

skeechan

Ai Otsukaholic

Premium Member

join:2012-01-26

AA169|170 skeechan Premium Member Slowly, Sprint is improving With improving LTE coverage in my neck of the woods and their new all-in-one unlimited for life deal, I am getting happier with Sprint. Faster LTE than AT&T has out here and far cheaper.



josephf

join:2009-04-26 josephf Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving Sprint's LTE is a joke. It is unavailable in large swaths of areas. They are far in back of the pack of all the carriers in regards to both LTE coverage and speed.

mob (banned)

On the next level..

join:2000-10-07

San Jose, CA mob (banned) Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving I've been using it for over a year with minimal issues. I get speeds faster than VZW and ATT, pay less and have unlimited data. I use about 15gb-20gb per month with no problems. I average 15/mb down and around 8-9mb up.

nonymous (banned)

join:2003-09-08

Glendale, AZ nonymous (banned) to josephf

Member to josephf

The fan boy pay us for our greatness site I can not stand.

I think now that Softbank came in Sprint has the funding. They did have funding but Softbank stabilized it even more. Network Vision is completing in the next year. The 800 will kick in by then. Plus I hope Son actually does buy out some of the smaller players still left and does somewhat increase rural coverage. That other site is just dumb wishing for no buyouts as better for customer and saying not financially feasible to build their own towers.

I think Son will buyout a few key players if given the chance so not to

risk the big two getting them and once network vision is more complete think of some smart rural expansion as not everything is rural anymore.

Heck even Phoenix just kicked on two LTE sites finally. More will kick in soon and I think a couple are testing voice 800 which will also be lte 800 next year.



skeechan

Ai Otsukaholic

Premium Member

join:2012-01-26

AA169|170 skeechan to josephf

Premium Member to josephf

Still better than AT&T...getting your toenails pulled out with rusty pliers is better than AT&T and around here AT&T 5X5 LTE isn't much faster than their crappy 3G which after 2GB gets throttled into the ground running barely faster than dial up speed. Sprint LTE flat smokes it. VZW here is a different story, fairly speedy (10Mb), just WAY overpriced.



ilikeme

Premium Member

join:2002-08-27

Stafford, TX ·Toast.net

ilikeme Premium Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving LMAO! Sprint still sucks majorly compared to At&t. Was just on a road trip from Texas up to New Jersey with a good friend who has Sprint and she was constantly complaining about how it was going slow or had no service at all, even in the major metro areas. My At&t phone worked great pretty much the entire time, I never dropped below 3G and the LTE coverage was great also. My LTE speeds averaged 25-50 Mbps. Sprint was less than 5 LOL.



skeechan

Ai Otsukaholic

Premium Member

join:2012-01-26

AA169|170 skeechan Premium Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving AT&T blows serious ass, with LTE here in OC being barely faster than 3G. Add to that they are horribly overpriced, sorry customer no-service and throttling and they are the worst of the worst. Sprint is a turd that floats higher in the bowl than AT&T does.



ilikeme

Premium Member

join:2002-08-27

Stafford, TX ·Toast.net

ilikeme Premium Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving Around Texas Sprint blows chunks. Even T-Mobile is better than Sprint in the cities! In most areas Sprint is the slowest, often slower than the AOL dial-up I had in the 90's! I have never had any issues with At&t CS, but when I tried Sprint it took for ever for them to get anything done (if it was taken care of at all)!



skeechan

Ai Otsukaholic

Premium Member

join:2012-01-26

AA169|170 skeechan Premium Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving You can find lots of areas where one or more carriers will suck. Sprint sucks for coverage, AT&T sucks for everything else.

willzzz

join:2007-05-23

NY willzzz to skeechan

Member to skeechan

Actually AT&T bought spectrum from VZW and now ALL of AT&T's metro markets (very small rural markets are not I believe) are 10x10. That includes LA.



skeechan

Ai Otsukaholic

Premium Member

join:2012-01-26

AA169|170 skeechan Premium Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving Well speeds have not improved in OC as a result.



hamburglar

join:2002-04-29

united state 25.8 3.6

hamburglar to josephf

Member to josephf

said by josephf: Sprint's LTE is a joke. It is unavailable in large swaths of areas. They are far in back of the pack of all the carriers in regards to both LTE coverage and speed.

