7 things Sprint is doing right - Nexus S General

Some of the things Sprint now offers which, in my oppinion, sets the company apart from other cariers:
1. $125 credit for any new number ported to sprint. If you’re on a contract this will help you with that termination fee. I’ve gotten $150 for one of my friends who switched.
2. Truly unlimited data. Few months ago sprint removed their 5GB throttle and is now advertising it while others are limiting their users. This may not be true with their data devices but it’s true with all phones.
3. Free port of your sprint phone number to Google Voice. It used to cost $20 and you had to be off contract to avoid termination fees to be able to port it to Google Voice. Sprint is the first telecom company to partner with Google and offer this.
4. 30 return/cancel contract no questions asked. Again, Sprint was the first one to offer this. If you don’t like the service, they’ll take you off contract after you return the phone with no questions asked.
5. Switch plans without signing up for new contracts. Once again, another dumb rule got thrown out the window and now you can switch plans all you want.
6. Recent change in policy will now require all Sprint service stores to service rooted phones.
7. Recent change in policy will now allow you to remove some or all Sprint pre-installed apps.
And no, I’m not working for sprint.

True 4G? No, I don't think so.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App

But they do charge an extra 10 dollars for 4g,and if T-Mobile does get gobbled up by att, who's to say if Verizon doesn't turn around and do the same to sprint...
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Great post, will definitely help inform people about sprint. Few things though. As far as unlimited data, the 5 gb cap still exists on 3g data, only 4g is uncapped. Also, nobody in USA has true 4g, not even Verizon's amazing LTE is true 4g. Wimax only pulls 10 Megs on average, thats about it. I think true 4g is like 4-6 x's that, or something. Either way, Sprint is not true 4g. You should also tell people the downside of sprint 4g, i.e., it really only works in cars/outside/or buildings with lots of windows. The bandwidth for Wimax doesnt penetrate at all.

I'm in Pittsburgh, so coverage isn't an issue with T-mobile, but let just say a couple things:
1. True 4g? Come on, lets be honest. If you're gonna pull that bull then Verizon is the only one with it.
2. If I remember correctly, Sprint's "4G" is actually slower than T-mobile's "3.5G", so it doesn't matter what it's called. I don't care if something's 10G if it provides lower speeds than 3G.
3. Sprint costs $40 for 4g, while right now I'm paying $20 for 4g (yeah I have a 3g phone, but that's not the point here).
4. Overall pricing is generally lower on T-mobile, so I think that's why several of us will stay. Once my contract is up 2 years from now, then I'll think about it (since a new contract would cost a lot more. Thanks AT&T&T)
That being said, I know sprint's coverage in other areas may be better, so experiences may differ. I thought I'd just offer my 2 cents

I prefer GSM phones

Sprint 4g is only $10 a month, their plans include data so its not 30 + 10. And I have to disagree with tmobile being cheaper. Sprint has unlimited plan starting at 69, add 4g you have unlimited evrything for less than 80 a month. Last time I was with tmobile I think unlimited plans were like 89 or 99. I am a huge fan of tmobile though and if they had a nexus s 4g also, I would go with them over sprint any day.
tsunami1609 said:
I'm in Pittsburgh, so coverage isn't an issue with T-mobile, but let just say a couple things:
1. True 4g? Come on, lets be honest. If you're gonna pull that bull then Verizon is the only one with it.
2. If I remember correctly, Sprint's "4G" is actually slower than T-mobile's "3.5G", so it doesn't matter what it's called. I don't care if something's 10G if it provides lower speeds than 3G.
3. Sprint costs $40 for 4g, while right now I'm paying $20 for 4g (yeah I have a 3g phone, but that's not the point here).
4. Overall pricing is generally lower on T-mobile, so I think that's why several of us will stay. Once my contract is up 2 years from now, then I'll think about it (since a new contract would cost a lot more. Thanks AT&T&T)
That being said, I know sprint's coverage in other areas may be better, so experiences may differ. I thought I'd just offer my 2 cents
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Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Some valid points. Except that unlimited cap. The 5GB is gone. I'm not sure where you get that info.
I agree with the 4G being slow but wimax can be definitely faster than t-mobile 3.5G it's just, as I mentioned, sprint has been offering that for over a year now and has many devices on it. When a bunch of people access the same tower speeds go down. Hopefully they can expand and improve over time. So I disagree that it's all about speed. I think it's all about the technology which, with enough hardware/$$ can create a faster speeds.
As far as pricing goes... it changes from day to day but they are both competitive and offer low prices compared to the other two giants. But I think sprint's coverage all around is better. I guess it depends where you live.
Also, gsm is better in many ways but one thing it doesn't do well in contrast to cdma is switch between towers. Drive 70mph on a state highway while talking on a gsm phone and find out.

obsanity said:
Some valid points. Except that unlimited cap. The 5GB is gone. I'm not sure where you get that info.
I agree with the 4G being slow but wimax can be definitely faster than t-mobile 3.5G it's just, as I mentioned, sprint has been offering that for over a year now and has many devices on it. When a bunch of people access the same tower speeds go down. Hopefully they can expand and improve over time. So I disagree that it's all about speed. I think it's all about the technology which, with enough hardware/$$ can create a faster speeds.
As far as pricing goes... it changes from day to day but they are both competitive and offer low prices compared to the other two giants. But I think sprint's coverage all around is better. I guess it depends where you live.
Also, gsm is better in many ways but one thing it doesn't do well in contrast to cdma is switch between towers. Drive 70mph on a state highway while talking on a gsm phone and find out.
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It appears you are correct sir, 3g is not capped anymore either. Funny, it only lasted a few months. And it appears it was rarely enforced anyway.

I have to say I like sprint a lot. I bought the nexus s on T-Mobile after being lied to by their customer service that it was excellent cell and data coverage in my area. But after getting the phone, I had absolutely no coverage in my home....well to be honest I had 1 bar to none. Then the data was a joke...it was 2G.
I personally don't mind paying the $10 extra fee.
Sprint's plans is nice...and the 1500 minute family share plan is basically unlimited everything because you get free mobile to mobile minutes. I got ridof our house phone and got my wife and my daughter a cellphone....sprint is becoming a strong company...but this is all my opinion.
I'm sure people feel the total opposite and like T-Mobile, but to each their own.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

My biggest problem with sprint is the 3g speed ...wimax is fast but using it all the time sucks down battery...so most of the time you are using sprints slow 3g ....contrast that with T-Mobile where the speeds don't impact battery life or signal strength...on my nexus s I average 3mb down ...on sprint 3g I would be lucky to see 800kb down
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

well for sprint users a reason to change to the nexus s could be to get away from the rude evo community

Something I don't understand is why people will stay in a contract for 2 years because they do not want to pay the early termination fee. I can understand if you do not have the money right now. Simple math tells you what the cheapest answer is. I will make up some fictitious numbers for my example. Which is cheaper, paying 300 dollars for the early termination fee, or paying your cellphone bill of let's say 50 dollars a month for the next 24 months. Now granted when you change carriers, your first months bill is going to be pretty high. The reason behind that is, you are paying for a phone, a prorated month, a regular month, and all the fees associated with starting a new account.
But all that added together is still cheaper than paying 1200 dollars for 2 years of service. I do understand the differences between long term and short term cost. I also understand that many people may not have enough money to make the switch now. Regardless of you switching now or later, you will still pay the same amount of money when starting a new line of service with a new carrier.

