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I just switched to sprint a few days ago and I am NOT satisfied! I FREAKING LOVE the Epic 4G Touch and it makes me happy to just unlock it and happier when my friends are like WOAH, that's a big phone, WOAH thats a nice screen WOAH its fast <3, but then they open up the facebook app and they're like ehh, this phone sucks. The problem is really with the network. That is atleast what I believe. I live in an area that doesn't have 4G, and NO companies have 4G out here, I was going to go with AT&T, but there was a problem with my credit or something, so I tried Verizon (wasnt really too interested) but they wanted me to fax in papers, then I tried sprint, worked out ALL ok , and I got like the best phone ever, but the 3G speeds make me cry, I just did a speed test and I got average of 15 kb/s down.. Not sure if there is an alternate radio I could use or something, or if other people have the issue, I have been thinking about going back and returning the phone and getting Verizon, but all of their good phones are more than $200 and I might end up owing sprint money. Ideas? Reflections?
We all know springs network sucks, thanks for reminding us (or at least me) that I'm stuck with this spotty network for 2 years...
Sent from my ET4G Galaxy S II using XDA Premium
You've been a member here for 2+ years, and you didn't research the Sprint network speed before going with them????
Well, the truth is, in most places their network speed sucks, so, if impressing your friends, and network speed is important to you, you will be sorely disappointed.
If you want the best phone, at the lowest prices, and don't give a damn about network speeds, then you are with the right provider.
wase4711 said:
You've been a member here for 2+ years, and you didn't research the Sprint network speed before going with them????
Well, the truth is, in most places their network speed sucks, so, if impressing your friends, and network speed is important to you, you will be sorely disappointed.
If you want the best phone, at the lowest prices, and don't give a damn about network speeds, then you are with the right provider.
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Lol, yeah... I was just so excited to actually get signal because I had tmobile then moved to an area where there really wasnt any tmobile and I saw sprint had "3G" coverage went to the store and yeah... I'm kicking myself for not looking around on here. I know that the 4G is **decent** but I miss my damn T-Mobile 4G, it was pretty damn good. If I get enough money and can argue enough, I'm probably switching to verizon. So there might be an Epic 4G Touch for sale soon, and I will have ****ty credit
well, the phone is fantastic; for me, I could care less about network speeds. When I need fast internet, I use my home computer..
for email, phone calls, texting, etc, these sucky speeds are fine for me, but, if your phone is your only connection to the internet, Sprint is a tough pill to swallow..
I see, its not completely awful for me, I think that its mainly a few towers in my city that suck because I can get 100 kb/s down sometimes, but 15 kb/s is normal for me. I just have combined ADHD with Facebook addiction and I am just a web junkie, so it kills me sometimes lol.
do you have a home computer/faster internet at home, or is this it?
if you want hope sprint is ugrading their network. At least for me this summer - about october my speeds at my house and work and around the area i averaged 200-500 for speed but as of late my speeds have increased greatly and now i average 800-about 1mb and sometimes i can get up to 1.2-1.6 mbps after work hours. My signal strength has also increased and i am seeing 3-4 bars in my house where before i wasnt seeing more than 2. So sprint is working on it and at least for me i am seeing some improvments.
yeah, at least sprint is in the process of upgrading their network. You will see improved speeds in the next year or two.
If you have access to wifi, that may be an option. The Sprint data speed at my house is pretty low (.. 100K level). However, this phone can get up to 18Mb down via my wireless router through my cable.
zilla1000 said:
If you have access to wifi, that may be an option. The Sprint data speed at my house is pretty low (.. 100K level). However, this phone can get up to 18Mb down via my wireless router through my cable.
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True, however what about when your not home? The thing that really gets my goat is when I force roam onto Alltel or verizon and get 1mbit+ when on sprint it's usually ~100 kbit.... or worse :/
wase4711 said:
do you have a home computer/faster internet at home, or is this it?
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I have wifi at home, but wifi eats the battery and I dont like being plugged in all the time lol
asqwrd said:
if you want hope sprint is ugrading their network. At least for me this summer - , about october my speeds at my house and work and around the area i averaged 200-500 for speed but as of late my speeds have increased greatly and now i average 800-about 1mb and sometimes i can get up to 1.2-1.6 mbps after work hours. My signal strength has also increased and i am seeing 3-4 bars in my house where before i wasnt seeing more than 2. So sprint is working on it and at least for me i am seeing some improvments.
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Thats really good to hear! I hope those upgrades come in my direction! I hope they are realizing that everyone else has upgraded networks and the speeds are sorta competitive. Net speeds is a BIG make or break to me, and verizon is looking awfully good right now, the only problem is they have no SGS II, but Im about to go annoy the Droid Charge people on the forum
zilla1000 said:
If you have access to wifi, that may be an option. The Sprint data speed at my house is pretty low (.. 100K level). However, this phone can get up to 18Mb down via my wireless router through my cable.
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I agree, the wifi is great on the phone, but like before, it noms the battery juices
I have also noticed better 3g speeds. Long island NY.
Of course wifi is just silly fast on this phone, 4g areas are limited where I am but when working very fast.
The drawback to 4g IMO is the battery drain... silly fast when running, worse than wifi IMO and can't turn off when screen off...
