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tremlock

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2008
658
261
The Land of Cleves
Coral Springs, FL
 

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solodogg

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2011
510
215
Orlando
Decided to test AT&T vs Sprint in The Ford Center here in Evansville over the weekend. Sprint had slightly faster speeds, even though the signal was half of what the AT&T device had.

Tried loading a YouTube video on AT&T, got 4 seconds in, and endless buffer. Loaded the same YouTube video on Sprint, and played the whole way through in HQ without a glitch.

I think it's time to switch! Had a Verizon phone in there also that I forgot to take a screen shot of, but it was getting mid 40's down, and mid 20's up.
 

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cchs2014

macrumors regular
Dec 1, 2014
131
139
Decided to test AT&T vs Sprint in The Ford Center here in Evansville over the weekend. Sprint had slightly faster speeds, even though the signal was half of what the AT&T device had.

Tried loading a YouTube video on AT&T, got 4 seconds in, and endless buffer. Loaded the same YouTube video on Sprint, and played the whole way through in HQ without a glitch.

I think it's time to switch! Had a Verizon phone in there also that I forgot to take a screen shot of, but it was getting mid 40's down, and mid 20's up.

Wow, and I always find myself lusting over AT&T and wishing I hadn't switched to Sprint. But lately, ever since the iPhone 6 launch, I've been significantly pleased with Sprint and it is only getting better (Sprint Spark/Turbo). Sprint is definitely becoming a major competitor against the other carriers. Awesome!
 

tmiw

macrumors 68030
Jun 26, 2007
2,523
605
San Diego, CA
Wow, and I always find myself lusting over AT&T and wishing I hadn't switched to Sprint. But lately, ever since the iPhone 6 launch, I've been significantly pleased with Sprint and it is only getting better (Sprint Spark/Turbo). Sprint is definitely becoming a major competitor against the other carriers. Awesome!

Part of it may be that Sprint's not emphasizing unlimited data in their marketing any more and seem to try to get people to switch to plans that don't have it. A lot of people were on the cheap SERO plan back in the old Sprint days and frankly abused it. But yeah, their upgrades are a big part of why it's better now.
 

cchs2014

macrumors regular
Dec 1, 2014
131
139
Part of it may be that Sprint's not emphasizing unlimited data in their marketing any more and seem to try to get people to switch to plans that don't have it. A lot of people were on the cheap SERO plan back in the old Sprint days and frankly abused it. But yeah, their upgrades are a big part of why it's better now.

I agree. The only major issue I have with Sprint now is the ridiculous image compressing they've been doing for a while now. While surfing the web or using apps on 3G/LTE (strong signal and low signal) images load extremely pixelated. Other than that, I have no complaints with Sprint.
 

BeSweeet

macrumors 68000
Apr 2, 2009
1,566
1,269
San Antonio, TX
Decided to test AT&T vs Sprint in The Ford Center here in Evansville over the weekend. Sprint had slightly faster speeds, even though the signal was half of what the AT&T device had.

Tried loading a YouTube video on AT&T, got 4 seconds in, and endless buffer. Loaded the same YouTube video on Sprint, and played the whole way through in HQ without a glitch.

I think it's time to switch! Had a Verizon phone in there also that I forgot to take a screen shot of, but it was getting mid 40's down, and mid 20's up.

Is T-Mobile not an option for you?
 

solodogg

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2011
510
215
Orlando
Is T-Mobile not an option for you?

not even close to an option. I live about 5 miles north of the Evansville Airport, and only get GPRS/Edge at home. I work dead in the middle of town, right off of the highway, and cannot get phone signal inside our building, even though my office is right up against an exterior wall. The LTE service that is here is just as slow as what AT&T has.

My iPad is currently activated with both Sprint and the T-Mobile free 200mb plan, and TMo can't even be used around here. It's that bad.

The best coverage and speeds around here are by far Verizon, but i've had a really bad experience leaving them once before (6 months worth of billing for service that had been ported out, and I was not under contract), and don't want to take that chance again. AT&T was my next best option, but it's been a horrible option since switching a year ago.
 

BeSweeet

macrumors 68000
Apr 2, 2009
1,566
1,269
San Antonio, TX
not even close to an option. I live about 5 miles north of the Evansville Airport, and only get GPRS/Edge at home. I work dead in the middle of town, right off of the highway, and cannot get phone signal inside our building, even though my office is right up against an exterior wall. The LTE service that is here is just as slow as what AT&T has.

