Sprint's 3G network is painfully slow. Its old 4G WiMAX network has been punted over to Virgin and Boost. But if our exclusive test results hold up, its new 4G LTE network will be competitive with AT&T's and Verizon's.
We got early access to Sprint's network at five locations in the Atlanta, Georgia area during the week of June 11, and ran speed tests on a specially provisioned LG Viper 4G LTE phone using both our own Sensorly speed test app and the Ookla Speedtest.net app.
Sprint's results are fast, although they're not as fast as the peak speeds we've seen from AT&T and Verizon. That's because Sprint is using 5MHz channels rather than the 10MHz channels the other carriers are using in most cities. If you compare Sprint's speeds to four cities where AT&T is using 5MHz channels (Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Raleigh), Sprint is extremely competitive.
It's not a totally fair comparison, of course. For our Fastest Mobile Networks project, we tested ordinary retail phones on loaded networks, and we didn't tell the carriers where we were going in advance. For this Sprint test, we used phones tuned by Sprint's engineering team at pre-approved locations. They knew we were coming.
Sprint's LTE Speeds: The Results
Sprint's LTE network is faster than its old WiMAX network. It's a bit faster than T-Mobile's HSPA+ 21, and it's about 25 times as fast as Sprint's 3G network. But it doesn't quite match AT&T's and Verizon's LTE speeds in cities where they have more spectrum.
Sprint execs have said they're aware of this, and that the carrier is going to be focusing on providing a great average experience in loaded conditions rather than very high peak speeds. I've been hearing this from several wireless carriers recently: It's better to have a high floor than a high ceiling. Users notice when connections drop down to 1Mbps much more than they notice the difference between 8 and 15Mbps.
A consistent experience is really what people want, of course, but we'll have to see if Sprint pulls it off when it actually has a retail network.
Now to the numbers.
Sprint LTE Speeds
The two speed tests we use return very different results; it's just the way they were designed. Ookla's test tends to give faster numbers because it eliminates some slower results and runs multiple transfers simultaneously. Sensorly's test runs one stream at a time and don't eliminate any results. We consider the Sensorly test more realistic because smartphones usually queue large data transfers rather than running them in parallel; Web pages do consist of multiple small transfers in parallel, but time-to-first-byte plays a larger role there than peak speeds.
That said, what you want to look for with any test is relative results, not absolute numbers. What matters is how different networks compare on the same test.
Using the Sensorly software at four of our locations, we got average download speeds between 9 and 13Mbps, which is similar to the speeds in AT&T's two faster 5MHz channel cities but slower than you see in its 10MHz channel cities. Sprint's peak download speeds hit 26.5Mbps down, which is as much bandwidth as anyone really needs. That's also similar to AT&T's peak speed in a solid 5Mhz city like Raleigh, where we got a 27.8Mbps peak on AT&T.
Sprint's download speeds were comparable to speeds on Verizon, which uses 10MHz channels, but Verizon also has many more people using its LTE network.
Uploads were on the slow side, but here's where the test method really becomes an issue. Using our Sensorly test we saw upload speeds averaging 2.19Mbps, once again comparable to AT&T's 5MHz cities and faster than T-Mobile's HSPA+ or Sprint's old WiMAX 4G, but slower than Verizon. The network hit 2.97Mbps for peak uploads.
But I'm pretty sure both Sprint and AT&T are tuning their networks to respond better to multiple simultaneous upload streams, because when Ookla tested four streams at once, we saw 7.4Mbps up on Sprint. AT&T has shown a similar difference in upload speeds when tested with the Ookla software in the past.
Sensorly vs. Ookla
What This Means for Sprint
Sprint has already been selling LTE phones for a while. The LG Viper 4G, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and HTC EVO 4G are all LTE-enabled. The carrier has stopped selling WiMAX phones to its postpaid customers, so it's LTE or nothing at the moment.
Sprint has said it will launch LTE in six cities around midyear (that's the end of this month). Those cities are Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and San Antonio. The rest of Sprint's network will get LTE by 2014, but Sprint isn't saying who'll get it when, between now and then.
This phase of LTE is just the first step in a long roadmap for Sprint, which includes increasing channel sizes using future LTE-Advanced technology and supplementing its speeds with Clearwire's upcoming LTE-TDD network.
Hopefully, the arrival of LTE will also take some pressure off of Sprint's 3G network. In our nationwide tests, Sprint's 3G system seemed hammered, with half the average download speed of Verizon's 3G. (The two carriers use the same technology.) That will help Sprint iPhone owners with their 3G-only devices.
But not knowing when LTE is coming is a big problem for Sprint customers. The carrier's 3G network is the slowest of the major wireless providers, and even high-end phones like the new EVO 4G LTE are stuck on 3G for now. Sprint has to provide more clarity quickly on where LTE is rolling out or risk losing high-end smartphone users to LTE networks that actually exist.
Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405675,00.asp
This is great news that they can keep up with Verizon and at&t but the real issue is waiting for them to launch it in our area. In my opinion Sprint shouldve already started shutting down iden for the spectrum and using bigger channels instead of just 5x5. Lightsquared wouldve really came in handy rite now, they might actually get a chance to build out if they can succed with the spectrum swoop from the DoD. ADD in Clearwire TD-LTE in another 2 years and possibly Dish, in 3 - 5 years Sprint has a good chance to move up the ladder.