Sent rapidly using my Samsung Galaxy S-II Epic™ 4g Touch |•XDA App•|
Jameson JC said:
I have also noticed better 3g speeds. Long island NY.
Of course wifi is just silly fast on this phone, 4g areas are limited where I am but when working very fast.
The drawback to 4g IMO is the battery drain... silly fast when running, worse than wifi IMO and can't turn off when screen off...
Sent rapidly using my Samsung Galaxy S-II Epic™ 4g Touch |•XDA App•|
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From my understanding, WiMAX isnt't too far from WiFi lol, I also think the WiMAX radio sleeps when there is no data being transmitted, so it kinda helps with battery drain. Ill take a better look this weekend, I travel about 2 hours from my house to visit family and there is 4G there and I LOVE it lol
undefined said:
I just switched to sprint a few days ago and I am NOT satisfied! I FREAKING LOVE the Epic 4G Touch and it makes me happy to just unlock it and happier when my friends are like WOAH, that's a big phone, WOAH thats a nice screen WOAH its fast <3, but then they open up the facebook app and they're like ehh, this phone sucks. The problem is really with the network. That is atleast what I believe. I live in an area that doesn't have 4G, and NO companies have 4G out here, I was going to go with AT&T, but there was a problem with my credit or something, so I tried Verizon (wasnt really too interested) but they wanted me to fax in papers, then I tried sprint, worked out ALL ok , and I got like the best phone ever, but the 3G speeds make me cry, I just did a speed test and I got average of 15 kb/s down.. Not sure if there is an alternate radio I could use or something, or if other people have the issue, I have been thinking about going back and returning the phone and getting Verizon, but all of their good phones are more than $200 and I might end up owing sprint money. Ideas? Reflections?
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You should either complain or ask for a refund.
nabbed said:
You should either complain or ask for a refund.
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Im really thinkig about it. I might just argue witu verizon and get that. I checked coverage at the college im going to and there is no sprint coverage there either but there is verizon coverage lol
Sent via Galaxy S II
I concur this phone is by far the best! But sprint 3g sucks and 4g is poor. But tmobile 4g is fast all time lte.speeds
..but sidekick 4g sucks so i left
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
undefined said:
From my understanding, WiMAX isnt't too far from WiFi lol, I also think the WiMAX radio sleeps when there is no data being transmitted, so it kinda helps with battery drain. Ill take a better look this weekend, I travel about 2 hours from my house to visit family and there is 4G there and I LOVE it lol
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My city is a 4G area, but coverage is pretty spotty (of course). So, on a whim, I decided to see how bad of a hit I would take leaving 4G on all the time. Over the past week so far, I can unplug around 8AM, go to work, and when I get back around 6PM, I'll have about 40% battery left (fairly light usage).
Note that in my office I have zero 4G signal (heck, even voice is pretty spotty), so pretty much from 8:30AM to 5:30PM it just sits there and searches for 4G. I'm guesstimating maybe 15-16 hours of battery life under these conditions (again fairly light usage).
When I'm actually connected to 4G, battery life is quite good from what I've seen. I think it could easily do 20+ hours with medium usage, if I could get an all-day-reliable signal (big if there).
Leaving 4G on with my old Epic would kill the battery in short order (I'm thinking maybe 8 hours), so the Epic Touch is a MAJOR improvement for me.
I was getting about 200Kb/S and I removed the sprint proxies from the ##DATA# and also switched my home agent to somewhere nearby. All of this got me to about 1200+ Kb/S. Give it a try, I feel like my phone is blazing fast in all aspects.
cd85233 said:
I was getting about 200Kb/S and I removed the sprint proxies from the ##DATA# and also switched my home agent to somewhere nearby. All of this got me to about 1200+ Kb/S. Give it a try, I feel like my phone is blazing fast in all aspects.
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Could you by any chance walk me through that? lol I looked around and didnt see any proxies or Home networks, I'm a CDMA noob =\
Alright. So I've searched the forum with no luck, so I'm asking (if I've missed something, please point me to the right thread and quickly close this one).
I currently have the Galaxy S 4G (t-mobile) and am having second thoughts about my carrier. I found out that I had a discount with Verizon through my job, but even still the plans are ridiculously priced (in a bad way). Since I was exploring an alternative I figured I would check out Sprint. Not only was I impressed by the plan prices, I was very impressed by the Epic 4G Touch (and the Nexus S 4g also). This has me thinking about switching to Sprint.
Now, I live in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. My biggest concern is that I may lose a tremendous amount in coverage and quality of signal. Has anyone here switched from t-mobile to Sprint? And if so, how was your experience? (All of you please chime in, but especially if you live in Norf Cack).
