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Considering switching to Sprint and looking for input


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Posted

Online would be pretty easy because it has an option to pick previously activated devices on the account.

 

That is the intention, but it does not always work that way.  Some of us have quirks in our accounts -- possibly because we have been through the full gamut of CDMA2000, WiMAX, and LTE -- such that we have to call in for assistance on every handset switch. For me, that means a call every 3-9 months, so it is not a big deal.  But it would be a deal breaker for anyone who wants to switch twice a day.

 

AJ

  • Like 3
Posted

That is the intention, but it does not always work that way. Some of us have quirks in our accounts -- possibly because we have been through the full gamut of CDMA2000, WiMAX, and LTE -- such that we have to call in for assistance on every handset switch. For me, that means a call every 3-9 months, so it is not a big deal. But it would be a deal breaker for anyone who wants to switch twice a day.

 

AJ

Hm this is discouraging. It definitely would be an issue. Does Sprint not have the *228 option to program it without talking to a live rep just in case online doesn't work?

 

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

 

 

Posted

Hm this is discouraging. It definitely would be an issue. Does Sprint not have the *228 option to program it without talking to a live rep just in case online doesn't work?

 

No, *228 is just an OTA PRL update method that some operators use.  It does not affect the backend provisioning of the account, and that is the hangup for some users when switching devices.

 

AJ

  • Like 1
Posted

No, *228 is just an OTA PRL update method that some operators use.  It does not affect the backend provisioning of the account, and that is the hangup for some users when switching devices.

 

AJ

Hm, I remember activating my phone simply using the *228 or some other code like that when I was on Verizon I thought. It would ask for your phone number and account password then proceed with activation if I recall correctly, it has been a while since I've been on Verizon though.

Posted

There should not be a problem with switching devices online on Sprint for a new customer on one of the newer plan types without any weird discounts, and using all LTE devices.  If you start mixing non LTE devices, especially WiMax devices, or if you have old legacy plans, that's where a customer would likely run into problems switching online.

Robert

  • Like 1
Posted

I have a feeling most people on this site are long time sprint customers, but I'm curious, has anyone made the switch to sprint recently from another carrier and could weigh in and what market they are in? I see so many just switched to tmobile posts on the various tmobile forums I frequent (HoFo and reddit, not nearly as good as here in terms of network info).

Posted

I switched right at the start of January from at&t. I'm in the Missouri market and a week ago I went across state to Kansas city (through some very rural areas) and I had one brief 30 second period where I roamed. Everywhere else I had LTE 98% of the time and the brief time I was on 3g I was seeing 2mbs+ speeds(totally usable). The only place I get lackluster speeds is my house (edge of service in a rural area, plus I'm serviced by three towers that I don't believe are upgraded from the looks of the equipment). I'm happier on sprint than I ever was on at&t, I average 7-8gigs of data a month on my 3g speeds at home with some LTE usage when I'm out places.

Now I swapped about a week or two before framily became a the main plan so I can't comment on that aspect.

Once your city/area gets completed to the state that Kansas city has been I highly doubt you'll have a single complaint (LTE speeds above 10mbs all day including peak hours. Signal everywhere I went). I'm really excited by the quality of sprints end result (before 800lte and such is out), even without the spark update they blew my experience with at&t out of the water.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

  • Like 5
Posted

I have been with Sprint for roughly 3 months or so.  I actually made the switch from Verizon primarily based on the information I received from this site.  I was interested in my first 4G LTE phone (I'm in IT, and yes I waited that long...), since my previous phone with Verizon was an iPhone 4S through my employer at the time. 

 

While switching jobs, I knew I wanted to avoid Verizon mainly because of their pricing and their data caps.  There coverage is probably the best in my area (South Central WI), but I just didn't like them.  Hard to explain... 

 

Honestly, if where I live we had AT&T or T-Mobile, I probably would've given them a shot with a Nexus 5 (so I could switch if needed and not be on a contract), but neither covers my current city.  That left me with Sprint or US Cellular (which with their pricing and data tiers now thinks they are Verizon's little cousin or something), so I went with Sprint since this site provided me with the reassurance that Sprint will soon have 800 LTE. 

 

Currently, I guess I can't complain about my coverage, but at the same time it is nothing to brag about.  Sprint has one tower in my city of 12,000+ which doesn't really get LTE all throughout the town (some areas even only get 1x800, no 3G too).  If I am in any sort of building I usually only can pick up a VERY weak 3G signal, in some places unusable.  Most of this hopefully will be resolved by the tower in town and another tower approximately 6 miles away but located on one of the biggest hills around here that provides a great range of 1x 800 and even 1x1900 getting 800 LTE.  I also should mention that I live in the "edge" of Sprint's native coverage, so I roam if going 10 miles to the west.  I knew this in advance though, so other areas fully within their coverage are probably a lot better.