Hopefully the speeds stay the same when it's more than just a few test users on it.
they won't, have you seen recent Verizon lte speed tests? in slc they are down to 4-5 mb/s matching Wimax in that city. its all about how many users are connected
NewZJ said:
they won't, have you seen recent Verizon lte speed tests? in slc they are down to 4-5 mb/s matching Wimax in that city. its all about how many users are connected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is slc?
DarkManX4lf said:
Where is slc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Salt Lake City???
NewZJ said:
they won't, have you seen recent Verizon lte speed tests? in slc they are down to 4-5 mb/s matching Wimax in that city. its all about how many users are connected
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thats what the Razr Maxx's LTE speed is like in CC Philly.
Sent from my EVO LTE
If Sprint could provide 75%+ of their subscribers with 4-6Mb/s down and 1-2Mb/s up and keep it unlimited for the same price as we're paying now, I bet the vast majority of their users would be completely satisfied.
mike.r.olson said:
If Sprint could provide 75%+ of their subscribers with 4-6Mb/s down and 1-2Mb/s up and keep it unlimited for the same price as we're paying now, I bet the vast majority of their users would be completely satisfied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agreed.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
bish i've been testing lte for weeks just not recently lol
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mike.r.olson said:
If Sprint could provide 75%+ of their subscribers with 4-6Mb/s down and 1-2Mb/s up and keep it unlimited for the same price as we're paying now, I bet the vast majority of their users would be completely satisfied.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this, but feel that I'd be in the 25%
After having my local 3G upgraded and averaging 2-2.5 down, I'd be severely disappointed with just 4-6 on LTE.
I am hopeful that the speeds in Houston are much higher I was pulling 7-10 on WiMAX on a slow day. Also WiMAX is still live and well on my OG EVO.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
My mother in law is shelling out an extra $30/month per line (so she thinks) for at&t 4G but they all have iPhones lmao X-)
Sent from my EVO using XDA
RobertBohannon said:
My mother in law is shelling out an extra $30/month per line (so she thinks) for at&t 4G but they all have iPhones lmao X-)
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Verizon LTE is over-rated, speed wise. I live in the Capital of NYS and we have full LTE coverage here, and with a population of 100K and full bars of LTE service, we get 3-6 MB down consistently on our work phones.
Semantics said:
Verizon LTE is over-rated, speed wise. I live in the Capital of NYS and we have full LTE coverage here, and with a population of 100K and full bars of LTE service, we get 3-6 MB down consistently on our work phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at it this way. You are about two megabits faster than you were on a 3G phone consistently. Especially in that much of a population saturation area. I'm not saying it is great. But, it has to do a decent job. I am in a 3G area here in MA and I can stream Pandora over my tablet and surf the web and read emails while connected to my WiFi teather. It could be better, but at.least I have this. But, if you did have an LTE phone before most people did. And got the chance to enjoy it before the masses did at the same time. I do feel for you. It is like being teased with a carrot and then having it yanked away. And it would be understandable to be upset at that. Any way, enjoy it and use it wisely my VZW brethren. You to my sisters. Lol!
To those over on the Sprint network. Good luck. Heck, I may have to jump over to you guys side if VZW tries to pull my unlimited Data from me. Very scary stuff people. To those with unlimited data. I say hold on for dear life. Don't make any mistakes along the journey. Lol!
I wish I could say that I am high or drunk writing this. But tis not why I am this way. It is for a fact that a lack of sleep is playing its part. And playing me like a violin so very well. Good night lovers of XDA.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
The unlimited Data is the only reason I'm with Sprint I regularly use 6 gigs of 3g and 3-4 gigs of 4g. My highest useage was when I found A torrent and music paradise in the market. I had 14gigs of data that month and sprint didn't say anything. A buddy of mine has AT&Ts old unlimited plan and he used 8 gigs two months in a row and got a letter about AT&Ts fair use policy stating they would throttle his speed if he continued that kind of useage. WTF?
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Related
One hour I'm at 800kbps. The next I'm at 2200. Then 200. Then 600. What the hell is going on? Its been like this for weeks. Are they messing with the towers? Where do you guys get your sprint news to know when this stuff is happening. It just seems so eratic. Thoughts?
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Stopsign002 said:
Are they messing with the towers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's likely they are for your area:
http://newsroom.sprint.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=19
Gotchya ok. Well that's nice to hear. Hopefully it will all settle down soon. It's been like a month with this crazyness. But I could see that it could take that long to do the many towers in this area, causing congestion and such. Thanks for the info
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
Stopsign002 said:
Gotchya ok. Well that's nice to hear. Hopefully it will all settle down soon. It's been like a month with this crazyness. But I could see that it could take that long to do the many towers in this area, causing congestion and such. Thanks for the info
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully you're lucky and that's exactly what's going on in your area.
your lucky. I can't even think about getting those speeds here ever. The MAX i see is about 1.13Mbps and thats at 6am here when no one else is on the tower. During normal hours of the day its 0.16Mbps avg. Just thankful I'm always around wifi connection for the most part.
can't wait till they get to my area and get things rocking.
