Im in the Los Angeles area and after 10 years of being with Sprint, Ive finally come to my wits end. The data is awful. Ive had a ppc6600, ppc 6700, HTC Diamond, Treo 800w, Palm Pre, Samsung Moment, HTC Evo, Evo3d, Galaxy S2, and S3. Ive been a sprint advocate for years now, probably gotten at least 6 people to switch to sprint. But I cant just deal with the dropped calls and slow data. No, its not my phone, my rom, etc. Its just Sprint. I called cust service to cancel and based on my call-connection ratio, they've decided to let me out of my contract without paying the ETF. I had to bring in my phone for one last diagnostic check, and the tech said its not my phone, its the network, and he totally understands me leaving. Im seriously considering T-Mobile for obvious reasons, but I was just wondering if anyone could share their experience with switching from Sprint. Preferably in the L.A. area, but Im open to hear other experiences. Are you happy? Is the cust service good? Mainly is the 4g data as fast/faster/more consistent?
I've recently had a few trips to L.A. and didn't have any issues with dropped calls or signal strength. The customer service is decent.
You could always go to T-Mobile's website and check the coverage map if your worried about the coverage.
I've had sprint....never going back lol.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I'm not with tmo, but I have my son on their $30 plan. Also not in the LA area, but some 40 miles north. I can say up here in the desert, tmo is awful. He can't make phone calls inside our house. can't judge data cuz he's using tmo service with skyrocket so only receives edge. Even when we go down to that area for any reason, he has at most 3-4 bars while my at&t s3 has full with lte. Good luck in your choice.
Been w T-Mobile for 13-14 years (since the voicestream days!). Never have had an issue, customer service has always been good to me too. Far far from your area, but I for one have no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4
I've been with T-Mobile since AT&T bought out Cingular. In my experience, T-MOBILE service has been great in all large centers I've lived and traveled through including San Diego through to L.A.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Thanks for all the responses! In the past 2 days I heard negative feedback about t-mobile from radioshack, target, and best buy. They all said its worse than sprint, and that's why they don't carry T-Mobile anymore. I do realize that of course they are going to badmouth the company they don't sell, but I must admit I'm more confused now than ever on what to do.
vinscuzzy said:
Thanks for all the responses! In the past 2 days I heard negative feedback about t-mobile from radioshack, target, and best buy. They all said its worse than sprint, and that's why they don't carry T-Mobile anymore. I do realize that of course they are going to badmouth the company they don't sell, but I must admit I'm more confused now than ever on what to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best bet is to find people around you with tmo. Friends, family, coworkers. Anyone, just ask around.
I had sprint and switched. Sprint's coverage along pch is better than tmo, but Sprint's data sucks ass. By default tmo phones have built in WiFi calling to help with bad coverage in the mountain areas. Without WiFi calling you'll still have good coverage in most populated areas. Tmos customer service is better and their prices are comparable.
Long story short, switch dude. Tmo is better in LA.
I semi gave up on Sprint. By that I mean I dumped them and went to Ting. No, it doesn't change the piss poor data rates but the lower cost makes it a bit more acceptable.
Testing TMo right now, actually its mvno Solavei. Data rates are much better BUT coverage isn't as widespread as Ting (Sprint). For now I'll keep both in case I find myself out of territory on either.
DocHoliday77 said:
Been w T-Mobile for 13-14 years (since the voicestream days!). Never have had an issue, customer service has always been good to me too. Far far from your area, but I for one have no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 I have had T-Mobile in San Diego. Decent Coverage Decent Data. LA has quiet a lot of coverage from them. I have been with T-mobile for 9 years. I have made others switch to T-mo as well. I will not even think about switching to others.
As to the Radioshack and others crappy feedback, know this, These Sales guys get hefty commission for pushing VZW and Sprint. They don't probably get as much commission from T-Mo. So it is in their interest that you don't switch to T-Mo.
Here's T-Mo's Coverage map. Enter your address and it will tell you what kind of coverage you will get.
Lol! That just reminded me....
Anyone see Verizon's recent commercial? They had the coverage maps and theirs was the only one you could tell was for the US. When they show T-Mobile's LTE coverage it's this tiny little bit, less than anyone else, but you have to pay very close attention! It's not T-Mobile's coverage, it's labeled T-Mobile/Metro PCS!
So their only showing metros LTE coverage, but since T-Mobile bought them, Verizon labeled it with T-Mobile to trick people into thinking they were showing tmo's coverage instead!
To me this says a few things!
T-Mobile LTE is more of a competitor than people give credit for.
Verizon must be getting desperate to resort to tactics like this!
Sorry to go a little OT. But it can be relevant in that the other carriers don't want to show T-Mobile's actual LTE offerings. They have been expanding and upgrading like crazy the past few years, and are continuing to do so. So don't write them off if someone says their service was terrible a few years ago. It may be completely irrelevant now.
Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk 4
Related
Towers were shut down in my area a few months ago and my service is for **** now. I think I'm going to have to switch to Verizon but all their phones look like **** to me when compared to our awesome phones. Can anyone give me some advice which phone is comparable or even better? USCellular is an option also, I'm just not sure about their plans.
Thank you in advance!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Just curious, but according to your posted location Big Red (VZW) doesn't have 4g in that area either. The only benefit is that they seem to have their towers placed a little better (Sprint's show on the west side of town)
If you're getting spotty voice/3G have you thought about the Airave?
