Sprints data speeds are just too slow for me. Combine that with the fact that they're CDMA and I really see no reason to use them. They had the advantage of unlimited data for a while but now Tmobile has it as we'll and the speeds are actually usable.
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Carrier Sprint is pathetic
- Thread starter Squilly
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Chances are that if you are streaming that much data, you're sitting in one place and that place probably has Wi-Fi. (work, home, etc). Why is there need to use mobile data for that much usage? No reason at all.
Unless you are trying to replace your internet connection at home with your phone's data plan, which falls right under the "abuse/abnormal usage" clause that every carrier has.
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Oh please. Spare me the drama. Yes, you pay for the data plan, but that doesn't mean it should replace your home internet connection and use ridiculous amounts of data. That is called abuse, plain and simple.
If you are using 50gb of data on your phone, chances are that you're at home or in the office, where you have wifi.
Why not? Sprint and TMo try to sell their service to any scrub with questionable credit. Those people are the ones who constantly brag about how much they abuse their data plans.
I've even seen people try to replace their home connection off that by connecting it to their xbox, etc. Completely pathetic and inexcusable.
You don't see VZW/AT&T giving out bill credits to get people to sign up. If you have terrible credit, then they tell you to screw off or pay a large deposit.
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What's wrong with CDMA? VZW has proven you can have a very reliable network with CDMA. And they've also proven that CDMA performance in low signal situations is superior to GSM.
For me
- lack of simultaneous data and voice. That's a major one
- lack of proper conference calling capability
- difficulty in switching phones compared to GSM networks
- lower resale value of CDMA phones (though Verizon is getting better since their LTE devices are now unlocked)
- Sprint phones have the lowest value of all 4 carriers
- lack of phone options compared to GSM carriers
- inability to use unlocked phones on the network. You can only use the phones that the carrier themselves sell
I will give you the performance in low signal situations. With Verizon on my Iphone 5 I was able to hold a call longer on 1 bar compared to what I had with AT&T and Tmobile. It's not big enough of an advantage to me though since all 4 carriers have decent signal where I live.
davidg4781
macrumors 68040
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osofast240sx
macrumors 68030
jenni122701
macrumors regular
i am a tech for Sprint, and a few posters are correct, the speed is based on capacity of the tower you are hitting.
if the OP(or anyone else having speed or call issues) wants to shoot me an email from my profile here and give me a zip code, i can see if there is an issue or if its just a capacity issue and any planned upgrades to that zip code, etc..
With your phone number i can tell you about the specific tours your phone is hitting, but i know some wont be interested in giving out that personal info.. so a zip code should do the trick..
ironically when i moved to where i live i had perfect service at my house, a tower went bad near me, and it isnt budgeted to get replaced since its part of the network vision upgrade roll out, so now i get almost nothing, but once vision is done i will have 800mhz 3g voice as well as LTE.. thats a rare scenario but i feel once people know whats going on, you get a lot less "OMG SPRINT BLOWS OMG" type responses.. as if no other carrier has capacity or network upgrade issues..
i have worked for 3 of the major carriers, and every one of them has customers screaming they are the worst carrier ever and they are switching carriers...
finding the right carrier for you is all that matters..
if the OP(or anyone else having speed or call issues) wants to shoot me an email from my profile here and give me a zip code, i can see if there is an issue or if its just a capacity issue and any planned upgrades to that zip code, etc..
With your phone number i can tell you about the specific tours your phone is hitting, but i know some wont be interested in giving out that personal info.. so a zip code should do the trick..
ironically when i moved to where i live i had perfect service at my house, a tower went bad near me, and it isnt budgeted to get replaced since its part of the network vision upgrade roll out, so now i get almost nothing, but once vision is done i will have 800mhz 3g voice as well as LTE.. thats a rare scenario but i feel once people know whats going on, you get a lot less "OMG SPRINT BLOWS OMG" type responses.. as if no other carrier has capacity or network upgrade issues..
i have worked for 3 of the major carriers, and every one of them has customers screaming they are the worst carrier ever and they are switching carriers...
finding the right carrier for you is all that matters..