mikeyinid said:
Great post, will definitely help inform people about sprint. Few things though. As far as unlimited data, the 5 gb cap still exists on 3g data, only 4g is uncapped. Also, nobody in USA has true 4g, not even Verizon's amazing LTE is true 4g. Wimax only pulls 10 Megs on average, thats about it. I think true 4g is like 4-6 x's that, or something. Either way, Sprint is not true 4g. You should also tell people the downside of sprint 4g, i.e., it really only works in cars/outside/or buildings with lots of windows. The bandwidth for Wimax doesnt penetrate at all.
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As far as I know, no one in the world has true LTE yet. LTE theoretical shared rate is ~320 Mbit/s or ~172 Mbit/s in download and ~90 Mbit/s for upload, usually the "merchandised 4G" is a HSPA++ at 48 Mbit/s (where it can reach that rate) or some "early stage" 4G implementation as the entire standard involves deep core network changes.
At the moment it is... merchandise

Can someone explain if sprint is a mobile operator or another version of Nexus S.
I have nexus S bought with T-mobile, is it possible for me to get 4G on my phone? does it support 4G ?!?! If so, its Superb news, since we have 4G everywhere soon in Sweden.

mikeyinid said:
Sprint 4g is only $10 a month, their plans include data so its not 30 + 10. And I have to disagree with tmobile being cheaper. Sprint has unlimited plan starting at 69, add 4g you have unlimited evrything for less than 80 a month. Last time I was with tmobile I think unlimited plans were like 89 or 99. I am a huge fan of tmobile though and if they had a nexus s 4g also, I would go with them over sprint any day.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Sprint's 69.99 is 450 minutes and unlimited data, + the $10 fee which they swear is not for 4g (and technically it's not since they slap it on all smartphones), so really their cheapest plan is 79.99 for 450 minutes and unlimited data.
T-mobile has basically the same plan for the same price, 500 minutes, unlimited data (yes you're throttled after 5gig but you're not cut off), 79.99 if you're on contract.
If you're NOT on contract (ie; you bought your phone outright), you can get the same package for 59.99 with an Even More Plus plan (basically if you aren't subsidizing your phone, and thus are not on a contract, your plans are $20 cheaper across the board). Sprint doesn't do this. Even if you finish your full contract time on sprint, you'll still pay the same 79.99 per month.
You really don't want to try and claim that Sprint is cheaper than Tmo, they are not. They're about the same if you're on a contract, and Tmo is about $20 cheaper if you're not on contract.
Ultimately in the end it boils down to who has better service in your particular area as to which carrier you prefer.
In my case, I had sprint, the voice service in my area was good, but the data speeds were terrible, so I switched to Tmo, who has excellent voice and data service where I live, and I pay less per month since I own my nexus-s.

all depends on who your calling sprint offers any mobile any time with that 450..
also for sprint family plans its 20 bucks a line +10 bucks if they are smart phones.. how much are they for tmobile?

Raver27 said:
But they do charge an extra 10 dollars for 4g,and if T-Mobile does get gobbled up by att, who's to say if Verizon doesn't turn around and do the same to sprint...
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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Sprint no longer has the $10 fee
Tapa tapa tapa

mlin said:
Sprint no longer has the $10 fee
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That is completely and totally false. Sorry.

Hey netarchy....
I thought tmo did away with off contract prices being 20 bucks cheaper? I can't find that anywhere on their site and I could have sworn that when I bought my nexus s the tmo reps telling me that buying it off contract won't save me on my monthly bills.
And yes sprint still hits you for the ten bucks a month.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Related