I live in Virginia and I frequently travel to Atlanta and New Orleans. Sprint is ok, but I want to switch to a GSM carrier. My main issue with Sprint is the already installed 3G network. It's the worst of all of the 3G networks and they claim to improve the network in the near future(network.sprint.com). I have been waiting since the EVO for an improvement and everything is the same. The best Sprint phone radio wise is the Photon. The E4GT and the Nexus S 4G has bad radios and I have tested all three. I currently own the E4GT and it's the best looking phone by far, but I recommend sticking with Tmo or jumping to big blue and getting a phone from Craigslist if you want a new one.
knightowl23 said:
I live in Virginia and I frequently travel to Atlanta and New Orleans. Sprint is ok, but I want to switch to a GSM carrier. My main issue with Sprint is the already installed 3G network. It's the worst of all of the 3G networks and they claim to improve the network in the near future(network.sprint.com). I have been waiting since the EVO for an improvement and everything is the same. The best Sprint phone radio wise is the Photon. The E4GT and the Nexus S 4G has bad radios and I have tested all three. I currently own the E4GT and it's the best looking phone by far, but I recommend sticking with Tmo or jumping to big blue and getting a phone from Craigslist if you want a new one.
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One thing everyone must keep in mind is Sprint-Verizon and Att-Tmobile have roaming agreements with each others; if you have a Sprint phone make sure you place it on Automatic and update the PRL, this will resolve your issue, if you can get excellent Verizon signal, your Sprint phone will work; this is something each carrier do not promote to us.
Most carriers (except for verizon) have slow data (Sprint) or spotty coverage (AT&T/T-Mobile). Sprints phones are great if youre in a WiFi area you can make calls and get internet with good speeds.
I recently switch from T-Mobile to Sprint. I used to have the Samsung Vibrant and own the Epic 4G Touch now. So as a previous T-mobile customer and current Sprint customer, I will give you my .02 cents.
I've had Sprint for about a week now, and to be honest, I love it. I wasn't too sure about making the switch, mainly because my friends had sprint phones and my T-mobile Vibrant on 3g averaged around 3mbps download speeds while my friends Epic 4G averages 1.5mbps download speeds on 4G. So thats twice the speed on T-Mobiles 3G, but after playing the the Epic 4G touch, you really can't tell much of a difference. 3G, even though slow than t-mo's 3G, seemed to load up just as quickly, and 4G, even though slow too, actually seemed to load up pages faster. Even when streaming music on Google Music, the 4G connection on my Epic 4G touch loaded up the music faster. Another thing I enjoy about Sprint is that they don't throttle your speed. Last month I went over 5GB on data on T-Mobile and got throttled. First time ever i got throttled. You read about it all the time, but actually experiencing it is a different story. It sucked. One thing i did notice, 4G for Sprint is spotty. I do get it in my house and at my job, but while driving around I seem to lose connection randomly. Another thing is you can't talk and use data at the same time, but I don't really do that.
Another major influence on my switching to Sprint, is T-mobiles murky future. The At&t acquisition wasn't my favorite thing to happen, but it doesn't seem like it'll go through. DT didn't really have a plan B for T-Mobile USA, in fact they aren't really interested in a US market anymore. One possibility for T-mobile was partnering up with cable companies but Verizon's deal with comcast, time warner and brighthouse basically blocked T-mobile from going that route, so T-mobile will probably not have much of a future left in the states.
Like you I was also looking to switch to Verizon, but as you said, prices are ridiculous. It would've been fine for me for one line, but I have a family plan and that just adds up more costs.
So far i'm happy with Sprint. Plus they have 4G LTE planned for the future, so might as well lock yourself in on their unlimited plan before they start follow Verizon and At&t and tier their data.
dallas90733 said:
One thing everyone must keep in mind is Sprint-Verizon and Att-Tmobile have roaming agreements with each others; if you have a Sprint phone make sure you place it on Automatic and update the PRL, this will resolve your issue, if you can get excellent Verizon signal, your Sprint phone will work; this is something each carrier do not promote to us.
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I have the roaming setting on automatic and I have talked to Sprint about updating the PRL, but i don't have call issues like I have data issues. I don't talk on the phone that much, but I can make calls. The data is what I was referring too, which happens to be subpar.
I also switched to Sprint from T-Mobile. I'm in southern Texas (Corpus Christi) and I've had zero problems with Sprint. My loaner Evo 4G was great, good 4G coverage around here although the Evo's battery couldn't really handle that; my minimal contact with customer service has been mostly positive. There's nothing fantastic about it (except my amazing phone), but I can't think of any real negatives so far, either. I'm about three or four months in.
I also switched from T-MO to Sprint. I'm in Nashville, Tn. Got the Epic Touch 4G. No complaints so far. Speeds seem pretty decent. My bill is even cheaper with 2 phones than it was on T-Mo.... So far, everything has been flawless.
I just went over 5Gb for the first time. Received the message earlier today. Speed dropped from 7Mb to 56kb.
So I'm looking to switch to sprint too now. Are they still offering any incentives?
very tempted to make switch as well, using a nexus s on a local carrier only paying $56 month to month. Nice thing & bad thing is I can switch phones at anytime. Unlimited data/texting only $14.99, speeds vary anywhere from 1.2mbps to 6 or so. Becoming tired of switching phones every other month, really havent found something that I like.
Sprint receive a discount of 25%, leaning towards the iphone 4s. Android and rooting is just getting old to me. Sprint bill comes out to roughly $62 plus tax. Sprint in the area is pretty solid as well, but there 3g speeds could be a deal breaker.
MerkSession said:
I just went over 5Gb for the first time. Received the message earlier today. Speed dropped from 7Mb to 56kb.
So I'm looking to switch to sprint too now. Are they still offering any incentives?
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Damn, that is a major drop after going over the cap. Check out how Sprint service is before changing though. Many people get no 4g at all. I do and its great but many have never even had a chance to use it
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I'm one of those Sprint users that's never used 4G. But with the E4GT and Sprint's low prices & unlimited data, the supposed slower data speeds are totally worth it.
JohnCorleone said:
Damn, that is a major drop after going over the cap. Check out how Sprint service is before changing though. Many people get no 4g at all. I do and its great but many have never even had a chance to use it
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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E4GT'n & lovin' it
I've been with T-Mobile, at&t, and now I'm with Sprint. I didn't have a data plan on T-Mobile so I won't compare that to Sprints. As far as phone signals and dropped calls I say they're pretty much the same depending on where you live. I just happen to live in a city that's good with T-Mobile and Sprint so I've never had a drop call yet. I get more lost of signal on my Epic 4G Touch (Sprint) but I know that's a popular bug with the Epic Touch so I can't really say how much of the LOS is the fault of Sprints network.
If you want unlimited data go to Sprint. That's true unlimited. No slowing down after 2GB like T-Mobile. But take into consideration you may not get 4G Wi-Max where you live or work. I'm lucky to happen to get it at home and my job.
The only thing I like about T-Mobile over other carriers is they have month to month option. On a major carrier I think that's big. I have no interest going to a carrier made for month to month like boost mobile or virgin mobile. Why? I don't know how good the networks will be. How signal will be. How fast or slow their data speeds are. And they don't have any phones I like.
---------- Post added at 08:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:46 PM ----------
nibrwr said:
I'm one of those Sprint users that's never used 4G. But with the E4GT and Sprint's low prices & unlimited data, the supposed slower data speeds are totally worth it.
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I hear all the time that people have issues with Sprints 3G data speed being super duper slow. The 3G is pretty good on my Epic 4G Touch. It's not slow by any means at all. But 4G & Wi-Fi definitely blows 3G out the water.
It definitely depends where you live. I started with Sprint about 15 months ago on launch day of OG Epic. I had 4g since day 1. I have never had a dropped call and I have full bar service with 8-13Mbps download speeds
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
JohnCorleone said:
It definitely depends where you live. I started with Sprint about 15 months ago on launch day of OG Epic. I had 4g since day 1. I have never had a dropped call and I have full bar service with 8-13Mbps download speeds
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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What phone do you have right now?
I've used them all and I say sprint... But I'm a cheap date...
I had sprint for a few years in college and never had an issue, I'll probably test out my friends iphone 4s to see how it is with sprint. The extra $10 a month for an iphone maybe worth it to me. Although I've been android for the last 3 years, will wait a few months (hopefully) to see what sprints rolls out with the LTE phones, and how the ICS shapes up on nexus s.
I live in LA before coming to sprint I was on tmobile 3g was always fast on my Nexus One every where I was i never worry about coverage. I decided switch carriers for numbers of reasons 1 being that At&t might buy them another was didn't like being throttled after 2gb. sprints plans look better in my opinion but after getting the nexus s 4g wow there is no comparison whatsoever with the epic touch. on the nexus s 4g reception was so bad even wifi wouldn't connect even while standing in front of my router. now when I switched to the Epic touch 4g wifi was good even at the lowest connection 3g is like dial up in my house and 4g is non existing but everywhere else 4g is good 8-13mbps at home is not a bigger deal for me since I have broadband anyway I'm sticking with sprint hoping LTE upgrade is better than wimax.
With all the hubbub surrounding the Clearwire Wimax deal that was signed for the next few years, and the looming launch of LTE (mid-2012?), is it really foolish to sign a new contract and get a Wimax device?
All of the LTE devices I've seen on VZW/AT&T have atrocious battery life at the expense of crazy speeds (20Mbps+). A few coworkers got the Droid Bionic and barely make it to the end of the work day. Old college roommate works for AT&T and he says most of their LTE stuff needs extended batteries in order to be usable for a whole day.
Frankly I can live with Wimax's 3-5Mbps if it means I don't have to keep hovering around a charger all day. The Epic 4G Touch is so very tempting but I'm afraid I'm committing to "old" tech and that in 12 months I'll have regretted it.
(current VZW customer off-contract with an OG Droid)
dparm said:
With all the hubbub surrounding the Clearwire Wimax deal that was signed for the next few years, and the looming launch of LTE (mid-2012?), is it really foolish to sign a new contract and get a Wimax device?
All of the LTE devices I've seen on VZW/AT&T have atrocious battery life at the expense of crazy speeds (20Mbps+). A few coworkers got the Droid Bionic and barely make it to the end of the work day. Old college roommate works for AT&T and he says most of their LTE stuff needs extended batteries in order to be usable for a whole day.
Frankly I can live with Wimax's 3-5Mbps if it means I don't have to keep hovering around a charger all day. The Epic 4G Touch is so very tempting but I'm afraid I'm committing to "old" tech and that in 12 months I'll have regretted it.
(current VZW customer off-contract with an OG Droid)
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First and foremost the spectrum allocated to Sprint's WiMax sucks. It's a razor thin chunk. That is why Sprint's 4G sucks...LTE isn't inherently better in this regard. If LTE was on the same crappy spectrum it would suck too.
