S4GRU

I can tell you that here locally, VZW latency on 3G and LTE is noticeably higher than Sprint. However, in most instances, VZW 3G throughput speeds are higher than Sprint. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

I despise talking on the phone. Its awkward for me. Robert via Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

With how much talking I do on the phone, the battery issue is no big deal to me. The biggest issue for me about VoLTE would be coverage. Robert via Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for posting it. It was in the NV Sites Update last week. We have the site location in the Sponsor maps. Robert via Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Atomic City Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

intrusion alarm Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

plantain plantation

LTE performance is signal strength dependent on all LTE carriers. Sprint is no exception. You most likely have a weak signal. You are in an active deployment area. As more sites go live, speeds will increase. If you are near an active site now, you will see 25-37Mbps speeds. See this thread: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/ Robert

fried brain

Sorry. You pay the $36 activation fee if the phone has never been activated before. Not, ever been activated before on your account. My mistake. Robert

Yes. You will still pay $36 every time you activate a phone that has never been activated on your account before, whether new or used. Robert

Yes. The upgrade gets taken from and reapplied to the line in question. However, the device itself can be activated on any line. Robert

Yes. I do this all the time. I have 4 lines. But I keep all the upgrades to myself. I'm greedy that way. Robert

A SIM card is not only a GSM thing. Nextel iDEN also uses SIM cards, and it is not a GSM technology. Robert

corn pops

It is possible that the West Texas market will start soon. It was originally slated to begin in early 2013. However, there are not 2 newly converted sites yet in the Midland area. The CSR you spoke with was probably confused with the Network Maintenance Upgrades shown in the Glance system and Network Vision/LTE upgrades. However, if you see any activity at any Midland/Odessa Sprint sites, take some pictures and post them. We can usually tell you from pics if they are NV work or not. Robert

soda jerk Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

3G I am less concerned about. The reason being, in an urban area, there is no way for certain to know which 3G EVDO site you are connected to. Your device will always be in range of 3-4 (maybe more) EVDO sites and your device/network will pick which one for you to connect to based on EC/IO ratio. It doesn't care which one is faster or upgraded. So until all your 3G sites in your vicinity are upgraded, you can be on a legacy site and have no idea (even when standing next to an upgraded site). Also, another problem is in an area with lots of legacy sites, but few NV sites, the NV site(s) can be temporarily overrun with traffic shunted from the adjacent overburdened legacy sites. So as more legacy sites in the vicinity are converted, the less burden on the original new NV site becomes and traffic more normalizes. Although having adjacent NV sites helps a lot, full relief will not occur until more sites are converted, since we have no ability to control which sites we connect to. Also, one last possibility, on a 3G only upgraded site, it is possible that the new backhaul is not active yet. If the site is marked 3G/4G complete, then we know that the backhaul is ready, because they cannot run LTE on legacy backhaul. On a 3G only upgraded NV site without new backhaul live, you will definitely experience evening performance fade. All of these scenarios are plausible in your circumstances. Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

One thing I noticed with the EVO LTE in my latest device testing is that in marginal signal areas the signal strength bounced around a lot more than other devices, even when not being touched. In marginal signal area, the other six LTE devices would vary roughly 2 to 3dBm while untouched and stationary. The EVO LTE would fluctuate much more. 5 to 12 dBm. And if the signal got too low...BAM, disconnect from LTE. So this is my latest theory. The EVO LTE's ability to keep connected to a marginal signal is limited because of its modulation in signal strength/quality. Whether real, or just perceived by the device, I believe this signal modulation is causing the problems. That is why staying in LTE only mode would not affect the device. Because when the signal gets erratic and shoots up to -120dBm for a second or two, it doesn't handoff to EVDO. It clings to the weak unusable signal, and in a few seconds it reverts back to -112dBm. Is this solvable with a software update? Maybe, maybe not. It likely is a hardware issue. Related to the radio/antenna? Maybe caused by the aluminum case with low LTE signals? Could be a combination of things. I don't know. But perhaps the software can be modified that whenever the LTE signal drops below a certain threshold, it either waits an extra second or two before handing off to 3G to see if signal quality recovers, or, if it does transition to EVDO, it automatically does a few LTE rescans and see if it can reconnect back to the LTE network. Though these may cause hard data handoffs, especially the first one, it is going to be less annoying than the LTE Connectivity issue. I think I may be on to something here. Let me break my arm patting myself on the back. Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

Hmmm. What generation Airave do you have? My friend has a 3,000SF house and his seems to work well throughout. He has the newest model though, and it is centrally located. 800MHz will not likely travel further from an Airave than 1900MHz with the amount of power those things broadcast at. But Airaves are notorious for causing interference problems, especially in apartment complexes. 800MHz would just be seen as more potential for interference. I don't see any 800MHz units coming any time soon. They can get much further range out of 1900 if they wanted to. But they limit the power intentionally to reduce interference. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

finger gesture Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

3G only slows down, or LTE also? Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

They are not upgrading the legacy network in places where they are actively deploying Network Vision. It's wasted money. You can expect the legacy network to get worse and worse in the New Orleans market now that NV work has started. But soon when NV sites start going live, it will get better and better one site at a time. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

I was in Wichita Falls, Texas over Thanksgiving weekend. The experience was so awesome, I even had fantasies of moving there. I was last there on Labor Day weekend and they had no upgraded sites. The 3G network was unusable. Now 3/4 of the sites have been upgraded. LTE was around 4-7Mbps with a weak signal and 25-37Mbps with a strong signal. 3G was 1-2Mbps on upgraded sites. Outdoors LTE blankets approx. 90% of the city, except a small patch in the Southern part of the city. Indoor coverage was only available within 1.5-2 miles of a site. But will be more uniform when all the sites are complete. Sprint LTE outperformed VZW LTE and Tmo 4G in every test I performed. I cannot wait for NV improvements to come to my area. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

The Airave is designed for use in a single family home. 1900MHz works fine on an Airave in a single family home in the city or country. It makes no sense to add 800MHz capability to an Airave. They cannot broadcast the signal around a city block. It will cause interference. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk