T-Mobile iPhone 5 reception issues at crowded festivals

[perkedel]

My family recently switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and I picked up a refurbished iPhone 5. The other day I was at a crowded festival and wasn't able to send texts. However my sister's Android on T-Mobile did not have this problem. Is there any known history of iPhones/iPhone 5 having poorer reception than Androids on the same network? Any remedies? This is concerning because I'm going to be at another large crowded festival this weekend where I will "need" service.

I've seen this before on a large crowd, it wasn't TMo the only one that had issues, people on VZW and ATT too had difficulties. It's as if a particular cell tower got overloaded since everyone is connecting to the same tower, probably not helping if they're taking snapchats, insta, and posting videos.

 

[themetnut]

It could be that the iPhone doesn't support Band 12 yet, the android phone probably did?

 

[CEmajr]

Band 12 wouldn't have helped with capacity like in the OP's situation.

 

[cmichaelb]

Depends on the carrier and where.

When the Sox won the World Series in Fenway, AT&T and Verizon users had no problem because they were on the DAS at Fenway and the area has dense coverage from both carriers. T-Mobile and Sprint users were struggling at that time.

I was in a bar across the street from Fenway and had no problems communicating with everyone on AT&T.

Well, at the sporting events here with excellent AT&T and Verizon coverage, everyone around me had the same issue and there was a mix of all 4 major carries. YMMV depending on the stadium.