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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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

Understanding Sprint's Strategy

Today’s Sprint strategy meeting revealed a significant amount of information about the future of the Now Network. Sprint has began the rollout of its new network and the rapid deployment of LTE on their 800 and 1900MHz frequencies. In fact, the “Network Vision” deployment is going so well that Sprint is expecting to be completely finished by the of end of 2013, rather than the speculated 3 to 5 years.
Sprint is investing $4 to $5 billion into “Network Vision,” with an expected net return of $10 to $11 billion by 2017. Sprint is expecting to launch it’s first LTE device by mid-2012 (posibly an LTE EVO device) and close the year with 15 LTE devices in it’s lineup. The agreement between Clearwire and Sprint is set expire at the end of 2012. Sprint will sell WiMax devices all the way through til the end of 2012, but support for WiMax devices will continue for an unspecified period beyond 2012.
Sprint is progressively turning over the Nextel 800MHz spectrum for use on CDMA. The 800 and 1900MHz spectra are owned and operated by Sprint, and will provide for voice, data, and 4G as per “Network Vision.” Pending FCC approval due to GPS interference, LightSquared’s 1600MHz spectrum will also be used exclusively for LTE on Sprint, in addition to the 800 and 1900MHz frequencies. There are no plans to use Clearwire or their 2.5GHz spectrum after 2012. However, Sprint is waiting to see what happens with their network change to LTE.
Many of you have numerous questions such as: “Why is LightSquared paying Sprint to use their LTE network?”, “Where is Sprint getting the money to invest in “Network Vision?”, “What is going to happen to my WiMax device?”, or “How does this effect me?” Keep reading for answers to all these questions.
http://briefmobile.com/understanding-sprints-strategy

My question is why do they need so many frequencys of lte
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

gtuansdiamm said:
My question is why do they need so many frequencys of lte
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Because it answers spectrum issues while allowing for building penetration when needed.

gtuansdiamm said:
My question is why do they need so many frequencys of lte
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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1900MHz will be the primary LTE usage. 800MHz will be used by around 20% of users, and that's mainly deep in buildings and in extremely rural areas. 1600MHz is basically a bonus that came with LightSquare. There is still a chance the FCC might not pass it's usage of the frequency because it is so close to the GPS frequency. It's only 20MHz of spectrum in the 1600MHz realm, so it's no big deal. It's the money that Sprint needs.

Does this mean that our Wimax devices will be worthless? I hate that we have to pay an up charge for 4g devices using a technology that will not be in service in two years and Sprint really dragged their butts in trying to implement in the first place. I will probably upgrade to a new device by this time, but it is really pissing me off that they do this and cancel the one year upgrade.
Not that my Wimax is really doing anything in the first place, whenever I go to a place that has Wimax coverage (per Clearmax's maps) I can get just enough signal for my phone to tell me it has 4g. I get excited and then find out that its not strong enough and this is with two different phones (Epic & Epic Touch) and then the phone gives up on connecting to 4g anyway.
I paid the 3g up charge around 2006 when I lived in a town that did not have 3g coverage. I did not mind as Sprint upgraded their towers and eventually got me 3g. I would be pissed to pay this fee on phone using technology that they will abandon requiring me to buy something else to take advantage of newer technology that I have subsidized through a charge that I have never really taken advantage of.
Thanks Sprint for selling us devices with an up charge for a technology that you will abandon in a few years.

mag44 said:
Does this mean that our Wimax devices will be worthless? I hate that we have to pay an up charge for 4g devices using a technology that will not be in service in two years and Sprint really dragged their butts in trying to implement in the first place. I will probably upgrade to a new device by this time, but it is really pissing me off that they do this and cancel the one year upgrade.
Not that my Wimax is really doing anything in the first place, whenever I go to a place that has Wimax coverage (per Clearmax's maps) I can get just enough signal for my phone to tell me it has 4g. I get excited and then find out that its not strong enough and this is with two different phones (Epic & Epic Touch) and then the phone gives up on connecting to 4g anyway.
I paid the 3g up charge around 2006 when I lived in a town that did not have 3g coverage. I did not mind as Sprint upgraded their towers and eventually got me 3g. I would be pissed to pay this fee on phone using technology that they will abandon requiring me to buy something else to take advantage of newer technology that I have subsidized through a charge that I have never really taken advantage of.
Thanks Sprint for selling us devices with an up charge for a technology that you will abandon in a few years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiMax will be supported for around 2 to 3 years after 2012. I will bet on that.

newalker91 said:
Stop it. You're not paying any fee for 4G, you're paying for having a data intensive smartphone. So tired of hearing people whine about $10 saying it's for a service they don't get. It is not a charge for 4G. Go price a plan on another unlimited carri- oh wait you cant.
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Click to collapse
Yes, corporate double speak from from Sprint. They did the exact SAME THING during the 3G roll out. I remember I had a Samsung A900 phone at the time. You are paying to subside their 4G roll out and I personally don't care about this if they didn't bungle it with this Wimax crap that they are abandoning in a few years.
Data intensive is just a joke after they realized that they weren't going to get 4g into many markets and even the markets that they got into implemented it in the coverage was too spotty.
Anyway If they really wanted to tax "data intensive" phones why didn't they do this earlier, they had phones that sucked up data before this whole charge.
I'm not complaining about the charge itself, I would appreciate it if it was used like the 3G charge. Which I believe helped the speed of the 3g implementation. I have been with Sprint since 2002 moved from a big city to a smaller town since then and was impressed with their service upgrades in the 2006~2007 time period.

mag44 said:
Yes, corporate double speak from from Sprint. They did the exact SAME THING during the 3G roll out. I remember I had a Samsung A900 phone at the time. You are paying to subside their 4G roll out and I personally don't care about this if they didn't bungle it with this Wimax crap that they are abandoning in a few years.
Data intensive is just a joke after they realized that they weren't going to get 4g into many markets and even the markets that they got into implemented it in the coverage was too spotty.
Anyway If they really wanted to tax "data intensive" phones why didn't they do this earlier, they had phones that sucked up data before this whole charge.
I'm not complaining about the charge itself, I would appreciate it if it was used like the 3G charge. Which I believe helped the speed of the 3g implementation. I have been with Sprint since 2002 moved from a big city to a smaller town since then and was impressed with their service upgrades in the 2006~2007 time period.
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So what if you are? They have to pay for it some how!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

newalker91 said:
Stop it. You're not paying any fee for 4G, you're paying for having a data intensive smartphone. So tired of hearing people whine about $10 saying it's for a service they don't get. It is not a charge for 4G. Go price a plan on another unlimited carri- oh wait you cant.
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Click to collapse
Dude, it's not worth it.
It's been discussed and proven 10000000000000000000000000000 times on this boards.
They're trolls.
They should honestly get a ban for not reading and just trolling.

Korey_Nicholson said:
So what if you are? They have to pay for it some how!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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The whole point is they picked the wrong 4g technology. They decided to charge people for 4g initially, then realized that they messed up and decided to call the extra charge to a "data intensive" fee to cover their butts so people would not complain about not having 4g. And people like me would get labeled as whiners for even bringing up the issue. I travel a lot and even when I am in 4g cities the coverage is spotty at best. Now Sprint has changed paths, along with their upgrade offer, potentially leaving people in the dust with their extra fees.
Like I said in my earlier post I paid the extra fee to have a 3g phone when they first came out, but I would be pissed if they changed to some new 3g technology and my phone lost one of its selling points. I didn't mind that I got no 3g service at first in my home town but it eventually came.

mag44 said:
The whole point is they picked the wrong 4g technology. They decided to charge people for 4g initially, then realized that they messed up and decided to call the extra charge to a "data intensive" fee to cover their butts so people would not complain about not having 4g. And people like me would get labeled as whiners for even bringing up the issue. I travel a lot and even when I am in 4g cities the coverage is spotty at best. Now Sprint has changed paths, along with their upgrade offer, potentially leaving people in the dust with their extra fees.
Like I said in my earlier post I paid the extra fee to have a 3g phone when they first came out, but I would be pissed if they changed to some new 3g technology and my phone lost one of its selling points. I didn't mind that I got no 3g service at first in my home town but it eventually came.
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Click to collapse
1) At no point was it ever labeled a 4g fee.
2) By the time the Wimax network is shut down no one on XDA will have one and most of the rest of the population will have moved on as well.
See newalker91....its pointless.
Its literally the same pointless and rehashed arguments that have been used the last year and a half

newalker91 said:
They have openly stated that the Premium Data fee is to help carry the costs of both 4G roll-out and 3G backhaul improvements. The reason they need to do these things is because of the fact that a smartphone can now burn through 5-10 GB of data in a month without much effort at all. With the increase in data streaming/file hosting/social networking applications, it will only get higher. Add in the addition of the iPhone, the network cannot handle it. People want more than what they pay for, it's a rule of thumb with any service, it just gets really frustrating after hearing it day in and day out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep hearing the iphone will take down your network argument but how is an iphone any different than any top line android phone. They run the same or similar applications.
Anyway, I don't think anyone understands my frustration or bothered to read my posts. I DO NOT MIND PAYING THE EXTRA DATA FEE. I just feel used by having to pay to subsidies for some crappy "4g" technology that Sprint is abandoning and changed their phone upgrade policies to screw people who are attempting to take advantage of at the moment.
I have been a Sprint customer since 2002 and like their service for the most part, they provide value that I have not seen with the other carriers. I also love move Epic Touch it is a great phone its just stuff like this that gets me pissed off.
---------- Post added at 01:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 AM ----------
mattykinsx said:
1) At no point was it ever labeled a 4g fee.
2) By the time the Wimax network is shut down no one on XDA will have one and most of the rest of the population will have moved on as well.
See newalker91....its pointless.
Its literally the same pointless and rehashed arguments that have been used the last year and a half
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay not a 4g data fee but a PREMIUM DATA FEE. The 4g was not the total decider but it was a major decision point in their implementation of this fee. And I think that you are missing the point, I honestly don't care about the fee if they were using this to improve their Wimax. As far as phones using more data, they've had plenty of smartphones on the network before they did this, it was the 4g that allowed them to charge people.
http://androidandme.com/2010/05/new...s-mandatory-10-premium-29-for-mobile-hotspot/
Argument is also not "rehashed" as Sprint didn't decide to abandon their technology until this week but reading comprehension is beyond you so I will have to forgive you.
Again not complaining about the fee itself, I'm complaining about Sprints Wimax wasteland. If you read my posts I paid a $10 fee for my Samsung A900 3g and did not care because it garnered results. But here it ends up subsidizing some worthless and eventually abandoned technology. But, I am just a troll so what do I know.
And saying that nobody will have a wimax phone by the time they are phased out is an excellent argument. First, Sprint has changed their upgrade polices so many people NOT ON XDA (I do care about people not on this website) will be stuck on second tier wimax crap. Next, if you have a 4G phone right now you are paying for 4g wimax coverage (Yes you are also paying for the great camera on the phone and your facebook usage but if you read Sprint's statement this is mainly driven by 4g). I know that Sprint's official statements say that this extra charge is to cover the amount of data used by these phones but they decided to wait until their 4g phones were release and their poorly implemented 4g roll out. Its not smart to say its okay because by the time it comes through "we'll all have new phones".
And one more question, "Is the regular user burning through 5~10 GB of Data of their phone?". The only people that I know doing this are people who stream Netflix or something similar, who are not in the majority and Nextflix is not on every phone yet. I understand that there are users using an healthy amount of data on their phones but these people are NOT in the majority.
Although take my words for what its worth I just a troll though I've been here longer than the people who think that I am

newalker91 said:
They have openly stated that the Premium Data fee is to help carry the costs of both 4G roll-out and 3G backhaul improvements. The reason they need to do these things is because of the fact that a smartphone can now burn through 5-10 GB of data in a month without much effort at all. With the increase in data streaming/file hosting/social networking applications, it will only get higher. Add in the addition of the iPhone, the network cannot handle it. People want more than what they pay for, it's a rule of thumb with any service, it just gets really frustrating after hearing it day in and day out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except we were just sold shiny new $600 phones, of which 4G is a prominent selling point... and now the majority of us in the country who don't currently have WiMAX are now hung out to dry for 2 years because we have no hope of ever GETTING 4G unless we want to fork out ANOTHER $600 for a new phone.
If I knew I was going to benefit by eventually being able to use 4G with this device, or even get reasonable 3G speeds in the major city I live in, I wouldn't be resentful of the fee at all. However, I will never be able to use 4G on this phone, and they could triple my current average 3G speeds and I'd be up to a whopping .5mbps.

Dalmus said:
Except we were just sold shiny new $600 phones, of which 4G is a prominent selling point... and now the majority of us in the country who don't currently have WiMAX are now hung out to dry for 2 years because we have no hope of ever GETTING 4G unless we want to fork out ANOTHER $600 for a new phone.
If I knew I was going to benefit by eventually being able to use 4G with this device, or even get reasonable 3G speeds in the major city I live in, I wouldn't be resentful of the fee at all. However, I will never be able to use 4G on this phone, and they could triple my current average 3G speeds and I'd be up to a whopping .5mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More like 1.5 mb/s consistently
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Dalmus said:
Except we were just sold shiny new $600 phones, of which 4G is a prominent selling point... and now the majority of us in the country who don't currently have WiMAX are now hung out to dry for 2 years because we have no hope of ever GETTING 4G unless we want to fork out ANOTHER $600 for a new phone.
If I knew I was going to benefit by eventually being able to use 4G with this device, or even get reasonable 3G speeds in the major city I live in, I wouldn't be resentful of the fee at all. However, I will never be able to use 4G on this phone, and they could triple my current average 3G speeds and I'd be up to a whopping .5mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the gimmick that is "4g" is that big of a deal to you then sell your phone, go back to whatever phone you had and use that money when the LTE devices are available.
When Sprint Vision is released the 3g will be plenty fast.
Believe it or not, I know Verizon has convinced people of otherwise, you don't need 20mbit/s on your phone.
Or any speed close.
Christ, most people don't even have 20 mbit/s in their home!
Is that a server in your pocket? Didn't think so...

Nice XDAdvertisement, Mr. Nicholson.

k0nane said:
Nice XDAdvertisement, Mr. Nicholson.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe , attack strategy
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

I am fine with 400-600KB/s

I must say I'm sad that I bought the ET4g and will never in its lifeget to turn on the 4g radio... seriously though its a little saddening I see both side of the story. When I got my evo4g I had 1.2Mb/sec download which is less than half of verizons 3g speeds on kauai and now in the last 6 months I'm at .3-.2 Mb/sec. Just makes me sad is all. I have a ferrari of a phone with a moped engine of a network hahahaha

mattykinsx said:
If the gimmick that is "4g" is that big of a deal to you then sell your phone, go back to whatever phone you had and use that money when the LTE devices are available.
When Sprint Vision is released the 3g will be plenty fast.
Believe it or not, I know Verizon has convinced people of otherwise, you don't need 20mbit/s on your phone.
Or any speed close.
Christ, most people don't even have 20 mbit/s in their home!
Is that a server in your pocket? Didn't think so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, 4G isn't a big deal to me... And no, I don't need 20 mbits. You are right.
However, when I'm paying a "premium data fee" and the vast majority of the locations I go in the large city I live in have data speeds of about 15-20 kbytes/s, I get irritated. That's 1xRTT speeds. Three blocks from a tower. How do I know? Because I can force roam onto Verizon and get the same data speeds as I do native on Sprint.
If I lived in the middle of nowhere, I would expect bad 3G coverage, but I don't. I'm three freaking blocks from a Sprint tower, in a top 20 city in the country. I get the same speeds at 4am as I do at 4pm when all the 15 year olds get home from school and play on their phones.
And now, I get to wait until some mysterious time between now and the end of 2013 for them to implement their Network Vision plan in my area. Then my speeds can triple, and I'll get and average of 60 kbytes, which is still slower than Verizon, AT&T, and even Billy Bob's Cellular Emporium.
Believe me, I stay because I get a 25% discount from work, so my monthly bill is far cheaper than anything Verizon or AT&T can offer. But that is the ONLY reason. I generally discourage people from moving to Sprint, which in the long haul is worse for Sprint than if just left for Verizon.
Maybe Network Vision will result in finally getting the same, or at least similar, 3G speeds as everyone else on the planet... I'll be a happy camper. But with Sprint's history of a decreasing network footprint and decreasing data speeds, I'm not going to count on it.

