So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Cynagen said:
So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you able to get Google Wallet working again with Root after using Odin to get your speeds back to normal? I'm about to get a GS4 on Friday and ideally want to have Google Wallet, Root, Tethering and LTE working. Just wondering what might not work and will... Thanks!
It may just be my device or rom but I find that the connection justs seems to hangup for lack of a better word. I have a meter showing my data usage in kb/s and if I hit the go button for a webpage it seems to do nothing and not use any data.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda app-developers app
Daistaar said:
Were you able to get Google Wallet working again with Root after using Odin to get your speeds back to normal? I'm about to get a GS4 on Friday and ideally want to have Google Wallet, Root, Tethering and LTE working. Just wondering what might not work and will... Thanks!
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Click to collapse
Take everything the rep says with a grain of salt, they often just say things because they aren't exactly sure. This, unfortunately causes confusion and people hearing different things. I get around 25-35 Mbps in my area and some people get even more.
Cynagen said:
So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile isn't responsible for any modifications you make to your own device. You made the mistake of implementing the fix, so deal with the consequences. It's really that simple. :good:
That's why they use the term "up to." Not every single person will receive 20+ mbps. It also depends on the amount of towers, the distance of those towers and how many people are connected to them.
Towle said:
That's why they use the term "up to." Not every single person will receive 20+ mbps. It also depends on the amount of towers, the distance of those towers and how many people are connected to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree 100% with this.
Also wish to comment that T-Mobile is VERY helpful when it comes to getting me better speeds. I was getting approx 100 kB/s download at my house which gets 4G HSPA and i called and complained. And they said that for 4G those speeds are horrible and sent a technition out to see what the issue was. The following day THEY called me back and explained there was some technical issues with the tower in my area. I think it had to do with the routing of the packets. But anyhow, they were extremely helpful with everything and now my speeds are back to 250 kB/s average And when i am at school, i get LTE my speeds there are NEVER below 1 MB/sand on good days sky rocket to 2 MB/s (advertised speeds) and sometimes even faster. I have already hit 3 MB/s it really depends on what towle said. Users on the network, what they are doing what you are doing etc etc.
NYCHitman1 said:
T-Mobile isn't responsible for any modifications you make to your own device. You made the mistake of implementing the fix, so deal with the consequences. It's really that simple. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that, but when I've gone back to a STOCK rom and it's still happening, something's not right.
Towle said:
That's why they use the term "up to." Not every single person will receive 20+ mbps. It also depends on the amount of towers, the distance of those towers and how many people are connected to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this entirely, however, I was less than a quarter mile from a tower sitting at home getting ~5000kbps, when normally I get 20000+. I also had slow speeds between 3 towers that I know carry T-Mo service and it never once got better until I ODIN flashed the stock ROM again.
elesbb said:
I agree 100% with this.
Also wish to comment that T-Mobile is VERY helpful when it comes to getting me better speeds. I was getting approx 100 kB/s download at my house which gets 4G HSPA and i called and complained. And they said that for 4G those speeds are horrible and sent a technition out to see what the issue was. The following day THEY called me back and explained there was some technical issues with the tower in my area. I think it had to do with the routing of the packets. But anyhow, they were extremely helpful with everything and now my speeds are back to 250 kB/s average And when i am at school, i get LTE my speeds there are NEVER below 1 MB/sand on good days sky rocket to 2 MB/s (advertised speeds) and sometimes even faster. I have already hit 3 MB/s it really depends on what towle said. Users on the network, what they are doing what you are doing etc etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're measuring in Bytes, I'm measuring in bits, there's 8 bits to every Byte, and when you get 250kB x 8 = 2000kbps or 2mbit, the speed the T-Mo rep quoted me as what they expect you to get. When you were getting 2MB/sec, you're getting 16000kbps, which is normal for HSPA+ and decent T-Mo LTE.
Either way, I got it fixed, however their low-end expectations are very disheartening. I just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that if you're getting more than 2000kbps (250kB/sec), don't bother calling T-Mo, they won't help you in regards to speeds, even if you're parked right under a tower that practically nobody else is on.
For the record, I consider this "decent LTE"
I just got LTE in my area and in getting 10 Mbps, about a mile away I was getting 20 Mbps.
Not too bad for a city that didn't have LTE when the i9500 1st dropped. I ditched the int'l version for the M919 and have no regrets !
I am having data problems as well.
I was getting awesome LTE speeds after the roll out here in the Dallas area. Went on vacation to the US Virgin islands in late June and upon returning, my speeds plunged to as low as 200 Mkbps where I was getting awesome speeds as high as 15000 mbps (as per speedtest) before this.
I'm not one to go only by test numbers or what the graph says. But I am experiencing real world page lags, drops, pages hanging up, no service notices and regularly seeing the Edge symbol.
As the OP says, I am getting lots of help from Tmo, even exchanging the S4 for a new one. (had to fight to get a surprise 150. fee rescinded after they claimed my pristine unit had a broken screen, but that is a different post)
But the problem has persisted. They have reset my account several times and are in the process of resetting it now. Said wait 72 hours and it will be fixed. Said should be fixed by weds. I remain skeptical, they said that once already....so much so that I bought a Experia Z Sat. (jury is still out on that)
The girl at tech support suggested I wait on replacing it but I've simply had enough of this.
I am convinced that it is on Tmos end.
And I can definitely confirm the gist of this post. Everyone I have talked to, literally a dozen people, have had the balls to tell me that Tmo considers 2000 a good LTE speed. I call BS.
I reall like my S4 a lot and don't like that the Z has a nonremovable battery. My wish is to keep the S4.
I've not had a chance to do much with this X, so can't yet compare performance.
no complaints
Cynagen said:
So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I have gotten speeds as high as 24.53 Mbps with google wallet installed. It blows my home internet away
You must be in love with Sprint to believe that 2 Mbps is sprints 3G. Sprints 4G Wimax barely...BARELY hits 3 Mbps. Sprint 3g is equal to T-Mobile 2G. I did a test in the Bay Area, California, and tmobile beat att and verizon, at 32 mbps and att was at 24 mbps while verizon only hit 8 mbps. All with 3 bars of lte.
