WiWavelength

But ifaster than you. AJ

That is the easy part. The FCC transferred SID maintenance to the private sector over a decade ago. SID lists of varying degrees of current accuracy are readily available. http://www.roamingzone.com/sid/ http://ifast.org/SIDtables.htm AJ

Yes. Despite containing thousands of entries, a PRL file is relatively tiny -- because it is entirely binary text. To interpret a PRL, the binary text has to be cross referenced against a known database of SIDs, then organized into a readable format. As I recall, Qualcomm's CDMA Workshop software may be a key piece in the process. PRL interpretation used to be a popular online activity, and several individuals besides digiblur maintained PRL databases. But that seems to have fallen by the wayside, as users have grown tired of the process, ported to AT&T or T-Mobile, or stayed with VZW or Sprint but spent nearly all of their time on LTE. AJ

Also, include James Valley Telecom in northeast South Dakota. AJ

Looking at northern Wisconsin, I would have to say that Cellcom is included. On a related note, is no one doing PRL interpretation any longer? A PRL interpretation would definitively answer these questions. digiblur used to be the source, but he went apeshit on Sprint/S4GRU and left long ago. AJ

But that is an excellent question -- and I thank you for it (in my best Al Gore halting cadence). We should use this thread to track the other operators in the PRL that have had EV-DO added, restored, or retained? In my Midwest neck of the woods, USCC, Nex-Tech Wireless, United Wireless, Pioneer Cellular, and PTCI are obvious. AJ

I know that I am being pedantic, but can we call it EV-DO roaming, not "3G" roaming? The latter runs into definition problems. AJ

I am not quite sure what we are debating here -- semantics or facts. But here are the facts. All Alltel in Florida went straight to VZW. No AT&T. No ATN, which continued to operate as Alltel. All VZW for many years now. Next, CDMA1X roaming is "3G," but Sprint does not include VZW EV-DO in consumer PRLs. That has not changed with the recent PRL updates. And you do know that SignalCheck Pro is not reporting "Alltel" as being broadcast from these cell sites, right? That does not happen. No, SignalCheck Pro is just cross referencing a historic SID database that is about a decade old at this point. Nobody really cares about SIDs any longer. AJ

That Alltel is VZW. Trust me, I know. AJ

Alltel no longer exists. All of Alltel is now VZW or AT&T. None of the Alltel markets in Florida were divested, so you were roaming on VZW. AJ

I would have to double check, but that geography sounds like some of the Alltel markets VZW divested to ATN or AT&T. Sprint's hands were tied. EV-DO was shut down, even CDMA1X in some cases. AJ

Are you saying the coverage along I-5 is not ubiquitelous? AJ

I smell docked or passing cruise ship traffic capture. That is a good racket. AJ

I suspect that "Sprint sucks" speaks more to your real estate agent's feelings toward Sprint employment than it does to Sprint network performance. Anyone who quits or gets pushed out of a job tends to harbor ill will toward the former employer. From a network standpoint, Sprint has long been good in the Kansas City metro -- even well before LTE. The network has almost always been usable, so subs in this area have had little legitimately to complain about. Sure, some might gripe that they have weak service at home or work, but that is in building location luck of the draw. Every wireless operator faces that issue. The biggest challenge Sprint has in KC is market share. Sprint is the top dog locally, so at big events, Sprint gets swamped more so than the other operators do. AJ

I agree. I immediately thought the same when I looked at the envelope. If a sports team is tied for #1 in a poll, people still say, "We're #1!" They do not say, "We're #1 -- in a tie." The same holds true for two Olympic gold medalists who tie. Each rightly can present himself as "Olympic gold medalist" or "Olympic champion" -- no "in a tie" disclaimer necessary. But there is more to this Sprint story. I listen to a lot of AM talk radio, which is known for running numerous promo spots per hour. Shortly after the RootMetrics Kansas City testing was released a few weeks ago, the Sprint promo spots started. The voiceover made no mention of "in a tie." However, that was changed. It does now, as does the marketing collateral that I received from Marcelo in the mail. My guess is that VZW's legal team threw a hissyfit. Or VZW pouted and leaned on RootMetrics to force Sprint to clarify its claim. Any way you cut it -- even if the directive came independently from RootMetrics -- it is silly. VZW, though, has not taken well to Sprint reassuming the top spot -- in a tie -- in KC. VZW put together some sort of press kit, trumpeting its LTE coverage across the state of Kansas, and leaked it to a KC Star business writer, Mark Davis, whom Robert and I have personally assisted in prior stories that he has written. Mark is not that well versed in wireless, so he bought the VZW spin hook, line, and sinker. The sad part is that VZW has relatively low market share in KC, so that inflates its data speeds. And VZW has extensive coverage around KC only because it bought out what Alltel and predecessors actually built. Without those factors, VZW could not compete with Sprint in KC. AJ

Look for a manual network selection option in the standard Settings app. AJ

The best deal for a highly intermittent T-Mobile user is the $3 per day 200 MB plan. However, it may no longer be available to new subs. I have reason to use T-Mobile at most two or three times per year. A $10 refill every 90 days or so keeps my account active and my plan in place. So, that is an outlay of $40 per year, tops. AJ

Well, well, look what arrived in the mail... AJ

Another good Legere parody actor could be Toby Huss. And for added value, you Tri-Staters who were cognizant in the 1990s will get a kick out of this. AJ

Shill! AJ

Read the top post. Not pseudo native. S4GRU made that very clear. AJ

For the commercial, put Steve Buscemi in a pink T-shirt and jeans. He could make a mockery of John Legere. AJ

Maybe this is old news, but I just noticed the promotion in an MLB.com article. The 2015 MLB All-Star Game in Cincinnati "presented by T-Mobile." Ooh, that has to sting a bit for Magenta. Among MLB markets, Cincinnati is the worst case scenario for T-Mobile. That is almost ironic. AJ

Not bad -- but still bad. A 19/1 Mbps speed test suggests that T-Mobile is stacking the deck on signal bars. Ground mount band 2 in rural areas is, honestly, horse pucky. But, hey, we can crank up the downlink EIRP to make it look better. Who cares about uplink reciprocity? AJ

I believe that some of those figures may be un-accurate. AJ