Related
Its my 5th days using the Vibrant and I am still within 14 days return window. Number of issues keep me thinking just return the device for full refund. I have been using my jailbreak/unlock iphone 3g for years and fine. Pros and Cons against using the iphone 3G.
Cons.
1. GPS/Compass does not work most the time regardless of the few fixes I tried. I need to use GPS often and iphone GPS never had single issue. I can live without compass.
2. No skype, I am a regular skype user and need to use the app. I know there is a skype app out there kinda sort of works. But I need something official.
3. Battery life seems only last less than a day and charge to full takes longer time compare to iphone.
4. I am not a gamer but iphone games seem much more better.
Pros.
1. I get nice 3G speed at home and no longer need to WiFi to home network.
2. I only paid $150 after rebate when I am only 16 months into the contact.
3. Its a lot faster than the iphone 3G, data faster, processor faster. No lags so far.
4. Barnacle WiFi on 3G is nice although iphone have MyWi but I never could get 3G speed. Just hope the MTU issue will fix soon rather than keep twisting the client MTU.
If I return this phone, then I can try T-Mobile's first HSPA+ Phone... whatever phone that is... hhmmm.... what should I do?
There is an "official" Skype app.
Edit: Nevermind, I didn't know it only works on Verizon phones.
I love mine. Do what you need. .. nothing beats this IMO. GPS work's great for me and its just awesome. Try nova for games, also asphalt 5, modern sandstorm, hero of Sparta. Etc.
Don't know what to tell ya, I love mine.
hurrpancakes said:
There is an "official" Skype
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon only
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
parahelium said:
Its my 5th days using the Vibrant and I am still within 14 days return window. Number of issues keep me thinking just return the device for full refund. I have been using my jailbreak/unlock iphone 3g for years and fine. Pros and Cons against using the iphone 3G.
Cons.
1. GPS/Compass does not work most the time regardless of the few fixes I tried. I need to use GPS often and iphone GPS never had single issue. I can live without compass.
2. No skype, I am a regular skype user and need to use the app. I know there is a skype app out there kinda sort of works. But I need something official.
3. Battery life seems only last less than a day and charge to full takes longer time compare to iphone.
4. I am not a gamer but iphone games seem much more better.
Pros.
1. I get nice 3G speed at home and no longer need to WiFi to home network.
2. I only paid $150 after rebate when I am only 16 months into the contact.
3. Its a lot faster than the iphone 3G, data faster, processor faster. No lags so far.
4. Barnacle WiFi on 3G is nice although iphone have MyWi but I never could get 3G speed. Just hope the MTU issue will fix soon rather than keep twisting the client MTU.
If I return this phone, then I can try T-Mobile's first HSPA+ Phone... whatever phone that is... hhmmm.... what should I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Vibrant then back to an iPhone 3G? Really?
That's a total downgrade.
What area are you in that's giving you the GPS problems? Maybe you should try to find someone in your area with the Vibrant and see if they are having issues too...
The funny thing is, it's working just fine for a lot of us....
But dang really? 3G is like minor league compared to the Vibrant. Trust me I know, I've had the 2G since day one, 3G's (2 of them) and the 3GS (2 of them)...never again will I submit myself to communist apple phones. Only macbook pros
I was in the same boat as you and found out I had a defective device. I exchanged mine on the 13th day to give it one more try, the new phone is performs flawlessly, except for the gps would take a little longer to find a satellite until I performed the second fix now its fine. I don't use Gps that much so its not a big deal for me. The battery will be the same as all high end smartphones especially with that awesome screen. I usually unplug the phone at 7:30am and it last until 11pm at night, mind you I make a few calls mostly its games and streaming podcasts and heavy web usage. As for the games there are many out there but not available on the market for some reason. If you decide to keep the phone pm me and I will tell where to get them.
How much do you trust Samsung?
For me, the risk boils down to whether to trust Samsung to fix the GPS. At least there now has been quasi-official (is a tweet official?) acknowledgement from the manufacturer that there is problem and it is being worked on. The conventional wisdom is that there will be a firmware update, and that it will cure the problem. But there are no official promises of a complete solution.
I am not yet convinced that the GPS problem is entirely a firmware problem, and Samsung has not said so officially. If the underlying problem is unreliable output from the new combo GPS chip, then a firmware update may not fix the root cause, but only mitigate the symptoms.
It does not seem likely that we will know the answer to that before the 14 days run out for the OP (and for me.) One option is to return the phone for a refund, then buy another later if there is good news on a real GPS fix. I, too, got a pretty decent deal, in my case on a T-Mobile upgrade from a G1. I might not get such a good deal later on a repurchase, but the marginal upfront cost should not be the determining factor. This is a two-year commitment, and I would hate to be stuck with a defective GPS on this high-end device.
boomerbubba said:
For me, the risk boils down to whether to trust Samsung to fix the GPS. At least there now has been quasi-official (is a tweet official?) acknowledgement from the manufacturer that there is problem and it is being worked on. The conventional wisdom is that there will be a firmware update, and that it will cure the problem. But there are no official promises of a complete solution.
I am not yet convinced that the GPS problem is entirely a firmware problem, and Samsung has not said so officially. If the underlying problem is unreliable output from the new combo GPS chip, then a firmware update may not fix the root cause, but only mitigate the symptoms.
