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Will CA help keep Note 5 from clinging onto 3G like the Note 3?


antilamr

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Some history first;

Been through all the highs & broken promise Lows over the last 18 years with Sprint, currently have 7 lines. My main areas of concern are where I live and my retirement cabin which are in a semi Sprint dead zones.

My Note3 will hold onto 3g for dear life. I have to toggle airplane mode to return to LTE signal (while standing in my back yard). Once I enter the house it drops to 3g. Speed test at 4g is slow at best.

In my front yard it's 3g unless I walk into the center of the street, togle airplane mode then can pick up SLOW 4g again(until I walk to my front door.) i know note3 is missing band 41 which is suposto help.

The wife's Iphone6 is 3g in my front yard, lte in the middle of the street and drops to 3g when entering our house also. When on 3g and walking into the back yard, airplane mode to froce it to 4g and it sticks to lte once you enter the house again. 1 to 2 bars, 17mb down with 1.3mb up. It will hold onto the lte signal.

Does anyone have any insight to what I should expect with a Note5? Sprint has programed the system so if our 3g signal is stronger, my phone will want to stay there, Will carrier aggregation solve this problem or will the Note 5 try and hang onto the stronger 3g signal at all costs?

I'm able to pre order the Note5 for $249 with a $200 SAMSUNG REBATE. Hate to get all excited and sign on for another 2 years if the Note5 will be doing what the note3 is doing. I get the whole ehrpd and 3g improving the cell phone experiance. At this point im more interested in being able to use more than the 5mb per month my 7 phones average and finally be able to use some of the unlimited data I've been paying for over the last 18 years. I'm in West Orange County, CA. and travel to the SAN Bernardino mountains weekly. Experts please chime in. On the fence to switch carriers but want Sprint to suceed and be there when they do!

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First, welcome to S4GRU.  And we appreciate your request for insight.

 

As you more or less acknowledge, your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a single band LTE handset.  Band 25 only, no band 26, no band 41.  Carrier aggregation is band 41 only.  And if you have weak LTE coverage at home, band 41 probably will not help you.  It is possible -- that just depends upon your location and proximity to any Clearwire only sites.

 

Band 26, though, is the propagation band and should help with LTE service at home.  Band 26 is not available in Southern California presently, however, because of feet dragging from San Bernardino County and Mexico.  Those issues should be resolved in the next year or two.

 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 supports band 41 and would have you ready for band 26 -- whenever it happens.  That said, the Note 5 does not look to be a great RF performer.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-393-even-more-guardians-of-the-samsung-galaxy/

 

Back to your location, not all Sprint sites have been upgraded to LTE.  Network Vision is still in progress.  So, one or more serving sites near your location(s) may yet to be upgraded.  Become an S4GRU sponsor, and you can view maps of the site locations and upgrades in your area.  If your servings sites all have been upgraded, service may not improve much in the future.  On the other hand, if one or more of your serving sites still need to be upgraded, service may improve significantly in the future.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1195-information-about-s4gru-sponsorship-levels-and-how-to-become-a-sponsor/

 

Finally, LTE at home should not be a major concern right now, as "3G" service still will work just fine for voice and SMS.  Data at home should be over your home broadband Wi-Fi.  If you will not or cannot use Wi-Fi for data at home, please do switch away from Sprint to another wireless provider.

 

AJ

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Some history first;

Been through all the highs & broken promise Lows over the last 18 years with Sprint, currently have 7 lines. My main areas of concern are where I live and my retirement cabin which are in a semi Sprint dead zones.

My Note3 will hold onto 3g for dear life. I have to toggle airplane mode to return to LTE signal (while standing in my back yard). Once I enter the house it drops to 3g. Speed test at 4g is slow at best.

In my front yard it's 3g unless I walk into the center of the street, togle airplane mode then can pick up SLOW 4g again(until I walk to my front door.) i know note3 is missing band 41 which is suposto help.

