Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[newgroundsguru]

At this point complaining about sprint is like honking your horn in stand still traffic, nothing is going to happen. Here is all you need to know..

 

Sprint is working on getting their network up to and possibly beyond par. They are doing this as quickly as possible with the contractors available in the area they are working. They have a massive amount of capital to do so and is working at a fast pace..

 

Enjoy the info you should already know

[utiz4321]

Yes, Sprint's network has fallen to 4th place based on speed in several publications or lack of LTE availability. Not disputing that. It isnt objective, however, to associate a speed test ranking with usability. If the network is timing out on you, calls are failing, or you are trapped at 1x speeds, thats a legitimate complaint. But if sprint sucks because users 20mb/s > 4mb/s , comparing a limited to unlimited, well, its best to just pony up the $$ to go with the duopoly and remember to stay vigilant about free public wifi.

 

Sent from my Note II. Its so big.

It is not just speed tests. Root measures block down loads failed calls (sprint generally does pretty good in this catagory but in my area i get alot of failed calls, i am chalking it uo to NV work.) Sprint is reagularly last in text devilery times, failed downloads and usaully has more test that come in on the extreme low end, on roots tests. Root's methodolgy might be flawed (i dont know enough about to contruct such test to make a claim on that) but it is deffinately unbias.

[Dkoellerwx]

Just to clarify,  2.5Ghz TDD will be placed on all NV sites on the Sprint network? I was under the impression Sprint planned on using most of their 2.5 Ghz holdings in larger markets like Chicago and New York. What are the chances smaller markets will get the 2.5? Also, will they have to further upgrade NV sites in terms of equipment? or will it be software upgrades?

 

At this point in time, 2500 LTE will not be going on every Sprint site. The current plan is for urban and high capacity areas (as you named, Chicago, New York, Denver, LA, Miami, Dallas etc.). As for what happens after that, that is an unknown at this point. We know than SoftBank likes that network and the speeds it delivers, so we may see an expansion. But that is still likely several months down the line before it really even hits the planning tables. 

[Dkoellerwx]

It is not just speed tests. Root measures block down loads failed calls (sprint generally does pretty good in this catagory but in my area i get alot of failed calls, i am chalking it uo to NV work.) Sprint is reagularly last in text devilery times, failed downloads and usaully has more test that come in on the extreme low end, on roots tests. Root's methodolgy might be flawed (i dont know enough about to contruct such test to make a claim on that) but it is deffinately unbias.

 

Sprint's EVDO speeds suck, well known. Since there isn't a whole lot of LTE to go around where these tests are going on, it makes Sprint's apparent speeds take a huge hit. Until more RootMetrics users switch to LTE, or Sprint gets the EVDO network upgraded, it will continue to suck. I have a hard time believing the text issues... I haven't heard that complaint before. 

[koiulpoi]

It is not just speed tests. Root measures block down loads failed calls (sprint generally does pretty good in this catagory but in my area i get alot of failed calls, i am chalking it uo to NV work.) Sprint is reagularly last in text devilery times, failed downloads and usaully has more test that come in on the extreme low end, on roots tests. Root's methodolgy might be flawed (i dont know enough about to contruct such test to make a claim on that) but it is deffinately unbias.

 

 

Sprint's EVDO speeds suck, well known. Since there isn't a whole lot of LTE to go around where these tests are going on, it makes Sprint's apparent speeds take a huge hit. Until more RootMetrics users switch to LTE, or Sprint gets the EVDO network upgraded, it will continue to suck. I have a hard time believing the text issues... I haven't heard that complaint before.

Sure this is anecdotal, but of the customers I see who complain of text message issues, I can't think of a single instance over the last year that does not fall in to

a) Device issues (not network-related)

or

b ) Being connected to an oversaturated site (such as at a major concert where Sprint did not deploy COWs, etc)

or

c) Someone being blocked/account issues (not network-related)

 

The major "non-data" issues I see are almost always due to coverage gaps, which are slowly being filled in as 1X-A on ESMR 800 MHz is getting rolled out. The rest are due to cell sites going down, which you're going to get no matter what carrier you're on.

 

Legacy EV-DO sucks in many places. But hey, I can show you at least one place where post-NV Sprint's EV-DO speeds blow VZW's out of the water on the same colocated site - and was better for at least 6 months before NV.

