This pains me to write this, but I have to give up on Verizon.
I've been experiencing very bad reception at my home, including voice and data.
I've had 4 new incredibles to check it wasn't hardware (it's not software) related, and the finality was a verizon trouble ticket opened, to be closed with the answer that my area was a known trouble area. They have yet to invest in new or upgraded towers, and the tech guy told me that as such, he cannot guarantee the level of reception that I am supposed to get.
As such, he has placed a note on my account that I can port my number with zero cancellation charge.
This is Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, believe it or not. I was shocked as well.
So, my question to all you people out there is this. Seeing as though I am probably going to jump to Sprint or T-Mobile (I know Tmobile gets good reception, as my work phone is perfect), I was wondering if anyone had any experience or suggestions on the latest and greatest from either carrier. I'm guessing it's going to the Evo or Nexus S for Sprint, or G2X from TMobile...
Jeebuz. Just played with sensation at tmobile store. Sweet.
Sent from my Synergy Rom using XDA Premium App
I've recently moved from a sprint NS4G to a Sprint Gnex (toroplus).
The stock 4.1.1 is awesome, and the performance is great. Battery life and heat are a bit of a issue, but not a deal killer at all.
LTE Coverage ??
My main issue is LTE coverage, or the lack thereof. I have had Sprint be very responsive to my concerns in opening a network ticket, and walking through a network reset [ i.e. SCRTN ( Enter *#*#72786#*#* + MSL ). ] and other steps.
In looking at other threads, posts and dedicated Sprint 4g forums, I'm getting the sense that the toroplus has a less than steller network performance record.
My daughter's unlocked GSM is on a T-Mobile $30/ plan, and it kills mine in all areas around town, so I'm really focusing this thought on the Sprint toroplus.
So, give me feedback on this thought -> Should I switch it for a Sprint Galaxy S 3?
I can not bear to think of not having a stock JB to work off of, but without a steady and strong data connection, so much of the superior software experience is lost to me anyway. I have network issues impacting the performance of so much of the software, from Google talk app to google now.
I hate the GSIII's skin and home button, but if it would give me a significantly better network/data experience, I'm tempted to make the switch.
What do you think?
p.s. Although I am obviously asking a question, I intentionally posted this is 'general' as the overall nature is more of a discussion/opinion. If this is incorrect, PM me and I'll move it or delete it.
I'm assuming your daughter has the GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus? Your question is more about Cell Providers than about phones since you're basing your issues on network performance.
Depends
Gs3 is newer blah blah and has 2gb ram. Nexus is a nexus you will get the latest android sooner than anyone else
Other than that gs3 wins
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Vaj tswv is the creation of people with nowhere left to turn
donsh00tmesanta said:
Depends
Gs3 is newer blah blah and has 2gb ram. Nexus is a nexus you will get the latest android sooner than anyone else
Other than that gs3 wins
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Vaj tswv is the creation of people with nowhere left to turn
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Click to collapse
Agreed but he's basing his theory on the fact that his daughter's phone is faster (network wise) but it's a different network all together. I don't see how a different phone would help if it's a network issue.
Better phone won't make data faster
Get gs3 for T-Mobile in that case
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Vaj tswv is the creation of people with nowhere left to turn
Why compare when you can buy both..common sense when in doubt buy those two. That would solve ur curiosity:sly:
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Yeah, just buy both, duh. Lol. If only.
via xda premium on my AOKP'd Evo LTE
It seems as though, due to both phones being made by Samsung, that the radios in each would at least be comparable, resulting in similar network connectivity and quality. The good thing is that Sprint has the 2 week return period so you can always get the S3 and try it and take it back if the network quality is the same as what you are experiencing with the gnex but you might have to eat the $36 restocking fee... Or complain enough they waive it, haha.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
The S3 is a Samsung so it has its reputable crappy radio signal. I dont think getting the S3 will change things period. Sprint's network is well.. Sprint's network. It has highs and lows you just happen to be in a Low. I mean at my house i get 2 bars of 3G and its like .50 - .75 mbps but going up the street it'll hit full bars with 1.2 - 1.7 mbps its really iffy and all depends on location. Your best bet would be to drop Sprint sell the Gnex and get a GSM gnex and put that sucker on Prepaid T-Mobile or any other GSM carrier.
ÜBER™ said:
The S3 is a Samsung so it has its reputable crappy radio signal. I dont think getting the S3 will change things period. Sprint's network is well.. Sprint's network. It has highs and lows you just happen to be in a Low. I mean at my house i get 2 bars of 3G and its like .50 - .75 mbps but going up the street it'll hit full bars with 1.2 - 1.7 mbps its really iffy and all depends on location. Your best bet would be to drop Sprint sell the Gnex and get a GSM gnex and put that sucker on Prepaid T-Mobile or any other GSM carrier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are right, my issue is a get 'the job' to pay for Sprint, so ..... I guess I'm getting what I pay for!
