 1, then battery, then data speeds.
I visited two Sprint stores in different parts of the city this week and the web browsing on their 4G seemed plenty fast.
dparm said:
I'm in downtown Chicago, so I'm sure that it'll be a high priority area for deployment.
My job is 100% travel though, so for a few months at a time I could be anywhere else in the US (Mon-Fri). Typically it's big cities though, like Houston, NYC, Miami, Denver, etc. I just want something fast but consistent. Voice quality/coverage is priority 1, then battery, then data speeds.
I visited two Sprint stores in different parts of the city this week and the web browsing on their 4G seemed plenty fast.
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I travel for work sometimes. Chicago is covered in 4G as are most major metropolitan areas.
So far as voice/text ("2G") is concerned you will be well served everywhere. Sprint has pretty thorough 2G coverage and you will roam on Verizon if not. You get "Unlimited" Roaming. If you roam too much they'll give you the boot. I wouldn't worry about it.
So long as you understand all said about 4G and are fine with that 3G is the only real sticking point and is as I described earlier. You will roam on Verizon (at 1x, ick...but we have ways around that if you are forced to roam momentarily), but, it's usually not Sprint's coverage so much as the performance. I personally have never experienced horribly un-usable 3G anywhere...even tethered to my laptop. But I haven't gone on any business trips in the past 9 months when things have gone downhill rapidly--or so the posts here would have me believe.
I'd say buy a VZW phone outright and stay out of contract. Their speeds will be faster as well as the reliability. If this were my only phone I would've dove headfirst off a bunk bed.
I have a company Blackberry on AT&T and a regular feature phone on AT&T so I'm covered service wise. To give you an idea AT&T's HSDPA (3.5G) technology is faster than Sprint's faux 4G.
I love this phone but something needs to happen soon or people are going to leave in droves. The phone is awesome but the service is something to be desired.
I'm in Northern NJ by the way.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Lately the Verizon 3G coverage in downtown Chicago and the burbs have been sucking. I have updated my PRL several times and even flashed a different ROM just to be certain.
I get 4g in plenty of places. (I live in the bay area). Sprint just gave clear some money so I'm still good with buying my next wimax phone. From what I see and hear, lte isn't better than wimax just yet. Fastest speed I've seen is on hspa+ 22mbps.
I think its a waste if you live in an area like I do that doesn't have Wimax and never will.
I am coming from Verizon and the Thunderbolt and until phones get better battery's lte is not worth it unless you want 8 to 12 hours of battery depending on your usage(on my wifi and 4g and 3g service with sprint after 16hours of usage moderate I have 33% life left) In a few years when sprint gets lte maybe batterys will be caught up. Or if sprint doesnt ill switch to at&t or Verizon again. But I am happy with sprint. And I love this phone
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
I have known since the beginning of the year when the Galaxy S II became available internationally that that was the phone I wanted to upgrade to. The decider for me to go for the Epic Touch 4G variant on Sprint was the truly unlimited data. I was off contract on AT&T, and even though I was fortunate enough to actually get very good service in my area on AT&T, I liked the idea of never having to worry about my data usage, no matter how I might choose to use my phone.
I don't generally get as good data coverage on Sprint as I did on AT&T, but when I do have service it is generally faster than what I got on AT&T, most especially on 4G. And when it does lose Sprint coverage, it roams on Verizon towers, so I really am never completely without service.
And the phone itself is great. No regrets there.
Thanks. Like I said, Verizon's coverage down here lately seems really lousy. The data speed is "acceptable". My OG Droid is still hanging on by a thread and I am still on an unlimited data plan, though I rarely go over 2-3GB per month.
I'm having trouble finding Chicago Sprint owners to comment on coverage and data speeds, though. Only one or two friends of mine have it and they're not really geeky enough to know what I'm interested in...they see a phone as a phone.
dparm said:
Thanks. Like I said, Verizon's coverage down here lately seems really lousy. The data speed is "acceptable". My OG Droid is still hanging on by a thread and I am still on an unlimited data plan, though I rarely go over 2-3GB per month.
I'm having trouble finding Chicago Sprint owners to comment on coverage and data speeds, though. Only one or two friends of mine have it and they're not really geeky enough to know what I'm interested in...they see a phone as a phone.