I have been noticing that the internet speed has been dropping lately, and I believe its because of the purchasing of metro, along with them ALL wanting iPhone and lte. So people that have trouble paying their bills (ive seen the average customers, I know what they look like. Theres a few that are just like you and me, but most show off their lower class status with their huawei and zte phones.) So its Metros fault for selling out. I noticed that my internet on an att unlocked iphone 5 has been dropping and lagging the past few days, and switching to a gs4 shows that its the carrier, or my account. So, I doubt your phone is the problem.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
matistight said:
You must be in love with Sprint to believe that 2 Mbps is sprints 3G. Sprints 4G Wimax barely...BARELY hits 3 Mbps. Sprint 3g is equal to T-Mobile 2G. I did a test in the Bay Area, California, and tmobile beat att and verizon, at 32 mbps and att was at 24 mbps while verizon only hit 8 mbps. All with 3 bars of lte.
I have been noticing that the internet speed has been dropping lately, and I believe its because of the purchasing of metro, along with them ALL wanting iPhone and lte. So people that have trouble paying their bills (ive seen the average customers, I know what they look like. Theres a few that are just like you and me, but most show off their lower class status with their huawei and zte phones.) So its Metros fault for selling out. I noticed that my internet on an att unlocked iphone 5 has been dropping and lagging the past few days, and switching to a gs4 shows that its the carrier, or my account. So, I doubt your phone is the problem.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I used to be one of those "lower class status" users, I had a stupid little Huawei Ascend on cricKet (MetroPCS partner), and while I rooted and modded it to hell, the service sucked. I migrated to AT&T and found they weren't much better, then moved back to my old carrier, T-Mo and have been happy overall. I know that after the purchase of MetroPCS, that cricKet would be the partner of T-Mo out here and all those phones (more people in the area that I -lived- in the same area as me (not out of town college kids in for the semester) have cricKet) would be bogging the network down, but it still performed well enough. In the thick of the cricKet area called Mesa, AZ, I still got over 20mbit on HSPA+ and LTE. I knew as soon as they announced all the high end phones prior to the purchase of MetroPCS for both they and cricKet that they wouldn't have the network to support it, then T-Mo purchase happened, I knew I would suffer in areas where everyone and their dog has these phones. I also know their model of pre-pay month to month was highly abused out here so I expect that bandwidth is gonna be extremely limited at times, but dropping from 24mbps normally to 2mbps is 1/12th, ridiculous. Anyways, it's back to normal, I just try to stay as far away from towers with large groups of idiots on them which is kind of hard to do around here.
EDIT: My dad has Sprint (I tried to steer him far far away from that BS but he wouldn't budge), he gets like 2-5mbps on his Note 2 which doesn't get WiMax AFAIK, only 3G, it's ready for the 4G/LTE but Sprint has lied for 4 years straight about LTE deployment out here, I'm just waiting for him to get fed up with unsent messages and dropped calls enough to give up and jump ship finally, however that won't be until he finishes his new 2-year contract like a fool.
Related
Hey guys I have had my Evo for awhile now and Sprints network has great coverage BUT the 3g seems abysmally slow. For instance, I can rarely stream videos without it buffering - youtube videos on regular quality mind you. If I stand still in a place with good signal I will be fine but if I'm moving etc it is slow. I get around 100KB/s during daytime where I live and 130KB/s night time which is great but luckily I also get full signal where I am. On the go, it sucks.
Are there any ways to increase 3g speeds or is it purely network related?
Welcome to sprints idea of 3g
God's honst truth man... if thats all you get... thats all you are going to get because sprints 3g network is the worst i have ever seen. Bar none. Even little us cellular has better coverage and twice the data speeds as sprint does here in iowa.
There is no possible way for the phine or any hack to it to speed up sprints crap network.
My advise to you is to cqll sprint and plead your case, that you paid for 3g and are getting 1x rtt speeds 24/7 and politely demand a credit to your account like i do every month.
And then call back about 5 minutes later and ask to speak to the retention center because you want to cancel your service because you arpe not getting service you are paying for.
Then tell the retention persion you were thinking of getting the Airave but cant afford it and see if they will give it to you free on the basis of poor service and they typically will.
I did, and got one for when i am at work and the boss wont let me use it because it uses works internet for voice and data.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Figures... Should have went with ATT or Verizon.
I know in the old days of 3g internet hacks Sanyo phones had a data cap screen that was accessible via ##040793##. From there you could change the data rate, 144K/230K. Not sure if we have the same here but phone codes may be a place to start.
Mmmmhmmm. Just be glad you don't have the epic and are capped at 150kbps up.
I think sprint has finally gotten 2 good phones and 4g, so now they think they're the top dog and can do whatever they damn well please...it's like a cycle with them. Bad service>>>loose all of their customers>>>cheap, semi-good service>>>get customers back>>>become assholes again>>>loose their customers...
werxen said:
Figures... Should have went with ATT or Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, good luck getting a decent phone on att or verizon. Let alone coverage. Oh and dont forget about the data caps on the phones, 100mb right? or was it 200mb?
Last-Chance said:
lol, good luck getting a decent phone on att or verizon. Let alone coverage. Oh and dont forget about the data caps on the phones, 100mb right? or was it 200mb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well Verizon has amazing android phones for one. There is a data cap for ATT which is true but no cap for Verizon. You know now that I think about it I might do the force roam hack on my Evo and see if if I get better 3g speeds.
I have no idea what any if you are talking about, I get better 3g speeds on Sprint then I ever did with any other carrier I've had.
Sent from my HTC Evo 4g
am I doing something wrong?
on 3g I pull down at least 512 up
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
werxen said:
Hey guys I have had my Evo for awhile now and Sprints network has great coverage BUT the 3g seems abysmally slow. For instance, I can rarely stream videos without it buffering - youtube videos on regular quality mind you. If I stand still in a place with good signal I will be fine but if I'm moving etc it is slow. I get around 100KB/s during daytime where I live and 130KB/s night time which is great but luckily I also get full signal where I am. On the go, it sucks.