My iPad is currently activated with both Sprint and the T-Mobile free 200mb plan, and TMo can't even be used around here. It's that bad.

Ah. Was just curious. Coverage and speeds didn't look too bad on their updated map in addition to RootMetrics and Sensorly data.
 

solodogg

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2011
510
215
Orlando
I've taken a screen shot with the pin dropped in the middle of my zip code. Coverage up here is all 2G, and anywhere north of here is the same. The city shows LTE coverage, but it's pathetic at it's best.
 

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BeSweeet

macrumors 68000
Apr 2, 2009
1,566
1,269
San Antonio, TX
Wasn't expecting this... Only one of the three sectors on this site was this fast. Everything else was hitting the 40Mbps soft cap.
iArUFQz.jpg


I've taken a screen shot with the pin dropped in the middle of my zip code. Coverage up here is all 2G, and anywhere north of here is the same. The city shows LTE coverage, but it's pathetic at it's best.

I wonder what their spectrum situation is like there. Given what you're saying and some of the peak speeds I saw on RootMetrics, I'd imagine it's a 5x5 setup.
 

solodogg

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2011
510
215
Orlando
I wonder what their spectrum situation is like there. Given what you're saying and some of the peak speeds I saw on RootMetrics, I'd imagine it's a 5x5 setup.

It is, 5x5 Band 4. I'd love for TMo to work out here, as i'm a fan of their business practices. Unfortunately, the lack of bandwidth around here will keep me from switching to them anytime soon.
 

Apple Trees

macrumors 6502
May 28, 2013
261
0
I've taken a screen shot with the pin dropped in the middle of my zip code. Coverage up here is all 2G, and anywhere north of here is the same. The city shows LTE coverage, but it's pathetic at it's best.

That's spotty as hell. I'd avoid switching to them even once they finish the Band 2 LTE rollout in that area. They probably won't ever be good there unless they get low band spectrum.
 

solodogg

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2011
510
215
Orlando
That's spotty as hell. I'd avoid switching to them even once they finish the Band 2 LTE rollout in that area. They probably won't ever be good there unless they get low band spectrum.

That's what i'm afraid of. I'd love to see someone come in and threaten Verizon and AT&T's stronghold in this market, but it doesn't appear that it's going to happen.

On another note...middle of town today, tried using AT&T to stream a youtube video. Got 4 seconds in (as usual), and started buffering. Let it sit for about a minute, never buffered enough to load back up. Thankfully, I had my trusty iPad with Sprint service on me, and decided to run back to back speed tests. While Sprint isn't blazing fast by any means, I wouldn't expect it to be in the busiest part of town during the lunch hour. I was able to play the same youtube video in HD quality all the way through without a single buffer though.
 

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tmiw

macrumors 68030
Jun 26, 2007
2,523
605
San Diego, CA
That's what i'm afraid of. I'd love to see someone come in and threaten Verizon and AT&T's stronghold in this market, but it doesn't appear that it's going to happen.

On another note...middle of town today, tried using AT&T to stream a youtube video. Got 4 seconds in (as usual), and started buffering. Let it sit for about a minute, never buffered enough to load back up. Thankfully, I had my trusty iPad with Sprint service on me, and decided to run back to back speed tests. While Sprint isn't blazing fast by any means, I wouldn't expect it to be in the busiest part of town during the lunch hour. I was able to play the same youtube video in HD quality all the way through without a single buffer though.

In the end all that matters is consistent performance. 5-10mbps consistently is a lot better than 40-50 in the middle of the night and 0.5 during peak times.
 

August West

macrumors 6502
Aug 23, 2009
342
389
Land of Enchantment
iphone 5s on Straight Talk - AT&T networks. Chandler, AZ

Top to bottom - 3G, 4G LTE & WiFi.

As usual, 3G is a little faster than 4gLTE since the 4G signal is almost nonexistent to nonexistent at my home. But at least it is better than my office :(

T-Mobile is even worse. I think if I want good speeds, something in the range of 3Mbps or more, I'd probably have to go to Verizon but it is prohibitively expensive.
 

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August West

macrumors 6502
Aug 23, 2009
342
389
Land of Enchantment
I don't know. I've never tried an AT&T sim but I assumed they would be equal but maybe that is a poor assumption. Regardless, the signal strength at my particular location is abysmal for AT&T and T-mobile. Usually -115dB or worse for LTE so I generally just keep LTE turned off since it drops down there about 90% of the time anyway and it is faster even when I get an LTE signal. Luckily, the WiFi speeds are great.
 
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