It does not seem likely that we will know the answer to that before the 14 days run out for the OP (and for me.) One option is to return the phone for a refund, then buy another later if there is good news on a real GPS fix. I, too, got a pretty decent deal, in my case on a T-Mobile upgrade from a G1. I might not get such a good deal later on a repurchase, but the marginal upfront cost should not be the determining factor. This is a two-year commitment, and I would hate to be stuck with a defective GPS on this high-end device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well articulated and way of putting that across and I would have to agree. Samsung went fairly all out on all the specs on this phone (some argue they could have made the case metal a la iPhone but the lightness is amazing in my eyes, less weight equals less impact when I drop it) and it would be quite a shame to see the actual gps hardware to be defective. I doubt that it is truly, and would be very surprised if it is not addressed within the first ota firmware update. Truly the only way is up from here on this phone.
Your money, you decide.
Well its back up right now (i think) i dont have any one to call right now but the network was down until 20:45~20:50 CST in SE WI. my friend called me on a land-line and told me he was trying to call me. The data on my phone worked the hole time. But 99.9% of out going calls failed and 100% incoming calls failed 100% SMS fail!!!!! I did get two calls to go threw to a AT&T land-line
NOW HEARS THE PROBLEM (SPRINT CAN YOU HEAR ME!) why cant Sprint have emailed us all i understand ith happens and stuff brakes & goes down BUT WHY THE HELL couldn't they of EMAILED us all to let us know that people would not be able to get a hold of us with are SPRINT PHONES!!!!!!
Check the "No data 3G" & the other problem you had on the poll if your data & voice/sms was down.
So lets hears it how many people had no Voice/SMS today? And it would be nice to put your State/City or the Area your in.
Thanks i just kinda want to see the numbers
I'm so ready to go back to Verizon 6 years with them & never a problem (but i REALLY like my Epic :-/ )
http://community.sprint.com/baw/thr...95.app6jive2?start=15&tstart=0&reqsorting=dec
Channel 4 WTMJ in Milwaukee
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/107618403.html
WOW i guess theirs no one on hear from Wisconsin, Any how i got a free mouth from them They still suck and i am pissed they did not even email us about it and i may still just dump them and go with. U.S. Cell or back to Verizon
Sorry for your troubles. It's odd, even in the nationwide Sprint outages, I never had any issues. I must be in the one area where things don't break.
EDIT: Not in WI, just sayin'.
k0nane said:
Sorry for your troubles. It's odd, even in the nationwide Sprint outages, I never had any issues. I must be in the one area where things don't break.
EDIT: Not in WI, just sayin'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well most of the time all the traffic works grate at your Location lol
zman519 said:
Well most of the time all the traffic works grate at your Location lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't follow.
127.0.0.1 loopback ;-)
Roam Control is the fix. Force your phone off the sprint network.
Humm I would have got the app if I had known about it on Friday :-/ but now that its back up idk if I really need it.
So I take it your a fan of the app, has it saved ur phone calls when sprint went down before?
I use roam control while I am at work since I only get 1 bar to nothing while there if I am on sprint but if I switch to roaming I have full signal. Also helps out a lot with battery too. If I leave it on auto I leave work with 20% left and that's with out using my phone. If I switch to roaming I usually leave with a lot more left.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Cool sounds like that would help my battery when my ohone is sitting on my main PC desk. Its always going back andforth. I know there's. A ton of USB ports there but why plug it in every time iam using my computer.
P.S. its the $3.99 app in the markit ?
I had no issues at all (or any other time, really, except maybe once, and that issue was specific to the Hero). I'm not in SE WI, I'm up near Green Bay. Though looking at the link to the Sprint site it looks like I would have been affected as well. But I had no issues at all. And frankly, even if it was down, I didn't notice.
And I don't really see what you're getting so upset about to be honest. Yeah, it sucks when stuff goes down, but I think the "I"M GOING BACK TO VERIZON" statement was a little extreme. Have you had other problems with Sprint? All in all, it was down for what, 10 minutes? That's nothing. The longest I ever had an issue was back when I still used the stock ROM on my hero, and MMS wasn't working for a few weeks. Honestly, though, what good would them sending an email have done? That late in the evening, most people are eating, or out doing whatever (bars, partying, etc), not checking their email, so by the time most people got the email, the issue would already have been resolved. And they did put out a tweet from @sprint, their official account : http://twitter.com/sprint. Sure, it's not really a channel most people follow, and probably one of the last places people would expect to look, but the point is that they acknowledged the issue. And it looks like the whole 10 minutes you were affected was actually far less than others, I read some users stating that the outage lasted all day.
Basically, what I'm saying is that I've had a solid experience with Sprint the last 3 years or so, I'm not going to switch carriers just because of something like this. They've always been super nice about giving me credits for all sorts of things, ringtones/games that I couldn't transfer from one phone to another, and a few other issues. I feel like their customer service has always been top notch for me, and one day of not being able to talk/text is really no big deal for me.
zman519 said:
Cool sounds like that would help my battery when my ohone is sitting on my main PC desk. Its always going back andforth. I know there's. A ton of USB ports there but why plug it in every time iam using my computer.
P.S. its the $3.99 app in the markit ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it is the one in the market for $3.99. Just make sure you plan is set up for roaming otherwise you might end up with charges you didnt plan on. Especially when it comes to data roaming.