(Sorry but I have a beef with VZW - what I pay $150 a month now with my MVNO cost me over $500 a month with them, especially when talking int'l rates.)
chrisnosleep said:
Towers were shut down in my area a few months ago and my service is for **** now. I think I'm going to have to switch to Verizon but all their phones look like **** to me when compared to our awesome phones. Can anyone give me some advice which phone is comparable or even better? USCellular is an option also, I'm just not sure about their plans.
Thank you in advance!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Galaxy Nexus for pure Google Android Experience (1 cent on amazon wireless), or preorder the S3.
S3 will be out in a few weeks on Verizon
garwynn said:
Just curious, but according to your posted location Big Red (VZW) doesn't have 4g in that area either. The only benefit is that they seem to have their towers placed a little better (Sprint's show on the west side of town)
If you're getting spotty voice/3G have you thought about the Airave?
(Sorry but I have a beef with VZW - what I pay $150 a month now with my MVNO cost me over $500 a month with them, especially when talking int'l rates.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No 4G anywhere near here. Sprint's 3G is almost non existent here, but according to Verizon's coverage map, they have it covered with 3G and have a hair of extended 4G. I have an AirRave but its a joke. Works sometimes, but sometimes not. Home isn't so much the issue either. When we're out on the town, or when I'm at work, we just have horrible service. I also heard something about Verizon's pricing is supposed to be getting restructured to be lower. I really feel like Sprint turned their back on me and this area. The entire area used to be saturated with Sprint towers, but there is only one Sprint tower in my whole town now and one in another town 10 miles away.
I will definitely be getting me and my family the GSIII if/when we go to Verizon. Glad to hear they will be getting such a nice phone finally.
I have the S3 with Verizon but am thinking to maybe make the switch to the S4 on T-Mobile, and pay the Verizon etf (8 months into my contract)
While Verizon service has been excellent, the data costs have been getting a little to expensive for me, as sometimes I need to increase my data to 4 or 6gb from my normal of 2gb.
I was looking at the plans and I like getting unlimited everything for $50+$20=$70+$20 per month for 24 months for the S4, if I don't buy it outright.
Right now I'm paying approx. $125/mo. with 2GB data.
I'm also paying $35/mo. to Virgin for there bb2go Unlimited Data 4G Wimax service so I can tether my pc and S3.
Total cost comes to approx $160 now.
Compared to approx. $70 for Tmo service Unlimited.
Not sure of Tmo service in NYC and Florida.
I see that LTE will not fully be implemented until between the summer and the end of the year.
I don't want to get stuck with LTE promises like I did with Sprint LTE promises prior to switching to Verizon.
I'm in the middle of researching and wanted to get some real world feedback on Tmo service in the areas mentioned.
Also, before possibly porting to Tmo from Vz, I'd want to try out the service for the trial period, which means I'd need a new number, but if I liked Tmo, I would eventually want to port my present #. I gotta do some research on that one.
Bump.
Any feedback re NYC voice/data reception is appreciated.
There is Tmobile LTE in NYC, parts of it have yet to be turned on. And I keep reading more and more parts of Florida are seeing better data performance.
I'm in the same boat as you, thinking of leaving version for tmobile and Tmobile keeps looking promising from what I've been reading and seeing.
Sent from my DROID RAZR
I appreciate your feedback.
Thanks
The issue I have is that I don't want to fall into the same carrier promising bs of LTE like I did with sprint.
I'm not saying Tmo is like sprint re this.
I just don't know if the Tmo network is set up in a way that is vastly different than sprint, in that they'll be able to deliver the LTE network as promised.
With that being said, I'd settle for HSPA+ for now.
How is voice reception?
Update:
From my research thus far, it reappears that Tmo is not consistent.
With that being said, it is a shame that only the most expensive, monopolized carriers offer consistent services (Two Carriers to be specific, which is really pathetic)
I'll continue to research, because as long as I get consistent service both data and voice in the areas I'm mostly in, than I don't care about whether there is consistent service in the areas I'm not in.
I am pretty sure Tmobile's LTE rollout will be nothing like Sprint's. And even thought LTE isn't everywhere yet, Tmobile's hspa+ network still offers some pretty good data speeds
Sent from my DROID RAZR
I just switched from Verizon to Tmo for the same reasons (among others). I live in Atlanta and service has been great. I'm actually driving down to south Florida tomorrow, so we'll see how well service is down there. With that said, it's going to greatly vary on your location. I would check out their coverage map as it seems to give a pretty good indication on what to expect from what I've seen. Its not like Verizon's where they just say if you have 3g/4g or not. T-mobile's actually tells you the quality of the signal.
As far as the LTE, I wouldn't worry about it. Their HSPA+ "4G" network are pretty decent in my tests, with download speeds averaging around 5mb/s. A lot of times it's higher than that, but I've never seen anything lower than 1.5mb/s, and that's with 1 bar of service. Again, this will vary based on your exact location. I can't wait for LTE to launch, but until then, I'm content.
As far as wanting to port over your number after the fact, they can do it when you're ready. When I ordered mine online, I didn't do the port then as it could be ported in transit. After I got the phone, I called them up and they had to first activate the phone along with a new number. Once that was fully activated, they processed the port request and that was done within seconds.
@steveo11284
Thanks for that info.
