travismheim

 

 

So I've been away from Sprint for a while but just activated my old nexus 5 on ringplus to see how coverage is looking in Syracuse as of late. A couple points.

 

2nd band 41 carrier is near Manley field house in the city as well as near Onondaga lake park in Liverpool as well as quite a few other areas. I'm glad to see it!

 

Some in city 3g areas still exist which I find rather odd as Syracuse doesn't run into CL backhaul issues and uses aav for backhaul for parts of the city. But overall quite an improvement from my last checkin.

 

The two bigger questions is not once have I seen band 26 or 1x 800 even though the area is our of the ibez and had 1x acceptance for quite sometime. I wonder if they haven't tuned the area still.

 

I'll be holding onto the rp line for now ($5 1500 minutes, texts and 1.5 gigs of data!) And will be cell mapping the city and surrounding areas.

 

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Syracuse has had 1x800 turned on for a while, though I rarely see it. Still no band 26 though. Syracuse just barely falls within the ibez, but has an exclusionary zone around it. I wish I knew why they aren't turning it on, its the last thing Sprint needs to have a great network here.

 

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Tonight I was able to activate my EVO 4G without any issue's. Wimax data also works fine, I was able to load speedtest and got about 7mbps down in my dining room. While not one of the big cities usually listed, Syracuse was a fully deployed Wimax market and was also included in the injunction. I wonder if they are allowing Sprint branded phones to continue to work since they need to leave the network online anyway.

Well.... Buyout sprint, or be majority owner buy 600 rename it iwireless or imobile. Byod and sell Apple stuff on the cheap.

Bam!

Apple and sell cheap don't belong in the same thought.

Remind me again why they are going up?

The promotion on those plans was for line access fees to be waived for a year, which is about up.

No, thats not how it works. My point is that its called post paid, implying you pay after service, but you actually pre-pay. Youre first bill includes the rest of the month + the entire next month.

 

The only post-pay are overages.

My last Sprint bill was for the period September 9th - October 8th, the bill was generated on October 12th and wasn't due until November 2nd. That sure seems like post paid and not pre paid to me.

 

 

Does T-Mobile have eCSFB problems? Because it's the T-Mobile device being discussed.

 

If Sprint was releasing this device you would have a point.

 

If this device was purely for enhancing indoor service for call quality, I wouldn't have an issue.

 

But it provides an LTE connection, which could lead to problems. If there was a way to lock it down so random people can't hop onto your signal, that would help. I do not live in an apartment, I have a house, but WiFi signals are strong enough I can hop onto my neighbors WiFi no problem. Several neighbors in fact. They are locked down, but it doesn't sound like this device would be. And... if data use provided by your own internet connection didn't count against your data bucket, then I would have no objections.

 

Hopefully people are wise enough to use WiFi instead of leaving their device sitting on LTE, but I am afraid most are not.

 

I recognize Sprint's Airave functions similarly, but LTE invites excessive data use much more than EVDO does.

This is the Sprint thread, not the T-Mobile one. I was discussing the reasons I believe the device will be successful and why Sprint should attempt to release a similar product for their own customers.

 

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There are some cases where this device makes sense, mainly businesses. I just don't see how this is a good home solution. Is WiFi calling really that horrible? Once Sprint worked out some of the kinks, WiFi calling works fine for me for the 1 or 2 calls a week that I actually make.

 

Why is LTE coverage so important in the home anyway? If you have a weak LTE signal, chances are you have a more than adequate signal to make a phone call.

 

If/When people have a strong LTE in their house, the less tech savvy tend to leave their WiFi off, so this is a great way for people to wrack up data usage on a network that is using their own internet connection. That just doesn't make sense.

WiFi calling is not supported on every Sprint phone, and with more and more fully unlocked handsets available directly from the manufacturer I see more and more devices not supporting it unless Sprint manages to upgrade their WiFi calling to what is being included in aosp.

 

When LTE is weak, eCSFB can and does fail resulting in a missed call. It also prevents the current Airave from doing anything, handsets will not connect to it for calls (incoming or outgoing) if there is any LTE available.

 

It wasn't a problem until eCSFB handsets became the norm. It sucks having a call drop or not come through because I forgot to change the network mode on my phone when I get home. My nexus loves to hang onto a -123 to -125 B25 signal in my house.

 

The LTE femtocell is just the next evolution for in home calling solutions. No, its not necessary but it would be nice to have and could solve a lot of headaches with the device they currently issue.

 

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I guess you really haven't read it, but basically they are making you a T-Mobile cell site for anyone that is with in range of the signal. And there is no way to restrict it. Which means someone can just come up and sit and suck away your internet bandwidth at will thru use of this device. So if you feel like paying for that privilege, go right ahead.

I'm aware of how it works. I've used an Airave at home for years. Unless some one is camping out right in your yard or you live in an apartment complex its a non issue. The power on my unit is cranked up to 8000, and it barely extends 10' into my yard and my house is only 1200 sq ft.

 

I wonder if the inability to restrict access is technological, ie CDMA2000 vs UMTS/LTE. I've left my unit open for a while now, you can't really use it anyway unless you come inside my house because the macro network overpowers it easily.

 

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http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/t-mobiles-network-extender-lets-anyone-use-your-internet-bandwidth/ basically T-Mobile just made you a volunteer of there cell phone network at additional cost to you, I would say that this goes against some TOS of your ISP

It's not anymore a violation than other femtocell solutions that have been available for years. The only difference is they are making a newer unit with newer technology available. I'm really surprised about the backlash about the device.

