Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Sprint Launches LTE Plus Network, Offers 50% Off Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T Rate Plans to Celebrate
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Even if Sprint fixed their network or actually made it usable, their brand is so bad that people would still cringe at it. That took years of them just screwing around making horrible decisions. Tmobile is a joke but their marketing is good for the industry at least and people respond well to the brand.
Verizon is fine for me. But I have to cling to one of the old plans. If I had to switch to one of their new ones, I'd consider something else. In a rural area, along with a LTE verizon partner rural carrier, it's by far the best coverage for me. It's all about location (which i understand influences me about sprint and tmobile as well).
I had Sprint for a decade with Palm in the latter years. It was the best back then. Verizon sucked. AT&T wasn't around. Sprint's 3G was much better than Verizon's. It went off the rails with them not doing LTE. The run down sprint stores, radio shacks with mostly sprint, etc. The image was low class. Blogs hammered sprint and still do. The iphone on AT&T and Verizon's LTE put Sprint in the ground.
Can Sprint ever repair their image? I don't see it happening.
Verizon is fine for me. But I have to cling to one of the old plans. If I had to switch to one of their new ones, I'd consider something else. In a rural area, along with a LTE verizon partner rural carrier, it's by far the best coverage for me. It's all about location (which i understand influences me about sprint and tmobile as well).
I had Sprint for a decade with Palm in the latter years. It was the best back then. Verizon sucked. AT&T wasn't around. Sprint's 3G was much better than Verizon's. It went off the rails with them not doing LTE. The run down sprint stores, radio shacks with mostly sprint, etc. The image was low class. Blogs hammered sprint and still do. The iphone on AT&T and Verizon's LTE put Sprint in the ground.
Can Sprint ever repair their image? I don't see it happening.
It's amazing how a couple of years ago, the T-Mobile brand was seen as the bottom of the barrel, and now it's the complete opposite. Sprint is now the new bottom of the barrel, and it could very well be the beginning of the end for them.
Yet gasoline in Europe and S. Korea is $6/GAL or more, 2-3x the price in the US. What don't you understand?
Maybe get PAYG cards from both of them and see how they fare for a day or two on your way to work/downtown/friends/family?
Glassed Silver:ios
I am using Sprint now and used it years ago. I agree, years ago, it was rubbish. Today it seems very good indeed. I've had no problems.
I had Sprint for years. The voice quality outside the NYC Metro Area was fine; the data speed was atrocious unless you had 4 or 5 bars of service in an LTE area... Which wasn't in very many places.
I switched to Verizon in August. Problem solved. And paying less money. While I don't have unlimited data anymore, I would counter the argument with "what good is unlimited data if you can't use it?"
That being said, T-Mobile had bad voice service at my house and the data speed was better. But Verizon is both, and faster data as well. It's a no-brainer. You get what you pay for.
I switched to Verizon in August. Problem solved. And paying less money. While I don't have unlimited data anymore, I would counter the argument with "what good is unlimited data if you can't use it?"
That being said, T-Mobile had bad voice service at my house and the data speed was better. But Verizon is both, and faster data as well. It's a no-brainer. You get what you pay for.
I have had VZN for as long as I can remember now, but I have to admit, this is quite tempting. I have a handful of friends who have had Sprint and have expressed no complaints about coverage (at least in major metro areas). My impression of Sprint is that the network has made some relatively dramatic improvements over the past year. A lot of the complaints seem to be from people who tried it 2-3+ years ago, while the current customer base seems to be getting progressively more satisfied.
Does anyone know how reimbursement would work for phones that are under VZN Edge?
This is promising because my family and I travel back and forth to the LA area relatively often, so coverage there is important. I'd be curious how service is out towards Pasadena/Glendale/La Canada-Flintridge.
Does anyone know how reimbursement would work for phones that are under VZN Edge?
This is promising because my family and I travel back and forth to the LA area relatively often, so coverage there is important. I'd be curious how service is out towards Pasadena/Glendale/La Canada-Flintridge.
Sprint's service is just too terrible to use. They've been the cheapest for a while but they have serious network issues to workout. It's just so damn slow. Even in major urban areas. They're the only carrier of the big 4 that I would never use.
They have to compete solely on price to gain customers.
They have to compete solely on price to gain customers.
My wife has Sprint and has had them for years and she knows the struggle with their network. However I do random speed tests on her phone and there are times my Verizon iPhone 6 blows her speeds out of the water, but not nearly as often as it used to and sometimes her speeds blow mine out of the water. Overall, we're close enough in speeds that it doesn't really bother her that much. She has an iPhone 6s here in Houston.
But my question to you would be, when was your last, personal, experience with Sprint? If this is as of yesterday, fair enough, but if this is from last year or something you heard from a friend who has Sprint a few months ago, then that would be a little different.
As I mentioned previously, it seems like the majority of the complaints stem from either customer service or personal experience from 2-3+ years ago. I can deal with bad customer service for the kind of savings they are offering. As long as I get the reception that I need in the areas that I need it.
Apart from speed, how does you and your wife's reception compare?