 

I work in Madison, WI and things are definitely better here.  LTE in most parts of the city, but there are a few areas that drop you down to 3G.  I am almost positive that the holes here will be covered when the 800 LTE upgrades are complete. 

 

Overall though, it isn't too bad.  I knew when I signed up that I would have to deal with some of the growing pains still. 

Posted

I was an AT&T customer until I switched to Sprint in February 2011, right when everything was starting to go downhill, during the botched WiMax rollout. Despite all that, my Sprint experience has been much better than AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5S using Tapatalk 2

Posted

I forgot to mention that we have version iPhone 4 in our household too(work phone), and comparing 3g speeds my nexus has better average speeds but the middle of the night optimal speed hours (12am-3am) the version phone wins out by 100kbs. However call quality really seems superior on sprint(yes even on the non data phone we have :P).

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

Posted

Thanks guys I like hearing all these stories since the main reason I'd switch from Tmobile is better coverage. Keep them coming if there are any more :).

Posted

Thanks guys I like hearing all these stories since the main reason I'd switch from Tmobile is better coverage. Keep them coming if there are any more :).

 

It has zero relevance to the current status of the Boulder area, but in my area (suburban Boston), I've had ~90% LTE coverage for several months and it's awesome. We're lucky to be one of the markets that got started near the beginning and continued with steady progress. I haven't found any band 26 (800 MHz, better building penetration) or 41 (2500/2600 MHz, ridiculous speeds) yet, but the good old band 25 has worked very well here. I never roam unless I drift too far off the highway in NH where there is no native Sprint coverage.

 

Just keep this in mind: think of Sprint's network like a brand new house under construction, and you're considering moving in early. Trying to live there while they are working on it will bring up some inconveniences. Some of the rooms are unfinished, and you might get dirty. Not everyone can tolerate living like that. But when they are finally done (and if you've seen the maps here, you know there has been great progress over the past 18 months), it will be awesome.

 

-Mike

  • Like 4
Posted

 

Hello everyone, I want to start by apologizing for the long post and if its in the wrong section. I have been lurking this site for a long time now and a few months ago donated to see the sponsor maps and I have been tracking sprints upgrades religiously since then, despite the fact I don't nor have I ever had Sprint service. 
 
I am always looking for the best deal and this Framily option at the 25 dollar rate after 7 people intrigued me. I use about 5-6 gigs of data a month so I am a pretty heavy user on Tmobile's unlimited plan so Sprint is really my only other option realistically, plus I also don't want to sign contracts anymore which is why I haven't considered Sprint until now. 
 
The reasons I was considering switching were potentially better coverage/reliability. In Boulder, CO where I live, Tmobile is excellent and I spend a decent amount of my time here so I never have issues. It's when I visit my family who live in Colorado Springs or travel to Illinois/Wisconsin to visit extended family that I tend to run into issues. The speeds are excellent when I have them and wifi calling helps, but there are quite a few dead spots in Colorado Springs in places I frequent that are annoying to have no service at all in. Sprint has almost fully launched LTE/800/NV in all of Colorado Springs as well as the areas I travel in the midwest(Rockford/Chicago, IL and Door County, WI) so where I travel seems to be covered well by sprint.
 
My question is how big of a difference has NV made to their network. I use a lot of Netflix streaming so as long as speeds are quick enough consistently to browse the internet and stream music/netflix I don't care what those speeds are. I always see like .02Mbps down speed tests from Sprint haters but I take them with a grain of salt because typically people only take time out of their day to complain rather than praise. I'm aware mileage may vary. I have spent a lot of time scouring rootmetrics for their reviews in all the cities I have or am potentially going to and it scares me but I figured a lot of those were done pre NV or during NV. I also have been going through sensorly on nearly every street I've been or go on frequently and that gives me more hope but I don't know how accurate or what it really means in terms of reliability.
 
I live in apparently the last city to be started here in Boulder (which is just outside of Denver, CO) and I know literally no one with sprint to ask. The maps show no work has even started on the towers in my area and Denver is only partly in progress. My fear of switching is taking a huge step back in the place where I live only to potentially gain benefit in the places I travel. Obviously my town will be converted like the rest and I can wait if the end product is proven to be a quality one. All I read all over the internet is pure Sprint bashing and Tmobile praise. I am not loyal to any company and go with who is offering me the best product for the price at the time and I'm wondering if Sprint is that option.
 