 

Service in home is a deal breaker for almost everybody, its just another solution they have available for their customers. If it fits your needs, use it. If it doesn't they have the WiFi router, and the signal repeater also available which is more than Sprint has.

 

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If reliable calling is what is being touted as the advantage then Sprint has had a solution for years...Airrave. Other than that by using the LTE femtocell T mobile is offering you are essentially paying for the same home service twice with your ISP and your cell carrier.

The Sprint's airave does not work with eCSFB handsets unless you put the phone in 3G only mode or have no LTE signal at all. That's why a LTE femtocell would be nice to have.

 

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It also uses data out of your data bucket. So you plug into the internet connection you are already paying for, and then any data you use counts against your allotment. I'd rather just use the WiFi you probably already have...

I would rather have a better in home calling solution. WiFi calling is nowhere near as good as a femtocell. Nothing is preventing you from also using WiFi in your home for data.

 

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Downside is for those with data caps on home ISPs.

 

Can't block out neighbors who may decide to permanently use the new strong LTE signal on their unlimited plans and ditch their landline.

If it's anything like Sprint's solution, you can whitelist phone numbers that can connect and use it.

 

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I think for members like yourself, a stock 3G Airave would work the same, and you'd get the expanded voice coverage and use WIFI for data.

The current 3G Airave sucks if you have any sort of weak LTE in or around any part of your home. If you forget to toggle your phone to 3G only, the phone won't connect to the Airave for calls at all.

I just don't get the point of such a device.

 

 

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To provide coverage indoors where your signal may be weak. WiFi calling works, but it's not as good as a femtocell solution imo. There are no settings to mess with, nothing to turn on, it just works and is compatible with all phones.

I see where Tmo is offering a (airave of sorts) that does LTE via broadband....which I know Sprint already has a netgear (6100D I think) solution like this...

I wish Sprint would make it where you could grab the netgear LTE router/airave and have it use your allotted data, instead of using a separate data bucket for your phones/tablets, then a data bucket for your LTE router/thing.

It's supposed to be available November 4th with a $25 deposit...No huge cost so I'm assuming you lease it from Tmo

Do you have a link for this? I've been wishing Sprint would release a LTE femtocell ever since eCSFB handsets became the norm.

Read the thread.

I did, my reply doesn't change.

 

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Why wouldn't you just buy the device on easy pay, pay off the balance and then buy a new device on easy pay after it updates? Porting your number back and forth seems like a huge waste of time, you are making it way harder than it needs to be. Better yet, just buy the devices at full price with a credit card. Since you aren't keeping them for more than a month you won't have any interest if you keep selling the devices.

I hope that option is given too. I don't dislike the unlimited 2g fallback option, just don't get rid of overages, make them more affordable.

Yes, get rid of overages. They could set it up to purchase additional high speed data. An overage is typically a surprise on the bill, if you have to go and pay for extra data you know up front exactly what you're spending. Overages are the number one reason I kept my family on framily with unlimited data, surprise charges suck for budgeting.

 

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On a separate note....I'm not expert on cellular technologies, however....I think I just heard one of my favorite Sprint store managers give absolutely incorrect information to a customer. Someone who knows more than me please correct me if my assumption that this is blatantly incorrect is...incorrect. Here's what I heard the manager tell a Sprint customer:

 

 

Surely this isn't a line endorsed by Sprint corporate??? Sprint isn't using VoLTE in Virginia (if at all, anywhere) so all calls go over CDMA anyway....so this makes no sense to me.

It won't help with dropped calls, but it will help with missed calls. I don't know why, or even what causes it but eCSFB still doesn't always work. I would guess its because of a weak LTE signal.

 

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I don't think the call experience would be as bad as people think if they had volte deployed. I used to leave my nexus 5 in lte only mode and exclusively used hangouts calling and never had any real problems.

 

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This is a few days behind the discussion, but I like the idea of roll over roaming data or an annual account pooled limit. I also wouldn't mind something similar to international data packs/speed passes but for domestic roaming.

Quick question - I was wondering if airaves supported 1xA and if so on which bands. Does anyone know?

I don't know if the Airave supports 1xA, but I do know it doesn't support HD calling. It also only uses PCS.

A little off topic, but hopefully this is okay here. My sister currently has an iPhone 6 lease which expires in December. She wanted to upgrade to the Galaxy S6 Edge and was willing to pay the remaining lease payments.

 

On MySprint there is some sort of option where you can add a "delegate" who is suopposed to be able to add Easy Pay or Lease phones to an account at the store without the account holder being present. Said they only needed to be over 18 and show photo ID.

 

We go to the Sprint store, without the account holder, and they basically had NO idea what we were taalking about, even after showing a screen shot of the webpage. They insisted her name was not listed on the account and the only way we could proceed was to have the account holder call Customer Care and add her as an authorized person. We ended up leaving because it just seemed so ridiculous, and the girl was pretty rude about it.

 

Why have this option on the website if they don't honor it? Anyone else experience something similar?

I didn't know about this delegate program, but I was essentially able to do the same thing via customer care chat. They asked for her full name, and her phone number. Two weeks later she was able to go into the store herself and lease a new iPhone 6s without any interaction from me. I thought I would have to order online, and mail the phone to her after I got it but this made it much easier. She was in and out on launch day in less than 20 minutes.

 

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If you integrate your Sprint number with Google Voice you will lose HD voice.

I'm wondering how willing broadcasters are going to be to relinquish spectrum if one of the four carriers already said they will sit out. If another like Verizon makes the same announcement, it might kill the auction before it even starts.

 

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