T-Mobile has great plans but I find that T-Mobile has worse coverage then even Sprint
I've had both and can comment on network coverage for some of the west (T-Mobile was better than Sprint in a number of desert and mountain west states), mid-west south (Texas - T-Mobile was better there too), and the southern east coast (Florida up through D.C. - T-Mobile was better there than Sprint).
Don't get me wrong, T-Mobile's coverage is inferior to AT&T and Verizon but it's a rarity when Sprint has better coverage than T-Mobile. All but one of the people I know who used to have Sprint (including me) left for other service providers.
I can't speak for Sprint's network now, I'm sure it's better than it was 1.5 years ago, but my friend who still has it frequently complains about coverage (at least in the southern Atlantic coastal region).
I live 900 feet from a Sprint LTE Plus tower. According to Speedtest my best performance on that tower took place on a Saturday night at 8:34 PM and got 77.06 megabit download speed with 15.47 up.
The tower nearest my work is similarly fast.
Luckily they seem to be following me around. I work out of 25 different offices and nearly every one has a new LTE tower attached.
Of 1195 speedtests done (and I test everything, wifi, cell etc) , The fastest 25 of them were all above 50 megabit download speed on Sprint LTE towers. 10 of them were 60 megabits or faster. Another 20 were over 40 megabits or faster.
Sprint gets a bad rap because prior to their LTE buildout they really did have some lousy infrastructure and since some providers were dragging their feet at getting them high speed connectivity to the head-end they were close to last place.
Things have definitely changed in the last 6 months. See http://www.s4gru.com/ for more info.
The tower nearest my work is similarly fast.
Luckily they seem to be following me around. I work out of 25 different offices and nearly every one has a new LTE tower attached.
Of 1195 speedtests done (and I test everything, wifi, cell etc) , The fastest 25 of them were all above 50 megabit download speed on Sprint LTE towers. 10 of them were 60 megabits or faster. Another 20 were over 40 megabits or faster.
Sprint gets a bad rap because prior to their LTE buildout they really did have some lousy infrastructure and since some providers were dragging their feet at getting them high speed connectivity to the head-end they were close to last place.
Things have definitely changed in the last 6 months. See http://www.s4gru.com/ for more info.
You don't get less with T-Mobile. That comment, and yours, is flawed.
T-Mobile's Highlight Features
- unlimited music streaming
- unlimited video at 480p
- usage in Mexico and Canada
- best international options
- data rollover
- WiFi calling (over verizon for now)
- no activation fees
- best trade-in prices on phones
- fastest or 2nd fastest network, depending where you read from
Coming directly from Verizon, I have seen a slight drop in coverage. Call reliability, however, has been better on T-Mobile than Verizon.
None of these carriers are perfect. If you're willing to trade some coverage for the reasons I listed, great. If not, stick to Verizon's network. 99.9 percent of the time I have coverage where my GF's Verizon phone does.... So I choose T-Mobile.
Posted from a small town in NY, surrounded by trees, with 5 bars of Wideband LTE.
If you're somewhere that's actually completed the network upgrades and has all three LTE bands, then that's one thing. There are still large areas where that's not the case--like all of Southern California for example, where there's still no "band 26" (800MHz) LTE. Personally I only get LTE outside or if the building I'm in happens to be next to a tower. Even when outside it might take a few minutes before my phone decides to go back into LTE from 3G.
Sprint needs to dramatically improve their cell spacing to make up for lack of low-band but I don't see them doing it quickly enough given their financial condition.
WHAT SPRINT DOESN'T MENTION:
After reading the fine print, we find hidden fees, additional data costs, activation fees, AND once the plan EXPIRES your rate plan goes up! Not good enough, Sprint!
I didn't nescerily mean "less" in the same sense the other person did. Sorry you can't read between the lines or note the obvious. My only flaw to my comment seems to be a need to spell things out so here goes.
Issues with T-Mobile>
- Arguably Poor Customer Service
- Customer Service that lies and breaks promises
- Spotty coverage and less coverage than what they claim ( depends on area but still )
- Spotty 4G/4G LTE
- Spotty/Iffy data speeds often
- Data throttling
- Gimmicks Galore with hidden fine print or backed by misrepresented wording
- Track record of booting some customers off grandfathered plans
- Should NEVER Have gotten rid of FlexPay
- Deceptive and outright despicable practices towards some prepaid customers
- CEO John Lugere having a tendency to slander other and a track record of questionable practices many that ought to be criminal ( seen many things on social media about him )
------
Now to tear into what you call
"T-Mobile's Highlight Features"
- unlimited music streaming
( not every needs I sure don't )
- usage in Mexico and Canada
( that's great if you go to those places not everyone does. Other carriers can do this too )
- best international options
( matter of opinion and again not needed by all users )
- data rollover
( other carriers are starting to or have offered this too granted not as well. Pity my mothers data stash is going to expire and go to waste soon though )
- WiFi calling (over verizon for now)
( Many carriers now offer WFC just saying. Verizon is the only 1 that doesn't and I wasn't speaking in favor of VZW I hate them too )
- no activation fees
( no instead of activation fees they just find other ways to gouge or collect money from potential new or returning customers)
- best trade-in prices on phones
( You're joking right? Or do the TMO stores here just have a pyramid rip off scam going here locally? The offers I've received on iPhone trade ins should I choose to return to TMO are a joke )
- fastest or 2nd fastest network, depending where you read from
( 2nd fastest. There's been research, studies and comparisons that show ATT Comes out just slightly on top of TMO and definitely the top carrier )
Sprint's customer service is so bad that it took me more than a year just to get them to end my service. I wouldn't go back to them if the service was free.
