Samsung Galaxy Note 3

[ericdabbs]

Can anyone chime in whether a single-band LTE is the death knell for me since I'm in the L.A. area (specifically Glendale)?  I REALLY like the Note 3 but not if I'm going to get worse performance than my Note 2 in the immediate future.  Or is this just a matter of not being able to take advantage of the NV improvements that will be coming soon? 

 

In the L.A. area around Glendale, the thing is that it is not in the Mexican IBEZ area which means that LTE 800 will be deployed in your area of town and not to mention that Wimax should be around you which means that LTE 2600 may already be deployed since L.A. is one of the first 8 markets that have been secretly soft launched but you just don't know it.   So in the L.A. area I expect to see LTE on all 3 bands by early 2014.  Where I work in Orange County which all of Orange County is in the area of the Mexican IBEZ so CDMA 800 and LTE 800 won't be launching here for the time being until the issue gets worked out between the US and Mexico so this might be one thing to consider.

 

So if you pick up the Note 3, you will not be able to take advantage of the NV improvements in that of the ability to offload onto other LTE bands in LTE 800 and LTE 2600 for better coverage or speeds in some cases.  The single band LTE at 1900 is by no means obsolete or going away so its not like the Note 3 is doomed. 

 

So if the RF specs don't matter to you at all because you love the Note 3 for its usability, then you should get the Note 3.  I'll tell you that I was deadset on getting the Note 3 if it just had triband LTE because all the specs was everything that I wanted but now I am willing to give it up and consider other smartphones just because of the lack of triband LTE. If you care more about being able to use LTE everywhere deep indoors and outdoors for the next 2 years then you might want to consider a triband device like a LG G2 or Nexus 5 so far.  The HTC One Max is another phablet coming out but its unconfirmed if it will support triband LTE.

[gilmikalian]

Eric, thank you for your prompt and thoughtful response.  I guess I need to weigh the importance of deeper LTE coverage v. Note 3's improvements over the Note 2.  

 

On the bright side, I have five phones on my account and the other users could not care less about new phones so an update is never too far away.

[chgoguy80]

Folks here seem to disagree on the need/desirability of SVDO or SVLTE. I would think a very common situation is using Navigation while using the speakerphone talking while driving. Without SVDO or SVLTE you would lose all navigation when you place a call? or do I misunderstand the issue?

[dedub]

Eric, thank you for your prompt and thoughtful response.  I guess I need to weigh the importance of deeper LTE coverage v. Note 3's improvements over the Note 2.  

 

On the bright side, I have five phones on my account and the other users could not care less about new phones so an update is never too far away.

 

 

I would expect that a single band note 3 would be similar coverage as the note 2.

 

So if you are happy/satisfied with your note 2 coverage, then the note 3 should provide similar performance and you can base your decision on features and other stuff.

 

If you are not satisfied with your note 2 coverage, then it is likely that a single band note 3 would also not satisfy you.

[BrianBaker1981]

Folks here seem to disagree on the need/desirability of SVDO or SVLTE. I would think a very common situation is using Navigation while using the speakerphone talking while driving. Without SVDO or SVLTE you would lose all navigation when you place a call? or do I misunderstand the issue?

Hell when im navigating in google maps on 3G and a call comes in I can still hear the directions in the ear piece while in a call even though i have no data connection.

[supersanborn]

Hell when im navigating in google maps on 3G and a call comes in I can still hear the directions in the ear piece while in a call even though i have no data connection.

There are some caching and offline components there to help keep things going in a temporary loss of coverage

 

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[ericdabbs]

Folks here seem to disagree on the need/desirability of SVDO or SVLTE. I would think a very common situation is using Navigation while using the speakerphone talking while driving. Without SVDO or SVLTE you would lose all navigation when you place a call? or do I misunderstand the issue?

 

I don't think anyone disagrees about not needing SVLTE.  Ideally if we could have triband LTE with SVLTE, that would be awesome.  But for whatever reason triband LTE devices are missing the SVLTE feature whether that is due to increased costs or some engineering challenges.  I guess the question you have to ask yourself is which feature do you value more?  If you had to choose between triband LTE capability OR single band LTE with SVLTE, what would you choose?