SirRipo said:
I had no issues at all (or any other time, really, except maybe once, and that issue was specific to the Hero). I'm not in SE WI, I'm up near Green Bay. Though looking at the link to the Sprint site it looks like I would have been affected as well. But I had no issues at all. And frankly, even if it was down, I didn't notice.
And I don't really see what you're getting so upset about to be honest. Yeah, it sucks when stuff goes down, but I think the "I"M GOING BACK TO VERIZON" statement was a little extreme. Have you had other problems with Sprint? All in all, it was down for what, 10 minutes? That's nothing. The longest I ever had an issue was back when I still used the stock ROM on my hero, and MMS wasn't working for a few weeks. Honestly, though, what good would them sending an email have done? That late in the evening, most people are eating, or out doing whatever (bars, partying, etc), not checking their email, so by the time most people got the email, the issue would already have been resolved. And they did put out a tweet from @sprint, their official account : http://twitter.com/sprint. Sure, it's not really a channel most people follow, and probably one of the last places people would expect to look, but the point is that they acknowledged the issue. And it looks like the whole 10 minutes you were affected was actually far less than others, I read some users stating that the outage lasted all day.
Basically, what I'm saying is that I've had a solid experience with Sprint the last 3 years or so, I'm not going to switch carriers just because of something like this. They've always been super nice about giving me credits for all sorts of things, ringtones/games that I couldn't transfer from one phone to another, and a few other issues. I feel like their customer service has always been top notch for me, and one day of not being able to talk/text is really no big deal for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your points, But it was down for hours on a Friday NOT 10 minutes & the 3G was still up so i would have seen said email. This has not been Totally fixed yet Visual Voicemail is down right now. You can leave me a vmail & i will get it if i dial 1 on the phone but theirs no notification that you have x number of vmails
So if your phone is having voice mail problems its most likely NOT your phone and its still sprint having problems. One sprint tech told me it was the hole U.S. and another tech said it was still from Fridays (SE WI) problem & that they are still working to fix it
SirRipo your right its not really getting that upset about its just a phone
For me I have everything to complain about when it comes to Sprint service. This outage that just happened on friday night really set me over the top. The only thing that I'm happy about is the fact that it affected lots of people and not just people in my "neighborhood". I live in South Milwaukee, WI and there is a tower somewhere near my house that FAILS at least 3 to 4 times a year. And when it fails I'm not saying hours of service lost, I'm talking DAYS!!! Every time it happens I call Sprint and they do a test on the towers in my area and I hear the same reply out of their mouths when they figure out the problem, they say, "wow, now that's not a good thing" Well if it's not a good thing then why does it continue to happen every 3 months or so. And the sucky thing about it is the fact it usually happens for the entire weekend. At first I thought that was happening all over again, but this issue was different and affected lots of people. So I guess my question is if this happens again, which I know it will from the track record, do you think I would be able to opt out of my contract without having to pay a termination fee? Sprint says that it's up to the customer service rep that handles my termination of service call whether or not I would be charged a fee or not. The way I see it is if the service continues to fail where I live for days on end why should I have to pay a fee? I know that T-Mobile has 4G up and running here in Milwaukee with the HSPA+ and Sprint doesn't have 4G here at all, and who knows now long it's going to take them to get it. Sprint in my area either works, and works very well, or it's just not there at all, there is no in between.
jaygraffix Thats BS!
i was with sprint years back & i was never happy with them then but i thought that maybe things have changed. I have some time in my 30 days left to dump there ass, I just thought the price was right. (and i love the Epic) But after this BS and hearing jaygraffix problems in a city just a little south of me that i'am in all the time i just may have to move on to there competition.
The fact is sprint nextel is a multi billion dollar corporation and its not going to hit there bottom line to completely replace the tower by jaygraffix house! And i should not have to talk with 6 sprint reps about the VVM not working today & have the finale rep offer me a hole $8.00 credit when the Tech support rep i was talking to before OFFERED ME $25.00 WTF and because i wanted to talk with a CS manager (and did) he only gives me the $8 WTF! less than the guy i was talking to before him! NOW TELL ME YOU WOULD NOT BE PISSED AFTER THAT HAPPENED TO YOU
Maybe if every one in SE WI would dump them all on the same day they would take a hint! (fees & all be DAMED) When i started this tread i was really hoping to see 1000's of hits on the poll but i guess there are just not that many people on this forum from around my area. I Totally see now why Verizon costs what it does.
I've been getting fed up with T-Mobile lately, the coverage at my house is limited, if not non-existent.
I was wondering if anyone would care to share their experiences with Sprint's network (4g speeds/coverage, reliability, etc). Also, experiences with the Evo itself (battery life, durabilty, accessory quality/quantity, etc)
I'm currently using a Nexus One, if that makes a difference.
Thanks!
Seems like your biggest issue is your coverage at your house. Best advice I can give you is go get an EVO, go home, check to see if you have good signal and 4G.
U can download map viewer from the market check the Sprint 4g coverage
And as for battery life it was not until I rooted that I felt I was getting the most out of it my battery life dramatically changed
And I've had nothing but a good experience I came from a moment so honestly tht was not the best Android experience so this phone have to say im really surprised by this device and what it can do if u have played around with one it really is not the same as owning it and since Sprint has the 3o day money back guarantee u should defin try itout and see if its for u
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
jesziicuh said:
U can download map viewer from the market check the Sprint 4g coverage
And as for battery life it was not until I rooted that I felt I was getting the most out of it my battery life dramatically changed
And I've had nothing but a good experience I came from a moment so honestly tht was not the best Android experience so this phone have to say im really surprised by this device and what it can do if u have played around with one it really is not the same as owning it and since Sprint has the 3o day money back guarantee u should defin try itout and see if its for u
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Punctuation is so overrated these days.