I'm wondering if anyone out there has used on Sprint both a Gnex and G3 at similar locations to prove/disprove if the radios are the same. Seems likely they'd be similar, I had read some reports that at least on Sprint the G3's radio was performing better on LTE.
Thanks.
schreibman said:
I think you are right, my issue is a get 'the job' to pay for Sprint, so ..... I guess I'm getting what I pay for!
I'm wondering if anyone out there has used on Sprint both a Gnex and G3 at similar locations to prove/disprove if the radios are the same. Seems likely they'd be similar, I had read some reports that at least on Sprint the G3's radio was performing better on LTE.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not even in the US but my LTE experiences prove otherwise. Had a GS2 Skyrocket and while LTE speeds are blazing it has a very weak signal compared to 3g/4g. In full 3g/4g areas it would always have 2 bars less. Indoors it was even worse sometimes gone.(would swap back to 4g) Now not all networks are the same but thought I'd share. As previously mentioned it seems Sprint in your area is the problem not your phone
garu12 said:
I'm not even in the US but my LTE experiences prove otherwise. Had a GS2 Skyrocket and while LTE speeds are blazing it has a very weak signal compared to 3g/4g. In full 3g/4g areas it would always have 2 bars less. Indoors it was even worse sometimes gone.(would swap back to 4g) Now not all networks are the same but thought I'd share. As previously mentioned it seems Sprint in your area is the problem not your phone
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Click to collapse
There may be small differences but I would be shocked to learn that the gs3 has some kind of radical advantage over the gnex. The problem is sprint. Luckily they are rolling out lte pretty quickly. By Christmas we should see a decent footprint.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
ccampbell1 said:
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
farfromovin said:
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
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Click to collapse
farfromovin,
I agree it's a complete pain why one model can't work worldwide - or even between carriers in one country, the US!! I'm not sure that all the revisions are the exact same hardware though. Certainly the different revisions will support different LTE bands from one another, different 3G bands (ie T-Mobile USA) and even different technologies (VZW, Sprint, US Cellular CDMA). Whether there is one uber radio chip that's the same in all versions, with different bits enabled here and there, I don't know. I would doubt that a chip currently exists to support all GSM, UMTS, LTE and CDMA bands in the one, but you never know.
I really cannot wait (getting super sick of it) until T-Mobile's 1900MHz refarming, and finally all UMTS/HSPA phones will work on pretty much any UMTS/HSPA network worldwide. But just as we finally get 3G harmony, LTE comes along with a zillion different bands, and we're back to where we were at the start of GSM, and the start of UMTS - all over again.
As far as getting the GT-N7100 to work on T-Mobile AWS bands - unless the radio supports that band somewhere, and can be enabled by some hacky flashing, I don't think there's much chance. I followed a thread for a while which was trying to do that for the original GT-N7000 and it ended up nowhere unfortunately.
I'd be very, very surprised if the T-Mobile US official Note II did not support DC-HSPA +42. Given how TMO pushes that, I don't think they'd sell a phone without it these days. I'm kind of surprised the GT-N7100 doesn't have it, to be honest, but I guess it's not yet that widespread, and most carriers will bypass it to go to LTE.
Cheers!
Ars-Hexis said:
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
ccampbell1 said:
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there! Sorry I hadn't answered in such a long time. We'll actually I've found that the S3 (sold it) and the Note 2 (own it) some how cannot be tracked for data usage correctly by straight talk. It's quite interesting... I ported my number over from T-Mobile, so if you have an S3 with a T-mobile prepaid sim... I think you have nothing to lose! I'm in Dallas and regularly get around 3-4Mbits/S during high usage hours and 6-7Mbits/S after 7 pm when network usage goes down.
There have been 2 occasions over the past 2 months where I'm throttled for like an hour and suddenly it gets uncapped on its own (?!?!?) lol. Last month I used about 25 GB... It's insane. Btw, if you if get throttled for real (happened to me once), you can just call them and say your "Internets is slow" (act technologically challenged) and they'll reset it.
Ah 1 last thing: I got the at&T ST sim card when I switched.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app
I just got my International Note 2 today, and I am using it on the T-Mobile network also. I am seeing that I am roaming but my data is off and I am just using wifi. I have turned off my phone and back on again and its still showing. But after reading this whole thread I am getting that is a bug or something along those lines is that correct? Thanks.
I really need to know
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
roaming
I am on prepaid tmobile and I have Roaming sign only in areas where I used to loose signal with my old phone . Basically when I go in Garage underground my signal starts getting weaker and weaker and then roaming kiks in and signal is up all the way . T-mobile does not charges for local roaming . If you use USA tmobile and you are in usa you are fine . My texts and voice are still the same rate for me . When I had Chinese rom it was showing all the time , now I flashed German t-mobile and R shows only sometime , but it does not bother me .
