nick

Seriously. How is 7 gb of mobile hotspot not enough. I would love to have maybe even 3, or 5. Just for emergency situations. But that probably won't ever be offered to me until I get off this legacy plan. But whatever.

 

2 terabytes its a ridiculous amount of data. When I had Comcast I would monitor my internet usage. At most we would use around 300 gb a month. That is between every single device in the house being on wifi, movies, hulu, netflix, youtube, and web browsing, and all guests using wifi as well. I will not believe that anybody approaching that much is only using their smart phone to watch netflix. No, they are tethering illegally, and there is no doubt about it. Hell. We binge watched all of Dexter for about a month straight and still didn't even reach that much.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/tethering101?src=hash

66 movies a day everyday for a month, I would call that 65 1/2 movies to many....

So Sammy better get to paying their sprint bill.

 

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what is the usage at?

 

 

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I cannot vouch for the veracity of this comment on an article I read, but someone with knowledge of the T-Mobile "unlimited" tethering loophole said that it was data usage disguised as whitelisted speed tests. Maybe data usage can be masked as Music Freedom, too.

Man, that is precious. Calling the network "Data Strong," then violating the spirit of Net Neutrality comes back to bite T-Mobile in the ass.

AJ

I don't think that is what's going on, he did say they want to move offenders off unlimited and to a tiered plan, so if they spoof it as whit listed data use this would not affect them or stop the abuse.


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With the way the towers are laid out I should never lose LTE unless for extreme circumstances. But when B26 is weaker than B25 what can you do?

 

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yeah, all you can do is wait and hope they will optimize it and use the towers and the spectrum to its fullest ability... In other words they need to execute, not only with the tower upgrades (they are doing that well) but with optimization and small cell densification.... They have the ability (spectrum, towers, funding from soft bank) to be the greatest cell provider in the United States! But only if they do it right.

 

 

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Yeah, I know there are maybe 2-3 sites that aren't fully upgraded, hopefully soon.

 

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I think that is my problem also.... I am hopping that as soon as the final sites are upgraded in my town (one is still 3g only) they will send a crew to optimize, i know they have the spectrum and the cell density to blanket my town in band 41, 25 and fill in the in building coverage with band 26... it is frustrating to know they can and then have them not implement it correctly    .

I say...Flip the Switch on B26...Optimize later....( No I really don't mean that and I don't want to fry equipment and cause interference, but this is indeed taking a long time.) The only time I see Tower Climbers in these parts are AT&T installing 4g Panels, New Verizon Tower, & Sprint removing Nextel Antennas.

I think this has been the plan, install and activate in a non interference manor I have a feeling they are prioritizing the optimization in large markets (makes business sense) unfortunately optimization is a slow and time consuming process (the way i under stand it) so it might take some time before smaller markets get fixed.       

I have they said it's normal, don't have the Sprint zone app on my Nexus 5.

 

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not normal operation.. . 5 miles from a full build inside.. Unless your bar is in a sub basement, and lined with lead... I have one properly configured tower in my town, it's downtown all old concrete and cinder block buildings. Inside the bar I frequent I get -100 band 41, this bar is about .75 miles away from the tower in a basement (half above half below ground)... If I enter the underground concrete parking structure located behind the bar it will drop to band 25 (or 26). But it is still usable. It's not normal don't let them tell you it is. Then other towers in my town can barely transmit band 41 across an open and level corn field, band 25/26 are equal in coverage and struggle to cover 1 mile of lightly populated single story homes, with low tree cover... Some sites are properly configured, so are not I have been told my are is not optimized yet, they are waiting for a few sites to be finished... It was explained to me that they turn up some sites and turn down neighboring sites to avoid interface with each other. This makes sense as the tow "strong sites" are on opposite sides of town and the "weak sites" are between them. All of this takes time and more importantly man power on the ground. I can't blame them for holding off on deploying a team until all the towers in my town are fully upgraded and they can configure them all at once...

 

 

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If they would just turn B26 up a bit I think I would be OK, probably won't happen though.

 

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chances are they don't know its a problem, let them know on twitter and the sprint app... you might get lucky and have it fixed 

For those of you that are trying out the Samsung devices and do want to jump ship, here is more incentive to do so:

 

http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/28/samsung-ultimate-test-drive-bribe/

a nice bonus but for me it wouldn't work out i have well over $200 worth of apps and content I would have to replace, between the app store and iTunes... for those less invested it is a compelling offer, if you like the phones that is.  

I have seen plenty of iPhone 4/4s that are lagtastic. I think it belonging to your grandma has more to do with it . I am guessing that your grandmother probably doesn't push the hardware very much. That being said, I personally find the Galaxy S6 to be a bit laggy.

 

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for the iphone 4/4s try a clean reset (not a restore from back up)  you can still load in all your pictures, contacts mail.. so on just don't restore from a back up, simply reinstall the apps you want from the app store.  You will be pleasantly surprised.

Funny that I am now holding my iPhone and enjoying it much more. I noticed a lot of UI lag with that edge. Even scrolling on websites is full of it. And in messages. Actually, everywhere.

 

 

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yeah i find IOS to be alot smother especially when the phone is 1 or 2 years old, (my grandma has an iPhone 4s works as well as the day she bought it, on IOS 8.4) most of my family was firmly on android (samsung) until just this year, after seeing my iphone 5 hold up for two years and watching their phones freeze crash, lag, not receive software updates, they have all switched to iphone 6 or 6 plus... I think Samsung is losing a lot ground in the premium market, hence this poorly thought out test drive with its two gigs of data.         

