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Phones Sprint, Iphone 5 or Note II on Verizon

S

sddabrow

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 7, 2011
327
62
So just wanted to express my opinion, but also gather feedback since I am in between a rock and a hard place.

I am currently on Sprint (originally started with the HTC Evo 4G) and picked up the 4S as soon as it was available. I am now to the point where my 3G service has been awful for the last year and have tried everything to increase the speeds.

So ultimately, I am looking to switch carriers in December, pay the ETF, and go to Verizon for either the iPhone5 or Galaxy Note II.

I personally miss the screen size of my Evo 4G, but love the battery life and fluidity of my iPhone4S. I also have a Mac, iPad2, and a Bose iPhone dock. My 4S is jailbroken and I do have the standard jailbreak features and everything does "just work" when I have service.. I could not imagine having 10+Mbps, as I am lucky to get 0.5Mbps.

I use my phone for work and the two biggest issues I have are with Siri and Email. Siri can never connect to the network when I need to send out a text, email, or set reminders when I'm on the road. My company also uses Gmail as the main email service. On my Evo 4G, it seemed as if all the emails would store locally. On the 4S, I can NEVER find an email from a few months ago when I try to search for it (Yes I have show 1,000 messages in settings). I partially blame it on Sprint's network, but liked the gmail function on Android much better for the localized email storage. Also attaching multiple documents in an email.. can't seem to figure that one out on the iPhone.

Also web browsing on my Evo4G was much nicer. I could double tap to zoom in and the text would wrap around the screen. No having to zoom in and then scroll around the web page to read. (Granted Reader on the iPhone is amazing, when the sites have it.) However, it is rare that I actually view websites on my phone since the network is so slow.

So I am distraught. Stay on Sprint and wait for the Network Vision to get better and save my upgrade for the 5S, while maintaining unlimited data? Jump to Verizon and pick up the Note II for larger screen and better Gmail functions? Or jump to Verizon and pick up the iPhone5?

I pay roughly $130/month as a single line on Sprint will unlimited everything. I use right around 2GB of data a month (primarily Pandora streaming in the car).

Thanks for reading my rant and opinions are welcomed :)
 
r0k

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
sddabrow said:
So just wanted to express my opinion, but also gather feedback since I am in between a rock and a hard place.

I am currently on Sprint (originally started with the HTC Evo 4G) and picked up the 4S as soon as it was available. I am now to the point where my 3G service has been awful for the last year and have tried everything to increase the speeds.

So ultimately, I am looking to switch carriers in December, pay the ETF, and go to Verizon for either the iPhone5 or Galaxy Note II.

I personally miss the screen size of my Evo 4G, but love the battery life and fluidity of my iPhone4S. I also have a Mac, iPad2, and a Bose iPhone dock. My 4S is jailbroken and I do have the standard jailbreak features and everything does "just work" when I have service.. I could not imagine having 10+Mbps, as I am lucky to get 0.5Mbps.

I use my phone for work and the two biggest issues I have are with Siri and Email. Siri can never connect to the network when I need to send out a text, email, or set reminders when I'm on the road. My company also uses Gmail as the main email service. On my Evo 4G, it seemed as if all the emails would store locally. On the 4S, I can NEVER find an email from a few months ago when I try to search for it (Yes I have show 1,000 messages in settings). I partially blame it on Sprint's network, but liked the gmail function on Android much better for the localized email storage. Also attaching multiple documents in an email.. can't seem to figure that one out on the iPhone.

Also web browsing on my Evo4G was much nicer. I could double tap to zoom in and the text would wrap around the screen. No having to zoom in and then scroll around the web page to read. (Granted Reader on the iPhone is amazing, when the sites have it.) However, it is rare that I actually view websites on my phone since the network is so slow.

So I am distraught. Stay on Sprint and wait for the Network Vision to get better and save my upgrade for the 5S, while maintaining unlimited data? Jump to Verizon and pick up the Note II for larger screen and better Gmail functions? Or jump to Verizon and pick up the iPhone5?

I pay roughly $130/month as a single line on Sprint will unlimited everything. I use right around 2GB of data a month (primarily Pandora streaming in the car).

Thanks for reading my rant and opinions are welcomed :)
Click to expand...

Depending on where you live, 4G LTE is not really an option with At&t or Sprint. If you want to take advantage of 4G LTE on the iPhone 5, your only credible carrier right now is Verizon. This might change by next year but I assume you want to enjoy your device now rather than later.

