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Carrier Sprint is pathetic
- Thread starter Squilly
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Oh, ok. Than you're probably using Band 41 then? That's cool. Spark has got some great speeds if you're in a Spark market. If you're not though you're probably still benefitting from at least the other two bands.
Something interesting and fun to keep an eye on next year.
I live in the West Valley, in Phoenix. Sprint does have good LTE in places, just not the places I am at. And the in-betweens are 3G.
Now, where I live is close to the city boundary between Phoenix and the city of Glendale. Less than five minutes from my house is the University of Phoenix stadium, which is in Glendale (yeah, I know, the City of Glendale was STUPID to allow that naming, you think it's in Phoenix right?). That's the stadium that the Arizona Cardinals football team claims as their home.
There's little to zero LTE coverage for Sprint in that area right now and what there is is slow.
I bring this up because on February 1, 2015, the UofPHX stadium will be hosting the next superbowl.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens here. Either Sprint is going to figure out they have a problem with coverage and backhaul in the West Valley and move heaven and earth to make sure Sprint using football fans have coverage, or there is going to be a complete and total breakdown because Sprint dropped the ball (pun intended) on this. Either way, it's going to bring attention to the lack of attention Sprint has paid to Phoenix. But Sprint's only got two months to go on this!
Across the street (91st Ave) from the stadium is a small undeveloped area that's just north of a church. I go by there frequently and have been seeing a steady build up on an existing cell tower and the addition of mobile trucks with cellular equipment. I assume this is the other carriers getting ready for the Super Bowl. I doubt any of that equipment is Sprint's though.
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens here. This is T-Mobile's market so I'm going to enjoy watching what happens between them and Sprint.
I live in the West Valley, in Phoenix. Sprint does have good LTE in places, just not the places I am at. And the in-betweens are 3G.
Now, where I live is close to the city boundary between Phoenix and the city of Glendale. Less than five minutes from my house is the University of Phoenix stadium, which is in Glendale (yeah, I know, the City of Glendale was STUPID to allow that naming, you think it's in Phoenix right?). That's the stadium that the Arizona Cardinals football team claims as their home.
There's little to zero LTE coverage for Sprint in that area right now and what there is is slow.
I bring this up because on February 1, 2015, the UofPHX stadium will be hosting the next superbowl.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens here. Either Sprint is going to figure out they have a problem with coverage and backhaul in the West Valley and move heaven and earth to make sure Sprint using football fans have coverage, or there is going to be a complete and total breakdown because Sprint dropped the ball (pun intended) on this. Either way, it's going to bring attention to the lack of attention Sprint has paid to Phoenix. But Sprint's only got two months to go on this!
Across the street (91st Ave) from the stadium is a small undeveloped area that's just north of a church. I go by there frequently and have been seeing a steady build up on an existing cell tower and the addition of mobile trucks with cellular equipment. I assume this is the other carriers getting ready for the Super Bowl. I doubt any of that equipment is Sprint's though.
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens here. This is T-Mobile's market so I'm going to enjoy watching what happens between them and Sprint.
I'm sorry, but this is something that has completely drove me INSANE since I've joined Sprint in 2011: Images on 3G/LTE load in such a low-resolution, pixelated quality. I've contacted Sprint several times about this and I am given the usual "Let me check the coverage in your area." "We are upgrading all of the towers in your area" nonsense. Does anyone else not have this problem? I barely ever hear people raise a fuss about this.
I've been with AT&T and T-Mobile and pictures loaded up in such high-res quality, if they were compressed, I definitely couldn't notice.
Does anyone else notice this and how do I get rid of these compressed/garbage images that load up on Sprint's network?
This sucks.
I've been with AT&T and T-Mobile and pictures loaded up in such high-res quality, if they were compressed, I definitely couldn't notice.
Does anyone else notice this and how do I get rid of these compressed/garbage images that load up on Sprint's network?
This sucks.
I've heard of this on the sprintusers forum (are you the one over there that mentioned it).
I have no idea why this would be. I'm not having the issue. However, I will say that when I heard about it I stopped updating my PRL - until just recently. I am still not experiencing this though.
Wierd.
This is pretty simple, if your market does not have band 41 then sprint will not be that good. I live in NYC where spark is up and I am getting great speeds and coverage.
Band 25 and Band 26 are only 5mhz and get overloaded quick.
Band 25 and Band 26 are only 5mhz and get overloaded quick.
