Panther5150

I called Sprint yesterday and the day before because my mobile broadband took a dump. What they told me is that the towers downtown are being worked on and that I should anticipate 3 days to 1 month of spotty service. 1 MONTH?!? Needless to say that me and my Sierra Wireless Aircard 595U were not impressed. Why do I have that old beast of a card? Because I have a 59.99 unlimited data plan that no longer exists and they refuse to let me change it without a new plan, haha.

the big old Plaza building which is near the courthouse (across the street)

I am not sure what this means but I am in downtown Fresno and my LTE notification on my LG G3 started spinning and locked onto a signal this morning. Pretty spotty though as it has been lighting up for a short bit, then turning off, then lighting up, then turning off. I would like to think that this is good news?

I work downtown and have a Sierra Wireless AirCard 595U. Smartview reports that I have a great signal. As I have had in all the places that I work. The problem is that the internet is largely unusable as mentioned. Every once in a great while I will get a normal ping and be able to do things like load a webpage. Average page load times are 1-5 minutes. I tried to do a speed test to show you the current awfulness but the internet is so bad right now that it cannot even complete a speed test... I have called sprint numerous time to address the issue and the routinely say that it is a capacity problem that they cannot (or really will not) fix. They always fob me off by saying that sprint is constantly analyzing capacity loads and that there will be a check on the tower by such and such date. I am kind of at my wits end with the whole thing. I love my unlimited everything but unlimited x 0 still results in 0. I was kind of trying to hang in and see if the LTE upgrades etc will fix anything but I don't know if I am just wasting my time or not. Edit: Just managed to push through the dang speed test: Ping 1995, DS .06 mbps, US .05 mbps :/

If this keeps up, I may just have to upgrade my phone finally. Samsung 5 anyone?!?

I just came across a thread on the sprint forums that had an "official" response saying that Fresno gets LTE within 90 days. It throws some caveats on that and I have heard this before so I remain skeptical. That all being said, here is the thread so that you can go read it and formulate your own opinion... community.sprint.com/baw/thread/142598 I cant seem to cut and paste the quotes, links or the thread so you will have to improvise, haha.

Heck, I would have loved to have received that text message. I didn't get one (Fresno area) so we are not even being teased

That makes me die inside a little I keep hoping that with LTE I will able to get something going in downtown Fresno other than lag, lag and no connectivity that I currently live with. I don't want to jump on the Verizon bandwagon as I have had a nice long relationship with Sprint.

My Downtown Fresno Results today with what Smartview calls a "Great" signal strength: (I can't seem to post, copy or embed the speedtest.net stuff) Ping: 1011, DS .10 Mbps, US .15 Mbps Just, plain, awful...

Yes, Tulare and M. I have been in several buildings in that area and all have had the same results. I have been in interior officers and window offices and always had the exact same result, great signal (according to sprint smartview), exceptionally poor ping/speeds.

I am still rocking the Sierra Wireless Aircard 595U with my nice unlimited data BUT as my prior post explained, my ping is usually over 1000ms and download speeds are .1 Mbps. It is awful. But, I really want to stay with Sprint and not be force to move to Verizon. As with many others I was tantalized with 4g every year and still am waiting this year for it. I was hoping that they would broadcast a nice pretty signal downtown that would allow me something better than what I am experiencing. At times the speeds make me feel like I am using my old Commodore 64

Can you expand on this? I read it to mean that even when they upgrade that I wont be able to get any better ping or dl speeds. Is that right? It would seem that the business community downtown would be a good spot to have decent service. I wonder what is going on?

I am still holding onto all my old phones/contracts and refusing to upgrade until it is a) confirmed that Sprint has working 4G in fresno and i can actually get a good signal downtown. I am really getting sick of ping rates over 1000ms and dl speeds around .1Mbps in dowtown fresno.

I have been mulling this question over for many, many years. A while back when my contract was up and I was deciding whether or not to go with one of the other carriers I was hooked back in by many things. The HTC EVO 4G with sprint with unlimited data and super speeds and all your needs in one awesome bundle was a pretty good sales point. I need 2 cell phones and 1 data card for my current family operation and it seemed good to me. When asked, I was promised by the person in the Sprint store that 4G was coming to Fresno in just a couple months so no worries on their $10 extra fee. I would be rewarded with patience. Now, its been over two years and no go on the 4g, wimax, or LTE even at this point. So, contract free again I have been shopping around. One sticking point for me is that I ski in the shaver/Huntington lake area often and the only phone service with any reliable operations up there is AT&T. Now, I would prefer to not wander over to AT&T or Verizon but my mounting frustrations with Sprint are beginning to move me despite my desire to remain loyal. Today, I read a post on the Sprint Community forums where the Rep claimed that Fresno would get widespread coverage in a matter of months. SO, the bait is out there again and shall I get hooked? Too further complicate the situation is the matter of my data card. I really, really, like unlimited data (such as it is) BUT I use my aircard in downtown Fresno and the issue is that while I have a "Great" signal, my speeds are criminal. My Latency (ping) is usually over 1000 MS (often over 1500) and my download speed is usually around .05mbps As you can see, streaming music is impossible, watching youtube is impossible, even surfing graphic heavy sites is impossible. So, unlimited data is throttled by exceptionally limited speeds. Every 3-4 months I call up sprint to file a complaint and I get moved up techs day after day for about a week before I get some half-hearted promise that tower upgrades are imminent. Another Spring issue that I experienced was with the phone protection plan. When I dropped my phone and cracked my screen after almost 2 years of ownership I thought, well, this sucks but I will finally use that protection plan I have been paying for. Lo and Behold the company they outsource to charges a whopping $200 deductible for refurbished phone. The Sprint store would not replace/fix the screen and I ended up ordering all the parts on amazon for about $14, watched a youtube video (on a fast connection) and did the work myself. I was disappointed that sprint would mislead their consumers about the nature of their program because that was definitely NOT was promised to me in the store. Finally, when it comes to upgrading, I want to get a new and good phone. For my needs, I selected the Samsung Galaxy 4G as my target. Amazing device. But, when I read the reviews and user issues, I found that I would be frustrated with anything less than the 32GB model...which Sprint does not offer nor does it plan on offering. With my EVO (which has SD slot too) I have found that low internal storage is a recipe for disaster despite being able to move Aps to the SD. It just doesn't cut it over time. 16GB in the modern era (really only 9 after bloatware) is too low. From my readings on this forum, people here know and are responsive to the issues with Sprint and maintain some hope checked with a dose of real knowledge. The new plans look pretty nice. Something for me to consider for sure (unlimited my way, etc). Are they really going to roll out 4G in Fresno in a couple of months? Will they make the Samsung 32GB Galaxy4 available? Even if they roll out 4G, will be stuck with a great signal but no ability to ping well/download well? Is it worth it stick with Sprint over what Verizon is currently offering in Fresno? Thanks for reading (wall of text) Cheers.