Are there any ways to increase 3g speeds or is it purely network related?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could get speeds that fast consistently. Actually what you are getting is right about on par for 3g. That's prob the avg speed one would expect to get. There are higher areas and lower areas depending on a lot of things. A 100KB connection is nothing to complain about. I've personally never had a connection over 150 KB.
Sent from your mom's phone.
Not sure if its sprint or my phone but I can't break 40kbs down on anything and 3g cuts out all the time. Crappy....
The first thing I would do to verify your 3g speeds is to unroot your phone, and make sure you are running the latest .93 hboot release and sprint ota release. If your phone is already in this state (un rooted and latest hboot) then ignore me.
You should also look into unrevoked forever if you haven't already...it runs off the current hboot, and I've noticed that something about that hboot does help 3g speeds on some rooted phones if you go that route.
I've done a ton of research and practical testing on this subject and I can say without a doubt that the evo's current rooting methods DO have a negative impact on some 3g phones in some areas. And I'm not talking about 100 or 200 kbps here or there. In the same house, same phone, 1 rooted and 1 not. That was the ONLY difference. The rooted phone got 7 kbps. The stock got 1800kbps. I swapped phone setups so that the rooted one was now unrooted and vice versa. That time the rooted one got 47kbps and unrooted was 1681 kbps...in other words the problem followed the rooting process, and not the phone. I've done dozens of tests like this and others in various areas within the surrounding wilmington delaware area.
I have access to 3 rooted evos, 1 evo that is always stock, as well as a samsung moment. The 4 evos are all rev 3 nova. I also did similar tests on the hero with the same sorts of results. Feel free to pm me or post here with any questions.
EDIT: the kbps numbers I listed were for download speeds. Upload speeds on both rooted and unrooted, regardless of build or boot version, were consistent at around 600 -700 kbps during almost all of my testing.
EDIT2: I forgot to say - this problem also happened to me when I changed recoveries from clockwork to AmonRA. So it's not JUST the rooting process that can cause this, but several low-level engineering commands, such as flashing a kernel, upgrading a ROM, etc.
Tiepoz baught two yoo bi swype"3
That's pretty crappy, I get full 3g pretty much everywhere around St. Louis until I get out to the country. And pretty good 4g around town. My 3g is about 1.5mb down. 4g is 5 to 7mb down.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Flash the PRL to connect to Verizon's towers. I get 1.2 mb/s even see 2mb/s occasionally. Of course ping times are raised.
It's pretty hit or miss here, one day I will get 50-150k down and the next it will be +1meg. Next time it get drops below 500 you can bet I will be talking to somebody about it though, their advertised 3G speed is 600kb - 1.5mb.
100kb is ridiculous
I get anywhere between 500-1mb down 100-200kb up. My 4G easily does between 2-6mb down and 1mb up. People just love to complain. You didn't realize this within your 30 day trial? If so, why didn't you switch carriers?
What should the prl be right now ? And how are you guys testing the speeds? Nvr done it
Sent from my netarchy_toast, froyo beast of a machine evo!
You live in an area with poor coverage or your phone has a faulty radio.
I get good signal and up/Downs on 3g. If I nandriod away from cm6, I can get 6-7mb down and 1mb up with 4g in San leandro CA.
evohack99 said:
What should the prl be right now ? And how are you guys testing the speeds? Nvr done it
Sent from my netarchy_toast, froyo beast of a machine evo!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speedtest... its in the market.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I think it is my radio. I was getting fine speeds up until 3 days ago when I noticed severe loading lag in my tethered apps. I get decent pings ~ 200-300ms which is not too out of the ordinary. I did a speed test other day and it was 50KB/s down and 70KB/s up. I figured it was just a faulty day but it has gone on far too long now. This is with 5/5 bars too... Just gotta wait for my new Evo to come in. Seems like every hardware ****up is happening at once.
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.
Click to expand...
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.
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QWIKSTRIKE said:
Sprint does NOT offer unlimited roaming.....I found this out while traveling to Florida in August. When I got done with explaining the Ambiguity in their false claims it has now since changed from unlimited roaming to unlimitting roaming on their network. They are such good corporate game players(liars).
Misleading people is what I don't agree with, but they are the cheapest game in town and suffice "if" you can get a signal. That said you get 800 minutes of roaming on their unlimited plan, and what ever your land line minutes are on their lower plans is the amount of roaming you will have before you have to PAY overages. If the overages happen too much they void your contract after making you aware that their is no unlimited. Now before any one starts debating this look at the advertisements and if that doesn't clue you in call and ask what I said.
They advertised unlimited roaming until I got done with them. They had a little fine print in the back of that agreement letting unsuspecting people that went over know that there was no unlimited roaming. Then they try to collect money for it. But, I let them know that ambiguity in contract law goes to the consumer, and that we can all void our contracts based on this lil tidbit of a lie, because many of us joined because of the roaming plan when we lose their coverage, and since it was a hoax the contract was null and void. They have now changed it to read unlimited roaming on their network only. How can you roam on the very network that you reside.
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Click to collapse
Roaming on their network!? I'm trying really hard to find some way to make sense out of that... my legalese-to-english converter is usually pretty good but I just can't....wrap my....anything around that.
daneurysm said:
Pick your provider FIRST, then pick your device.
As stated be sure to not just check a coverage map but to check with friends and coworkers who have Sprint and live/commute/work in your area.
I've traveled the country a little and I have never been without Sprint coverage except in two tiny holes in my home town...where not a single provider has anything but threshold levels of service out doors, indoors you get squat from any of them. These "holes", however, can be deal breakers if you happen to live and/or work in them. Coverage maps help, a little, but asking people (and looking at their signal meters) is far more precise.
