JustinRP37

What is the best Sprint World Phone for this summer?

Okay everyone needs to chill out about this whole NYC thinking we are better than the world. I live in the NYC metro area and have lived in other places. That being said, people are actually extremely helpful. Granted the huge problem, is that with a population as large as NYC, we have more idiots as well. Therefore, we have more idiot users. The idiot user is the one writing OMG my speeds suck everywhere in NYC. When really they are in a basement or subway platform trying to stream music because their science education funding was lowered to an amount so low that the teacher was not even able to explain how radio waves travel. But go on Sprint.com and go to the community forum. Most of the posts are NOT from NYC about speeds and 4G. They are literally from people all across America, and they are usually complaining about not having the ability to stream videos at home. Why in the world so many people are streaming videos to a cell phone over a cell network at home is beyond me, considering most people have computers, WiFi, and at least one TV. You hardly ever hear from people like me that actually use public transit (above ground) and use the device while traveling. And you never heard from people saying wow, the service is really improving, because they are satisfied! I can say that over the past year, coverage and speeds have been improving everywhere I go. There are less areas of NYC with terrible speeds now than ever. But hey, you get one person in an area on a legacy (yet to be updated tower) and they will let the world know how terrible Sprint is. Maybe Sprint has done a terrible job by not announcing how many towers are broadcasting LTE in the NYC market, but they are deploying. Further, Sprint has been deploying for a longer time in NYC that even in Kansas I believe (if not then it was very close). The major problem is how complicated it is to deploy in a dense urban environment. No city in the USA is as dense as NYC. There are also tons of towers to handle the population. Further the equipment is usually in buildings. Sprint cannot just show up at a building, and say we are performing Network Vision today. They have to get approval from many different people: the city, the landlord, and sometimes even a community organization. Therefore, while it may seem like Sprint is avoiding larger cities, it isn't. It is just far more complicated to rollout the network. So maybe Sprint should include how the network is progressing in large urban markets whenever is launches a smaller market? Also, realize that given the large size of these markets, there are naturally going to be idiots, just do not judge a region based on a few outspoken individuals. Sorry for my rant today, but this thread caught me before my second cup of coffee. Off to a meeting I go.

They are not covered by Sprint, but Sprint has agreements to provide native service in many of these areas. For example in the east, a lot of the white areas are covered quite well by Shentel.

I whole heartedly agree! I always love those NHL GameCenter Live commercials for Verizon. Watch all the games on 4G LTE from your smartphone. And to get the exclusive content I believe Verizon forces you to use 4G LTE and not offload to wifi. Only problem is one full NHL game on GCL uses close to 1.5GB of data. My team wins, but my wallet loses. Still happy to be with Sprint.

Now I do not abuse the unlimited data plans, but I will watch the news or catch up on a show during my commute on the train each day. Our whole family plan comes out to about 10-15 gb for 4 lines. One thing that I hate about tiered data is having to worry about going over a cap. Canada and the United States already have the priciest cell phone plans in the world. The problem, though, is the people that do abuse the unlimited model. I honestly do not know how people can get up to more than 10GB on a phone in a month. Most home ISPs have suspended data caps pending more research because data caps drove people to other suppliers in the area (if possible). Granted, there are still people that use a ton of data on a cable connection, thus slowing down their neighbors bandwidth. It should be up to the company to set and acceptable use policy that is enforceable. Termination after you have been warned should be the way to go. I do feel that tiered data is just the next step because it is an easy way to increase prices. It just worries me because many Asian countries are able to offer unlimited data at similar if not faster speeds.

Jbnello brings up a good point about the GPS and I am wondering how close Samanthabry is to the United States National Radio Quiet Zone in WV. Is it possible that the Airave will not work because it recognizes it may be in an area where it is illegal to operate? I forgot about that zone in WV and never experienced it until I went skiing at Snowshoe. It was odd because only part of the mountain has any cell phone reception, because of the quiet zone. The hotels for the resort all provide ethernet cables and no WiFi, which was weird until they told us that by law they could not provide WiFi. Makes a good place for all those anti wireless technology buffoons (aka those trying to stop cell deployments) to call home. Any thoughts to this?

They could always live in the RF free zone in WV right? Haha!

What is your internet service provider? It has to be broadband, but not satellite from what I understand.

