Just curious if Sprint has gotten any better lately or if it's the same old, same. The Spark network seems promising but I'm not sold on it.
Sprint has hard numbers that actually show that churn has returned to previous levels or better in markets that have had 70% completion or more for a year. Unfortunately, that's not my market. I am not experiencing the 25+mbps speeds that seem to get trotted out over at s4gru.com about how great the LTE network is. However, my market is only 50% complete.
I can say that month to month I see a slight improvement in my signal. Maybe by the end of the year I may actually be able to switch WiFi off at home and work. Sprint has until I get my refund next year. If nothing has improved by then and I'm still getting 3G speeds on LTE, I'm leaving.
They have twice now ditched the networks they were working on in favor of something new before their current gen network is even complete.
If you are referring to WiMax, that was something that was forced on them.
The FCC said use your spectrum licenses, or lose them. 4G/LTE was only a concept. So, Sprint partnered with Clearwire. Clearwire built out 4G and got Sprint's licenses. The 4G was then marketed under Sprint.
But Clearwire was a crappy company and at one point refused to build out more. That left Sprint on the hook because the 4G was under Sprint's name. That's when Hesse and Sprint turned to LTE.
Network Vision 1.0 is still completing. It's not done yet, and the large part of the problem is the GD contractors who cannot deliver backhaul on time. That happens when Sprint pays the contractors peanuts and puts no clauses in their contracts for bonuses or pentalties for not delivering on time. So, they get around to it whenever they feel like it and since Sprint's already paid all Sprint can do is whine.
Spark is actually Network Vision 2.0 and they started that once they shut down the old Clearwire towers and the Nextel towers. Those towers are being repurposed to use 2.5Ghz and 800mhz. Sprint's main frequency is 1900mhz. Sprint is working NV 1.0 and 2.0 concurrently, so it may appear to you that the have "abandoned" LTE for Spark. Not the case as this is two separate things.
To use Spark, it's typical Sprint. You'll need to buy a new handset that supports those frequencies. Unfortunately, my iPhone 5 only supports LTE at 1900mhz, which is the weakest LTE signal of the three, and 800mhz for voice only.
However, if you are in a Spark market your speeds will be fast and reliable. 800mhz and 2.5Ghz are stronger and more capable.