I don't really know any way to test the network like I did with Tmobile because of their limitations on phones. I just used a pre paid sim card in an unlocked AWS capable iPhone 5 for a few months while keeping my ATT line before I made the switch a few months ago to Tmobile. I also like to have 2 or 3 phones at any one time and when I was on Verizon I ran into the issue of not being able to switch between LTE and cheap 3g phones like I like to do if I'm going someplace where my phone could be potentially damaged or lost. How would this work on Sprint if I bought a cheap phone to switch between, I know it's like Verizons old 3g phones where I can't just swap sims like I'm used to on ATT and Tmobile but how does the sim card factor in if switching between an imbedded SIM LTE phone and a removable one or an LTE phone and a 3g phone?
 
Any input is welcome and appreciated, I will edit this later if it's hard to read, I typed it all on my phone but wanted to get it posted before this evening.

 

I've noticed a huge difference.  Ive been with sprint over 6 years.  Data 2 years ago was average 0.40mbps in my area,  now im pushing 26mbps on lte.  On ehrpd (3g) its 1.5mbps.  It depends on the area you are in.  

  • Like 1
Posted

It has zero relevance to the current status of the Boulder area, but in my area (suburban Boston), I've had ~90% LTE coverage for several months and it's awesome. We're lucky to be one of the markets that got started near the beginning and continued with steady progress. I haven't found any band 26 (800 MHz, better building penetration) or 41 (2500/2600 MHz, ridiculous speeds) yet, but the good old band 25 has worked very well here. I never roam unless I drift too far off the highway in NH where there is no native Sprint coverage.

 

Just keep this in mind: think of Sprint's network like a brand new house under construction, and you're considering moving in early. Trying to live there while they are working on it will bring up some inconveniences. Some of the rooms are unfinished, and you might get dirty. Not everyone can tolerate living like that. But when they are finally done (and if you've seen the maps here, you know there has been great progress over the past 18 months), it will be awesome.

 

-Mike

Seems like an apt analogy indeed. Unfortunately my suburb of Boulder hasn't even started yet and Denver only has only over half of the sites "In Progress". How rough is the transition process realisticall? It's supposed to start soon I have a feeling since it's already 2014 and the whole region is majority legacy equipment. Denver is getting Band 41 simultaneously with 25 it seems since Clearwire decided to do that for whatever reason so hopefully it will jump from nothing to spark within a short period of time. Now I am actually planning a move in ~ a year to either Fullerton, CA. Ft Lauderdale, FL or Phoenix, AZ for continued graduate school depending on where I get in so if anyone is from any of these areas it would be relevant to me as well as Colorado.

Posted

Seems like an apt analogy indeed. Unfortunately my suburb of Boulder hasn't even started yet and Denver only has only over half of the sites "In Progress". How rough is the transition process realisticall? It's supposed to start soon I have a feeling since it's already 2014 and the whole region is majority legacy equipment. Denver is getting Band 41 simultaneously with 25 it seems since Clearwire decided to do that for whatever reason so hopefully it will jump from nothing to spark within a short period of time. Now I am actually planning a move in ~ a year to either Fullerton, CA. Ft Lauderdale, FL or Phoenix, AZ for continued graduate school depending on where I get in so if anyone is from any of these areas it would be relevant to me as well as Colorado.

 

The actual "transition" from legacy to NV for end-users is not rough at all; while they are working on a site, you might have unstable connections for a couple of days while NV equipment is brought online and tested. The rough part is right now, waiting for that day to come. I just took a peek at the map, and your area...... yikes. Check out the Colorado thread in the Sponsors section, looks like there are a lot of folks in your area keeping track of equipment installs that haven't been accepted yet, so hopefully it's getting close. Visit the market threads for those other areas as well if you're curious about progress there, but honestly, in a year, everything will be different. Sprint should have most of the upgrades wrapped up by then, except for band 41 additions in areas that didn't have previously have WiMAX.

 

-Mike

Posted

So I have a question that I had while I was at the sprint store playing with some phones and installed signal check on a few of them. The LG G Flex the internet was almost unusable with about .15 Mbps down and -85dbm connected to a tower literally across the street on eHRPD according to signal check. The Nexus 5 was about -75 dbm right next to it and the web pages seemed to load quite snappily connected to EVDO according to signal check, unfortunately I couldn't get speed test on it since it was locked down from running pretty much every app it seemed. The HTC One max was also almost unusuable speed wise like the LG G Flex with around -85 dbm on EVDO according to signal check and speed test was around .15 as well. Then the HTC EVO 4G LTE was around -85 dbm and was on eHRPD but got 1.0 Mbps down and websites loaded quite quickly as well. Lastly the G2 was quite slow as well loading pages but I didn't spend much time with it.