As far as data speed is concerned it's a mixed bag. I came from a line of HTC devices where changing the PRL on-the-go was simple so I used the "00001.prl" a lot. This PRL, essentially, puts you on Verizon's towers, full speed 3G. I can honestly say that while Verizon's speeds tend to be far more consistent than Sprint's that even though I had the chance to get out of Sprint this month (for free) that instead of going to Big Red I used that to upgrade to the Epic Touch without hesitation...The data speeds can drag-ass in a highly congested area at times but unless it's lunch time in a 1-bar area I don't tend to dip below 500kbps and if it is later in the day (or evening) and/or in a sparsely populated area (or higher-income area, draw your own conclusions) I have seen as high as 2.7mbps...my friend lives in a low-population high income area and he may be the only Sprint subscriber for miles, lol, and they get 2.5~2.7mbps all day every day. There are also times/places where Sprint's 3G speed absolutely spanks Verizon's.
...as far as 4G goes it can be blazing fast but you probably won't ever get the signal indoors unless you are in a 4G saturated metropolitan environment. I hear lots of complaints about 4G speed but when I get connected it's always faster than my home internet (6mbps, the most you can get from residential ATT DSL around here), I have seen 15mbps too.
As far as price is concerned Sprint wins hands down especially if you consider the unlimited data and free roaming. Voice roaming is unlimited. There is a "soft" limit of 3G roaming at 300mb, but, that is a floating line. If you aren't usually roaming but happen to travel somewhere that you are forced to roam at worst they will call or send you a letter telling you that if you do it again your contract may be terminated. But as long as it doesn't happen at work or at home they are mostly forgiving...and if not? That's a free out on your contract and now you have a $500-$700 (retail) phone for trade-up or resale to go back to Verizon.
EDIT: Oh yeah, battery life. It's killer. Very very killer compared to a Moment, Hero, Evo 4G and Evo 3D this thing slaughters them all. It's hard to say since I have been using my phone more than breathing these past 2 days, but, considering that I'm very impressed....*very* impressed.
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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?
Click to expand...
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.
Hey all, I just wanted to see if anyone else is having the issues that I've been having with my Epic Touch. First off... data sucks! Can barely get 4G then is disconnects, and highest download speed EVER was 4MB/sec. But that's a rare thing. 3G is spotting and always horribly slow. Next biggest issue are the calls. I get dropped calls now everyday. On average 2-3 times if I'm on the phone a lot.
This was never an issues in the past, maybe 6-9months ago. I used to give my GF crap because she always had call issues on AT&T. Now's she's on Verizon and I'm plain jealous! Great data and now lost calls.
I've used many ROMs (GB and ICS), modems, etc. Also tried stock and still horrible.
I'm thinking of trying to get out of my contract because when signed it, everything was much better. Anyone else having these issues? Any thoughts on why this is? I can only guess that this did begin to happen after Sprint got the iPhone and reported a huge increase on customers. I'm from the SF bay area and live two blocks from Google HQ. Can't be the location...
You know 4 MB/s is 32 Mbps?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
revamper said:
You know 4 MB/s is 32 Mbps?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
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You are incorrect. 4 MB/s the same as 4 Mbps. Either way, my point is internet is slow.
For you edu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units
eozdalga said:
You are incorrect. 4 MB/s the same as 4 Mbps. Either way, my point is internet is slow.
For you edu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units
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LMAO You are incorrect. MB/s is Megabytes per second. Mbps is Megabits per second, Mb/s is also Megabits per second.
Read your own educational material:
Megabit per second
A megabit per second (Mbit/s, Mb/s, or Mbps; not to be confused with mbit/s which means, literally, millibit per second) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to:
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Megabyte per second
(not to be confused with Mbps - Mega bits per second) A megabyte per second (MB/s or MBps) is a unit of data transfer rate equal to:
8 megabits per second.
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Click to collapse
However you appear to be getting 4 Mb/s or Mbps and not 4 MB/s which would be insanely fast for WiMax.
Conversion between the two is same as bits in a byte, 8. Not forgetting to factor in they use a metric of 1000 for each unit K,M,G just like hard drive manufacturers. So my 1 Gbps server uplink is 125 MB/s.
revamper said:
You know 4 MB/s is 32 Mbps?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
RainMotorsports said:
LMAO You are incorrect. MB/s is Megabytes per second. Mbps is Megabits per second, Mb/s is also Megabits per second.
Read your own educational material:
However you appear to be getting 4 Mb/s or Mbps and not 4 MB/s which would be insanely fast for WiMax.
Conversion between the two is same as bits in a byte, 8. Not forgetting to factor in they use a metric of 1000 for each unit K,M,G just like hard drive manufacturers. So my 1 Gbps server uplink is 125 MB/s.
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Click to collapse
My bad! I stand corrected. I clearly didn't read far enough. Thank you.
Anyway, still does't get to my reason for this thread. The real reason for this thread is still the same.
eozdalga said:
Anyway, still does't get to my reason for this thread. The real reason for this thread is still the same.
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Click to collapse
Yeah no ones argued that one yet . I used to get 8 to 15 Mbps on tests alot but not so much anymore.
I WISH!!!! I could only get 4Mbps. I get roughly 50~100kbps everywhere on Sprint.
I have to flash a Verizon PRL to get anything more and then I'm lucky to see a 1Mbps.
RainMotorsports said:
LMAO You are incorrect. MB/s is Megabytes per second. Mbps is Megabits per second, Mb/s is also Megabits per second.
Read your own educational material:
However you appear to be getting 4 Mb/s or Mbps and not 4 MB/s which would be insanely fast for WiMax.
Conversion between the two is same as bits in a byte, 8. Not forgetting to factor in they use a metric of 1000 for each unit K,M,G just like hard drive manufacturers. So my 1 Gbps server uplink is 125 MB/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 Megabit per second is equal to 0.125 megabytes per second, which would mean that 4Mbps is 0.50 MB/s.
---------- Post added at 02:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------
bparkerson04 said:
1 Megabit per second is equal to 0.125 megabytes per second, which would mean that 4Mbps is 0.50 MB/s.
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Click to collapse
That wikipedia article has some problems. It is a bit contradictory. On the one hand, it is correct by showing 1 megabit as being equal to 125 kilobytes, or 0.125 megabytes...but then it shows 8 megabits being equal to 1 megabyte.
