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Am thinking about the evo 4g lte because I've read excellent reviews about the call quality. I already know I won't be getting lte in my area for a long time. Are the 3g speeds actually worse on this model as compared with other Sprint models ? (some reviews have claimed this)
My 3g is slow enough as it is on my HTC Touch (can live with it though), but won't be able to accept anything slower.
i have kno problems with this phone.. its perfect for me im just bored with it... i need a new phone every 6 months i think!!! lol..
I'm hoping the following review is incorrect:
The ugly:
This is where the phone starts to fall apart for me. The network capabilities are awful. They are a clear downgrade from my Evo 4g. I live in Kansas City, and my old Evo 4g had both excellent 3g coverage, and excellent WiMax coverage. Ping times were the only problem I had with WiMax (typically in the 200-300 range), but I typically got 3-7Mbps down and ~1Mbps up with very reliable coverage, especially in my home. Outside of WiMax range, I reliably got 3g coverage that pulled ~1-2Mbps down and up. This is what I would expect, given that I am in Sprint's home market.
I upgraded to the Evo 4g LTE after hearing that LTE was officially "live" in Kansas City. Unfortunately the news that I missed was that by "live", they really mean "about 30% live". There is little to no actual LTE coverage in the city. At my apartment, where WiMax was previously very strong, I can only connect to LTE rarely, and when I do the signal is so weak that my connection times out regularly. Watching antenna strength, the LTE connection sits around -115 to -120dBm (in non-technical terms, that is just a hair above zero bars). I actually disabled the LTE antenna on my phone because it is disruptive FAR more often than it is useful.
"So what", you might say. "Just use 3g". I would agree with you. 3g should be able to get me by in the next few months while Sprint continues their LTE rollout, hopefully with an antenna near my home. Unfortunately the phone's 3g antenna is also highly problematic. 3g signal pickup is weaker than my old Evo 4g, and speeds are considerably worse than my previous phone. Pings usually sit around 200, which is acceptable, but I almost never get above 0.5Mbps down, or up. Additionally (and even more importantly), the phone has a habit of dropping the 3g signal. I tether often, and when I do I tend to lose 3g every few minutes. This is in close proximity to a 3g tower, and with a strong signal (4-5 bars, in the -70 to -80dBm range). The phone will just inexplicably lose 3g connectivity. Google around a bit and find out: this is a known problem that many people are dealing with, and HTC/Sprint have acknowledged the issue and are trying to rectify it. Problem is, it isn't fixed. I truly hope that in the near future an OTA update will fix the problems... after all, I'm basically stuck with this phone for the next 23 months. The network issues are bad enough that I really do miss my old Evo 4g, and I'm very tempted to reactivate it.
Conclusion: at the end of the day, the Evo 4g LTE is a phone, and as such I think the network issues are a pretty big deal. If you are on WiFi constantly, then they won't be an issue for you, but if you're dependent upon Sprint's network in any way, be very careful... this phone has some major baggage.
Update 9/25/2012: A couple OTA updates later, and it is still in pretty bad shape. I am very used to 500ms+ ping now, and 0.1Mbps download/upload speeds. 4g coverage is still nonexistant. According to xda and s4gru, this problem is SPECIFIC TO THE EVO 4g LTE. As in an iPhone 5 and SGIII will both connect just fine to 4g, but an Evo in the same room will not.
Try this neat trick: Go to craigslist and search for Evo 4g LTE. See how many nearly new Evos are being sold for less than half the price of a new one? That speaks more volumes than my review does
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http://wireless.amazon.com/customerreviews/B007ZUN6GS/ref=cr_detail_histogram_top
These post really make me scratch my head...In Memphis LTE is only a month old and only in the northern parts of the city...constant 15mbs+ and elsewhere 4g isnt on yet 3G is maxed out....I never have any problems maintaining a over decent connection on 3G.....it's just odd how much I hear how crappy the ELTE is.....Is it really a bad phone and I'm just in a city where Sprint has it act together or are some of you vice-versa??
jauger said:
These post really make me scratch my head...In Memphis LTE is only a month old and only in the northern parts of the city...constant 15mbs+ and elsewhere 4g isnt on yet 3G is maxed out....I never have any problems maintaining a over decent connection on 3G.....it's just odd how much I hear how crappy the ELTE is.....Is it really a bad phone and I'm just in a city where Sprint has it act together or are some of you vice-versa??