Can stay with sprint or leave in april, what to do?

So my contract is up in April, or I can upgrade to a newer phone (maybe if the Galaxy Nexus is available by then I would get that). But what should I do?
I currently have a sprint airave at my house so signal isn't a big issue, although today our internet went down for a couple hours and on my stock prl I couldn't even get a data connection, and using a verizon roaming prl which was stuck in 1x I got around .15mbs down.
But my question is this;
I've heard that sprint is "doing tower upgrades" and they will start to rollout LTE sometime before the end of the year. But verizon already has LTE in my area (super fast..around 20mbs down) But I would have to pay more, and I would be capped. But what does having "truely unlimited data" mean if you can't even get a data connection?.
Is what sprint is doing with their network even worth it?, Or should I just say bye?. I've heard rumors that sprint is moving towards having some kind of a data cap anyways.

Sprint is in fact doing tower upgrades. They have been working hard in the area i live in particular and i have noticed data speed increases. I work at a place that offers sprint, att, and verizon services. We have a sprint Representative that visits about once a week or so and has been pretty open with us about upcoming changes in the past. Through today, i have yet to hear about a data cap, however did hear about their premium data pack that is required may* go up to $15 and other plans may go up as well, to help "cover costs" of the unlimited data. Sprint is cheaper when going to unlimited data, texts, and such. Based off the plans available where i work, switching to Verizon for similar service (except LTE) would cost around $10-$15 more plus tax's, fees, ect.. plus the initial $35 activation fee (assuming you only have 1 line?)

I've been trying to figure out the same thing, upgrade should be available in March/April and whether to upgrade, wait for newer phones or jump ship. I was getting really bad speeds but recent upgrades in my area have made things a lot better.

tempe38 said:
I've been trying to figure out the same thing, upgrade should be available in March/April and whether to upgrade, wait for newer phones or jump ship. I was getting really bad speeds but recent upgrades in my area have made things a lot better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I looked on that network map and they have done a "data capacity" upgrade, but a data speed upgrade is "within next 6 months"
I have an at&t phone for work and the coverage is really good, and I have a verizon LTE card for internet at work and that is around 20mbps. My sprint phone (at home, WITHOUT the airave on) gets around .05mpbs down, if I can even get a data connection. Which I am really glad sprint gave me the airave, but its basically just VOIP. If they really wanted to help out you'd think they would've offered something that didnt require your internet connection...kinda like those wilson electronic antennas.

I too am thinking about the same thing. My contract is up in April, and 3g speeds in my area have been HORRIBLE the past year, I haven't gotten above 100kbps on sprint's 3g in over a year. Completely unusable at times.
I would love to switch to verizon, as their 3g works great (about 1500-2000kbps) and the 4g is amazing (at least 20mbps down in my area). However, I have the same dilemma as you. If I had access to those kind of speeds, I could actually do things that I want to, like stream live tv while at work. However, I have ran the numbers, and even with the 10gb data cap, I would go over that every month.
So to me, it's just not worth paying 80 bucks a month just for data if I am going to have to keep worrying about going over the cap. Luckily, I have the Verizon prl which I an switch to once in a while to actually get decent data speeds. I wil ljust have to live with that until sprint gets lte up and running.

ronartest2005 said:
So my contract is up in April, or I can upgrade to a newer phone (maybe if the Galaxy Nexus is available by then I would get that). But what should I do?
I currently have a sprint airave at my house so signal isn't a big issue, although today our internet went down for a couple hours and on my stock prl I couldn't even get a data connection, and using a verizon roaming prl which was stuck in 1x I got around .15mbs down.
But my question is this;
I've heard that sprint is "doing tower upgrades" and they will start to rollout LTE sometime before the end of the year. But verizon already has LTE in my area (super fast..around 20mbs down) But I would have to pay more, and I would be capped. But what does having "truely unlimited data" mean if you can't even get a data connection?.
Is what sprint is doing with their network even worth it?, Or should I just say bye?. I've heard rumors that sprint is moving towards having some kind of a data cap anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing to remember about data... as long as you don't change your plan they have to let you keep it. think of it in terms of your minutes. plans are always changing and often a year or so after they offer a plan, they no longer offer that same plan, but you get to keep it as long as you never change.and from my understnading if you are a current customer you would be grandfathered in... i have a buddy that has verizon and has had for years. He had an unlimited plan and now that verizon offers no unlimited plan he STILL has unlimited data.