The article admits problems, but I believe 0.125 is the correct conversion. Half a megabyte sounds about right when referring to 4mbps.
I have 18mpbs U-verse, which gives me a maximum of about 2.25mb/s down, which is correct, using .125 as the conversion.
---------- Post added at 02:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:22 PM ----------
Sorry for all of the posts. I too am fed up with sprint. I get spotty 3g and little to no 4g as well. I mainly rely on wifi, and I have no signal in several places I go to. I actually miss AT&T.
To top it off, I called Sprint customer retention and expressed my displeasure with Sprint's service, and also asked for a dollar amount to buy out of my contract, and the service rep did not seem to care one bit whether or not I stayed with Sprint. I asked for an early upgrade for my family and I, and he refused. He also suggested I revert back to GB on my phone because of the problems ICS is causing, but then backed off of that idea when I explained to him how that would void my warranty (he thought doing a factory reset would revert the phone back to GB). Once he knew I knew what I was talking about, he wanted to wisk me off to tech support. His name was Tom, and now that I think about it, I need to do the survey I got for the call, and be sure to give him an appropriate low score for his poor customer service and lack of empathy and care.
bparkerson04 said:
To top it off, I called Sprint customer retention and expressed my displeasure with Sprint's service, and also asked for a dollar amount to buy out of my contract, and the service rep did not seem to care one bit whether or not I stayed with Sprint. I asked for an early upgrade for my family and I, and he refused. He also suggested I revert back to GB on my phone because of the problems ICS is causing, but then backed off of that idea when I explained to him how that would void my warranty (he thought doing a factory reset would revert the phone back to GB). Once he knew I knew what I was talking about, he wanted to wisk me off to tech support. His name was Tom, and now that I think about it, I need to do the survey I got for the call, and be sure to give him an appropriate low score for his poor customer service and lack of empathy and care.
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Click to collapse
Yeah that sounds like what I would expect from them at this point. I'm guess a lot of people currently have issues. A year ago, service was excellent. Really the purpose of this post was to see if anyone had actually been able to get out of their contract on the basis of decline in the quality of service. I'd be surprised though if they would let that happen.
I've been seriously contemplating moving back to T-Mobile. Sure they don't have unlimited data, but the way things stand today my Sprint service is being throttled so badly due to network congestion that I'm rarely ever hitting 2GB anymore. With T-Mobile I'd probably hit the 4GB cap, then drop to Sprint speeds, which is still a better scenario.
I keep hearing how great Network Vision will be, but they spewed the same crap with Wimax, and we all know how that's gone. I'll decide what to do once I see what the next series of Nexus devices look like. I'd love a Nexus version of a Note II.
I'm fed up with Sprint too. Once my contract is up(I think December January, which isn't that far away), I'm switching to T-Mobiles prepaid 100 minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data (throttled after 5GB) and I'm gonna buy the next Nexus(or the one with the largest screen size if there are more than one).
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
eozdalga said:
Hey all, I just wanted to see if anyone else is having the issues that I've been having with my Epic Touch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are updating a lot of their towers in the bay area so your signal might improve in a few months. You might also consider an LTE device as you should have or be right around the corner from having LTE service in your area. Here's an LTE deployment map for the South Bay: Update map
EggosEvo said:
I'm fed up with Sprint too. Once my contract is up(I think December January, which isn't that far away), I'm switching to T-Mobiles prepaid 100 minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited data (throttled after 5GB) and I'm gonna buy the next Nexus(or the one with the largest screen size if there are more than one).
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
If you're in Kansas you should have LTE active in your area. If not then it should be available there soon. I'd think about trying a Sprint LTE device before jumping ship. I've seen speed tests on Youtube and they are super fast on LTE. If you are fed up for reasons other than data speeds than changing carriers might be your only option. Good luck.
mideastbeast said:
They are updating a lot of their towers in the bay area so your signal might improve in a few months. You might also consider an LTE device as you should have or be right around the corner from having LTE service in your area. Here's an LTE deployment map for the South Bay: Update map
If you're in Kansas you should have LTE active in your area. If not then it should be available there soon. I'd think about trying a Sprint LTE device before jumping ship. I've seen speed tests on Youtube and they are super fast on LTE. If you are fed up for reasons other than data speeds than changing carriers might be your only option. Good luck.
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Click to collapse
I believe LTE is active here. But even though I get decent wimax in my area(at least the last time I checked it connected), I haven't used WiMax at all on my E4GT that I got in march, except to do a few speed tests just to compare it to speeds on 3G and WiFi.
I have two other reasons for wanting to switch too. For one, T-Mobile gets better signal in my area, and with a prepaid plan that's a hell of a lot cheaper than Sprint, it helps. I'm getting off my parents contract and was debating between Sprint and T-Mobile prepaid.
Second, I would rather have a GSM phone than CDMA. I think that having a GSM phone would be more beneficial in case I brick my phone, where just popping the sim card would be easier than calling Sprint to activate a different phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
EggosEvo said:
I believe LTE is active here. But even though I get decent wimax in my area(at least the last time I checked it connected), I haven't used WiMax at all on my E4GT that I got in march, except to do a few speed tests just to compare it to speeds on 3G and WiFi.
I have two other reasons for wanting to switch too. For one, T-Mobile gets better signal in my area, and with a prepaid plan that's a hell of a lot cheaper than Sprint, it helps. I'm getting off my parents contract and was debating between Sprint and T-Mobile prepaid.