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I sure would like to know before I upgrade to this device.
TravisBean said:
Am thinking about the evo 4g lte because I've read excellent reviews about the call quality. I already know I won't be getting lte in my area for a long time. Are the 3g speeds actually worse on this model as compared with other Sprint models ? (some reviews have claimed this)
My 3g is slow enough as it is on my HTC Touch (can live with it though), but won't be able to accept anything slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 3g has been much better than my old HTC Hero and better than my Dad's og Evo(not to mention my mom's Samsung Nexus S, My brothers' Samsung, Motorola, and my sister's iCrap 4s).
As long as you stick to stock based roms, you'll be fine. HTC has some great tweaks that cm10 and aosp roms don't have that seem to boost bandwidth and 3g speeds.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Test it out. Set a timer for 13 days just to be sure.. Thats why carriers give you the 14 day trial period to make sure your happy before being stuck 2 more years with them.
I for one am happy with my EVO LTE. I also have a GS3 and from time to time go back and forth.
I had a chance to spend about 3 minutes with this device today at the Sprint store. Love at first sight. I can't put into words how elegantly this phone felt in my hand.
Didn't have time to check out the 3g connectivity, but call quality did seem above average for a Sprint phone.
Can you download a larger format dial pad for this phone (that works properly) ?
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I'm in Boston mass 4g is 27-34 mgb and 3g is about 3-5 on my lte no issues
pbedard said:
I'm in Boston mass 4g is 27-34 mgb and 3g is about 3-5 on my lte no issues
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Are you saying you're getting 3-5 Mbps download speeds while connected to 3G?
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
I just got a HTC One on T mobile and waiting to port my number from ATT but the data speeds using speedtest are abysmal less than 500kb and sometimes not even connecting at all. I decided to just test the browser to see if real usage makes a difference not just in the speedtest app and same result web pages taking too long to load and sometimes time out because of slow connection.
I'm in Daly City/San Francisco area, before deciding to switch I did my research and Tmobile coverage shows I should be in "excellent" 4g speeds here where I live.
Before I run back to the store and return it and stay with AT&T , is there something I can do to check the correct APN settings or what else can i do ? I'm disappointed so far, I wanted to try T mobile because of their no contract and cheaper plan but at these data speeds it's just not worth it.
Thanks for any advice / help.
Been seeing great speeds here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2247966
But try out a demo phone in the store and test the speed. It might be the phone, or the tower (temporarily) you're connected to. SF is a market with great speed. I've seen speed tests from ppl around. Definitely better the AT&T's HSPA+ speeds.
last night I posted great speeds, today I'm down to 2g although in a different geographical area.
earlier today I lost all data connectivity, it was something wrong with TMO's system. support had to "hook something up" behind the scenes for me to get it back.
---------- Post added at 11:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 AM ----------
Update: I noticed that the phone was defaulting to 2g. No matter what, it stayed there.
Using tips from this thread: http://support.t-mobile.com/thread/37862
I went to Settings > Mobile Data > Network Mode and switched it to WCDMA Only.
The data connection re-set and went to 4g.
Repeating the above step, I went back to GSM/WCDMA/LTE Auto, and the phone reset data and got back on 4g.
I think this all had something to do with this morning's outage.
Tmobile tends to have outages sometimes, a few days ago the network in Dallas was down and I was getting horrible speeds. I say that you wait a bit and see if there is any improvement in the next couple of days. Also maybe call in to make sure that your sim is fully activated.
I'll just leave this..