$10 monthly fee

So yesterday I got the email from sprint,followed the link and it took me to a "comming soon" page....WTF. So I call sprint, rep asked someone else in the room and said aug. 20. Then I figured I Might as well confirm contract pricing and stuff. She said that the $10/mo. Fee allows higher speed/wider bandwidth connection even on 3g network locations. Can evo owners confirm or deny this?
She also seemed to hint that we might get some sort of pre-notification/pre-order email if your on that list or whatever, I think its all just some sort of bass aackwords social media campain to keep us talking about it...........epic 4g..epic 4g..epic 4g..epic 4g,can I have my phone now?
Evo 4g still is only at select locations "due to unprecidented demand" WTF. Sprint you better pull your head out of your bass and hook an "early adoptor" up.
ummm, what?
radar5 said:
ummm, what?
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That's what I would've said.
Anyway does anyone know if the Epic 4g is gonna cost that $10 extra a month? It's not really all that big of a deal but I still wanna know.
I'd bet 10$ it will. Its here to stay on 4g phones.
Yes its going to cost the extra 10.
I can assure you that they are no faster on 3g than we are. 3g is '3g' is "3g" is EVDO RevA. The technologies don't allow for one device to be different than than other one. The towers don't give an EVO a priority over a Hero, its just not how things work. If the EVO does get a better speed test its because it can process the data faster, so if a website feels like it loads faster - it probably does - but its all in rendering not in the network.
And yes, the $10.00 fee will be there. I am not sure what everyones big deal is with it. It gives you the ability to hit 4G if you can, its a lot easier for sprint to tell you that you can connect to 4G regardless of where you live than for them to keep track of 4G users and non 4G users.
Given I do think they need a 3g super phone for those of you who are complaining.
All about the fee...
Try out explainthefee dot com
Kcarpenter said:
I can assure you that they are no faster on 3g than we are. 3g is '3g' is "3g" is EVDO RevA. The technologies don't allow for one device to be different than than other one. The towers don't give an EVO a priority over a Hero, its just not how things work. If the EVO does get a better speed test its because it can process the data faster, so if a website feels like it loads faster - it probably does - but its all in rendering not in the network.
And yes, the $10.00 fee will be there. I am not sure what everyones big deal is with it. It gives you the ability to hit 4G if you can, its a lot easier for sprint to tell you that you can connect to 4G regardless of where you live than for them to keep track of 4G users and non 4G users.
Given I do think they need a 3g super phone for those of you who are complaining.
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Ok so I kind of accepted what she said ( I don't argue with children or uninformed people),but I asked "sooo the fee makes me somekind of priority user?" She replied "yes" I said "ummm ok". Please understand that I'm not saying she was right or truthful. Also when I went into the sprint store to ask about coverage in my little 3 stoplight town they had multiple overlapping signal strength maps on their terminal (3 I think). They were telling me yes your in 3g coverage area, yes your in area for cell modem, hotspot at home etc. Its my understanding all of these devices operate on the same network, but at differant speeds usually, isn't a cell modem plan more than adding data coverage and also faster? IDK maybe cell modem users do have priority.
The reason makes sense to me is because I use to move pretty often and I had a blackberry pearl that I bought when it first came out specifically for use as usb tether modem. Whenever the local high school let out for the day my connection would take a dump, so I would call T-mobile and explain my problem," is there anything you can do, this is a really important work project? They'd say hold on ill try to boost your network priority. I did this 2-3 times a week and it seemed to work, every time I called in I got the same response,T-mo RIM support had their own dept. Back in the day and they were actually quite good. This took place from 4-2 years ago.
Disclaimer
I am not a lawyer, don't play one on tv, and didn't sleep in a holiday inn express lastnight.
harrybozack said:
Try out explainthefee dot com
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You could just choose not to have Sprint. You always have that choice. They aren't adding the fee to current subscribers without possibly using the service. Unlike the other carriers with similar products, the user experience IS very different. I don't know if its your website, or a website you're just fond of. But if you really want to make Sprint pay for their $10 fee, then don't use them. Even with the $10 fee, they still sold out on the Evo, maybe its because their service isn't half-bad for what you do pay for.
Would you complain to the BBB about AT&T just announcing tiered data plans? No, because there is nothing you can do about it. Want an Iphone 4, pay for your extra data you'll use. VZW will go this way soon enough.
They are charging $10 extra a month on all of their 4G phones now. They charge evo $10 extra for the chance to use 4G if you can find it.
Ok so I went to explainthefee.com read the transcript and some other stuff. My guess is that some mid level exec. business school graduate got his hot little hands on a evo, flexed its muscles and decided that they "could/should" charge more. Keep in mind 2 things, firstly these guys running the companies don't understand/care about "fringe users like us" their personal phones are not rooted/overclocked/themed they have no idea!,they may have never bothered using youtube etc. On a smaller screeen device. Secondly the new CEO of sprint turned the company around and wanted to offer the lowest priced plans available with the most everything. They want it both ways and that's why they can't answer a simple question "what am I paying for".
I guess the 10$ is for..........Ummm well were not going to restructure our entire rate plan menu because of one device are we? I mean we signed a contract for 1.5m rate plan pamplets, and those little signs in all the stores.........etc.
I say after the epic is released we start a serious email/bbb campain they don't seem to have any firm ground to stand on. They will raise all rate plans $10 or more and allow us our legacy plans without the $10 fee.
Remember AFTER epic release............... Say 10 days?
Indeed, as far as I know, what they're doing is essentially unheard of in the US. I wasn't into phones as much back in 2002 or so when 3G first got started, but I do know that nowadays you don't have to pay an extra surcharge for EDGE over GPRS, or HSPA over EDGE (apologies for the GSM examples). You pay for Internet on other carriers, plain and simple. It would be slightly easier to take if they at least gave you the choice to not use their 4G Internet, especially since it might not be available where you live anyway, and they may have no plans to make it available.
BTW Thank You harrybozack for explainthefee.com
All future epic owners and sprint customers should be aware of
explainthefee.com and their efforts.
explainthefee.com
Epic4g...epic4g...epic4g...epic4g...epic4g...epic4g...epic4g...epic 4g...epic 4g...epic 4g...epic 4g......
Can I purchase my phone now?
gophergun said:
Indeed, as far as I know, what they're doing is essentially unheard of in the US. I wasn't into phones as much back in 2002 or so when 3G first got started, but I do know that nowadays you don't have to pay an extra surcharge for EDGE over GPRS, or HSPA over EDGE (apologies for the GSM examples). You pay for Internet on other carriers, plain and simple. It would be slightly easier to take if they at least gave you the choice to not use their 4G Internet, especially since it might not be available where you live anyway, and they may have no plans to make it available.
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You do realize that when the iPhone 3G came out, they jacked up the cost of the internet plans on AT&T right? I THINK it was $20 for the 1st gen, and $30 for the 3G.
reply
entropism said:
You do realize that when the iPhone 3G came out, they jacked up the cost of the internet plans on AT&T right? I THINK it was $20 for the 1st gen, and $30 for the 3G.
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Firstly we are Android users, and as such I don't drink from the kool-aid cup of at&t/steve jobs/apple. Secondly at&t aplies their rates evenly on all users. Would I pay more per month
For a i4 vs i3gs?
And in conclusion what product or service is being provided for $10/mo. Or $120/yr Or in my case $240/yr? Am I renting a big screen/fast processor/whatever, in addition to paying for the device and service?
I'm sorry but I'm so tired of reading about the $10 fee, (Did a lot of lurking on the EVO forums before it released)
The $10 sucks, but it does allow you to access 4G in various locations around the country. Out of the 5 or 6 Cities I'm visiting in the next year, 4G is everywhere but Wichita so I won't be missing out.
Even then, paying $79.99 for a plan is still cheaper than what you would pay with AT&T and Verizon.
If you're too upset to pay the fee, it's not that hard to switch to another company that offers a comparable high level android phone and not have to pay that $10. Maybe if you and enough like minded people don't sign up for the 4G phones, it'll make a difference to Sprint.
I just get so tired of seeing these same old complaints from people and then they turn around and get the phone anyway!
So let me explain the fee:
With Comcast/Charter you have different levels of speed you are able to get - you pay more for faster speed. They cannot guarantee that you will get 25 mb/s but - you pay for it any way...theres your explanation. You don't want the fee, don't buy the hardware.
I don't understand the drama.
kgold708 said:
Ok so I kind of accepted what she said ( I don't argue with children or uninformed people),but I asked "sooo the fee makes me somekind of priority user?" She replied "yes" I said "ummm ok". Please understand that I'm not saying she was right or truthful. Also when I went into the sprint store to ask about coverage in my little 3 stoplight town they had multiple overlapping signal strength maps on their terminal (3 I think). They were telling me yes your in 3g coverage area, yes your in area for cell modem, hotspot at home etc. Its my understanding all of these devices operate on the same network, but at differant speeds usually, isn't a cell modem plan more than adding data coverage and also faster? IDK maybe cell modem users do have priority.
The reason makes sense to me is because I use to move pretty often and I had a blackberry pearl that I bought when it first came out specifically for use as usb tether modem. Whenever the local high school let out for the day my connection would take a dump, so I would call T-mobile and explain my problem," is there anything you can do, this is a really important work project? They'd say hold on ill try to boost your network priority. I did this 2-3 times a week and it seemed to work, every time I called in I got the same response,T-mo RIM support had their own dept. Back in the day and they were actually quite good. This took place from 4-2 years ago.
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There is a priority on the network, and it would probably allow you to drop less calls. I think priority 0 is reserved for emergency departments use - but speed would not be affected by it. Just how often you can poll the tower and how likely you are to be bumped off in high traffic.
1: I'm ok with paying $10 extra for decreased latancy/higher network priority. Not ok with "enhanced user experience" BS
2: I am going to sign a contract for @$3840-4000, 2 devices 2yr contract, that $10 fee is $480. If I pay over $500 (after tax) for something, don't you think I should know what it is?
3: Sprint fanboys/employees,how about next time they charge $20/mo (Android 3.0 provides an enhanced-enhanced experience).

4G unlimited web?