Second, I would rather have a GSM phone than CDMA. I think that having a GSM phone would be more beneficial in case I brick my phone, where just popping the sim card would be easier than calling Sprint to activate a different phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd go with T-Mobile over sprint for prepaid, their unlimited prepaid is like 50$ a month you get 4g and its throttled after 3 or 5gb(I forget which) but speeds when throttled are still 1-3mbps and on T-Mobile you can roam on at&t for free if you end up in an area with no tmobile coverage but at&t coverage. The only downside to T-Mobile is they have crappy customer service and they don't always have the best selection of devices right away. At least they didn't when i had them for work. They always had the downgraded version. Like in my case they only had the bb pearl 8100 when everyone else had the 8190. And now they have the one s which is a slightly downgraded one x just has a little less power under the hood. Kinda like only being able to get a oz rally lancer when the other carriers have the lancer evo
We are legion, for we are many.
Sent from the DarkSide of the GalaXy with a MEK device
Sprint freaking sucks... I was going to cancel my account (after 10 years) and go to Verizon.. but after 30 mins on the phone with cust INservice I was informed that the ETF only starts going down after 6 months (instead of immediately like I was told to begin with)... The whole time the rep was telling me the max ETF was $300 but mine was $350 and she couldn't explain it...
The constant BS from customer service and the steadily declining data speeds are making paying that $350 just to get out of it seem worth it....
PLUS... I see people talking about waiting it out.. Sprint will eventually have upgraded towers and then LTE will be here "soon" and all that... I was an early adopter of the EVO 4G and the WiMax connectivity that would "soon" come to my area... needless to say, I never got to use WiMax once...
There's no way I'm staying with Sprint for the promise of better 3G speeds or the coming of LTE - eventually
Several friends have Verizon and their speeds are WAY better and with how much data I use I'd spending almost the same amount as I am on Sprint.
OK, sorry about the soapbox.. but it's a sore subject as of late
No.
Pp.
Sent from my ginger infused Mayan calculator.
Good luck with Verizon they now charge $40 per line access charge on top of your data plan and the Max data is 10gb @ $100 so for 10gb data you pay $140+tax and their customer service is 100x worse than sprint. The bare minimum plan is like 2gb data @ $30 I think plus the $40 per line access charge so your paying $70+tax for 1 line with 2gb data if you have more than one line its $40 per additional line so 2lines + 2gb data = $110 + tax or more I can't remember for sure if 2gb is $30 or $40 all I know is its a rip off and they have no other plans now except this new shared data and unlimited calls and texts scheme which all the plans are over priced on top of having that ridiculous $40 per line access charge for a family of 4 you pay $160 just in access charges plus what even minimal amount of data you want tto share for 10gb that's $260 + tax for a family of 4, on sprint I pay $207 for 4 lines with unlimited everything including unlimited hotspots and that includes tax. I'd have to be retarded or just like giving away money to switch carriers. Not to mention I live in a semi rural area and they've already begun the network vision and lte deployment in my area, and many urban areas are already seeing lte which just hasn't been officially turned on but its active and you can use it.
We are legion, for we are many.
Sent from the DarkSide of the GalaXy with a MEK device
mideastbeast said:
They are updating a lot of their towers in the bay area so your signal might improve in a few months. You might also consider an LTE device as you should have or be right around the corner from having LTE service in your area. Here's an LTE deployment map for the South Bay: Update map
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this. Good to know that Bay Area is next on the list. I wonder if that really is why voice calls are almost useless (at least for me). I would think they are different towers but I have no idea.
-EViL-KoNCEPTz- said:
I'd go with T-Mobile over sprint for prepaid, their unlimited prepaid is like 50$ a month you get 4g and its throttled after 3 or 5gb(I forget which) but speeds when throttled are still 1-3mbps and on T-Mobile you can roam on at&t for free if you end up in an area with no tmobile coverage but at&t coverage. The only downside to T-Mobile is they have crappy customer service and they don't always have the best selection of devices right away. At least they didn't when i had them for work. They always had the downgraded version. Like in my case they only had the bb pearl 8100 when everyone else had the 8190. And now they have the one s which is a slightly downgraded one x just has a little less power under the hood. Kinda like only being able to get a oz rally lancer when the other carriers have the lancer evo
We are legion, for we are many.
Sent from the DarkSide of the GalaXy with a MEK device
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I actually found out new T-Mobile prepaid customers have access to a $30/month plan that gives 100 minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited "4G" data with throttling after 5GB. And as far as devices go, I'll probably see if the next Nexus can support T-Mobile's network like the GNex can. If not I'll buy the GNex and wait for a better device.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
I have been noticing awful reception issues. Wimax keeps fizzling out on me, and I don't know who says NYC seems to be getting good 3g cuz it sure as Hell isn't me. This is with CM9, TW based runs, everything. I am hoping that the rumored lte upgrade in November/December will help matters on the 3g front. I promised my wife the next upgrade when the new iPhone comes out. Hopefully my e4gt will keep me going till another upgrade comes around.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Hi all, I have a 2 year contract with Sprint, but I just cant take it anymore, I am planning on cancelling my contract and sign with another company, but I am not sure which one is the best (or less bad) for me in NYC.
Can anyone recommend one with good reception and real data (not the 30kbps 3G sprint has)
Thanks.
In NYC i get 2mbps on where ever the subway is above ground
1.5mbls when ever I'm outside
1mbps ish in building
All on 3g
But i would go use Verizon
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
gtuansdiamm said:
In NYC i get 2mbps on where ever the subway is above ground
1.5mbls when ever I'm outside
1mbps ish in building
All on 3g
But i would go use Verizon
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
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I get 2.5 mbps in NYC but that is at 3 am. other wise i get between 1-2 mbps. I am also fed up. TMO has a new unlimited no throttle for about 80 per month..My co-worker speed on tmo is 10-14 mbps....
I am starting to think that my phone is broken, because on cloudy days I dont get reception inside buidings, I serious, I am having a bad experience with sprint
Sent from my SPH-L710 using XDA Premium HD app
Been hearing that we should be getting lte soon in NYC, but even then that is probably gonna be spotty at best...I had T-Mobile for a long time and never had any issues speed wise, and its fairly cheap, do some research on their new unlimited plan if you can't wait.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
30Glock said:
I get 2.5 mbps in NYC but that is at 3 am. other wise i get between 1-2 mbps. I am also fed up. TMO has a new unlimited no throttle for about 80 per month..My co-worker speed on tmo is 10-14 mbps....