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
HSPA+ in South Seattle area (up to 15mbps down). Can't wait for some LTE here soon.
J-Hop2o6 said:
HSPA+ in South Seattle area (up to 15mbps down). Can't wait for some LTE here soon.
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Click to collapse
Don't like Tmobile
spade56 said:
Don't like Tmobile
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?? What's the purpose of this post and quoting me?
Thinking about making the switch from Sprint (EVO LTE) to T-Mobile and the HTC One. I'm in the Seattle area (Federal Way/Milton) and commute back and forth to downtown Seattle (5th and Pike) every week day. How's the coverage and speed along the I5 corridor? I've looked at the sensorly data and it looks solid, but just really wanting to get a real world feel from a user.
Thanks!
cantos said:
Thinking about making the switch from Sprint (EVO LTE) to T-Mobile and the HTC One. I'm in the Seattle area (Federal Way/Milton) and commute back and forth to downtown Seattle (5th and Pike) every week day. How's the coverage and speed along the I5 corridor? I've looked at the sensorly data and it looks solid, but just really wanting to get a real world feel from a user.
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
The Puget Sound I-5 corridor has great Tmo coverage and speed. Never have problems streaming music in my car via bluetooth. Plus LTE in and around Seattle should launch in the next couple of months.
J-Hop2o6 said:
The Puget Sound I-5 corridor has great Tmo coverage and speed. Never have problems streaming music in my car via bluetooth. Plus LTE in and around Seattle should launch in the next couple of months.
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Click to collapse
I was already getting LTE in the factoria mall area near T-Mobile head quarters. I was getting speeds around 25Mbps down. I think we are close to lte roll out across all Seattle area, I spoke to a T-Mobile rep in Bellevue store and he says it should be sometime in May.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
kirdroid said:
I was already getting LTE in the factoria mall area near T-Mobile head quarters. I was getting speeds around 25Mbps down. I think we are close to lte roll out across all Seattle area, I spoke to a T-Mobile rep in Bellevue store and he says it should be sometime in May.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
Glad to hear :victory:
alus415 said:
I just got a HTC One on T mobile and waiting to port my number from ATT but the data speeds using speedtest are abysmal less than 500kb and sometimes not even connecting at all. I decided to just test the browser to see if real usage makes a difference not just in the speedtest app and same e of slow connection.
I'm in Daly City/San Francisco area, before deciding to switch I did my research and Tmobile coverage shows I should be in "excellent" 4g speeds here where I live.
Before I run back to the store and return it and stay with AT&T , is there something I can do to check the correct APN settings or what else can i do ? I'm disappointed so far, I wanted to try T mobile because of their no contract and cheaper plan but at these data speeds it's just not worth it.
Thanks for any advice / help.
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Click to collapse
I and my wife recently purchased One's moving from Sprint to T-Mobile. We live in Oakland. Our speeds are similarly slow. Actually, in the week I've had the phone I've rarely had speeds much higher than 400kbs down. Strangely, upload speeds are usually three times faster. This is from inside my apartment where I typically have 2 bars of 4g...three bars every now and then. These speeds are horrible. I called T-Mobile who responded by dispatching an engineer to the tower I use. Within 24 hrs the speeds almost doubled however T-Mobile's feedback was there were no issues. But after a couple of days speeds had declined back to an avg of 350kbs down with upload speeds still 3x download speeds. In my experience, whenever upload speeds are consistently and significantly faster than download speeds and the download speeds are far below what is expected, then either there is a problem with the network or the network is being actively reconfigured.
Assuming I might just be in a "dead" spot due to geography I decided to test speeds in I my neighborhood as I walk my dog. There are no tall buildings or anything I could see to cause much interference. On my street the speed was about the same as inside. About 1/4 mile from my apt the signal was very strong lighting all 5 bars...but speeds only increased slightly. Throughout the area I walked (1/2 circle around my home with radius of 3/4 mile) the signal strength ranged from 2-3 bars fluctuating to 5 solid bars. But there was not much correlation between data download speed and number of bars. In some places 4g speed was as fast as 10Mbs and a bit down the block it could be low as 400Kbs. The speeds were duplicateable...meaning in front of one house speed might be 5Mbs and a speeds in front of a house say 6 houses down the block speed may be 1Mbs. Those speeds would be pretty much the same when I returned later on another walk.
