T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

[Guest 503ducati]

Of course, tons of people are super happy. But i'm sure we can all agree the general concensus is that more are unhappy.

All that matters is you in this case not anyone else, I wouldn't base your choice on what others are experiencing but rather your real world experiences.

[vryan44]

See the /s at the end?

 

It denotes sarcasm.

 

Oh wow I didn't even notice, I apologize.

[lilotimz]

Oh wow I didn't even notice, I apologize.

 

It's all good.

[supert0nes]

 

I am' date=' lol. Trying to get out of my contract now, I really dont wan't to wait until next April.

 

I had hope for Sprint and was super optimistic. Though, we all have to admit that they're dropping the ball. I had no Wimax, and I have no LTE now. Honestly, id be ok with a decent 3G network, at least i'd be able to stream Spotify, which I cant do now! My iPhone 5 is literally useless unless I'm on wifi.

 

They're building it out, I know. But LTE was projected to launch what, 6 months ago in LA? Its almost April with no launch window in sight. As a consumer, its annoying. I can hope and dream for LTE on 800mhz. Its an amazing thought. But lets get real, its not happening ANY time soon, regardless of what they say.

 

The promise of 4G, etc. Nothing's getting better. At least for the majority of people.

 

Of course, tons of people are super happy. But i'm sure we can all agree the general concensus is that more are unhappy.[/quote']

 

 

While i get that you are blowing off steam, we are not the right audience. Most everyone here is well informed about the status of Sprint service in their area.

 

Sent from phone

[shawn_aten]

Yes, setting other variables that may affect final performance aside; multiple connections don't slow down the pipe (at least not so much with newer equipment) each packet has a scheduled time slot, multiple connections do eat away the bandwidth however, which is the pipe.. Depending how crazy your little tethering party gets over there you will be eating the bandwidth of your site. Eat all you want, don't cry when its no longer unlimited. Yes, Sprints current 3G is not fast. In all urban non upgraded areas 3G crawls, without proper backhaul these legacy sites are way over capacity. This directly kills performance, the current legacy network was designed in a day where the smartphone was a thing of the future.

 

For the record I'm actually a Virgin Mobile customer, I already live with a 2.5 GB soft cap. (well I would if they actually tracked usage, that's coming eventually...) On slow 3G I never get anywhere near it and on NV 3G or LTE I think it would fine, especially for $30. My point really is, is that bandwidth, from my understanding, would be evenly divided among everyone on the tower so you can only really "abuse" service by being on it excessively not by what you do while you're on it, and if the tower your using isn't near its capacity it doesn't really matter.

[Mobilesolutions]

For the record I'm actually a Virgin Mobile customer, I already live with a 2.5 GB soft cap. (well I would if they actually tracked usage, that's coming eventually...) On slow 3G I never get anywhere near it and on NV 3G or LTE I think it would fine, especially for $30. My point really is, is that bandwidth, from my understanding, would be evenly divided among everyone on the tower so you can only really "abuse" service by being on it excessively not by what you do while you're on it, and if the tower your using isn't near its capacity it doesn't really matter.

 

Your usage directly relates to what you do while your using service. If you are tethering to check email on a laptop you aren't causing any harm, and while unauthorized tethering is against the Terms of Service tethering for email does not interfere with anyone else's usage. On the other hand if you are streaming video content on a desktop and playing PS3 online tethered you are deffinitly abusing the bandwidth, and slowing down the connection for your towermates. It's the constant draw of data that slows it down and the heavier the draw the less room there is for others on the same site.

[WiWavelength]

If a group of people are all connected to the same tower, the speed they're going to get is going to be roughly equal right? It'll be faster the less people connected and slower with more. So can one really use a disproportionate share of the service?

 

The answer to your first question is: no. The answer to your second question is: yes.

 

Data scheduling is based on signal strength. Unless throttled or traffic shaped, a data hog with strong signal will be allocated a disproportionate share of Resource Blocks compared to other users with lesser signal strength on the same site.

 

AJ

[shawn_aten]

 

The answer to your first question is: no. The answer to your second question is: yes.

 

Data scheduling is based on signal strength. Unless throttled or traffic shaped, a data hog with strong signal will be allocated a disproportionate share of Resource Blocks compared to other users with lesser signal strength on the same site.

 

AJ

 

That is actually not what I would've thought. I would've thought a data hoog would just get slowed down to an equal portion. Also just to be clear I'm hypothetical asking, I'm good I promise!

[mellimel2212]

 

Than you my friend are one lucky Chicagoland Sprint customer. I average 3-4 dropped calls a day, annoying yes but still want Sprint to succeed and show up the big boys. I have found that if I turn data off I have a better time holding a call.

