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skysailing

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 26, 2012
243
0
I am thinking about breaking up with AT&T's Data plan to go with Sprint's unlimited plan. I know AT&T has really good 4GLTE, but does Sprint have 4GLTE as well? Also, i'm finding it hard to believe Data unlimited at only $100 a month...what's wrong with it?
 

2298754

Cancelled
Jun 21, 2010
4,890
941
It does but Sprint LTE is super spotty next to AT&T LTE.

Unless you like being on dial up like 3G all the time, I suggest you stay on the better network
 

skysailing

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 26, 2012
243
0
That really sucks to hear.
It's either that or a 10GB AT&T data plan. I don't like stressing over how much data I use.
 

Jordan921

macrumors 603
Jul 7, 2010
5,069
2,171
Bay Area
I am thinking about breaking up with AT&T's Data plan to go with Sprint's unlimited plan. I know AT&T has really good 4GLTE, but does Sprint have 4GLTE as well? Also, i'm finding it hard to believe Data unlimited at only $100 a month...what's wrong with it?

My girlfriend was on Sprint with an iPhone 4 and her service was pretty ******. I switched her over to AT&T and got her the 5 and it was a night in day difference. Now that she has LTE she's been racking up the data. I'd suggest making sure that you'll have LTE where you are before switching if you do.
 

skysailing

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 26, 2012
243
0
I think I might wait for T Mobile. Hopefully they have unlimited data.
 

ProudLoz

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2012
240
0
I think I might wait for T Mobile. Hopefully they have unlimited data.

They do, and for $70 unlimited everything, it's not too bad. The issue is that they're refarming their network to work with iPhones and if you're not in those select cities, then all you got is Edge speeds. Which isn't too bad to be honest with you, but it does hang every now and then because of the bad pings.
 

skysailing

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 26, 2012
243
0
They do, and for $70 unlimited everything, it's not too bad. The issue is that they're refarming their network to work with iPhones and if you're not in those select cities, then all you got is Edge speeds. Which isn't too bad to be honest with you, but it does hang every now and then because of the bad pings.

I'm a traveler and that really concerns me. Edge is TERRIBLE- I remember it from the first iPhone. Would you recommend T-Mobile for a traveler?
 

TableSyrup

macrumors 6502
May 29, 2012
312
1
I've got Sprint in Minneapolis MN

Best voice coverage I've had (Even traveling)
No roaming, no long distance. So I get coverage EVERYWHERE

Data sucks something fierce on 3G... iP5 doesn't run Sprint's 4G (WiMax) .... LTE is rolling out as we speak, but not everyone has it yet

Average 3G Data: 1.8 Down .75 Up

I do use TONS of minutes though.... 4000 or so is not uncommon in a month,
but I do a lot of phone consultation

Unlimited is gonna pay off huge when LTE rolls through.

For me it's worth it. I'm usually in the office or at home, so leave the wifi on, or use my Macs
 

Jay7872

macrumors newbie
Oct 21, 2011
20
0
Let me tell you about sprint.. IT SUCKS
as everyone has mentioned, their 3G network is EXTREMELY slow. LTE is nearly non existent, voice calls are not too bad

I was with sprint since they swallowed up nextel. Never really complained until i got my first iphone (4S). i live in New York City and the speed is just TERRIBLE. Its as if all of the towers are just severely overloaded. ive done plenty of speed test and no matter where it is you are, .02mpbs download speeds were common. When leaving the big city and heading up to smaller towns, the speed did increase. Highest ive ever gotten was around 1.5mbps down outside the city.

Voice calls fared alot better, besides the fact me and everyone i know on sprint would get these annoying periods of time when you would dial a number and the phone would remain stuck on calling but without actually calling. One time i tried calling someone and the call failed consecutively 19 times. This was the day i decided enough was enough and ditched them for ATT, as mentioned in another post, difference is NIGHT AND DAY i love it.

In terms of whether unlimited data would pay off in the end, guess it depends on how well sprint increases their capacity on their network. I read somewhere sprint is using less spectrum or something of the sort that will make their LTE network a little slower than the other two (verizon and ATT) If your going to want decent data speeds, your going to have to leave on LTE once they do roll it out in your area. Kiss that fantastic battery life goodbye and hopefully they bring it to your area sometime SOON
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,713
I've been with Sprint since 1999. I bought my iPhone 5 knowing that my area (Phoenix) does not have 4G (yet). I waited five years for the iPhone 5 to come to Sprint (yeah, the iPhone 4S showed up in 2011, but I wanted the 5).

Part of the problem is that Sprint tried testing and rolling out 4G WiMax in 2010. That was with Clearwire. Sprint was using their network for this and Clearwire did their testing and then stopped. Sprint should have communicated with it's customers, they didn't, so now we have this mess of people being promised 4G for the last two years and not getting it.

