Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Joeynach]

I renewed my 2 year contract 5 months early 2 weeks ago and it only cost me 100 bucks... That's because of my buy back though for my 5s.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 on Crapatalk

I got a cracked screen GS3 what you think I will get for that, large pizza and a 2 liter maybe?

[eljayyy91]

I got a cracked screen GS3 what you think I will get for that, large pizza and a 2 liter maybe?

Well they only offered me like 23$ for my s3 in March... And it was just a little rough around the edges. But still worked just fine and the screen was fine. I just decided to keep it for backup. Ended up giving it to a friend so he could join my framily.

[Dkoellerwx]

Yes Yes I know, plus I was saying I cracked the hell out of this screen, but come on man they sold me a device with a 2 year contract and upgrade period and $400 ETF.  Thats what the market dictated was the normal buying cycle to me.  My 2 years is up on one week. Its time for iPhone6 or the GS5 Sport.

 

Upgrade cycle was 20 months, not 24... 

[Joeynach]

Upgrade cycle was 20 months, not 24... 

I was considering leaving and waiting for my ETF to expire in reality.

[Dkoellerwx]

I was considering leaving and waiting for my ETF to expire in reality.

You did know that other carriers were willing to buy your ETF right? IF you were actually going to leave.

[Joeynach]

You did know that other carriers were willing to buy your ETF right? IF you were actually going to leave.

I was less than enamored with Magenta's buy out your ETF claim.  It was really all smoke and mirrors and a process made difficult on purpose so that you wouldn't follow through.  You had to pay your ETF, then prove to TMobile by way of your bill that you paid it, then submit forms and the bill, wait 8-12 weeks, and get your ETF back in form of a visa gift card.  Less than a painless transition I would say.  Good marketing ploy though.

[Cubbiefan82]

Good Afternoon!! I am asking for everyone is in the chicago market for help, Tommy, kyle and I. We started a long over due chicagoland map to track gci's to help track the progress in chicagoland market. This is where I need your help, if you could send me your scp logs or location with a really really strong lte signal. This will help us fill in the map and track the progress.

 

Thank you for anything you can do, This is going to help save a lot of gas and time if we all work together on the data :-). Also as band 41 or 26 gets turned on. I will take that data too

 

Jon

[CaptainSlow]

So Sprint moved to 2nd place in the latest Root Metrics report [emoji106].

First at O'Hare airport and second overall in the city is a great story for Sprint!

 

Meanwhile T-Mobile fell from #1 to #4.

[IamMrFamous07]

So Sprint moved to 2nd place in the latest Root Metrics report [emoji106].

First at O'Hare airport and second overall in the city is a great story for Sprint!

 

Meanwhile T-Mobile fell from #1 to #4.

That's amazing!! I wonder how sprint will perform once 8t8r sites are turned on with carrier aggregation, volte

[Cubbiefan82]

That's amazing!! I wonder how sprint will perform once 8t8r sites are turned on with carrier aggregation, volte

I bet 1st place in everything, sprint is only losing due to speed. the first half of next year in chicago, I can see sprint winning in every category  

[mhammett]

Can we get a link to the report?

[Cubbiefan82]

Can we get a link to the report?

http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/rsr/chicago-il/2014/2H Ask and you shall receive  

[Joeynach]

Honest opinion from my friends here in this forum: Sprint vs. T-Mobile from the National perspective.  I am less interested in just Chicago because my job has me all over the country these days.

[S4GRU]

Honest opinion from my friends here in this forum: Sprint vs. T-Mobile from the National perspective. I am less interested in just Chicago because my job has me all over the country these days.

If you never travel rurally, move to Tmo. Some people just fly airport to airport. I hear Legere also gives free backrubs. But he doesn't warm the lotion first.

[jamisonshaw125]

Honest opinion from my friends here in this forum: Sprint vs. T-Mobile from the National perspective.  I am less interested in just Chicago because my job has me all over the country these days.

Joey...You don't sound like you want to stay with Sprint or go to T-Mobile. Why not just port off to Verizon or At&t and be done with it. 

[Joeynach]

If you never travel rurally, move to Tmo. Some people just fly airport to airport. I hear Legere also gives free backrubs. But he doesn't warm the lotion first.