Seems like once the evo got cheaper **** is slow around here now. I think its just to many users and to much data for one tower to handle.
My 3g was alright on my evo, since i've got my evo3d its almost useless in most locations
mattykinsx said:
It's likely they are for your area:
http://newsroom.sprint.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=19
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew a small amount about their network upgrade, specifically via my interest in 4g (mainly LTE), because I was lied to when I opened my sprint account about 4g availability. Here in Arizona there is next to no 4g [both indoor and outdoor] coverage, and none in my city despite it being the 5 th fastest growing city in the us. Their current Wimax roll out is/was despicable, and an absolute failure. LTE has more potential than Wimax, from the way I hear it the evo 3D should be capable of either frequency spectrum with just a software update (can't verify the accuracy of that fact), but some indoor Wimax would be a huge upgrade for me!
The detail in the article you posted made it an exciting read, thanks for doing the dirty work and finding and posting this little glimmer of hope!
Data on sprint sucks right now...I'm getting a whopping 55k down during the day, and 600k during the evening...I'm not looking forward to iPhone hitting...its going to get much worse
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Sad Panda said:
I knew a small amount about their network upgrade, specifically via my interest in 4g (mainly LTE), because I was lied to when I opened my sprint account about 4g availability. Here in Arizona there is next to no 4g [both indoor and outdoor] coverage, and none in my city despite it being the 5 th fastest growing city in the us. Their current Wimax roll out is/was despicable, and an absolute failure. LTE has more potential than Wimax, from the way I hear it the evo 3D should be capable of either frequency spectrum with just a software update (can't verify the accuracy of that fact), but some indoor Wimax would be a huge upgrade for me!
The detail in the article you posted made it an exciting read, thanks for doing the dirty work and finding and posting this little glimmer of hope!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just so you know the general argument LTE > WiMax is the most bogus miss informed crap out there. your comparing standards, and as far as speed is concerned they both offer the same roughly. The reason WiMax gets a bad rap is b/c of the freq spectrum it is rolled out on being 2.5GHz doesn't get much building penetration hence the low coverage areas. If they were to put LTE on the same band WiMax is currently on we all would get identical results.
The only reason this rollout is going to be better and will give LTE a better coverage than WiMax is b/c of the freq they are rolling it out on is much lower, so much better building penetration.
The reason they dont do that with WiMax, is b/c now at this point LTE has been adopted by VZ and in turn has gained a lot of steem form suppliers making the costs to rollout LTE equipment much less than it was when they initially rolled WiMax with Clearwire.
Thanks for your reply, I am educated in physics and had forgotten about your frequency point. However I had read that LTE has the potential for up to 80mbit, where Wimax is much lower. Do you know whether that information is false or not?
Sad Panda said:
Thanks for your reply, I am educated in physics and had forgotten about your frequency point. However I had read that LTE has the potential for up to 80mbit, where Wimax is much lower. Do you know whether that information is false or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they were to use more spectrum speeds could be much higher but right now Clearwire is only using 10MHz channels. LTE Advanced/WiMAX 2 are also supposed to speed it up significantly but I'm not even sure if they've finished writing the standards for it yet.
Stopsign002 said:
One hour I'm at 800kbps. The next I'm at 2200. Then 200. Then 600. What the hell is going on? Its been like this for weeks. Are they messing with the towers? Where do you guys get your sprint news to know when this stuff is happening. It just seems so eratic. Thoughts?
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When the speeds are so low, its because all the Hipsters are on break from/at starbucks
Sad Panda said:
I knew a small amount about their network upgrade, specifically via my interest in 4g (mainly LTE), because I was lied to when I opened my sprint account about 4g availability. Here in Arizona there is next to no 4g [both indoor and outdoor] coverage, and none in my city despite it being the 5 th fastest growing city in the us. Their current Wimax roll out is/was despicable, and an absolute failure. LTE has more potential than Wimax, from the way I hear it the evo 3D should be capable of either frequency spectrum with just a software update (can't verify the accuracy of that fact), but some indoor Wimax would be a huge upgrade for me!
The detail in the article you posted made it an exciting read, thanks for doing the dirty work and finding and posting this little glimmer of hope!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assure being one the fastest growing cities means nothing to them at this time... It's when you hit the top of the largest cities it matters to them... Cape coral is close to me, used to be the number 1 fastest growing city in America for awhile...
4g is pretty close to me about an 1hr-1.5hr drive to get a connection to 4g, they just can't get the work done to these towers fast enough lol, even in the huge cities the 4g coverage sucks.
Hopefully we will see some speed boosts soon...
Shot from my shooter in 3D
injected with cleanrom2.7
Towers around Depew, NY (3G Speeds)
Download: 950 to 1600 kbps
Upload: 600 to 800 kbps
The one right up the street from me that they "fixed"
Download: 114 to 360 kbps
Upload 550 to 700 kbps
Also apparently i'm now covered by LTE (shakes fist at WiMAX)
Bamba1260 said:
When the speeds are so low, its because all the Hipsters are on break from/at starbucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL!!
My Home in Aston feels like it has full support as the WiMax & 3G are extremely high (2.5Mbps 3G & 12-15Mbps 4G) In the city of Philadelphia its wonky as hell during the peak hours.
