Analyst: iPhone 5 will show downside of Sprint’s network

[kckid]

At least he changed his mind about Sprint banckrupcy risks...

 

 

http://www.bizjourna...w-downside.html

[newboyx]

From the article:

“iPhone customers are being conditioned to look for and expect an LTE network with their devices — that is one of the product’s key differentiators"

 

Key differentiators? Different from what? Every other high end LTE capable phone?

[WiWavelength]

Craig Moffett. He has a pathological pessimism toward Sprint. Something is wrong with the guy.

 

AJ

[Rawvega]

“And where the network is available, its performance is very likely to be inferior to that of its peers, as illustrated (in his note) and as measured by performance testing firms. This has to matter.”

 

Unlike at&t and late-to-the-party t-mobile, Sprint's plans to have the entirety of their network upgraded to LTE when they're done. That has to matter. Once they're done, the instances of fall back to 3G should be few and far between compared to most of their peers. Besides, what is the definition of inferior? If a Sprint device is pulling 10 Mbps and a VZW device is pulling down 12 Mbps, will most customers really notice or even care unless they're sitting around running speed tests all day with the two devices? Never mind the fact that Sprint has unlimited LTE data while at&t and VZW do not. That also has to matter.

 

This prediction by Muppet has about much legs as his Sprint bankruptcy prediction. I think he'll have to admit that he was wrong again.

[digiblur]

At least he didn't have an EVO LTE to try and "see" the network

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

 

[JeffDTD]

Hes clearly trapped inside that "speed test whore off" bubble of speculators who perceive there to be a notable advantage in an average mobile users experience on 2-5mb vs 10 or 15.

 

It reminds me of the pc market years ago... "more more, faster and faster is what you need" was sold to so many average and below average users who do nothing but browse the web.

 

Screw this lunatic.

[lynyrd65]

Lot's of people have been wrong about Sprint lately. I'm actually more surprised that this is just about the only guy to complain about Sprint with the iPhone. It must be a sign things are looking up.

[Secretaznman46]

I think Android power users are a lot worse than iPhone power users. Unless your jailbroken, whats the most bandwidth they will use up? Facetime? Netflix? Plus most people that have iPhones only really use it as a phone with a bigger screen. I doubt they would even notice the speed difference.

[Feech]

I'm not sure he's that far off with that statement though. Verizon has done a good job marketing LTE as something you need to have. With Sprint just hitting its stride with the network improvements and with LTE it will be hard for a Sprint and Verizon or AT&T customer to stand side by side with the same phone and not expect the same performance.

 

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

[S4GRU]

I'm not sure he's that far off with that statement though. Verizon has done a good job marketing LTE as something you need to have. With Sprint just hitting its stride with the network improvements and with LTE it will be hard for a Sprint and Verizon or AT&T customer to stand side by side with the same phone and not expect the same performance.

 

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

 

I would argue that in most instances, the performance will be similar. I had Sprint and Verizon LTE side by side in Waco, and Sprint was equal or better in every instance. The Sprint network is denser (where fully deployed). So there were more square miles around Waco with Sprint LTE with better than -90dBm signal, than Verizon. Sprint's average speeds in our tests were around 20Mbps. Verizon average speed was about 15Mbps. Sprint had faster pings almost every time.

 

Robert

[Feech]

I guess what I meant was in Sprint Non LTE areas.. For example I have 2 Co workers that both have the SG3 and she can't believe how slow her Sprint model is to my friends AT&T model. When you are pushing the same phone its hard to explain that.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[S4GRU]

I guess what I meant was in Sprint Non LTE areas.. For example I have 2 Co workers that both have the SG3 and she can't believe how slow her Sprint model is to my friends AT&T model. When you are pushing the same phone its hard to explain that.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

OK. I was responding to Moffett's point, which is that Sprint LTE is inferior in his opinion. I think he is mistaken and not fully understanding. As typical.

 

Robert

[KaoMinerva]

I hope sprint doesn't take away unlimited when the network is up to par

[WiWavelength]

I hope sprint doesn't take away unlimited when the network is up to par

 

If some of the profligate attitudes in this forum are any indication, Sprint may have little choice but to discontinue unlimited data. Otherwise, many will likely be stuck with very slow data yet again. That could mean the end of Sprint and would just serve to further VZW's and AT&T's positions that we need to let the wireless industry consolidate down to just the two of them and throw hundreds of megahertz of additional spectrum at them because only then can they satisfy our ridiculously insatiable appetite for data.

 

AJ

[lynyrd65]

 

If some of the profligate attitudes in this forum are any indication, Sprint may have little choice but to discontinue unlimited data. Otherwise, many will likely be stuck with very slow data yet again. That could mean the end of Sprint and would just serve to further VZW's and AT&T's positions that we need to let the wireless industry consolidate down to just the two of them and throw hundreds of megahertz of additional spectrum at them because only then can they satisfy our ridiculously insatiable appetite for data.

 

AJ

 

Not necessarily, reduction of cell size can mitigate much of the load. Small cells will be a game changer IMO.

 

sent from my 3VO from another EVO

 

 

[WiWavelength]

Not necessarily, reduction of cell size can mitigate much of the load. Small cells will be a game changer IMO.

 

Agreed. And a big part of that game changing heterogeneous network strategy is having small cells at home. Those small cells at home may eventually use licensed spectrum for LTE -- much as the Airave and similar do with CDMA1X/EV-DO today -- but Wi-Fi at home can already provide much of the same small cell benefit today.