^^This

xenophon

join:2007-09-17 xenophon to josephf

Member to josephf





»sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· 10sprint



I don't think Sprint will functionally turn the corner until turning on 800Mhz everywhere, which has already started. Sprint's LTE rollout is only about 60% complete. When they complete the rollout and turn on 800Mhz, they'll be in great shape.I don't think Sprint will functionally turn the corner until turning on 800Mhz everywhere, which has already started.



josephf

join:2009-04-26 josephf Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving Sprint has been promising and promising a time frame of rolling out LTE. They consistently break their promised time frame. We'll believe it when we see it, if and when that happens.



In the meanwhile they're are far behind the LTE pack compared to all the other carriers.

xenophon

join:2007-09-17 xenophon Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving



They are ahead of Tmobile in coverage and when they turn on 800LTE, will be closer to ATT/VZW in the markets they are in.



Sprint reported by users..

»sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· 10sprint



Tmobile reported by users...

»sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· e_310260



ATT...

»sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· e_310410 Well they have _actually_ rolled out over 20K of 38K LTE sites. They have 10K more in the works now. What more do you want, the entire network in a day? But would say that no one should consider Sprint until they turn on 800LTE.They are ahead of Tmobile in coverage and when they turn on 800LTE, will be closer to ATT/VZW in the markets they are in.Sprint reported by users..Tmobile reported by users...ATT...



tc1uscg

join:2005-03-09

Guantanamo tc1uscg Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving Come'on. Really? It comes down to history and Sprint has a hard to dispute one. Look at ION, look at Nextel. Look at WiMax. Their network sux and has for years. They have burned too many bridges and customers over the years charging them for a service they had NO intention of providing any time soon. The big issue is, most of these customers paid their extra 10 bucks for a 4G phone month after month and didn't DEMAND a refund or complain loud enough for the FCC to get involved. Or maybe they did and the FCC didn't know what to do about it. But the bottom line is simple. Sprints network (3G) is bad in more places then not. So, do they really thing people are that stupid to think LTE will be any better? We get what we pay for. We pay less then others for AT&T and Big red but we have a MUCH slower network if we even have service at all. You seem like a pretty smart person and in the know about lots of Sprints happenings. But even when I worked for'em, I stopped drinking the koolaid a long time ago and accepted their "now" network is what it is and it's not going to get better.



rwong48

join:2002-11-10

San Jose, CA rwong48 to xenophon

Member to xenophon

In my area (SF bay area), the purple is exaggerated by dragging out a single tower in every direction (I would know, I did nearly all the mapping for the South Bay.) Coverage between towers is awful. Just switched to T-Mobile and it's really just continuous LTE throughout my day/drives.

TBBroadband

join:2012-10-26

Fremont, OH TBBroadband to skeechan

Member to skeechan

Unlimited for life? A great way to make extra $$$ on a service they already claim will always be unlimited.

nonymous (banned)

join:2003-09-08

Glendale, AZ nonymous (banned) Member Re: Slowly, Sprint is improving That was an already in the works Sprint campaign. We do not know what Son may do later. I think he is waiting a bit so as not to make waves and since this campaign that was in the works just started not muddy the waters with a new one yet. Wait awhile till lte kicks in more, see what this campaign does then go for it when the network is more ready.

podstolom

join:2010-01-25

Wichita, KS podstolom Member Well then maybe T-Mobile should buy AT&T, and Sprint should buy Verizon.

ssavoy

Premium Member

join:2007-08-16

Dallas, PA 1 recommendation ssavoy Premium Member Not yet T-Mobile's plans and vision got better but if you overlayed their coverage map from 3 years ago on their current one, there would be very little change other than an LTE overlay. As an existing customer, the new plans are a rate hike for no noticeable difference in coverage area, so there's less incentive to stick with them.