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Isn't slightly over 2mbps the max for 3G speeds? If you're getting consistently over 1, I wouldn't complain. There are plenty of people elsewhere getting a fraction of that...like 10% of that.
I'd be thrilled with consistent 1-1.5mbps 3G speeds. I'm around Chicago, so LTE is in a few places which is nice, but I'm excited about when they finally upgrade the backhaul for 3G so the speeds will be better.
As for the OP, I would also try changing modems as well, see if some of them work better. Check with other NYC people and see what they're using. Modem can have a HUGE impact on speeds.
hayzooos said:
Isn't slightly over 2mbps the max for 3G speeds? If you're getting consistently over 1, I wouldn't complain. There are plenty of people elsewhere getting a fraction of that...like 10% of that.
I'd be thrilled with consistent 1-1.5mbps 3G speeds. I'm around Chicago, so LTE is in a few places which is nice, but I'm excited about when they finally upgrade the backhaul for 3G so the speeds will be better.
As for the OP, I would also try changing modems as well, see if some of them work better. Check with other NYC people and see what they're using. Modem can have a HUGE impact on speeds.
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Usually here that from sprint users. Some seem to conform. Others like me who tried sprint realize that's not the 3G full potential.
So I rather pay less for tmobile And get awesome speeds. IMHO
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Mark's ollars
Having tried Att and Sprint....I got pretty $hitty coverage with both and this was living in the Bay Area.
For my previouscontract, I selected ATT based on reading the online reviews about them having absolute the fastest service. What the reviews didnt mention was that I couldnt get ATT service 10% of the time which got annoying real fast.
When it works...ATT and Sprint work great....but the 10% of the time you don't get connection, you'll wish you went with Verizon. They might be a tad slower based on the bandwidth test results online...but at least the coverage is more consistent
I will try changing modems, and see if I can get a better reception, thanks.
diazf09 said:
Usually here that from sprint users. Some seem to conform. Others like me who tried sprint realize that's not the 3G full potential.
So I rather pay less for tmobile And get awesome speeds. IMHO
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
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I don't mean Sprint 3G, I mean the technology limitations themselves. Even if I hop onto Verizon's network with a 3G PRL, I don't ever remember seeing anything over 2mpbs. I have plenty of friends and co-workers who have Verizon and I've never seen anything over that on any of their phones either.
Is it more of a CDMA/GSM 3G thing? Is GSM 3G faster than what you could get on a CDMA network?
hayzooos said:
I don't mean Sprint 3G, I mean the technology limitations themselves. Even if I hop onto Verizon's network with a 3G PRL, I don't ever remember seeing anything over 2mpbs. I have plenty of friends and co-workers who have Verizon and I've never seen anything over that on any of their phones either.
Is it more of a CDMA/GSM 3G thing? Is GSM 3G faster than what you could get on a CDMA network?
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Gsm carriers use a backhauled network capable of much faster speeds ....at least on speedtests
Sprint is implementing backhaul tech over the next year or so.
On 3g (hspa+) I have seen as much as 12mbps down but average 3-5 . This is on our att phones.
Funny thing is though side by side we did some comparisons last year and web pages actually loaded slower on attempt s2 vs sprint s2 .. we never really found an explanation.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Have you considered forcing the phone to roam and having Sprint cancel your contract due to that? They shouldn't charge a ETF for that either.
88EVGAFTW said:
Have you considered forcing the phone to roam and having Sprint cancel your contract due to that? They shouldn't charge a ETF for that either.
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Great way to get out of this miserable non existing service.. In NYC I can get between 1-3 mbps, this is acceptable to me, however where I live sprint is unusable 12kb D/L up does not exist. I called to complain and their attitude was pay the 350 ETF and you can leave.....Well I'm leaving w/o paying this fee..Thank you Roam Control....
Put a post on the marketplace offering to let another user assume responsibility for the contract. I know i would have considered a cheap s3 that way earlier
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Sprint is actually getting better. With the softbank deal, Sprint controls a majority of the lte footprint. They are also getting an $8 billion cash infusion that will help them finish building out their lte footprint faster and at a higher quality. I know a few people that work for Sprint corporate. They have big plans and are actually executing those plans
Sent from my Jelly Bombed SGS3
Will they be bringing service to places that do not have it (is western Washington)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Personally i would toughen it out good things are to come for those who wait
Sent from my phone
I'm near Baltimore and over the past 11 years have had Verizon, ATT, T-mo, and Sprint. Each provider had pros and cons. I eventually stuck with Sprint (6 years now). They are the most reliable and ever present. Not the fastest but the only time I've been without service is in the Shenandoah mountains south of us where there is no service coverage by anyone. Sprint has addressed every problem I've ever had as long as I was patient with the rep. Oh wait I was patient with the reps from every provider and they bent over backwards to help me. A Sprint rep have my wife an iPhone for $25 during her last upgrade. We presented then with a problem on our bill and they hooked us up with the phone and fixed the bill.
I don't think any service provider is going to be perfect in all situations. I myself would pick reliable over fastest speed.
Just my opinion but stick it out things are changing with Sprint.
- Sent from my Sprint Galaxy S3 running Paranoid Android 2.22, KT747-Kernel-AOSP-JB-SPRINT-10-14.zip using XDA Premium.
I am within 14 day window to exchange phone but I have to ship back to sprint due to purchasing online. I have Sero account so no purchase was possible through sprint store.
Here is my situation.
3G speed has been slower than I expected since purchasing the phone. My 3G speed has averaged between 125 to 350 kbps throughout a 24 hr period over several days. I am averaging between -90dbms and -95dbms signal level in most locations in which I travel on sprint using EVDO A. I have taken the phone to the sprint repair center twice but they don't run any tests other than speedtest. They tell me it is the network and wait for 4GLTE. There are no issues on Wifi that I can see.