You will love an Evo, Sprint is a great company and the customer service has come a long way.
Try it for 30 days free, if not satisfied then return it, (yes you can root it and still return it)
wdfowty said:
I've been getting fed up with T-Mobile lately, the coverage at my house is limited, if not non-existent.
I was wondering if anyone would care to share their experiences with Sprint's network (4g speeds/coverage, reliability, etc). Also, experiences with the Evo itself (battery life, durabilty, accessory quality/quantity, etc)
I'm currently using a Nexus One, if that makes a difference.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint actually has pretty good coverage in the San Francisco area. It's really hard to build new towers there nowadays so younger networks (T-Mobile) or older networks that are now overloaded (AT&T) have a really tough time working well there.
I suggest you take advantage of Sprint's 30-day unconditional return policy and test drive the EVO 4G for a few weeks. If you don't like it, or it doesn't work well for you, you can return the device and pay nothing (no restock fee or prorated usage fee, or anything).
Reiterating what others have said, signal in your home/area is going to vary, and your best bet is to try it out.
Sometimes while you are in the 30 day window, if you try to cancel due to lack of signal in your home the store will offer the signal booster thingy (I can't remember the name) and wave the monthly fee. It connects to your router and essentially gives you a tower in your home over the internet.
As for the EVO, I've had a Hero and a T-Mobile G1, and I love the EVO. It does everything I want, and then some. Rooting is key though, and I think the best battery life comes from the custom roms on these forums.
Give it a go for 30 days without canceling your T-Mobile phone. At the worst, you'll pay for a month of service on both lines. Once you test it out though and determine Sprint is the way to go, you can transfer your number from T-Mobile.
Oh, and 4G sucks the battery from your phone, so it's really rather useless in my opinion, unless you're tethering and plugged in, otherwise it's as good as a cable connection.
jesziicuh said:
U can download map viewer from the market check the Sprint 4g coverage...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This map is crap. The map indicates that I have excellent coverage at home and work and is not so. Do what tgruendler said. Get the phone, take it home and test it and see what you think.
When I first got my Evo a lot of people I knew were saying "it's a nice phone and all, but you had to go to SPRINT?"
Now the Evo also marks my maiden voyage with Sprint, so I don't know the history that may have gotten them this bad rep ... but I have to say I've been nothing but pleased. I bought my phone a mere 2 weeks before my road trip across 4 states in 3 weeks (started in Georgia and ended up in Washington DC). During the ENTIRE road trip I had signal. Now I didn't call people, but I did use google maps and Nav and I maintained data the entire time (some minor blackouts in Mentone Alabama looking for an old friend's wedding ... but if you saw where I was you'd completely understand too ... and GMaps still got me there fine).
So while during this trip I saw 4G go up and down ... I will say their data was consistent. I uploaded photos to facebook nightly, took pictures all day, and even occasionally handed the phone to the kids to stream you tube videos (OK I had to plug in for that ... phone can't handle 4-6 hours straight youtube).
My only complaint with this phone while on 2.1 an touring ... was that 4G would destroy my phone (only when connected ... 4G seemed to idle fine in areas with no coverage). By destroy i mean that doing the same heavy uploading of images would kill the phone in about 4 hours.
Now back in the home land of LA ... vacation is over and I'm making more calls than you tube videos. In this case it's more of a Sprint vs ATT conversation (my old provider) and I have to say: Sprints coverage blows away ATT in all areas here. I consult .... meaning i travel all corners of the southland. While Sprint may have bad signal reception occasionally ... it _never_ disconnects. In contrast my ATT signal was always clear .... when it bothered to connect and would disconnect _constantly_ even when driving down major highways. So I like the Sprint service much better.
My Phone has "evolved" with me which is huge. 4G is now here where I live ... but I've also learned to root and tweak my EVO ... and I leave 4G on all day now and can make it from wake up to home with the wife and kids on one charge without having to plug in (I do tend to car charge every so often if i know I'm going to be on a long conference call or can't resist flashing a new ROM during my lunch break ... but that's not suprising). Between 2.2 improvements and wonderful after market ROMs and tweaks, the EVO isn't nearly as bad of a battery vacuum as it was when I first got it so it's to the point that I just leave all the features enabled (except wifi ... i don't see a point when 4g is faster than _any_ free wifi spot that is always over congested).
The ONLY thing I really don't like about Sprint is that i don't get voice and data at the same time. 4G fixes that (another reason i leave it on all the time)... but it's coverage is honestly spotty ... unlike Sprint 3G this one really is location sensitive.
The phone itself ... is awesome. I just can't complain as it still feels cutting edge after 6 months of having it (or is it 7 now ... i forget).
Summary: the battery used to be BAD with 4g turned on. 2.2 improvements and a good community changed all of that... and the phone is flexible and powerful enough that I don't care what's been released sense. I would love a longer battery life (who wouldn't), but considering I basically have a PC in my Pocket I'm OK with that trade off.
