kamiller42

I think it's clear to us that as long as you benefit in the prioritization, you're all for big business picking winners and losers in data prioritization.  Don't try to gloss it over for us.  You're Anti-Net Neutrality.  We get it.  Nothing more needs to be said.  You're not going to convince us otherwise with another hole filled analogy.  So let's just move on.

I guess the problem is I'm too familiar with this as I work in IT. I understand the difference between traffic prioritization and unmetered traffic. They are not the same.

 

I'm anti-net neutrality? It is an interesting topic. I'm probably 50/50 on it. I think certain aspects are bad, and there are legitimate cases for other aspects. As you say, discussion for a different thread.

I think that is a bad analogy because it doesn't include the requirement to use services to get that free ride. The reason this is an issue is because T-Mobile effectively drives users on the network to certain providers of services such as the already mentioned music services. It also plays favorites with the Ookla Speedtest.net App being exempted but others such as Sensorly Speedtest are not. Thus it is no longer neutral in providing bandwidth as it disincentivizes apps that are not exempted and further it raises unfair barriers to entry for new apps that may have otherwise been on even footing aside from established apps having a larger userbase.

The cab example still works. Let's say the cab driver turned to you and said no charge because of your destination. If you had chosen another destination, he would have charged. It was his choice to give you the ride gratis, but there was nothing else special about the trip. He didn't take special shortcuts. And if you chose the other destination, he didn't take the long way around. It was gratis, not preferred.

 

Does T-Mobile do anything to hamper or hinder access to other music sites or speed test sites? No. The net is completely neutral.

 

Violation of net neutrality is about traffic shaping, not traffic compensation.

 

Sorry but I simply don't buy the 'no harm because it is free!' Line of thought on net neutrality because it is an incomplete line of thinking that assumes no potential harm is being done.

So if your cable company offers 90 days free HBO, it drives you to watch more HBO than Showtime. That violates broadcast neutrality and is wrong?

I think you sorely misunderstand Net Neutrality. Tomorrow if your preferred music service is no longer that, or something better comes along your SOL. This brings balance to the equation, your ISP should never decide what traffic is preferred, thats a dangerous path that could lead to some ugly conclusions.

Gratis and preferred are not the same thing. Music streaming traffic is not preferred; it is being provided at no charge. It's like a cab driver turning to you at the end of ride and says "No charge." Outside it being free, there was nothing special or different about the ride.

 

A closer example of a violation of net neutrality would be limiting traffic, say limiting video streaming to 600kbps, and requiring a fee to break the limit.

No, that was not the point.

My point is the competition has a family plan with unlimited data, and Sprint does not from what I can see. You pointing out Sprint does not have family plans with unlimited data just repeats what I said.

 

When I went to the Sprint store yesterday they had this big banner advertising Open World

That's great if all potential customers are walking through the doors and all stores are using the banner. I suspect a great many people investigate a carrier via its web site first before taking the drive to the store. Sprint should brag about it as a feature of its plans on the plans page.

 

I have to pay for more high speed data if I want to stream my music from a non authorized T-mobile source, such as from a computer at home. Giving unrestricted access to certain things on the Internet violates the spirit of Net Neutrality, in my opinion.

T-Mo's offer to not meter music traffic from specific sites is no more a violation of net neutrality than me streaming a music service to my home PC all year long. The only difference is T-Mo is the ISP. They're paying for the infrastructure and connection to the backbone. It normally charges for metered traffic but is eating the cost on the unmetered traffic.

 

Voice traffic is normally metered on Sprint. (Means more back in the day when plans were more likely to have monthly allotted minutes.) Calls to Sprint customer service did not count against your minutes. Violation of neutrality? No.

You can use your data however you want if you have a data bucket. Tethering/hot spot included. The unlimited plans do not include tethering unless added.

There are unlimited family plans? 

 

It's called net neutrality my friend. (at least the spirit of it).

Huh? Phone carrier decides not to meter for certain traffic and that has something to do with net neutrality?

 

It's very prominently advertised. Took all of 2 seconds to find.

"To find" is the operative phrase here. You have to seek it out to discover. There's no mention of it when shopping for plans. A prospective consumer shouldn't have to find this. It should be mentioned as a feature of the plan.

https://www.sprint.com/shop/plan-wall/?INTNAV=LeftNav:Shop:OtherPlans#!/

For every number ported in Sprint will waive the access fees for as long as you stay on the plan. The family share packs all include hotspots and tethering. The rest I'm not going to go into. Why don't you just go into a store. That might be a lot easier.

 

I thought access fees are waived for each line with a phone on Easy Pay or lease and only up to Sept 2016. So if I have 6 lines and only 1 line has an Easy Pay phone, then access fees for all 6 lines are waived?

 

Having to go into a store to figure all of this out says a lot right there.

I am currently on Framily. I thought I would compare what we have with the new family share plans from Sprint & T-Mobile. Here are my observations from a consumer perspective from the beginning of this journey. Correct me on any detail I get wrong.

 

1. Sprint has a fancy web site, but T-Mobile's was easier to use. Finding the family plans was easy. Pick the number of lines and alter data allotments. On the right side, it shows total cost. Simple and easy.

 

Sprint, I first picked shared plans and had to pick a phone. I didn't want to measure plans as if I was buying a phone. Maybe I'll bring my own. I found another link for "Other Plans" where I could the family 4 pack. It lets you change data allotment but not number of lines. Yes, I can read the fine print and do calculations, but why can't I just select what my needs are on the page and see instantly what my monthly cost would be. (I still don't know how to figure out what a 6 line account might cost.) I mean, automobile manufacturers have been doing this for years.

 

Sprint's web site is pretty but not practical.

 

2. Sprint offers no unlimited data option on the share plan.

3. Sprint waives access fees (I believe through Sept 2016) if the line's phone is on Easy Pay or lease. T-Mobile has no access fees.

4. Sprint share plan does not include tethering or hot spotting.

5. Sprint does not offer free data services like music streaming.

6. Sprint does not offer rolling unused data month to month.

7. Sprint seems to offer only one family plan, the share plan. T-Mo has the share plan and the Simple Choice plan. If Sprint has something like the Simple Choice plan, I wouldn't know because I can't find in Sprint's dizzying web site. Sprint web designers... K.I.S.S.

8. T-Mobile brags about unlimited calling and texting to Mexico and Canada and while in either country. If Sprint offers the same, I can't tell. No mention on the product page.

 

Sprint needs to play to win, from presentation to plans to service. The network is getting better, but it isn't the only thing that needs addressing. 

 

- Sprint customer & share holder

The sealed battery trend is to get people to change phones more often. ( More sales) I still have a note 2 because I just kept buying new batteries when the old ones started to fail. Same with SD card support. They want to charge extra $100 for memory that's only $20 on a card.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

In their defense, the memory in the phone is a different breed of memory than the card. It's much faster.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Mine is not that bad, thankfully, and GPS Tool has helped, but it is still not great, like it was with Kit Kat. ... Very annoying!!

Well, well. Looks like a Google created GPS bug in Lollipop.

 

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=81140#c464

 

Between the battery draining bugs, mobile radio always on bug, and GPS lock issues, Google needs to seriously improve QA.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Anyone notice serious GPS locking issues? It makes Maps, Waze, etc. unusable. It took almost 45 minutes this morning to lock on an adequate number of satellites. 

 

I tried using GPS Tool to reset GPS data and pull xtra data to no avail. Some suggested tightening the phones screws. Does nothing for me.

 

My phone is not rooted. How did GPS get so bad? Is there a fix?

Maybe it is smart lock based on location? I could see that eating battery.

 

My N4 with very light today is at 82% at 6:30PM..that seems OK.

I use location and a Wear watch. My battery is good. I'm guessing because as long as the watch is present, geo locating is not necessary.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

I found one source of the battery drain, Google Fit. If loaded, the heart sensor comes on at anytime when covered. So, sitting on a table top, in your pocket, etc. will run the sensor light. 

 

It's not just Note 4 and Lollipop.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&client=ubuntu#q=google%20fit%20lollipop%20heart%20rate%20monitor

Sometimes battery life will get better within days of the update. A few battery discharge/charge cycles may be needed.

I hope you are right. My first day after update had horrible battery, at least 30% less efficient. Given how much Google bragged about giving Android's battery attention by dropping Dalvik and Project Volta, I would expect much better battery out the gate and zero battery draining bugs.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Everything on Lollipop has been pretty good. However, I am leaving a report of an anomaly. I was in a ~10 min call. Everything went well. Told the person bye. Looked at phone to hang it up, and there was the Sprint Spark splash screen. It was frozen and dimly lit. I had no control of the phone. I had to pull the battery.

Note 4 lollipop just came out today. Might want to give a spin before returning. I find it fast and smooth so far.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Hey, he went win the one that worked best for him.

 

I am still waiting for Marcelo to launch a test drive service.

 

"What works best for him" is heard not in Sprint's favor too much.

 

The test drive they have now is basically buy the service and phone, and you have 30 days to return. They need a plan with no money up front. Walk in the door, provision a line, walk out with a phone to test service.

 

So if I'm understanding your friend's logic, the belief that two peak speeds in certain locations will equate to a more consistent experience? Does he understand that speeds /= consistency?

 

He spoke in terms of likelihood and not of certainty. And, these were two random locations on different sides of the city, both performing spectacularly. He might have performed other tests and hasn't told me about them.

 

So what is Sprint's equivalent to the 2 for $100 Unlimited offer?