When you can connect to WiMax it's fantastic. I used to get 12-15mbps all day long in my area. Now it's in the 3-8mbps range depending on time of day.
That razor thin strip of spectrum allocated to Sprint/Clearwire's "4G" WiMax makes your connection easily disrupted by such disturbances as a closed window or a stiff breeze...seriously. If you aren't in a very solid 4G area (don't ask Sprint or Clearwire, ask people who have the service in your area) I wouldn't bank on getting a 4G signal very often, if at all. When a rom comes out that doesn't support 4G I don't care at all...yeah, it can be that bad.
With that out of the way it should be noted that you likely won't have Sprint LTE coverage in your area for at least a year, likely 2, maybe 3 or 4. Sprint has some rosy estimates flying around right now, but, I remember how their 3G and 4G rollouts went, so, I wouldn't take their word with a grain of salt...I would outright disregard it.
So where does this leave you? Most likely in an area with sparse (if any) 4G and LTE anywhere from 1.5-3 years away and you want a phone now.
Luckily Sprint's 3G service is improving quickly around the country--quicker in some places than others of course. Also the level of improvement will vary wildly depending on many factors, so, don't even bet on the future...especially when it's in Sprint's hands.
My advice? If you want to be/stay on Sprint and are currently satisfied with your service and would also like the ET4G, well, just go get it. By time your contract is up the LTE devices will actually exist and the LTE will be rolled out and WiMax will still be up and running and hopefully the 3G network is up to snuff.
EDIT: As a current Vzw customer you will likely be either disappointed or even horrified by Sprint's current 3G speeds. Ask around, some markets/areas have amazing performance. Where I live is so-so. I'm now getting 600-1000kbps regularly, though last month it was 300-500kbps. However 5 miles away at my friends house I actually saw 2.8mbps and killer 15mbps 4G all the time. Many people here are nowhere near as lucky as either me or my friend, so, ask around....you can never tell.
I'm in downtown Chicago, so I'm sure that it'll be a high priority area for deployment.
My job is 100% travel though, so for a few months at a time I could be anywhere else in the US (Mon-Fri). Typically it's big cities though, like Houston, NYC, Miami, Denver, etc. I just want something fast but consistent. Voice quality/coverage is priority 1, then battery, then data speeds.
I visited two Sprint stores in different parts of the city this week and the web browsing on their 4G seemed plenty fast.
dparm said:
I'm in downtown Chicago, so I'm sure that it'll be a high priority area for deployment.
My job is 100% travel though, so for a few months at a time I could be anywhere else in the US (Mon-Fri). Typically it's big cities though, like Houston, NYC, Miami, Denver, etc. I just want something fast but consistent. Voice quality/coverage is priority 1, then battery, then data speeds.
I visited two Sprint stores in different parts of the city this week and the web browsing on their 4G seemed plenty fast.
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I travel for work sometimes. Chicago is covered in 4G as are most major metropolitan areas.
So far as voice/text ("2G") is concerned you will be well served everywhere. Sprint has pretty thorough 2G coverage and you will roam on Verizon if not. You get "Unlimited" Roaming. If you roam too much they'll give you the boot. I wouldn't worry about it.
So long as you understand all said about 4G and are fine with that 3G is the only real sticking point and is as I described earlier. You will roam on Verizon (at 1x, ick...but we have ways around that if you are forced to roam momentarily), but, it's usually not Sprint's coverage so much as the performance. I personally have never experienced horribly un-usable 3G anywhere...even tethered to my laptop. But I haven't gone on any business trips in the past 9 months when things have gone downhill rapidly--or so the posts here would have me believe.
I'd say buy a VZW phone outright and stay out of contract. Their speeds will be faster as well as the reliability. If this were my only phone I would've dove headfirst off a bunk bed.
I have a company Blackberry on AT&T and a regular feature phone on AT&T so I'm covered service wise. To give you an idea AT&T's HSDPA (3.5G) technology is faster than Sprint's faux 4G.
I love this phone but something needs to happen soon or people are going to leave in droves. The phone is awesome but the service is something to be desired.
I'm in Northern NJ by the way.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Lately the Verizon 3G coverage in downtown Chicago and the burbs have been sucking. I have updated my PRL several times and even flashed a different ROM just to be certain.
I get 4g in plenty of places. (I live in the bay area). Sprint just gave clear some money so I'm still good with buying my next wimax phone. From what I see and hear, lte isn't better than wimax just yet. Fastest speed I've seen is on hspa+ 22mbps.
I think its a waste if you live in an area like I do that doesn't have Wimax and never will.
I am coming from Verizon and the Thunderbolt and until phones get better battery's lte is not worth it unless you want 8 to 12 hours of battery depending on your usage(on my wifi and 4g and 3g service with sprint after 16hours of usage moderate I have 33% life left) In a few years when sprint gets lte maybe batterys will be caught up. Or if sprint doesnt ill switch to at&t or Verizon again. But I am happy with sprint. And I love this phone
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
I have known since the beginning of the year when the Galaxy S II became available internationally that that was the phone I wanted to upgrade to. The decider for me to go for the Epic Touch 4G variant on Sprint was the truly unlimited data. I was off contract on AT&T, and even though I was fortunate enough to actually get very good service in my area on AT&T, I liked the idea of never having to worry about my data usage, no matter how I might choose to use my phone.
