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Sprint's Deal with Apple Allows Carrier to Offer LTE iPhone Should One Debut
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Friend of mine was in town last weekend and had just gotten a Galaxy S2 on Sprint and was all excited that his phone was getting '4G' and was amazed at how quick it was. I had him download speedtest.net and he was getting about 2.5Mbps.
While sitting right beside him, I got 6Mbps on my 4S on AT&T.
Then I had him turn off the 4G...300kbps.
I pull 20-25 Mbps down on Verizon 4G LTE quite often. I can see why they are moving to LTE.
Sure. Quote: "In a research note, Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett said Sprint faces two distinct outcomes. First, company upgrades it network, stabilizes Clearwire Corp.'s (CLWR) financial position and delivers compelling 4G offerings; in the other, the company suffocates under its hefty contract with Apple Inc. (AAPL), has a "hobbled" 4G offering and faces a heavy debt burden."
Link.
The real issue here is whether Apple will support the G-block LTE implementation that Sprint is doing. However, it looks like now that they split the iPads to get LTE, they will be doing different versions from now on. At least G-block is a little easier to support, as it can co-exist with anything else, unlike Verizon and AT&T's LTE implementations, which can't co-exist with the same amp and antenna setup.
Their DC-HSPA+ is almost as fast, even though their coverage is awful.
The Thunderbolt will do simultaneous voice and data on EVDO through SVDO- the iPhone's chipset doesn't support it.
Yup.
Their DC-HSPA+ is almost as fast, even though their coverage is awful.
The Thunderbolt will do simultaneous voice and data on EVDO through SVDO- the iPhone's chipset doesn't support it.
Yup.
Thanks for the info! I think in the beginning it was like that. But I guess they wised up!
Who wised up? The Verizon iPhone still uses Verizon 3G which doesn't support talk and surf. ATT iPhone supports a sort of HSPA+ which is faster than ATT 3G, which is still twice as fast as Verizon 3G, AND supports talk and surf. There really isn't any contest over the 4S. ATT is the only choice imo. Don't forget, ATT has ROLLOVER minutes! So you don't need to get some huge minute plan. Get something around your average, and any minutes you don't use get rolled over. I have thousands of minutes I can use whenever. No worries about going over minutes. PLUS I have unlimited data grandfathered in. Get rid of that text plan too. I use google voice for texting for free.
Because competition is good for the consumer. Imagine if there was only 1 carrier in the US... we'd have 10kbps up/down speeds limited to 1megabyte of bandwidth per month for $100/month.
I thought Verizon was like that. As for the rest, I am in the same boat on minutes! I have lowered every thing I can on minutes! Data I am grandfathered in as well. The text is tricky as I have three lines and one of the phones is a basic phone that my kids use when they are out and about. I don't to buy another iPhone for them and add another data plan for them.
I agree. I'm not in love with AT&T or anything, but as long as they're the only carrier offering talk & surf, in my eyes they're the only carrier offering the iPhone as a true smartphone. I use talk & surf all time, and not just for BS stuff during a conversation. It's helpful.
From the conversations I've had with people and from what I've read, AT&T seems to have the best data service, while Verizon has the best voice service. I want talk & surf with a reliable data connection. AT&T's voice service works well enough for me.
I left Sprint due to the fact of where I lived. ATT was the only one that serviced our area consistently. Plus, with the iPhone, you wouldn't be able to talk and surf at the same time. Or am I wrong?
If you turn on Wi-Fi on Sprint iPhone, then it would work.
T-Mobile is building an LTE network, and direly wants the phone. Though, it's LTE network won't go live until early 2013... about 3-4 months after an iPhone launch (if done in October again).
I would actually like to see them get the iPhone. When AT&T was the only carrier that had it, it wasn't as dire... but now being the only carrier without it, that's a bit tougher.
They did try to get this last iPhone, and Apple shot them down. Maybe merger issues? (Like why run a line to build T-Mobile compatible devices that would be unnecessary the following year?)
The sprint this is a waste of a post. Apple isn't going to make a non-LTE iPhone just for Sprint. Of course they get it being a partner already.
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You're speaking of a full deployment. Meaning... over their entire network. By October, AT&T will be covering all the major metro areas. It's the people in the sticks who won't see it till the end of 2013, if at all. Not much off from Verizon either.
You always roll out in markets with high users bases first.
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No, you're wrong. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA.
Only AT&T in the USA currently allows talk and data at the same time.
You will be correct, however, when an LTE iPhone hits the market (as one doesn't exist YET.)
This was done years ago. Service for all carriers except ATT do not work out in the country. We have "wireless" internet now and even that service is spotty at best and they won't upgrade us as of yet to better service. That being said, we moved here years before we bought our first iPhone and when we had dial-up.