Why is it not illegal to advertise and have us pay for 4G service that most of us don't receive? My bill says 4G not internet. I believe that is misleading. Yes I understand the service might not be available in all areas, but we are being forced to actually pay more for the same service.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
hammer4203 said:
Why is it not illegal to advertise and have us pay for 4G service that most of us don't receive? My bill says 4G not internet. I believe that is misleading. Yes I understand the service might not be available in all areas, but we are being forced to actually pay more for the same service.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
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You're not forced to do anything and nobody owes anything to you. You pay as much as everybody else does. Don't like what you get with T-mobile - feel free to leave and get raped by any other carrier
Verizon - don't know what they got but it's expensive last time I checked.
Sprint $10 additional premium internet fee
AT&T - don't even get me started with them.
You wouldn't have to worry about none of this if you bough a JitterBug
You don't actually pay more for the data plan. They just call it 4G internet. It's the same price as the regular unlimited data plan. It's marketing spiff.
You can always call in to loyalty and see if you can't get the preferred android web. $20. Or go to another provider. You chose T-mo. You chose the MT4G. If you didn't want the data plan, they why did you get a smartphone?????
Remember to get the deal you have to agree to the $10 price hike. All I'm saying is they label it 4G and tout about it all the time and most of the tmo network is still on 2G. I was told to go and harass the local tmo manager about the slow network. That they actually have input on network upgrades. You know how they were suppose to change the tier frequencies over? Guess what. The government is trying not to release those now. Which in turn keeps us from moving up just to 3G. The courts finally ordered mississippi to release them. I can't really blame tmo for that. I get good service and respect from my local tmo store to make me stay. I even protested them when they tried to fire him.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
hammer4203 said:
Remember to get the deal you have to agree to the $10 price hike.
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What hike? I'm on $25 unlimited web/400 text/mms plan and have been since I got G1, same thing with my wife who picked up G2. Price for new customers is higher, they have a choice and they can go anywhere else if they think they can find a better deal.
Existing customers grandfather plans, you just have to ask for it. Or, you can buy your phone outright and not have a data plan with it at all or just buy cheaper plan.
But in any case, everyone has a choice and if you think t-mobile does not fit your lifestyle or too expensive or has bad coverage - you have 14 days to change your mind and return the phone/cancel service.
Not exactly what I was trying to get across. They sell the 4G phone and make you upgrade to get the good price. The bill it as 4G unlimited web! That is considered fraud. We don't have anything but 2G here. It really has nothing to do with money at all! All I want is what they say I'm paying for. 4G! Actually I will settle on 3G.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
That's how they can subsidize that phone and sell it to your for $50 or $150, because you're paying for the data plan.
It's pointless....
LOL Its funny to see a thread like this, this is pretty much like us EVO users who complained about the $10 premium data add-on in the summer.
I'm just here to say that that grass isn't greener anywhere with this issue, just live with it or don't buy a "4G" capable phone.
Sprint & T-Mobile are the only two so far that are at least keeping 4G unlimited, vs. future AT&T & VZW's tietered (overage trap) solutions.
hammer4203 said:
Not exactly what I was trying to get across. They sell the 4G phone and make you upgrade to get the good price. The bill it as 4G unlimited web! That is considered fraud. We don't have anything but 2G here. It really has nothing to do with money at all! All I want is what they say I'm paying for. 4G! Actually I will settle on 3G.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
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lol how ignorant are you? U get the phone for $150 when it retails for 500 or so... do you think tmobile is just giving their phones away at garage sale prices? you will pay for that phone over a length of time and increased data is one way they can do it... if they are only selling that phone with that certain data plan then be ready to pay their premium prices if u want that phone...
besides that, why would you buy a 4g phone and complain about not getting 4g when you do not even live somewhere that has 4g? come down to phoenix or head over to NY and you can have all the 4g you want, I assure you that you will get it and will get a little more what you pay for there...
anyway, my mom just picked this phone up yesterday, was 130 with her upgrade and buy 1 get one free assuming you had 2 lines to upgrade with... it was 15 for 200mb of data or 30 for unlimited (5gb) of data and they had a promotion for new data customers could get unlimited for 20 a month...
I really have no idea what you are ranting about... nothing they are doing is illegal... you have 4g capabilities, you just cannot use it where you live... tough luck buddy...
Just to shut this guy up here -
T-Mobile have 2 4G phones, the MT4G and the G2. Unlimited data plans for them are the same as you would pay on the Vibrant, the Cliq and the Behold II. What extra charge are you seeing?
borodin1 said:
You're not forced to do anything and nobody owes anything to you. You pay as much as everybody else does. Don't like what you get with T-mobile - feel free to leave and get raped by any other carrier
Verizon - don't know what they got but it's expensive last time I checked.
Sprint $10 additional premium internet fee
AT&T - don't even get me started with them.
You wouldn't have to worry about none of this if you bough a JitterBug
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This is just funny. I payed through the nose for Verizon service and i constantly shop around to see if other carriers are more reasonable.
I have unlimited everything on two phones and I'm about equal to what I was paying at Verizon with no data. My speeds are way faster for data than any of my friends on ATT, Verizon, Sprint.
They'll throttle your speeds if you go over 5gb I think.... Just stop tethering and playing Starcraft lol.
All the "4G Unlimited Web" means is what Watson (T-Mobile 's computer system) calls the internet plan for the MT4G and the G2.
It's a billing code that is associated to the phone, and is the same exact thing as the Android Unlimited Web plan ($30/$25 if grandfathered in; for non-MyTouchs) and the MyTouch Unlimted Web ($30; for pre-G2/MT4G MyTouch phones).
The regular unlimited web plan ($10/mo) which you are probably considering as being much cheaper is for non-smartphones. Android phones are extremely data-intensive. They are constantly updating email, weather, etc., as compared to regular phones which only connect when the user chooses to. As such, I think T-Mobile has every right to charge a little more for a phone that constantly uses bandwidth. Besides, we're lucky. T-Mobile is pretty much the cheapest carrier for unlimited web, and also the only one that doesn't FORCE you to have internet.
Like someone else said, if you've been with T-Mobile for a long time (more than 2yrs and the longer the better) you can generally get CS to change your internet to the "MyTouch Preferred" internet. It's the same thing as the 4G Unlimited Web, but is $20/mo instead.
As for the legality of the plan name, you still get the 4G speeds if you go into a 4G zone. So no, it's in no way illegal to post that. You aren't paying more and they aren't forcing you to pay for the internet (don't want it? Call CS and cancel it. Heck, you may even get someone nice who will give you a month or two free...)
On a side note, if you think it's too expensive, but just have to have internet on your phone, get the cheaper 200MB plan for the MyTouch. You still get the guaranteed 4G speed, but just get cut off at 200MB (but I really wouldn't suggest it)
Hopefully everything I told you help put everything in perspective.
I'm currently on the myTouch unlimited + 400 text for $24.99. Will I "NOT" get HSPA+(4g speeds) without the 4g data plan??? Only network I get is HSDPA which is 3g. Any input is appreciated.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