EDIT: one other negative I should note: I noticed with the stock HTC ROM having 4G turned on would occasionally make the whole phone stutter and lag, even when doing trivial things like scrolling between home screens. It would actually made the phone feel slower with 4g turned on if i wasn't directly doing a data intesive task. Custom ROMs _completely_ solved that problem. For the record i currently use Myn's Warm 2.2 RLS4 on the HTC17 kernel with the battery tweak, and all sense ripped out I could get away with (rosie pulled out compeltely, gingerbread keyboard, etc), and those stutters are a thing of the past.
Fantastic phone! Great network. Sprint is working hard to improve the quality of their customer service and doing a good job. They have already rolled out WiMax, so if you are in a coverage area you should be getting some pretty snappy speeds there. I also like the fact that Sprint isn't afraid to look at other technologies. I read an article the other day indicating that Sprint will probably begin developing an LTE network to work alongside the WiMax. All things considered, I would definitely recommend the Evo and Sprint
Pierceye said:
Fantastic phone! Great network. Sprint is working hard to improve the quality of their customer service and doing a good job. They have already rolled out WiMax, so if you are in a coverage area you should be getting some pretty snappy speeds there. I also like the fact that Sprint isn't afraid to look at other technologies. I read an article the other day indicating that Sprint will probably begin developing an LTE network to work alongside the WiMax. All things considered, I would definitely recommend the Evo and Sprint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah - I couldnt have said it better my self...
Been with Sprint now for 9 years and have no complaints, they are like brandy - only getting better with age...
EVO is by far the best phone out there and Sprint is (IMO) by far the best carrier out there...
wdfowty said:
I've been getting fed up with T-Mobile lately, the coverage at my house is limited, if not non-existent.
I was wondering if anyone would care to share their experiences with Sprint's network (4g speeds/coverage, reliability, etc). Also, experiences with the Evo itself (battery life, durabilty, accessory quality/quantity, etc)
I'm currently using a Nexus One, if that makes a difference.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey i had tmobile< i had the blackberry 9700 and an unlocked iphone i loved the phones but the coverage was horrible inside buildings, i went to best buy and got an evo on a temp number and carried both my phones around and sprint was gret in buildings or where ever i went u should go get the evo and test like i did
jesziicuh said:
U can download map viewer from the market check the Sprint 4g coverage
And as for battery life it was not until I rooted that I felt I was getting the most out of it my battery life dramatically changed
And I've had nothing but a good experience I came from a moment so honestly tht was not the best Android experience so this phone have to say im really surprised by this device and what it can do if u have played around with one it really is not the same as owning it and since Sprint has the 3o day money back guarantee u should defin try itout and see if its for u
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh wow. -.-
Not one period in all of the rambling and misspellings/retarded text speak. Please act like you have an education. kthnx.
thetakara said:
Oh wow. -.-
Not one period in all of the rambling and misspellings/retarded text speak. Please act like you have an education. kthnx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, you came in here SOLELY to flame that kid? Hahaha
@everyone else: Thanks! All great info. Once I get the cash together I'll test it out for sure.
thetakara said:
Oh wow. -.-
Not one period in all of the rambling and misspellings/retarded text speak. Please act like you have an education. kthnx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey no reason to be grumpy
I type quick used to jus doing tht way
And I honestly think ignite have nothing nice to say Dnt say it
But hey I guess it take one to kno one
Have a nice night kthnks
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
wdfowty said:
So, you came in here SOLELY to flame that kid? Hahaha
@everyone else: Thanks! All great info. Once I get the cash together I'll test it out for sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea a lot of grumpy people on here but also a lot of nice people who can actually offer help instead of nasty remarks blah but way r u gonna do any way good luck and happy holidays
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Not having a signal at home isn't an issue if you're with Sprint. When my wife and I moved into our new house back in May, we found out a little too late that our house was in a dead zone and there was absolutely no signal inside on any carrier. We had to step outside to make a call or send a text. After a couple months, I called Sprint and told them what was up. Without question, they offered me a free Airave. No equipment cost, no monthly charges. All they asked was that I send it back to them if I ever leave Sprint in the future. We both get full signal in every room of the house now.
iamthebigcheeze said:
Not having a signal at home isn't an issue if you're with Sprint. When my wife and I moved into our new house back in May, we found out a little too late that our house was in a dead zone and there was absolutely no signal inside on any carrier. We had to step outside to make a call or send a text. After a couple months, I called Sprint and told them what was up. Without question, they offered me a free Airave. No equipment cost, no monthly charges. All they asked was that I send it back to them if I ever leave Sprint in the future. We both get full signal in every room of the house now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
O wow really I'm kinda in a similar situation jus moved to a new area like 3 months ago and I get zero reception unless I'm near a window and hanging out of it lol guess ill have to call sprint
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
jesziicuh said:
O wow really I'm kinda in a similar situation jus moved to a new area like 3 months ago and I get zero reception unless I'm near a window and hanging out of it lol guess ill have to call sprint
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I was pretty surprised. I didn't have to beg, argue, or demand anything. As soon as I told them what was up, the dude just asked if it would be okay if they sent me one for free. Uh... yeah, that's okay with me! lol
I'm in an area far from 4G coverage (Southern Illinois) but after 10 years with Sprint I've been nothing but pleased. I've gotten free upgrades, free features, and all sorts of perks from some very helpful customer service people. On top of that I've never had a billing issue (unlike nearly everyone else I know on a certain other network). The only issue I have is I don't particularly care for their website, but that's just me.