 

I have a friend willing to move 3 lines. TMo is offering $140 for unlimited everything for those lines. Best I could do was a family share of 20GB on Sprint. Works fine for 2015, but goes to $145 in 2016. He feels might as well go TMo.

 

No matter how I try to package it, I can't get Sprint to meet or beat TMo's offer.

 

NOTE: He's on Verizon. The Sprint half off offer doesn't help him.

 

Just an update on this.... I tried. I tried to convince him to give Sprint a try. My friend is leaving Verizon for T-Mobile, and this is how TMo did it. 

 

TMo got his interest with their 2x for $100 offer w/tethering. Sprint had nothing like at the time. TMo offered the free phone test for 7 days. He liked it required no money up front unlike Sprint's 30 day test trial. He tried SpeedTest at his house and was getting 66Mbps d/l. (I am in a Sprint Spark market and have never received such speed, so I had nothing to show him in return.) He went to another area of Houston and got 90.2 Mbps D/L. Never I have I received such speeds. He mentioned the speed smokes his Verizon phone.

 

He knows he is not going to use all that speed, but he believes with speeds that high he will have a more consistent experience. In other words, there's a lot of room for speed loss and still have a satisfying experience.

 

I showed him Sprint's new 2 lines unlimited for $100 deal. He said it's just like TMo's, nothing more. So, he's already warmed up to TMo on performance grounds and ease of trial, and Sprint is offering a package slightly less than what TMo has.

 

Oh well. Like I said, I tried. I did my part, but Sprint has to do their's.

You still have up to 10 lines at 20GB for $100, so you can still have two lines for $100 with 20GB shared.

 

But, that price goes up in 2016 when you pay $15 per line. TMo is $100 unlimited and w/5GB tether at no extra cost.

https://halfprice.sprint.com

 

Is it that it doesn't cut his bill down enough because the offer does apply to Verizon.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

 

Does not lower the bill enough or deliver as much other options for the buck.

So what is Sprint's equivalent to the 2 for $100 Unlimited offer?

 

I have a friend willing to move 3 lines. TMo is offering $140 for unlimited everything for those lines. Best I could do was a family share of 20GB on Sprint. Works fine for 2015, but goes to $145 in 2016. He feels might as well go TMo.

 

No matter how I try to package it, I can't get Sprint to meet or beat TMo's offer.

 

NOTE: He's on Verizon. The Sprint half off offer doesn't help him.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/blogs/sprint-perspectives/sprint-meets-its-2014-network-milestones-sets-its-sights-on-the-year-ahead.htm

 

They met their goal, as expected. 16 new spark markets also announced, including Charlotte and Indianapolis.

Nice read. What are the 16 new markets? Surprised the press release didn't list them.

I'd get here the Kyocera Vibe...water proof to 3 ft and drop proof...I dropped this phone from about

3 1/2 ft at a Starbucks one day to a hard tiled floor..no problema...but it's a small phone..but a good

one..I have a Note4 now because I wanted the S-Pen but it DEFINITELY will be easier to drop and

YES I'm more aware of it when I'm handling it BUT people tend to get preoccupied and WHAMO there

goes $700

 

Thank you for the suggest. It's nicely priced. I played with the phone at a Sprint store. Seems pretty smooth for an inexpensive phone. They made some ugly UI choices. Not sure why they just didn't stick closer to AOSP. But, the phone seems functional. Wonder why reviews hit it to hard. Are the expecting flagship performance from a low end phone?

Talk to Sensorly about it.  That is not my understanding of how Sensorly functions.  Otherwise, tracks mapped a year or two ago in rural areas, for example, would simply disappear -- because no other Sensorly users have traced those same paths within the allotted time frames.

 

Solution to that is simple, a sliding fixed window. Average out the last 90, 180 or more days from the last submission date. Urban will be more accurate than rural, but that's okay because rural areas don't change frequently.

Sprint LTE mapping in Dallas on Sensorly started in 2012.  T-Mobile LTE mapping in Dallas on Sensorly started, what, a year later?  Sensorly uses an averaging method, so how do you know those tracks accurately depict Sprint signal strength now?  That is especially true because Sprint launches LTE site by site, whereas T-Mobile seems to do so market by market.

 

AJ

 

They average over time and not the last X days? Really? Time averaging over all time would be a terrible way to measure performance. It should be a fixed time window.

Is there something you are not able to do with 20Mbps?

Yes. Say Sprint is top on RootMetrics, et. al.

 

True. I don't need the speed unless using a hotspot, but low pings usually accompany high speed data circuits. And, that is something everyone can appreciate. And, higher speeds usually means an area has good coverage. Something else everyone can appreciate.

 

These images need to be reversed. I think it's an example of too many areas in U.S.

 

Sprint (too much light purple for downtown area in a major city) --

 

T-Mobile --