And therein lies part of my major issue with Sprint.
I bought my iPhone 5 in 2012. I knew that Sprint did not have LTE when I bought it, but that it was coming. I was not expecting that LTE speeds would only be marginally better than 3G speeds.
Sprint sold many Band 25 only devices in 2012 and many Band 25/26 devices in 2013. I know they are upgrading the network, but I should not have to upgrade to get the speed my device was capable of in 2012.
At the VERY least it feeds right into the old Sprint bait and switch. We're upgrading, but you have to buy a new device to get what we are advertising. Oh, now you're not getting that and you've upgraded? Well, in the coming months you can buy another new device to get what we are advertising.
Rinse, lather, repeat.
I understand the congestion. But that's Sprint's fault. They executed this rollout poorly and the end result is going to require upgrading to a Spark enabled phone. Anyone that doesn't have one is STILL going to be slower because the congestion is still there.
AND! This! Despite the fact that MANY Sprint customers have left! Can you imagine what the congestion would be if those users had stayed?
I appreciate Sprints efforts to improve things. It's just not enough and was not enough from the beginning.
Yes its 100% sprints fault for launching LTE on 5mhz. At least 10mhz would of been fine. They realize their mistake and are now pushing band 41.
Unfortunately it leaves people with a non spark phone behind.
I would not of even upgraded to an iPhone 6 were it not for band 41 support.
Former Sprint employee here... The speeds you get really depend on capacity in a given location. Spark operates on 2.5 GHz which has pisspoor penetration, so in the real world (e.g. in your bathroom, in an elevator, sitting at your cube) your experience will be inconsistent at best. They simply do not have enough spectrum on their 800/1900 MHz holdings to give great LTE speeds AND good coverage.
I know that certain markets have 10x10 1900, but the only way you'll be seeing great speeds is if you are within an earshot of a 2.5 GHz Spark site.
Yes, I know all all about carrier aggregation and how that is supposed to work for Sprint, but even with their fancy 8x8 MIMO antennas and lack of capacity and heck, coverage, it won't ever best the real-world performance of AT&T's good-sized 850 MHz spectrum down low with some refarmed 1900. Verizon is the king of spectrum though. 10x10 or up to 30x30 in some markets at 700 MHz with oodles of 1700/2100.
Sprint cannot (will not) deploy the numerous sites required to have a good 2.5 GHz network (the cost associated with deploying a cell site with the appropriate backhaul isn't cheap).
Wanna know a secret? All those data outages Sprint goes though? It's because of their backhaul. (They use coax cable as their backhaul). Every time they say they are fixing a tower means they're calling Comcast to reset their modem.
Cliffnotes version - Sprint is ok for data, if you're in a Spark area with good coverage. Otherwise, no.
I know that certain markets have 10x10 1900, but the only way you'll be seeing great speeds is if you are within an earshot of a 2.5 GHz Spark site.
Yes, I know all all about carrier aggregation and how that is supposed to work for Sprint, but even with their fancy 8x8 MIMO antennas and lack of capacity and heck, coverage, it won't ever best the real-world performance of AT&T's good-sized 850 MHz spectrum down low with some refarmed 1900. Verizon is the king of spectrum though. 10x10 or up to 30x30 in some markets at 700 MHz with oodles of 1700/2100.
Sprint cannot (will not) deploy the numerous sites required to have a good 2.5 GHz network (the cost associated with deploying a cell site with the appropriate backhaul isn't cheap).
Wanna know a secret? All those data outages Sprint goes though? It's because of their backhaul. (They use coax cable as their backhaul). Every time they say they are fixing a tower means they're calling Comcast to reset their modem.
Cliffnotes version - Sprint is ok for data, if you're in a Spark area with good coverage. Otherwise, no.
LOL, yeah. When we had 3G phones only I didn't notice anything serious, at least as late as July 2012, but once we got LTE with our iPhone 5s it was just bad.Former Sprint employee here... The speeds you get really depend on capacity in a given location. Spark operates on 2.5 GHz which has pisspoor penetration, so in the real world (e.g. in your bathroom, in an elevator, sitting at your cube) your experience will be inconsistent at best. They simply do not have enough spectrum on their 800/1900 MHz holdings to give great LTE speeds AND good coverage.
I know that certain markets have 10x10 1900, but the only way you'll be seeing great speeds is if you are within an earshot of a 2.5 GHz Spark site.
