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So I ordered my N1 yesterday, and currently have at&t. wasn't too worried about the whole 3g thing, because I figured one of the smart guys here at xda would figure out a way to make it work. After looking in to it further, I realize the hardware just won't allow that. I would just switch to T-mobile, but they have no 3g coverage anywhere near me yet. this brings me to my question. is it worth switching to tmobiles coverage for faster 2g possibly, or in the hopes that they'll soon expand their network. I don't mind getting out of my contract with at&t, tmobiles rates seem to be a lot better. I'm just wondering if anybody has heard anything on T-mobiles future plans.
I think most anecdotal evidence by most users is that EDGE on TMO is much faster than ATT. Why? Even though the "transport" 2G technology is the same, ATT still suffers from not enough bandwidth at its towers for all the heavy 3G areas due to heavy usage. -- In other words, backhaul contention.
Also, the fact that in places where there is no TMO 3G... EDGE works quite well for the very same reason... Even with towers that only have several T1/DS1's in place instead of T3/DS3's or fiber
Cheers,
Kermee
In NYC, where I have 3G coverage as well, EDGE tops out at 10-15KB/s
hurrycaine3000 said:
So I ordered my N1 yesterday, and currently have at&t. wasn't too worried about the whole 3g thing, because I figured one of the smart guys here at xda would figure out a way to make it work. After looking in to it further, I realize the hardware just won't allow that. I would just switch to T-mobile, but they have no 3g coverage anywhere near me yet. this brings me to my question. is it worth switching to tmobiles coverage for faster 2g possibly, or in the hopes that they'll soon expand their network. I don't mind getting out of my contract with at&t, tmobiles rates seem to be a lot better. I'm just wondering if anybody has heard anything on T-mobiles future plans.
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I personally have ran on EDGE for awhile on tmobile and have never had a problem with wifi while I am at home/school... however the 3g is nice, though my house seems to have 3g signals
its simple business really, though 1 man cannot make a difference... as the company grows, the service grows... verizon has the best service because it has the most customers... i think the reason tmobile has struggled in the US (as opposed to being the number 1 world wide carrier) is because of the lack of appeal from phones... with more phones rolling out and tmobile always having its doors open to unlocked phones i see the company gaining some momentum and it starts with these new android phones making it big as well as now having the fastest network in the nation...
ive had bad experiences with both verizon (contract issues) and att (terrible customer service), tmobile has yet to steer me wrong (other than not giving me an upgrade for the N1 haha)
with that said, try em out, idk if companies still let you trial their service for a week or so but you could ask?
i honestly cant tel a diff between edge and 3 g lol they both are friggin fast as hell
VoLoDaR1 said:
i honestly cant tel a diff between edge and 3 g lol they both are friggin fast as hell
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It all depends on what you're doing Tweeting and reading tweets... probably not so much
Cheers,
Kermee
are you crazy? 3G is AT LEAST 10+ times as fast as EDGE.
I know on my touch pro using att 3g over edge. they have 3g where I work, but not at my house. so I always just use wifi at my house, but don't bother at work because the 3g is fast enough. I can definetly tell the difference. granted there is wifi almost everywhere these days, but with my touch pro I have to turn it off and on when I'm using it so my battery half makes through a day. It will be nice if the N1's is more of a automatic thing, if that makes sense. I guess if I knew that t Mobile would actually be implementing 3g in my area at all soon, it would be an easier decision, but I haven't found anything to make me think they'll be adding towers in York, PA any time soon.
Im in Dallas TX and just activated my phone. I was worried because people in some forums where saying phone kept switching to 2g. I just activated my phone and its been on 3 out of 4 bars on 3g last 30-40 minutes...I know this is kind of off topic, but thought it was important do to the nature of all the talk about speed on tmobile.
Ok im scared now, i just looked at the USA map on tmobile https://my.t-mobile.com/Plan/CoverageMap.aspx and looks to hardly be any 3g coverage! What! Tell me it aint so!
that's what I'm saying, I want 3g on this phone, but it's just not in my area on tmobile. we've established it's pretty much going to be impossible to get att's to work on this phone. It doesn't look like tmobile has 3g anywhere, atleast not hardly. what to do, what to do.
dallastx said:
Im in Dallas TX and just activated my phone. I was worried because people in some forums where saying phone kept switching to 2g. I just activated my phone and its been on 3 out of 4 bars on 3g last 30-40 minutes...I know this is kind of off topic, but thought it was important do to the nature of all the talk about speed on tmobile.
Ok im scared now, i just looked at the USA map on tmobile https://my.t-mobile.com/Plan/CoverageMap.aspx and looks to hardly be any 3g coverage! What! Tell me it aint so!