To date, ATT is the only one that works here.
I've spent a good amount of time on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. AT&T is without a doubt my least favorite carrier, and while I'm a Verizon user today, I was quite happy with Sprint the last couple of years, and while they were not perfect, I feel like they really are trying. Their customer service improved dramatically 4-5 years ago when they got so much bad press, and in my experience after, they went above and beyond to make me happy and solve my problems. When I switched to Verizon for the iPhone last February, I felt bad leaving Sprint because I had a couple of complicated customer service experiences that they truly went above and beyond on. I called and made a point to tell them that I was leaving solely because of the iPhone, and that I was generally very happy with them as a company.
Their call quality wasn't as great as Verizon's (and in a few certain spotty areas could be terrible), but generally it was quite good for me. I never had much to complain about past BlackBerry device failures that you can't really blame on Sprint. Their data speeds were descent as well. Not quite as fast on 3G as Verizon, but on a phone, plenty usable at 1-2 Mbps on average. And again, much like Verizon, I got consistent service on Sprint BlackBerry's whereas with the AT&T iPhone 3G and 3GS, the data connection was for all intents and purposes useless on highways driving through less populated areas. It was so ridiculous to try to load things on an iPhone and have to switch over to a crappy BlackBerry, but that's AT&T for you.
What made Sprint's few shortcomings when comparing with Verizon more than easy to swallow was their great prices on plans and the fact that their plans offer a lot of content without the limits. They're simple and straightforward. I have very little bad to say about Sprint, and I too am certainly rooting for them.
(more on my experience with Verizon and AT&T below)
I'm currently (and finally thanks to the new iPad) completely locked into the Verizon network for everything. I have to say that it's by far the best network for call quality and general signal strength; I don't think I've ever really dropped more than a few calls on my Verizon iPhone now and I've had one since 7 AM on release day. And the new iPad on LTE is incredible; it's yet to have to switch over to 3G mode. But even if it does, Verizon 3G is literally just about everywhere in the USA, and it's a descent and very usable connection anywhere. But with Verizon, you definitely pay the price to have the best service, connection and at least in my experience, constistently great customer service.
With AT&T, I dropped calls all the time and had incredibly inconsistent voice quality. And while the data is great when you have a strong 3G signal in an area that's not too congested, that same 3G signal can easily be no better or worse than Verizon's slower but at least consistent signal. Sometimes it was far worse than Verizon's; almost useless to have 3G when half the time nothing loads or loads at sub-Edge speeds. Gotta love cities. And of course, Edge is basically useless, especially on the iPad, and it clicked into this far more often than I'd like even in fairly major metropolitan areas. And they were always *******s to me. On the phone, in stores, supervisors, managers, all unprofessional, rude, ignorant...pathetic customer service.
I actually know several people here in NJ who swear by (not "at") Sprint. They are plenty happy with the coverage, speed, and device selection. Clearly Sprint does have it's following, and they aren't all NASCAR fans either!
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No, you're wrong. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA.
Only AT&T in the USA currently allows talk and data at the same time.
You will be correct, however, when an LTE iPhone hits the market (as one doesn't exist YET.)[/QUOTE]
No your wrong.I wasn't talking about an iPhone I was talking strictly about LTE because someone said sprint wouldn't have simultaneous voice and data.Next time read the entire thread before you bash me.Verizon has LTE which is GSM everything else is CDMA
No, you're wrong. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA.
Only AT&T in the USA currently allows talk and data at the same time.
You will be correct, however, when an LTE iPhone hits the market (as one doesn't exist YET.)[/QUOTE]
No your wrong.I wasn't talking about an iPhone I was talking strictly about LTE because someone said sprint wouldn't have simultaneous voice and data.Next time read the entire thread before you bash me.Verizon has LTE which is GSM everything else is CDMA
No your wrong.I wasn't talking about an iPhone I was talking strictly about LTE because someone said sprint wouldn't have simultaneous voice and data.Next time read the entire thread before you bash me.Verizon has LTE which is GSM everything else is CDMA[/QUOTE]
LTE is GSM compatible at the core network level, is interoperable with GSM infrastructure, and was also made by the 3GPP group but the air interface has no relation to GSM.
Currently, Verizon supports simultaneous voice and data with voice running through CDMA 1x and data through LTE, or through EVDO on a few phones that support SVDO. The iPhone doesn't support SVDO. I *think* Sprint phones would do simultaneous with WiMAX, but I'm not sure, and that coverage area is very limited. AT&T and T-Mobile support both through HSPA+.
You could say Verizon and Sprint don't really support simultaneous, since they use two separate radios, but the functionality is the same to the customer, except for insane battery drain of running two radio systems simultaneously.