Extremely jealous of you fellas with not only 4g, but fast as balls 3G. My 3G speed is horrible. Tmobile was so much better and faster. They at least had fast 4g.
Just saw this on twitter from android police.
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Sent from an Evo 3D
drivenapollo said:
Just saw this on twitter from android police.
Sent from an Evo 3D
Click to expand...
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That is good news! I'm due to call back a higher up in sprint about my horrible so called premium data that is 1X standards.
I get 913 down and 514 up on 3G
Sent from my double barrel Shooter. BANG!
I just got 1mb down, and 1.5mb up on 3g. Not home right now but that's about double my normal home speed.
Sent from an Evo 3D
So when LTE comes to town will we lose HSPA+???
Nope they will co-exist just like edge and hspa+ do today.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777
It is my understanding that even when on LTE you use GSM for phone calls and other non-data related transactions. Either way, they're not building an HSPA+ network to tear it down in 2 years.
Just checking. I don't care if I don't get LTE capability for the next 2 years, I just wish they would strengthen the signals they already have in my area.
Montgomery AL <------- never getting LTE.
There is lte here and my h+ works great they will have to coexist, they only have 2 lte phones out, a lot more use h+
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Our phones, from what I can tell, are not LTE compatible. Only h+.
When LTE arrives hopefully we will see true HSPA+ speeds
LTE
I'm actually strongly considering taking my i777 back for the Skyrocket. Even though I don't have LTE, locally, it is only a matter of time.
Hemlocke said:
I'm actually strongly considering taking my i777 back for the Skyrocket. Even though I don't have LTE, locally, it is only a matter of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest you don't.
Hellraiser is probably never coming to the Skyrocket. The Skyrocket has a slower SoC in general so you will notice more stutters here and there. The i777 will get ICS first through XDA.
Even if you got it today, an integrated LTE modem with the SoC won't be coming until next year for Qualcomm, and around 2H 2012 or 2013 for other companies. You won't be missing much, seeing as how by the time you do get another upgrade in 20 months you will have a step up in everything as opposed to a step up in data speeds and a step down in processor/developer support.
****, I don't even have H+ yet.
Hemlocke said:
I'm actually strongly considering taking my i777 back for the Skyrocket. Even though I don't have LTE, locally, it is only a matter of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't fall for all this 4G marketing crap from AT&T. They are not even close to offering true HSPA+ or LTE speeds so no need to worry for now. When they offer the true speeds it will be time to change your phone anyways.
HSPA+, or Evolved High-Speed Packet Access, is a technical standard for wireless, broadband telecommunication. HSPA+ was first defined in the technical standard 3GPP release 7.
HSPA+ provides an evolution of High Speed Packet Access and provides data rates up to 84 Megabits per second (Mbit/s) to the mobile device and 22 Mbit/s from the mobile device.
3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data. It is based upon GSM/EDGE and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/High Speed Packet Access (UMTS/HSPA) network technologies.Features of LTE include an all-IP flat network architecture, end-to-end QoS including provisions for low-latency communications, peak download rates nearing 300 Mbps and upload rates of 75 Mbps, capacity exceeding 200 active users per cell[3], the ability to manage fast-moving mobiles, and support for multi-cast and broadcast streams.
Ahh... i wonder what 300mbps feels like...
Hell, I wonder what 21 Mbps feels like, let alone 300.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Local ATT store told me that LTE will be available in SC around February of 2012. Even with this info I still have no desire to switch out for an LTE phone. (I'm still within my return policy.) I have a verizon LTE hotspot for school that can hold me over. I spend 90% of my time at work or at home, so the HSPA+ is plenty to fill in the gaps when I can't use my high end connections.
Hemlocke said:
Hell, I wonder what 21 Mbps feels like, let alone 300.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to experience 21mbps by connecting to a broadband wireless network
Most Broadband Internet providers have these speeds (except DSL I think), now 300mbps download speeds.....that would be awesome.
antuus said:
Local ATT store told me that LTE will be available in SC around February of 2012. Even with this info I still have no desire to switch out for an LTE phone. (I'm still within my return policy.) I have a verizon LTE hotspot for school that can hold me over. I spend 90% of my time at work or at home, so the HSPA+ is plenty to fill in the gaps when I can't use my high end connections.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We got LTE in Chicago. I'm from the suburbs and literally on the west side of my town we get around 3-5 Mbps but when I get on the east side (closer to Chicago) I've hit 13 Mbps. I have not been in Chicago sine i got my new phone but I think that 13 is pretty sweet but i got 36 Mbps at my house so its nothing amazing to me
UGART3 said:
We got LTE in Chicago. I'm from the suburbs and literally on the west side of my town we get around 3-5 Mbps but when I get on the east side (closer to Chicago) I've hit 13 Mbps. I have not been in Chicago sine i got my new phone but I think that 13 is pretty sweet but i got 36 Mbps at my house so its nothing amazing to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get anywhere from 2mbps to 7mbps down and usually around 1.1mbps up on my phone's data connection. (Latency around 100ms) This is perfectly acceptable for most browsing and applications, including streaming video.
