strav22

@iliansltx we are on the same page, I have the everything plus plan as well. This will bring his phone bill down $30 from verizon which will make him happy. The bill should stay consistant with minutes (he goes just over 1,000 minutes alot), messaging, and data (data is an issue now). I went to verizon and checked his usage. On the phone, he's probably using less than 1-2 GB of data because its BB email, maps and some photos. But he's tethering at work, using unlimited verizon 3G as his work internet. He used 12 GB of data last month tethering. I told him verizon is ok with this now, but this won't last long. He has to contact Comcast to see if they an get internet to his remote office or get CLEAR since that is unlimited. He's ok with 3G speeds so I think these speeds should work: 1-5 Mgps down and 1 Mgps up at the office. But he definately needs another internet service at his work espeically if his internet usage grows.

Thanks for the replies. We are in the chicagoland area so it looks like network vision will launch in September, complete in December. This falls directly into the windows phone 8 launch. Signal is my worry. He's in construction and the job site changes every month. His office is in schaumburg so that area should be ready by fall. I figure that if the sprint doesn't cover a job site outside of chicago, his phone will roam on verizon. Thus he gets the benifits of cheaper service from sprint, but coverage of verizon. Yes he's set in his ways (a little older than me), but open to change with an informed decision. I'm the go to guy about phones.

Situation: My friend has Verizon and is using an old blackberry. They were about to update and get a RAZR Maxx but I told them to hold off, its not the time to update. Email is very important, but using the internet on the blackberry has been frustrating. User also uses a lot of minutes, sometimes over 1,000 minutes per month. They need to sync email, contacts, and documents between the computer and phone and have everything available in the cloud/backed up locally. He doesn't like the iphone, he'd rather not follow the herd. He's old school but educated, so he's concerned about the personal data the apps collect on Android. Also he has an android tablet I bought them and he's not a huge fan of it, it gets the job done though. Blackberry is DOA so its not even on the table. My advice: I recommended waiting until sprint (or verizon) gets Windows phone 8. They like the interface (including my laptop running windows 8 release preview), its unique and not the iPhone. Windows phone 8 will get apps fairly quickly with windows 8 sharing a similar kernal (apps sharing a lot of code). Apps aren't too important but would be nice. Important: EMAIL, Docs, MAPS (big time), browsing the web. Back to SPRINT: Sprint would work in this scenerio. The minutes issue would go away because all mobile to mobile is covered under sprint. Data is unlimited so thats not an issue. My friend travels to rural locations though but since sprint roams on verizon, he basically keeps the verizon coverage. Network vision should be live in the fall/winter. That means LTE will be up, drop calls won't be an issue and data speeds should be consistent. Concerned: Verizon is known to be rock solid. I put up with sprint because I use wifi...a lot. My friend uses verizon constantly so i don't want them jumping in now while the network is still in flux. I'm still concerned sprint will not be as rock solid as verizon. Am I giving good advice?

Thanks, those aren't bad speeds. If the speeds can stay above 1.0 once it goes live for all of chicagoland, I'll be a happy camper.

next time you are in the area, can you check 3G speeds? I'll be on my iphone for another year, hopefully speeds are averaging above 1.0 Mbps

@A Boyd I completely understand. I use the opera mini browser exclusively because of the data issues. Atleast with opera mini I can get to some web pages, the regular browser takes ages. NV is coming, but I agree it should have been here already. If you need service now, verizon is the way to go. From what robert has written, Sprint will have NV live around Sept/Oct and complete closer to Dec/Jan. Until then, its a waiting game. I know better things are coming, I'm just being patient since I'm on wifi quite a bit.

Ha, just realized this article was posted on my bday. thanks robert, you are doing a great job.

Gracias

Any update in regards to the progress in updating the backhaul in chicagoland? You estimate a September/October launch of Network Vision (LTE), will this include the back haul update? (my guess is yes, the back haul is necessary for LTE?)