Much appreciated
Regarding HSPA+, I'd be happy with those speeds until LTE comes online, as the S4 would be able to handle those bandwidths.
I didn't want to be in the same boat as when I had Sprint and the S3. The S3 was not backwards compatible with 4G Wimax, so if you were not in an LTE area, you were stuck with 3G. In addition, calls were dropping all day long. This was about 8 months ago, so maybe Sprint has their LTE available in more areas, although I was in a NYC sprint store 2 weeks ago, which had no LTE, and the S4 was connected to Wifi. The tech had no idea when lte would be available.
I mention Sprint because I don't want to be in the same boat if I port to T mobile. But it looks like Sprint and T mobile are comparing Apples & Pears, and I'll have a much better experience with T mobile re data, even though LTE is not available yet, HSPA+ is available in a majority of markets.
For clarification regarding delayed porting:
- I can try Tmo without porting, and just get issued a new number to try their service re coverage, data, dropped calls, etc.
- if Tmo doesn't work out, I can return the device within 14 days and pay a $50 return fee.
- if Tmo works out, I can ask Tmo to port over my Verizon number. If this is accurate, does Tmo just port over my existing Tmo number that I was given when I purchased Tmo service?
Obviously I would not port my Vz number to Tmo initially because I want to make sure I have acceptable service with Tmo before terminating the my Vz service and paying the etf, which would be $350 less $80
(8 mos. service) = $270
Yeah I wouldn't really compare Tmo to Sprint. I actually tried Sprint first and ended up returning everything a few days later. I've had 0 issues with Tmo though.
Your first 2 things regarding delayed porting are correct. I'm not sure I understand your last one though:
"If this is accurate, does Tmo just port over my existing Tmo number that I was given when I purchased Tmo service?"
Once you port over your number from Verizon, the number that Tmo gave you will get deactivated and will just go back into their pool of numbers to get used again by another customer in the future. Your account at Verizon will automatically be terminated and you'll receive a bill with your ETF on it.
For clarification, I meant that after using the number Tmo assigned me and I decided to keep Tmo service, Tmo would port my Vz number over, and my originally assigned Tmo number world drop off my account.
As you said, the answer is yes.
Thanks
I may just try out Tmo and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, I'll lose $50, but if it does work out, I'll save mucho dinero on data costs.
When I worked at sprint in launch day in Dallas we thought it was going to have a good launch. Then to find out they put towers around Dallas not in the major parts. It was a horrible launch. I got tmobile before LTE was announced in Dallas. I just got LTE at my home near rockwall and im hitting 40Megs down and 15 up everytime. This is great because the only way to get Internet at my house is through a sloe satellite.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
Sprint LTE roll out is the worst. T-Mobile was the last to roll out LTE and I get LTE now every where I go in California bay area (San Jose, Santa Clara, Cupertino, mountain view, Campbell, willow Glenn, Sunnyvale, even fremont and Hayward). I had sprint for 9 years and left them last year. They still haven't rolled out lte here. They were supposed to start March and should've had it up and running by now. My gf has s3 and she's still yet to see sprint lte anywhere.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
It does look like Tmo is on the ball, and getting to where they wanna be.
A while ago it wasn't like that and that's why I was hesitant.
But if it works for me, I can save approx. $50-60 per month, and have HSPA+ and eventually LTE, but I may get LTE now. I gotta give the S4 a test run.
As I said before, I'm paying on average $130-135 with Vz for 4GB average (varies between 2-4gb, and sometimes 6gb) with TEP + $35 for Virgin bb2go for unlimited Wimax data.
I see that Asurion insurance with Tmo is $11+ compared to Vz Asurion plan for $6.99.
But I just got an Asurion replacement that was borked outta the box, so I stuck with my cracked screen S3. Maybe I'll try Squaretrade.
Just got the T-Mobile M919 S4. I didn't port from Verizon yet as I'm taking the S4 for a trial run, and so far I'm very impressed although it's only been a couple of hours.
Obviously the S4 is a premium device and I'm very happy with the brightness and crispness of the display. But I digress, as this thread is about Tmo.
I have gotten 4G LTE in the locations where I have been so far, and have done side by side speedtests with the S3 on Verizon, and so far the S4 has achieved equal and/or higher speeds in the 3 speedtests.
The dl/ul speeds have been:
Tmo - 16/10, 9/7, 14/8
Vz- 9/13, 5/8, 7/12
I know I'm comparing an S4 to an S3, and don't know if that makes a big difference regarding the speedtests. I was comparing the LTE networks
The speeds are not earth shattering, but what I am happy most about is that I'm getting nice 4G LTE speeds with Tmo, and it's Unlimited for $20/mo.
If things go nicely for the next few days, I'll port over from Verizon and save some nice money monthly, and have Unlimited LTE with speeds that will suffice for my needs. I'll be a very happy camper. I'll also save money by not having to pay Virgin for their Wimax Broadband2go service.
The ironic thing is that across the street from Tmo is Sprint, and their in store S4 is working off their in house wifi network, as LTE is not available yet.
For now, I'm paying the $7.49/mo for the insurance with $175 deductible.
I may switch to Square Trade if I keep the S4, but I'll decide later on.
I'm gonna Root and see how things go.
Update:
Ooops
LTE went bye-bye......
I just have the 4G icon in the tray which must be the HSPA+.
The speeds (cough, cough,) are dl/u:
.79Mbps/.04
2.53/.56
And LTE just came back up
While it appears LTE is inconsistent so far, it is up and running, and this in it of itself won't be a negative in whether I port or not.
Afterall, I think the NYC LTE switch was just turned on recently.
Nyc Tmobile. One bar of LTE. Pic below.
Just hit 17.88Mbps/10.30.....dl/ul
I'll know more this week regarding voice/data/reception/coverage capabilities.
criticalchild said:
Nyc Tmobile. One bar of LTE. Pic below.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that is only 1 bar of LTE, I can't wait to see those data speeds with more bars
Sent from my DROID RAZR
I was sitting at an intersection this morning near the airport in Palm Beach FL and noticed my phone said 4G LTE.... I did a speed test and WOW. 33mbs down and 17 up! I never got that with Verizon, even before it got congested. Things are looking good!
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
Good to hear that about the PBI vicinity
As you can see, things are also looking good in NYC so far.
Considering the 'switches' are just being turned on, and the build out is continuing, I'm impressed with what I've experienced in the past day. Hopefully things will continue to look good and I'll port from Vz in a few days.
Biker1 said:
Good to hear that about the PBI vicinity
As you can see, things are also looking good in NYC so far.
Considering the 'switches' are just being turned on, and the build out is continuing, I'm impressed with what I've experienced in the past day. Hopefully things will continue to look good and I'll port from Vz in a few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw the same when they were rolling out lte in my area and it didn't take long before it was completely on. I would say less than a month.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Hello all,
I am thinking of leaving Sprint and going Tmo. I don't have the greatest service in my house and currently have a Airwave. I checked Sensorly and it looks like Tmo may not be strong around my house also. I understand Tmo has wifi calling. I was wondering of I could get input on how it is working? Any issues with it?
Also how is your cell service? I'm located in Los Angeles (So Bay).
Thank you
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
BigE-evo said:
Hello all,
I am thinking of leaving Sprint and going Tmo. I don't have the greatest service in my house and currently have a Airwave. I checked Sensorly and it looks like Tmo may not be strong around my house also. I understand Tmo has wifi calling. I was wondering of I could get input on how it is working? Any issues with it?
Also how is your cell service? I'm located in Los Angeles (So Bay).
Thank you
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did the leap two days ago.
I'm in Pasadena, and work in Santa Monica... Let me tell you. It's the best decision I've ever made.
Sprint is horrible, with constant slow data speeds, and disconnects.
I now get 4g LTE everywhere I go, including my daily commute on the 10fwy.
Do it. This phone is awesome and you deserve the 4G speeds
Edit- I was a sprint loyal customer for 10years
I switched from at&t a couple months ago and am glad I did. I get a more consistent signal in my house (near downtown Cincinnati) and wifi calling works really well. .. Just make sure you have a strong even signal in your house, because the call will drop if you walk into an area with weak coverage. The only thing I'm disappointed with is the lack of lte in this market. Everyone wise has it but us an from what I've read, it could be because another local provider blocking deployment. .. Not sure if it will be a deal breaker yet, although Verizon and att are too expensive to go to. .
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda app-developers app
The Walmart exclusive T-Mobile no contract plan is the best. $30 per month 5gigs high speed data then throttled after 5gigs. Unlimited text but only 100mins. I use google voice anyway paired with a VoIP then you have free calling. I just keep my out on swappa for a good used gsm phone. I am forever done with contracts.
Do it! I just left sprint a month ago for the note 3 and I couldn't be happier.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I'm back in the UK and Wi - Fi calling to the state's have been flawless. Free texts and 3G Web which is still manageable for Emails and browsing. But back to the subject: Wi - fi calling works great.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
The WiFi calling on the Note3 is a little buggy atm; there's already been OTA updates for the other carriers that fix it. I've disabled it both because it's buggy on my high-strength WiFi (echos, drops, CallerID;61 bug, etc), and because I don't really need it in NYC as T-Mobile is everywhere (except deep inside buildings and in basements)
I switched from AT&T (~$75/mo inc taxes&fees) to T-Mobile's prepaid ($30/mo) in June, and now get way more service for less money. All I really lost, which I don't miss much, is roaming, call forwarding (for GoogleVoice VM), and more voice minutes than I could use.
T-Mobile's making all the right moves with their UnCarrier initiative and gaining subscribers fast. Hope they don't end up bogging their network down like Sprint did.
Switch and don't look back, sprint is crap.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I switched months ago from Sprint and never looked back, Sprint is total crap. Phoenix is still without LTE from Sprint, but Tmo has pretty good coverage. At my house I actually get faster LTE than I do cable Internet!
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Like everyone here, Pull the trigger.
I was on sprint using an iphone (yaya, whatever) for the price we paid or well ANYONE pays... its not worth it. Even after EIP on phones with TMOBILE, the global data just makes it sweeter. This is honestly a must-have if your frequent traveler. Sprint gave me the run around for three months with "promises" and tried to keep me over sprint spark, yeah sure softbank has deep pockets, maybe softbank WILL turn sprint around properly...
But its all about the now, not the waiting game. You wont have the data connection issues on TMO like sprint, Global data/text was a huge asset overseas when I went to see family vs. when I was in verizon even few years back (They murder you with data fees on blackberry overseas) then the next trip I took I suffered without data (due to LTE bieng new and HTC Thunderbolt bieng...well CDMA/LTE Only).. *cough* Sprints same way. But this time around I was superduper happy.
