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LTE vs 3G Signal Quality Difference


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I am wanting to know for people who had bad coverage with 3G whether their coverage got better or worse with the 4G LTE. I have a few phones in areas where the 3g coverage right now is almost non existent inside and I am thinking about asking for an airwave to help with signal if 4G wont be any better when it finally comes.

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I am wanting to know for people who had bad coverage with 3G whether their coverage got better or worse with the 4G LTE. I have a few phones in areas where the 3g coverage right now is almost non existent inside and I am thinking about asking for an airwave to help with signal if 4G wont be any better when it finally comes.

 

Your 3G coverage might improve, but the 4G is likely to be equivalent to your 3G right now - that is until later on with LTE 800 sometime in mid 2013, but you'd need a new phone for it anyway. If you are having trouble right now, I'd go ahead and ask for the Airave - you can always send it back when your signal gets better.

 

Thomas

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Mine got worse. I get 3G upstairs in my house, but go downstairs 4get about it . I'm pissed cuz I was informed LTE would blanket 3G coverage. Not 2 mention everytime I ask the same question somebody has 2 say I shouldn't b using it in the house anyway. I should b offloading with WiFi. So I ask the question,should I not make phone calls either in my home and use a landline?

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Mine got worse. I get 3G upstairs in my house, but go downstairs 4get about it . I'm pissed cuz I was informed LTE would blanket 3G coverage. Not 2 mention everytime I ask the same question somebody has 2 say I shouldn't b using it in the house anyway. I should b offloading with WiFi. So I ask the question,should I not make phone calls either in my home and use a landline?

 

It doesn't work like that. LTE will become as slow as Verizon if you overuse it. You can use but not abuse unlimited data. That means, no unauthorized tethering, or downloading tons of movies. If you are browsing the web that's fine, but as long unless you don't have WiFi at home, there really is no reason to use LTE at home.

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Here we go again, It's supposed to be unlimited if it wasn't unlimited it wouldn't be unlimited. And if that's the case why does Sprint have sprint TV. And why do they allow Netflix. Please tell me if you're not supposed to use unlimited data at home where are you supposed to use it at work in the car while you're driving I don't get it. Not everybody can afford Wi-Fi don't get me wrong I do have Wi-Fi at home but I like the option to be able to go somewhere else and use it somewhere else as much As like. Imean don't get me wrong every time I ask a question somebody's got to go back to. You should be offloading on Wi-Fi I pay my bill it's my business how I use it. Sprint doesn't want me as a customer they will get rid of me. That's the same thing as saying I shouldn't use my unlimited cell phone minutes at home I should be using my land line. I talked to a Sprint representative they told me unlimited is unlimited sure they prefer us to offload on Wi-Fi but we don't have to.

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Not offloading to wifi whenever possible not only degrades the speed and quality for everyone else, but is also unethical. I can see using lte at home when you don't have wifi, but if you do there is no reason not to. Unlimited data may be unlimited, but the spectrum it runs on is far from it. A few people streaming Netflix can ruin the experience for everyone else.

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Here we go again, It's supposed to be unlimited if it wasn't unlimited it wouldn't be unlimited. And if that's the case why does Sprint have sprint TV. And why do they allow Netflix. Please tell me if you're not supposed to use unlimited data at home where are you supposed to use it at work in the car while you're driving I don't get it. Not everybody can afford Wi-Fi don't get me wrong I do have Wi-Fi at home but I like the option to be able to go somewhere else and use it somewhere else as much As like. Imean don't get me wrong every time I ask a question somebody's got to go back to. You should be offloading on Wi-Fi I pay my bill it's my business how I use it. Sprint doesn't want me as a customer they will get rid of me. That's the same thing as saying I shouldn't use my unlimited cell phone minutes at home I should be using my land line. I talked to a Sprint representative they told me unlimited is unlimited sure they prefer us to offload on Wi-Fi but we don't have to.
First off, LTE will be installed on every 3G site. Second, LTE signal is more fragile than 3G...this is true of all carriers. I have Verizon for work. My VZW CDMA 850 goes farther and penetrates better than VZW LTE 750. It's just a fact. No carrier can guarantee indoor coverage because building types, distances from sites and terrain is so highly variable. Especially with LTE.

 

Third, you can use unlimited data as much as you want, so long as you are doing it from your phone and not via unauthorized tethering. If you want to watch Netflix from your phone, or even bad porn, you go for it. But if you are hooking your TV up to it via unauthorized tethering, that would be a violation of your TOS and be unethical. But if you want to use Sprint as a personal home ISP, and you completely consume the data from your smartphone, I have no qualms with that.

 

Fourth, I'm sorry if Sprint LTE doesn't meet your needs of having LTE in all parts of your home. If that is necessary for you, you may need another carrier. Sprint doesn't advocate that people who cannot afford a home ISP should just use Sprint instead. It's an assumption many people make for themselves, that they can just live with mobile data only. And making an assumption on indoor coverage before being deployed in your area is risky.

 

Best of luck to you.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

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That's the same thing as saying I shouldn't use my unlimited cell phone minutes at home I should be using my land line.

 

No, it is not. Stop repeating this stupid analogy. Sprint's voice and data networks are effectively separate. Sprint has data network loading issues but generally does not have voice network loading issues. In other words, the voice network has plenty of capacity to spare. Moreover, a CDMA1X voice call requires an average throughput of approximately 10 kbps. That is minuscule compared to the average throughput of one data user on EV-DO or LTE.

 

So, know what you are talking about before you speak. Do not equate unlimited CDMA1X voice with unlimited EV-DO or LTE data. They are not equivalent types of usage.

 

AJ

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As Sprint lights up LTE on sites, and there are sufficient sites up in clusters, the teams will go back and optimize the cluster, so you'll get the same/better service level back.

 

Well, they will attempt to. And it will improve when they lower downtilt by 10 degrees to the normal design. However, there is nothing they can do that between -93dBm and -106dBm RSSI, LTE signal is very fragile. And in this range, EVDO and 1x are more usable. In urban areas, the optimization will work well. Because site density is on their side. But in sprawled suburban and rural locations (and in places with poor site spacing...think Baton Rouge), there will be issues until LTE 800 is deployed.

 

But it will be way better than WiMax. There is just no way that Sprint can guarantee indoor LTE reception for anyone. No carrier can.

 

Robert

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I hope it will at least mirror their current 3G coverage with the addition of SMR LTE. I have a feeling it will be something in between that and what VZW's 3G, which is fine with me as it would still be an improvement.

 

I'm stoked to see the 1x 800 and LTE 800 coverage difference.

 

Mainly 1x surprisingly (due to coverage advantages over LTE). I've found that 1x is fast enough for what I use most of my data for (odd side effect of having to live with 250kbps 3G for the better part of a year).

 

No more roaming at my cabin, so I can stream pandora when I'm out and about!

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