I'm really hoping they keep HSPA+ around for awhile. I get killer battery life with it and the speeds are more than enough for 95% of everything I do with my phone.
In metro Detroit I only get average 1.4mbps down and 1mbps up...is my phone defective or is the network just ****ty here? The coverage map shows I have full hspa+ coverage
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
Well I had the Photon for about 3 weeks, great phone..
Anyways, I just got tired of Sprints trash network, crap signal inside building..
Got terminated etf free and instantsly went to ATT and grabbed sgsii skyrocket.
all I can say is... why didnt I do this months ago. Speeds are never below 3 megs and **** gets done when you click enter.. no buffering issues either.
Dont even mention lte.. wicked fast and extremely stable.
In my extremely dense school where sprint wouldnt even get signal roaming I have 3/4 bars of lte.. just makes me cream myself..
this is just a small review that I suggest everyone that is bothered by these network problems.
inb4 flame
inb4 sprint dickriders
inb4 carecup is empty
Excellent. I'm very glad you're happy.
I'm different.
I'd rather deal with slower 3G speeds and iffy 4G coverage than have to count bytes each month. I don't want to worry about my usage. I know that my data usage is going to rise each month and I don't want that albatross around my neck.
For me, Sprint is better.
My signal is fine here, while AT&T's is terrible, if and when it exists at all.
Different areas get different results and nobody really cares.
Nice Phone. Very Nice phone. I question your comments on why, but you got a nice phone.
1. You already stated your in a dense area.
2. (and I have personally checked) All carriers on their map state, even with excellent strength, "May work inside some buildings"
3. I live in a dense area, my bars are usually packed? Sprint cannot control the mountains?
4. Hows the battery with that LTE?
Again, nice phone and no doubt better than most in the food chain, but.......JMO.
dsims7_2000 said:
Nice Phone. Very Nice phone. I question your comments on why, but you got a nice phone.
1. You already stated your in a dense area.
2. (and I have personally checked) All carriers on their map state, even with excellent strength, "May work inside some buildings"
3. I live in a dense area, my bars are usually packed? Sprint cannot control the mountains?
4. Hows the battery with that LTE?
Again, nice phone and no doubt better than most in the food chain, but.......JMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. dense I meant the school building. Im in Houston so no mountains.
2. Oh no lol my sprint phone couldnt hold signal worth of poop in a lot of buildings. Even wrapping my giant hands around it, the signal would drop a couple of bars
3. Ah well Sprint is great in my opinion if your not inside a building. (signal) data is only good in the very late night and early mornings or low population areas
4. I wake up at 6 everyday and it lasts till about 7-9 pm depending on the usage.
Draiko said:
Excellent. I'm very glad you're happy.
I'm different.
I'd rather deal with slower 3G speeds and iffy 4G coverage than have to count bytes each month. I don't want to worry about my usage. I know that my data usage is going to rise each month and I don't want that albatross around my neck.
For me, Sprint is better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I swallowed an ETF fee from verizon just to "stick-it-to-'em" when they switched to tiered data. I honestly appreciate the unlimited data and cheaper pricing and I'm a big fan of them and all... but sprints 3g is absolutely, pathetically insulting and painstakingly embarrassingly slow.
I dont live in a large market but verizon just fired up LTE in the area and my girls Bionic pulls down 14mbps. 14MBPS!!!! Thats faster than my home internet connection!
I just ran speed test on sprint, its in line with all my previous runs: 115kbps down.
One.
Hundred.
fifteen.
kbps.
I'm counting the days until my contract is up and sprint has better got some serious 4g improvement cause this is ridiculous.
*edit* the speeds I get with sprint dont even qualify as "3G." Wikipedia: To meet the IMT-2000 standards, a system is required to provide peak data rates of at least 200 kbit/s (about 0.2 Mbit/s) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G)
That is why also im doing the etf on sprint and going back to big red. 4gb data right now for 30the and i used maybe 1.5 amonth on sprint. Data speeds are horid here in omaha and im just done with it
You think y'all got it bad?
Just tasted and got 34.9KB/s. Go go US Cellular. Loovvveee the phone and prices, haaatteeee the speed and 5/gb limit.
Sent from my CM9 Electrify.
Yeah, wow im surprised im not getting flamed..
anyways, yeah I was with sprint since '99 .. well nextel.
It does suck though, having capped data, but ill get used to it
and your right with 200kb speeds, it wouldnt even be possible to go past like 2 gigs of data.
Also, the FCC denied Lightsquared to roll out lte.. so lte for sprint shouldnt be seen until at the least 2013
Mastajeff said:
Yeah, wow im surprised im not getting flamed..
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Click to collapse
Lol....you almost sound disappointed.
It all depends on the area. Where I live Sprint doesn't have any 4g but the 3g speeds aren't too bad. Signal is actually pretty good no matter where I go. Sitting in my office right now I have full bars and hardly ever do I drop a call.
As for AT&T, not sure why anyone signs up with them. Possibly the worst customer service in the entire world not to mention they will steal your money if you are not looking (they have done it in the past and was proven in court). Have dealt with them numerous times over the years and I just can't do it. Sure, Sprint has their issues as well but nothing like AT&T. Just a terrible company.