 

All of this was on eHRPD or EVDO and this is definitely not a NV tower based off of the sponsor maps and all phones were within a few feet, so my question is why were some of these phones on EVDO and some were on eHRPD. The other one is why was there such a large difference in terms of web page loads and speed test results even among same models of phones? 

Posted

I've had nothing but awesomeness with Sprint! Back when basic flip phones were still a thing, I was on Verizon a couple years later I bought a netbook with Verizon service built in. Both purchases I regret - though I like my netbook and still use it - anyways the service I got was overpriced and sub-par for that thing.

 

The netbook was fine for the first three weeks, I got decent speeds on it. After that though it was all down hill, dropped connections and barely got a signal - I guess they decommissioned a local tower. 

 

As soon as I could I switched to Sprint (AT&T has no service here) and I'm SO glad I did. Actually I went with Virgin Mobile and my Galaxy Victory is on it, currently my second phone with them. About one year after I bought my first phone from them, I got the Sierra 3G/4G USB modem on a 12GB plan, the sprint rep was so nice she actually asked me if I had any questions about my Victory, needless to say I have a very good partnership with my sales rep now.

 

Just recently I got a Tab 3 strictly for a business tablet - I own my own business and I don't want to keep using my personal stuff for work - I'm really happy with it.

 

I have been spoiled though because I live about 1/4 mile from a tower. Even on 3G I got about .5-1.50 mbps on my phone and 1.25-2 mbps on my modem on the pre N.V. upgrades. Now on LTE I get speeds of 12-25 mbps on my phone and tablet and about 2.5-3 mbps on my modem.

 

Bottom line, Sprint has been there for me both for personal, school and for business. Yes there has been hiccups, yes there has been outages, but every carrier does. As soon as the rest of my towers are upgraded, I will be putting my family and I on the Framily plan and getting a Galaxy Mega, Note 3 or Nexus 5. 

 

I am and always will be a Sprint fanboy and supporter. 

  • Like 1
Posted

So I have a question that I had while I was at the sprint store playing with some phones and installed signal check on a few of them. The LG G Flex the internet was almost unusable with about .15 Mbps down and -85dbm connected to a tower literally across the street on eHRPD according to signal check. The Nexus 5 was about -75 dbm right next to it and the web pages seemed to load quite snappily connected to EVDO according to signal check, unfortunately I couldn't get speed test on it since it was locked down from running pretty much every app it seemed. The HTC One max was also almost unusuable speed wise like the LG G Flex with around -85 dbm on EVDO according to signal check and speed test was around .15 as well. Then the HTC EVO 4G LTE was around -85 dbm and was on eHRPD but got 1.0 Mbps down and websites loaded quite quickly as well. Lastly the G2 was quite slow as well loading pages but I didn't spend much time with it.

 

All of this was on eHRPD or EVDO and this is definitely not a NV tower based off of the sponsor maps and all phones were within a few feet, so my question is why were some of these phones on EVDO and some were on eHRPD. The other one is why was there such a large difference in terms of web page loads and speed test results even among same models of phones?

EHRPD and EVDO pretty much are the same thing. Differences in performance between devices in that store is most likely from different site or sector connections.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

  • Like 1
Posted

So I'm hoping you sprint experts can explain this since I'm not used to the CDMA carriers. I just tried to meet someone on craigslist at a sprint store to buy a nice condition EVO LTE (yes I'm aware it might have bad radios but I like the phone) and the ESN checked out with Ting who I was going to activate it on as well as Swappa both said it's ready to be activated. It also still displayed sprint as the carrier even though it wasn't activated in the settings. However, the phone rep as well as the store sales associate said that the serial number wasn't in their database anymore and was most likely flashed to Cricket. The guy was shocked at this and I didn't really know what the serial number had to do with whether or not it could be activated on a network, I thought it was all tied into the MEID/ESN and as long as it wasn't blocked Sprint could activate it. I didn't buy it because I didn't want to risk it but I'm still confused as to why this phone wasn't eligible to be activated on Sprint when it was clean and was already connected to sprints network just not activated on a number.

Posted

So I'm hoping you sprint experts can explain this since I'm not used to the CDMA carriers. I just tried to meet someone on craigslist at a sprint store to buy a nice condition EVO LTE (yes I'm aware it might have bad radios but I like the phone) and the ESN checked out with Ting who I was going to activate it on as well as Swappa both said it's ready to be activated. It also still displayed sprint as the carrier even though it wasn't activated in the settings. However, the phone rep as well as the store sales associate said that the serial number wasn't in their database anymore and was most likely flashed to Cricket. The guy was shocked at this and I didn't really know what the serial number had to do with whether or not it could be activated on a network, I thought it was all tied into the MEID/ESN and as long as it wasn't blocked Sprint could activate it. I didn't buy it because I didn't want to risk it but I'm still confused as to why this phone wasn't eligible to be activated on Sprint when it was clean and was already connected to sprints network just not activated on a number.

 

I've seen this before, its not that its not in the system, its that the ESN is not "owned" by sprint anymore. Its been taken over by an mnvo like iwireless, straight talk, ting...., etc that uses sprint branded devices. Once that happens its no longer eligible to be on sprint.

 

 

If it was flashed to cricket the ESN would go on sprint but the phone would not have the necessary programming to activate and would not take Sprints MSL or codes. Cricket does not remove the ESN from sprint like sprint mnvos do.

 

When mnvos check phones they only look at lost/stolen thats, they do not care whose system the ESN is in or if the phone is on a deliquent account. Thats why ting said it was fine to activate 

Posted

I just tried to meet someone on craigslist at a sprint store to buy a nice condition EVO LTE (yes I'm aware it might have bad radios but I like the phone) and the ESN checked out with Ting who I was going to activate it on as well as Swappa both said it's ready to be activated. It also still displayed sprint as the carrier even though it wasn't activated in the settings. However, the phone rep as well as the store sales associate said that the serial number wasn't in their database anymore and was most likely flashed to Cricket.

 

Was this a Ting phone rep or a Sprint rep? If the ESN checks out with Ting's own ESN checker, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to activate it. Also, if it still displays Sprint as the carrier, then it's most likely not flashed to Cricket, unless someone rooted it and changed the carrier name back to "Sprint", for some inexplicable reason.

 

Once an ESN/MEID is in the wholesale (rather than retail) part of the system, it is possible to "push" it back to the Sprint retail database, should you choose to later bring it to Sprint. You'd have to ask Ting to do that for you.

 

P.S. It's well past time for Sprint to get rid of their ESN/MEID whitelist. Get with the times and go with a blacklist of lost/stolen devices only.

  • Like 1
Posted

Was this a Ting phone rep or a Sprint rep? If the ESN checks out with Ting's own ESN checker, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to activate it. Also, if it still displays Sprint as the carrier, then it's most likely not flashed to Cricket, unless someone rooted it and changed the carrier name back to "Sprint", for some inexplicable reason.

 

Once an ESN/MEID is in the wholesale (rather than retail) part of the system, it is possible to "push" it back to the Sprint retail database, should you choose to later bring it to Sprint. You'd have to ask Ting to do that for you.

 

P.S. It's well past time for Sprint to get rid of their ESN/MEID whitelist. Get with the times and go with a blacklist of lost/stolen devices only.

 

Cool thank you, I ended up finding another one for 75 bucks and the sprint store said it was all good so I bought that one and I am currently using it on Ting to try out the service for a while before jumping ship.

Posted

So I have been playing with signal check pro now and the addresses and locations even when I click show site on map are completely wrong if the sponsor maps are to be believed. It shows me connected to a tower at a location that the sponsor maps don't even show a site existing for there. I thought signal check used s4gru databases or worked with this site to get site IDs. 

Posted

So I have been playing with signal check pro now and the addresses and locations even when I click show site on map are completely wrong if the sponsor maps are to be believed. It shows me connected to a tower at a location that the sponsor maps don't even show a site existing for there. I thought signal check used s4gru databases or worked with this site to get site IDs.

There's a thread on this forums for signal check. Mike the creator of the app is a contributing, active member of S4GRU. If you go post this in the proper thread he'll get back to you(he's usually pretty quick too).

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

  • Like 1
Posted

So I have been playing with signal check pro now and the addresses and locations even when I click show site on map are completely wrong if the sponsor maps are to be believed. It shows me connected to a tower at a location that the sponsor maps don't even show a site existing for there. I thought signal check used s4gru databases or worked with this site to get site IDs. 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3060-signalcheck-android-app-to-monitor-your-2g3g4g-lte-signal-strengths/

  • Like 1

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