EntrepreneurKid

Speaking to a customer service rep, they're saying it will be a gradual rollout to capable 5G devices, so the compatible S20s over the next 24 hours. That devices will slowly be provisioned.

Same. Been checking every 10 minutes since midnight. Done everything. Checked for actual software updates, done multiple PRL and Profile updates, tried airplane mode, power cycling and manually selecting N71. Still no 5G as of 10:17 AM Central.

I know once T-Mobile expands in my market, and they amp up their advertising. They're gonna suffer some major losses. And today with T-Mobile lifting the 5Mbps throttle for many. The first nail has been put in the coffin. US Cellular has been pricing along with Verizon since dropping their belief plans many years ago, an executive even got quoted on saying they only introduced unlimited cause Verizon did, and they weren't happy about it. They wiped the unlimited with a throttle after 150GB plan from their Wireless Home Internet offering. They can price lower on the monthly given they finance their devices as far out as 30 months, but that's something T-Mobile too has begun doing on higher priced devices. Now with Sprints currently plan offering, and the lifting of the 5Mbps throttle for many, now is a great time for people to join Sprint and lock in those plans.

After seeing some posts on Reddit, I too am experiencing full speeds on my Sprint devices, a Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G and a iPhone 11, both pulling over 60Mbps down, the S20+ took a few restarts before it began running at full speeds. Band 2 with CA on Band 71 in Centerville, IA.

The T-Mobile site in Centerville, IA can't possibly be congested, it was a old 2G only iWireless site, no one around here had iWireless or T-Mobile, I doubt anyone has switched since the tower was upgraded in December. And the US Cellular site I'm on most of the time couldn't possibly be congested from what can't be more than 400 cell phones most of which are non smartphones. This area has a huge older population compared to the population total overall, many holding on to their old flip phones to avoid being forced to upgrade to a smartphone. Plus I got a US Cellular device that was pulling nearly 30Mbps, versus my Sprint devices that initially peak around the same at the beginning of the speed test then drop down to 3Mbps. And it's not just this area, I traveled all over Iowa and Missouri this past month. And if I was roaming on US Cellular or T-Mobile I was throttled. Every tower in these extremely rural areas can't be congested. On US Cellular bands 12 and 5, and T-Mobile 4 and 2. All of them I've been throttled on, all over the place.

The throttling isn't just on T-Mobile. It's on US Cellular as well. Typically a US Cellular phone will clock around 20Mbps, my Sprint phone limits too less than 3Mbps. Does the same on a brand new recently updated and retrofitted former iWireless tower in Centerville, IA, where I'm able to get around 25-30Mbps on a T-Mobile phone and less than 3Mbps on my Sprint one sitting right next too it. And in both cases my Sprint phone is newer, and more capable of faster speeds. So it wouldn't make since if it was the device. I also had the same limitation when I had Virgin Mobile Inner Circle, the same 3Mbps cap throttle. Couldn't use T-Mobile as the tower didn't get upgraded till late December 2018, I switched to Sprint early December.

Given the fact that Virgin has access to Extended Coverage ever since it's Inner Circle plan still now with it's current one at least according to customer service. Shouldn't Virgin be using PRL 55070 like it was with Inner Circle or is 7080 correct? I feel like there's an issue that isn't being paid attention too. Does PRL 7080 have the necessary stuff to make the device roam on Sprints extended partners.

When Virgin Mobile introduced their Inner Circle plan they added Extended coverage giving them the same coverage as Sprint Postpaid. And a few months ago when Virgin did away with its Inner Circle plan and its iPhone only to the current plan lineup and devices I figured they'd backtrack on the roaming and go back to Sprint only. While they may not have updated their coverage map it would seem they are not allowing roaming as my LG Tribute Dynasty which is compatible with US Cellular roaming is being restricted and blocked post activation. Before hands free activation began I was able to go into the devices network and roaming settings and switch on voice roaming, which worked, it immediately connected to US Cellular, then the hands free activation started which couldn't complete due to no data until I switched on wifi, but after the device rebooted, the voice roaming was turned off and greyed out so it couldn't be switched back on. I know this device is capable of roaming, it has band 12 and band 5 for LTE and the CDMA band necessary to roam onto US Cellulars CDMA network, which again it was able to due prior to activation. If Virgin Mobile is going to continue having roaming as an option then it should work otherwise they need to remove it from their coverage map. I've attempted to take the issue up with Virgin but they tell me that they'll help me with any other issue, except roaming. I believe it has something to do with the PRL since it is what determines the devices roaming. I found a old Virgin device from before Inner Circle started, in it was PRL 7080 the same one as it has now, back then Virgin was the home network on Sprint only, no data or voice roaming. I don't know where the issue is with this and I'm hoping after filing a complaint with the FCC which has been served that it is either corrected and fixed and roaming starts working, or Virgin removes it from their coverage map if they're not going to allow it. I've asked customer service if the coverage map and the roaming on it applies to current customers or if it was just Inner Circle and they say it does apply to the current plans. If so, and if I have a device that is compatible (LG Tribute Dynasty), why is it being restricted.

I remember I was in a Kmart many years ago and the Verizon phone I had a basic flip roamed onto Sprint, I remember dialing 611 and getting Sprints customer service instead of Verizon, and the same thing happened a few months later in reverse, same place too. Pretty sure the Kmarts closed though... pretty sure they all be closing.