TMOBILE vs SPRINT

Thinking of jumping ship to tmobile since 4G has never been offered in my area for Sprint. Also the pricing is a little better than Sprint? However outside of my area service is non-existent unless I force my phone into roaming? I like the data plan Sprint has but believe Sprint will change there data plan in the coming months. With that I will be grandfathered in until my contract ends. So if someone could tell me if they have trouble with data and signal or if it is great, or what they have to do get signal since tmobile is gsm instead of cdma?
mikerowes69 said:
Thinking of jumping ship to tmobile since 4G has never been offered in my area for Sprint. Also the pricing is a little better than Sprint? However outside of my area service is non-existent unless I force my phone into roaming? I like the data plan Sprint has but believe Sprint will change there data plan in the coming months. With that I will be grandfathered in until my contract ends. So if someone could tell me if they have trouble with data and signal or if it is great, or what they have to do get signal since tmobile is gsm instead of cdma?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What?!?!
I'm not sure what you are asking. Not knowing where you are at, generally speaking if you have good sprint signal you would have good t-mobile signal. If you do not have good sprint signal, you may have just as poor t-mobile signal as their tower footprints are similar. If you live out from a city or something, AT&T or most especially Verizon have much larger footprints.
Do you mean they have a better price but for less services? Like not having unlimited texting or something? I thought Sprint had the best price.
Evo_Shift said:
Do you mean they have a better price but for less services? Like not having unlimited texting or something? I thought Sprint had the best price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the pricing is very similar, but you get speed cut back on data once you go over the limit of your specific plan. Sprint data on thier network is not throttled or limited.
raptoro07 said:
What?!?!
I'm not sure what you are asking. Not knowing where you are at, generally speaking if you have good sprint signal you would have good t-mobile signal. If you do not have good sprint signal, you may have just as poor t-mobile signal as their tower footprints are similar. If you live out from a city or something, AT&T or most especially Verizon have much larger footprints.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint and Tmobile have very good signal in my area. However No 4G for Sprint, but 4G for Tmobile is here. Once you leave my city since I travel outside it for work alot the signal fades. I then use "ROAM Control" to force into to roam mode. I need to know is there a way to force Roaming on the Nexus S or any other phone on the TMobile network?
US Cellular is very good in the rural areas but it is CDMA and the pricing is quite a bit higher.
Well TMobile post paid plans are better, I think for 45 dollars you get, one hundred mins, unlimited texts, and five gbs of data
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
raptoro07 said:
I believe the pricing is very similar, but you get speed cut back on data once you go over the limit of your specific plan. Sprint data on thier network is not throttled or limited.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your info. It will not bother too much since I dont use over 2 GB a month.
BrianDigital said:
Well TMobile post paid plans are better, I think for 45 dollars you get, one hundred mins, unlimited texts, and five gbs of data
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile pre paid is 30 dollars for this same plan. Just throwing that out there. That's what I'm using right now. Unlimited data but it gets throttled at 5gb
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
tycruickshank said:
T-Mobile pre paid is 30 dollars for this same plan. Just throwing that out there. That's what I'm using right now. Unlimited data but it gets throttled at 5gb
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are the limitations of your plan, and the cost outright for the phone?
tycruickshank said:
T-Mobile pre paid is 30 dollars for this same plan. Just throwing that out there. That's what I'm using right now. Unlimited data but it gets throttled at 5gb
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I meant do you have any trouble getting phones to work, or is it as simple as popping the Sim in, I'm really thinking about jumping ship I'm getting sick of paying 80ISH dollars a month
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
mikerowes69 said:
Sprint and Tmobile have very good signal in my area. However No 4G for Sprint, but 4G for Tmobile is here. Once you leave my city since I travel outside it for work alot the signal fades. I then use "ROAM Control" to force into to roam mode. I need to know is there a way to force Roaming on the Nexus S or any other phone on the TMobile network?
US Cellular is very good in the rural areas but it is CDMA and the pricing is quite a bit higher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint is CDMA and T-Mobile is GSM, the phones are not interchangable on each other's network. You would have to get a GSM phone, and it would have to have T-Mobile specific frequencies for HSPDA+ (Their "4G" which is 1700mhz, different that AT&T's 1900mhz) in order to get 4G speeds.
mikerowes69 said:
What are the limitations of your plan, and the cost outright for the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BrianDigital said:
That's what I meant do you have any trouble getting phones to work, or is it as simple as popping the Sim in, I'm really thinking about jumping ship I'm getting sick of paying 80ISH dollars a month
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my phone (i9020T) used for around 200, but you can still find new ones around on the internet for I think around 400-500 USD maybe cheaper if you can find a good deal. The i9023 (the SLCD screen) is usually cheaper. I found some online for around 300 - 350 USD. Both the i9023 and the i9020T will work with 3G on T-Mobile's network. The data speeds I get are quite good as well. Some places I'll get as much as 5 megs down but the norm is usually around 3 to 4 for me. There are no limitation with the plan really that I can think of. I mean the only thing is that you only get 100 minutes but I've bought Groove IP (VOIP app in the Play Store) so essentially I have unlimited minutes now as well. Only paying $30 a month.
All you have to do is get a T-Mobile prepaid sim from the website and pop it in the phone and you're good to go.
I did exact as user above, $30 and then Groove IP. For my location T-Mobile is vastly faster, but you have to check your location coverage. In big cities Sprint can be fast. Since their phone is CDMA they don't use SIM so their phones goes for slighty lower value. You can get Sprint Nexus S cheaper than GSM version.
Check here for some prepaid plans: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21604722&postcount=2
I hope this doesn't seem like an ass move but, but I have a Nexus S t-mobile for sale.
I can't wait my etc goes down to a hundred in a month, I'm debating just going galaxy nexus or HTC one x, either one that's for sale at best buy and use that buy back plan which my girl didbwith her new iPhone 4s she's been guarenteed 400 bucks before six months, it almost worth it to be a phone whore
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk
I like the Pre-Paid Montly plans in T-Mobile.
$30 100 mins/UL SMS/ 5GB 4G data Walmart and online?
$30 1500 min-SMS /30Mb
$50 UL min/UL SMS/ UL Data(1st 100 mb at 4G)
$60 UL /UL /UL Data (1st 2GB 4G)
I use the $50, You can change every month to any of the plans.
Tip :If you buy the Card in Calling Mart $100 goes for $95 no tax charged.
So if you pick the $50 it would be like paying around 44+Tax in a post paid (Yes $44 for an unlimited everything).
About Signal, I don't have problems, ATT is a little better(3G+) but much more expensive.
Now I don't like Sprint or Verizon because I like the flexibility of having a GSM unlocked phone.