I don't generally get as good data coverage on Sprint as I did on AT&T, but when I do have service it is generally faster than what I got on AT&T, most especially on 4G. And when it does lose Sprint coverage, it roams on Verizon towers, so I really am never completely without service.
And the phone itself is great. No regrets there.
Thanks. Like I said, Verizon's coverage down here lately seems really lousy. The data speed is "acceptable". My OG Droid is still hanging on by a thread and I am still on an unlimited data plan, though I rarely go over 2-3GB per month.
I'm having trouble finding Chicago Sprint owners to comment on coverage and data speeds, though. Only one or two friends of mine have it and they're not really geeky enough to know what I'm interested in...they see a phone as a phone.
dparm said:
Thanks. Like I said, Verizon's coverage down here lately seems really lousy. The data speed is "acceptable". My OG Droid is still hanging on by a thread and I am still on an unlimited data plan, though I rarely go over 2-3GB per month.
I'm having trouble finding Chicago Sprint owners to comment on coverage and data speeds, though. Only one or two friends of mine have it and they're not really geeky enough to know what I'm interested in...they see a phone as a phone.
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You definitely needs to find someone. You do have a buyer's remorse period you could use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
CODteabagger said:
You definitely needs to find someone. You do have a buyer's remorse period you could use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Yes, the 30 day return period is nice. Would give me a shot at really test driving the thing.
Any suggestions on how to get some real details on Chicago Wimax and voice?
wimax will be around thru 2015 at the least... buying a wimax device now wouldnt be the end of the world.
also.. the first sprint lte devices wont get super awesome. and we wont be seeing the good lte chips(the ones that work on multiple bands) until 2013(sprints 2nd lte gen).
Upgrading to a Wimax phone this year seems fine. And you can enjoy the unlimited data. It will set you up to upgrade in 2013, when new phones will be ready to utilize Sprint's LTE (800MHz/1.9GHz) and Clear's LTE-Advanced (2.5GHz).
dparm said:
Yes, the 30 day return period is nice. Would give me a shot at really test driving the thing.
Any suggestions on how to get some real details on Chicago Wimax and voice?
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It's 14 days now.
daneurysm said:
It's 14 days now.
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Ooo that sucks. It'll probably get ****ty 3G speeds on the 15th day.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
CODteabagger said:
I'd say buy a VZW phone outright and stay out of contract. Their speeds will be faster as well as the reliability. If this were my only phone I would've dove headfirst off a bunk bed.
I have a company Blackberry on AT&T and a regular feature phone on AT&T so I'm covered service wise. To give you an idea AT&T's HSDPA (3.5G) technology is faster than Sprint's faux 4G.
I love this phone but something needs to happen soon or people are going to leave in droves. The phone is awesome but the service is something to be desired.
I'm in Northern NJ by the way.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
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Yea Im gonna have to disagree here, one of my customer just bought a skyrocket from att and my touch destroyed his phones speeds while he was on the socalled 4gLTE hspa+ network and I was only in a 3g area (all of san diego county) there is nothing faux bout WiMax, it is all a money issue when it comes down to it.
Yes I am anxious for LTE-A as well as more power efficient radios. I remember when the first "3G" stuff came out years ago (HSDPA or whatever)...the battery life sucked but within a year or two they got it worked out.
daneurysm said:
...Sprint's 4G sucks... When a rom comes out that doesn't support 4G I don't care at all...yeah, it can be that bad.
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Yeah, it's not anything to write home about.
But I mostly use wifi at home and work so I'm not too put out by the slow speeds.
It is good enough to have a halfway decent skype session, youtube, etc...
I was hoping to get some gaming action though.
That ain't happening unless it's on wifi, at least in my area.
OK, so I just upgraded from the original Evo 4G to the Epic 4G touch...
I see all these people debating whether or not to wait on Sprint's LTE network and 4G this and 4G that...
Am I the only one that has never had 4G coverage where I live and I get pretty decent 3G speeds so I guess I really dont care.. other than the fact that I'm paying $10/mo for "premium" data.. it's still cheaper than the other guys.
And by the time Sprint's LTE makes it to me (a relatively small town at about 200k), I'll have upgraded 3 more times... lol
I've used 4G when I travel and I guess I just haven't had that great an experience.. too much of a battery hog for the amount of speed increase gained..
Am I alone here?
nope you just havent let the xda mob hysteria get to you... if everyone took a step back and put all these issues into perspective like that there would be no posts in general!
I've had my 4g on all day sometimes and it'll result me with 20% less battery usually. That's with 70% 4g coverage thru the day.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Hey Blak, i agree my bro. I live on a small rock in hawaii and ill probably upgrade atleast 2x more aka 4 years before i see 4g so i dont care at all. Im just happy that hopefully within 6 months ill have ICS. That will be fun. I dont mind the 4g thing at all.
Sent From My Epic Touch 3g
I'm in the same position. I live in WV, and there's no 4G here. My 3G speeds are sufficient generally, but at the moment I'm not really in a position to care about LTE/WiMAX yet.
