Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ynotrhyme

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 13, 2010
50
0
Have friends who say they download around 20gb and don't get throttled.

Told AT&T and they said sprint throttles which I'm assuming they're talking out their arse
 

erzhik

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2010
486
395
They don't throttle because they can barely survive with customers switching daily.
 

Learylvr.

macrumors regular
Nov 18, 2011
202
3
I'm in Austin , Tx.. I can't speak for other areas, in my area LTE is super fast . I can take a screen shot tomorrow when I'm out. Sprint blew before LTE was in my area. If I go to a town or in more remote areas, 3G is worthless . I don't think it can even be called 3G , it is so awful. I would advise anyone considering Sprint, don't go by Sprints coverage maps.. They are a joke . Find someone in ur area that has Sprint and LTE and ask them to do a speed test. That is the only truly accurate way you can find out how LTE is in your area. Don't believe Sprint LTE coverage maps, they are a joke . IMO..
 

ynotrhyme

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 13, 2010
50
0
Definitely gonna check that LTE coverage near home. At my job I tested a sprint iphone and it did like 10-15mb, I'm assuming it was LTE... So it sounds like if I hit an area without LTE I'm pretty SOL.. Sounds bad. Thing is I'm on att unlimited grandfathered but 5Mb till throttled really is a pain. I'm testing out this month how I do with the MB's downloaded. My killers are SPOTIFY and new episodes on podcast when I'm out of wifi areas. 5MB goes quick as hell. lol
 

Vikinguy

macrumors 6502
Sep 19, 2007
407
12
i have sprint lte that averages about 9 mb down but who the hell isn't always near wifi? Maybe I don't use it enough.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Sprint does not throttle*.

*The following exception applies. If you are in the top 5% of data users (as determined by Sprint) and you are connected to an overloaded tower your speeds will be reduced. Connect to a tower that is not overloaded, or when the current overloaded tower ceases to be overloaded your speeds will return to normal.
 

Mr Hands

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2014
107
1
Sprint does not throttle*.

*The following exception applies. If you are in the top 5% of data users (as determined by Sprint) and you are connected to an overloaded tower your speeds will be reduced. Connect to a tower that is not overloaded, or when the current overloaded tower ceases to be overloaded your speeds will return to normal.

This.

Couple months ago I used 75 gigabytes on LTE with no throttling though, month after was almost that much.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
With sprint if you're not on their lte coverage area it is the same thing as being throttled anyway. :)
LOL, tell me about it. Yay, Sprint. High speed LTE. Yay.
 

Attachments

  • 2014-10-08 10.35.37.png
    2014-10-08 10.35.37.png
    693.7 KB · Views: 107
  • 2014-10-08 10.36.26.png
    2014-10-08 10.36.26.png
    687.8 KB · Views: 103
  • 2014-10-08 10.37.18.png
    2014-10-08 10.37.18.png
    688.3 KB · Views: 95

aliensporebomb

macrumors 68000
Jun 19, 2005
1,907
332
Minneapolis, MN, USA, Urth
Sigh

I live 1100 feet from a Sprint Network Vision LTE tower.

Some of it depends on "are you in a highly congested area with a lot of cell phone users?"

Also "Is your site you are connecting to a high capacity site?" If you're not a cell geek you won't know but your phone's speedtest app can give you some clues.

I tried a speedtest on October 10 at 10:52 a.m. and got:
38.11 MBps down
14.24 MBps up

Last night right before bed:
13.36 MBps down
9.00 MBps up

Also, depends on where you are living. They are still doing their network buildout even though it's largely complete in a lot of areas.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
I live 1100 feet from a Sprint Network Vision LTE tower.

Some of it depends on "are you in a highly congested area with a lot of cell phone users?"

Also "Is your site you are connecting to a high capacity site?" If you're not a cell geek you won't know but your phone's speedtest app can give you some clues.

I tried a speedtest on October 10 at 10:52 a.m. and got:
38.11 MBps down
14.24 MBps up

Last night right before bed:
13.36 MBps down
9.00 MBps up

Also, depends on where you are living. They are still doing their network buildout even though it's largely complete in a lot of areas.
I get what you are trying to say. Don't take me as uninformed though, please.

I'm a 15 year Sprint customer. Sprint has been my only carrier since 1999. But I gave them two years in 2012 to get LTE to Phoenix and in December of 2014 Sprint will have been at this in PHX for two years. Right now, they are only 59% of LTE accepted.

I can recite a long list to you of why NV took and is taking so long, all the problems, etc, but suffice it to say that 15 years is enough for me. Sprint has upgraded towers all around the places I work and live in and LTE there is very good. But they have not gotten to the towers I connect to at work or at home. In fact it's getting worse. Now, I know it gets worse before it gets better, but I'm just done with it all. When I can move along I will. I'm tired of being on WiFi all the time and paying for cell service.

Phoenix will eventually be good and a lot of other places are good. I recognize that. But just not my area, not right now.

BTW, below is what I got on a tower in an area I used to frequent regularly. Took them about one year 10 months to get to this tower and unfortunately, I don't go into that area much any more.
 

Attachments

  • 2014-10-05 14.31.07.png
    2014-10-05 14.31.07.png
    697.9 KB · Views: 90

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Yeesh, that ping is terrible!