I would have accepted that answer but on the weekend I met up with two friends who are also on sprint. One has the same SG3 and the other HTC Evo 4GLTE. While sitting at same table and rebooting our phones, we ran some speedtests over hr period and my phone was consistently slower than the other two. I know there are many factors but we had the same settings to our knowledge. The HTC was faster followed slightly by SG3. They were ranging from 500kbps up to 1600kbps while mine were in the 250-300 range using the same servers.
I have installed JB update stock using modem LJ7.
1 What is considered good to excellent signal strength?
2. What can I check for to determine if it is the phone since the service center is no help. Or do I send it back and hope for best on next phone?
I don't want to try a different modem until out of 14-day window.
Any suggestions?
Thank for any help
Has nothing to do with phone, it's network issue.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
It can and sometimes does have to do with the phone. IF a radio is bad, antenna is bad or a number of factors.
In this case i think he has done a good job comparing location and devices. All things can never be equal since these things are mass produced on assembly lines. But from his testing it does make me think theres an issue.
I also played with many different stock ROMS and modems back when i had a GS2 and some modems did work better then others.
biggolfer said:
I am within 14 day window to exchange phone but I have to ship back to sprint due to purchasing online. I have Sero account so no purchase was possible through sprint store.
Here is my situation.
3G speed has been slower than I expected since purchasing the phone. My 3G speed has averaged between 125 to 350 kbps throughout a 24 hr period over several days. I am averaging between -90dbms and -95dbms signal level in most locations in which I travel on sprint using EVDO A. I have taken the phone to the sprint repair center twice but they don't run any tests other than speedtest. They tell me it is the network and wait for 4GLTE. There are no issues on Wifi that I can see.
I would have accepted that answer but on the weekend I met up with two friends who are also on sprint. One has the same SG3 and the other HTC Evo 4GLTE. While sitting at same table and rebooting our phones, we ran some speedtests over hr period and my phone was consistently slower than the other two. I know there are many factors but we had the same settings to our knowledge. The HTC was faster followed slightly by SG3. They were ranging from 500kbps up to 1600kbps while mine were in the 250-300 range using the same servers.
I have installed JB update stock using modem LJ7.
1 What is considered good to excellent signal strength?
2. What can I check for to determine if it is the phone since the service center is no help. Or do I send it back and hope for best on next phone?
I don't want to try a different modem until out of 14-day window.
Any suggestions?
Thank for any help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what I would recommend would be to try out the different modems that are available in the Android Development section. Just because your friend has an SG3, it doesn't mean that you're going to get the exact same result. I know it doesn't make any sense but each phone is different. I have absolutely abysmal 3g coverage with one modem but with others it gets better.....and the modems that work well for my phone are different than the modems that other sprint sg3 friends use........give it a shot and see if maybe a different modem might work better for you.
Take it back and test in the store. Run some speedtests with the demo phones in the store if possible.
Sent from my dumbphone.
Ive flashed roms and radios on other phones but it was window phones. Is there some counter so sprint would know I changed radios if I send it back. Obviously I would change back to stock.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
alphahere said:
Take it back and test in the store. Run some speedtests with the demo phones in the store if possible.
Sent from my dumbphone.
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I did try in store with demo phones and mine was indeed slower but I cant scientifically say there was a significant variance.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
biggolfer said:
Ive flashed roms and radios on other phones but it was window phones. Is there some counter so sprint would know I changed radios if I send it back. Obviously I would change back to stock.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing that trips the counter is if you Odin flash a custom recovery or, as it is appearing, if you flash a custom kernel. If you flash anything through a custom recovery then it shouldn't trip the counter if you were to use triangle away to reset the counter........I flash files regularly through TWRP and it doesn't increment the counter.
actually a lot of people who have the Evo LTE have reported bad signal and internet. my sister has the Evo LTE and i have the Galaxy SIII and we could be in the same place and she'll have really bad internet while i will have pretty good data speeds
Vladabeast said:
actually a lot of people who have the Evo LTE have reported bad signal and internet. my sister has the Evo LTE and i have the Galaxy SIII and we could be in the same place and she'll have really bad internet while i will have pretty good data speeds
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That can be explained by the switching glitch in the EVO LTE that would go to 1x and not back to EVDO or eHRPD/LTE. Mine did that and i got a GS3.
I have since applied updates to the EVO LTE and it doesnt appear to do this anymore.
In my case it was not a signal strength issue as your saying but it was a network selection issue that caused the device to get stuck on 1x. But then again that was my unit and it was a few months ago..
In my opinion bad signal would be the lack of signal. But in this case it was good signal with poor system switching.
manually update your prl to 00001 its given me way better service ever since i did. my gf gets no bars in her house mean while i get 2 to three bars with good 3g speed and i have not roamed since.
Call to action!
biggolfer said:
I am within 14 day window to exchange phone but I have to ship back to sprint due to purchasing online. I have Sero account so no purchase was possible through sprint store.
Any suggestions?
Thank for any help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TO ALL!!!! this is a call to action. I too, like many others are experiencing unacceptable data speeds while on 3G and in great reception while using the Galaxy S III. the speeds I should be receiving are 1.5-3 MB/s but instead I am receiving around 128Kb/s in the city and within excellent service. We all have to pay a 'Premium Data Add-On' charges just to own these phones and this is unacceptable. Please write an Email to [email protected], vice president of customer experience at sprint and let him know what you are experiencing. Maybe if enough pissed off customers write, they will finally listen!
4g4me said:
TO ALL!!!! this is a call to action. I too, like many others are experiencing unacceptable data speeds while on 3G and in great reception while using the Galaxy S III. the speeds I should be receiving are 1.5-3 MB/s but instead I am receiving around 128Kb/s in the city and within excellent service. We all have to pay a 'Premium Data Add-On' charges just to own these phones and this is unacceptable. Please write an Email to [email protected], vice president of customer experience at sprint and let him know what you are experiencing. Maybe if enough pissed off customers write, they will finally listen!
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Click to collapse
Just out of random curiousity, did Mr. Adriano give you permission to put his email address on a public forum?
I can understand privately giving it to a friend or someone who might need assistance but to put it on a public forum..