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You definitely needs to find someone. You do have a buyer's remorse period you could use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
CODteabagger said:
You definitely needs to find someone. You do have a buyer's remorse period you could use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Yes, the 30 day return period is nice. Would give me a shot at really test driving the thing.
Any suggestions on how to get some real details on Chicago Wimax and voice?
wimax will be around thru 2015 at the least... buying a wimax device now wouldnt be the end of the world.
also.. the first sprint lte devices wont get super awesome. and we wont be seeing the good lte chips(the ones that work on multiple bands) until 2013(sprints 2nd lte gen).
Upgrading to a Wimax phone this year seems fine. And you can enjoy the unlimited data. It will set you up to upgrade in 2013, when new phones will be ready to utilize Sprint's LTE (800MHz/1.9GHz) and Clear's LTE-Advanced (2.5GHz).
dparm said:
Yes, the 30 day return period is nice. Would give me a shot at really test driving the thing.
Any suggestions on how to get some real details on Chicago Wimax and voice?
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It's 14 days now.
daneurysm said:
It's 14 days now.
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Ooo that sucks. It'll probably get ****ty 3G speeds on the 15th day.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
CODteabagger said:
I'd say buy a VZW phone outright and stay out of contract. Their speeds will be faster as well as the reliability. If this were my only phone I would've dove headfirst off a bunk bed.
I have a company Blackberry on AT&T and a regular feature phone on AT&T so I'm covered service wise. To give you an idea AT&T's HSDPA (3.5G) technology is faster than Sprint's faux 4G.
I love this phone but something needs to happen soon or people are going to leave in droves. The phone is awesome but the service is something to be desired.
I'm in Northern NJ by the way.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
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Yea Im gonna have to disagree here, one of my customer just bought a skyrocket from att and my touch destroyed his phones speeds while he was on the socalled 4gLTE hspa+ network and I was only in a 3g area (all of san diego county) there is nothing faux bout WiMax, it is all a money issue when it comes down to it.
Yes I am anxious for LTE-A as well as more power efficient radios. I remember when the first "3G" stuff came out years ago (HSDPA or whatever)...the battery life sucked but within a year or two they got it worked out.
daneurysm said:
...Sprint's 4G sucks... When a rom comes out that doesn't support 4G I don't care at all...yeah, it can be that bad.
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Yeah, it's not anything to write home about.
But I mostly use wifi at home and work so I'm not too put out by the slow speeds.
It is good enough to have a halfway decent skype session, youtube, etc...
I was hoping to get some gaming action though.
That ain't happening unless it's on wifi, at least in my area.

So lost right now!! Which provider??

I totally don't know which provider to choose for the galaxy nexus!!!
Should I pay $750 for the GSM version??
I would be able to
-get the $30 walmart/tmobile plan
-no contract
-able to save $$ overtime....
-Speeds wont be fast as the Verizon model
Or
Get the Verizon Nexus!
-I have LTE in my area
-My bill would be $79.00 plus taxes
If you was in my position, which model would you get?
whats more important to you? speed or cost?
For me, it was a pretty easy choice. I use wifi the majority of my day, at work and home. So I go for cost
Easy decision for me, I'm stuck on Verizon until I get rid of my ~$1100 in ETFs, plus the LTE is fantastic around here. It's nothing to pull 16 Mbps down.
Ez decision. Big red robs you and make you think you like it. Pay the money upfront for the phone and get your tmob plan to make it back in the short and long term.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Well you get what you pay for.
$30 vs. $80.
5-7 mbps vs. 20+mbps
100 minutes vs. 450 minutes
unlimited text vs. 0 text
Is the $50 premium worth it? Do you really need more than 7mbps down? I would say no unless you are tethering. GSM HSDPA+ is perfectly fine for a phone. Nobody needs 20mbps to stream media of any kind.
You wanna be the tortoise or the hare? Lol
I was in the same boat on AT&T after having been bitten by the iPhone 4S bug. After a few weeks, I totally realized I never should have bought it. Battery life is great and all and the apps are well designed, but there is something about having the same phone as my mother that rubs me the wrong way. Verizon's LTE is mighty tempting as well and even though we just launched a few LTE devices on AT&T, none of them caught my eye.
I ultimately decided to go with importing since my monthly bill would be lower with my work discount. LTE is great, but I can't imagine doing anything with it that I can't do on AT&T's HSPA network. Plus with how the launch of this phone has gone, I didn't want to take the risk that this would be Verizon's first and last Nexus phone. Hopefully AT&T does decided to launch an LTE version of the Nexus in the next six months. If not I'll just wait for the next Nexus....