Agreed. My mom had Sprint for 14ish years before I got her to switch. It was horrible for our family to get in touch. I even retch at the thought of the 3 chances I gave Sprint.
Got my mom to switch to T-Mobile for awhile then they booted us off a grandfathered plan something they should NOT Have been able to do!
She jumped back to Sprint for a year but hated it and Jumped back to T-Mobile under newer better plans. Since then she's plan hopped and changed account types a few times
Me I went to ATT mostly stayed with them save a few short lived defections or work cell phone horror experiences
Been with TMO about 7 times at least
Sprint 3X
Cricket 2X
MetroPCS once
ATT 5X
Cingular 2X ( pre ATT merger then mid ATT Merger )
Verizon 2X
( but never ever again not happening)
As for Sprint improving I'm not counting on it.
Sprint was always bottom of the barrel to me. In both personal experience or from those I know personally I've yet to see/hear legitimate positive experiences with Sprint or their subsidiaries in the last 17 years
I would count you among the very lucky
Typical Sprint par for the course and just as my family remembers them
How do you get less though? Do you mean coverage? Because you get free music streaming, free video streaming, unlimited date (option of having a certain amount of high speed GB's that slows down after you use it, or Truly unlimited/never slows down data), No overages of any kinds, UNL talk, text, and data in both Mexico and Canada (included in the plan, even when you go there), Unlimited texting and data in a long list of popular contries and a flat 20 cents a minute talk in those countries (unless on WIFI calling, talk is free, all included in the plan for no extra charge), I can go on but the only reason I think you wouldn't want to get T-Mobile is if you live somewhere semi-rural where you don't get decent coverage, which is understandable. As of this month T-Mobile's new band 12 has expanded their network in a huge way.
I had verizon, coverage was good, price was not worth it. I get a lot more with T-Mobile. I understand that it's not for everyone coverage wise, but if you get coverage in the areas you visit, literally why not?
Service has never been an issue for me.
If you live in rural areas you would never want sprint or tmobile, blue or red all the way there
If you live in urban areas magenta, yellow, red, blue they all get really solid data coverage in the heart of most populated cities. So most of my life is around those highly populated areas therefore i chose to go with yellow.....i regret it i do, but its only because of their customer service; if they could learn to appreciate their customer as much as the NEW one they are always trying to get---ie Verizon always giving out gift cards for example---sprint would find a balance of happiness from their customers, yet they continue to push their current customer farther down into the ground by announcing all these wonderful things for new customers---for the loyal customer? a 1 year free LG **** tablet that goes un-free after the 1st year of service...and of course they require you to sign a 2 year service agreement if you want the "free" tablet.
I've said it previously for me they have 1 year left (on my leases) at the end i plan to walk away and don't really see them being able to figure out how to keep me. But i whole heartedly admit it has nothing to do with their service 90% its 40down + for me the 10% is bad around 5down, uploads stay around 4-7, but i rarely upload anything.
If you live in rural areas you would never want sprint or tmobile, blue or red all the way there
If you live in urban areas magenta, yellow, red, blue they all get really solid data coverage in the heart of most populated cities. So most of my life is around those highly populated areas therefore i chose to go with yellow.....i regret it i do, but its only because of their customer service; if they could learn to appreciate their customer as much as the NEW one they are always trying to get---ie Verizon always giving out gift cards for example---sprint would find a balance of happiness from their customers, yet they continue to push their current customer farther down into the ground by announcing all these wonderful things for new customers---for the loyal customer? a 1 year free LG **** tablet that goes un-free after the 1st year of service...and of course they require you to sign a 2 year service agreement if you want the "free" tablet.
I've said it previously for me they have 1 year left (on my leases) at the end i plan to walk away and don't really see them being able to figure out how to keep me. But i whole heartedly admit it has nothing to do with their service 90% its 40down + for me the 10% is bad around 5down, uploads stay around 4-7, but i rarely upload anything.
Well... depending on how tempting -- As a VZW customer, you're basically holding an ace and be able to SIM swap to check T-Mo out without a concern -- they don't lock phones. At worst, you'll have Band 2 and 4 covered for LTE, and if you have a 6s model you'll be golden since it has Band 12... you could test it off a month's worth on a 30 dollar prepaid SIM.
I had Sprint back then too. Couldn't receive or make calls indoors on my Startac. Outdoors it was great; great sound, great reception. Indoors, no dice. I can understand it happening in a small one gas station town, but in city of 2 million?
I see talking on Sprint phones indoors now, so I guess they have improved.