Sprint Roaming+ - Coverage Map Update

[travismheim]

Roaming costs money.  Would you be willing to pay more per month?

 

AJ

I would be willing to pay more in the form of an add on data pack similar to international data offerings already available.

[WiWavelength]

I would be willing to pay more in the form of an add on data pack similar to international data offerings already available.

 

Years ago, Sprint offered a la carte (voice) roaming packs.  That might be a good idea again for data.

 

AJ 

[Cubbiefan82]

I would be willing to pay more in the form of an add on data pack similar to international data offerings already available.

I agree with that, maybe set amount for each 1gb of roaming data

[WiWavelength]

I agree with that, maybe set amount for each 1gb of roaming data

 

How does $25 sound?

 

AJ

[Mr.Nuke]

I have no problems uscc being lte roaming, I would like a higher cap then 100/300 mbs on the roaming though

Personally I don't know... 100 may be on the stingy side on the newer plans, but I fail to see how 300 isn't enough. A fairly common roaming situation is someone on vacation for a week or someone going back to visit family for a week in a non-native coverage area. 300 MB still allows you to send 400 emails, visit 200 we pages, and upload 200 pictures to social media. It isn't going to allow you to slingbox back to your TV at home or stream Netflix, but nor should it for that matter. If people find themselves needing more than 300 MB in roaming on a regular (or even somewhat infrequent basis) a different carrier may be needed for them.

[travismheim]

How does $25 sound?

 

AJ

Sounds good to me. It's cheap enough to justify for a vacation type expense but too expensive for some one to continually roam.

[Cubbiefan82]

Personally I don't know... 100 may be on the stingy side on the newer plans, but I fail to see how 300 isn't enough. A fairly common roaming situation is someone on vacation for a week or someone going back to visit family for a week in a non-native coverage area. 300 MB still allows you to send 400 emails, visit 200 we pages, and upload 200 pictures to social media. It isn't going to allow you to slingbox back to your TV at home or stream Netflix, but nor should it for that matter. If people find themselves needing more than 300 MB in roaming on a regular (or even somewhat infrequent basis) a different carrier may be needed for them.

I dont care about the streaming video, my previous job I traveled a lot into roaming areas. I would come close to the 300 all the time, and that was on 3G. I can only imagine, how fast it would go with lte.  As AJ says 25 bucks for 1gb would be good for me

[WiWavelength]

I dont care about the streaming video, my previous job I traveled a lot into roaming areas. I would come close to the 300 all the time, and that was on 3G. I can only imagine, how fast it would go with lte.  As AJ says 25 bucks for 1gb would be good for me

 

Your data might go faster on LTE, but your roaming data quota would not get used up faster.  That would be on you -- something that you do not have to do.  Let us make that perfectly clear.

 

AJ

[Mr.Nuke]

I dont care about the streaming video, my previous job I traveled a lot into roaming areas. I would come close to the 300 all the time,

And that type of situation is what the last sentence in my post was directed towards. Here in Omaha we are in a great situation to benefit from the US Cellular Roaming deal (look at the coverage map for why). However, I don't and still wouldn't recommend Sprint to friends or family that regularly travel to smaller cities for work. If you find yourself hitting or coming close to hitting the roaming cap "all the time" to me that is a sign you need a different carrier.

 and that was on 3G. I can only imagine, how fast it would go with lte. 

Echoing AJ, 300 MB is 300 MB. I tried showed how much "regular" stuff you could do with 300 MB in a week assuming vacation usage. LTE just lets you accomplish those tasks quicker.

[bretton88]

And that type of situation is what the last sentence in my post was directed towards. Here in Omaha we are in a great situation to benefit from the US Cellular Roaming deal (look at the coverage map for why). However, I don't and still wouldn't recommend Sprint to friends or family that regularly travel to smaller cities for work. If you find yourself hitting or coming close to hitting the roaming cap "all the time" to me that is a sign you need a different carrier.

Echoing AJ, 300 MB is 300 MB. I tried showed how much "regular" stuff you could do with 300 MB in a week assuming vacation usage. LTE just lets you accomplish those tasks quicker.

Sprint works for me when I'm home great. But there's no doubt when I leave the interstates in Iowa for occasional weeks on rural jobs, I turn on my work phone mobile hotspot to keep me from going over the cap.

[red_dog007]

USCC using B5 for LTE?  Im near USCC territory and go into their territory a few times a year.  At least I'll have 3G now which is veryable usable which will be good, but still just wondering.

 

East TN between Cleveland and Knoxville and then West North Carolina west of Ashville.  Anyone know if these areas are using B5 and/or B12 LTE?

 

If it is B12, just another reason to upgrade phones sooner. :-D

[clbowens]

USCC using B5 for LTE?  Im near USCC territory and go into their territory a few times a year.  At least I'll have 3G now which is veryable usable which will be good, but still just wondering.

 

East TN between Cleveland and Knoxville and then West North Carolina west of Ashville.  Anyone know if these areas are using B5 and/or B12 LTE?

 

If it is B12, just another reason to upgrade phones sooner. :-D

I would like to know for eastern NC?  :-)

[caspar347]

Eastern NC could be either one (they own licenses for both) but they only own CLR/B5 in TN so you should be good with a B5 phone there.