I would of tried a new photon first
Good luck to u and ur sammy
The US is not rdy for gsm yet
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
Im just waiting my time out. Sprint isnt going to get an ETF from me. My contract is up in 4 months and Im gone. Dont know where Im going.. maybe back to TMobile. From a customer service standpoint, they are the best Ive ever had by far.
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3g here in Iowa I have it 2 mbps
Before but no screenshot. I went from 200 to 2000 with 3g supercharged script
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
Since the iPhone came out for sprint, and they singed up 700K new customers, the network has gone to CRAP. Not to mention getting rid of the premier program.
I'm an 8 year customer, and would bail in a heartbeat to a Verizon Nexus if it had unlimited internet.
But alias, they do not. I think sprint will fix things over this year, but it sucks in the interim.
Between the ICS development on the Photon, and my tethering... Sprint is hands down the way to go. I will grant you the fact that depending on your location... 3g speed is just plain bad. But between their 4g LTE rollout slated soon and my family plan with '6' lines... I will go with it.
Im counting days till when I can drop Sprint. I used to love the company and Ive been with them since 1998. However, Im tired of the slow data downloads, weak signal (which the tower is a half mile away form where I live) and what got me the most was the $10 extra for a 4g enabled phone without any 4g signals near me. I guess my friends always teasing me with their reliability on verizon doesnt help much either.
Mastajeff said:
Yeah, wow im surprised im not getting flamed..
anyways, yeah I was with sprint since '99 .. well nextel.
It does suck though, having capped data, but ill get used to it
and your right with 200kb speeds, it wouldnt even be possible to go past like 2 gigs of data.
Also, the FCC denied Lightsquared to roll out lte.. so lte for sprint shouldnt be seen until at the least 2013
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now you are going to get flamed only because your last comment is inaccurate. Sprint is not relying on Lightsquared for LTE. This is not a Clearwire Wimax situation where Sprint relied entirely on Clearwire to provide 4G Wimax coverage.
Sprint is actually building out its own LTE network and Lightsquared was to be used for network hosting and be able to use part of the 1600 Mhz spectrum. All the Lightsquared situation is a lost revenue and spectrum capacity opportunity. In fact in your situation, Sprint is rolling out its LTE in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Kansas City, and Baltimore in June 2012 NOT 2013. Plus many markets will be announced later on this year by Sprint. Not only that but Sprint's new network vision tower infrastructure will improve 3G speeds dramatically with fiber/microwave backhaul.
I hope sprint improves it's 3g data before my contract is up and have some sort of 4g/lte in my area. I just lost my ns4g and looking to pick up a photon until then.
I know this thread is old but I wanted to just throw this out...
I switched to my friends extra Photon 4g he had lying around because my stupid girlfriend lost my phone. Anyways, I noticed that 3g speeds on THIS device is HORRIBLE. Before then I had the Evo3d and I was getting between 1.3-1.8 mbps on 3G. I've since then attributed the horrible 3g speeds to this phone just being bad with 3G and NOT Sprints network. Okay, maybe all those new iphone users may have slowed it down a bit but seriously, this phone makes me want to ****ing hurt someone.
For all those wondering if I tried tweaking my settings, I have. I did the whole ##3282## **** and messed around with the ip address's and the buffers and what have you but I still can't get passed the 800kbps mark. It actually sticks around 300-700 most of the time. This is totally unacceptable.
With that said, I don't blame Sprint and I actually like my $46 a month I pay for each line on my account (5 lines) WITH the extra 4g data charge. I can't really complain as my 4g is still fast. I'm just waiting to hop back on a HTC phone, the HTC Evo 4g LTE phone. I know the city where I'm currently at will not be getting lte anytime soon but I promise 3g speeds were never this horrible when I had my either my Evo 4g or my Evo 3d devices.
FU mopho 4g.
I just ETF with Sprint too (after 10 years with them) - Went and flash my photon with $40/mo using Metro, saved $40 a month and get the equivalent 3G service.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA
I live in Minnesota, there is Wimax coverage in the cities that I use a lot.
I know Sprint is rolling out new tower updates, but I don't think they have done jack squat in Minnesota.
I currently have a Epic 4G Touch with AOKP, my 3G speeds are horrible everywhere. I would be lucky if 3G speeds are .20 Mbps. The saving grace is Wimax that I use everyday for work. My work internet is slow, so I tether my Wimax, speeds are decent.
With that said, the EVO 4G LTE isn't even Wimax compatible, and I have no clue when they are going to start 3G tower upgrading let alone LTE here in Minnesota.
What's the point of having a data plan if I have to be on Wifi to use the phone effectively.
So to you owners without LTE and their new 3G, how are you handling it?
having this same dilemna. 3g is so so in my are. usually b/t 200-400kbps.
We have wimax but its not all that great either. I love my epic touch 4g but im just ready for something new. Decisions.
I love this EVO & I have good 3G.
If you have WiMAX now, dismal 3G & you aren't in a 1st, 2nd or pending wave NV/LTE region (don't focus on the city name on the rollout list, if you're near the city, you're fine) I say no.
Test the EVO LTE's speed in store as it runs 3G better, just to get an idea on if you could tolerate that performance, vs judging from your existing phone.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
I have no WiMAX in my area so LTE won't matter to me. 3g is fast enough around here for when I'm not on WiFi.