My boyfriend in IL uses TMO as his internet REPLACEMENT! and we have never had issues with lag during P2P oldies like AOE2, SC, to newer titles like SC2 or even PS3 games or skyping AND gaming...etc. So I am overall impressed. Very low ping compared to big red even, color me impressed.
Unless your in a magical sprint spark city, with a tri-band device (which you dont) and dont care for coverage outside of that tiny area (This is to ANYONE with sprint) come over to team magenta. Team banana needs to think things through better for the future. Itll average $15~ difference at most for 40x the service.
Sometimes I think sprints techs are idiots, where I work we see around 10,000 guests at a single park alone. Sprint has a single short range tower serving two themeparks Which on a good day will go over 20K, Lets say 14K Average. This tower was the LAST tower to recieve LTE rollouts in the city, and this tower is ALWAYS so overloaded nobodys sprint devices work in the area 99% of time. Infact itll flipflop so much your battery will be gone within 4 hours of being in its service radius. Everytime I call its "no issues reported, youll get a call from a tech within 72hrs". 3 complaints, 2 months later? oh yeah no calls!
I explained ^ to the technician I did somehow manage to run down when they were doing tower maint since I can access the backlot, he knew it too but said he could only keep bringing issue up. There are no extenders owned by sprint within the parks. Verizon, TMO, AT&T All have short range towers & extenders WITHIN park grounds to deal with the loads of people hitting the towers.
Looking at TMOs tower on the grounds, it houses nearly same amount of equipment as the big players. Sprints using a low cap tower in a high cap zone nearly everywhere i go & has "good enough to be passable equipment".
Hell even AT&T where I live...theres a tower so huge its like a mini eiffel tower with blinking lights for planes & all for a low-density area but it covers some major ground with some pretty insane LTE speeds. Very nifty retro fitting.
sprints like... MORE TOWERS WITH BAD RANGE!!! GOGOGOGO!
Do it!
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
Sprint is the worst cellphone service provider, Consumer Reports says
http://www.latimes.com/business/tec...rst-consumer-reports-20131121,0,6644321.story
There is a sticky for this discussion http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2466107
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...e_allowed_should_it_be.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
No!!!!!!!!
I escaped from that hell hold of a company. I don't want to go back to them.
I don't even care anymore. Money runs the world, nobody knows what sprint will do with them even if it goes through. I'm still waiting on aosp on my note 3
Sent from my DragonMOD-N9005 using xda app-developers app
I certainly hope this does Not happen, I had sprint for many years, and I just could not stomach having to deal with them again.
Re-carrier: Activate. Form 2-year contracts overage fees super ****ty customer service!
No! T-Mo is the only carrier that's doing it right! Sprint and VZW need to die a painful death for using the abomination that is CDMA so that we can get rid of CDMA for good and have universal GSM that works on all carriers. At least it's Sprint and not VZW though, Sprint's Note 3 is still bootloader unlocked and Sprint has truly unlimited data. I would say that puts them in 2nd place because AT&T and VZW are both monsters when it comes to contracts and bootloader locking. Ideally T-Mo will refuse, but honestly if worse comes to worst I'd rather see Sprint buy out T-Mo and build a GSM grid than see AT&T buy it and become the one and only GSM provider in the US and sell only crappy restricted locked versions of phones.
This could be a good thing, for everybody.
Lets ignore the fact sprint sucks, now lets realize softbank japan owns them & are doing everything they can to have better rollouts and structure. If Sprint does acquire tmo, its not like the tmobile towers are suddenly going to vanish, they need the tmobile structure as its better then their own.
So?
If this lets softbank focus on Sprint Spark majority rollout for Tri-band devices & LTE-A with the new influx of money and a better 4G network courtesy of magenta and not have to worry about their hideous towers currently servicing 3G/4G in overlap zones they should be able to vastly improve their networks across the board & focus on next gen tower rollouts before red or blue.
This could be a good thing, also considering I wouldn't mind going to a plan that guaranteed unlimited for life.
However, I dont think itll happen
1* ATT/TMO merger, sprint whined, whined, and whined...now THEY suddenly want to acquire them? If I was deciding I would tell sprints execs to get a life.
FCC decided against the AT&T and T-Mobile merger back in 2011, why would they approve this? granted, T-Mobile has wanted to get out of the US market for some time but such deal would not be in the best interest of the consumer.
just stirring up the pot again.... this would just lead to higher prices to cover such merger
knite75 said:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox...e_allowed_should_it_be.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
No!!!!!!!!
I escaped from that hell hold of a company. I don't want to go back to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just paid my last Sprint bill the other day. And I had to fight them for 2 months to get rid of the charges they said I would not have on my final bill. Sprint was ok, not great. When I lived in LA, service was actually top notch and the wi-max was somewhat decent. When wi-max turned out to be a piece, and I moved, they said 4g would be in my new area (Central California), like 3 years ago and we are still waiting. But quite honestly, it makes sense. Maybe this is how they are going to get 4g in my area...LOL, since I have just switched to t-mobile and service is great! I think with their new purchase of frequencies and t-mobiles already implemented 4G service, they actually stand a chance of turning into a decent wireless provider. And quite honestly, I have had terrible customer service from every carrier (except t-mobile, but it is still early). If Sprint soaks up t-mobiles network, expands the frequency bands onto it, and gets rid of CDMA, they would have an awesome network. Keep the t-mobile policies of phone purchases, unlocked bootloaders, wi-fi calling, and no-contracts with unlimited data (4G) for life from sprint and I will be the first one in the door.
T-MO wanted out of the U.S. market when when they weren't doing so well. This last year they definitely turn around and I for one don't see any reason why they can't continue that tend. The other 3 carriers have tried to follow some of the things that T-Mobile had done but are too afraid of screwing with their bottom line. But hey T-Mobile played the game with AT&T which was denied and t-mobile ended up with a 4 billion dollar pay day maybe they can do the same again.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Oh god no, left sprint with all that we are upgrading blah blah blah talk. Wife still has them and the service has gotten worse, no thank you.
I highly doubt that will happen . They ate stronger now. Especially with the purchase of metro pcs. And they have the best deals and plans . Plus don't think it will be approved anyway nor are they even willing to sell. No one even compares the two sprint need to go sit somewhere and wise up. What if you can't beat Em buy Em ah no sorry .
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I don't think so ...
Never going to happen. The FCC will never approve.....
noobtoob said:
I just paid my last Sprint bill the other day. And I had to fight them for 2 months to get rid of the charges they said I would not have on my final bill. Sprint was ok, not great. When I lived in LA, service was actually top notch and the wi-max was somewhat decent. When wi-max turned out to be a piece, and I moved, they said 4g would be in my new area (Central California), like 3 years ago and we are still waiting. But quite honestly, it makes sense. Maybe this is how they are going to get 4g in my area...LOL, since I have just switched to t-mobile and service is great! I think with their new purchase of frequencies and t-mobiles already implemented 4G service, they actually stand a chance of turning into a decent wireless provider. And quite honestly, I have had terrible customer service from every carrier (except t-mobile, but it is still early). If Sprint soaks up t-mobiles network, expands the frequency bands onto it, and gets rid of CDMA, they would have an awesome network. Keep the t-mobile policies of phone purchases, unlocked bootloaders, wi-fi calling, and no-contracts with unlimited data (4G) for life from sprint and I will be the first one in the door.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I was with Sprint, my calls would constantly get dropped driving between Los Angeles and Orange County on the 405 freeway.
When contract ended, my wife and I actually went out and celebrated at a nice steakhouse, as if it was our anniversary LOL
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
I Hope Not ..I Left To Get Away From Sprint ..Not Go Back ..
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
knite75 said:
When I was with Sprint, my calls would constantly get dropped driving between Los Angeles and Orange County on the 405 freeway.
When contract ended, my wife and I actually went out and celebrated at a nice steakhouse, as if it was our anniversary LOL
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is funny. I was in the north west area of LA. Didn't have many large buildings around me, but my experience was the exact same as yours when I moved to Fresno. I work literally 5 minute drive from my house, and I could not get home without my call dropping at least 3 times. And, of course my wife always had to talk to me the entire 5 minute drive home, so frustrating. They actually tore down the tower that was in between my house and my place of work, and moved it further west from where I lived. I got a free air rave and a discount, so I stuck it out until no etf. I am happy with t-mobile now, but if they did merge, they have the potential to do the right thing, and build a good network.
tweaking my note 3-alpha style
I had sprint prior to having T-mobile, their service stinks. Lol the only company who has 4G phones without a full 4G network. Last yr i remember asking a rep when 4G was coming to my area and they said it was a few yrs away smfh.
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda app-developers app
All good points about sprint failing at this, ill also add there only offering half of what att was which was 39 billion. I agree with others T-mobile is doing much better than it was in 2010 i guarantee there laughing about sprints pathetic offer(even if its not the sprint we all know they still suck!!)
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium
Awww I hope not. I was with sprint for 10 years and finally jumped ship 3 weeks ago and now this!!!!! I hope not.
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda app-developers app
asesfeemain
I too would prefer to not be a Sprint customer again. Having to purchase a full price phone is a big nut to crack but I'd rather save monthly. I wouldn't be opposed to an increased quality of T-Mo's network but I don't think Sprint is the way to make that happen. A friend of mine is getting like 5x more speed than me and he is on AT&T. The increased speed would be nice for sure
So what are my choices for other carriers? I know verizon has different radio bands... Is ATT a possibility? I'm reaching the end of my patience with TMO.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
You've probably heard it before but I think Straight Talk is a great choice if you only need 3gb of high speed data. I just recently switched from TMO to ST using the ATT sim card. It works virtually flawlessly and I've had atleast 4g everywhere I've went (NW Georgia to E Kentucky so far). I got fed up with TMO when I left GA for work for the first time. It worked great in my little corner with flawless 4g LTE. However, as soon as I left and started travelling for work I got stuck with 2g service or wifi only. 2g is abysmal on TMO. It actually functions on ATT the few times I've had it.
So that's my suggestion. Paying off the phones and getting them unlocked was a fairly simple process as well.
I'll be switching to ATT service myself soon. Since T-Mobile wont' stand behind their products with my cracked phone they sold me. LG wants me to hold my phone hostage and then decide if it's actually a problem. Also annoyed by the fact that if you don't have LTE or HSPA service with TMUS, you basically have a dumb phone. And honestly, texts don't even function half the time outisde of their 3G/LTE areas.
Mnorton1228 said:
You've probably heard it before but I think Straight Talk is a great choice if you only need 3gb of high speed data. I just recently switched from TMO to ST using the ATT sim card. It works virtually flawlessly and I've had atleast 4g everywhere I've went (NW Georgia to E Kentucky so far). I got fed up with TMO when I left GA for work for the first time. It worked great in my little corner with flawless 4g LTE. However, as soon as I left and started travelling for work I got stuck with 2g service or wifi only. 2g is abysmal on TMO. It actually functions on ATT the few times I've had it.
So that's my suggestion. Paying off the phones and getting them unlocked was a fairly simple process as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is the tmo g3 radio compatible with ATT and ST for 4G LTE service?
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
decaturbob said:
So what are my choices for other carriers? I know verizon has different radio bands... Is ATT a possibility? I'm reaching the end of my patience with TMO.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what exactly is your problem with tmobile, you never stated.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Free mobile app
I would never leave t mobile. Fix your issue with phone. If u pay off you still have issue on att. So fix what is bad. Lg and all the phone makers are the same. That us why you deal with t mobile for fix.
NOTE 4
decaturbob said:
Is the tmo g3 radio compatible with ATT and ST for 4G LTE service?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, LTE service on the D851 ONLY works with T-Mobile, but you will get the other bands ("4G"/3G/2G) with AT&T.
BACARDILIMON said:
I would never leave t mobile. Fix your issue with phone. If u pay off you still have issue on att. So fix what is bad. Lg and all the phone makers are the same. That us why you deal with t mobile for fix.
NOTE 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have NO issues with my G3 its T-Mobile. Their coverage is plain bad, no fixing that until they double the amount of cell towers. I looked at their coverage map before changing over and nowhere did it indicate the dead zones that we have found and TMO acknowledges. My wife has zero coverage in her office and would have to go a block or better to make a call and she works in Springfield where you would expect at least 2G everywhere but there are major dead zones. Major interstates lack complete coverage. I can understand state highways and secondary roads but interstates? T-Mobile messed my ETF reimbursement up, additionally T-Mobile "lost" my trade-in phones that they have had since first week of August....their online system sucks, I couldn't process an order and I spent almost 2 hrs working with their IT folks who finally gave up and acknowledge their portal has some issues. My Sim card faulted out and its gonna take 7-10 business days to get the replacement from T-Mobile as they wanted to charge me $25 for expedited delivery that the online chat people couldn't process as that must be charged to a credit card and not to my account WTF!!! I would have to call customer service and waste another hour of time to make that happen....screw that, I order one off of Amazon and paid for one day delivery...total cost $14 of delivery and shipping.....and I still don't have the T-Mobile free replacement Sim yet. I figure I have wasted 12hrs at least dealing with T-Mobile on problems on their side. I get alot of "we are sorry"......why asking what other carriers will my TMO G3 will 100% function on as I know it won't with verizon because of the radio bands
JustLok said:
decaturbob said:
Is the tmo g3 radio compatible with ATT and ST for 4G LTE service?
/QUOTE]
No, LTE service on the D851 ONLY works with T-Mobile, but you will get the other bands ("4G"/3G/2G) with AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may need to consider this then and thank you. 4G is better than what my wife gets with TMO....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personaly, I love T-mo. I switched from Verizon and am saving a boat load. I think it's absolutely wonderful how they've effectively turned every WiFi hotspot into a cell tower. In Charlotte nc, I've run into some areas where i rome but it's usually in a big building and there's always some WiFi. Their CEO has a great mindset imo and their customer service is always responsive as nice to me.
decaturbob said:
I have NO issues with my G3 its T-Mobile. Their coverage is plain bad, no fixing that until they double the amount of cell towers. I looked at their coverage map before changing over and nowhere did it indicate the dead zones that we have found and TMO acknowledges. My wife has zero coverage in her office and would have to go a block or better to make a call and she works in Springfield where you would expect at least 2G everywhere but there are major dead zones. Major interstates lack complete coverage. I can understand state highways and secondary roads but interstates? T-Mobile messed my ETF reimbursement up, additionally T-Mobile "lost" my trade-in phones that they have had since first week of August....their online system sucks, I couldn't process an order and I spent almost 2 hrs working with their IT folks who finally gave up and acknowledge their portal has some issues. My Sim card faulted out and its gonna take 7-10 business days to get the replacement from T-Mobile as they wanted to charge me $25 for expedited delivery that the online chat people couldn't process as that must be charged to a credit card and not to my account WTF!!! I would have to call customer service and waste another hour of time to make that happen....screw that, I order one off of Amazon and paid for one day delivery...total cost $14 of delivery and shipping.....and I still don't have the T-Mobile free replacement Sim yet. I figure I have wasted 12hrs at least dealing with T-Mobile on problems on their side. I get alot of "we are sorry"......why asking what other carriers will my TMO G3 will 100% function on as I know it won't with verizon because of the radio bands
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hand in the phones and go to another carrier. If any fees they will pay for them.
NOTE 4
---------- Post added at 09:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 AM ----------
allin1der said:
You guys make the most technically complicated tasks... SO EASY!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What state you live in
NOTE 4
Just my two cents, I have a dead spot on Verizon near home but tmo is fine. Also I love their international approach free 2g and texting, and I'm in Europe every month. Would have cost hundreds more on vzw. So far here in north east haven't noticed coverage ant worse than the other guys but haven't travelled the midwest or south yet.
