jlbattagli

Thanks for the links, David! Those look like a good starting point.

I got the S20 FE about a week ago. Couldn't activate it with either my Sprint SIM or the T-Mobile SIM that shipped with the phone. Took it to the local store, they finally got it to activate with the third SIM they tried. Don't know what was up with that, but I'm now on Tmo. All things considered, I'm pretty happy. Signal strength is comparable to what I had with my LG V30+, and throughput seems faster. I do notice the phone switches bands pretty frequently. Not sure why that is, as signal strength doesn't seem borderline most of the time. I don't know very much about the various T-Mobile bands. I've seen references to a Samsung Band Selector app, but I don't really want to mess around with that until I learn more about the bands themselves. Does anybody have a link to a post/site with basic band information? I imagine there's plenty of info in the Signal Check thread, but that's a mighty big haystack to search for a needle 😃 Thanks, Jim

Thanks for all the replies. I live and mostly work in the West Michigan market. Home is just about exactly between two towers - I connect to different towers depending on if I'm in the front or back of my house. 🙃 Needless to say, signal isn't the greatest, but usually good enough for what I do. For some weeks now I've been connecting to Tmo, usually B12 or occasionally B4, and throughput actually seems higher than the Sprint B25 I used to get. The place where I do the bulk of my work these days used to have Sprint B41, but a few months ago they shut that off and B25 was the best I could do there (Still pretty good - strong signal). Then I started connecting to Tmo B4, and that has been tremendous! I guess I'll find out about 5G (stand-alone or otherwise) once the new phone shows up. At this point, I'm just hoping it pulls in signal as well as my V30; if it does, the 4G will suit me fine most of the time. I think I'll likely stay on the Sprint SIM as long as it works well - I've seen some reports that it is very hard to go back to Sprint once the Tmo SIM is used. Again, thanks for your input.

Hi all, long time no see... So I just ordered an S20 FE to replace my LG V30+, which is being phased out. Should have it by the end of the week. My question is: Assuming I have a choice, what are the pros and cons of using my existing Sprint SIM versus changing over to a T-Mobile Sim. I know I'll have to make the switch some time, but hopefully I will still have options for the next six months or so. Thanks Jim

If anyone is still interested, the August 1 security update has arrived.

I second the LG V30+. I've had mine for over a year now, and I'm very pleased with the RF performance. I too live in a somewhat rural area, and also travel quite a bit, and I haven't been disappointed at all. RF performance is high on my list of must-haves when shopping for a new phone. The V30+ also makes use of all the current network technologies offered by Sprint, as far as I know. I haven't been able to test out VoLTE yet (not live in my home area), but it's on the compatibility list. I haven't been shopping, but I have seen the V30+ offered at very good prices recently.

August 1 security update rolling out now...

I don't normally see a lot of B41, but what I have seen this week has been stable and relatively fast, like normal. Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids mostly.

Yep, downloaded this last night. Haven't noticed any other changes yet, if any. There's some speculation that this may be to block the recent rooting method, but since I haven't rooted this phone I can't confirm or deny.

Saw it was available a few days ago, but I was out of town and didn't want to take a chance on the update screwing up my phone. Just finished installing it half an hour ago. No problems, so my caution was unwarranted. Most obvious change so far is an app that monitors power consumption of other apps running in the background. That, and the March security update is applied. Too soon to draw any conclusions yet.

Yeah, the signal strength indicator has changed from a solid block back to the traditional bars as well. Although I usually pay more attention to what SCP has to say.

I haven't had any radio issues, but I'm glad to see that security updates are prompt. Any way to tell if the KRACK issue has been addressed?

So I finally picked up my V30+ on Wednesday night. Spent the next day and a half getting it set up to my liking. Radio-wise, this phone seems to be about on par with my G4 - possibly a few dB weaker. I don't have B41 at my house, so I haven't been able to do much on that front. I do have B41 at work, but when I'm there I have to do, you know, work stuff. But from at I can see there and at customer sites B41 seems strong, stable and fast. Overall this is great phone, and I'm really pleased with it so far. Despite the bigger screen, it's barely any larger overall than my G4. I've seen some comments that the phone has a plastic-y feel to it, but I haven't found that to be the case at all. Speaking of cases, I did slap a Spigen Neo Hybrid on it right away; it barely increases the size of the phone at all, while making for a secure grip with my sometimes sweaty hands. Functionally, it's quick and smooth as butter, as you'd expect with a brand-new phone. Battery life has been awesome. Yesterday I was working in a facility where signal was terrible, but I still had 70% battery when I left; my G4 would have been down to 30% or less. My experience has always been that battery life is not so great for the first week or so, either due to battery physics or because the phone is doing a lot of background work for updates, etc. (I've heard both theories - don't know if either is correct). So I won't be surprised if battery life gets even better in the next week or so. This is a lot of money for a phone, but I bought it with an eye to being future-proof for at least a few years. By then - who knows - we might be looking at 5G devices!

Stopped in at my local Sprint store after work yesterday to place my order. The assistant manager (only one in the place) didn't even know that the phone was released yet! Somebody needs to step up their marketing game if they expect to sell many phones. Can't wait for delivery!

Yup - that's the periodic security update to Android. At least we haven't been completely forgotten.