I'm not sure if this region will ever get 4G, to be honest.
You are not alone. I live out in long island NY and I'm about an hour from the city and have yet to get 4g here. Even Verizon, att and tmo don't provide 4g out here.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
That's what I thought... you just wouldnt know it from reading some of the posts around here..
Everyone talks about Sprint's crappy 3G and coverage... Well I guess I'm lucky because I get good speed and never drop calls where I'm at so 4G just doesn't matter all that much to me.. thanks for the replies
I get great 3g as well and no chance of 4G coverage anytime soon... You just don't hear from us sane people all that often because we are normally enjoying our phones and we don't complain about every small bug.
Sent by a phone
Im in Boise, we have 4g, but I never use it. I might use 4g once every two months. I dont have an issue with the 3g speeds, and it saves my battery.
I'm in Alabama, north of Birmingham in a high tech community of just under 200k people and I doubt we see 4G anytime in the near future so that doesn't factor into my phone decisions. Overall I get really good 3G speeds (with the exception of a few mystery zones in the city) so I'm happy to wait and see how it plays out because I'm a frequent upgrader as well and have bought more than a few phones at full cost because I wanted them but had no upgrade available lol Sprint should really love me.
I have good 4g coverage and I keep it on all the time. I can go from 6am-11pm with about 30% left.
But frankly, I don't really use it unless I am watching hockey. And if I am doing that, I am draining the battery anyway.
This thread is reminding me to shut off 4g as 3g is much better on the battery.
I'm not to worried either. I'm on wifi every second at home cuz obviously saves battery and when I leave the house I make sure my 3G/mobile network is off so its not bringing in data so I only turn my 3G on when I wanna check FB, twitter something like that. Living here in central iowa I have never had a chance to check out 4G. A few friends have verizon and des moines has 4G which is half hr from me and they say its amazing. I go to chicago every spring for vacation I managed to get 4G on my evo hit and miss and wasn't nothing amazing IMO
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Im going to be coming from Sprint to possibly verizon. I was wondering a few things
1. How is the service? I get BAD 3g speeds ( around .5mb ) and 4g is decent whenever I can get it ( 5mb or so ). Whats their average 3g and 4g speeds?
2. What about phones? Im coming from the Evo and its still considered a top contender with the new phones that are out there now. I dont want an iphone, Id like to stay android. Any phones out there that are pretty good? How is the nexus? Anything better? Anything worth waiting for?
Any and all help is appreciated.
My signal is great. I can pull about 2 mbps down with 3G and average 15-20 mbps down with 4G. Occasionally I can hit 30 mbps. I would recommend the Nexus if you want an all around great phone. The Razr Maxx would be a second choice if you absolutely need the extra battery life.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
TeeRom said:
My signal is great. I can pull about 2 mbps down with 3G and average 15-20 mbps down with 4G. Occasionally I can hit 30 mbps. I would recommend the Nexus if you want an all around great phone. The Razr Maxx would be a second choice if you absolutely need the extra battery life.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
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+1. The signal is always strong. I have about the same with 3g, 4g about 10-12 down. The customer service is amazing as well. I came from the HTC incredible to the GNex and I love this phone. It's got everything I need. Takes a toll on the battery but whatev.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
i have been with every carrier exept at&t in the past month and verizon is the best
sprint was my carrier for a year and the 3g was abysmal but what made it worse is there is no 4 g in phoenix
With Verizon 3G DL's average .4 - .5mb, 4G depending on location, ranges between 1mb (rare) to 25mb in saturated areas (for me averaging 8-16mb). As far as phones with VZ, 1.) Galaxy Nexus. 2.) HTC Rezound 3.) Moto Razr 4.) LG Spectrum. All of which blow any Evo out of the water in both hardware and performance. Sprint sucks
Sent from GNexus w/AOKP & franco.kernel
Depends on your location. Had sprint since I was in 4th grade now in college. Switched to Verizon with my family and where we used to get not even 200kbps with sprint we get 27mb 4G in Tucson. On my sisters 3G iPhone she gets 2-3mb.
Just costs more but you do get what you pay for . Service. Thus far I have never lost service on Verizon's network but was always in fringe areas it seemed on Sprint.
Took a trip to Yuma to head to Mexico for some cheap work on replacing my clutch on truck had 3g all the way and streaming Sirius to my phone.
IMO Verizon is worth it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Was a ten year sprint customer and left if 3 reasons.
Their 4g wimax is dead and in process of switching to Lte. So any phone you buy with wimax is already antiquated.
I sometimes would get good signal but the speeds sucked on both 3 and 4g(when you could find it) and my house happens to be in a spotty area when it shouldn't be.
every phone they have out now is just a rehashed evo.
I knew made the right change when i drove over bridge in my area (daily commute), where I would always drop calls, and not only did I not drop but my 4g was 2 bars. I pretty much get 4g everywhere now.
I suggest going to your local VZW store and running speed tests. I've seen "3G" pull down 80Kbps, and I've seen it pull down 1.4 megs. I've seen LTE range from 6 megs to 40 megs.