The wife's Iphone6 is 3g in my front yard, lte in the middle of the street and drops to 3g when entering our house also. When on 3g and walking into the back yard, airplane mode to froce it to 4g and it sticks to lte once you enter the house again. 1 to 2 bars, 17mb down with 1.3mb up. It will hold onto the lte signal.

Does anyone have any insight to what I should expect with a Note5? Sprint has programed the system so if our 3g signal is stronger, my phone will want to stay there, Will carrier aggregation solve this problem or will the Note 5 try and hang onto the stronger 3g signal at all costs?

I'm able to pre order the Note5 for $249 with a $200 SAMSUNG REBATE. Hate to get all excited and sign on for another 2 years if the Note5 will be doing what the note3 is doing. I get the whole ehrpd and 3g improving the cell phone experiance. At this point im more interested in being able to use more than the 5mb per month my 7 phones average and finally be able to use some of the unlimited data I've been paying for over the last 18 years. I'm in West Orange County, CA. and travel to the SAN Bernardino mountains weekly. Experts please chime in. On the fence to switch carriers but want Sprint to suceed and be there when they do!

 

Honestly it's really hard to say. Southern California generally speaking has been greatly helped by band 41 (in my experience), but LA and OC are still really weak markets for Sprint and, because we have no real idea of the concrete plans of Sprint regarding when and where they'll densify the network, the only real thing to do is try it and see. As the previous poster said, carrier aggregation is only band 41 and would probably not be that much of a help for you. The only thing that would really do you any good is band 26 and SoCal is still out of luck with that one. What I did was finally decide to switch to T-Mobile (as service was much better for me in SoCal) and reconsider Sprint in a year or two when they've densified their network and band 26 is available in SoCal, etc etc. 

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WiWavelength

 

Thanks for the insight. We use wifi at home and have been forced to purchase internet access at our cabin in the mountains as well. The only other viable option for the mountains was Verizon wireless and I wasn't going down that road with 7 lines!!

Network Vision upgrades were completed in my "area" 6 months ago or more. (at least thats what I've been told on the 2 or 3 times I called to inquire about network problems)

 

Thomas L.

 

I'm leaning toward your solution also. I have a grandfathered plan now and have unlimited everything for a really good price. I hate to walk away from it as I don't see the possibility of matching it in the future by leaving and coming back. I tried a prepaid for 1 month on AT&T, Tmobile & Verizon already. Here's my results;

Verizon

is king in the mountains, better service than I get with Sprint when I'm in O.C.Too much money and my data usage would go way up (just because it works). Data speeds more usable than Sprints when out about OC & LA Co.

Tmobile

not as good in the mountains as Verizon but better than Sprints coverage. Same as Verizon in OC & LA Co.

AT&T

Last place in the mountains. Around my house in OC I got lte coverage inside my house (as did V and T). I noticed more dead spots alonge the 210 fwy and just plain no signal alot more in the mountains.

 

I appreciate what SRGRU does for the Sprint community and have been a lurker for some time. Would love to contribute but am unable to at this time due to some recent personal financial problems. That being said, if anyone who has access to maps would like to chime in on band 26 & or other network upgrades for 90720 zip code(as to time frame & if at all), Id be forever gratefull. Don't want to be a leach but can't afford to plop down $100 right now to find out I have no choice but to switch carriers. I'd hate to switch to Tmobile prematurely to only find out that I should have stuck it out a little longer to have my problem solved.

Thanks for any input you can provide to this 18yr plus Sprint fan boy.

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WiWavelength

 

Thanks for the insight. We use wifi at home and have been forced to purchase internet access at our cabin in the mountains as well. The only other viable option for the mountains was Verizon wireless and I wasn't going down that road with 7 lines!!

Network Vision upgrades were completed in my "area" 6 months ago or more. (at least thats what I've been told on the 2 or 3 times I called to inquire about network problems)

 

Thomas L.