The most surprising discovery is there is a narrow area about 5 houses wide that had LTE. In that small area the speeds were slightly greater than 20Mbs down and 10Mbs up.
The results lead me to believe T-Mobile is actively fumbling with their towers to get LTE quickly, yet attempting to do so as quietly as possible. Due to my disappointment at the painfully slow data speeds I would consider returning the One's firing T-Mobile and moving on. However, the discovery of LTE 1 1/2 blocks from my home AND MAYBE EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY no real alternative for an "unlimited" data plan that makes financial sense to me (Sprint is nolonger an option since their network is almost unusable)...has me pretty excited as to what my T-Moble experience will be. I hope they aim that LTE antenna in my direction.
@chakathebird:
Wow, I'm in Hayward which is not too far from Oakland and I also switched from Sprint (which is just awful in the Bay Area these days). On Sprint I was lucky to get over 400kbps on 3G and I couldn't even get 4G LTE. (Although 4G WiMax on my old GS2 was fantastic for me). On T-Mobile 4G HSPA I get 8Mbps down / 3 Mbps up on my HTC One and similar speeds on my Nexus 4. With those great speeds I normally just leave LTE turned off on the One, but I did do a speed test with LTE turned on and got 11Mbps down / 6Mbps up.
I work in the South Bay, but sometimes head over the bridge to San Francisco and travel throughout the Bay Area. Everywhere I go I get similarly fantastic speeds on T-Mobile. So if you are getting such slow speeds there is definitely something wrong with either your phone or the tower in your neighborhood. I'd take the phone to other nearby towns and see if you're getting similar bad speeds. If so, I'd have T-Mobile exchange the phone as it may be defective.
I'm in the Northern VA area and there is some LTE. If I'm not driving around and sitting in one place, I can stay on LTE, but driving around, it's bouncing in and out of LTE which just shuts off data all together. So i turned off LTE till they get more towers updated.
On a side note, the radio in the HTC one seems really nice. At my house I can get 13Mb/s down on the HTC but I can only get 6Mb/s down on my data stick sitting beside me. Both connected at HSPA+.
I am not even running on LTE here in NJ and I am still impressed with the speed. It actually comes pretty close to my friend's GS3 on Verizon with LTE.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 AM ----------
That being said...I still can't wait to have LTE here in the NYC area. If HSPA+ is this good then LTE should be ridiculous.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
I attempted to do my homework on device compatibility beforehand so as to avoid the shock of something like being stuck on EDGE for data. Nevertheless even with a video review showing the DNA operating HSPA+ on Solavei I am stuck on dreaded EDGE. The activation period took a couple of hours with my new phone (DNA) being able to dial out but SMS/MMS non functional as well as calls to my handset. EDGE was running during this time but after a bit I saw it flash to 3G then H.....success! NOPE. At this point I verified SMS and all calls were working and my phone seemed to want to connect to HSPA+ but was having network communication issues when trying to run speed tests. I attributed all this to my home location, it having always with any carrier been quite on the outskirts of general coverage even though I'm only 1/4 mile from town which is a bit ludicrous in itself. Later that night I drove a little into town to test the data and alas H+ lit up, ran a speed test 2.5MB download...not to shabby IMO. Next day I drive to work and into the center of my home area where the best coverage is for ANY carrier and the entire trip H+ only lit up for a few seconds. Ever since there is no change in data always on E. I called Solavei and told them the issue and they pretty much gave me the runaround and couldn't definitively explain why it worked for a short period but wouldn't now. I can't 100% confirm that T-Mobile has refarmed the area to 1900Mhz but I read my city in a list of 49 in an article that said they were done. This being said I'm forced to let this month play out until possibly switching carrier perhaps one that uses AT&T instead. I asked Straight Talk about my device and they said they offer SIMs for both AT&T and T-Mobile but AT&T is limited to 3G service only whilst T-Mobile should work for HSPA+. I don't know if this a T-Mobile issue or a Solavei one or it's just my phone, but don't see how it could be the phone since it was up and running briefly.
