After 1 Year of Sprint LTE

[NeRD]

I will definitely be paying all the money for three tri-band phones. One of our three lines is upgrade eligible, ill just fork out the MSRP on the other two lines to keep up with NV. I hope the Note 3 & the next iPhones are both 3-band!!!

[IamMrFamous07]

I will definitely be paying all the money for three tri-band phones. One of our three lines is upgrade eligible, ill just fork out the MSRP on the other two lines to keep up with NV. I hope the Note 3 & the next iPhones are both 3-band!!!

Note 3 yes, this years iPhone I don't think it will be

[Nickel]

Note 3 yes, this years iPhone I don't think it will be

Yeah, what I think will it end up happening is instead of putting in bands 2 and 5 they'll put on 25 and 26 and will then leave off 41, but we'll know soon enough.

[ChadBroChillz]

Yeah, what I think will it end up happening is instead of putting in bands 2 and 5 they'll put on 25 and 26 and will then leave off 41, but we'll know soon enough.

 

The way Apple and China Mobile have been talking, I believe Apple's iPhone already support Band 41, so now they want the largest possible customer selling it. 

[Nickel]

The way Apple and China Mobile have been talking, I believe Apple's iPhone already support Band 41, so now they want the largest possible customer selling it. 

I thought they were band 38? You could be right though, I don't know much about China's operators.

[ChadBroChillz]

I thought they were band 38? You could be right though, I don't know much about China's operators.

 

I am not sure, but I assumed they were band 41 because of their work with Clearwire. 

 

Here is a quote that made me believe they are using band 41. 

 

 

By 2014, we will require that terminals support Band 41," explained Wang Hengjiang, director of the products division of China Mobile Terminal. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, MIIT, had recently allocated Band 41 (2500MHz - 2690MHz) for TD-LTE usage.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1138601-china-mobiles-td-lte-technology-expanding-fast-where-to-invest

[Nickel]

 

I am not sure, but I assumed they were band 41 because of their work with Clearwire. 

 

Here is a quote that made me believe they are using band 41. 

 

 

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1138601-china-mobiles-td-lte-technology-expanding-fast-where-to-invest

 

Hmmm, so wouldn't that imply that they aren't using it yet? I looked it up again and China Mobile is the one that uses TD-SCDMA so I think as long the iPhone supports those bands it should be fine.

[teeitupmo]

I have a Galaxy S3 and I live in the outskirts of SE Kansas City close to Lee's Summit Mo. In Lee's Summit, the LTE is rock solid and speeds go from 12mbps-35mbps. Most areas of Kansas City that I travel are rock solid LTE as well.

 

However, since I live in the outskirts and on the fringe of LTE..my 4G signal is a bit unstable as of late. Rarely had 4G before 3-4 months ago. It was just 3G mostly and once in a blue moon I will get 4G signal.

 

Since my 4G was on more frequently but unstable, I started to wonder if my Galaxy S3 was having antenna issues. Called Sprint a few times and visited the repair center a few times. They opened a 3rd teir support call and ran all types of diagnostics.

 

They showed me the analysis report..two towers 2,4 miles from my house are presently being worked on and being upgraded. Hence the un-stabability. The towers will greatly impact the neighborhood that I live and the route that I travel to get to home.

 

The Sprint tech told me if things aren't better and more stable in 3 weeks, to call him back directly.

 

Anxiously waiting to see if I am going to get that 4-5bar rock solid LTE signal as Lee's Summit and most of Kansas City.

 

 

 

Sent from Tapatalk

 

 

[Dkoellerwx]

Welcome to the site!

 

There are only a few towers remaining in SE KC that haven't received an LTE update. We are able to track the exact status of every site in the Sprint network in our Sponsor section. Being from Kansas City, I agree that the coverage has been fantastic, though it took some time for them to get most of the sites complete, even after the official "launch." 

 

You are on the outskirts of Sprints coverage area. How is your 3G connection? If you have a strong (not necessarily fast, but strong) 3G connection, you will eventually see strong LTE. 

[teeitupmo]

On my Galaxy S3, I get 1-2bars of 3G at best in my neighborhood and on a good day 1 bar of 4G. However, two kids of mine have iPhone 5s and get 1bar of LTE in my neighborhood and sometimes roam to 3G and get 3-4 bars. My youngest has an iPhone 4 and he gets 3-4 bars of 3G and for whatever reason, when he roams, he will get 4 bars.

 

I do live in the outskirts, so I don't expect 3+ bars of LTE in my neighborhood on my Galaxy S3. What i hope is 1-2bars of LTE with a stable signal that i can count on.

 

Quite frankly, I really think the Galaxy S3's antenna isn't the greatest. But what I hope is, when I drive 1.5miles outside my neighborhood I get the 3+ bars of LTE.

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

On my Galaxy S3, I get 1-2bars of 3G at best in my neighborhood and on a good day 1 bar of 4G. However, two kids of mine have iPhone 5s and get 1bar of LTE in my neighborhood and sometimes roam to 3G and get 3-4 bars. My youngest has an iPhone 4 and he gets 3-4 bars of 3G and for whatever reason, when he roams, he will get 4 bars.

 

I do live in the outskirts, so I don't expect 3+ bars of LTE in my neighborhood on my Galaxy S3. What i hope is 1-2bars of LTE with a stable signal that i can count on.

 

Quite frankly, I really think the Galaxy S3's antenna isn't the greatest. But what I hope is, when I drive 1.5miles outside my neighborhood I get the 3+ bars of LTE.