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thats called #4 carrier coverage
as for that map, its ancient... the thing has never worked properly and the maps take forever to load yet i wish i could get a decent detailed coverage map for tmobile somewhere...
hurrycaine3000 said:
I know on my touch pro using att 3g over edge. they have 3g where I work, but not at my house. so I always just use wifi at my house, but don't bother at work because the 3g is fast enough. I can definetly tell the difference. granted there is wifi almost everywhere these days, but with my touch pro I have to turn it off and on when I'm using it so my battery half makes through a day. It will be nice if the N1's is more of a automatic thing, if that makes sense. I guess if I knew that t Mobile would actually be implementing 3g in my area at all soon, it would be an easier decision, but I haven't found anything to make me think they'll be adding towers in York, PA any time soon.
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OMG i live in york to lol. ive asked tmobile many times if we'll ever have 3g and they told me december 09 but that never happened. who knows if we'll ever get it. but edge for me on tmobile works good unless u use media functions like youtube and streaming video but its good for web browsing and email
Make sure T-Mobile has EDGE all around your area because I've found that there are many places that don't even have EDGE on T-Mobile and are GRPS only. That being said, I do find that usually T-Mobile EDGE is faster.... The difference is so small that I wouldn't change networks over it though..
I get around 25KB/s or so, which works fine for streaming music and such. This is quite a bit faster than the AT&T users seem to get here.
Yeah you should be happy with what you've got. EDGE isn't amazing but at least with the 900mhz range you've got coverage. I'm not sure about T-mobile US thought but it has to be better than UK. I live in the UK just outside of town with 3 basestations surrounding my house just out of range with 2100 3g and 1800 2g. I can get signal occasionally with my Iphone 3gs, until I touch it...
The coverage is okish but I get Black-spots everywhere; literally, I can walk round the corner away from a basestation and lose signal. I can only use my phone if I'm underneath a basestation and even then the crappy 4.2Mbit/s (It may even be less than that) limited basestations are overloaded. Each user is then further capped at roughly 1.8Mbit/s
That's 3G and above, which I rarely get as I mentioned. When you get 2G you get EDGE. When I get 2G I don't get EDGE, I don't even get 2.5G, I get slower-than-dial-up GPRS which is unusable. None of T-mo UK's basestations are EDGE enabled; with common black-spots and poor 3G reception, this makes for an appalling network. I can't wait to switch to Three UK. Blanket UK 3g coverage with amazing deals: £15/mo rolling contract with 300 mins, unlimited texts, Unlimited (7.2Mbit/s) data. The only problem is they have shockingly bad phones (no problem for me, or so I thought...)
melterx12 said:
are you crazy? 3G is AT LEAST 10+ times as fast as EDGE.
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That pretty well sums up the problem with TMUS users.
They have no f***ing clue.
Hopefully this isn't off topic.
What to look for if you still don't have it in your area:
Have had some issues the last few weeks with tmobile and noticed "funny" things like certain areas not having 3g but full edge when I knew they were capable of it. Most of the time this happened around 2am or later. Anyway I now can say without a doubt that HSDPA+ is in central Florida or in the process of being rolled out. Other odd issues I noticed was
Consistent min speed of 2.3mbit when before it was 500kbit min. Highest I got so far in my apartment which is a 3-4 bar area was 5.5mbit. Highest before was 1.5 and in a very strong 4 bar area close by 1.8 max. Upload still leaves *ALOT* to be desired with .23 to -.4 mbps upload. They seem to be using similiar technology to the burst seen on cable modems, ie road runner will give you 20mbit for their "turbo" with "bursts" up to 30mbit. This could also just be how hsdpa works anyway to make sure there aren't alot of re-requests for data due to a bad signal but it definately starts off around 300-500kbit and bursts up after 1-4 seconds to the faster speed.
Either way perfect timing tmobile.
I hope that's true. I've been having alot of 3g outtages lately.
JCopernicus said:
I hope that's true. I've been having alot of 3g outtages lately.
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I'm almost certain it is. I just called last night to complain about it because I was staying at my parents house sitting and it happened up there too, as well as by my girlfriend's house about 10 minutes down the road from my apartment.
I'm really bothered though by the upload speeds.. but i guess its whatever. It's either my area, or tmobile in general.. I've had a couple of swaps with the same issue so its not the phone.
As a side note.. does nexus support 21mbit hsdpa+?
no the nexus one only supports up to 7.2mbps
Orangeandblue302 said:
no the nexus one only supports up to 7.2mbps
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ouch I was really hoping that wasn't the case. any that go beyond to 21mbps?
I wish AT&T upgraded the towers here. I can't tell you how many times I go into a classroom at UCF and there's no reception.
mariolopezjr said:
I wish AT&T upgraded the towers here. I can't tell you how many times I go into a classroom at UCF and there's no reception.
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I'm pretty sure schools do that on purpose so you can pay attention in class.