Yep looks like typical Sprint speeds. The speeds I was getting on my iPhone 2G with AT&T back in 2007 were faster and that's really pathetic.
No I don't work for Sprint. And no I don't have bad credit as some people mentioned. I have Sprint because they have better signal where I work compared to Verizon. As I said before, I had Verizon for 10 years and while it was fine for years on feature phones, When I got my first iPhone 4, I realized that data sucked where I worked. Hoping LTE would help my situation, I held on and bought an iPhone 5. Did I have LTE signal? Yes. Was it useable? No. While I had 1 bar of LTE showing, there was no internet connection. I would have to put it on airplane mode and back to get 3G which is slower than what Sprint has. So I made the switch to Sprint. I wasn't going to go to AT&T with their limited data plans and T-mobile family plan at that time was a lot more expensive than Sprint. And they didn't have iPhone 5 yet. So my best option was Sprint.
Let's not stereotype everyone to have bad credit and a "lower" class because they have a different carrier. That's just childish. People have differing needs and we make the best decision based on what we need. What works for you might not work for everyone.
I don't care what network people use as long as it works for them. And yes sprint is pathetic right now. I don't dispute that. But I also know they will get better as time progresses. Just like Verizon slowed down considerably compared to when they first launched LTE, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile will slow down as well. It's unavoidable. Let's see what happens with the 600mhz spectrum that will be auctioned and what Sprint does with their 800 mhz spectrum once Nextel is shutdown at the end of the month. Let's see if Sprint will never have a better future or not. That is a bold statement from you. We will see. Personally, I want T-Mobile and Sprint to have better success. More competition is good for the consumer.
davidg4781
macrumors 68040
I have a family plan with the phones in 2 different locations. One is in a Sprint hole. No service what so ever. I have an AIRAVE to handle that area.
The other 3 are in a pretty good area but it's saturated, leaving hardly any data to go around. It's basically unusable as it'll take minutes for a google search page or map directions to load. By then you're on the other side of town and don't need it anymore.
I've put up with it since there's not much to do in my town and when I'm down visiting family I'm not really using data. They've finally had enough and we're looking to move to AT&T. I'm not sure what I'd do if I lived there, though. I've called about it and they've basically said there's no plans to put up another tower or upgrade the current one. If there was hope, I'd say stay because other than that everything about Sprint is awesome.
The other 3 are in a pretty good area but it's saturated, leaving hardly any data to go around. It's basically unusable as it'll take minutes for a google search page or map directions to load. By then you're on the other side of town and don't need it anymore.
I've put up with it since there's not much to do in my town and when I'm down visiting family I'm not really using data. They've finally had enough and we're looking to move to AT&T. I'm not sure what I'd do if I lived there, though. I've called about it and they've basically said there's no plans to put up another tower or upgrade the current one. If there was hope, I'd say stay because other than that everything about Sprint is awesome.
Are you speaking of Moulton, tx? i assumed base on your profile it says moulton.
You are dead on, its a hole, north of there near the interstate its good, but moulton is JUST too far east of San Antonio and too far west of missouri city for a ton of network build out.
Your best hope would be if they convert or add 800mhz voice and data to the towers by I-10 that would reach further south and add speed and capacity, but IMO, thats probably not on the radar in the near future. (strictly my opinion).
I switched from AT&T to Sprint for a cheaper family plan with "unlimited" data.
No brainer, right?
Not really. I found out that "unlimited" is not entirely what you might think it is. I got a letter from them recently that I was exceeding my data allowance for roaming. Roaming? I never left the state.
Well, I called Sprint and learned that roaming applied to any transfer of data through non-Sprint antennae. Whether I knew it or not I had a monthly allowance. "Unlimited" meant I would not incur roaming charges... the catch is that, if I exceed the allowance, they can DISCONTINUE MY SERVICE at their discretion. It's all in the fine print.
The solution? They advised turning off my cell phone roaming. When I explained that my data roaming was already off, she told me I'd have to shut off both data and voice because the AT&T antennas would still register data transfer with voice.
In other words, since I work in a region which has spotty service, I'm condemned to poor/no service or else face termination of services for overuse of roaming data.