TBBroadband

join:2012-10-26

Fremont, OH TBBroadband Member Re: Not yet TMO does not cover the rural areas. But you also will need to factor in the Metro network when that is migrated over to TMO's GSM network from CDMA.



djdanska

Rudie32

Premium Member

join:2001-04-21

San Diego, CA djdanska to ssavoy

Premium Member to ssavoy

Well, If you happen to live and stay in their high speed areas, and want full unlimited data, They're the one's to go to. It's a niche market and they know it. It helps that people are starting to pay attention to them again after the at&t fiasco. (and D.T. is finally giving tmo usa cash.)

davidhoffman

Premium Member

join:2009-11-19

Warner Robins, GA davidhoffman Premium Member Turned the corner? T-Mobile needs larger geographic signal coverage, but customer service seems to have remained good. The proposed merger with AT&T was all about short term thinking to please short term thinking stockholders. That way the executives might get more silly undeserved praise and bonuses. Now they have a chance to build a mobile network that could truly be a nationwide rival to AT&T and Verizon. Yes, it would take many years, but it is possible.



Sprint needs geographic coverage. I know many former Sprint customers who switched to Verizon over the past decade because of the lack of signal issue. The lack of coverage, to the East and West of I-75/I-475 between Atlanta, GA and Macon, GA is ridiculous. There has been lots of business and housing growth in that area, yet Sprint seems content to ignore the need for good signal coverage within 5 miles East or West of the interstate. Think about this, the subscribers found the devices, prices, and most customer service acceptable, EXCEPT for lack of signal coverage.



FFH5

Premium Member

join:2002-03-03

Tavistock NJ FFH5 Premium Member Re: Turned the corner? Coverage outside of city cores and interstate highway corridors has always been problems for TMO & Sprint. And their switch to LTE isn't solving that key problem. Without better coverage in more suburban and rural areas they will continue to play second fiddle to Verizon and AT&T.

ISurfTooMuch

join:2007-04-23

Tuscaloosa, AL ISurfTooMuch Member Re: Turned the corner? ^This!



Only covering urban areas and major highways creates a natural barrier to growth. First, people in unserved areas can't sign up for service, and second, some people in urban areas won't sign up, either because they have friends and family in those unserved areas or because they travel into those areas themselves and don't want to be out of service. Yes, they can sometimes roam on other carriers, but they don't want to be at the mercy of roaming agreements, which can change as contracts do or don't get renewed.



If these carriers want to grow bigger, they have to grow their networks bigger.

sonicmerlin

join:2009-05-24

Cleveland, OH sonicmerlin to FFH5

Member to FFH5

said by FFH5: Coverage outside of city cores and interstate highway corridors has always been problems for TMO & Sprint. And their switch to LTE isn't solving that key problem. Without better coverage in more suburban and rural areas they will continue to play second fiddle to Verizon and AT&T.

600 MHz spectrum auction.



graycorgi

Premium Member

join:2004-02-23 graycorgi to FFH5

Premium Member to FFH5

Sprint is putting CDMA on 800MHZ spectrum in addition to LTE. That will help a ton for 3G/voice coverage. Their current phones do not support Tri-band LTE though, so it won't help anyone as far as 4G goes.

tmc8080

join:2004-04-24

Brooklyn, NY tmc8080 Member metrics in the metrics consumers care about competition hasn't really done much... have PRICES come down? has the availablity for unlimited data gone UP? do ANY of these companies OWN more of their own towers than they did 4 years ago? has the quality gone UP? if anything you have basically ONE prepaid provider with the cheapest voice minutes (TRACFONE) and the rest with ultra high plans starting at $35 if you want unlimited data. when you look at those metrics, NOTHING changed, except continuous deployment of LTE/4g tower upgrades.



