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Better reception with iphone 6S on Tmobile

fishmd

fishmd

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 18, 2008
1,609
44
Sunny South Florida
Just wondering if anyone out there who is on Tmobile and has the iphone 6S or 6S plus, which has access to the newer Band 12 frequency that Tmobile has now instituted, has noticed that the network is better/stronger. I know that Legere touted this as being the case, but would love some real world input on it.
 
I have a 6s+ on Tmobile and I have noticed a slight improvement in reception than my previous 6. Not by alot though but at my job where I barely got 1 LTE than faded in and out I get a strong 2 bars that stay consistent.
 
Yup I also get 2-3 strong bars where I used to get 1 bar that dropped off you moved 1 foot and would take forever to reconnect.
 
I have yet to see Band 12. But I live in Phoenix. Not here yet, or widespread enough yet I guess.
 
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Applejuiced said:
How do you know if you're connecting using band 12?
Not even sure if they have it available in my area yet.
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Well…you might get a kick out of this one.

There's a dev on s4gru.com that developed an app for the Sprint users over there called CellularInfo. Thing about it is that it doesn't only work for Sprint. ;)

Here's his repo…
http://nahum365.github.io/

2016-02-06 08.16.28.png


And Bigboss also has XSignal, which is a field testing tool.

2016-02-06 08.16.50.png

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RadioGaGa1984 said:
It looks like phoenix won't be getting it.
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Well, there's a connected employee on the T-Mobile reddit that says my area is scheduled for improvements soon. Even if that doesn't mean Band 12 I'm ok with that. I'm already pulling down 50mbps on a good day and a congested day is around 3mbps down.

I don't really need 120+ down to load Facebook pages faster if you know what I mean. 3 isn't great, but it's useable and so far I can make calls and do what I need to do - I couldn't say the same about Sprint, my previous carrier. At least where I live and work.
 
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We have band 12 here in Denver but my phones rarely connect to those towers. I use an app on my Android phones called LTE Discovery. I've been able to use band 12 on my Android phones only a few times, mostly they prefer band 4. One of the few times that I was able to use LTE discovery to connect to band 12, it wasn't all that impressive. Yes it helps get better reception in buildings but speed wise, it was very slow.

Anyways, just because band 12 is available in your area does not mean your band 12 capable phone will use that band.

I have no way to tell if my iPhone 6S or 6S+ has ever used Band 12.
[doublepost=1454781761][/doublepost]Some months ago, I woke up and found that my Note 4 had a horrible data connection. I contacted T-Mobile on Twitter and they said there was trouble with a tower near me. A short while later, I opened the LTE discovery app and it said I was on Band 12. I used the app to reset the connection and it reconnected to band 4. That solved my data problems and I never found out what happened to the tower that was having problems, if it really was having problems. The only iPhone I had at the time was the 6+ which doesn't support that band.
 
eyoungren said:
Well…you might get a kick out of this one.

There's a dev on s4gru.com that developed an app for the Sprint users over there called CellularInfo. Thing about it is that it doesn't only work for Sprint. ;)

Here's his repo…

Well, there's a connected employee on the T-Mobile reddit that says my area is scheduled for improvements soon. Even if that doesn't mean Band 12 I'm ok with that. I'm already pulling down 50mbps on a good day and a congested day is around 3mbps down.

I don't really need 120+ down to load Facebook pages faster if you know what I mean. 3 isn't great, but it's useable and so far I can make calls and do what I need to do - I couldn't say the same about Sprint, my previous carrier. At least where I live and work.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
Im waiting for my Tmobile sims to come in a few days and I will install this package also to see where I stand around here with band 12.
 
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Applejuiced said:
Thank you.
Im waiting for my Tmobile sims to come in a few days and I will install this package also to see where I stand around here with band 12.
Click to expand...
No problem! I just think it's hilarious though that an app developed for the denizens of s4gru.com is being used for a carrier that isn't Sprint. :D
 
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Thanks for the input guys. I am in South Florida so I know Band 12 is here. I am currently on ATT though and thinking about making the switch, but just hesitant because of poor network stories I have heard.
 
fishmd said:
Thanks for the input guys. I am in South Florida so I know Band 12 is here. I am currently on ATT though and thinking about making the switch, but just hesitant because of poor network stories I have heard.
Click to expand...
I know of a guy on the s4gru forums that switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. Lives in Florida, Jacksonville I think. His username over on the T-Mobile reddit is Ascertion (same username on s4gru.com too). He can speak to T-Mobile's performance should you have a mind to look him up.
 