Sprint VS T-Mobile or Tmobile and Throttling

So, its just about time to upgrade to upgrade my Sprint Phone (Evo). I got it coming up in May, unless something changes I might be going with the SG2, just looks great and it has capabilities for LTE as well as Wimax.
I just got a new job that lets me get a discount on T-Mobile, and I after looking at their plans, it would save me a few bucks (literally like 4). I have heard rumors that HSPA+ is slighly faster than Wimax but I never compared the two.
So HSPA+ faster than Wimax?
-----------------------------------------------
I use my phone 90% of the time as a router. My college blocks everything so I am always on tether. I just looked it up and used 16GB last month, and that seems to be the lower average. My point is that Sprint's unlimited truly means unlimited with no caps. T-Mobile throttles after 2GB or 5GB according to the plan. How much of a throttle? Is it significant?
It throttles you down to EDGE speeds, so 2g. Around 20kbps, which won't load a black and white smiley face on your screen for 20 seconds. If you're going to use more than 5GB's per month, stick with Sprint.
T-Mobile throttles at different tiers on different plans, from 100MB-5GB
Speeds on HSPA+ seem to be faster for me on T-Mobile than on Sprint in Portland, Oregon. That could be different for you, but T-Mobile's 42mbps HSPA+ Is closer to LTE than WiMax in my opinion.
In some areas T-Mobile also forcibly compresses all images pulled down in web pages regardless of your data usage and data plan. There is no way to turn this "feature" off.
Well first the SGS2 does not support Wimax and lte...no device does except for a hotspot...
Imho you will be better off not getting the SGS2 and instead using your upgrade on a truly new device that the hardware spec is not a year old almost. That is unless $ is a big factor and you don't want to spend $250ish on a device...
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Did some research and found you are right. It is really disappointing because I had a Sprint tech and a Sprint sales rep tell me point blank that the SG2 was Wimax and LTE. Can't trust people nowadays.
Battery consumption is much better with HSPA+ vs LTE.
TheBDub said:
It throttles you down to EDGE speeds, so 2g. Around 20kbps, which won't load a black and white smiley face on your screen for 20 seconds. If you're going to use more than 5GB's per month, stick with Sprint.
T-Mobile throttles at different tiers on different plans, from 100MB-5GB
Speeds on HSPA+ seem to be faster for me on T-Mobile than on Sprint in Portland, Oregon. That could be different for you, but T-Mobile's 42mbps HSPA+ Is closer to LTE than WiMax in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Goes to up to 10.
synaesthetic said:
In some areas T-Mobile also forcibly compresses all images pulled down in web pages regardless of your data usage and data plan. There is no way to turn this "feature" off.
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Click to collapse
False.
iball8888 said:
Did some research and found you are right. It is really disappointing because I had a Sprint tech and a Sprint sales rep tell me point blank that the SG2 was Wimax and LTE. Can't trust people nowadays.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah no problem, didn't want u going out and buying a device being that misled...
It's a shame when that crap happens to ppl.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
sgt. slaughter said:
Yeah no problem, didn't want u going out and buying a device being that misled...
It's a shame when that crap happens to ppl.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to be a Sprint store technician, and when the Epic Touch had the Loss of Signal issue (which has long been fixed, officially), Sprint's Tech Support over the phone told me that I should have bought an iPhone because Android always breaks. Word for word. I was like, ok so give me an iPhone, I'll give back the Epic Touch. And they said no.
These days you have to fend for yourself unfortunately. Chances are, if you're an XDA user, you know more than a carrier's tech support.
chrischoi said:
False.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explain. I suffered this issue for four months and had to switch to AT&T to avoid it.
To the OP. I tried switching to t-mobile twice because IMO they have better phones and prices. but both times I had to switch back. my story: i knew tmobile had the 5gb data cap on teh monthly 4g plan i wanted so I checked my sprint data usage for 5 months and noticed i am only using 2-3 gb a month. I figured great so i went and got the Htc amaze after 6 days by data usage was over 1.5 gb. I went to the store and asked them is it possible that the data reading on the phone and website could be wrong? my setup was the same on my sprint evo and my htc amaze so it wasn't a program that could have been using that much data so i returned the phone. 2 weeks later i went back to the store drooling over the amaze but knew i couldn't get it because i would go over the 5gb easy. I spoke with a rep and he said he uses data heavily and never goes over so i said ok ill try it again maybe it was the phone. this time around i didn't tether at all except for 5 min to test it out. hardly used Pandora and made sure my setup was the same as the evo. this time i gave it 10 days and i was already over 3gb. i was half ass using my phone and still i would have been over. I have searched about this called tmobile and haven't come up with a good reason why this phone was using so much data. a buddy of mine went to att and i told him that he would def go over but after a few days he said no man im good . at the end of the month he called *****ing that he went over the att cap which was even lower than tmobile. until the come up with a prepaid plan that gives 10gb i have to stay away. oh yea and when they throttle you the above comments are correct its edge speed and way to slow for anything but email and light web surfing.
iball8888 said:
I just looked it up and used 16GB last month, and that seems to be the lower average. My point is that Sprint's unlimited truly means unlimited with no caps. T-Mobile throttles after 2GB or 5GB according to the plan. How much of a throttle? Is it significant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this will be the main issue.
When I pass 5GB, I get throttled to EDGE (2G) speeds. For most purposes this is like running out of data. You're going to be stuck at 2GB or 5GB. Email is fine at EDGE speeds - anything else requires too much speed.
Stick with Sprint, as it seems the savings aren't really significant, anyway.
IMO Sprint sucks if you're not in a Wimax area and the Wimax isn't that great anyway.. Sprint's EVDO network is an absolute JOKE. I figured since I'm not covered by Wimax I'd switch my E4GT to Boost to save money, but Boost's(Sprint's) EVDO was nowhere near as fast as T-Mobile's 3G.. It really sucks because my E4GT is hands down the best phone I've ever used, but the internet is almost unusable it's so slow.. I'm putting it up for sale soon to switch back to T-Mobile.
Speeds really depend on where you live. I have spotty 4g in my area but never need it. at my house i have to use wifi but in most places i can stream Pandora without any buffering. everyone always talks about speed but as long as you can stream music and video without and buffering whats the issue? unless you are tethering to your pc and downloading torrents speeds over 250kps will stream just fine.
This is how Verizon does it:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDxJoGv3FLA&feature=channel
Now that is throttling right there. They send me a new phone and it does the same. They have lied to me 3 times now, one that was just needed a reset, that I just needed a new phone and they don't throttle. I had only used 12GB and they do that. OK thats BS
itsjefflol said:
IMO Sprint sucks if you're not in a Wimax area and the Wimax isn't that great anyway.. Sprint's EVDO network is an absolute JOKE. I figured since I'm not covered by Wimax I'd switch my E4GT to Boost to save money, but Boost's(Sprint's) EVDO was nowhere near as fast as T-Mobile's 3G.. It really sucks because my E4GT is hands down the best phone I've ever used, but the internet is almost unusable it's so slow.. I'm putting it up for sale soon to switch back to T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gonna be leaving right before the network takes a giant improvement with the network vision deployment set to be complete by end of next year....3G speeds 1-3Mbps....most all 3G coverage blanketed by LTE.....
Check S4GRU.com for some details on the rollout schedule. This isn't the sprint.com/network crap that's shown this is completely different and involves backhaul changes from the ancient T1 based to microwave/fiber based...
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