I have an iPhone 4 on At&t and I'm looking at getting the iPhone 5 mainly for the improved camera and more memory (I'll go for the 32G model). But in Michigan, my only option for 4G LTE is Verizon. I'll be sticking with At&t which has better prices and At&t 3G is a heck of a lot faster than Verizon 3G but sadly I'll have to wait until "some time in 2013" to see At&t LTE north of the Michigan/Ohio border.

As for an Android phone on Verizon, I have a Samsung GP5 and using it is painful compared to my iThings. As a Mac and iPad owner, I suggest you continue to enjoy the seamless experience iOS provides rather than consider Android.
 
S

sddabrow

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 7, 2011
327
62
r0k said:
Depending on where you live, 4G LTE is not really an option with At&t or Sprint. If you want to take advantage of 4G LTE on the iPhone 5, your only credible carrier right now is Verizon. This might change by next year but I assume you want to enjoy your device now rather than later.

I have an iPhone 4 on At&t and I'm looking at getting the iPhone 5 mainly for the improved camera and more memory (I'll go for the 32G model). But in Michigan, my only option for 4G LTE is Verizon. I'll be sticking with At&t which has better prices and At&t 3G is a heck of a lot faster than Verizon 3G but sadly I'll have to wait until "some time in 2013" to see At&t LTE north of the Michigan/Ohio border.

As for an Android phone on Verizon, I have a Samsung GP5 and using it is painful compared to my iThings. As a Mac and iPad owner, I suggest you continue to enjoy the seamless experience iOS provides rather than consider Android.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I live in Orlando / Melbourne FL and show that Verizon and AT&T both have pretty strong LTE. I believe Verizon would be the better choice for work, since they have less dropped calls.

Just spoke to Sprint and it will cost me $240 to cancel. Decisions, decisions.
 
0

0m3ga

macrumors 6502
Mar 1, 2012
491
0
sddabrow said:
Thanks for the information. I live in Orlando / Melbourne FL and show that Verizon and AT&T both have pretty strong LTE. I believe Verizon would be the better choice for work, since they have less dropped calls.

Just spoke to Sprint and it will cost me $240 to cancel. Decisions, decisions.
Click to expand...

If you go with Verizon, how will the iphone 5 handle data and voice? Assume you are using GPS or in the middle of downloading a text, image, new map file or whatever and a call comes in? Does everything drop to prioritize the call? I have never used Verizon, so I don't know. If this might be an issue for you, maybe someone can chime in and give an answer.
 
S

sddabrow

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 7, 2011
327
62
0m3ga said:
If you go with Verizon, how will the iphone 5 handle data and voice? Assume you are using GPS or in the middle of downloading a text, image, new map file or whatever and a call comes in? Does everything drop to prioritize the call? I have never used Verizon, so I don't know. If this might be an issue for you, maybe someone can chime in and give an answer.
Click to expand...

Been like this since I started with Sprint. Not a big deal for me, as it simply prioritizes the call. Texts can still be received since they are over the same radio (just no iMessages).

On my Evo, the turn by turn directions would still work on a voice call for a certain period of time.

But other than that, all the "Data" items such as emails, MMS, iMessage, simply come in after the call is ended.
 
r0k

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
sddabrow said:
Thanks for the information. I live in Orlando / Melbourne FL and show that Verizon and AT&T both have pretty strong LTE. I believe Verizon would be the better choice for work, since they have less dropped calls.

Just spoke to Sprint and it will cost me $240 to cancel. Decisions, decisions.
Click to expand...

ETFs go down the longer you wait. I suggest you limp along with Sprint on whatever phone you are currently using, especially if it's an iPhone. You can then get out a heck of a lot cheaper and avoid standing in any mile-long iPhone 5 lines. It's not like Apple is going to run out. They know how to keep making them. Buy when it's advantageous for you, not when Sprint is going to tack on an extra $240.

Here's something to consider. You could keep your Sprint line and "will" it to somebody else. There is no ETF as long as you keep the line. Activate a junk phone on the line and keep it active until your ETF falls below whatever pain threshold. Meanwhile you can get a new phone sooner. Of course if you care about keeping your same number, forget everything I said in this paragraph. :(

BTW, I found At&t to get better about 6 months after I jumped from Verizon. For a while, "Mark the Spot" was my most frequently used app. Not any more. Around here, Sprint is awful compared to At&t and Verizon so if you are basing your decision on coverage, you might find there isn't that much difference. But there is a pretty big difference in price. Verizon costs quite a bit more. One thing going for them is they do throw in free tethering (because they have to according to a deal they worked out to buy spectrum).
 
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