 

I mean march 2012 not this year lol.

 

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy Nexus rockin 4.2.2 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[mellimel2212]

 

 

While i get that you are blowing off steam, we are not the right audience. Most everyone here is well informed about the status of Sprint service in their area.

 

Sent from phone

 

Exactly lol not to mention I get excellent coverage for 1900 lte just like I do 3g in Chicago. Network vision is coming but if he can't wait then by all means leave we still gonna be here.

 

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy Nexus rockin 4.2.2 using Tapatalk 2

Edited March 28, 2013 by mellimel2212

[centermedic]

I am, lol. Trying to get out of my contract now, I really dont wan't to wait until next April.

 

I had hope for Sprint and was super optimistic. Though, we all have to admit that they're dropping the ball. I had no Wimax, and I have no LTE now. Honestly, id be ok with a decent 3G network, at least i'd be able to stream Spotify, which I cant do now! My iPhone 5 is literally useless unless I'm on wifi.

 

They're building it out, I know. But LTE was projected to launch what, 6 months ago in LA? Its almost April with no launch window in sight. As a consumer, its annoying. I can hope and dream for LTE on 800mhz. Its an amazing thought. But lets get real, its not happening ANY time soon, regardless of what they say.

 

 

 

The promise of 4G, etc. Nothing's getting better. At least for the majority of people.

 

Of course, tons of people are super happy. But i'm sure we can all agree the general concensus is that more are unhappy.

The idea that Sprint promised wimax to specific areas has been rebutted numerous times on this and other forums. Also, everytime you pay your monthly bill you are depending on Sprint so perhaps you should not ask anybody else that question until you are no longer a customer.

[ericdabbs]

They're building it out, I know. But LTE was projected to launch what, 6 months ago in LA? Its almost April with no launch window in sight. As a consumer, its annoying. I can hope and dream for LTE on 800mhz. Its an amazing thought. But lets get real, its not happening ANY time soon, regardless of what they say.

 

There is LTE deployed in many places in Los Angeles. I mean who honestly cares if you see a press release that says LTE in LA is live when it has been live for many months now. Sprint has been lighting up completed Network Vision sites as soon as they are ready and if you go to the LA Metro market thread you will see a ton of ppl reporting LTE sightings. They are not blocking LTE sites until a formal release date.

 

Unfortunately you have to be a sponsor to this site to find out the specific cell site locations. What city do you live in and I can check if there is LTE coverage near you.

[Boosted20V]

OK, after taking a look through the T-Mo/Metro presentation to "woo" investors they gave a while back... did anyone else notice the combined entity will carry ~ 20 Billion in debt!? Sprint takes a ton of crap for carrying ~$25 billion on its balance sheet while actually growing subs...

[Deval]

OK, after taking a look through the T-Mo/Metro presentation to "woo" investors they gave a while back... did anyone else notice the combined entity will carry ~ 20 Billion in debt!? Sprint takes a ton of crap for carrying ~$25 billion on its balance sheet while actually growing subs...

 

Unfortunately that's the norm for Sprint.

 

But back to topic at hand, the potential benefits of T-Mobile's new network are great, and with the smaller amount of users on the network, the speeds and capacity are there. T-Mobile serves roughly 33 million subs, yet has quite a large amount of spectrum, which more will be available once the Metro deal goes through and they force those subs to switch phones.

[andycapps]

All of this talk of TMobile's network and what they're doing with LTE makes me laugh. I compared 3G coverage of Sprint to TMobile on Sensorly for Columbus, and TMobile doesn't have any 3G outside of the city, and has a lot of blank spots in the city. Their network won't be much good, period, if they don't add a lot of additional towers throughout the country. From what I remember, they aren't really adding any. Just converting metro 3G sites to LTE.

[WiWavelength]

All of this talk of TMobile's network and what they're doing with LTE makes me laugh. I compared 3G coverage of Sprint to TMobile on Sensorly for Columbus, and TMobile doesn't have any 3G outside of the city, and has a lot of blank spots in the city.

 

Folks, many of you misunderstand the function of Sensorly.

 

Sensorly does not produce coverage maps; rather, it produces crowd sourced coverage tracks. If you see a coverage track on Sensorly, then you can be about 90 percent certain that coverage exists outdoors in that location. But if you do not see a coverage track on Sensorly, that means nothing. Coverage might not exist there. Or coverage might exist there, though it has not yet been tracked by any Sensorly user. Omission is not the same as negation -- a very common beginner mistake in logic.