The same thing happens at my university up here in Illinois, once you step outside the building, full bars again.
rolled out in Houston Texas
Hey - starting last week, I noticed flaky things with T-mobile in Houston area similar to what OP stated. But over the weekend, I realized they were rolling out hsdpa+ and then the next day - full blown hspa. I'm so happy.
Before today, the ul speeds were .5 - .6. Today, I'm getting between 1.5 and 1.8 ul speeds!
TurboTsi said:
I'm pretty sure schools do that on purpose so you can pay attention in class.
The same thing happens at my university up here in Illinois, once you step outside the building, full bars again.
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More than anything its the wireless spectrum they use and the fact that you're in a large buildling. Depending on the frequency your provider uses you'll have better luck than some indoors.. generally its all the same. Of course the number of towers is important too. But for example LTE on 700mhz will give verizon LTE speeds 8-10 miles from the tower, 2500mhz on wimax will give sprint 2-3 miles from the tower. Higher frequency means more bandwidth available however.
I'm in engineering at UCF and pretty good reception in HEC and engineering 1 as long as you're not in the inner part of the building and those hallways and labs you're good. Brick walls = signal drop with anything but the lower frequencies and a well covered area. It's pretty strong coverage over here though on this side of campus.
They do have paint and stuff that have metal in it I think because its illegal to have a device that emits a radio signal to jam cellphones, however blocking it with shielding isn't. I'm pretty certain its expensive though. This was years ago that I saw that link on it... don't know if it still exists.
How big of a swath is it being rolled out to do you think? I am in Deltona and nothing has changed as of yet. I assume your talking about the Orlando metro area...
I am using the FRF50 radio by the way.
yeah you will get a increase in speeds due to the extra bandwith, but don't expect to get past the 7.2 mark, hell don't even expect to hit the 7.2 mark due to all the other factors.
not many devices out there to take full advantage of the added speed. new blackberry bold does........not sure what else, even the *cough* iphone 4 doesn't
saint327 said:
How big of a swath is it being rolled out to do you think? I am in Deltona and nothing has changed as of yet. I assume your talking about the Orlando metro area...
I am using the FRF50 radio by the way.
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I was up in deland when I noticed the problems 2 nights ago with the 2g and not going to 3g in an area that I knew had 3g. This was actually during the day. I just tested it again within the last day before leaving and it was working again. Give it a week or two and I'm sure you'll see it. It seems the whole area is being upgraded including you. I'm on the older radio... update-1 radio.
Also please report problems to tmobile as you see them. I'm going to report my ****ty upload speeds. Looking online it seems other areas have better upload than I do. I mean 200kbps max 400 and choppy is just terrible.
y2whisper said:
yeah you will get a increase in speeds due to the extra bandwith, but don't expect to get past the 7.2 mark, hell don't even expect to hit the 7.2 mark due to all the other factors.
not many devices out there to take full advantage of the added speed. new blackberry bold does........not sure what else, even the *cough* iphone 4 doesn't
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ATT is only going to 7.1 HSDPA... at least offically announced as of a month ago.. I guess that could change.. They're doing LTE after that.
Re 3g in O-Town.
I have had full 3g bars when I visit my younger brother around Alfaya and UCF.
As far as off-topicness goes I do think XDA is large enough to need carrier forums..
But yes, 3G/2G switching where it previously wasn't, weak 3G, no 3G, 3G not working, are all signs that 3G is being worked on for HSPA+ which includes going from T1's to fiber backhaul
My sig shows what I get with my slow G1. This is in a high traffic area, where before it was .10Mbps during the same time, yes.. that slow and congested.
Also if you're not getting HSUPA you need to make sure your Nexus One has it enabled. Stock roms do have HSUPA enabled, some custom ones don't.
blisk said:
I was up in deland when I noticed the problems 2 nights ago with the 2g and not going to 3g in an area that I knew had 3g. This was actually during the day. I just tested it again within the last day before leaving and it was working again. Give it a week or two and I'm sure you'll see it. It seems the whole area is being upgraded including you. I'm on the older radio... update-1 radio.
Also please report problems to tmobile as you see them. I'm going to report my ****ty upload speeds. Looking online it seems other areas have better upload than I do. I mean 200kbps max 400 and choppy is just terrible.
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Cool. I was discouraged back in January when they supposedly flipped the switch to HSDPA. As it turned out the backhaul wasn't here to support it. The max down I can remember is right at 1Mbps. Most of the time its around 900Kbps. Uploads usually come in around 350Kbps, with 500 being the highest I've seen. I live in Deltona, but work in Lake Mary and the speeds have been similar in both locations.
I hope that with this rollout everything will be in place.