[wyatt:-)]

In LA (the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys) Sprint has the best 'call coverage' on RootMetrics maps. Way better than Verizon.

 

Data is another story.

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[utiz4321]

Sure this is anecdotal, but of the customers I see who complain of text message issues, I can't think of a single instance over the last year that does not fall in to

a) Device issues (not network-related)

or

b ) Being connected to an oversaturated site (such as at a major concert where Sprint did not deploy COWs, etc)

or

c) Someone being blocked/account issues (not network-related)

 

The major "non-data" issues I see are almost always due to coverage gaps, which are slowly being filled in as 1X-A on ESMR 800 MHz is getting rolled out. The rest are due to cell sites going down, which you're going to get no matter what carrier you're on.

 

Legacy EV-DO sucks in many places. But hey, I can show you at least one place where post-NV Sprint's EV-DO speeds blow VZW's out of the water on the same colocated site - and was better for at least 6 months before NV.

Well I was talking about root metric market studies that show sprint dead last in almost all markets in text delivery times. Go though their reports. I doubt that this is not network related but maybe they have use bad device for their studies, repeatedly and in many different markets. I am a sprint fanboy but no way am I going to defend the current state of the network, nor will I allow myself to become so deluded that I ignore or rationalize away the numerous independent studies that show that sprint current network is not competitive. Network vision is the most innovative project any carrier is doing and has tremendous promise (though it won't fix all of sprint's problems) but it is not complete and many sprint customers like me have to suffer on sprint's legacy equipment or leave and that is not an easy choice (especially in Phoenix where lte seems as if it will never get here).

[sbolen]

I think the big hurdle that Son and Softbank have to overcome is that the vast majority of consumers sign that 2 year agreement based on current network performance, not future promises. We all have bought into Sprint's NV vision, and we all see what's in store... but I can't convince my brother in law to stick with Sprint in the St. Louis area because he's been frustrated about sending texts and uploading photos at a baseball or hockey game with near zero data speeds/capacity -- especially when he sees friends streaming and uploading video one seat over.

 

I see the progress being made, and I'm encouraged; I can't imagine hopping over to AT&T/Verizon or TMobile. Not with unlimited data in play.

[digiblur]

and there, I'm totally with you. With showing 100% or more on the coverage maps, but with less than 50% available, that's a huge mistake. This, however, has nothing to do with the speed of the rollout.

 

It does lead to an interesting other problem, though. I've had people ask me about where 4g LTE coverage is, and without the Sprint maps, I've had to continually send people to Sensorly. Which, is actually kinda a good thing.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

The Sprint LTE maps aren't that great to go by either. They show LTE coverage where they show they only have voice roaming coverage.

[S4GRU]

I now have all four carriers. Sprint, Tmo, Verizon and AT&T. I can tell you that none of them are very good everywhere. Every one of them has places on their network that is pathetic. It's nice to have them all, because in many places only one of them is worth a darn.

I'm in Walsenburg, Colorado today at a water park with my family. AT&T has its 4G here (HSPA+) and it runs at a respectable 3Mbps. Sprint 3G runs around 600k and is quite usable. Verizon has no LTE here and their 3G is over burdened, running around 100-200kbps. Tmo is on EDGE and almost as fast as VZW 3G at 150kbps.

I see this story played out all over. One of them always sucks somewhere, and if you're lucky one of them is good every place you go. Ocassionally, they all suck.

Here is my synopsis. Sprint has more sucky places in urban areas than the other carriers. Tmo has more sucky places in rural areas. Where Verizon has no LTE, their network is overburdened. Also, in high capacity areas, Verizon LTE speeds have gotten bad at peak times. Sometimes below 3G speeds. AT&T has an amazing amount of poor rural 2G coverage or roaming coverage. Much more than Verizon or even Sprint in a lot of places.

One thing we know for certain, Sprint is a good carrier for millions of people. And the Sprint network improves a little more every month. And SoftBank will never allow the Sprint network to deteriorate again. Sprint's worst days are over.

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

[HTCandroid]

Well said.

[Rukin1]

At this point in time, 2500 LTE will not be going on every Sprint site. The current plan is for urban and high capacity areas (as you named, Chicago, New York, Denver, LA, Miami, Dallas etc.). As for what happens after that, that is an unknown at this point. We know than SoftBank likes that network and the speeds it delivers, so we may see an expansion. But that is still likely several months down the line before it really even hits the planning tables. 