Yes, I know all all about carrier aggregation and how that is supposed to work for Sprint, but even with their fancy 8x8 MIMO antennas and lack of capacity and heck, coverage, it won't ever best the real-world performance of AT&T's good-sized 850 MHz spectrum down low with some refarmed 1900. Verizon is the king of spectrum though. 10x10 or up to 30x30 in some markets at 700 MHz with oodles of 1700/2100.
Sprint cannot (will not) deploy the numerous sites required to have a good 2.5 GHz network (the cost associated with deploying a cell site with the appropriate backhaul isn't cheap).
Wanna know a secret? All those data outages Sprint goes though? It's because of their backhaul. (They use coax cable as their backhaul). Every time they say they are fixing a tower means they're calling Comcast to reset their modem.
Cliffnotes version - Sprint is ok for data, if you're in a Spark area with good coverage. Otherwise, no.
I'm not expecting Sprint to give me coverage our decent speed in elevators or any serious hard to reach places inside building, especially since my understanding is that LTE is more fragile than 3G.
However, I am expecting to receive more than 0.5mbps outside my house, or outside in metro areas.
If Sprint could have managed that I'd be staying. But so far I still can't stream music without buffering between home and work and vice-versa.
If you are not receiving good service with Sprint, why don't you switch to another carrier? I find it funny that people just go on and on complaining about Sprint but never actually leave them. I had Sprint as my first cell phone carrier in high school. I have had service with all the carriers; switching every couple of years. Most recently I had T-Mobile and switched to AT&T last year due to coverage issues. If AT&T doesnt increase their LTE speeds then I will leave them as well for Verizon. I have no loyalty to these carriers.
What's interesting is that Sprint does own large portions of PCS in some major cities, such as Boston. They could deploy 15x15 PCS LTE (B block) and have VZW/AT&T/TMo rivaling speeds, but they only deployed 5x5 (G block).
Is there any technical reason for this? They could be saving it for 1x and EVDO, but the coverage/speeds are abysmal anyways (3G speeds are sub 1mbps anyways...)
If you are speaking to me then my answer to that is, I will be. I'm just waiting to get my tax refund back in the new year.
T-Mobile is where I am going and even though T-Mobile pays ETF, that money won't come until after our final bill AND we still have to purchase new phones.
We get new phones maybe every two to three years and we use our tax refund to get the one's we want, not just the one's we can afford. We do it this way, because there's zero way we could afford to do that with what I make each month after all the bills are taken care of.
And sure, if we really wanted to get the dumbphone prepaid $10/mth less than 1GB of data plans we could do it. But I'm not going that route when I have a tax refund that will let use do this once every two years or so.
So just switch is a good line and one I have heard often. Unfortunately, it's just not that simple.
It was not directed at you, and if it's a financial reason then I understand that. I just get tired of people complaining about reception and service, but they stick with the carrier because they are afraid of change, or too lazy to do the research. Hope you enjoy better service in the NewYear!!
Having to buy all new phones is a huge issue for people who want to leave Sprint. Unlike VZW/AT&T/TMo, Sprint keeps their phones locked down tight and on the used market, Sprint phones command the lowest value... by far.
It's easy for VZW users to go to AT&T/TMo and the GSM carriers to switch between them because you aren't stuck spending $600+ on new iPhones.
I hear you. I whine because I'm paying over $200 a month for something I feel I should be getting but believe I am not getting.
But, as you have indicated, it's one thing to whine and another to do something about it. I continue to whine, but I will ultimately do something about it.
Another point towards that is that I've made my whine heard here more than once and more than once in other places. If I don't act on it at some point I look like the type of person you're talking about and all my credibility (should I have any) goes away.
Absolutely! If I could take my iPhone 5 to T-Mobile right now I'd be running! There's a T-Mobile store less than five minutes from my house!
But to add to this, some people have asked me why I don't just sell my phones. Well, that goes to your point about resale value. But not only that, we don't sell our phones because we hang on to them for so long. We use them for other purposes or give them away. And we don't use cases. Any resale value I could hope to achieve would therefore be diminished by the condition of the phone if I was inclined to sell.
Ultimately, the amount I could sell for, even in top condition, would be unlikely to go as far in purchasing what I want in a new phone as my tax refund would.
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I get that, and to be fair (and I think I've said this before) Sprint's been good with the basic service. Talk and text has been fine. Lately, texts have been showing up late, but that's not always the case and it's certainly not consistent.