its also a foregone conclusion that if you pay the lowest prices for unlimited talk/text/data that you basically get what you pay for.. service on a limited network such as Sprint's or Metro's. ymmv on 3rd party prepaid at&t/verizon. similar plans, if offered at all on post paid are 200 - 300% higher-- so the more things change, the more they stay the same.

sonicmerlin

join:2009-05-24

Cleveland, OH sonicmerlin Member Re: metrics said by tmc8080: in the metrics consumers care about competition hasn't really done much... have PRICES come down? has the availablity for unlimited data gone UP? do ANY of these companies OWN more of their own towers than they did 4 years ago? has the quality gone UP? if anything you have basically ONE prepaid provider with the cheapest voice minutes (TRACFONE) and the rest with ultra high plans starting at $35 if you want unlimited data. when you look at those metrics, NOTHING changed, except continuous deployment of LTE/4g tower upgrades.



its also a foregone conclusion that if you pay the lowest prices for unlimited talk/text/data that you basically get what you pay for.. service on a limited network such as Sprint's or Metro's. ymmv on 3rd party prepaid at&t/verizon. similar plans, if offered at all on post paid are 200 - 300% higher-- so the more things change, the more they stay the same.

4 competitors keeps unlimited going, but you really need 5 major competitors in a market to drive down prices.



Metatron2008

Premium Member

join:2008-09-02

united state Metatron2008 Premium Member Everyone complaining about coverage and speeds need to remember that you are running on 1900 mhz versus the 700 mhz that at&t and verizon use. When Sprint turns on 800 mhz..

patt2k

join:2009-01-16 patt2k Member T-Mobile not yet 2 weeks ago I had a friend who just bought his Galaxy S4 and needed help setting up he is in his 50's.

It was from T-Mobile it had full bars of 4G (HSPA+) and speeds were at 100 kbps.. it even showed 1 bar of LTE speeds of 200-500 kbps .. it litreally took long time to download apps from playstore on the phone.



IowaCowboy

Supermarket Hero

Premium Member

join:2010-10-16

Springfield, MA ARRIS SB6183

Netgear R8000

IowaCowboy Premium Member Incompatible networks Sprint is CDMA, T-Mobile is GSM. It would be easier for Verizon to buy Sprint as it would be easier to merge the networks with the existing fleet of handsets and connected devices. Same with T-Mobile, as anti-consumer as it would be, AT&T buying T-Mobile would have made much better sense as merging similar networks is much easier as you can just reprovision the existing fleet of handsets and connected devices.



Cellular devices are not just that android/iPhone in your pocket. Many devices use cellular radios. Burglar/fire alarms, vending machines, Redboxes, lottery terminals, credit card machines, vehicle tracking systems, transit fareboxes, billboards, medical monitoring systems, public safety dispatch, and the list goes on of fixed and mobile devices that use the cell network to connect. If you shut down or change a network, you have the potential to disrupt the connections of so many devices/applications.

nonymous (banned)

join:2003-09-08

Glendale, AZ nonymous (banned) Member Re: Incompatible networks If Tmobile was bought out think both networks would stay up for awhile. Probably switch everyone to the shiny new sprint network and shut redundant Tmobile towers down. Then hopefully upgrade the non redundant Tmobile towers to the Sprint network.

Then during the time both networks where still up and integration takes place time to roll everyone over to the Sprint handsets.

I still do not see it happening though. A few deep pockets are left and as TMobile is the last of the big carriers there may be some extreme bidding for it from unlikely sources.

Sprint has a very bad public image so even with Ergen bidding up the price it still wasn't through the roof. Tmobile has a better public image so may attract more different bidders.

Son isnt scared of the public image as he will change that when the time is right. I expect if NV is going strong see some fun advertising for the Christmas season.

your moderator at work hidden :



monchis

Premium Member

join:2002-12-09

00000 monchis Premium Member I like the sound of Sprint - T mobile. (get it? sprinty mobile)



I hope there is never some kind of deal that involves sprint and T-Mobile working together, because sprint is a pos.



jseymour

join:2009-12-11

Waterford, MI jseymour Member Coincidentally... I've been a Sprint customer for probably nigh on 15 years. Ever since they first started-up in the Metro-Detroit area. But lately the dead spots on my commute have become even "more dead" (now just about guaranteed to lose a call going through them) and there are more of them.