So much for that 'new' network.
I'm laughing at your comment because this ping, while bad, isn't the worst I've ever had. I've been in the 1600ms range and I even have screen caps somewhere where the damn thing timed out because of network connection errors. Those were all 3G though. When I took those speed tests Phoenix didn't have LTE yet.
 

Mr Hands

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2014
107
1
Yeesh, that ping is terrible!

So much for that 'new' network.

Yeah but look at his signal strength in those pics. -118 and -114dB... he was at the absolute edge of that tower's coverage and we don't know what obstructions there were between him and the tower.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Yeah but look at his signal strength in those pics. -118 and -114dB... he was at the absolute edge of that tower's coverage and we don't know what obstructions there were between him and the tower.
Right. So, let me explain.

That routinely is the level of signal I get. My understanding is that -110 is actually a decent signal for LTE. That being the case, I have only once or twice been under -100 for LTE.

I have an iPhone 5, which is Band 25 for LTE (1900 mhz) and 800mhz for voice only. So, I'm holding on not only to a fragile signal, but a high frequency signal that does not penetrate as well as low frequency.

That said, I am not deep in a metal or brick enclosed basement. At home I am generally next to a window when I use my phone. At work, my desk is right next to a wall and I'm on the second floor of a two story building. Granted, the walls are brick and my desk is wood, but the building is actually located right between the overlap of two towers. The one to the south is where my desk is. It's got a ticket open and has not received any backhaul upgrades yet. That particular tower is overloaded because right across the street is the city offices for the city of Glendale, AZ.

The tower to the north HAS been upgraded, but I can only connect to it if I leave my desk and go to the front door. I've hit about 12mbps down on that tower.

At home, all the towers around have been upgraded, but not the three that actually reach my house and that I regularly connect to. :(

This is what's so irritating. Everything around me has been or is being upgraded except the damn towers I connect to the most!

The last screenshot I gave was at a restaurant in a booth next to the outside wall. That wall is no different than the walls at home, yet I achieved almost 20mbps down on Band 25 there, but can't at home.
 

Mr Hands

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2014
107
1
You could always set up a repeater/amp in your house. There are some pretty inexpensive home brew antennas you could make.

Of course judging from your other posts and things, I don't think you're wanting to go through all that hassle haha :)
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
You could always set up a repeater/amp in your house. There are some pretty inexpensive home brew antennas you could make.

Of course judging from your other posts and things, I don't think you're wanting to go through all that hassle haha :)
I actually have an Airave at home. It has since died and I need to get it replaced, but I managed to squeeze blood out of a rock in November 2012 for it. Sprint doesn't charge me anything monthly on it.

But yeah, I'll just enjoy the good LTE I find and deal with WiFi until our refund check comes in.

The grass is not always greener of course, but T-Mobile is good in PHX and I don't really ever leave the area so it should work for us. That and I think 15 years of Sprint's BS is enough.
 

Zaft

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2009
4,553
4,032
Brooklyn, NY
Have friends who say they download around 20gb and don't get throttled.

Told AT&T and they said sprint throttles which I'm assuming they're talking out their arse

Where do you live? It all depends on this.

in NYC Sprint is leaps and bounds better then just a year ago.
Band 41 is awesome.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Where do you live? It all depends on this.

in NYC Sprint is leaps and bounds better then just a year ago.
Band 41 is awesome.
Sprint needs to hurry up and get Spark in more places. Moving traffic on to 41 and 26 will take a whole lot of pressure off 25. :D
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,793
26,883
Band 25 in Manhattan for the most part is slow. Very congested.
Having band 41 in Manhattan is a god send.
Right, but that's my point. ;-)

Most Sprint customers are still using Band 25 devices. I am…iPhone 5. Those that have triband devices are stuck on band 25 if there is no Spark in their market.

If Spark is enabled in more places then those customers with the triband devices take advantage of Spark. That moves them off band 25 and gives those of us with band 25 only devices less congestion.

:D
 

Zaft

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2009
4,553
4,032
Brooklyn, NY
Right, but that's my point. ;-)

Most Sprint customers are still using Band 25 devices. I am…iPhone 5. Those that have triband devices are stuck on band 25 if there is no Spark in their market.

If Spark is enabled in more places then those customers with the triband devices take advantage of Spark. That moves them off band 25 and gives those of us with band 25 only devices less congestion.

:D

iPhone 5 was my previous phone. It was OK everywhere except Manhattan.
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
I'm in Austin , Tx.. I can't speak for other areas, in my area LTE is super fast . I can take a screen shot tomorrow when I'm out.

If you have to be "out" to use it and take a screen shot, then what's the point in even having it?
 

CrAkD

macrumors 68040
Feb 15, 2010
3,180
255
Boston, MA
They don't have to when their service is always super slow you feel like you're being throttled and don't want to use it anyway
 

ynotrhyme

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 13, 2010
50
0
Just tested with my bosses phone and he gets 25 mb/s and it's a normally ****** area. I'm seeing that sprint in my general living area has their towers up to date.

The guys gonna give me 60$ everything unlimited plus the insurance $ which is like 7-10$ a month... I'm wondering If the insurance works the same as atts. Att insurance was good, just call and tell them what happened and they ship a new one. Lost broken or shattered glass I was good.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.