 

I'm leaning toward your solution also. I have a grandfathered plan now and have unlimited everything for a really good price. I hate to walk away from it as I don't see the possibility of matching it in the future by leaving and coming back. I tried a prepaid for 1 month on AT&T, Tmobile & Verizon already. Here's my results;

Verizon

is king in the mountains, better service than I get with Sprint when I'm in O.C.Too much money and my data usage would go way up (just because it works). Data speeds more usable than Sprints when out about OC & LA Co.

Tmobile

not as good in the mountains as Verizon but better than Sprints coverage. Same as Verizon in OC & LA Co.

AT&T

Last place in the mountains. Around my house in OC I got lte coverage inside my house (as did V and T). I noticed more dead spots alonge the 210 fwy and just plain no signal alot more in the mountains.

 

I appreciate what SRGRU does for the Sprint community and have been a lurker for some time. Would love to contribute but am unable to at this time due to some recent personal financial problems. That being said, if anyone who has access to maps would like to chime in on band 26 & or other network upgrades for 90720 zip code(as to time frame & if at all), Id be forever gratefull. Don't want to be a leach but can't afford to plop down $100 right now to find out I have no choice but to switch carriers. I'd hate to switch to Tmobile prematurely to only find out that I should have stuck it out a little longer to have my problem solved.

Thanks for any input you can provide to this 18yr plus Sprint fan boy.

To be honest, your LTE coverage with Sprint isn't gonna get better anytime soon. The bureaucracies in charge faced with the responsibility of rebanding are extremely lazy, leaving it for last minute. Especially since one is a foreign government, that makes matters even worse. Once that is cleared up, then it's up to getting the hardware out on the site, wired, and properly optimized to coat the 3G footprint.

 

AJ is right, it could be a year or two before you get LTE in your home and cabin. If you are satisfied with your voice service and your ISPs for home & the cabin, try waiting it out. If you NEED fast data however, Sprint isn't gonna be an option for awhile. You'd probably be better off switching. These issues with B26 are something we at S4GRU can't exactly figure out when they'll be over.

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payturr

 

"If you are satisfied with your voice service and your ISPs for home & the cabin, try waiting it out."

ISPs at both locations is fine. I've been waiting it out since the roll out of WiMax. My main concerns are the lack of coverage when driving around the mountains. It's a safety issue. We go 4x4 on the trails in the forest and don't want to be stuck with no signal.

Sprint has been mostly great lately for phone service in the OC. Fewer droped calls than in the past. It's just frustrating to have 4 $600 plus devices (3 Iphones 6 & 6+ and a Note3) and being camped by default on ehrpd or 3g. Unable to do basic google search and speedtest is unable to connect to server half the time. Always having to do the airplane mode trick to get a better signal. Not meaning to rant but is legit issues. When I travel to other areas I get great LTE signal and with no problems about 75% of the time.

 

Thanks for everyones input. I think I'll give up my unlimited plan & switch 4 of my lines to the new Sprint 40gb for $120 plan if they'll let me. (2 Iphone 6+ leases, 1 Iphone 6 under contract and a Iphone 5S off contract. That will leave my other 3 line to Tmobile's 10gb per device plan for $120 for up to 4 lines. I can always switch back my other 3 lines if/when Sprint improves their signal in the areas that matter to me most.

Edited by antilamr
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Take note that your Sprint phones will roam on Verizon if you're out in the sticks with no Sprint service and need emergency calling. As long as the majority of your usage is on Sprint, you won't get docked for roaming fees. Just keep it infrequent.

 

There is a chance that you're in an area that just doesn't have any towers in it. Sprint may never densify the network where you are. Even if their network was fully completed, it's a gamble that you'll be covered. Becoming a sponsor would at least give you exact site locations around your area on a zoomable map so you can see if it's going to improve in the future. $100 isn't the minimum donation to gain access, don't worry. A lot of people give what they can afford at the time. 

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The note 3 isnt tri-band so sense it only has access to band 25 that can be why you drop to 3G. tri-band you have a higher chance of staying on LTE.

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