HSDPA was already active on the network. The most they did was enable HSUPA.
blisk said:
More than anything its the wireless spectrum they use and the fact that you're in a large buildling. Depending on the frequency your provider uses you'll have better luck than some indoors.. generally its all the same. Of course the number of towers is important too. But for example LTE on 700mhz will give verizon LTE speeds 8-10 miles from the tower, 2500mhz on wimax will give sprint 2-3 miles from the tower. Higher frequency means more bandwidth available however.
I'm in engineering at UCF and pretty good reception in HEC and engineering 1 as long as you're not in the inner part of the building and those hallways and labs you're good. Brick walls = signal drop with anything but the lower frequencies and a well covered area. It's pretty strong coverage over here though on this side of campus.
They do have paint and stuff that have metal in it I think because its illegal to have a device that emits a radio signal to jam cellphones, however blocking it with shielding isn't. I'm pretty certain its expensive though. This was years ago that I saw that link on it... don't know if it still exists.
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You can be right about that, but I think it's mostly older buildings to blame and not the fact that they did it on purpose to block cell phone usage. Classroom Building 1 has horrible reception and around it too. At my job (in Millican Hall) the reception is horrible at my coworkers office (but it could be because the office is near a lot of beams). So structure is sometimes the cause.
I also get almost no reception in my cousin's house. She lives a little bit past Pegasus Pointe.
prscott1 said:
Hey - starting last week, I noticed flaky things with T-mobile in Houston area similar to what OP stated. But over the weekend, I realized they were rolling out hsdpa+
Before today, the ul speeds were .5 - .6. Today, I'm getting between 1.5 and 1.8 ul speeds!
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I think you mean HSPA. HSDPA wouldn't help your Uplink.
saint327 said:
Cool. I was discouraged back in January when they supposedly flipped the switch to HSDPA. As it turned out the backhaul wasn't here to support it. The max down I can remember is right at 1Mbps. Most of the time its around 900Kbps. Uploads usually come in around 350Kbps, with 500 being the highest I've seen. I live in Deltona, but work in Lake Mary and the speeds have been similar in both locations.
I hope that with this rollout everything will be in place.
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I use to get approximately the same speed at my apartment.. with a place I work on campus getting 1.8mbps down and .3-.5 mbps up and that was the best speed I've gotten around here. Its alot better now.. i'm sure they're still tweaking it.. I hope they are with the upload speeds.. its choppy and inconsitant.. sometimes just stops. Download did that a couple times too but that's probably related to the terrible upload (downloading needs upload to request the next bits of data to be sent.. it sends "acks" to acknowledge that the packet of data was sent properly). It's just really bad sometimes around UCF where it refuses to send a text, make a phone call, or go online as it just has that stuck up arrow thing. Really annoying.
I called tmobile to complain about the upload speeds and I guess they didn't want to fill a report out. Also HSDPA+ is only in Philly and there is no way I could get it in this area they claim.. gave me a hard time about things. So I asked what the max speeds I should be getting and I said well I'm getting much faster than that.. why is that? I think its cause I called twice recently and they already filled out one for each occasion. I had to really be forceful about them filling one out for me.. with the original person one not filling it out and then transferring me to pda support and then he didn't want to either. Both said they couldn't select nexus one as a phone when reporting a service issue and the second guy just decided to bull**** me off the phone the whole time after finally admitting that. I said bull cause I just had two filled out previously... they just kept discounting what I was saying.
Though I think the Fascinate looks better and has a camera flash, the Vibrant seems to look better on paper: More on-board memory, HSDPA offers "potentially" fasters data speeds, Tmo can do voice and data at the same time while Verizon can't, no Bing or VZ apps on the Vibrant, and I can buy the phone out of contract at a reduced rate.
The only thing that makes me hesitate (besides the less-appealing design), is Tmo's coverage vs. Verizon. I'm primarily in L.A. / I.E. and do some occasional traveling, and have no experience with Tmo service. Should I be concerned or just make the jump?
i can't speak for 3G coverage on Tmo vs Verizon but can on voice call svc
Tmo seems to have partnered with every small carrier around the country - every year i make about 5-6 visits to clients or suppliers around the country with two other folks from partner companies - one is on AT&T and one on Verizon - and every time we're in a rural area, their svc drops out before my Tmo's does
Last Dec we were heading south out of derby, VT ((on the canadian border) and about 35 miles south you're heading into foothills - my bud with verizon lost his svc, and had to use my phone for about 20 minutes (my tmo was showing 1 bar signal) - he finished his call and about 5 minutes were were i the hills with no signal
when we started coming out of the foothills (they were really mountains but we were gaining elevation with numerous small rock outcroppings around us), anyway, when we started coming out, my Tmo was first to have svc again
they always notice my Tmo's svc is better than their's
and there's no roaming chgs with Tmo here in US or at least i've never had any
have had similiar experiences traveling thru rural S. Carolina, Georgia, Tenn, W VA, Kentucky and western TX and thru New Mexico
nice info above.. but yes.. T-Mobile is GSM/W-CDMA/UMTS/HSPA+ so u can talk-n-surf over 3G (21HSPA+).. also, our speeds dominates all US carriers (even Sprints 4G/WiMax).. T-Mobile will upgrade its HSPA+ data again in 2011 from 21mbps to 42mbps.. i live in Seattle and we have 21HSPA+, but real world results will be between 5-10mbps (also depending on your device limitation).. also, T-Mobile gives u more bang for your buck.. but yes, they do have a smaller foorprint (mainly in more rural areas).. no problem for me since i stay in cities, and not in the boonies.