Sprint laid out 4G rollout in three markets. The first round market is done, the second is building out and the third round market was supposed to start any where from Dec. 2012 to March 2013. Phoenix is in the third round market. Supposedly the way it works is that they start slow, work out the kinks and then accelerate.

Sprint is doing three things at once. First they have to overhaul the backhaul. The backhaul they have right now is for older 3G and some of it dates to the early 90s. Access to property and towers of course as well as permitting is an issue. Sprint in a lot of places is sharing towers with other carriers. But they can't switch on LTE until they have the backhaul upgraded to handle it. Sprint is also upgrading it's 3G towers as it goes as well.

Lastly as they go they are shutting down the iDEN network (Nextel) and converting those towers to 3G/LTE. The iDEN towers operate on a much lower frequency (800hz I believe, something like that). The signal will penetrate much farther, but right now the smartphones on the network can't use the iDEN towers because it's not compatible.

All of this is supposed to wrap up they say by the end of 2013. I'm skeptical, but we'll see. They say that because of Clearwire once Phoenix gets 4G there will be areas of the city that are faster because there will be a mix of 4G WiMax, LTE and upgraded 3G.

Note that I am not defending Sprint. I am merely reguritating what's been said.

Just one final note. If you are not in an LTE network but using an iPhone on Sprint, turn off LTE. Your 3G speeds will improve somewhat. Why, I don't know, but it works.
 

ge0p

macrumors newbie
Oct 8, 2011
9
0
The thought of having "unlimited" data is enticing, but unfortunatly with an iphone 5 on Sprint, you basically have a smartphone that is crippled for most all data functions. The data, for reasons apparently unknown to Sprint or Apple, is so miserably slow (.01-.20 Mb download) most any data features of the iphone will not function. Do yourself a big favor and peruse the Sprint forums and you will quickly see that this is a widespread, nationwide problem. You'll see many posts re: customers unable to use facebook, maps, siri, twitter and almost all data related functions. For whatever reason, Andoid phones appear to fair much better and exibit decent download speeds.
Some Sprint online Reps suggest that Sprint/Apple are working on a fix, and there was a new carrier update Dec. 5, but most are giving mixed reviews. You would probably do well to proceed with caution.
 

Johnnygogo

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2012
59
0
like others have said Sprint is slooooow. but for Chicago and the burbs it is super fast. i have been to nashville, boston, and atlanta. sprint lte fast there as well. it all depends on where you are. i pay 110 buck for 2 phones and could not be happier with Sprint. i love their customer service as well. they waived activation fees when i bought both phones and only charged 212 each. just my experience.
 

bdoople

macrumors member
Apr 18, 2012
69
0
Cincinnati, OH
I just switched from Sprint to AT&T because I was using an absolute max of 1GB a month. I was on AT&T before with all of my previous iPhones and when the 4/S came out on Sprint I switched. Here's my experience.

I hated AT&T. Just absolutely loathed. I couldn't keep a phone call, it would either drop when I tried to pick up or I'd get connected and it would drop. Constant phantom voicemails (no missed call but a voicemail comes through). The data was great though but this was just 3G time.

Last time I had used Sprint it was horrifying also. It was quite a few years back with a work supplied phone and I never had any coverage, even out in the middle of a field, and when I was at home my phone had to sit near a window to even maybe get a call. I had heard good things and gave them a shot. Like everyone said the data is awful. Here in Cincinnati I got a constant 0.01Mbps on speed tests. 90% of the time (even with full service) apps wouldn't even load because they'd time out. The voice coverage was great though. I only had 2 bars inside my house but I never missed calls and never dropped calls. The unlimited data was nice but never really used. One thing I did use a lot was the unlimited roaming. I roam on Verizon a lot here at work (thick concrete walls + Sprint = lol). There was nothing listed up through 2013 that I could find that showed Cincinnati as an area getting LTE. They charge you $10/month for "Premium Data" even if you can't use it. So finally I had enough with that and went back to AT&T. It's only been 3-4 days so I guess we'll see how AT&T turns out, but so far it's great.

Hope this helps!
 

petethepanda

macrumors member
Jun 30, 2010
52
0
I switched from ATT and got a 5 with Sprint a week and a half ago. Chicago area. I'm thinking of bailing before the two week grace period is up.

When I get LTE at work in the city, it's pretty okay. Averages between 10-15mbps down, sometimes as high as 20. At home in the close suburbs, LTE is occasionally around 5 but averages about 2 (about the speed I got on ATT 3G). Still, considering it has unlimited data and I'll be on wifi at home anyway, I'm willing to live with that.

The dealbreaker? At home, about 50% of the time I lose LTE and get kicked onto 3G. It still makes calls/texts, but data is unusable. This is a completely average speed test while on 3G at home:

HbpAOl.png


Even if I'll be on wifi at home, why in the hell would I sign a two year contract knowing that whenever I lose LTE and wind up on 3G the phone has a good chance of being unusable data-wise?
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
I switched from ATT and got a 5 with Sprint a week and a half ago. Chicago area. I'm thinking of bailing before the two week grace period is up.