I would also add... if you plan to travel outside of north america get the gsm phone, cdma doesn't work outside of North America (ok china and india?)
also. i've been using tmobile and not at&t which is awesome where I live. (~9mbit/s down). I cannot speak to the battery usage of LTE, but I hear its terrible
I say go with GSM
(note CDMA/LTE version is slightly heavier [15g] and thicket [0.5mm])
It was easy for me.
Got the imported GN. Went into AT&T store renew my contract by getting a iphone 4S for 200 hoping that I would be able to sell it for 500+ on ebay etc. That would help me cover some of damage that importing GN did to my bank. lol.
FastMhz said:
You wanna be the tortoise or the hare? Lol
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Please explain what you can do on the LTE network that is impossible on a 7mbps+ HSDPA+ connection?
I use slingbox, tunein radio and SiriusXM without a hiccup.
How would Verizon make this stream better??
These outrageous LTE speeds only benefit users if you are tethering to download an .iso or something. Outside of that, it's marketing gold.
Discuss.
If I get the verizon lte model I may actually get the Big old Cheese during a wootoff for once with the better speeds and ping.
All of these posted speeds are nice, assuming that for both AT&T and Verizon provides the same level of coverage and network performance as promised. Even though my area is in HSDPA+, AT&T service is crap and isn't worth a damn during peaks times when I need to use my phone. I'd be lucky to get 1MB down if that.
fr4c said:
All of these posted speeds are nice, assuming that for both AT&T and Verizon provides the same level of coverage and network performance as promised. Even though my area is in HSDPA+, AT&T service is crap and isn't worth a damn during peaks times when I need to use my phone. I'd be lucky to get 1MB down if that.
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This is *exactly* the problem. Here are my AT&T HSPA+ speeds on my GSM Galaxy Nexus:
From my house -- 5 mb/s
From random place in the west part of the city -- 10 mb/s
From downtown at 10 PM -- 5 mb/s
BUT, from downtown during the business day, when it matters -- 0.5 mb/s
It's what I call the football game effect. At a football game, AT&T phones get basically zero service, whereas Verizon's CDMA network is capable of normal speeds. Downtown has that same issue during the day, as will any crowded area (shopping mall, etc).
This is the reason why I'm likely going to switch to Verizon if they ever release the phone. Enjoying LTE has less to do with the crazy 50 mb/s speeds than it does with enjoying reasonable speeds even in crowded areas. I'll still keep the GSM phone for international travel, though.
I wanted a GSM device and I didn't want anything a carrier had a chance to mess with. This meant importing. Yeah, I paid about $750, but it was worth it. I get updates prompt from Google, I don't worry about carrier apps that can't be uninstalled, I can change phones whenever I want without having to call or get permission from my carrier, and I'm stuck on AT&T for a while anyway.
I'm very happy with my purchase. Honestly, with the VZW one, you'll be tied in to a contract anyway. You'll end up paying more than the phone's cost over that time regardless. The GSM import is just more up front. And if you can get WiFi fairly often, then it's worth it to go with the cheaper plan.
Also, to reply to the poster above me: I haven't had any issues with speed in Boston on AT&T. It seems pretty consistent. Maybe your area is more of a problem area? I know a lot of people hate on AT&T, but I've found their network to be quite stable.

Come to JC meeting

Okay everyone, I feel like this a time for those of us that have to decide to renew our contract with Sprint...to make a real informed decision. I'm going to try and keep this short.
Read this first- here
I've been with every carrier EXCEPT Verizon and twice with Sprint. I always knew that Sprint's data network wasn't that great, but I found it usable (barely and often times frustrating). With my contract date ending on 5/3, I started looking at other carriers. I have friends on Verizon, TMo, and ATT. In a very non-scientific way, I decided to test the 3G & 4G speeds on those networks...later comparing them to Sprint. I always found my Sprint speeds to be the slowest...on both. Let me mention that I live in Kansas City...which is in Sprint's backyard...didn't even matter.
With the direction mobile technology is going...LTE is definitely here to stay. However, the battery powering the device is not improving (except for the Razr Maxx). And we all know that 4G...albeit LTE or WiMax, sucks the life out of the standard mAh battery in the device. Which is why, I use 3G most of the time...again, which is not that good on Sprint's network.