Even tho Verizon ADDED flash, it gimped its I.M. to 2GB (also no FFC--only Sprint has FFC).. T-Mobile even packed the Vibrant with a few goodies like the movie Avatar.
The Los Angeles and Inland Empire area have good 3G coverage from what I hear. HSPA+ is growing too. 3G coverage when traveling won't be like Verizon so I would check to see if 3G coverage overall is good enough for you.
sec1has said:
Though I think the Fascinate looks better and has a camera flash, the Vibrant seems to look better on paper: More on-board memory, HSDPA offers "potentially" fasters data speeds, Tmo can do voice and data at the same time while Verizon can't, no Bing or VZ apps on the Vibrant, and I can buy the phone out of contract at a reduced rate.
The only thing that makes me hesitate (besides the less-appealing design), is Tmo's coverage vs. Verizon. I'm primarily in L.A. / I.E. and do some occasional traveling, and have no experience with Tmo service. Should I be concerned or just make the jump?
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I live down in the high desert, and travel all the time between here and L.A. and San Diego, and have excellent coverage all over the I.E./L.A./San Diego area. So I don't think you have much to fear with transferring over to tmo
Looks like I'll be switching carriers.
sec1has said:
Looks like I'll be switching carriers.
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Cool Enjoy Calling People and Going Online at the same time with a faster 3G
sec1has said:
Looks like I'll be switching carriers.
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Before you do, find out from people using T-Mobile in the areas that you frequent how their reception is. I love T-Mobile. Their CS rocks and prices are very good, but I couldn't get reception at my desk in my office in Manhattan and had to switch. It's great that it works 35 miles from the Canadian border, but if it doesn't work where you need it, it doesn't work.
Drachen said:
Before you do, find out from people using T-Mobile in the areas that you frequent how their reception is. I love T-Mobile. Their CS rocks and prices are very good, but I couldn't get reception at my desk in my office in Manhattan and had to switch. It's great that it works 35 miles from the Canadian border, but if it doesn't work where you need it, it doesn't work.
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When was that and with what phone? T-Mobile is extremely good in Los Angeles, I don't think you know how good they are out there. There will be weak zones for any carrier but T-Mobile is great in Los Angeles. It's their core market. Also there are some sites planned later this year to go online. Not to mention when I took at look at compass.t-mobile.com, not only was NYC lit up with over 40 new towers (includes microcells), so was the Los Angeles area.. 20 new sites in one zip code earlier this year. So, things are always subject to change.
Drachen said:
Before you do, find out from people using T-Mobile in the areas that you frequent how their reception is. I love T-Mobile. Their CS rocks and prices are very good, but I couldn't get reception at my desk in my office in Manhattan and had to switch. It's great that it works 35 miles from the Canadian border, but if it doesn't work where you need it, it doesn't work.
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can't say anything about manhatten, but worked fine in queens when i visited the inlaws last thanksgiving
I live in the same areas you metioned L.A./I.E. and i have tmo the service is great in L.A. I had verizon and went to school in west la and the service was patchy but with tmo it was at minimum 2 bars all over same area with 3g. the only problem i find with tmo is going to events with a lot of people/cells phones, the phone has service/3g but i couldn't text, make a call, or use the internet. i have problems with this at dodger games and i had problems during the summer at coachella but i love tmo and will definitely be getting the vibrant!!
pinkgabe said:
I live in the same areas you metioned L.A./I.E. and i have tmo the service is great in L.A. I had verizon and went to school in west la and the service was patchy but with tmo it was at minimum 2 bars all over same area with 3g. the only problem i find with tmo is going to events with a lot of people/cells phones, the phone has service/3g but i couldn't text, make a call, or use the internet. i have problems with this at dodger games and i had problems during the summer at coachella but i love tmo and will definitely be getting the vibrant!!
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The Pre-HSPA+ network was pretty limited in terms of how many calls and data it could handle but HSPA+ should alleviate that until the site runs out of spectrum (slots for calls/data).
heygrl said:
Not to mention when I took at look at compass.t-mobile.com, not only was NYC lit up with over 40 new towers (includes microcells), so was the Los Angeles area.. 20 new sites in one zip code earlier this year. So, things are always subject to change.