When I get LTE at work in the city, it's pretty okay. Averages between 10-15mbps down, sometimes as high as 20. At home in the close suburbs, LTE is occasionally around 5 but averages about 2 (about the speed I got on ATT 3G). Still, considering it has unlimited data and I'll be on wifi at home anyway, I'm willing to live with that.

The dealbreaker? At home, about 50% of the time I lose LTE and get kicked onto 3G. It still makes calls/texts, but data is unusable. This is a completely average speed test while on 3G at home:

Image

Even if I'll be on wifi at home, why in the hell would I sign a two year contract knowing that whenever I lose LTE and wind up on 3G the phone has a good chance of being unusable data-wise?

Run as fast as you can:D
 

aliciadear

macrumors member
Oct 7, 2012
40
0
it really depends on where you live. I have great LTE in most of the Dallas suburb where I live, but when I don't have LTE the 3g is unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. look at their coverage maps to see if it will cover the areas you want it most.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,698
26,713
The dealbreaker? At home, about 50% of the time I lose LTE and get kicked onto 3G. It still makes calls/texts, but data is unusable.

Even if I'll be on wifi at home, why in the hell would I sign a two year contract knowing that whenever I lose LTE and wind up on 3G the phone has a good chance of being unusable data-wise?
Airave.

dan@sprint.com goes straight to Executive Services. They'll call you back. For myself, I explained to them that a free Airave would be the only reasonable resolution (barely) to the poor 3G signal I have at home. They sent me one (free) and the monthly charge is $0/mth with a $0 activation fee.
 

Black Magic

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2012
2,787
1,499
I am thinking about breaking up with AT&T's Data plan to go with Sprint's unlimited plan. I know AT&T has really good 4GLTE, but does Sprint have 4GLTE as well? Also, i'm finding it hard to believe Data unlimited at only $100 a month...what's wrong with it?

I have Sprint iPhone 5 and I live in an LTE city. It's not bad at all and is worth it versus getting gouged by AT&T and Verizon. Below is a list of cities that have LTE and how far percentage wise they are in the roll out for each city:

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/212-network-visionlte-deployment-running-list/

LTE is truly unlimited on Sprint and is fast. Not AT&T fast but about half as good since they only have half the spectrum. Since I'm mostly at work or home, I'm usually on Wifi. Anywhere else I am able to get LTE for the most part.

If you are on the 3G network, IT SUCKS BADLY. Still, the cost savings are great and I rarely have to deal with 3G in my area. Good luck and I hope that helps.
 

Parky84

macrumors newbie
Jul 20, 2008
16
0
Sprint has to be the worst possible carrier in regards to data connectivity and speed. I travel quite a bit across the country and haven't noticed it working good anywhere.

I can be in a large city (Miami, Charlotte, etc). Have a full 4 bars of 3G data and cannot load a web page. When I am actually in an lte area... Its slow as all hell. The 3G service is good for iMessage and email, sometimes not even that. I am missing out on so much with the iPhone 5 on Sprint. I can't even stream pandora or spotify over 3G sometimes. It just cuts out.

Unfortunately, I am tied to them because of my job, but I am thinking about getting a personal phone through vzw or AT&T.
 
Last edited:

S.L.

macrumors regular
Oct 2, 2012
146
25
USA
I paid the $350 + tax ETF to get away from Sprint just one month after switching back to them from AT&T (switched from Sprint to AT&T when to get the 3GS). They are terrible. Depending on how things are in two years, I'll probably just turn to Verizon and be done with it all.
 

canwe3

macrumors member
Oct 3, 2012
67
0
voice is fine I think, I don't talk much but the times I did it was fine.

The data is VERY VERY SLOOWWWW, I don't use much and sprint plan is cheaper so I stick with it. If the price was the same I would be out ASAP. Loading a mobile google page takes 30seconds on iphone5 3g 3 bars connection. I don't even live in a big city. LTE won't arrive at my state till END OF 2013. Sprint is so bad but whatever it's perfect for just emails though. It's all I use for just email exchange.
 

Elvergun

macrumors 6502
Aug 1, 2011
296
101
I paid the $350 + tax ETF to get away from Sprint just one month after switching back to them from AT&T

LOL. I walked away from one of their SERO plans ($30 for unlimited net and text, and 500 or so minutes) because their service was so bad.

I never, ever used the data capabilities of my phone. I just sadly looked at other peoples iPhones and wished Sprint would finally deliver their promised 4G to San Diego. I switched to Verizon in time to get unlimited data - I'm now grandfathered in.

I will never go back to Sprint even if they finally roll out their 4G network. If I need to, I will switch to AT&T or Tmobile, or start using two cans and a string. I wish I could kick Dan in the @#$%*.
 
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