Even with the sexy Evo 4G LTE dropping soon, I am starting to reconsider my tenure with Sprint. Even with a good LTE network, 3G still plays a role...at least for me. Paired with my tests and the above article, it proves that Sprint needs to get their sh*t together. A great device means nothing on a sub par network.
I guess I'm angry right now and I don't plan to sit on the curb either. I really want to give Sprint a chance...have been for nearly 2 years. But, I don't want to be optimistic, only to be let down 2 more years later. So my question to my comrades is simple. Are you all going to stay with Sprint or look elsewhere?
Don't worry, I'm a big boy and I can take straight up responses. Sorry for the dissertation.
Regards,
sag
***Mods, feel free to move this to general discussion. I think it may belong there.***
You go to another carrier and get less data for more money, better speeds less quality. Sprints LTE roll out is bringing network vision with it which is enhanced 1x and 3g networks as well as LTE everywhere there is now 3g coverage within 2 years. I'll be sticking with sprint as I have been with every carrier and sprint has the best customer service and actually works with their customers. Vzw doesn't give a rats ass how badly they screw you and will even directly lie to your face to get you to change your plan, device, contract etc. ATT lte is spotty at best TMO is just a joke in alot of areas, and sprints network vision will far surpass all the other carriers by the end of 2014.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I'm sticking with Sprint. The price plans for Verizon are so much more expensive than what I'm currently paying, and I'm not sure the benefits warrant the cost. Also, I'm optimistic that Sprint is at least trying to get better. Their venture into WiMAX set them back, but they've been moving to correct that. Lastly, I'll be spending the next four years in college where I'll have WiFi available nearly constantly.
See there are so many things I am weighing right now...in no particular order
Devices offered...to include future device offerings
Data Speeds
Customer service
Coverage
Rate Plans
Tethering (the XDA way ;-))
Time to upgrade
I have been following the development of Sprint's network and it really DOES look promising. However, I do not want to wait for nothing. I'm trying not to let impulse or frustration get the best of me right now...really difficult. I love my Evo and I am hoping the love will continue with the Evo LTE. I just want to love the network as well.
Thanks for responding and I hope this continues to create dialog.
Brilliancy said:
I'm sticking with Sprint. The price plans for Verizon are so much more expensive than what I'm currently paying, and I'm not sure the benefits warrant the cost. Also, I'm optimistic that Sprint is at least trying to get better. Their venture into WiMAX set them back, but they've been moving to correct that. Lastly, I'll be spending the next four years in college where I'll have WiFi available nearly constantly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the time network vision is fully deployed sprint is targeted to have the best network in the country. HD voice, consistent 1.8-3mb 3g speeds and LTE with coverage everywhere they currently have 3g with the same signal quality and building penetration as the current 3g network means they will have LTE in a bigger market than any other carrier while having the same or better 3g as well and far superior voice quality, with the customer service they currently have sprint will be poised to be the top dog once again.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
here are a few things floating in my mind on why to switching carriers ( other than having NO COVERAGE aka im runnin in airplane mode just to save battery cuz there is no point on leaving radio on unless i like looking at the x over my signal bars lol)
-boy do i miss sim cards it was WAYYY easier to switch phones imo (yea yea you can even switch sprint phones by talking to them online but still swap a sim and wait sounds like fun)
-i mean the faster speeds would be nice and the limits on amount of data might be hassle but... i really dont find myself downloading roms over the 3g/4g radio (well ok maybe 4g but i dont have that in my particular area either but i get that could be nice) and tethering could be an issue (and i mean by other means not the manufacturers app) since there are caps butttt yeah there is wifi so many places and at the rates the size of phones are coming who needs to tether a lappy lol
-i guess im so over customer service where unless it is really really really really really need im just gonna try to fix it myself just cuz.
andddd to be honest i know this sounds like a stupid thing or maybe just dumb but att has this 50 unlimited plan for the go phone (annnd a sim only costs like 4 bucks or something like that which means no need to hack away with cdma workshop to get my phone on boost or something). downside is yesss you have to buy a phone off plan and yes you still will get throttled (right ? wasnt that what they are doin to unlimited plans?) but id rather shell out for a phone i want that im not stuck with due to contract annnd have my 50 dollar plan throttled than a $100+ plan throttled lol anyways those are some of my thoughts just thought i'd share

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