I've dropped to 1X a lot which is weird as I've had multiple US Cellular devices and they never dropped to 1X, it takes a few tries of toggling airplane mode to return to LTE, and for almost 2 weeks about a month ago I had nothing but 1X with the occasional 3G, again regular US Cellular devices don't do that. So it has to be something with the roaming itself.

Well I'm doing what I can to limit data usage on USCC but I can't limit voice or text as Virgin doesn't have wifi calling, yet. Hopefully they get it. But the ratio which I mentioned would be 20-30% on Sprint/Virgin and the rest on USCC though that changes in about 4-5 months to 100% on Sprint/Virgin as I'll be moving to Indianapolis which has Sprint coverage. Hopefully I can make it through till then without getting bumped off. Though most of my data usage has been from me running speed test while in a Sprint coverage area.

So as the title suggest what I'll be discussing is Sprints Extended LTE coverage on Virgin Mobile which if you have their Inner Circle plan seems to be the same network coverage as regular Sprint postpaid a surprising difference when compared to Boost and regular Virgin Mobile android plans, and Sprint MVNOs. All of which are limited in their network roaming capabilities and exclude access to Sprints Extended LTE partners. So recently I posted on Reddit which I'll link in the case you want to read over that Virgin Mobile Inner Circle & Extended Coverage. So allow me to start, so about a week ago I visited my local Apple Store to see about picking up a Virgin Mobile sim card for the Inner Circle for use on my iPhone X from Verizon. To my surprise I was able to get one at no cost and all they had to do was check it out for their inventory to update, based on their reaction I was the first person to mention or ask about getting a Virgin Mobile sim card. At least at that store or those people. So I got the Sim Card and activated it, ported over a number from a T-Mobile sim I had activated to check coverage. And was all set up with Virgin Mobile Inner Circle for the 6 month $1 promo. Once I got home I noticed that my device was still reading Virgin LTE even though I was in a US Cellular coverage area, Wayne County and Appanoose County, IA. Both of which don't have Sprint coverage, though a old image I found showed what looked like there was at some point Nextel coverage in Centerville, IA (Appanoose County) but I could never confirm. And when checking in field test mode it showed I was on band 12. Though when my iPhone is right next too a T-Mobile phone roaming on US Cellular or a actual US Cellular phone my phone has a weaker signal compared to the other too, though that could just be my device. I remember a while back when Sprint updated their coverage map and made the US Cellular LTE roaming the same type of LTE Roaming as other partners such as Nex-Tech Wireless, and am wondering to what extent is the US Cellular roaming native. Is it truly treated like native or should I expect Virgin to hit me up at some point soon and say I need to switch, my usage on the Sprint network each month would be between 20-30%. I've attempted to use as little data off of wifi while on the US Cellular network as possible, but am wondering if this is something I should even be worried about? The website says that my device should indicate when its on a Extended partner but it isn't it says Virgin, someone on reddit gave me a code to enter to see if it would refresh and start reading Extended, it refreshed and said it for no less than a millisecond before switching back to saying Virgin LTE. So the question is too what extent is US Cellular Extended LTE roaming coverage treated as native coverage the Virgin Map says "Roaming in these areas counts as on network usage. Similar level of service as on network, but not all services may be available." and Sprint Coverage Map says "These roaming areas are included in your plan. Some services may not be available." will it not matter will I be able to go through the next six months with no problem or should I be prepared to switch to another carrier, by month 6 I'll be well within Sprints coverage area 100% of the time, but what about the end of month 2 or 3.

According to todays T-Mobile Earnings Call the T-Mobile roaming is LTE Data only and in the example given outside of Sprint coverage your device would use T-Mobile LTE for Data and Verizon for CDMA voice.

Well it's been a while since I've roamed onto Sprint using a US Cellular device but I know with 100% certainty it won't roam on T-Mobile if it can locate US Cellular coverage, and T-Mobile won't roam on US Cellular if it can locate T-Mobile coverage.

In the images you shared you can see Sprint is showing in the list of networks, your device isn't going to let you roam if it can pick up a signal with the home network. Your need to be in a situation where T-Mobile is the only carrier, except maybe AT&T or Verizon that shows up in the network search, and of course your device be updated to allow the roaming onto T-Mobile. While this roaming deal may be affective immediately it may take a little bit, not too long surely, for all capable devices to get the needed update to allow them to roam onto T-Mobile. If your picking up a Sprint signal it won't let you roam, no device will roam if it can pick up a signal from it's home network, so during a manual network search if Sprint appears, there is no point attempting to connect to T-Mobile as it will refuse and say it is not allowed. It's the same way when T-Mobile devices try roaming onto US Cellular and the same when US Cellular devices try roaming onto T-Mobile or Sprint, if it can locate a signal from the home network, it will refuse to connect to a roaming network even if it is a roaming partner. If your device shows it's able to get a Sprint signal it won't allow connections to roaming networks. Roaming is for when your outside of the home network, so if your device sees it's able to connect to the home network, it's not going to allow itself to connect to another network regardless if it's a roaming partner. T-Mobile devices won't connect to US Cellular if it can locate a T-Mobile or in the case of Iowa (iWireless) signal and US Cellular devices won't roam onto T-Mobile or Sprint if it can locate a US Cellular signal. So Sprint devices are not going to allow themselves to connect to T-Mobile if there is an available Sprint signal regardless if the signal is weaker then the T-Mobile one.