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Not about to get into an argument about it, just going by my own experience. I used several HTC phones, a MDA, Touch Duo and Diamond. I found the reception great where I live near the Empire State Building, but really crappy in my office in Flatiron and under Grand Central. Even A/B tested with borrowed iPhone SIMs to make sure it was a carrier issue and not a phone issue. I switched to AT&T in Nov of 2008 and haven't had a problem since using a Fuze, Omnia 2 and Nexus One. (Meanwhile T-Mobile went from having only crap phones to a great lineup and AT&T went to becoming a one-trick iPony)
My point wasn't that T-Mobile sucks. I rather like the company, but the service didn't work for me in the places I tend to be a lot. My point was that you should try to actually confirm the reception yourself in the places you frequent rather than just going by others' experiences.
pinkgabe said:
I live in the same areas you metioned L.A./I.E. and i have tmo the service is great in L.A. I had verizon and went to school in west la and the service was patchy but with tmo it was at minimum 2 bars all over same area with 3g. the only problem i find with tmo is going to events with a lot of people/cells phones, the phone has service/3g but i couldn't text, make a call, or use the internet. i have problems with this at dodger games and i had problems during the summer at coachella but i love tmo and will definitely be getting the vibrant!!
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Drachen said:
Not about to get into an argument about it, just going by my own experience. I used several HTC phones, a MDA, Touch Duo and Diamond. I found the reception great where I live near the Empire State Building, but really crappy in my office in Flatiron and under Grand Central. Even A/B tested with borrowed iPhone SIMs to make sure it was a carrier issue and not a phone issue. I switched to AT&T in Nov of 2008 and haven't had a problem since using a Fuze, Omnia 2 and Nexus One. (Meanwhile T-Mobile went from having only crap phones to a great lineup and AT&T went to becoming a one-trick iPony)
My point wasn't that T-Mobile sucks. I rather like the company, but the service didn't work for me in the places I tend to be a lot. My point was that you should try to actually confirm the reception yourself in the places you frequent rather than just going by others' experiences.
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November 2008 is far too long ago. HTC/Apple (especially Samsung) phones also really don't offer good reception regardless of sim swapping. A phone with crap reception will be even crappier on PCS and less crappy on CLR (850). I already stated that I've seen over 40 pink "T"'s on compass.t-mobile.com in NYC earlier this year which ultimately means coverage has improved since 2008. ATM there are over 7 new sites showing and that's within the last 90 days.
That doesn't mean the coverage isn't weak, but the phone matters greatly and the ones you listed are all average or below average. I can go out to a warehouse and have my Samsung phone lose coverage, but not my Motorola? If I only had Samsung phones I'd probably think there was no coverage in that warehouse when there actually is coverage, my Samsung just didn't pick up the signal.
I will say this about T-Mobiles service, about 6 months ago the best signal I could get in my house was edge, now mind you the only carriers getting signal at all in my house were Verizon and T-Mobile. AT&T and Sprint could not get a signal whatsoever even at a window.
Well I woke up one morning and saw a full 5 bars of 3G and thought I was dreaming. Well low and behold now I have that all the time just about anywhere I go. For the record I only live about 10-15 minutes from Boston, so it's not like I'm in the middle of nowhere lol.
Just waiting patiently for my HSPA+ now, which the Boston market is confirmed as getting it soon.
heygrl said:
November 2008 is far too long ago. HTC/Apple (especially Samsung) phones also really don't offer good reception regardless of sim swapping. A phone with crap reception will be even crappier on PCS and less crappy on CLR (850). I already stated that I've seen over 40 pink "T"'s on compass.t-mobile.com in NYC earlier this year which ultimately means coverage has improved since 2008. ATM there are over 7 new sites showing and that's within the last 90 days.
That doesn't mean the coverage isn't weak, but the phone matters greatly and the ones you listed are all average or below average. I can go out to a warehouse and have my Samsung phone lose coverage, but not my Motorola? If I only had Samsung phones I'd probably think there was no coverage in that warehouse when there actually is coverage, my Samsung just didn't pick up the signal.
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I think you're basically illustrating my point. All the reasons I switched are irrelevant to anyone that is not me in Nov of 2008. They were highly relevant to me in Nov of 2008, considering that I couldn't get service in a place I spend 1/3 of my life on weekdays. It didn't matter how good the reception would be once they finished the AWS rollout, how good it was in LA or 35 miles from the Canadian border or the fact that the phones I like have sub-par reception. The decision had to be made based on my own experience not someone else saying that it was good.
Drachen said:
I think you're basically illustrating my point. All the reasons I switched are irrelevant to anyone that is not me in Nov of 2008. They were highly relevant to me in Nov of 2008, considering that I couldn't get service in a place I spend 1/3 of my life on weekdays. It didn't matter how good the reception would be once they finished the AWS rollout, how good it was in LA or 35 miles from the Canadian border or the fact that the phones I like have sub-par reception. The decision had to be made based on my own experience not someone else saying that it was good.
