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Did you know that with many Sprint (Uniband) LTE Android devices, the signal strength indicator at the top does not show your LTE signal strength? Even if 4G or LTE is displayed next to it? That's right! This signal displayed here is your 1x (voice signal), and it is not your 3G EVDO signal strength, nor your LTE signal strength. Regardless of whether it says 3G or 4G next to it. This is the cause of a lot of confusion. Also, third party apps like NetMonitor do not show accurate LTE signal strengths. They also only show the 1x signal strength, even though they may reference being connected to LTE. The purpose of this thread is to help educate the masses, because many people think they have a strong LTE signal, when in fact they do not. And then they are unhappy, thinking that Sprint LTE is really slow, even with a strong signal. LTE performance is very signal strength dependent. So, when you have a weak signal, you can expect much slower than peak results. There is only one accurate way to get your LTE signal strength, and that is from your LTE Engineering screen in your Debug menu. And we will discuss the different ways to get that below. ...In HTC, Motorola & LG Sprint LTE devices: Go in to your phone app, and dial ##DEBUG# Select LTE Engineering Go down to RSRP. The number under RSRP shown in dBm is your LTE signal strength. ...In Samsung Sprint LTE devices: Go in to your phone app, and dial ##DEBUG# Enter 777468 for your lock code Select LTE Engineering Go down to RSRP. The number next to RSRP shown in dBm is your LTE signal strength. ...In the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 5: Go in to your phone app, and dial *#*#DEBUG#*#* Enter 777468 for your lock code Select LTE Engineering Go down to RSRP. The number next to RSRP shown in dBm is your LTE signal strength. The LTE Signal Strength Scale: Now you have determined your actual LTE signal strength in dBms your device is receiving, you can use the following scale below to determine its strength: Better than -88dBm RSRP is a strong signal Between -89dBm and -96dBm is a very good signal Between -97dBm and -105dBm is good Between -106dBm and -112dBm is fair Worse than -113dBm RSRP is poor Feel free to link people to this thread for explanation. Hopefully, this will clear up some confusion out there!

Today FreedomPop announced the availability of the MiFi 500 (the tri-band one...they just call it by the internal model number rather than the marketing model number) on their service. This includes the free 500MB data option, as well as the more expensive plans (e.g. 2GB for $20). The device itself is $150. They're offering a couple of promotions right now that net you 3GB at no additional charge (beyond the device cost) for the first month. I'm trying to pick one up but am having issues getting their website to let me order anything. For folks who want to try out TD-LTE/LTE in 800 and don't want to sign a contract/don't need 3GB of data on their hotspot and don't want to pay $35+ per month as a result, this works. And the 500MB plan (400MB if you don't want the possibility of paying overages) is enough for occasional access...and it's free!

Via TUAW's article on Apple's relationship (or lack thereof) with China Mobile: We'll know for sure in 26 days, but it's fun to think about the iPhone 5S/5C being true global smartphones, capable of running on multiple bands -- and especially fun to think about the possibility of a tri-band device for us to play with on the new Sprint Network.