 

Sent from Tapatalk

 

If you only get 1-2 bars of service currently, then any LTE coverage will be weak as well.

 

Here's the catch with looking at bars, they don't actually show you data strength. With the exception of the iPhone 5, bars only give your 1xRTT strength (voice). To see your EVDO or LTE stregth, you would need to look at your engineering screen (dial ##DEBUG# on the dialer). That will tell you if you are getting LTE from your closest site, or if it is coming from further away and will improve once all the sites are upgraded.

 

The GS3 has one of the strongest radios out there, next to the Note 2 and GS4. 

[teeitupmo]

"The GS3 has one of the strongest radios out there, next to the Note 2 and GS4."

 

Really? why are my kids iPhones getting better signal than my S3? Seems like their antenna gets signal in places where my S3 doesn't even get any signal, 3G or LTE.

 

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

"The GS3 has one of the strongest radios out there, next to the Note 2 and GS4."

 

Really? why are my kids iPhones getting better signal than my S3? Seems like their antenna gets signal in places where my S3 doesn't even get any signal, 3G or LTE.

 

 

Sent from Tapatalk

 

Well, not all phones are equal. But from the testing we've done here, the Samsung devices have the strongest radios, I'm not entirely sure about the iPhone, I know the 5 is pretty good with LTE, but I've never used it in person.

 

For finding your actual signal strength, read more here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

[wyatt:-)]

"The GS3 has one of the strongest radios out there, next to the Note 2 and GS4."

 

Really? why are my kids iPhones getting better signal than my S3? Seems like their antenna gets signal in places where my S3 doesn't even get any signal, 3G or LTE.

 

 

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I've always heard Motorola's got the strongest radios.

[S4GRU]

I've always heard Motorola's got the strongest radios.

You heard wrong. The original Motorola Photon had one of the best results in our testing ever. However, the newer Motorola Photon Q LTE was a dog. Really bad 3G and mediocre LTE radio performance in our testing. Only the EVO LTE was worse, really.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[koiulpoi]

You heard wrong. The original Motorola Photon had one of the best results in our testing ever. However, the newer Motorola Photon Q LTE was a dog. Really bad 3G and mediocre LTE radio performance in our testing. Only the EVO LTE was worse, really.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

So, about that signal strength device comparison article...

[WiWavelength]

So, about that signal strength device comparison article...

 

Robert is taking a cue from reclusive author J.D. Salinger...

 

AJ

[JimBob]

However, the newer Motorola Photon Q LTE was a dog. Really bad 3G and mediocre LTE radio performance in our testing.

My device?

[shifted]

The thing that impresses me about this rollout is that they are covering entire markets, not just the city-centers like wimax (yes, I know all the reasons why that happened the way it did) and they have not added any of the 800Mhz spectrum yet.  I cant wait to see the map be completely covered, and with darker areas around cities indicating TDD LTE and speeds around 100MB/s.  

I prefer city centers.  Flipping between 3G and 4G every other block due to holes makes the network unusable.

[WiWavelength]

I prefer city centers.  Flipping between 3G and 4G every other block due to holes makes the network unusable.

 

Flipping between LTE and eHRPD should not make the network "unusable."  You may prefer to be on LTE all the time, but you are just going to have to be patient.  The entire network will be finished soon enough.  In the meantime, you are not helping yourself with the EVO LTE.  It is a weak performer in acquiring, maintaining, and reacquiring LTE.  So, your handset is likely part of the problem.

 

AJ

[The Dave]

It seems HTC devices have weak performance. My Evo 3d is the first HTC I have owned, but I always felt I had worse signal on it than my old Samsung Moment had. But either way, once the network is fully up with tri band LTE, I am sure a lot of devices will have better performance since we will have a lower band for penetration and range and multiple bands to keep the network less congested.

[teeitupmo]

I am not clear, are you suggesting to force CDMA only instead of LTE/CDMA mode, if the signal keeps pingpong-ing from LTE to eHD/CDMA?

 

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[Josh]

AJ, I couldn't agree more with your EVO LTE comment, as when I am driving somewhere that there is 4G on my gf's phone but not mine... I cycle the radio or do a quick PRL update and then it finds it... but sometimes by the time that I get my speedtest app running, it switches back to 3G... I want to see how the LG G2 performs b/c I have heard many complaints about the S4 on verizon having really weak signal  (it is funny that verizon will do nothing for these ppl, but they ruffle their feathers and squawk "best network").  And I haven't heard either way for the sprint variant.  I know that the G2 will be triband, which is appealing, but I want it to work before the bands are rolled out too.  

[compneo]

AJ, I couldn't agree more with your EVO LTE comment, as when I am driving somewhere that there is 4G on my gf's phone but not mine... I cycle the radio or do a quick PRL update and then it finds it... but sometimes by the time that I get my speedtest app running, it switches back to 3G... I want to see how the LG G2 performs b/c I have heard many complaints about the S4 on verizon having really weak signal (it is funny that verizon will do nothing for these ppl, but they ruffle their feathers and squawk "best network"). And I haven't heard either way for the sprint variant. I know that the G2 will be triband, which is appealing, but I want it to work before the bands are rolled out too.

The S4 has the edge over the Note 2 from my observations and the Note 2 is solid to begin with.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Josh]

Thanks, I ed a little worried after hearing that many ppl that were on the edge of Verizon service with their last phone, would drop many more calls & not have service inside their house when they previously did. I am glad to hear that it is just a Verizon problem & not with Samsung's cdma antenna (no one on AT&T had mentioned worse reception.)