I have been to Thailand, back rubs are overrated.  I don't expect to be spending too much time in rural areas as a Marketing Technology Consultant, but I do explore when I am assigned to a new location and it isn't beyond me from taking a roadtrip somewhere outside of the city for a weekend or so.  Either way I am city person, as long as my device delivers fast data in the cities I travel, good enough for watching video and slingbox so I can catch Bears/Bulls while on the road and stuff I would be quite happy. 

[Joeynach]

Joey...You don't sound like you want to stay with Sprint or go to T-Mobile. Why not just port off to Verizon or At&t and be done with it. 

I wouldn't say that, I just want a network that performs consistently no matter where I am in the USA, my needs have changed, I am not rooted to Chicago like in the past.  Have heard really nice things from Spark users, have heard nice things from TMO users.  What will work best for me is the network that is the most consistent from city to city without having to be in one of the carriers known "good markets".

[jamisonshaw125]

I wouldn't say that, I just want a network that performs consistently no matter where I am in the USA, my needs have changed, I am not rooted to Chicago like in the past. Have heard really nice things from Spark users, have heard nice things from TMO users. What will work best for me is the network that is the most consistent from city to city without having to be in one of the carriers known "good markets".

Well then, don't go with tmobile.....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 on Crapatalk

[tommym65]

I wouldn't say that, I just want a network that performs consistently no matter where I am in the USA, my needs have changed, I am not rooted to Chicago like in the past.  Have heard really nice things from Spark users, have heard nice things from TMO users.  What will work best for me is the network that is the most consistent from city to city without having to be in one of the carriers known "good markets".

 

I have no knowledge of TMo coverage, anywhere.

 

But, I have hung on while Sprint has struggled to upgrade service.  In Chicagoland, when you have a tri-band phone, your service will improve, to good-to-excellent nearly everywhere.  There is very broad coverage of all 3 bands, and 8T8R B41 is starting to take off, as you have seen in the Chicago Premier threads.  My GS5 (and my 2 hotspots) FAR outperform the GS3 (for obvious reasons), and if you stay with Sprint in this market, you will be satisfied.

 

I haven't traveled much outside of Chicago since last spring, but even then, and even before my GS5, I was getting fair to good data (and voice) nearly everywhere I went (Southeast, far West, around the Midwest; Colorado more recently).  I could also connect to B26 & B41 in many places on my Zing.  That was 6 or 7 months ago, and Sprint has upgraded thousands of sectors since then.  There are holes (and Sprint users in the holes are not shy).  I don't know what plan you are on, but if you replace your phone, you will start to consume much more data, and Sprint is also well-positioned to provide larger amounts of plan-covered-data than Magenta.

 

Either choice would likely be satisfactory, at least most of the time, but IMO Sprint will be more satisfactory as the final stages of NV are completed, and from that point into the future.  Many will disagree.

[saywhatman]

Unfortunately, I can't recommend Sprint to anyone going to the University of Chicago, or that lives in the Hyde Park area. Service is fine a couple blocks from the sites on the outskirts where my apartment is, but go on campus or to any apartment in Hyde Park and you can forget about having coverage. B26 has made things better, but a lot of the time in people's apartments I'm on fringe 3G and even outdoors at times I lose my 4G connection. Sprint needs to build another site in the area ASAP. 

[S4GRU]

I have been to Thailand, back rubs are overrated. 

 

[S4GRU]

Unfortunately, I can't recommend Sprint to anyone going to the University of Chicago, or that lives in the Hyde Park area. Service is fine a couple blocks from the sites on the outskirts where my apartment is, but go on campus or to any apartment in Hyde Park and you can forget about having coverage. B26 has made things better, but a lot of the time in people's apartments I'm on fringe 3G and even outdoors at times I lose my 4G connection. Sprint needs to build another site in the area ASAP. 

 

Yeah, I get what you're saying.  But when you hone in one area like that, it's true of every network.  Where I live, you don't want AT&T on base.  But you don't want Verizon on the west side.  I hope they give you coverage where you need it soon, but there will always be trouble areas in every community for every provider.

[Joeynach]

I have no knowledge of TMo coverage, anywhere.

 

But, I have hung on while Sprint has struggled to upgrade service.  In Chicagoland, when you have a tri-band phone, your service will improve, to good-to-excellent nearly everywhere.  There is very broad coverage of all 3 bands, and 8T8R B41 is starting to take off, as you have seen in the Chicago Premier threads.  My GS5 (and my 2 hotspots) FAR outperform the GS3 (for obvious reasons), and if you stay with Sprint in this market, you will be satisfied.