BTW. I soon discovered that call dropouts are not exclusive to AT&T. I get them with Sprint, too. The only difference is that, with AT&T, the dropouts occur at certain predictable locations. With Sprint it can happen anywhere at any time.
I do miss being able to do data and voice simultaneously (AT&T). The Sprint salesman promised that soon LTE will allow the same. Boy was I a sucker.
No brainer, right?
Not really. I found out that "unlimited" is not entirely what you might think it is. I got a letter from them recently that I was exceeding my data allowance for roaming. Roaming? I never left the state.
Well, I called Sprint and learned that roaming applied to any transfer of data through non-Sprint antennae. Whether I knew it or not I had a monthly allowance. "Unlimited" meant I would not incur roaming charges... the catch is that, if I exceed the allowance, they can DISCONTINUE MY SERVICE at their discretion. It's all in the fine print.
The solution? They advised turning off my cell phone roaming. When I explained that my data roaming was already off, she told me I'd have to shut off both data and voice because the AT&T antennas would still register data transfer with voice.
In other words, since I work in a region which has spotty service, I'm condemned to poor/no service or else face termination of services for overuse of roaming data.
BTW. I soon discovered that call dropouts are not exclusive to AT&T. I get them with Sprint, too. The only difference is that, with AT&T, the dropouts occur at certain predictable locations. With Sprint it can happen anywhere at any time.
I do miss being able to do data and voice simultaneously (AT&T). The Sprint salesman promised that soon LTE will allow the same. Boy was I a sucker.
davidg4781
macrumors 68040
Yes, in Moulton. My drive home I used to be able to roam on Verizon's towers. When Sprint upgraded theirs they made them just a tad more powerful, enough that my iPhone will stay on Sprint's but not enough to be usable. I call about every 6 months to ask if there's any plans to upgrade or erect new towers and I'm told there are none.
The other place is Alice, TX 78332. There are two towers but I'm told one is facing away, leaving only one tower to service the city. Most of the time data is unusable. Late late at night it's alright. I'm glad I don't live there, I couldn't stand it.
Alright, 500-800kbps. Not much of a difference. Still pathetic by 2013 standards when the competition has LTE almost everywhere now. People on Sprint just keep waiting and waiting and waiting...
Just Verizon has it almost everywhere. AT&T and T-Mobile last I checked was nowhere near almost everywhere. But yes, many are still waiting and waiting....
Zaft
macrumors 601
the difference is ATT and tmobile have great 3G speeds. Sprint and verizon not so much..
A few people using data is not why networks upped the rates and lowered the services, they did it because its obviously more profitable. If one person uses 100gigs a month it's a problem, but if Verizon activated 10 people in the same city who use ten gigs each a month, it's suddenly ok?
Get over the lies people, they upped the plans and lowered the services because people are suckers and are too willing to be parted with his/her money.
ogremoustro
macrumors 6502a
I'm still extremely mad at the fact that Sprint won't unlock an iPhone once the contract is fulfilled.
They unlocked mine and I'm still on contract. Tell them you are traveling soon.
ogremoustro
macrumors 6502a
They only unlock for international use, meaning that if you pop in a t-mobile sim it won't work.
I see alot of people that have Sprint complaining about the service. I too was once a Sprint customer so I know thier data speeds are unusable on most areas. Thankfully my contract expired right around the time the iPhone 5 came out and I switched over to Verizon. A friend of mine who was stuck on a Sprint was able to get out of his contract by doing the following:
1)Download a Verizon PRL hack for your Sprint iPhone. He had an Android phone but I have seen them around for iPhones. The hack will force your phone to roam on Verizon's network 100% of the time.
2)Set your phone to stream a couple of Netflix movies every night.
3)Eventually your data usage will get very high and you will be receiving a letter from Sprint letting you know they will be terminating the contract in 30 days.
1)Download a Verizon PRL hack for your Sprint iPhone. He had an Android phone but I have seen them around for iPhones. The hack will force your phone to roam on Verizon's network 100% of the time.
2)Set your phone to stream a couple of Netflix movies every night.
3)Eventually your data usage will get very high and you will be receiving a letter from Sprint letting you know they will be terminating the contract in 30 days.