Fort wayne? lol

[Dkoellerwx]

Fort wayne? lol

Unknown.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE

 

 

[Rukin1]

Unknown.

 

Sent from my HTC ONE

hmm Would be awesome lol

[nebody00]

Sprint's EVDO speeds suck, well known. Since there isn't a whole lot of LTE to go around where these tests are going on, it makes Sprint's apparent speeds take a huge hit. Until more RootMetrics users switch to LTE, or Sprint gets the EVDO network upgraded, it will continue to suck. I have a hard time believing the text issues... I haven't heard that complaint before. 

 

I have encountered text issues with Sprint being delayed by a few minutes to a few hours.  For instance, I used to text the bus transit number for the arrival times when I arrive at the bus stop to go to work and it would consistently take 2-4 minutes for it to respond (I did this each morning).  My coworker who had T-mobile would text and get the arrival schedule in less than 10 seconds. I adapted to this delay and just texted 2-3 minutes before I arrived at the bus stop though.

 

Sometimes when I text people it would take a couple hours before I get a response but this happens randomly.

Edited July 23, 2013 by nebody00

[peteyz24]

The only time I ever experience a text delay is when the person I send the message to does not respond right away. I typically have a signal from -90 to -115 depending on if I'm on 800 or 1900

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[shores]

Sprint's EVDO speeds suck, well known. Since there isn't a whole lot of LTE to go around where these tests are going on, it makes Sprint's apparent speeds take a huge hit. Until more RootMetrics users switch to LTE, or Sprint gets the EVDO network upgraded, it will continue to suck. I have a hard time believing the text issues... I haven't heard that complaint before. 

i can send/receive a message thru IMessage & it gets there right away.  But if I am going thru regular text message on Sprint some times I am surprised at how long it takes for it to get to the person or to get to me. 

[twospirits]

I've experienced this so called delayed text message syndrome once in a while, which in a way is a good thing because I have an excuse when the other party says "you didn't get my text" and I say "ummm nope" lol

 

TS

[HTCandroid]

I have had friends texting me where I was when I was running late and then I receive after I arrived and are already seated with everything. Most cases its a text from Sprint device to Sprint device.

[bucdenny]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57595175-94/why-sprint-is-taking-its-sweet-time-with-4g-lte/

 

Sprint should have been telling their customers this long ago.    Show some TD-LTE speed test in NY already.

[gr8nuguy]

no credibility 

 

"Clearwire's higher frequency spectrum allows for improved coverage within buildings.

" 

 

[gatorfans239]

no credibility

 

they corrected the error at the bottom of the article,,,

[Serious]

The fine print on the new Unlimited My Way plans throttle streaming video to 1mbps. Anyone else noticed and what do you think? I cant get an answer from Sprint surrounding when this would occur or if its always. 

 

 

Taken from here http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop_landing.jsp?pagename=whysprint&plan=unlimited

 

"Streaming video speeds may be limited to 1 Mbps."

 

 

Streaming high quality Netflix on a 1920x1080 phone screen would seem not possible on Sprint.

 

 

 

[tongboy]

The fine print on the new Unlimited My Way plans throttle streaming video to 1mbps. Anyone else noticed and what do you think? I cant get an answer from Sprint surrounding when this would occur or if its always.

 

 

Taken from here http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop_landing.jsp?pagename=whysprint&plan=unlimited

 

"Streaming video speeds may be limited to 1 Mbps."

 

 

Streaming high quality Netflix on a 1920x1080 phone screen would seem not possible on Sprint.

I think the important word is "may". No one has reported it actually happening yet.

 

Sent from my EVO LTE

 

 

[COZisBack]

The fine print on the new Unlimited My Way plans throttle streaming video to 1mbps. Anyone else noticed and what do you think? I cant get an answer from Sprint surrounding when this would occur or if its always.

 

 

Taken from here http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop_landing.jsp?pagename=whysprint&plan=unlimited

 

"Streaming video speeds may be limited to 1 Mbps."

 

 

Streaming high quality Netflix on a 1920x1080 phone screen would seem not possible on Sprint.

Previously discussed here:

 

http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4184-New-Sprint-Plans...Unlimited,-My-Way,-My-All-In

 

Before was moved here.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4 Beta