Had basic service been horrible and had I not had access to WiFi (even though I object to paying Sprint to use my WiFi) then we would have found a way to bail a lot earlier.
So, Sprint is meeting our basic needs. I just don't think what I pay justifies talk/messaging, but little data (I have unlimited for pete's sake!) at slow speeds. And that is why I will be leaving.
I will suffer some of this to go on my terms.
Got my W2s yesterday with my paycheck.
If I'm not lazy/preoccupied this weekend I'll probably be filling out our tax returns. If not, most likely some time later this week.
Now that I have the W2s I can get the ball rolling on getting our tax refund.
My time on Sprint is short! I can see the light at the end of the exit tunnel!
T-Mobile, we are coming!
P.S., sidenote…I live less than five minutes from the University of Phoenix Stadium which is just over the border of Phoenix into Glendale, AZ.
I mention that because the Univ of PHX stadium is where the Superbowl will be played this year. Traffic is going to be a GD mess on 91st Ave and Camelback.
Anyway, it will be VERY interesting to see how Sprint holds up (or doesn't) for this game. Keeping my eye on s4gru.com for any reports.
If I'm not lazy/preoccupied this weekend I'll probably be filling out our tax returns. If not, most likely some time later this week.
Now that I have the W2s I can get the ball rolling on getting our tax refund.
My time on Sprint is short! I can see the light at the end of the exit tunnel!
T-Mobile, we are coming!
P.S., sidenote…I live less than five minutes from the University of Phoenix Stadium which is just over the border of Phoenix into Glendale, AZ.
I mention that because the Univ of PHX stadium is where the Superbowl will be played this year. Traffic is going to be a GD mess on 91st Ave and Camelback.
Anyway, it will be VERY interesting to see how Sprint holds up (or doesn't) for this game. Keeping my eye on s4gru.com for any reports.
Haha...congratulations. You will never regret leaving Sprint.
I also played the waiting game with Sprints years ago because I had unlimited everything for around $30 (I had the employee friends and family discount). I switched to Verizon and I've been a happy camper ever since. My bill jumped to $70, but I switched in time to get unlimited data, so I can't complain.
When I think about my days with Sprint I still get cramps in my stomach.
Being a Sprint subscriber is really a traumatizing experience (the lies...the BS...always hoping things will change...being envious of friends using other carriers...lol).
Hmmm
interesting.
Recently I have tried to get my iPhone 5 unlocked through a small loophole that is allowing international unlocks for the Sprint iPhone 5 and below to become full unlocks. I'm doing this because it looks as if our tax refund will be eaten almost entirely by necessities (no, a 128GB iPhone 6+ on T-Mobile is not a necessity as much as I'd love to convince my wife of that fact).
No success as of yet, for a couple of reasons I think.
In any case Sprint now seems to have gilded my cage. I grabbed my phone for something today (at my desk) and low and behold, solid, steady LTE. The problem for me at work has been that of the two towers I connect to, the one I connect to at my desk has had weak LTE signal and no fiber optic backhaul upgrade. It seems Sprint has upgraded the backhaul and turned up the signal.
Be interesting to see what I get at home.
Recently I have tried to get my iPhone 5 unlocked through a small loophole that is allowing international unlocks for the Sprint iPhone 5 and below to become full unlocks. I'm doing this because it looks as if our tax refund will be eaten almost entirely by necessities (no, a 128GB iPhone 6+ on T-Mobile is not a necessity as much as I'd love to convince my wife of that fact).
No success as of yet, for a couple of reasons I think.
In any case Sprint now seems to have gilded my cage. I grabbed my phone for something today (at my desk) and low and behold, solid, steady LTE. The problem for me at work has been that of the two towers I connect to, the one I connect to at my desk has had weak LTE signal and no fiber optic backhaul upgrade. It seems Sprint has upgraded the backhaul and turned up the signal.
Be interesting to see what I get at home.
Attachments
It looks like even though you get the domestic unlock, your Sprint iPhone5 won't get LTE on TMobile. You need B2 and B4. It doesn't support any of those. Upside is that, you could probably sell it on CL and pick up a GSM variant for not that much more money.
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It's ironic how they needed that capacity/backhaul when the Super Bowl was in PHX, but it wasn't done then.
Upside is that Sprint finally seems to be improving nationwide
Sprint has improved over the past year. It's just going slowly but it is improving.