T-mobile rocks over Sprint for data, coverage and price
flexte said:
To the OP. I tried switching to t-mobile twice because IMO they have better phones and prices. but both times I had to switch back. my story: i knew tmobile had the 5gb data cap on teh monthly 4g plan i wanted so I checked my sprint data usage for 5 months and noticed i am only using 2-3 gb a month. I figured great so i went and got the Htc amaze after 6 days by data usage was over 1.5 gb. I went to the store and asked them is it possible that the data reading on the phone and website could be wrong? my setup was the same on my sprint evo and my htc amaze so it wasn't a program that could have been using that much data so i returned the phone. 2 weeks later i went back to the store drooling over the amaze but knew i couldn't get it because i would go over the 5gb easy. I spoke with a rep and he said he uses data heavily and never goes over so i said ok ill try it again maybe it was the phone. this time around i didn't tether at all except for 5 min to test it out. hardly used Pandora and made sure my setup was the same as the evo. this time i gave it 10 days and i was already over 3gb. i was half ass using my phone and still i would have been over. I have searched about this called tmobile and haven't come up with a good reason why this phone was using so much data. a buddy of mine went to att and i told him that he would def go over but after a few days he said no man im good . at the end of the month he called *****ing that he went over the att cap which was even lower than tmobile. until the come up with a prepaid plan that gives 10gb i have to stay away. oh yea and when they throttle you the above comments are correct its edge speed and way to slow for anything but email and light web surfing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I picked up my HTC Amaze (a 42.2 mbps device) on T-mobile in early January, and I live in a California city that has T-mobile HSPA+ 42.2 mbps coverage, just to be clear. When I bought my Amaze, I had to re-up my contract and at the time, I was asked to choose between a 5GB plan per month ($25 on top of the monthly $40 value plan) and a 10GB plan per month ($50 + my $40 value plan). So for price, it is impossible to beat T-mobile for the service you get.
I use my Amaze daily to go online, download and upload large files (I am a graphic designer) and watch videos and stream music. For the last 5 months I've had my phone, I've come close to 5GB twice. That is with heavy usage and this last month having a nearly two hour Skype conversation with a friend of mine where I used 2GB in one sitting!!! I also use my phone with the free WiFi Hotspot feature that comes with the 5GB & 10GB data plan as my computer's internet provider. I don't have a physical cable in my house, just my Amaze.
As far as speed, my friends with iPhones on ALL 3 NETWORKS (Sprint, Verizon and AT&T) all get slower speeds than I do. I was challenged by them and shut them all up in contests against google searches, Siri vs Google Voice Search and Speedtest.net. I have also speedtested the nicer handsets by Samsung and HTC running on AT&T and matched or beat them in my city in a few places around town. Sprint's speed was not even on the radar, barely chugging at 1mbps usually. I pull over 12 mbps usually everywhere I go, with upload speeds from 5-8 mbps on average.
As far as data, I have never gone over my 5GB but see how others could, and I bet when T-mobile gets LTE Advance up and running I'll add in the extra 5 gigs.
The greater points I'm making are the following:
A) Sprint's network it a sham. Even when they finally get around to offering LTE in California, which will be who-knows-when, T-mobile will have switched on its LTE advanced release 10 network, with HSPA+ 42.2 mbps backup, nationally. If you're a Sprint user, jump ship now or when T-mobile lights it up in 2013.
B) It's pretty darn hard to use up 5 Gigs per month if your not a power user. I don't know how someone with the HTC Amaze and the Usage monitor that is part of T-mobile's apps and in the HTC phone itself can't determine what was eating up data. That just doesn't make sense. You can easily pinpoint what's using your data by using the included Usage setting on your phone. And if 5GB isn't enough, get 10! But that option does exist.
C) T-mobile may not offer unlimited data speed at 4G, but get a 10GB plan and you will fly over the speeds you get on Sprint and save money while doing it. You could pay one price on Sprint for 1.5 mbps download speed unlimited (SLOW), or you could pay the same, maybe a little less and get 10GB at 4G speeds on T-mobile... and then in 2013 enjoy them lighting up a national LTE advance network that will arguably be the speediest LTE network on the planet.
D) The HTC Amaze is one bad-ass MoFo of a phone.
That is all.
for me i switched from t-mobile to boost because of their lack of 3g/4g in my town on t-mobile i was always on edge it is very slow, i switched to boost and i have EvDO now, its not the best of the best but atleast i can open a website now without my screen timing out. :good:
Product F(RED) said:
I used to be a Sprint store technician, and when the Epic Touch had the Loss of Signal issue (which has long been fixed, officially), Sprint's Tech Support over the phone told me that I should have bought an iPhone because Android always breaks. Word for word. I was like, ok so give me an iPhone, I'll give back the Epic Touch. And they said no.
These days you have to fend for yourself unfortunately. Chances are, if you're an XDA user, you know more than a carrier's tech support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know what, they did the same thing to my dad. There was a hardware issue with his OG evo (a great phone during its day) where the speaker was going too quiet. The sales guy basically was telling him how it's because it's an android phone, how much better iphone is, etc.
Honestly I think the reason they are doing this is because they literally bet their future on the iphone. They are guaranteed to be paying apple 16 billion dollars over the next 4 years, regardless of whether or not they actually sell that much money worth of iphones. You better believe that they are going to try their damndest to sell them.
Anyways, I'm thinking of ditching sprint for t-mobile myself. I live in phoenix, which has zero 4g coverage from sprint. Several years back they told me that they would be deploying wimax here shortly. Where are we now? Nowhere.
I called them earlier today to cancel one of my lines, and they kept asking me if I want to use it for a data card, or if I just wanted to hold on to it "just in case" etc. I told the lady that I am thinking of switching to t-mobile, gave her all of these reasons why, and she brings up the "unlimited data" talking point. I kind of chuckle under my breath, and then tell her that their 3g service is really slow, their 4g service barely compares to other carrier's 3g service, and finally, they don't even offer 4g in my area, which is the 6th largest city in the US. She then tells me that they are going to be offering it here soon, so I tell her that that's what they told me a few years ago.
Yeah there are "rumors" that phoenix is due early in their second rollout, however similar rumors kept surfacing about wimax coming to phoenix next an entire year after it finished rolling out everywhere else. Other smaller towns outside of the valley (and I mean like over 70 miles away) got it, but not in the valley area.
In any case, I am on my third "4g" phone, and still have not ever had 4g. Even if LTE came soon to my area, I'm not terribly excited about it, mainly because the LTE gnex has a quarter of the battery life of the HSPA version when both are actively using 4g. I don't care if LTE is 10% faster, it's a huge f*cking battery drain.
Anyways, I'm not a heavy data user, so 4g hasn't been a huge priority to me. What is annoying is how I have to fight sprint's billing department every other month because they always manage to screw up something on my bill and overcharge me. I've been dealing with this for the last 7 years and I am tired of it. Sprint sucks, 'nuff said.
I really want to jump off of sprint, but I am hesitant because I don't know if t-mobile's voice service is more spotty, because according to sensorly their coverage is about 80% of that of sprint in my area. However, t-mobile would save me $40 a month, and because of the company I work for, I will have the activation fee waived.
Sprint coverage is so spotty. According to the coverage map I'm suppose to get 4g in my neighborhood and I don't. 98% percent of the time I'm on slow 3g. With T-Mobile I'm on 4g everywhere I go and its a good feeling to pull out your phone and handle your business with ease and speed unlike sprint.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Long time Epic users, if you could bail on Sprint...