As for the EVO, I upgrade from the Hero two weeks ago and I LOVE it. I definitely don't regret getting it.
Oh, another thing I like about Sprint: When I call customer service, 9 times out of 10 I'm connected to somebody in CONUS and not someone with English as a 3rd language. lol
Hi,
I live in New England and I currently have the Focus with AT&T. The signal here with the focus is bad, constantly losing calls, signal fluctuates from 4 bars 3G switches to edge and then loses signal totally. During this the call quality gets progressively worse. They can't seem to fix the problem so they said they would get me a new phone. They did recently have me change out the Sim as well as a multitude of other things that haven't worked.
I was just wondering what is the best smartphone they currently carry that has good signal quality? I do need a smartphone but one that doesn't lose calls all the time. I'm not far from a tower here and other phones I have had work fine here but the Focus just isn't working out. I do like the focus for the most part and wouldn't mind another Window 7 phone as long as the signal isn't a problem. If I have to go to Android that's fine too, although that would be my last choice.
Thanks for any help.
Fiberop said:
Hi,
I live in New England and I currently have the Focus with AT&T. The signal here with the focus is bad, constantly losing calls, signal fluctuates from 4 bars 3G switches to edge and then loses signal totally. During this the call quality gets progressively worse. They can't seem to fix the problem so they said they would get me a new phone. They did recently have me change out the Sim as well as a multitude of other things that haven't worked.
I was just wondering what is the best smartphone they currently carry that has good signal quality? I do need a smartphone but one that doesn't lose calls all the time. I'm not far from a tower here and other phones I have had work fine here but the Focus just isn't working out. I do like the focus for the most part and wouldn't mind another Window 7 phone as long as the signal isn't a problem. If I have to go to Android that's fine too, although that would be my last choice.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should consider that in your area the signal might just be bad, for your carrier. Unless you have other reasons to think different.
In any case, you are likely to hear subjective opinions on this matter.
One important thing to understand from the beginning is reception vs call quality.
While good reception should insure good call quality, that isn't necessarily the case. As it also depends on the hardware of the phone (bad or low quality ear piece). However, a good call quality depends on the signal quality/strength.
What I can tell from my experience, is that phones with stronger antennas have better reception but not necessarily good call quality. I found out that for me, the best sound quality was in Sony Ericsson phones. However, that was back in Symbian era.
Stronger antenna usually means bigger SAR (radiation).
I can most certainly say the Focus doesn't excel in call quality and I've heard far better. It is reasonably ok.
EnderPsp said:
I think you should consider that in your area the signal might just be bad, for your carrier. Unless you have other reasons to think different.
In any case, you are likely to hear subjective opinions on this matter.
One important thing to understand from the beginning is reception vs call quality.
While good reception should insure good call quality, that isn't necessarily the case. As it also depends on the hardware of the phone (bad or low quality ear piece). However, a good call quality depends on the signal quality/strength.
What I can tell from my experience, is that phones with stronger antennas have better reception but not necessarily good call quality. I found out that for me, the best sound quality was in Sony Ericsson phones. However, that was back in Symbian era.
Stronger antenna usually means bigger SAR (radiation).
I can most certainly say the Focus doesn't excel in call quality and I've heard far better. It is reasonably ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other friends have come over here with ATT as their provider and they have good signal and don't lose calls. I was just out yesterday in known good 3g areas in my town and lost 2 calls out of 3.
I'm gong to have to get a new phone. I talked with ATT yesterday and they made me do a hard reset on the phone. I told him I've already done that before but I did it again. They are calling back Friday to see how things are going and if nothing has changed he said they will give me a new phone. I did tell him I don't want another Focus as this is my 6th one. Pain in the backside.
I just hope they give me a choice and don't try to pass off a 2 year old phone on me. Hopefully the damn thing has good call quality.
If you can hold out until September you should. The new phones with Mango will be coming out and maybe one of them will be better for you.
Have you tried a Microcell? Maybe one of them in your home would make the phone much more tolerable. That's what I did but only because AT&T gifted it to me.
TIGGAH said:
If you can hold out until September you should. The new phones with Mango will be coming out and maybe one of them will be better for you.
Have you tried a Microcell? Maybe one of them in your home would make the phone much more tolerable. That's what I did but only because AT&T gifted it to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm talking to AT&T about a microcell. Their own tech department suggested it. I still lose calls outside of my house but at least I could do business here. At first the customer service person said I could get a free one because of all my issues but he just informed me I'd have to pay for it. I told him no, that after 6 months of terrible service and constant lost calls that they should provide it for free. I told them either a new phone other than the Focus, let me out of my contract or a microcell. I'm waiting on the supervisor to call me back.
Damn, 6 months of crappy service. I've been using my home phone and my daughter's Tracfone to do business. $110 a month it costs me and I can't use this thing, what a rip. This is my 6th damn Focus too. I have a feeling I'll be switching to Verizon soon.
For signal quality what would you guys choose? The Infuse, the Atrix, or the HTC HD7S? I'd rather stay with windows 7 but I've heard the signal quality isn't that great with the hd7s? Anyone have an opinion?