Hope this helps .
I too have a Note II (GT-N7100) I purchased in Thailand in December. I use it on the T-Mobile network and have the same issues with the "R" symbol. I am located in Tampa Bay area, Florida.
T-Mobile was indicating to me in January that this was an issue in weaker signal areas for their data network as they prepare to refarm it. Don't know if this explanation is entirely accurate, but I find in my local area that the R symbol goes away in certain areas and it behaves "normally". This includes the area where my T-Mobile office is located. It seems to be somewhat of a patchwork network, and for some reasons certain areas cause it to go into the Roaming mode.
I was just on a trip with stops in Los Amgeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia and noted the same behavior in some of those cities: Getting normal signal indications in some places, and Roaming in others.
Ladies and gents,
Some of us know 1st hand about crappy Samsung CDMA radios. I have both a e4gt and SGS3 and live relatively close to my local towers, albeit hilly terrain.
That said, for those who are fascinated by the Note 2, other than price, I'm sure a few of us who are considering purchasing wish we could inquire about the samsung cdma radios ?
How do they hold up? Have samsung radios improved with the latest monstrosity ? Have you received any LOS or worse - have 2 bars 1 second, initiate a call, and the signal goes to -101db (or 0 bars)? Do you find yourself repeating what you say to those yoh are speaking with ? And lastly, if you have had a e4gt or sgs3, if you had signal issues with those phones, do you experience any with your new Note 2? Does it seem better, worse ? Keep in mind i am NOT RELATING TO DATA speeds for thise question, just CALL signal and CALL quality.
Thanks!
I picked up ET4G on release day dealing with many months of crappy radio -LOS
GN2 is my upgrade from ET4G misery and its like a breath of fresh air.
Ive found Radio to be very stable , strong signal , fast data transfer and of course no LOS.
sling said:
I picked up ET4G on release day dealing with many months of crappy radio -LOS
GN2 is my upgrade from ET4G misery and its like a breath of fresh air.
Ive found Radio to be very stable , strong signal , fast data transfer and of course no LOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. No need to flash a different modem, but I probably will when they become available because I'm addicted to flashing anything new.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
For all the tests ive done. The Note 2 is on top at this point imo. I live on the egde of an updraded Lte tower. My S3 will sometimes pick it up and then kick on and off keeping my data in limbo. Now I walk out of my house and the N2 catches it right away with no issues. Also I'll set my S3, my Wife's S3 and the N2 side by side on 3G and the N2 always Wins at loading and web sites or goolge play menus. I know the S3 isn't an ET4G, but it gives you an idea.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2
As I have experienced first hand, T-Mobile's wifi calling feature works amazing on my Note 3. The problem is, where I live, work and play we do not get any T-Mobile service above 2g, and mostly nothing at all. I'm actually confused as to why local stores are even selling the service. It simply doesn't work here. Anyhow, I had purchased a month of prepaid service with them because I don't get ANY service from any provider at my home (except Verizon, who comes in at 5 bars in my basement). The wifi calling feature was amazing for this one reason. I never missed a call, or text and life was good. Of course, the moment I left the house my $800.00 Note 3 turned into a very expensive makeup mirror for my wife because, like I mentioned, we don't get T-Mobile here, at all. I still have 2 weeks of the service active, and put the sim into my i-747 S3 for testing.
I'm currently running Hyperdrive RLS3.1 (NB4) on AT&T Go-Service on my Note 3.
What I'm asking is simple, or maybe it isn't -
I would like to know where I could find info on a REAL wifi calling service. Not these 3rd party apps that give you a new free #, etc. I'd like something that integrates into the phone, like TM Wifi calling does. After searching this topic on XDA, I found a few threads on SIP VoIP. I'd even be willing to give that a shot. If I have to invest a few dollars, that is also ok. Has anyone else successfully done this? Any better idea's or suggestions? I'm tired of not being able to make calls from my cell phone at home. I have looked into repeaters, extenders, etc, but that is for another thread, I suppose.
I know that the native wifi calling on my Note 3 will not work with AT&T, but there must be something that can work....
Thanks for any info or help anyone can provide.
Real WiFi calling has to be supported on the back end by the carrier.
You are going to be limited to a 3rd party solution.
That's what I use. I have to use magic jack.
sent from a Galaxy Note 3 Far far away
Pajar0913 said:
That's what I use. I have to use magic jack.
sent from a Galaxy Note 3 Far far away
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also started using magicjack on my phone. After trying out several voip SIP services with the native android app, I realized that it would never have the sound quality I needed.
This is all null and void now though. I retired my N900T and bought the Verizon Note 3 and never drop signal or lose LTE, even in my basement.
100% not possible. It relies on servers at T-Mobile's end. Plus the settings in the Wifi Calling app are set to T-Mobile's servers on top of that.