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I also live in Minnesota and my 3g speed doubled from my og evo
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Usually I am near a wifi so this isn't a big deal for me when wifi actually works. 3g is good enough to stream pandora and check email on the road.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
its worth it. get the phone if you can.
i leave wifi on. this phone utilizes wifi so well and is so energy efficient compared to the evo 4g. im amazed. so i just leave it on.
3g gets turned on when im away from the house.
by the looks of it, lte round 2 rollout will probably be sooner than i thought. hopefully.
Well the short of it is if you truly use wimax every day and you are not in one of the first cities then keep your current phone...otherwise you'll have to go to wifi or suffer through the 3G in your area...
btw here is Mn NetworkVision rollout...http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/...in-network-visionlte-in-the-2nd-half-of-2012/
I was told 2 weeks ago that Memphis will have LTE in Oct
jfoster38122 said:
I was told 2 weeks ago that Memphis will have LTE in Oct
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
click that link i posted up there....they start this month supposedly and have first sites live in July sometime....now if they do the same LTE blockout like they are right now till they are ready with more sites to bring on at once who knows...
My 3G coverage is perfectly fine here in Colorado Springs. I wasnt using wimax on my OG EVO anyway so Im not missing anything. And actually I feel like this phone is having a better signal on 3G than my OG was.
Yes.
I live in Minnesota (Eagan) and here are my recent results from a few minutes ago. With my nexus s 4g I never broke 1.2Mbps down and up was usually around 350 kbps. Something is better about the 3g in this phone. I can't believe the up results.
Evo_Shift said:
I live in Minnesota (Eagan) and here are my recent results from a few minutes ago. With my nexus s 4g I never broke 1.2Mbps down and up was usually around 350 kbps. Something is better about the 3g in this phone. I can't believe the up results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for that info, i live in columbia heights and the 3g is so bad here its a joke. Would you say the call quality (dropped calls etc) is better vs your old device? And do we have anyone from the north metro reading here? My kid lives in coon rapids/ blaine area. I was wondering if the new evo is better there also.
woody296 said:
thank you for that info, i live in columbia heights and the 3g is so bad here its a joke. Would you say the call quality (dropped calls etc) is better vs your old device? And do we have anyone from the north metro reading here? My kid lives in coon rapids/ blaine area. I was wondering if the new evo is better there also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only made two calls and they were both good. I discovered during the calls the tiny microphone hole is easy to cover with my pinky though which annoyed me but i will get used to that. I never had problems on my old phone with dropped calls though.
No.
Is it even worth it if you live in an area without LTE anytime soon?
No. After the newness wears off, it's just another late model Android phone. Seriously.
If it were on VZW's LTE network, it would be worth all the accolades. But on Sprint's third world data network, it's no faster than any other smartphone on their network. Sure apps open quickly, but need data? Get ready for the scrolling progress wheel.
I have one. It's a pleasure to hold, but I use my Droid 4 when I leave the house. It's world's faster than the EVO.
A separate question is, why would anyone be on Sprint, if not for price, these days? I know that's why I'm on it.
(And for the masses 'satisfied' with 3g - Sprint has you right where they want you. I'm sure there were lots of people on dial-up saying "I don't need DSL" 15 years ago... The difference is night and day.).
Figured they'd flip the switch in Atlanta already, in time for their delayed launch. No such luck!
If you want the best phone on the market today that will function until 800 LTE arrives then this phone is for you. This phone IMHO future proof until 2014 LTE roll out. SVDO, and HD voice smooth fluid software interaction, excellent appearance screen wise, build quality, and weight makes this the best Android phone on the market.
This is my opinion from ny handling it yesterday in a Sprint store. SGIII may be faster, but other than "SPEED" the EVO 4g LTE has feature thatmost people will love to have. The number one feature that it has is SVDO, number two HD voice future hardware built in.
If I needed a phone today even if it didn't have LTE this is the one to have! If I don't need a phone I could wait, and I am waiting, but I am leaning towards this and in a few weeks if there are no bugs.......my Photon in immaculate condition is out!
I would say it depends on the way you use your phone.
If you use data intensive apps like I do (netflix, plex, youtube) then no.
I use wimax multiple times thru out my day so I would sorely miss it.
I pr-ordered one from Wirefly because $119 was just too good to pass up.
But cancelled later on because I would be kicking myself after newness wore off and I was stuck on 3G for thenext couple of months until LTD is expected to be launched in NYC.
I say yes for obvious reasons but the one fun fact about this phone is.....You can talk AND surf the web at the same time on 3G!! I see people get upset about the fact they don't have LTE yet or it's not coming to their area anytime soon. Lest we forget my fellow EVO users we did the SAME EXACT THING when the OG EVO was released. WiMax was a big deal but at least LTE is rolled out already in some places. WiMax was non-existent at that time and that didn't stop any of us from pre-ordering and waiting in line for that breakthrough in technology. This phone is no different. It's cutting edge technology and, TRUST ME, when you use the phone and see that screen, you're not gonna give a rat's bottom about LTE. You would, like me, stick to WiFi or 3G and be cool with it until LTE comes to your town the same way we did with WiMax. This phone is light years ahead of the OG and the speed and functionality are unmatched, in my opinion. I find a new feature everyday and I've had my phone since the 25th. I say try it and feel it out. You don't like it return it for your money within the Return Policy and wait for the next big thing. You have nothing to lose and you can see for yourself if you wanna keep it or wait. I can almost guarantee once you use it, it's almost impossible to go back to the OG.
http://m.gizmodo.com/5919387/sprints-upcoming-4g-lte-networkat-least-its-faster-than-wimax
Sprint plans to debut the new LTE system by the end of the year, rolling it out to Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and San Antonio. The rest of the country will be reportedly covered by the end of 2014, though company spokespeople have yet to confirm when and where it will launch until then.