The rumors of capped data on sprint are just that- rumors, sprint has no plans of capping data whatsoever they will throttle the top 1% but that is a rediculous amount of data on my bill we have 4 phones and an data card, we average 200gb of data a month and I've talked to many csr's at sprint who have told me that is pretty average data use for a family with multiple lines. The last person I talked to was the executive Rep for my dads office and he said to be throttled you need to consistently use 500+gb on a single line and then they will only throttle you .5mbps during peak time

I find it weird that everyone is being told that the upgrades are expected on April (I live in Houston). I was told that but then I was also informed that that can not be certain. I waited for over a year to wait for Sprint's improvements which never came. I know it is more money with Verizon I have real good data speeds. I kind wish I would have left to verizon hen they still offered unlimited. Like i said in another post that happens when you put your faith on sprint.
I think it is likely that sprint will be capped as well in the future. If you have unlimited they will most likely let you keep it. Also i don't know who told the above person that 200GB is average for a a family. That is a lot of data. But if you do use that much i guess you must have real good speeds. I guess nobody can really tell you if you should jump the ship since it all depends on your service area. If sprint sucks in your area then it really doesn't matter that another person has great service. For me service was bad so i saw no point in staying with sprint. With Verizon the lowest i have got is 5mbs and that is with low signal. The only thing i do not like with Verizon is that it seems that they charge more for monthly fees. They thing that you should consider is coverage, if you travel like me then Verizon might be worth it as it does have better national coverage.

eljefe18 said:
I find it weird that everyone is being told that the upgrades are expected on April (I live in Houston). I was told that but then I was also informed that that can not be certain. I waited for over a year to wait for Sprint's improvements which never came. I know it is more money with Verizon I have real good data speeds. I kind wish I would have left to verizon hen they still offered unlimited. Like i said in another post that happens when you put your faith on sprint.
I think it is likely that sprint will be capped as well in the future. If you have unlimited they will most likely let you keep it. Also i don't know who told the above person that 200GB is average for a a family. That is a lot of data. But if you do use that much i guess you must have real good speeds. I guess nobody can really tell you if you should jump the ship since it all depends on your service area. If sprint sucks in your area then it really doesn't matter that another person has great service. For me service was bad so i saw no point in staying with sprint. With Verizon the lowest i have got is 5mbs and that is with low signal. The only thing i do not like with Verizon is that it seems that they charge more for monthly fees. They thing that you should consider is coverage, if you travel like me then Verizon might be worth it as it does have better national coverage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Multiple csr's have told me that is average for family's with 3+ lines the guys in my dads office use about 100gb a month on their lines alone not including their family's lines his company has over 2000 employees in his office over 60,000 in 28 states all have sprint lines for them and their families as they get a ~60% employee discount for 4 unlimited android lines and a 12gb data card we pay ~ 135 with taxes with out the discount it would be ~320

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Multiple csr's have told me that is average for family's with 3+ lines the guys in my dads office use about 100gb a month on their lines alone not including their family's lines his company has over 2000 employees in his office over 60,000 in 28 states all have sprint lines for them and their families as they get a ~60% employee discount for 4 unlimited android lines and a 12gb data card we pay ~ 135 with taxes with out the discount it would be ~320
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't get me wrong If you are able to use that much that is great. I was never able to get more than 3gb and not because i didn't want to but because for me data speeds were so poor that I really couldn't do much.

eljefe18 said:
Don't get me wrong If you are able to use that much that is great. I was never able to get more than 3gb and not because i didn't want to but because for me data speeds were so poor that I really couldn't do much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I average 1mbps down on peak and 2.5 off peak plus I was grandfathered in on unlimited tethering and where we live its dialup satellite or 3g no cable no DSL and no fiber :-( when I was on fios in Tampa I'd eat data like a fat kid eats cake 200gb is low usage for me compared to being on 50mbps fiber I think when I had fios I used data just to use it lol I live in a sparsely populated area and have no issue getting true 3g speeds, we don't get wimax here so that sucks I've only got to use the 4g a handful of times so far which really wasn't all that impressive to me, my dad and I are data hogs tho he uses alot of data for work and he flashes a new rom about everytime I turn around, I used alot of data for work as well and alot for play, we both stream a lot of music and movies and download tons of apps and crap just to play with don't even use probably a 1/4 of the apps we download we are both tinkerers and both have 2 phones, which makes it fairly easy to eat up some data I never really realized how much we used til we actually looked at the usage one month then kept checking to see if we always use that much. I'm not sure but we have something called a preferred buisness prl which may be why our speeds are high even in the city its a perk of having our plan through his work I guess sprint gives a company that spends that kind of money with them a special access to maintain good speeds as everyone he works with gets pretty good average speeds I'm sure they don't want to lose that contract lol I know I wouldn't if I were them
Edit: I was just looking at PRLs it appears the PRL we have is designated for EVDO/Wimax mobile broadband devices with voice service maybe that's y the data is fairly consistent? It is PRL 60750 or 60705 I can't remember for sure it shows up in sense but on aosp(which I'm on) it just shows a blank space where the PRL numbers should be which may be my fault since I built the rom I'm on I may have errored a line of code. Weird, I'm gonna have to check the source when I'm working on the next build, the 607xx PRLs are apparently designated for mobile broadband from what I could find

eljefe18 said:
I find it weird that everyone is being told that the upgrades are expected on April
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about the others but I was referring to when I can upgrade my phone, not to network upgrades.

Network upgrades are pretty random, I'm not sure with lte but I think they will just activate sprints spectrum on existing hardware making the rollout pretty fast as they wont need to install hardware just make a few adjustments to existing hardware. That's what they did with clear and wimax but clear kind of hit a wall and stopped expanding although now clear has some rather large expansions planned which is why I believe sprint is continuing to support wimax for the next few years atleast, if clear really rolls out alot of.coverage sprint could end up supporting both 4g formats for the foreseeable future giving them a huge edge over the competition
We are legion, for we are many.

I still think Sprint has the best all in one plan with the best price. In my experience data speeds have always been acceptable. My contract is up in May and I see myself staying with Sprint.

