Deval

Recently assisted a customer with doing a domestic unlock for her iPhone 6, and it was a quick process. No resetting was necessary. I saw her Sprint iPhone pick up T-Mobile LTE after we got off the phone with Sprint International.

 

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk

Ok thanks, I did an international unlock so hopefully it will work without the reset. I'm going to try the domestic unlock on my wife's phone (mine is leased).

Anyone get their iPhone unlocked recently for International use? I really don't want to wipe and restore my iPhone through iTunes if I don't have to.

I picked up a Nexus 6, will just get a 3 SIM when I'm there, since it's really cheap for 12GB of data. That will take care of local calling, and Sprint Global Roaming will work for my phone and my wife's phone.

I am in a rural area with 12000 people, los to 2xca,

In Sept I was always 90+

Now I can only max out at 60~ huge difference. Feels like I am only on one carrier. No matter what time of day I can't max out than that. Using a 6s+ and a note 5. This is why I suggested some type of network management?? Or part of cutting cost as far as the scaling fiber line?

Other than the difference between 60 and 90, which is akin to bragging rights, how is that a problem?

is there any benefit to fi over sprint as both plans are limited to 2/3g speeds right? Sorry, just not familiar with sprints plan. The upside is at least we have options these days!

Not really, Sprint and T-Mobile's plans are pretty much the same if I'm not mistaken.

Just curious - why would you port?

 

Just sign up for 1 month, then drop Fi.  Turn on call fwding then just dump the plan/number when you are done.

 

Pop the sim card in, you pop the sim card out, then you shake it all about.

Right now my wife and I are iPhone users, so that takes Fi out of the equation immediately. 

Just found out I can wake the phone with the fingerprint scanner.

That is one of the best features of this phone.

Why not Google Fi - $10 per gig regardless of which country you are in.

 

I just had a friend do a Euro tour who is a google fi subscriber, loved it - said data connectivity was if he never left the US, regardless of where he was.

Not worth porting over our numbers just for 2 weeks though. 

Thank you for the suggestions! 

I did some research and it appears that 3 offers very reasonable service, 12GB of data for £20 which isn't bad at all, and roams in all the countries I'll be visiting with the exception of Germany.

As for T-Mobile USA, no point since Sprint offers the exact same plan with the exact same countries supported. 

Yea Vodafone is pretty usable and present in most countries...do you have a full list of countries/cities you will be visiting because I'll be able to help a lot more with that info

London, Paris, Brussels, South Germany, Rome, Geneva

Since you're going to major cities in Europe, I would figure just go with a most familiar sounding name and reasonably priced prepaid SIM. It's really unlikely that a carrier would ignore reasonable coverage in a major tourist city!

Yep, was looking at Vodafone as the most "universal" one, unless there is one that is better.

EE is my favorite in the UK and Bouygues has always been reliable for me in France. T-Mobile is awesome in Germany and I can't really remember how things are in Italy or Belgium. Additionally, if you happen to be headed to Spain, Vodafone and Movistar are the best - Orange and Yoigo were pretty spotty. Also, if I remember correctly, Swisscom was pretty good in Switzerland. That's about all I remember!

Alright thanks, was trying to avoid switching SIMs since I'll be on a guide tour so I doubt there will be time to switch networks. 

So my wife and I are planning a guide tour of Europe, starting in London, going to Paris, Brussels, Venice, Rome, etc. and of course I want to stay connected.

What would be the best service option for unlocked phones? What carrier would work the best?

Thoughts?

For those that had any doubt about Sprint being all in on small cell deployment..

 

Big  to atomic50 for the shots!!!

 

http://celltowerphotos.com/thumbnails.php?album=49

That's really nice to see.

That's why it's highly recommended to use the ##debug# LTE Engineering screen for confirmation. 

Well I'm home now but I'll be back there Friday morning so I'll snap one while I'm out

Ok thanks!

I understand the concept of what they're doing but to me it seems like a vicious circle. If you don't extend the reach of every LTE band as far as possible people will be falling back to 3G, and if people keep falling back to 3G then the CDMA network is gonna continue to see higher traffic, then spectrum won't be able to be reallocated to the congested LTE. Seems they need to just rip the band aid off already and fully commit to making sure LTE is in every corner of its footprint, slow or not.

Sprint has already committed to getting LTE on their entire footprint. It will happen, and ripping the band aid off right now would ruin the experience for everyone.

Why break something that actually works perfectly now? The 1x network has become completely bulletproof, a level it has never seen. Calls just don't drop anymore, and voice capacity is in abundance. 

I thought you meant 15MHz PERIOD, not 15MHz FDD. That should be usable for refarm!

Not in a market like NYC, not in the short term. We'll see it eventually, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

One Bernard Baruch Way/25th Street by Lexington Avenue

Can you confirm and attach a screenshot of the engineering screen?

That's what I've never understood about the LTE optimization issues. If all of the airlinks that cover an area are gonna be congested, why not at least put everyone on the most efficient airlink possible? I guess that's just Sprint trying to keep user perception of LTE as high as possible.

That's exactly what they are doing. I see it sometimes on my phone bouncing between B41, B25 and B41²

Doesn't Jacksonville, FL have Samsung equipment?  There's at least 7 sites I have near me that have old Wimax panels that are not broadcasting B41.  I'm glad Sprint's making progress in some cities, but they really need to do it nationwide, not just in select markets. 

They are doing it nationwide, the numbers show it. A quick look in Jacksonville shows quite a few Clearwire sites broadcasting B41, just perhaps not the specific ones you're referring to.

Wait really? Where can I search this to confirm??

15MHz.. That's UPSETTING

PCS B Block is 1870-1885 & 1950-1965, which makes it 15x15.

Okay, very weird - the Sprint/Clear collocated site at my college is still broadcasting 39991, no carrier aggregation.

Where's the site?

Wait, so if Sprint still holds the full B block here in NYC, we could expect a 10x10 B25 carrier to go with the existing 5x5??

There is WAY too much traffic on CDMA2000 and EVDO to take apart B block, considering it's only a 15mhz holding if I'm not mistaken.

One thing you have to keep in mind when Sprint is compared to T-Mobile is that T-Mobile's was mainly an overlay.  Starting from scratch (installing fiber backhaul) is expensive and time consuming.  However, I think it is fair for Sprint to be questioned with the lack of B41 panels that are live, considering it should be a relatively similar roll-out to T-Mobile's B4.  (Heck, even around me there's a bunch of old Clearwire towers with Wimax panels.)  But, I will say for the downtime, Sprint is generally better than T-Mobile, thanks to the in-market roaming.  When Sprint was upgrading my tower in 2013 to B25, the site was offline for a few days, where Verizon's 1x/EvDo roaming came in handy for any texting/voice calls and I still had WiFi for internet use.  Whereas on T-Mobile, you'd have to completely rely on WiFi calling so if you were leaving your driveway and had to make a call, it'd drop the moment you went outside your WiFi range.

 

I'm still keeping my eye on Sprint in hopes that they someday improve their network in a similar fashion to what T-Mobile has now and continue to improve/grow.  Even not being a Sprint customer, Sprint's very existence keeps prices low and affordable.

Similar but not the same in regards to B41 rollout. In some markets like NYC, the vast majority of Sprint NV sites are broadcasting B41 and almost every Clearwire site is as well. For the markets that have legacy Samsung Clearwire equipment that is capable of B41, they are broadcasting it. 

I know there were issues in some markets where Ericsson managed the NV side and Nokia took on the B41 side, which could account for some limitations.