I use T-Mobile and my connection is all over the place at times, refarming is actually the reason I think, its going for the strongest signal, if its edge, it gets edge towers, until the refarm is done I think we'll continue to see this kind of behavior for awhile. As time has gone by its gotten better around here with less time on edge and more on 3g/h+ since I first got the phone.
I can't vouch for at&t but no h+ sounds a little strange to me, if anything bands wise they should be more compatible then T-Mobile.
Tapatalked from my HTC DNA - Carbon
pio_masaki said:
I use T-Mobile and my connection is all over the place at times, refarming is actually the reason I think, its going for the strongest signal, if its edge, it gets edge towers, until the refarm is done I think we'll continue to see this kind of behavior for awhile. As time has gone by its gotten better around here with less time on edge and more on 3g/h+ since I first got the phone.
I can't vouch for at&t but no h+ sounds a little strange to me, if anything bands wise they should be more compatible then T-Mobile.
Tapatalked from my HTC DNA - Carbon
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Click to collapse
It sounds like the refarm is much more of a gradual process than a one and done. At least I hope so or else there's not much to look forward to there. I know the Solavei rep was full of complete and utter BS since she told my phone was incompatible since it wasn't on their database of phones to service APN settings OTA. I may try out Straight Talk or Net10 just to see how the AT&T network speed performs.
Sorry for my ignorance, does the DNA really get H+ (42Mbs) ? On GSM network?
Thanks
trungbeo said:
Sorry for my ignorance, does the DNA really get H+ (42Mbs) ? On GSM network?
Thanks
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Click to collapse
No reason it can't, hardware supports it if you have the connection to do it. In my coverage I'm usually edge or 3g so I can't say for sure.
Tapatalked from my HTC DNA - Carbon
I ended up leaving solavei (T-Mobile) for net10 (at&t) The coverage is worlds apart in terms of hspa. I get it everywhere though the speeds fluctuate but are decent. T-Mobile definitely needs to expand coverage it was not good where I lived about 80% was edge.
I've had my S4 since VZW released it, and one of my only gripes is that the reception seems to be weaker than almost any other phone. Meaning, it seems to default to the weaker service wherever I am.
It is most obvious at home; on the 3rd floor I get a mix of 3g/4g whereas other phones have solid, constant 4g. The 2nd floor is the same. On the 1st floor I never see 4g, instead it is a mix of 3g and 2g whereas other phones are solid 3g. Sometimes I won't even have data service.
Even when I go out and I am in an area that you might consider a fringe zone it seems my S4 will default to the "lesser" service. And it also seems to take longer to switch up to the "higher" service when moving; for example where all phones will have 1x and then moved to an area where all phones will have either 3g or 4g, my S4 will be the last to switch up, if at all.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Gulanowski said:
I've had my S4 since VZW released it, and one of my only gripes is that the reception seems to be weaker than almost any other phone. Meaning, it seems to default to the weaker service wherever I am.
It is most obvious at home; on the 3rd floor I get a mix of 3g/4g whereas other phones have solid, constant 4g. The 2nd floor is the same. On the 1st floor I never see 4g, instead it is a mix of 3g and 2g whereas other phones are solid 3g. Sometimes I won't even have data service.
Even when I go out and I am in an area that you might consider a fringe zone it seems my S4 will default to the "lesser" service. And it also seems to take longer to switch up to the "higher" service when moving; for example where all phones will have 1x and then moved to an area where all phones will have either 3g or 4g, my S4 will be the last to switch up, if at all.
Has anyone else noticed this?