 

For me I would definitely choose triband LTE capability even if that means I have to sacrifice the few times I might need to use SVLTE such as talking and using navigation in the car while driving OR helping someone find something on the internet while on the call.  I would have to live with those limitations.

[imex99]

Looks like I'm going to skip the note 3,was going to be day 1 purchase but not if the band info is correct....

 

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[S4GRU]

Looks like I'm going to skip the note 3,was going to be day 1 purchase but not if the band info is correct....

 

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Especially with Band 41 LTE sites live in Columbus right now.

 

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[imex99]

Especially with Band 41 LTE sites live in Columbus right now.

 

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Sorry, not up with all the lingo but what's band 41? That's not 800 or 2500,correct?

 

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[imex99]

Anyone in Columbus have triband hotspot to test?

 

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[Oakley707]

Especially with Band 41 LTE sites live in Columbus right now.

 

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Any more details that you can unveil in the Columbus Sponsor thread? I thought I had heard that Band 41 was going to be live sooner than later.  Great news!

[lilotimz]

Any more details that you can unveil in the Columbus Sponsor thread? I thought I had heard that Band 41 was going to be live sooner than later.  Great news!

 

Premier Sponsor only. All I'll say is that if you're in Columbus and you get wimax then you'll very likely get TD-LTE at right now.

[Oakley707]

Premier Sponsor only. All I'll say is that if you're in Columbus and you get wimax then you'll very likely get TD-LTE at this very moment.

Right now!?!? You aren't joshing me are you?  I leave for Fl on Saturday, but may have to get a triband hotspot the first day I get back.  I can't wait!

[lilotimz]

Right now!?!? You aren't joshing me are you?  I leave for Fl on Saturday, but may have to get a triband hotspot the first day I get back.  I can't wait!

 

Nope. I'm so sure I will guarantee you'll find TD-LTE somewhere in Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston,  Nashville, and Austin in addition to the previous known cities that have soft launched. 

[Oakley707]

Nope. I'm so sure I will guarantee you'll find TD-LTE somewhere in Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Houston,  Nashville, and Austin in addition to the previous known cities that have soft launched. 

Wow, tri-band phones can't come soon enough.  I must admit the Columbus market LTE rollout has been slow.  It's almost more painful knowing that the towers are going up and being worked on / in progress.  To up and find out the entire market is up and running is quite frankly better than Christmas!

 

I'm looking at FreedomPop to purchase a hotspot and can't seem to find out how to change the device.  When I put in my address, I believe it thinks I'm only eligible for 3g and therefore it comes with an Overdrive...

[thewezgrays]

I am not premier (yet and not for awhile yet).. but even that brief summary confuses me.  How can they have all of Denver practically lit up (from Robert's trip) and all those cities as well -- cities where LTE (anything other than 2600) is nearly non-existent.. and yet still "allow" Apple, Samsung or ANYONE to release a phone ... a TOP of the line phone.... that can't use it!!! Totally confused and frustrated by Sprint (cause in the end it is their fault and their mess)...

[S4GRU]

Premier Sponsor only. All I'll say is that if you're in Columbus and you get wimax then you'll get TD-LTE at right now.

 

No, not quite.  Clearwire has broken up each market into two phases.  Phase 1 are the highest capacity sites.  Phase 2 are the rest.  All of the Phase 1 Clearwire WiMax sites in Columbus have been upgraded to include Band 41/TD-LTE 2600.  Not all of the WiMax sites are complete in the market, just Phase 1 sites.  They will not begin Phase 2 in Columbus for a few more months.

 

Robert

[Oakley707]

No, not quite.  Clearwire has broken up each market into two phases.  Phase 1 are the highest capacity sites.  Phase 2 are the rest.  All of the Phase 1 Clearwire WiMax sites in Columbus have been upgraded to include Band 41/TD-LTE 2600.  Not all of the WiMax sites are complete in the market, just Phase 1 sites.  They will not begin Phase 2 in Columbus for a few more months.

 

Robert

I appreciate the clarification.  I wasn't trying to pry for more information, just trying to understand how much coverage to expect.  Really appreciate all that you do!  Thanks again!

[S4GRU]

I am not premier (yet and not for awhile yet).. but even that brief summary confuses me.  How can they have all of Denver practically lit up (from Robert's trip) and all those cities as well -- cities where LTE (anything other than 2600) is nearly non-existent.. and yet still "allow" Apple, Samsung or ANYONE to release a phone ... a TOP of the line phone.... that can't use it!!! Totally confused and frustrated by Sprint (cause in the end it is their fault and their mess)...