Fiberop said:
For signal quality what would you guys choose? The Infuse, the Atrix, or the HTC HD7S? I'd rather stay with windows 7 but I've heard the signal quality isn't that great with the hd7s? Anyone have an opinion?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Btw, you should ask again all this in the Windows Phone 7 Q&A forum, not in the Focus thread, as this is a WP7 general question.
I don't have first-hand experience with a lot of AT&T's line-up, but I do find that my Dell Streak will catch much better signal in places (in particular, my office) than my Focus, as basically the entire back of that beast is a giant metal antenna plate. Now if only the Streak would run WP7...
Hi Fiberop did you sort out a good phone for the signal? I too am in the uk having similar issues using vodafone and o2, tried htc legend, htc desire HD, htc desire s, and getting cut off during a call and the singal is always up and down, So you are not on your own. I still love HTC phones but i wish they would sort the signal and battery issues.
I have an old XDA lls and this never had these problems. All the HTC phones were on the highest operating systems they could be at the time. Tried the gsm only settings but still gets signal up and down. You can help by how you hold the phone, e.g on the legend dont hold the rubber base cover.
I do have 2 friends, one on 3 with a desire S and one on the HTC sensation on orange and no signal issues apart from bad batterys they are ok with these phones.
You can always get a microcell. I went that route and now all my phones work great in and around the house. With a microcell you can use the phone you want instead of having to forego phones with lots of functionality and lousy reception, which is every smartphone I've ever owned.
I ended up getting a microcell. They did try to give me a Surround but I declined that. I mentioned a couple other phones but they suggested a micro cell. I do make a lot of calls from home so it made sense. It was free because of all my problems so that worked out well. They charge $200 for the damn thing. It works great though and it's the first time I have ever seen 5 bars on this phone. What a relief not to keep losing business calls.
By the way, the Presidents office is where you want to call if you have issues that tech support or customer care can't or won't fix. I found that number on the internet and they can actually authorize things like a free microcell where customer care won't even discuss it. Nice people there too.
Samsung Captivates are cheap and have amazing signal.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda premium
Fiberop said:
I ended up getting a microcell. They did try to give me a Surround but I declined that. I mentioned a couple other phones but they suggested a micro cell. I do make a lot of calls from home so it made sense. It was free because of all my problems so that worked out well. They charge $200 for the damn thing. It works great though and it's the first time I have ever seen 5 bars on this phone. What a relief not to keep losing business calls.
By the way, the Presidents office is where you want to call if you have issues that tech support or customer care can't or won't fix. I found that number on the internet and they can actually authorize things like a free microcell where customer care won't even discuss it. Nice people there too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I have a question for you as I was in EXACTLY the same boat as you. I'm even in New England (Vermont, where are you?).
Anyhow, Samsung Focus here as well. About a month ago the cell signal degraded in my local area to the point I could only make and receive calls at home if I stood out on the front porch. There was no explanation given from AT&T and I spent a frustrating month going back and forth with tech support trying to get their field techs to find out WTF happened.
Long story short, they eventually credited me the full cost of a microcell AND my last months bill.
So, got the microcell, installed all fine and dandy. HERE'S MY QUESTION....have you noticed any change in your battery life? If my phone is connected to the microcell the battery drains REALLY fast. I can take it off charge at 7am, not touch the phone at all and by 4pm I'm way below half. If I do the same thing when the microcell is not on, I can get over 24 hours off a single charge.
Something causes the battery to drain extra fast when the Focus is connected to the MicroCell. Have you noticed this at all?
woodbane said:
Hey I have a question for you as I was in EXACTLY the same boat as you. I'm even in New England (Vermont, where are you?).
Anyhow, Samsung Focus here as well. About a month ago the cell signal degraded in my local area to the point I could only make and receive calls at home if I stood out on the front porch. There was no explanation given from AT&T and I spent a frustrating month going back and forth with tech support trying to get their field techs to find out WTF happened.
Long story short, they eventually credited me the full cost of a microcell AND my last months bill.
So, got the microcell, installed all fine and dandy. HERE'S MY QUESTION....have you noticed any change in your battery life? If my phone is connected to the microcell the battery drains REALLY fast. I can take it off charge at 7am, not touch the phone at all and by 4pm I'm way below half. If I do the same thing when the microcell is not on, I can get over 24 hours off a single charge.
Something causes the battery to drain extra fast when the Focus is connected to the MicroCell. Have you noticed this at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The explanation is pretty simple: the weaker the signal from the nearest Network Cell, the greater the power on the phone's antenna has to be. The battery life is tied into this because the phone has to put extra juice to insure a good quality of the signal.
It won't matter what phone you're on, it will drain faster than if you would have a better signal.
I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm saying that when I'm connected to the MicroCell, i.e. Where there is a very strong signal, my battery drains faster than when I'm NOT connected to the MicroCell at the same location and am down to maybe one bar. The MicroCell causes my battery to drain faster which is the inverse of what should be happening right?
woodbane said:
Hey I have a question for you as I was in EXACTLY the same boat as you. I'm even in New England (Vermont, where are you?).
Anyhow, Samsung Focus here as well. About a month ago the cell signal degraded in my local area to the point I could only make and receive calls at home if I stood out on the front porch. There was no explanation given from AT&T and I spent a frustrating month going back and forth with tech support trying to get their field techs to find out WTF happened.