 

As the philosophical saying goes, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" So, if a wireless carrier has coverage in a location but no one tracks it on Sensorly, does it really exist?

 

AJ

[andycapps]

 

 

Folks, many of you misunderstand the function of Sensorly.

 

Sensorly does not produce coverage maps; rather, it produces crowd sourced coverage tracks. If you see a coverage track on Sensorly, then you can be about 90 percent certain that coverage exists outdoors in that location. But if you do not see a coverage track on Sensorly, that means nothing. Coverage might not exist there. Or coverage might exist there, though it has not yet been tracked by any Sensorly user. Omission is not the same as negation -- a very common beginner mistake in logic.

 

As the philosophical saying goes, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" So, if a wireless carrier has coverage in a location but no one tracks it on Sensorly, does it really exist?

 

AJ

 

Completely understand that absence of data doesn't mean that no coverage exists. My main point was that with their network, as soon as you leave the city, you're only going to get 2G coverage as that is what has been mapped. So unless they're planning on upgrading all those 2G towers to 3G and LTE, they'll continue to have a very inferior network if one ever wants to venture outside of a metro area.

[WiWavelength]

Completely understand that absence of data doesn't mean that no coverage exists. My main point was that with their network, as soon as you leave the city, you're only going to get 2G coverage as that is what has been mapped.

 

Very true about T-Mobile GSM outside of the metro. But the unmapped areas within the metro indicate nothing definite.

 

Sprint subs, for whatever reason, seem to be the most aggressive Sensorly trackers.

 

AJ

[lilotimz]

Very true about T-Mobile GSM outside of the metro. But the unmapped areas within the metro indicate nothing definite.

 

Sprint subs, for whatever reason, seem to be the most aggressive Sensorly trackers.

 

AJ

 

No thanks to us...

[halcyoncmdr]

Very true about T-Mobile GSM outside of the metro. But the unmapped areas within the metro indicate nothing definite.

 

Sprint subs, for whatever reason, seem to be the most aggressive Sensorly trackers.

 

AJ

 

Because the ones who actually care about the Network and educating themselves about it, usually are Sensorly users, and usually decide to go with the company that historically has been the most pro-consumer when it comes to data; whether by necessity or not.

[koiulpoi]

But lets get real, its not happening ANY time soon, regardless of what they say.

 

The promise of 4G, etc

"They" say? Sprint has never promised 4G service, nor any specific time tables. Any bad expectations are due to you taking internal or leaked documents as public fact. No promises were broken because they never made you any promises.

[MagnusOchncap]

T-mobile will continue to have coverage issues inside of metro areas (AWS and PCS frequencies have measurably worse indoor signal strength, in my experience) and a very old rickety and creaky rural 2G EDGE network. Pfffft.

 

I'd rather have Sprint's tri-band national LTE-Advanced network (with carrier aggregation across the EMSR, PCS, and BRS/EBS bands). That will absolutely rock.

 

Plus, Sprint-uh-Bank will be the only American carrier with devices using native 800Mhz LTE. That will be great for both equipment (handsets and network headends) and roaming economies of scale. Most European countries next big LTE networks will be on 800Mhz (http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/europes-lack-800-mhz-digital-dividend-spectrum-reins-lte/2013-02-18). I can imagine Sprint-uh-Bank acquiring some regional European carriers because of those economic synergies.

[Fraydog]

It's cute to see some of the T-Mobile fanboys come out of the woodwork to excuse their lack of rural coverage. Part of the reason I may stop posting at Howard Forums is clowns like jet1000. This guy was the same poster who argued most vehemently for AT&T-Mobile. Now he pivots on a dime to defend their lack of rural EDGE conversion. I'm pretty sure he was blasting the lack of 3G in rural areas as late as last year. Now Legere comes in and he pivots on a dime. Go figure.

[WiWavelength]

Plus, Sprint-uh-Bank will be the only American carrier with devices using native 800Mhz LTE. That will be great for both equipment (handsets and network headends) and roaming economies of scale. Most European countries next big LTE networks will be on 800Mhz (http://www.fiercebro...-lte/2013-02-18). I can imagine Sprint-uh-Bank acquiring some regional European carriers because of those economic synergies.

 

Probably not.

 

The EU's "Digital Dividend" 800 MHz (band 20) and Sprint's SMR 800 MHz (band 26) sound similar but are very different. The frequency ranges do not significantly overlap, and the EU uplink/downlink duplex is inverted. So, there will be little, if any synergy between the two 800 MHz allocations.

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

That's a cute thought, to think our FCC could or would at least try to sync bands with the EU, but we're always at war with Eurasia.