So I've got an HTC Sensation 4G on the way and a T-Mobile SIM chip sitting at home waiting for it. I'll try TMO for a month, on their $30 pre-pay plan. If it goes well: Hasta la bye-bye, Sprint. My wife and I will be moving on.



Verizon? Too expensive. Besides: I like the European wireless model: You buy the phone and bring it to the carrier of your choice--move if you're unhappy. The thing that calls itself "AT&T" these days? Not. On. Your. Life. Absolutely most horrible company I've ever had the misfortune to deal with in all my born days, both personally and professionally, regardless of product or service.



Besides: I'm liking what T-Mobile is doing. They're being disruptive. Sprint used to be disruptive. Then they lost their way and became Yet Another VZW/"AT&T". Bo-ring.



FWIW: Everybody to whom I've talked, around here, that has T-Mobile has expressed nothing but satisfaction with their service.



Jim

cmarslett

join:2006-11-22

Pflugerville, TX ·Suddenlink

cmarslett Member Re: Coincidentally... I have to agree. Though it seems that Sprint (and to a lesser extent T-Mobile) are really getting there in the more heavily populated, but not that affluent, neighborhoods. Around the University of Texas in Austin, AT&T is worthless, probably high rent and limited customer interest in the $200/mo plans keep them from putting any money into towers there. I don't know anything about Verizon (they have always been too pricey for my blood and everyone I know pretty much agrees -- even the Apple fans!). Sprint, surprisingly, has good coverage and T-Mobile sits in sold second. Of course out in the Republican suburbs, AT&T routs them both, and Sprint falls off the map (a lot like AT&T around the university). So my compromise is to go with T-Mobile.



If T-Mobile would just come up with a plan like most full service companies have in Europe with cheap or free international roaming (so, giving me coverage in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, for example) they'd have a customer for life. And being a real international company they should be able to do that!



ilikeme

Premium Member

join:2002-08-27

Stafford, TX ·Toast.net

ilikeme Premium Member Re: Coincidentally... AT&T works fine around the UT campus. I have used it there numerous times and never had any major issues with calls, texts, or data. Most everyone i know there has either at&t or verizon and they never really have any complaints. Even during the graduations and football games it was fine most of the time.

Skippy25

join:2000-09-13

Hazelwood, MO Skippy25 Member Not so much. Sprint better get their act together in the St. Louis area or they will be losing many people.



Their network has been horrible for a few months now and 2 days ago I had to turn my company issued hotspot off because it was constantly connecting, disconnecting and trying to reconnect to their 4G here.

nonymous (banned)

join:2003-09-08

Glendale, AZ nonymous (banned) Member Sprint will improve Son just took over Right now he is just completing the network vision. He even is fully upgrading all sites to all spectrum adding 2500 to nearly all and 800 nearly all. Mexico and Canada borders have restrictions on 800.

All nextel is now shut down and duplicate towers eliminated. Clearwire the same and redundant towers shut down. So overall there will be far fewer towers after this is done. May leave an opening for new expansion towers where needed after the dust settles.

The capex for the next two years or so covers this then is reduced after that. Still after that there is still solid amount of capex in the budget. So if everything is shiny new the capex after the next couple years should be relatively free and clear. That could mean at least room for some expansion. Doubt they would ever be a Verizon but if they choose correctly to where people roam most or new towns, subdivisions going in will help.

We haven't really heard from Son yet. think he just wants NV complete and not being his usual rock the boat self yet. Or at least as far as the public sees. What is being said or planned behind closed doors may be interesting.

BiggA

Premium Member

join:2005-11-23

Central CT BiggA Premium Member Coverage When Sprint has the coverage of Verizon, let me know. Until then, anything about Sprint or T-Mobile catching up is BS. Coverage is a must for all but the bottom-scraper customers.