Long story short, they eventually credited me the full cost of a microcell AND my last months bill.
So, got the microcell, installed all fine and dandy. HERE'S MY QUESTION....have you noticed any change in your battery life? If my phone is connected to the microcell the battery drains REALLY fast. I can take it off charge at 7am, not touch the phone at all and by 4pm I'm way below half. If I do the same thing when the microcell is not on, I can get over 24 hours off a single charge.
Something causes the battery to drain extra fast when the Focus is connected to the MicroCell. Have you noticed this at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in west central NH. I haven't noticed that much of a difference with the micro cell and the battery. I'm not using it as much as I was so maybe that has something to do with it. I do only charge it late at night and that remains the same. I don't recall anyone else that has received a micro cell talk about this. Maybe you should do a google.
Have a good one and good luck with those washed out roads over there.
I have had them for over ten years and ALWAYS been happy with them and been proud to be with them. Lately I have really been thinking about the whole LTE situation. I don't really care that we don't have it right now, i'm worried that we have no plans at all for it. Every carrier has a plan forward even if they are not currently acting upon it at the moment. In a year or so, our hspa+ is going to look like edge speeds compared to everyone else. We seem to be falling behind in the cell phone world. While we never had all the exclusives and such as say Verizon, we still did have some stuff. It feels like we are also losing that also. Is this because DT is ultimately planning to let Tmobile go? Are we on a sinking ship? Thus is not to be a flame war. I just want to know what you guys view are on this.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
I have been with T-mobile since they were Voicestream, so i know how you feel. From what i have read, there are no plans to switch to LTE this year or the next. I have read in a couple of articals that DT is still planning on getting T-Mobile USA out of their inventory, one way or another. I think it was Engadget that had an interview with the big dog at T-mobile and said all of this. They have a lot invested into HSPA+, though its not as consistent as LTE (from my experience) it does the job. My issue is (and this may be only in my area) My dropped call rate and data not working at all is happening WAY to frequently. I know their prices are great and all, but due to the CC issues i have had recently, and the network issues, my faith in T-Mobile is dropping fast and i am considering cancelling and going to big Red. Im willing to spend a little bit extra for something that WORKS. I have filed a couple of complaints about the network with their network division, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Im only one person, what do they care, that's the attitude i get from them these days. I hope to see improvements, but i doubt it will be anytime soon.
I have T-Mobile too . But im from Germany. Here T-mobile is the best choice in networks. But i did not understand if you are going to USA and go to T-Mobile nobody can help you why you have Phone issues i think this is the same Company but they do nothing for the Company in the other Country.
I think T-Mobile wants to sell T-Mobile US because they are not profitable in the moment. Last statistics i see they lost more money in US than in other Countrys. But i think if they don't sell it maybe in 1 -2 Years it can growing and then its profitable.
All the things only depens on Money what the Bosses of the Company get.
Im tired in this but its the truth.
Greez
Failforce
8+ years.
I feel the same way.
I've been with T-Mobile for over two years now, and to be honest I'm about to jump ship for AT&T. I bought my Galaxy Nexus with this in mind, since it has a pentaband HSPA radio.
As much as I hate the blue deathstar and its pricing (which is awful), T-Mobile can no longer claim the stellar customer service crown they once did. Ever since November, T-Mobile has been compressing the hell out of any images I pull down over the mobile network. Web pages are looking like absolute ****, and I'm just done with their excuses.
I've been on the phone with customer service for over ten hours trying to get this stupid image compression removed, but to no avail. The customer service reps are completely useless. The technical support department has no idea what's going on, how to stop it, or what to tell me. I've factory reset my devices dozens of times. I've ran them completely without root and on the stock ROM for weeks at a time (much to my own annoyance) just to rule out any possible local issues causing the compression. No dice.
Nothing will make the image compression go away, short of constantly running all traffic through a VPN, but there's no way to consistently remain connected to the VPN at all times without wakelocking the device. :|
This isn't just some minor compression attached to JPEGs to shave a few kbs off here and there, either. This is major, serious, massive compression to the point where a 180kb JPEG gets smashed down to 54.5kb! It's more than 66% additional compression piled on an already lossy-compressed JPEG, so it looks twice as bad as you'd expect.
Sample images below. This is what T-Mobile's been doing to my internet:
True, full-size image downloaded over my home wifi connection (180kb): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14987157/sample.jpg
Compressed-to-hell image downloaded over T-Mobile's mobile network (54.5kb): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14987157/sample_bad.jpg
It doesn't seem to affect PNG at all, but sadly most of the internet still uses JPEG as the de facto standard. And thus, it gets squished to hell, looks like crap with banding, blocky artifacts, haloing around rasterized text... ugh.
To me, this is a violation of net neutrality principles. The pipes are supposed to be dumb. They aren't supposed to alter what I see for the carrier's convenience. If they can alter what I'm seeing, then they know everything I'm doing. This information is being recorded--it has to be, in order for the image compression proxy to even function--and who knows what the hell T-Mobile is doing with it.
So yeah, I'm breaking my contract and giving up my semi-cheap service because T-Mobile has screwed me. For almost two years I have had nothing but praise for their service, their speeds, rarely having a single dropped call, and most of all their prices. But ever since the Even More Plus plans were nixed, the service has been going downhill fast. With all of that plus this severe image compression, I'm just not going to keep paying them.