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As long as its 800mhz I could care less whether its lte or wimax.
Sent from my Evo 3D on Sprint's blazing fast 3G network with 4G coverage everywhere
I'm not sure a speed test with no one else on it really means anything. It's the same as when everyone is drooling over the fact they can see a lte signal is available in their neighborhood but they can't connect to it. But they promise it will be live soon. Gosh, isn't there something they promised us that others can see but we can't get? What was that......Hmmm?
yousefak said:
As long as its 800mhz I could care less whether its lte or wimax.
Sent from my Evo 3D on Sprint's blazing fast 3G network with 4G coverage everywhere
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
QFT!
Had WiMax used 800mhz it would've done so much better! I've said that for a while. I don't think there is anything wrong with WiMax aside from the frequency Sprint and Clear uses.
LTE will be launched on the 1900 and eventually get to the 800. It will be on both depending on how far away you are from the tower. WiMAX will still have its own seperate tower and will still be 2.4Ghz
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
May I once again say that SPRINT DOES NOT HAVE A 4G NETWORK. They never have and they never will. If you want a 4G network... Go with Verizon wireless. 50+M down 12+M up.
runcool said:
May I once again say that SPRINT DOES NOT HAVE A 4G NETWORK. They never have and they never will. If you want a 4G network... Go with Verizon wireless. 50+M down 12+M up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol except now that there are many users on it that 50 down is more like 10. Similar to sprint
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
runcool said:
May I once again say that SPRINT DOES NOT HAVE A 4G NETWORK. They never have and they never will. If you want a 4G network... Go with Verizon wireless. 50+M down 12+M up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to get technical, no one has a true 4G network. 4G standards are set at 100 mpbs while mobile and 1 gbps while stationary. Also, 50 mb down? Yea dude, in your dreams. My friends galaxy nexus normally gets around 10 mbps, and not much higher peak. Sprints new network will be very competitive with what Verizon and ATT offers, especially once they roll out LTE on the 800 mhz channel that iDEN is sucking up and when they partner it with clearwire's TDD-LTE network on 2500 mhz. Combined, they own more spectrum than any other carrier.
runcool said:
May I once again say that SPRINT DOES NOT HAVE A 4G NETWORK. They never have and they never will. If you want a 4G network... Go with Verizon wireless. 50+M down 12+M up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By that logic, Sprint LTE is 40+M down and 10+M up. Once you get people on the network, it turns to 12down/4up on both networks. I doubt we'll see any major difference between Verizon's and sprint's speeds.
Don't believe me? Switch to Verizon and run a speedtest on their LTE. If it goes faster than 15mbps down, I'll eat my nuts.
And as another user also said, nobody has a real 4G network yet. LTE-Advanced will reach real 4G speeds of 1GB down/100mb up.
I must say that no carrier has a true by the definition 4g network by definition a 4g network has 100 mbps still down speed and only train cars really have that and some private networks but no cell carriers not even Verizon has that
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Id be happy with 500k down right now damn. I consistently run 60k to 200k and I'm in a large metro area. Was rocking a 40k down for 6 months until recently. With that plus this ics wait sprint has lost me as a future customer. I'm rooting for sprint as a competitor, but I can't wait till Verizon gets a decent phone. Id rather have a consistent 1m+ down and pay more for it than this spotty crap.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
faster than rogers
I'm patiently waiting for network vision to come to Raleigh NC, but I can't say that a bad ass Nexus device on Verizon later this year wouldn't make me switch. I'm loving unlimited data but I just might switch for being able to have the latest and greatest Nexus device when Sprint usually gets it months later. With a 2 GB plan, Verizon is the same price as Sprint for me but I would probably end up having to get a 4 GB plan since I use a bit more than 2 a month, but I would be willing to pay an extra 10 a month for an awesome phone and the incredible verizon 4G we have around here. I mean after all, I switched to Sprint because of the OG Evo.
aweskelo said:
Id be happy with 500k down right now damn. I consistently run 60k to 200k and I'm in a large metro area. Was rocking a 40k down for 6 months until recently. With that plus this ics wait sprint has lost me as a future customer. I'm rooting for sprint as a competitor, but I can't wait till Verizon gets a decent phone. Id rather have a consistent 1m+ down and pay more for it than this spotty crap.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G was never a problem for me:
Sent from my Evo 3D on Sprint's blazing fast 3G network with 4G coverage everywhere
I'm happy with wimax, more so since it started to work in my whole place. I just ran a few speed tests in my bedroom and speeds were very good.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2