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I have a unlocked iPhone 6s Plus model A1687. The only difference is I don't have band 30 for AT&T and It has band 12 too right?
 
I don't even have Band 12 in my area but the 6S does have better building penetration then my 5 or 5S did. Not sure why but I'm happy.

What does the circle on the map in my area mean? I'm in Raleigh/Durham NC.
 
andyx3x said:
I don't even have Band 12 in my area but the 6S does have better building penetration then my 5 or 5S did. Not sure why but I'm happy.

What does the circle on the map in my area mean? I'm in Raleigh/Durham NC.
Click to expand...

It means no band 12 in that area, because of a protected TV station using the 700MHz spectrum
 
I live in the Atlanta area and we have band 12. I have noticed a difference in areas where I used to have one bar now I have three. Also much better building penetration. Btw I have a 6s.
 
I live in an apt building that has LTE coverage, but penetration inside some areas of my apt isn't as great as it could be. Unfortunately band 12 hasn't gone live in my area yet, but I have noticed that if I disable LTE, my signal jumps from around -100/-110 to -70/-80. It falls back to HSPA+ which seems to have better indoor penetration, at least while I'm indoors at home. Something to consider!
 
eyoungren said:
I have yet to see Band 12. But I live in Phoenix. Not here yet, or widespread enough yet I guess.
Click to expand...

You should be seeing Band 12 in a few months in Phoenix. T-Mobile is purchasing the Band 12 license there. Meanwhile, KPPX-TV Channel 51 (which is in the same frequency as Band 12) just filed paperwork to move down to Channel 31. As soon as the FCC approves that license purchase and the TV station change, T-Mobile can flip the appropriate switches and fire up Band 12.
 
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scaredpoet said:
You should be seeing Band 12 in a few months in Phoenix. T-Mobile is purchasing the Band 12 license there. Meanwhile, KPPX-TV Channel 51 (which is in the same frequency as Band 12) just filed paperwork to move down to Channel 31. As soon as the FCC approves that license purchase and the TV station change, T-Mobile can flip the appropriate switches and fire up Band 12.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I heard something about that over on T-Mobile's reddit.

The difference for me this time around is that I'm sitting on decent LTE. It's not spectacular, but it's useable, my battery is not taking a hit because the radios are trying to grab weak signal and I have yet to find any bad coverage anywhere.

So adding Band 12 will just be the cherry on top I guess.

Unlike Sprint where I sat on 3G for a year and a half with an LTE capable iPhone. Then when it came it was slower than the 3G it was replacing.
 
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I get reception in my house now, where I didn't before, but there are still some rough spots. Apparently we are on the cusp of where a tower reaches, and so the bathoom, of all places, is a complete dead spot. We use wifi calling though, so this hasn't been a concern. And if power does go out, we do have reception in 90% of the house, so this isn't much of a concern.

Band 12 isn't everywhere though, so this is very much going to be a matter of where you live/work/play. There isn't a place in Boston where I lose LTE anymore either, whereas I was constantly seeing Edge or no service with other phones. In faact, when I initially tried TMO two years ago I immediately knew it wasn't for me. We hopped on their promo a month before the 6S series came out and essentially dealt with poorer service with the hopes band 12 would be a difference. It was good enough that we stayed (obviously).
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fishmd said:
Thanks for the input guys. I am in South Florida so I know Band 12 is here. I am currently on ATT though and thinking about making the switch, but just hesitant because of poor network stories I have heard.
Click to expand...
Consider the fact that you have 30 days to decide whether you want to stick with TMO or not. You pick the phone you want at the time (or no phone at all if you have one you can use) and, should you not be happy with service, return the phone within 30 days and cancel and you aren't out a dime.
 
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We have band 12 here in my area and I find my phones have rarely ever connected to it. It must happen only when the phone needs that band.
 
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