Oh, and free music streaming.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Free mobile app
BACARDILIMON said:
Hand in the phones and go to another carrier. If any fees they will pay for them.
NOTE 4
---------- Post added at 09:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 AM ----------
What state you live in
NOTE 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Illinois.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
JustLok said:
No, LTE service on the D851 ONLY works with T-Mobile, but you will get the other bands ("4G"/3G/2G) with AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is both correct and incorrect. You'll get a few of the LTE bands from ATT(2 and 4 to be exact). I can confirm that that's true. The most obvious indicator is that the symbols on my phone change from 4g to 4gLTE depending on if I'm covered. I can also run speed tests and see a difference. 4g I get 1-2mbps and LTE I get 7-9mbps. Not perfect but I'm not using my phone for any heavy data usage either. As long as I can browse reddit and stuff from my phone I'm good.
As for "just sticking with a carrier"... Um... NO. Absolutely not. If you're not able to make phone calls or are dependent upon finding free wifi to make a call then I don't think it's worth the money. I don't know what that guys talking about but he's obviously missed the point of this discussion.
Look into Straight Talk, Net10, or Cricket. All work on the ATT network and all will give you just as good of a price as TMO. Cricket offers 10gb of data for 55$ a month. Net10 does something similar I believe. I went with ST just because of the convenience. ST and Net10 are both owned by Tracfone so regardless of who you use it's going to be the same thing. Cricket is actually an ATT owned company. There is some literature floating around the web saying that Tracfone phones will allow you to roam on other carriers services but I'm not sure how true that is or if that even matters anymore.
I really love T-Mobile. I have had the best customer service with them. When I had my Z2s I had issues with the overheating problem and I went through 3 phones and ended up talking to their tech department. They informed me its a known issue and I could try another one. Seems great to me, just had a phone that overheated (not T-Mobiles fault).
I have told many people that reception is quite spotty. I live in Washington and service is great along the I5 corridor but once you start to stray too far off you will lose service. But in data speeds none of my friends with other carriers have come close. I routinley hit speeds of at least 35 mbps.
I can completely understand where most people do have issues. I just use my phone as a mini computer though. I probably use >200 min a month.
decaturbob said:
Illinois.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to say it, but you live in the worst area of the country for cell service (other than the Montana mountains, where there's no coverage at all). All four carriers' networks are really thin, and even Verizon's mighty network has holes where they roam onto partner networks there. Unless you live in Chicago, coverage is pretty spotty as soon as you leave the city limits of any town, no matter what carrier you pick. All I can tell you is talk to people who have usage patterns like yours and get their opinions, because blindly switching may end up getting you the same or worse coverage depending on your location.
Illrigger said:
I hate to say it, but you live in the worst area of the country for cell service (other than the Montana mountains, where there's no coverage at all). All four carriers' networks are really thin, and even Verizon's mighty network has holes where they roam onto partner networks there. Unless you live in Chicago, coverage is pretty spotty as soon as you leave the city limits of any town, no matter what carrier you pick. All I can tell you is talk to people who have usage patterns like yours and get their opinions, because blindly switching may end up getting you the same or worse coverage depending on your location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had verizon for years but got tired of paying thru the nose.. No small decision to go to TMO and based on their coverage map we should have been OK.... But their map is essentially a lie. I spent an hour on phone with tmo thru 3 levels of management who understood if their map is fake and/or the tmo cell phones they sold us can't receive their signals then this situation is going to take a turn for the worse.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Hopefully G3 will get band 12, but it's OK if it's not because I have AWS repeater installed and it works fine.
I refuse to get Note 4 because it does not support Trad Chinese. I'd go for Z3 or even G4 instead.
decaturbob said:
I had verizon for years but got tired of paying thru the nose.. No small decision to go to TMO and based on their coverage map we should have been OK.... But their map is essentially a lie. I spent an hour on phone with tmo thru 3 levels of management who understood if their map is fake and/or the tmo cell phones they sold us can't receive their signals then this situation is going to take a turn for the worse.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I lived in the IA/IL corridor area for a few years and pretty much every carrier had issues. Verizon was the best in the city, but would drop to 2G in many areas outside the city, or go dead completely. AT&T was a little better from what my co-workers were saying but again they were on 2G once you left the highway corridors. This was before the LTE rollout, so things may be better, but considering that LTE is GSM, and GSM is pretty short range from the towers (vs CDMA, anyway), I would not make any big bets. You can try your luck with either; you will probably get more consistent service with both, but I would not count on them being overly fast once you are away from the cities and highways.
decaturbob said:
Illinois.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, hi from the north of you. I'm by the Kankakee area. I do have a buddy that does work at a T-mo corp store in Bradley that has been saying that the area I live and lower Illinois is getting the tower upgrades in Q1 2015. He's trying to get some more info for me since I too live a dead T-Mo area (I get no signal in my office). I maybe stopping in tomorrow if my wife wants to jump to the Note 4. If he's working, I'll ask him if he found out anything more about the IL tower upgrades. I'll let know you if he has any other news.
Edit: Decatur should have LTE coverage for T-Mo looking at sensorly.com. You should check and see about getting a LTE signal booster from T-Mo. Check out sensorly.com to even find what carrier does have the best coverage for you.