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So why would you post here? Seriously though...
heygrl said:
So why would you post here? Seriously though...
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Because this is a phone forum and not a (no offense) network fanboy forum. The phone I want and the phone you want are basically the same and there's more activity here. A root update was posted in the Vibrant dev forum that answered a question on the Captivate forum. Our phone drops 3 days after yours and there's going to be a lot of experimentation going on and the results will benefit both of us.
That and I thought I had something to add to the conversation and couldn't keep my trap shut. Personal failing.
heygrl said:
So why would you post here? Seriously though...
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Drachen said:
Because this is a phone forum and not a (no offense) network fanboy forum. The phone I want and the phone you want are basically the same and there's more activity here. A root update was posted in the Vibrant dev forum that answered a question on the Captivate forum. Our phone drops 3 days after yours and there's going to be a lot of experimentation going on and the results will benefit both of us.
That and I thought I had something to add to the conversation and couldn't keep my trap shut. Personal failing.
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I doesn't really matter whose on what carrier. Each person is going to have different needs and different carriers will support those different needs. I think we can all agree this will be a kick ass phone and blows the iphone out of the water.
I thought engadget did a piece on data rates of carriers & ATT came out on top. Was this incorrect?
Hi G2 users. I'm torn about buying this phone. I've played with it at the store and love the keyboard, speed, looks, and build quality. However, I've seen comments in this forum and others and in some reviews that the G2 has difficulty getting/maintaining a signal. (I've seen similar reports for the desire z). Though, it does seem like these reports were more common in October than in November. Was the issue addressed (by updates or replacement hardware?) or did users just get used to the issue and decide to focus on the phone's strengths? Or, was the issue never that widespread to begin with?
No matter how great the features of the G2 are, I don't think I could put up with the frustration of not being able to depend on it working when I needed it to. So, what's your experience been? (Interested in everyone's experiences, but would especially love to hear any comments from anyone in the New York City area.)
Also, as I'm new to T-Mobile, I'm curious if building penetration at such high frequencies is an issue I should be concerned about. I know Sprint's Wi-Max is using even higher frequencies, but I've read some very daunting tales about it's lack of building penetration.
Thanks very much for your help.
My experience has been meh. WiFi calling has made my experience better than I could ever have hoped for though.
Any signal issues are probably t-mobile's fault IMO.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 running Cyanogenmod.
I have a TP2 and a G2.. the TP2 has better reception than the G2.. the G2 slips a bit from the TP2.. with my TP2 inside my house, i will always have 4 bars (max).. with my G2, it'll switch between 3 & 4 bars.
also, it seems like data connection hangs randomly at times (data icon (H) stays lit tho).. not sure why this happens.. i don't have random data hang ups with my TP2.
My G2 has had absolutely worthless internet lately. I am getting quite pissed off that I'm spending the money on a data plan, I understand it sucks in my house, but when I am out around town I still barely get a signal. I'm literally getting speeds like 15kbps.
theratdude64 said:
My G2 has had absolutely worthless internet lately. I am getting quite pissed off that I'm spending the money on a data plan, I understand it sucks in my house, but when I am out around town I still barely get a signal. I'm literally getting speeds like 15kbps.
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u must be away from a HSPA+ tower.. i pull in 8mbps with my G2.
It used to do about 3500 down was my best... now it's WORTHLESS. I can barely even check a website for a phone number all over town where it used to work.
theratdude64 said:
It used to do about 3500 down was my best... now it's WORTHLESS. I can barely even check a website for a phone number all over town where it used to work.
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must be your towers.. they might be temporarily down, or your being throttled until your next billing cycle.
I just switched from a Nexus One, which can't hold a single worth crap. My G2 hasn't switched to EDGE at all and I get great speeds on HSPA+. Granted, T-Mobile has my area fully covered for HSPA+. I haven't taken it up into the mountains, yet, with it being winter here in Utah.
I'm in Brooklyn, so the reception is good outside, but once I get home, where I have only about 1 or 2 bars with edge and 3G, it will drop the signal sometimes. Sometimes even while texting, it will drop the signal, and will have to wait until the phone gains reception to send the message.
I'm less then a week on getting paid and have enough money saved up to finally get the Nexus S. I'm also getting my employee plan since I work for Radio Shack. The only thing is stopping me is T-Mobile. Are they really dependable. In by which I mean that will I get good signal, dropped calls, and etc. I would like to hear some feedback on T-Mobile? I am on Sprint, I'm currently satisfied with the service I get.
Thanks.
Hey, its not att. Thats a plus haha.