 

Look.  I get sick of the bitching.  You just said, "they need to sell phones before the network is ready."  I also often hear, "they need to have the network done before they start selling phones."  It drives me bat shit crazy!!!!

 

I personally am glad that Band 41 coverage is going to exist in many places the day Band 41 capable LTE smartphones go on sale in the next 30-45 days or so.  This is not a bad thing.  And there are lots of Band 41 hotspots out there.  Sprint is not doing something wrong here.

 

I would have loved for these devices going on sale this month and next month to have Band 41 LTE.  I bet Sprint wishes they did too.  However, we know that the LGOG2 and the Samsung GS4 Mini are going to have Triband.  It will be glorious.  And there will likely be another one or two more before the end of the year.  And Sprint says that all smartphones in 2014 will be Triband.  It is what it is.

 

Robert

[supersanborn]

Look. I get sick of the bitching. You just said, "they need to sell phones before the network is ready." I also often hear, "they need to have the network done before they start selling phones." It drives me bat shit crazy!!!!

 

I personally am glad that Band 41 coverage is going to exist in many places the day Band 41 capable LTE smartphones go on sale in the next 30-45 days or so. This is not a bad thing. And there are lots of Band 41 hotspots out there. Sprint is not doing something wrong here.

 

I would have loved for these devices going on sale this month and next month to have Band 41 LTE. I bet Sprint wishes they did too. However, we know that the LGOG2 and the Samsung GS4 Mini are going to have Triband. It will be glorious. And there will likely be another one or two more before the end of the year. And Sprint says that all smartphones in 2014 will be Triband. It is what it is.

 

Robert

Yup. All we can do now is decide if single band Note 3 is good enough and move on from there. Personally I want to see how good/bad the RF capabilities of the Note 3 are compared to the other tri-band contenders out there.

 

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[thewezgrays]

Look.  I get sick of the bitching.  You just said, "they need to sell phones before the network is ready."  I also often hear, "they need to have the network done before they start selling phones."  It drives me bat shit crazy!!!!

 

I personally am glad that Band 41 coverage is going to exist in many places the day Band 41 capable LTE smartphones go on sale in the next 30-45 days or so.  This is not a bad thing.  And there are lots of Band 41 hotspots out there.  Sprint is not doing something wrong here.

 

I would have loved for these devices going on sale this month and next month to have Band 41 LTE.  I bet Sprint wishes they did too.  However, we know that the LGOG2 and the Samsung GS4 Mini are going to have Triband.  It will be glorious.  And there will likely be another one or two more before the end of the year.  And Sprint says that all smartphones in 2014 will be Triband.  It is what it is.

 

Robert

Sorry.  Just some frustration on my part; it fits in the GN3 thread -- but is narrow focused.  I DO look forward to what is to come (both network and device side).  I will move on.

[thewezgrays]

Look.  I get sick of the bitching.  You just said, "they need to sell phones before the network is ready."  I also often hear, "they need to have the network done before they start selling phones."  It drives me bat shit crazy!!!!

If they would have just released 25 models of tri-band phones and updated 39,000 sites with all the bands last week this wouldn't be an issue! (Thinking harder about it -- what *IS* better to have first the device or the network??? chicken or egg)... This will be my last post on the issue -- but you really got me thinking about what is the better way to 'have it'...

[digiblur]

Yup. All we can do now is decide if single band Note 3 is good enough and move on from there. Personally I want to see how good/bad the RF capabilities of the Note 3 are compared to the other tri-band contenders out there.

 

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It can be the best damn RF performer in the world but you will stuck using that one lane highway for the 2 years you have it and that nice 10 lane interstate is staring at you and you can't use it. No thanks. Then to further rub it in you can't use the 800LTE either.

[supersanborn]

It can be the best damn RF performer in the world but you will stuck using that one lane highway for the 2 years you have it and that nice 10 lane interstate is staring at you and you can't use it. No thanks. Then to further rub it in you can't use the 800LTE either.

Yeah, which is why unless the tri-band phones out there turn out to be pitiful, I'll be looking outside the Sammy stable.

 

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