-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
Network upgrades are pretty random, I'm not sure with lte but I think they will just activate sprints spectrum on existing hardware making the rollout pretty fast as they wont need to install hardware just make a few adjustments to existing hardware. That's what they did with clear and wimax but clear kind of hit a wall and stopped expanding although now clear has some rather large expansions planned which is why I believe sprint is continuing to support wimax for the next few years atleast, if clear really rolls out alot of.coverage sprint could end up supporting both 4g formats for the foreseeable future giving them a huge edge over the competition
We are legion, for we are many.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clear is moving towards LTE
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium

Clear is pushing wimax pretty hard in the Tampa area they send out flyers atleast once a week offering unlimited 4g mobile broadband where my mom lives they actually have the best 4g coverage of anywhere I've had access to wimax
We are legion, for we are many.

I know this is old but I did switch to verizon. I took over someones unlimited data account. I have LTE coverage everywhere I go now.
I recently pulled down 40mbs on LTE.
It is a bit pricey, but it is so nice being able to use a data connection. I am NOT saying that sprint is all around a bad cell provider, but in my area they are awful.

ronartest2005 said:
I know this is old but I did switch to verizon. I took over someones unlimited data account. I have LTE coverage everywhere I go now.
I recently pulled down 40mbs on LTE.
It is a bit pricey, but it is so nice being able to use a data connection. I am NOT saying that sprint is all around a bad cell provider, but in my area they are awful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey at the end of the day you have to do whats best for you and honestly I do not think I will be under contract again with anyone. Especially not with all these companies offering unlimited everything for half the price and all using 4g LTE.
Free Yourself

why does this sprint page say 5GB 3G limit?

http://shop2.sprint.com/en/stores/popups/4G_coverage_popup.shtml
what is this and since when is there a monthly data limit? 0_o

I think this is referring to tethering
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Is this in reference to a hot spot device? I know those have caps and only phones can be unlimited.

5GB thats cool i get like 7kbps on 3g here so basically "unlimited" for me since i would never reach that.

babyboy8100 said:
5GB thats cool i get like 7kbps on 3g here so basically "unlimited" for me since i would never reach that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's precisely why I left Sprint. No point in unlimited data when I can't even reach the cap of other carriers due to ridiculously slow speeds.
I average 6 mbps on AT&T's HSPA+ 3G network. Waaaaay better than the >100kbps on Sprint.

_MetalHead_ said:
That's precisely why I left Sprint. No point in unlimited data when I can't even reach the cap of other carriers due to ridiculously slow speeds.
I average 6 mbps on AT&T's HSPA+ 3G network. Waaaaay better than the >100kbps on Sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hspa+ is 4g data. w/e that cap on phones may also apply to roaming on 3g if i remeber correctly, didnt click ur link OP

_MetalHead_ said:
That's precisely why I left Sprint. No point in unlimited data when I can't even reach the cap of other carriers due to ridiculously slow speeds.
I average 6 mbps on AT&T's HSPA+ 3G network. Waaaaay better than the >100kbps on Sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in Orange County, CA, and I average 600k-1.4mbps. This is fine for when I'm just looking up something quick. I'm content with that. Why? Because cell phone, not server. When I'm home I use my 15mpbs internet connection, and I jump onto my company wifi at work just to save battery.

You get unlimited 4G, but only 5 GB of 3G because they expect you to use your 4G often and not your 3G.
As for speeds, I range from here on the outskirts of Houston I range from .10mbps-.30mbps on Edge (2G), .20mbps-1.4mbps 3G, and 4mbps-14mbps on 4G. Not bad at all, I actually get those speeds practically everywhere, even in other cities and states.

This is a marketing tactic to get you to go with 4G.

There was a massive outrage about this not all that long ago, and several tech sites did articles about it and the truth was that it was a limit only for tethering, and that regular smartphone data was still really, honestly unlimited.
Here are a few articles about engadgets coverage.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/05/sprint-confirms-top-data-users-thottling-dan-hesse/?jsmobile=0
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/21/sprint-to-nix-unlimited-from-mobile-broadband-and-hotspot-plan/

Why are there trolls here? If you left Sprint then stop lurking here. Obviously you regret it if you still hang around Sprint forums

What they say about the speeds is true though, not trolling because I still have Sprint haha.

Korey_Nicholson said:
Why are there trolls here? If you left Sprint then stop lurking here. Obviously you regret it if you still hang around Sprint forums
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Last time I checked this was XDA... did ownership change?.
I know you work for Sprint and seem to be proud of it. You cannot deny that, as with all networks, Sprint has an issue with respect to coverage and speeds. Yes it gets repeated over and over but that's business: you find lots of complaints when something goes wrong and not a single praise when everything is working as it should be unless you did something exceptional. Part of being proud is to also being humble when a flaw is shown. Either offer a solution or don't offer anything at all (not even a remark like that).

fenixjn said:
Last time I checked this was XDA... did ownership change?.
I know you work for Sprint and seem to be proud of it. You cannot deny that, as with all networks, Sprint has an issue with respect to coverage and speeds. Yes it gets repeated over and over but that's business: you find lots of complaints when something goes wrong and not a single praise when everything is working as it should be unless you did something exceptional. Part of being proud is to also being humble when a flaw is shown. Either offer a solution or don't offer anything at all (not even a remark like that).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really not relevant who "owns" XDA.
IF you are coming to a sub-forum for the sole purpose to whine about something that doesn't even apply to you... I mean come on... that's the true definition of an internet troll.
And the fact is that all [I'm just going to underline it because it needs it] ALL carriers have different ranges of coverage and speeds depending on the area.
Even "the greatest carrier to ever exist in the history of mankind omg lightening bolt" Verizon has areas where coverage severely lacks and speeds are bad.
Either way. This is a developer forum.
Not a "whine to no end about your carrier" forum.
Everyone on this forum knows that some are dissatisfied with Sprint.
Great, switch and be done with it.
On topic: It definitely pertains to something not related to phone bandwidth.