I love the Epic. Love it. So much that even though I used the ET4G for a while, I went back to the Epic. The problem is that I don't love Sprint. For the 10+ years I've been a customer, I've watched the quality of their customer service and technical output decrease considerably. Living in New York City, I'm dealing with data speed slower than a dial-up modem. Sprint claims that they're over capacity in my neighborhood. For a carrier to make a claim like that in NYC is absolutely ludicrous. Nevermind that there are far more densely populated areas of the city with drastically better data speeds than I'm getting, one of the three significant mobile phone carriers should be ashamed to admit that they can't provide adequate service in New York City.
Now, let's suppose you could walk away from your Sprint contract free of charge and go to Verizon for slightly less than you're paying now. Additionally, imagine you've never used more than 2 gigs of data in a month (Sprint's data speeds make using more than 500 MB of 3G in a month impossible anyway) so the somewhat enigmatic lure of "unlimited data" means nothing to you.
Would you walk or stick it out with Sprint?
Only for Droid 4
thats a whole lot of imagining.
i have the opposite experience. 8 yeasr sprint customer here and customer service now blows the old system out of the water. i havent gotten a foreign csr in a long time. i cant stand heavy indian accent on a tech support line. my data speeds are also good. i wont mention the fact that i live in the same city as their corp headquarters though. haha.
my only complaints are the lack of tons of phone choices. att and vzw are constantly rolling out new devices. cant someone throw sprint a bone here?
that and the loss of yearly upgrades, but none of the big carriers have that, so i guess its a non issue.
i think i will stay.
The company I work for was bought 6 months ago and I just learned I get a very decent discount on verizon, enough to make it come within $5 what I'm paying now for 2 epic 4gs on sprint (even though I still get 25% off sprint from my old work). The other limitations of verizon (only having 10 'unlimited' numbers, only 2gb of data per phone) don't really affect us at all. Combined our peak data usage in a given month was just over 1gb.
So that's a long way of saying...I'm in the same boat you're describing. Only thing keeping us around now is not wanting to burn another $400 for 2 contract price phones and of course the ETF from sprint. But my contract expires in december, so if the gs3 is on verizon first I'll almost certainly switch and bring my fiance a few months later when her contract is up. Sprint's data service is really bad in many places, even though I 'get' 4g in grand rapids and columbus, where I spend most of my time (its a good thing downtown grand rapids has 4g because the 3g data is unusable in my experience).
I get <100kbps consistently... no 4g ever, and coverage is even worse one town over where I visit my family.
But I somehow go through 8gbs of data every month so I guess I am stuck with sprint for a while. I plan on getting the galaxy note/journal the day its released.
Sent from my MIUI V4 Epic 4G via Tapatalk 2 beta 5
Restola said:
The company I work for was bought 6 months ago and I just learned I get a very decent discount on verizon, enough to make it come within $5 what I'm paying now for 2 epic 4gs on sprint (even though I still get 25% off sprint from my old work). The other limitations of verizon (only having 10 'unlimited' numbers, only 2gb of data per phone) don't really affect us at all. Combined our peak data usage in a given month was just over 1gb.
So that's a long way of saying...I'm in the same boat you're describing. Only thing keeping us around now is not wanting to burn another $400 for 2 contract price phones and of course the ETF from sprint. But my contract expires in december, so if the gs3 is on verizon first I'll almost certainly switch and bring my fiance a few months later when her contract is up. Sprint's data service is really bad in many places, even though I 'get' 4g in grand rapids and columbus, where I spend most of my time (its a good thing downtown grand rapids has 4g because the 3g data is unusable in my experience).
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That's exactly what's been holding me up. My wife and I don't really feel like dropping $400 on new phones right now. In addition, there will be certain desirable devices hitting the market a few months down the line, and it would be preferable to hold out for those instead. I'm able to get out of my Sprint contract because of the change they made to the way they bill family plans, but according to them, that option is only available to me until the end of this billing cycle. In theory, I should be able to get out of my contract on the basis of the pathetic data speeds available here but they'll lie until they're blue in the face to try to prevent me from doing that. Apart from the potential benefits of their new network whenever that actually hits the NYC market, I don't have a compelling reason to keep giving money to Sprint.
xopher.hunter said:
I get <100kbps consistently... no 4g ever, and coverage is even worse one town over where I visit my family.
But I somehow go through 8gbs of data every month so I guess I am stuck with sprint for a while. I plan on getting the galaxy note/journal the day its released.
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Same with me Christopher...
Except but I'm thinking about that evo man thing looks beast so far....
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iSaint said:
Same with me Christopher...
Except but I'm thinking about that evo man thing looks beast so far....
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Bigger is better. Lol
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the new devices always look great. the problem is that I'd have to run them on a Sprint network that gives me average downstream data speeds of 0.05 Mbps. What's the point? Maybe 15 months from now or so it'll be another story, but that's a long way (and a lot of months at $170/per) off.
I'm sticking it out. I'm going on 11 years with Sprint and I'm one of those folks that has never had a problem with their CS. I will admit that this is the longest I have ever sat on an upgrade due to a lack of phone options, but I understand they're undergoing changes right now, so I'll be patient. I still like- not love -my device now, and I get full bars of 4G where I live, so it could be worse.
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Been with Sprint for 10 years. What's kept me with Sprint is the price/value. Fortunately we get decent 3G here but no WiMax. My future brother in law works for Verizon and I told him I'd switch in August when my contracts are up if he can get me a similar monthly bill if it's clear Sprint isn't releasing LTE here anytime soon. Verizon has had LTE here since November. I'd prefer to stick with Sprint, but watching every other carrier here turn on 4G (even freaking US Cellular) has really soured me lately.
The data restrictions/throttling on other carriers are the biggest negative for me. I've been burning >15GB/month on the regular over 3G (no 4g within 400mi). I pay for unlimited, so I'll use it (all legit usage). The 2 and 5GB plans out there are just stupid as a whole IMO. Carriers nickel and dime customers to death.
What can I say, I stream music a lot. None of that used bandwidth is from tethering or downloading huge ass files via the phone.
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Don't you have roaming? Why would your speeds suck if you can roam on Verizon?
And if they still do, then why do you think switching would help?
Because I'm not roaming on Verizon, I'm always connected to Sprint. The data issue is the result of Sprint not being able to provide adequate bandwidth for their customers in this neighborhood.
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Last year was a much easier decision. I had been a Sprint customer for about a decade and was dealing with the decline of Sprint 3G data to less than dial-up speed and 4G coverage that was virtually non-existent for the areas where it mattered, home and work and in between. When Verizon offered unlimited 4G LTE the decision was clear. I negotiated with Sprint retention to lower the ETF to ~$75 and jumped ship. In comparison, I get Verizon LTE coverage everywhere I go, the throughput is significantly better than broadband DSL and the latency is optimal for latency sensitive applications like VOIP. I'm even paying a little less than I was paying Sprint. Now that the service issue is out of the way I'm waiting for great phones to appear on Verizon such as Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, etc. Samsung Epic 4G, except for maybe the limited DRAM, is a much better phone than the majority of phones on Verizon including my HTC Thunderbolt.
For me, it's a hard choice. I get 20% off Sprint through my work and 15% through Verizon, so even the cheapest plan from Version would be about $10 extra per month, and right now I'm saving as much as I can. Another thing is I do go over 4GB a month, but it depends. I actually checked my average the other day and it was literally 3.99 GB. Sprint data around here has gradually declined since the iPhone release, making it so even streaming low quality YouTube video is hit or miss (mostly miss). Hell even Pandora takes forever at times to load the next song, and if Pandora is having problems then jesus christ. There is no 4g availability around here, and they don't give us access to the wifi at work (boo). So right now I'll likely stay with Sprint, but my contract is up in June so we'll see then.
mi7chy said:
Last year was a much easier decision. I had been a Sprint customer for about a decade and was dealing with the decline of Sprint 3G data to less than dial-up speed and 4G coverage that was virtually non-existent for the areas where it mattered, home and work and in between. When Verizon offered unlimited 4G LTE the decision was clear.
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wow, they had an offer for unlimited data? and for how long are you able to get that? I would assume that's an introductory offer and eventually you get dropped down to a capped data plan.
I've noticed Sprint 3g speeds vary wildly depending on where I'm at. In my home (small town) I'll get 400-600k down which is good enough for light usage when away from wi-fi. In the nearby city I get around 1.0 - 1.5 mbps down which is really good enough for about anything I'd want to do on my phone while out and about.
However when I visit my family in Omaha (which is a pretty good size city) I get horrendous speeds (like 50kbps) which is just unusable. If I lived in this type of coverage I would have no choice but to switch.
rocket321 said:
I've noticed Sprint 3g speeds vary wildly depending on where I'm at. In my home (small town) I'll get 400-600k down which is good enough for light usage when away from wi-fi. In the nearby city I get around 1.0 - 1.5 mbps down which is really good enough for about anything I'd want to do on my phone while out and about.
However when I visit my family in Omaha (which is a pretty good size city) I get horrendous speeds (like 50kbps) which is just unusable. If I lived in this type of coverage I would have no choice but to switch.
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I'm in Omaha/Lincoln, and at my house in Omaha my coverage sucks.. But it's actually been getting better recently.. I still purchased roam control for that reason.
On the other hand, I get great speeds in Lincoln, and even 4G here on campus
I'm still debating on what I'll do when my contract is up in August. I may just wait around until a huge breakthrough in phone tech, or maybe I'll go for the SIII? I don't really want to switch carriers because my only discount is through Sprint.. Hopefully the network enhancements rock
Id choose tmo over verizon any day.
I'm not gonna bother saying why because from this point on I'm too lazy to rebuke the inevitable "but tmo...att...customer service....4g" lines
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