Device wise, if you want to tinker, get the GNex. Ignore all the blithering whining that completely over runs this place. There's nothing wrong with the device. If you don't want to tinker, I'd look at the Rezound and the Razr Maxx. My personal preferences:
1) GNex
2) Rezound
3) Razr Maxx
They're all really good devices. Play with them all and grab up the one you like the best.
One more thing... Expect your bill on vzw to be about twenty dollars more than sprint; worth it in my opinion.
Thanks all. I did the comparison and I'll get less data and less mintues for around the same price
Here is the break down. With sprint I have 2 phones ( so right off the bat, there is a 10$ per phone smartphone charge them tack on ; think 20 bucks here ) add a line for 9.99, 1800 mins ( free mobile to mobile, text, MMS, SMS ) unlimited data ( at SLOW ****ING speeds... )
I used a grand total ( between two phones ) around 80 mins. And that was mostly mobile to mobile. The landline minutes were like 30 mins.
With Verizon I would get 4gb per phone, FASTER speeds, 700 mins ( free verizon to verizon, but no others ) 30 bucks for unlimited sms mms etc etc.. all for around the same price. Im a data user mostly, so that is what pushes me around. I cannot do sprint anymore.
The Verizon service is excellent. I love the phone but it has 2 major issues. Data dropping and the loss of outbound audio bug, which is the worst bug I've ever experienced on a phone. Hopefully a software update will fix those issues.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
wow that would be a potential game changer. I need to mess with my android devices, and I would like to have the nexus versus the moto. But no one has seen a fix for those issues? Guess its a prominent bug out there?
3g is meh. 4g I get between 10-22. Just buy the galaxy nexus.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
yeah well my 3g speeds are .5-.7 on average... haha Im hoping verizon is better than that.
mroneeyedboh said:
yeah well my 3g speeds are .5-.7 on average... haha Im hoping verizon is better than that.
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Will depend on Area. Don't expect Verizon's 3G to be drastically faster than that.
mmmm dammit haha. I thought verizon was one of the if not the fastest like 3-5mb on 3g and around 20 or so on 4g.
mroneeyedboh said:
mmmm dammit haha. I thought verizon was one of the if not the fastest like 3-5mb on 3g and around 20 or so on 4g.
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The theoretical max speeds for EVDO rev A are only 3.1mbps down / 800kbps up. And those aren't real world. Expect the low 2mbps range at most.
CDMA carriers have atrocious 3G speeds compared to GSM carriers. UMTS beats EVDO easily, HSPA even more-so.
This is why you're seeing Verizon push LTE so hard, because it gives them the speed advantage again. It also offers them simultaneous voice + data, and the eventual move to VoLTE.
Honestly, I'd personally rather have 8mbps all the time on HSPA+ than 1.5mbps sometimes and 20mbps other times.
mroneeyedboh said:
mmmm dammit haha. I thought verizon was one of the if not the fastest like 3-5mb on 3g and around 20 or so on 4g.
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I don't even think 3G supports those speeds. In the few weeks I have been with Verizon I have seen in bad area's with low signal hit around 200-500kbs. In these area's Sprint would be around 30kbs, lol. In good area's where Sprint would get .500kbs-.700kbs I pull about 1.5 - 2mbs on Verizon. I do get 4G all over with Verizon as well as Sprint would be in and out all over the place...
It was great to be at the malls food court tonight and play a HD Youtube video of Yo Gabba Gabba for my son to keep him busy. Verizon's 4G in most places is faster then my home internet.
As far as the phone, the GN is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better then the EVO. I have owned the EVO, EVO 3D and the Epic 4G Touch. The only phone in the same league is the Epic 4G Touch but the GN just has cooler things going for it that make me not miss my E4GT.
As far as dropped data goes, it looks like more of a bad batch of phones. My first GN would drop 4G constantly. I got a replacement and this one never drops data. Keeps 4G consistently. I also haven't had a problem with calls as others have mentioned.
I do not think any other phone on Verizon offers what the GN does but other devices I would would fall right below in line would be the Rezound and Razr Maxx.
For the GN, make sure to buy the extended battery as you will need it. Verizon online has it on sale for $24.99 and it barely makes the device and larger then stock. I would aslo suggest ordering the phone from Amazon as they sell it for $99 and their customer service rocks!
Ahh okay so AT&T hs faster speeds with the HSPA versus EVDO cdma 3g? Then its a no brainer to go with AT&T if I want faster speeds..
martonikaj said:
The theoretical max speeds for EVDO rev A are only 3.1mbps down / 800kbps up. And those aren't real world. Expect the low 2mbps range.
CDMA carriers have atrocious 3G speeds compared to GSM carriers. UMTS beats EVDO easily, HSPA even more-so.
This is why you're seeing Verizon push LTE so hard, because it gives them the speed advantage again. It also offers them simultaneous voice + data, and the eventual move to VoLTE.
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That's true. CDMA 3g technology speeds is considerably slower in relation to 3g speeds on a GSM network...... However, CDMA Technology does provide a more stable and reliable network with far fewer dropped calls. That is one of the reasons why Verizon is consistently rated #1 in the US year after year. In the past, it was a trade off (slower data for better reliability). Today, the fact that Verizon has the only real 4G LTE network infrastructure makes the decision now a no-brainer.
Sent from GNexus w/AOKP & franco.kernel