Link fail lol
Take this **** to a more relevant forum.... Sprint has their own community page where they can help you with your carrier specific complaints
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

It is kind of funny how much time people who switched phones or carriers end up spending here. I guess there isn't much action in those forums. You get it all here!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Korey_Nicholson said:
Why are there trolls here? If you left Sprint then stop lurking here. Obviously you regret it if you still hang around Sprint forums
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the only troll comment I see.
You don't have to own a phone to browse it's forum. There are good tips on every forum, that can be universal.
That is an insanely asinine statement.
Sent from S-NASA Headquarters, preparing to visit the S-moon.

This is why I just use the tethering app on the rare occasions I need it. Let's see...pay $70/month for unlimited data and some minutes I never use. I can either forward that same data to a larger screened device or pay another $30 or $40 or whatever for 5GB of tethered data.
It doesn't really make sense. Honestly I get that they are subsidizing the cost of more basic use by charging more for what is typically considered a "power user" feature but it's still stupid IMO. Considering my 3G speeds have gone from 800k to 50k over the past 4 years I find it amusing to think that I would be paying extra to get the same thing I already pay for.
The cheaper plans are the only thing keeping me on Sprint for now. If T-Mo manages to make good use of that breakup money they will remain my backup plan. MVNOs have good prices but good handsets are artificially limited to the higher cost carriers. VZW and ATT would cost me at least half again as much as I pay now and my data will be capped (not to mention the shady **** they have been involved with as far as wiretapping and lobbying).
Guess it's Sprint with unlimited slow 3g and decent 4g for another several years here...

everything at sprint at this point is basically because of the dumba** iphone they have to cut cost and corners everywhere because of the huge $20billion deal they signed.
And yes this only applys to the tethering not actual phone use

this is for aircard/ hotspot devices. been that way since 4g was first launched, 5GB 3G/ 4G unlimited

Making the switch to Sprint

So I've decdied to make the switch to sprint and boycott these scammers! VZW just throttled my connection because I reached 1gb in data, half of my shared data. something a Verizon rep swore they never practice unlike Sprint. I asked a Sprint rep and she mentioned they don't charge for overages like Big Red, they notify you and lower your speeds.
Can anyone else confirm that Sprint throttles coconnections and not just for overages? I'd like a little more info before I switch over. Thanks in advance.
Sent from my Verizon GSIII with a LOCKED BOOTLOADER

I dont think sprint 3g speeds are throttlable.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

Sprint does not throttle. At one point I used about 20+ GB a month for 3 months and never got throttled. Same on verizon before I gave my line to my gf. I would use about 80+ GB a month for 9 months and I was never told anything
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

shook187 said:
I dont think sprint 3g speeds are throttlable.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
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Yea if they even attempt to throttle it that means you're watching waaaaaay too much porn or you're watching way too much HD porn lol :crying:
They can't throttle 0.5kbps lol

It was BitTorrent beta that got me downloading stock touchwiz, still less than half the 2gb/mo.

Yeah, Verizon has some really scumbaggy business practices as I've seen before. They will do anything legal to be able to get the most of your money.
Sprint doesn't do most of the crap that VZW does. There have been 0 documented cases of someone being throttled, even when this one guy reached 1TB of data on 4G, all they did was send him a letter asking him to stop. I usually go around 20-50GB on 3G per month and I haven't been throttled or anything.
One thing to watch out for is that speeds can be slow - Depending on where you live, you could be getting either 200kbps or 2000kbps.. A lot of markets are undergoing backhaul increase and other network vision enhancements. During this period, a lot of places can get to really low speeds. After it, however, there will probably be a consistent 1000-2000kbps everywhere on 3G.
Not to mention that they also plan to cover most of their existing 3G places with LTE by the end of 2014 so you won't have to care about speed after 2014 - It'll always be consistent LTE speeds.

Where are you located at? If you are in a good Sprint area or even better... a new LTE area... you should have switched yesterday. But I'd read into more so you not disappointed. Sprint is far better on a lot of things. But 3G speeds can be slow at times. I am a big fan of theirs.
My overall experience.
1. Sprint
2. T-Mobile
3. Verizon
4. ... any others...
5. AT&T
Lol
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

I just switch two weeks ago from Verizon to Sprint because of the crap Verizon is doing.
I will say this Verizon's network and data speeds smoke Sprint's but I'm not willing to deal with Verizon's BS anymore.
I have found some places I go it takes longer for a web page to load on Sprint but nothing I can't deal with.
I even paid Verizon almost $1100.00 in ETF's for my 5 lines just to get away from them.
All in all I'm good with Sprint and so far happy I made the switch.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Sprint would need faster data speeds to be able to actually throttle them. As it is now, its just a slight step above a 56k modem.

I'm in pretty much the same boat as bp328i. I moved from VZ to Sprint just about a month ago because of all the "Share Everything" garbage at VZ. I am fortunate in that I live near Chicago and although they have not officially rolled out 4G they are already in the testing phase so I get 4GLTE about 90% of the time. When it is up, it is great, but there are some significant "holes" in their coverage. I guess, at least while I'm here in my local area, I am pleased with Sprint and its unlimited data, etc. So I'm not sorry that I made the move.