Just to add my two cents. What I did not see mentioned in this discussion at all is how hard it is for a company to get the permits needed to operate in an area. I have lived in rural and urban areas. Currently I am in metro NY. It can be very tough and expensive for a cable or telco operator to receive an agreement with a town or city. This prevents competition in many areas! For example, FiOS came to my area in NY, however, local politicians did not want to allow it to operate video in the area because they felt the cable company would get upset. However, they finally allowed it because they believed it would lead to more competition, which it did! Likewise, my in-laws are in an area where the cable company wanted to offer a "triple-play", but the local government would not allow them to operate a telephone network. These are all issues that should be non-issues. Sometimes even when a company wants to come in, they are thwarted. Likewise I read above about certain Queens buildings not allowing FiOS in. This is usually done by the board of the building. If enough residents complain, then you can usually elect new members that would be willing to allow FiOS in. The usual response you will receive about why FiOS is not in a building is because the "older" people do not want new wires in the building. I firmly believe that we need to get back to our ways and demand nothing but the best in not only our government but the businesses we deal with everyday. Why should we invent something only to have it rolled out more efficiently overseas? A national fiber plan would, most likely, lead to a better economy just because it would make commerce that much more efficient.

That is true. The fiber runs to the headend. But, if your neighbors are data hogs, then you will experience a slow down. I love being able to negotiate though with both companies. You can definitely get better prices. Optimum is now giving those movie channels because FiOS has been doing that for a long time now. For $142 we have 50/25 internet, most movie channels, multi room dvr, and home phone (mainly for the telemarketers to call right at dinner or at the start of the Yankees or Rangers games grrr).

I am not signal guru, but the tunnels have metal framing (steel probably?), which probably absorbs a good deal of the signal. Also, within the tunnels, space is limited, so fitting the required equipment might also be tough in some areas. Another planning nightmare is that the system runs 24/7 365 (unless there is a hurricane), which means there is not a lot of down time to deploy the network. Sure there is the FastTrack program that suspends a select line at night for a few nights, but this is mainly for track and station work. The MTA also requires any outside contractor to attend training to work in the tunnels. Thus, cell operators were probably not in any hurry to install below ground.

You could not have put it better. The area I live in is served by FiOS and Cablevision. Why people still pay more to be with Cablevision is a question I cannot answer. I had cable my whole life, but once I moved to NY, I signed up for FiOS and it is by far the best, most reliable internet I have ever had. The speed and reliability puts my work's network to shame. The video is also superior to cable. A better fiber backbone can only help strengthen the economy. After all day traders in Europe paid big bucks to have faster transatlantic cables to decrease network latency across the pond to help with stock trading. That is pretty cool. Do you think that they could actually put out a decent channel lineup this way, or would it be more for the mobile TV watcher with only a few of the most watched channels? I could also see the big networks demanding much larger contracts per sub for this type of flexibility.

The link should work now. The period at the end screwed up the link. Anyway, Sprint is part of this. I think it will be a good thing too, as long as people do not abuse it. Will be nice to be able to stream radio now in the tunnels and continue to work if needed.

While commuting to work this morning on MetroNorth, the railroad put a copy of their monthly newsletter on all the seats. Interestingly enough, they officially stated that cell service is coming to the Park Avenue tunnel. This tunnel is the main artery between Grand Central and the outdoor world, and all MetroNorth trains travel through it. Interestingly enough, the big carriers have contracted Ericsson to provide the cell coverage throughout the tunnel and public WiFi in the terminal. AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile, and Verizon are all funding the project and it will take up to two years to complete. This announcement will soon be posted on MTA.info under the MetroNorth Mileposts section, but I was able to find an earlier report here: http://gothamist.com...g_to_grand.php Will this be a good thing for commuters or will it turn out to be annoying with people screaming "I'm in the tunnel can you hear me?" into their phones? Only time will tell!

I saw this from an article about Verizon FiOS at CES 2013 and wondered how they could ever broadcast live video over LTE when spectrum is hard to come by. I have FiOS service at home and have to say nothing beats fiber for home internet and tv. I just wish more companies would invest in infrastructure to provide for a more widespread fiber backbone. Verizon everywhere In his CES keynote, Verizon’s chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam indicated that FiOS TV won’t be limited to fixed line access in years to come. He said that Verizon may broadcast (multicast) live video over LTE in 2014. Mr. McAdam handed off a part of his presentation to a Ford Motor Company executive who described Ford’s Sync App link for smartphones – which indicated that Verizon, and not just AT&T , also has a focus on the connected car. http://www.telecompetitor.com/ces-verizon-updates-fios-redbox-instant-to-meet-borderless-lifestyle-demands/