[caspar347]

Oh, and I should be able to confirm for east NC in a couple weeks. I'll have phones with and without B12 on hand.

[jamesinclair]

Personally I don't know... 100 may be on the stingy side on the newer plans, but I fail to see how 300 isn't enough. A fairly common roaming situation is someone on vacation for a week or someone going back to visit family for a week in a non-native coverage area. 300 MB still allows you to send 400 emails, visit 200 we pages, and upload 200 pictures to social media. It isn't going to allow you to slingbox back to your TV at home or stream Netflix, but nor should it for that matter. If people find themselves needing more than 300 MB in roaming on a regular (or even somewhat infrequent basis) a different carrier may be needed for them.

 

Im curious about what they define as a webpage size.

 

Ive noticed that every month my data usage inches up, with my usage pattern being the same. According to my phone, it is Google Chrome that is using up the most data.

 

That leads me to the conclusion that webpages are becoming more and more data hungry. The developers add more and more bloat without considering data usage.

 

The NYT had an article recently on how ads are exploding the size of webpages

 

Thanks to ads, the Boston.com homepage takes up almost 20MB on a single load.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/01/business/cost-of-mobile-ads.html

 

Visiting that home page just 5 times would blow through your monthly roaming allocation.

 

Thats insane.

 

And unfortunately, from the user end, we have no idea how much data any given webpage will take up before we visit it.

[red_dog007]

Eastern NC could be either one (they own licenses for both) but they only own CLR/B5 in TN so you should be good with a B5 phone there.

 

Im a dummy, I could have looked that up.  In West North Carolina USCC does have 700 A+B in Cherokee/Ashiville area, but even further west (which Im more interested in) they only have 700B.  So my Nexus 5 is golden there for the most part.  Phew

[JWMaloney]

Click thumbnail for full resolution.

 

Nationwide LTE roaming (without Roaming+):

 

 

Kansas LTE Roaming+ (without extended roaming):

 

 

Mississippi LTE Roaming+ (without extended roaming):

 

 

As of right now, selecting device-specific coverage reverts to showing LTE coverage without roaming; however, I found some additional tile sets, denoted only as groups 1-4, which may indicate device-specific, partner-specific, or account-specific coverage.

 

Nationwide LTE+ (no group):

 

 

Nationwide LTE+ (group 1):

 

 

Nationwide LTE+ (group 2):

 

 

Nationwide LTE+ (group 3):

 

 

Nationwide LTE+ (group 4):

 

 

Kansas LTE+ (no group):

 

 

Kansas LTE+ (group 1):

 

 

Kansas LTE+ (group 2):

 

 

Kansas LTE+ (group 3):

 

 

Kansas LTE+ (group 4):

 

 

Mississippi LTE+ (no group):

 

 

Mississippi LTE+ (group 1):

 

 

Mississippi LTE+ (group 2):

 

 

Mississippi LTE+ (group 3):

 

 

Mississippi LTE+ (group 4):

 

[WiWavelength]

Im a dummy, I could have looked that up.  In West North Carolina USCC does have 700 A+B in Cherokee/Ashiville area, but even further west (which Im more interested in) they only have 700B.  So my Nexus 5 is golden there for the most part.  Phew

 

The Nexus 5 does not support band 12, so it will not attach to any USCC LTE 700.

 

AJ

[GoBigRed79]

So if have data roaming turned off on my phone, would the LTE+ work since it is considered native?  Or would I have to enable data roaming?

[Paynefanbro]

As of right now, selecting device-specific coverage reverts to showing LTE coverage without roaming; however, I found some additional tile sets, denoted only as groups 1-4, which may indicate device-specific, partner-specific, or account-specific coverage.

 

These seem like they may be device specific. Perhaps according to what bands specific devices are able to connect to. Maybe Sprint is still programming each device into their respective group in order to display it correctly. Those of us with  phones with all compatible bands like the Nexus 6, GS6, etc look like we end up in the "No Group" section.

[WiWavelength]

These seem like they may be device specific. Perhaps according to what bands specific devices are able to connect to. Perhaps Sprint is still programming each device into their respective group in order to display it correctly. Those of us with  phones with all compatible bands like the Nexus 6, GS6, etc look like we end up in the "No Group" section.

 

For Nex-Tech Wireless in western Kansas, I suspect the groupings are some mix of band 2 and band 12, maybe band 25, too.  I suppose I should use my tech editor s4gru.com e-mail address to send an official inquiry to Nex-Tech.

 

AJ

[red_dog007]

The Nexus 5 does not support band 12, so it will not attach to any USCC LTE 700.

 

AJ

Nooo!!!  Damn you USCC...

 

Assuming that B12 device is required if the given market only has 700B.

[bkco14]

What phones will work in IL and IA?

[RAvirani]

Click thumbnail for full resolution.

 

Nationwide LTE roaming (without Roaming+):

 

 

I'm still sorta confused why there are huge chunks of LTE roaming on USCC missing in eastern Oregon. It doesn't seem to be a band issue...

[lilotimz]

I'm still sorta confused why there are huge chunks of LTE roaming on USCC missing in eastern Oregon. It doesn't seem to be a band issue...

They're still rolling out lte roaming. This is a by all means a soft launch to get things rolling.

 

When it's truly ready we'll definitely see marcelo making a big announcement of it.