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Click to collapse
I'm noticing the EXACT same issues! My other phones (DNA,Rezound,iPhone5,etc) have been much better for both signal and switching.
Hello,
I'm new to this thread as I've been a HTC user forever.
I just got my first of many N3's last week and it seems that I have very low signal in a lot of places where I typically get strong signal.
For example on my HTC Evo 4G LTE I always get 5 bars and there was rarely any dropped calls at my home and office.
On the N3 I now typically only have 1-3 bars.
I'm sure its NOT a SPRINT network issue but a phone issue. Does any one else experience this issue? Is there a fix to get better signal?
Here is what I did with the sprint and verizon N3.
Sprint:
Purchased at Best Buy and had low signal issue and returned it.
Purchased at Sprint Store had low signal issue and I still have this phone.
Verizon:
Purchased at Verizon store and had low signal issue . They suggested exchanging the SIM card which I did but didnt change the signal strength.
Exchanged it for a different N3 and still had the same issue so I've returned it.
djscissorhands said:
Hello,
I'm new to this thread as I've been a HTC user forever.
I just got my first of many N3's last week and it seems that I have very low signal in a lot of places where I typically get strong signal.
For example on my HTC Evo 4G LTE I always get 5 bars and there was rarely any dropped calls at my home and office.
On the N3 I now typically only have 1-3 bars.
I'm sure its NOT a SPRINT network issue but a phone issue. Does any one else experience this issue? Is there a fix to get better signal?
Here is what I did with the sprint and verizon N3.
Sprint:
Purchased at Best Buy and had low signal issue and returned it.
Purchased at Sprint Store had low signal issue and I still have this phone.
Verizon:
Purchased at Verizon store and had low signal issue . They suggested exchanging the SIM card which I did but didnt change the signal strength.
Exchanged it for a different N3 and still had the same issue so I've returned it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it actual signal strength your concerned about or is it bar strength in the notification area? Also you can't compare verizon to sprint signal as a fair comparison as they will be different in different areas. Go into your settings and look at the actual signal strength of both phones. They will be measured in dbm.
i'm concerned with the amount of bars in the notification area which has a direct correlation to the amount of dbm in the settings. the sprint phone fluctuates between -91 dbm and -100 dbm.
I was testing a theory that the lte radio had something to do with it so I just went into settings/mobile network/perferred network mode and switched from "LTE/CDMA" to "CDMA" and the phone rebooted and wham , now i have 5 bars and -69 dbm. Something with the lte is messing with the phone. WTH!!!
That means to get a good signal i have to be in CDMA and only get 3g service. Why is this?
I'm out have no explanation. I have/had that problem too, people at the sprint store tells me its a issue of where the software in the phone isn't recognizing the lte the way it should and that a software fix is coming but no one know when. I was dropping so many calls (89% of them per sprint) on the stock rom I was ready to go back to my note 2, but after flashing a different rom I have only dropped one call since rooting and switching roms .
Bump
Sent from my SM-N900P using xda app-developers app
I don't know if LTE functions on the same frequency as 3g. As a rule from amateur radio, the higher the frequency the transmitter operates on, the shorter distance it travels. 800mhz usually has better penetration of buildings than 3g or 4g if they are on the 1.2ghz+ range. You will need more towers closer together to get better signal overall in the GHz range. Because of cost, I don't think anyone is going to put up more towers in the beginning. Years ago, the guesstimate of putting up a single tower was a million dollars. This is accounting for all costs to go from nothing to a fully functional self standing tower. Costs might be different now but I would say that it's safe to assume that they are putting LTE on existing towers. This is why LTE signal doesn't seem as far reaching as lower frequency technologies. This is as simple of an explanation as I can think of. Until they start widespread rolling out LTE on nextel's 800-900mhz range, and they release phones that take advantage of those bands, you're just going to have to deal with it with what you have as a phone. Spark and ex-nextel LTE transmitters "should" help throughput tremendously once they have the bugs ironed out.