Really depends on your area. I rarely get drop calls with T-Mobile. Maybe once a month. Signal is eh, phases in and out every now depending on your location (but then again that's with every carrier). YMMV. Even though T-Mobile isn't perfect, I'm personally satisfied with the affordable plans. That sort of balances out any discrepancies .
Check coverage here
t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx
Alopez_45 said:
I'm less then a week on getting paid and have enough money saved up to finally get the Nexus S. I'm also getting my employee plan since I work for Radio Shack. The only thing is stopping me is T-Mobile. Are they really dependable. In by which I mean that will I get good signal, dropped calls, and etc. I would like to hear some feedback on T-Mobile? I am on Sprint, I'm currently satisfied with the service I get.
Thanks.
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Go to T-Mobile's website and look at their coverage checker. Then go to your friends who live around where you live and have T-Mobile, and ask them. You can't really get an answer about YOUR expected call quality from someone on an internet forum who might not even live in your state.
As far as feedback on T-Mobile, surely you've heard that they win mobile provider customer service awards every year? Top-rated customer satisfaction, etc... it's all over the news all the time.
The only people who aren't happy with T-Mobile, are those who don't have actual coverage where they live/work. And those are just logistical issues for which you'll have to do real-world checking (as I mentioned in the first paragraph) to find out.
Whatever you do, don't get a brand new phone before at LEAST using the T-Mobile website's coverage checker to verify that you should have good voice & data service at the locations important to you.
I live in an area without very good service (terrible actually) and I'm still very happy with tmo best customer service period.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I live in an area where I don't get Edge or 3g. The network coverage is spotty compared to ATT and Celular South. If there were a roaming agreement with ATT it would be awesome. If I go south I can count on not having service unless in a populated area. The further north I go (depending on area...) it gets better.
The plans and customer service are awesome. Don't have a complaint at all about them. No need to add extra stuff for MMS messages. I can tether all I want for no extra charge... Just wished we had 3g.
I'm in NYC. The biggest issue I noticed with Tmobile is if you're ever deep inside a building (like in an office building, a department store, or especially a mall) the signal can become weak, or even nonexistent. It just doesn't seem like their signal strength can penetrate building walls well. Other than that, the service is quite stable and reliable.
That's just my experience.
onthecouchagain said:
I'm in NYC. The biggest issue I noticed with Tmobile is if you're ever deep inside a building (like in an office building, a department store, or especially a mall) the signal can become weak, or even nonexistent. It just doesn't seem like their signal strength can penetrate building walls well. Other than that, the service is quite stable and reliable.
That's just my experience.
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same here in MA
I came to T-Mobile from sprint. There are both goods and bad. Sprint had a better coverage area in my city but tmobile has speeds that just blow my mind away. You'll love the speeds. The coverage is a little more spotty but honestly its not bad. This is in Phoenix, I am very excited with tmobile, their great here. I only had 1 call drop and that was only cause I was going through a tunnel.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
It all depends on the area your in.. I had the Dell Venue Pro on Tmobile and I was always having really bad service, It seems like I have slightly better service with the Nexus S.
peeturr said:
Really depends on your area. I rarely get drop calls with T-Mobile. Maybe once a month. Signal is eh, phases in and out every now depending on your location (but then again that's with every carrier). YMMV. Even though T-Mobile isn't perfect, I'm personally satisfied with the affordable plans. That sort of balances out any discrepancies .
Check coverage here
t-mobile.com/coverage/pcc.aspx
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Agreed. I get excellent coverage here in Cleveland.My buddy in Chicago swears by Sprint. Lots swear by Verizon which for me gets worse signal than my T-mobile. AT&T usually has the most bad rep but so popular because of the beloved iPhone. I'd try and find a friend in Chicago with T-mobile and ask them how their service is. Indoors, downtown, suburbs, etc.
onthecouchagain said:
I'm in NYC. The biggest issue I noticed with Tmobile is if you're ever deep inside a building (like in an office building, a department store, or especially a mall) the signal can become weak, or even nonexistent. It just doesn't seem like their signal strength can penetrate building walls well. Other than that, the service is quite stable and reliable.
That's just my experience.
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good observation, and that's because tmobile actually cant penetrate structures well because their 3g network frequency is very high in the spectrum, 1700/2100 has very poor building penetration, where lower has much better penetration, such as 900 or 850. that's why i always felt i get more with the tier 1 networks, given you are in fact in an 850 area.
I just switched to Tmobile to get the NS from Verizon...
I dont know much about voice cause I dont really call THAT often, but data is faster on Tmobile
RogerPodacter said:
good observation, and that's because tmobile actually cant penetrate structures well because their 3g network frequency is very high in the spectrum, 1700/2100 has very poor building penetration, where lower has much better penetration, such as 900 or 850. that's why i always felt i get more with the tier 1 networks, given you are in fact in an 850 area.
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Interesting. Good to know.