That's the one thing Sprint has going for them, no BS. When they say unlimited, they mean it. As stated, totally depends on your area if you can actually use it or not. I'm around Chicago, so 3G speeds are pretty horrid, but obviously get better the further out from the city you get.
The only remaining question is if Sprint will retain unlimited data once they have good LTE coverage. IMO, that's the only thing that will keep people with them. It's the single selling point they have over everyone else. If they get rid of it, they don't have the network VZW has, so people will jump ship I'm sure.

hayzooos said:
That's the one thing Sprint has going for them, no BS. When they say unlimited, they mean it. As stated, totally depends on your area if you can actually use it or not. I'm around Chicago, so 3G speeds are pretty horrid, but obviously get better the further out from the city you get.
The only remaining question is if Sprint will retain unlimited data once they have good LTE coverage. IMO, that's the only thing that will keep people with them. It's the single selling point they have over everyone else. If they get rid of it, they don't have the network VZW has, so people will jump ship I'm sure.
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I would most likely "jump ship" back to VZ. You can't argue with their coverage. Loved their anti-iPhone campaign: "There's a 'map' for that."

Neil Fruit said:
I would most likely "jump ship" back to VZ. You can't argue with their coverage. Loved their anti-iPhone campaign: "There's a 'map' for that."
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I'm with you on this, if Sprint gets rid of unlimited I'll be right back to Verizon. If my only choice is a limited data plan I'll might as well have the best coverage.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

hayzooos said:
The only remaining question is if Sprint will retain unlimited data once they have good LTE coverage. IMO, that's the only thing that will keep people with them. It's the single selling point they have over everyone else. If they get rid of it, they don't have the network VZW has, so people will jump ship I'm sure.
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Click to collapse
I think Sprint will retain its unlimited smartphone plans. But they may well crack down harder on unauthorized tethering, which is a violation of the current terms. (I hope they do.) I'll bet that since Verizon and AT&T have moved to close down their unlimited plans, the tethering pirates have migrated even more to Sprint to take advantage of the last remaining opportunity. Enforcing the contract better against abuse can keep unlimited smartphone contracts viable, and I understand the new network will provide better tools for detecting it.

Thx guys, going with Sprint. I'm already 3/4 up on my data for this month (Easytether PRO) and unlimited with Sprint is just about as much as 2GB w/VZW.

Shibby87 said:
It was BitTorrent beta that got me downloading stock touchwiz, still less than half the 2gb/mo.
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The BitTorrent is what got you throttled on Verizon.
All the major carriers have a clause in their contracts that look for certain data apps, torrents are one of them. IF they see you using one you can get a nasty letter, or throttled..

IAmSixNine said:
The BitTorrent is what got you throttled on Verizon.
All the major carriers have a clause in their contracts that look for certain data apps, torrents are one of them. IF they see you using one you can get a nasty letter, or throttled..
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I hope Sprint looks for the same thing then. I don't have a problem with people who tether now and again when in a bind, but I'm not a fan of those who tether just because they can and abuse the crap out of it. If that keeps happening, Sprint will ditch their unlimited data too, or worse, lock/encrypt bootloaders so it's tougher to root your phone and get free tethering.

IAmSixNine said:
The BitTorrent is what got you throttled on Verizon.
All the major carriers have a clause in their contracts that look for certain data apps, torrents are one of them. IF they see you using one you can get a nasty letter, or throttled..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can vouch for this. On sprint I went three months in a row with 30gb+ usage(tethering wimax and torrenting). After the third month I got a call and they said if I didn't stop torrenting (against tos) they would have to cancel my service. However they never mentioned tethering, so I said I wasn't aware that torrenting was not allowed and stopped and no issues since. Sprint is best as long as it stays unlimited.
Sent from my SPH-L710

raiderep said:
I can vouch for this. On sprint I went three months in a row with 30gb+ usage(tethering wimax and torrenting). After the third month I got a call and they said if I didn't stop torrenting (against tos) they would have to cancel my service. However they never mentioned tethering, so I said I wasn't aware that torrenting was not allowed and stopped and no issues since. Sprint is best as long as it stays unlimited.
Sent from my SPH-L710
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Agreed, with Verizon, I was usually within 1-5GB depending on WiFi, I rarely exceeded 5GB, and the first time I used BitTorrent was for stock touchwiz. Those of us who use hotspot/tethering daily, Sprint seems most logical.
Technically, Verizon has no right to block 3rd party tethering apps and actually just paid out $1.25 million for trying to
Verizon Wireless To Pay $1.25 Million To Settle Investigation
Verizon Wireless offers customers its 4G LTE service on C Block spectrum. Verizon Wireless bid at
auction to acquire that spectrum, understanding that it was accompanied by open device and application
obligations. Specifically, licensees offering service on C Block spectrum “shall not deny, limit, or restrict
the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee’s C Block
network,” subject to narrow exceptions.
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Guys, just got off the phone with Verizon to transfer my number to Sprint, they asked why, I told them I was dissatisfied with their share packages and viola, they added my old unlimited plan back, strait 4G LTE, no sharing. Just thought I'd share my mediocre victory with Verizon. If you have VZW and hate their share packages, you can try telling Verizon your swiching to Sprint and see if they let you into their unlimited grandfathered data plans