 

I haven't traveled much outside of Chicago since last spring, but even then, and even before my GS5, I was getting fair to good data (and voice) nearly everywhere I went (Southeast, far West, around the Midwest; Colorado more recently).  I could also connect to B26 & B41 in many places on my Zing.  That was 6 or 7 months ago, and Sprint has upgraded thousands of sectors since then.  There are holes (and Sprint users in the holes are not shy).  I don't know what plan you are on, but if you replace your phone, you will start to consume much more data, and Sprint is also well-positioned to provide larger amounts of plan-covered-data than Magenta.

 

Either choice would likely be satisfactory, at least most of the time, but IMO Sprint will be more satisfactory as the final stages of NV are completed, and from that point into the future.  Many will disagree.

Thanks for the feedback, really good stuff in sharing your experiences.  I am also enamored with the GS5 sport for some reason so that has some weight too.

[Joeynach]

Unfortunately, I can't recommend Sprint to anyone going to the University of Chicago, or that lives in the Hyde Park area. Service is fine a couple blocks from the sites on the outskirts where my apartment is, but go on campus or to any apartment in Hyde Park and you can forget about having coverage. B26 has made things better, but a lot of the time in people's apartments I'm on fringe 3G and even outdoors at times I lose my 4G connection. Sprint needs to build another site in the area ASAP. 

I know what you are talking about.  Last time I was down there I couldn't get any coverage indoors on campus, not even 1xRTT or 1x800.  When I was outside on campus if I was behind a certain building in a courtyard I would also get shunned to a faint 3G or 1x signal.  Univ of Chicago is really one of these trouble spots Robert was alluding to, but from my perspective I am less concerned with individual trouble spots unless that trouble spot is my home or work.  Being that my work is city to city now things are different for me.

[gnoj]

That's amazing!! I wonder how sprint will perform once 8t8r sites are turned on with carrier aggregation, volte

 

I am also optimistic that Sprint will claim the top spot in Chicago by this time next year. As Jon (cubbiefan82) pointed out, Sprint's already virtually in the lead in data reliability, it's just in speed that they're in last place. 2*20 MHz B41 CA (hopefully more devices than just the Note 4 will arrive this year with the hardware to support it) will beat out Verizon's (and TMUS's) AWS on the download and come close to it on the upload. 3*20 B41 CA will win hands down in both directions. 

 

As long as fallback to CDMA via eSRVCC is properly implemented, VoLTE should also allow call performance to further improve, as simultaneous voice and data will be back, and that should entirely eliminate the problem of dropped/missed calls due to a phone clinging to 1x1900 when it should be switching to 1x800. If Sprint works to make it happen, there is also the possibility that HD Voice will work with other carriers, as long as IP interconnect deals are inked and the same codec is used.

 

Honest opinion from my friends here in this forum: Sprint vs. T-Mobile from the National perspective.  I am less interested in just Chicago because my job has me all over the country these days.

 

Whichever way you go, you'd ideally want a phone that supports everything the carrier will be deploying over the next year. I would never consider T-Mobile until they have some kind of low-band LTE (600 MHz or 700A B12) in my area. The only B12 devices currently available from them are the Samsung Galaxy Avant, Sony Xperia Z3, and I believe the Note 4. It's probable, but not guaranteed, that TMUS will pick up Leap's 700A license in Chicago and be able to deploy it after Ch. 51 is cleared after next year's auctions. I believe their 700A deployment has already begun elsewhere around the country.

 

Sprint's current crop of tri-band devices offer a pretty good experience around Chicago, but as you probably know, many other markets are not as far along with Spark. While T-Mobile's LTE suburban and rural coverage will allegedly improve with time (as will Sprint's urban speeds), as of today it's a trade-off between highly variable but usable service in most cities, exurbs, and many rural highways (Sprint), and great outdoor and mediocre indoor coverage in the cities with painful exurban/rural coverage (T-Mobile). Every network has it's drawbacks, but between those two, I would stick with Sprint. 

 

I am also enamored with the GS5 sport for some reason so that has some weight too.

 

That looks like a nice phone. Just promise not to complain next year about the lack of carrier aggregation, B4/12 roaming, or domestic carrier unlocking if you get it