 

AJ

[P_M_G]

All I know is that the network needs to improve...and fast. It's pretty disheartening to realize that you have zero way to communicate with your high school freshman child because there is basically zero Sprint signal on campus. I'm not willing to settle anymore. Unless the NV improvements are in place by the time my last of four contracts expires, I will be leaving Sprint. I have been as loyal as possible, but now it seems my Airrave needs a reset at least 2x a week and with no service at one school and barely a signal at the other, I'm not comfortable with zero communication ability with my kids.

 

BTW - my neighbors just recently joined the herd of sheep on ATT with iPhone 4s and do nothing but complain about how crappy the service is at their house. Verizon unfortunately is the only carrier in my local area with a decent signal everywhere.

[koiulpoi]

but now it seems my Airrave needs a reset at least 2x a week

Have you talked to Technical Support about this? It probably needs to be replaced.

[digiblur]

I had the original Samsung Airave from 2008-2012. Never had any issues and never touched it as it just worked. I wanted to hang on to it as long as possible but it was causing the 3G radio on the EVO LTE to fall on its face overnight for some reason. So tech support swapped me to the Airvana with 3G. I set it up behind my router (like I wasn't supposed to do, but I have my reasons) and haven't touched it since. Works just fine. I don't use it for 3G though as I have wifi. But the times I do forget to toggle my wifi, sometimes I see I'm hooked up on 1X but then later it is 3G. I chalk it up as a flaky EVO LTE issue.

[pyroscott]

All I know is that the network needs to improve...and fast. It's pretty disheartening to realize that you have zero way to communicate with your high school freshman child because there is basically zero Sprint signal on campus. I'm not willing to settle anymore. Unless the NV improvements are in place by the time my last of four contracts expires, I will be leaving Sprint. I have been as loyal as possible, but now it seems my Airrave needs a reset at least 2x a week and with no service at one school and barely a signal at the other, I'm not comfortable with zero communication ability with my kids.

 

BTW - my neighbors just recently joined the herd of sheep on ATT with iPhone 4s and do nothing but complain about how crappy the service is at their house. Verizon unfortunately is the only carrier in my local area with a decent signal everywhere.

 

Not to be a smartypants, but I went to high school during the time of payphones. I didn't get my first cell phone until I was in college. I don't think phones belong in schools. It is nice for after school activities, but it is a giant distraction in the classroom.

[drhenning]

That is one of the interesting side issues with this whole LTE discussion.. Most of what you use on a cell doesn't need the highest speed... The mobile versions of Youtube and streaming video programs like Slingbox or MLB work just fine on 3G assuming you have a decent network connection... I know when I'm sitting with 4 bars in 3G, I can watch most anything without a delay.. The 3G speed works just fine... Where I see an advantage will be the efficiency of LTE.. The other advantage is faster environments when connecting phone to other devices that might actually push harder such as in a MHS... The problem with that is yes it works faster, but the legal MHS is metered...

[S4GRU]

All I know is that the network needs to improve...and fast. It's pretty disheartening to realize that you have zero way to communicate with your high school freshman child because there is basically zero Sprint signal on campus. I'm not willing to settle anymore. Unless the NV improvements are in place by the time my last of four contracts expires' date=' I will be leaving Sprint. I have been as loyal as possible, but now it seems my Airrave needs a reset at least 2x a week and with no service at one school and barely a signal at the other, I'm not comfortable with zero communication ability with my kids.

 

BTW - my neighbors just recently joined the herd of sheep on ATT with iPhone 4s and do nothing but complain about how crappy the service is at their house. Verizon unfortunately is the only carrier in my local area with a decent signal everywhere.[/quote']

 

If Sprint doesn't provide coverage where you need, but Verizon does, then you should go. But please, do not go to AT&T! If I ever had to leave Sprint, I would go with VZW. There are a few places in this country where AT&T has good coverage, but VZW and Sprint do not. God, I hope I never live in those places.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[shockerengr]

I think Android power users are a lot worse than iPhone power users. Unless your jailbroken, whats the most bandwidth they will use up? Facetime? Netflix? Plus most people that have iPhones only really use it as a phone with a bigger screen. I doubt they would even notice the speed difference.

 

I'll be honest, it's the non-rooted apps on my phone that take up by far the most bandwidth. A lot of the streaming apps will bump the quality up if they sense a good connection.

 

Dish Remote access for instance pulls about 4mbps when I'm on LTE - it doesn't take very long to blow through data like that.

 

App data usage has also grown as the quality of connections improve. People want quality,and once you experience the HD streams on the phone it's hard to go back.

 

Youtube HD or Netflix HD or any of the others look stunning on my Galaxy S3.

 

Given that you can connect these phones up to a TV, when I travel, I'll likely be using them often for that purpose as well.

[jefbal99]

If Sprint doesn't provide coverage where you need, but Verizon does, then you should go. But please, do not go to AT&T! If I ever had to leave Sprint, I would go with VZW. There are a few places in this country where AT&T has good coverage, but VZW and Sprint do not. God, I hope I never live in those places.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

 

My buddy is in the process of moving back to Ironwood, Michigan in the UP. He's keeps saying that he is going to at&t, but I'm trying to push him to Verizon and the old Alltel network up there

[KaoMinerva]

I may sound like a noob but what's wrong with ATT? I thought big red were the evil ones that lock all the phones to prevent root.

 

Also, if sprint takes unlimited... Will I be grandfathered in? I been with them since the OG EVO