I have the s6 edge. I so absolutely 0 function to it. It's purely aesthetic. In fact, it makes holding the phone more difficult and distorts images and videos. Nothing too serious , but I see no functional purpose of it

 

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me either, i was talking to a sprint store rep last time i was in... I asked him to sell me on the "edge", he had nothing to say other than its the only curved phone!      I also do not understand the benefit of a curved tv, yes the look nice but in a living room with every one at multiple viewing angles it will drive the people on the edges of the tv nuts.

I wonder if Samsung realizes that a lot of people will use this to test other networks, not to find out if they want a s6 edge or other Samsung device . Don't get me wrong, the phone is nice...but I just feel people want to use it as an extremely inexpensive way of testing out a network they are considering on switching to.

 

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that is %150 correct they might... might get some switchers but nothing meaningful, people who have iphones are generally invested in the eco system (itunes, app store, icloud).  same goes for android except people are not required to be brand loyal, they can easily (relatively) switch from HTC, LG, samsung, if they get any switchers i think the majority will be from other android makers.  also a side note, any one have and "edge" device?  is it useful or just a gimmick?   

This test drive thing is going to be a mess within itself since it's shared data.

 

 

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its going to blow up in their faces if they didn't make it clear to every one that they only get 2 gigs, they are kinda screwed either way, if they cut people off they will be pissed... if they charge them overages they will be even more pissed off....  i have to imagine since its a "test drive" people are going to use crazy amounts of data just trying it out... should be interesting.

We can already see that Sprint has maintained its #3 position in terms of network metrics. Despite its competitors massive network upgrades, Sprint has managed to keep up. They are by far the most improved carrier in the U.S. and if they are able to keep this momentum their network could easily be #1 or #2 in most metros within the given timeframe.

I agree they are most improved and well on their way to 1-2 in most metros, if sprint wants to kill it's bad image once and for all they need to be number 1-2 in most metros, and mid to large sized towns, airports, and interstate routes. They are well on the way to that goal. But it remains to be seen if they can keep, even accelerate this pacers time goes on, let's not forget as sprint gets better more people will join, sprint network is #3 right now but would it be if they had the number of subscribers that vzw or Att has? I am not trying to start a war here so don't attack me, just food for thought.

 

 

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I would speculate since the other three are not sitting idle, being number 1 or 2 is not a stationary target.  VZW, ATT and TMUS are upgrading their networks to be better as well. 

number 1 or 2 network will be a difficult goal to achieve, but sprint has the spectrum to make that goal... we will see how they execute, so far so good in my opinion, plenty of work left in fact it will be a never ending battle to get number 1-2 and maintain that level especially given sprints finances compared to VZW, ATT, and  TMUS.      

 

Hey, as long as Google Fiber comes to your town then you have internet options to do it! Google Fiber announced they were coming to Austin and my TWC internet was boosted 5x the past speed so now I have 100 down for $45/mo.

Residential Plans	Current Speeds	New Speeds
(Downstream/Upstream)	(Downstream/Upstream)
Everyday Low Price	2×1	3×1
Basic	                3×1	10×1
Standard	        15×1	50×5
Turbo	                20×2	100×10
Extreme	                30×5	200×20
Ultimate	        50×5	300×20

cant wait to see this type of competition all across the country, it will be refreshing to have the cable monopolies shaken to the core, like we have seen in wireless. 

The big thing Sprint is looking to do to get B41 coverage nearly equal to existing B25 is a combination of increasing power Tx levels from B41 sites and returning Rx coming back on B25. A split downlink+uplink CA scenario. Similar to what ATT is doing with their B29, but for different reasons.

 

In this exercise, Sprint turns up B41 broadcast signals really high, to the point it covers the existing B25 coverage from the same site. This is easily doable in urban and suburban areas. And will even work for most rural sites, except those with mega spacing, like 8-10 miles. It won't reach that far, except possible outdoors LOS.

 

The reason why they can't do that now is when they turn up power levels too far, the signal travels much farther beyond then the device's ability to get back to the tower using B41. But Sprint is working on a Carrier Aggregation where it uses B41 downlink and returns back on B25 for uplink. This would allow a great expansion of B41 coverage.

 

This would take B41 over 98% of B25's footprint nationwide. And when you consider that Sprint is planning on a much further densification of B41, this will eventually make B41 nearly ubiquitous. The B41 experience will just get better and better and better.

 

The one place where it won't help much is those extremely spread apart very rural sites. Those are designed for B26 anyway. But even still, when you have two sites 16 miles apart, while outside, you would only have 2-3 miles between sites where you fall off B41+B25. So what that you have to use B26 for a few miles of really rural areas. You wouldn't even notice it while driving.

 

The only people who notice that they have B26 only, are the few people who would live in these rural areas between sites that are out of reach of B41+B25. But since the site they are connected to would then be covered with B41+B25, which carries most of the traffic, B26 only areas should perform pretty well. Like 10-20Mbps. And you're more likely to get B26 in a rural area to get near peak speeds than anywhere else (37.5Mbps).

 

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this would be a game changer! thanks for the explanation, how far down the road before we start seeing this? 1-2 years or 4-5 years

So my downtown tower is back to B26. Bring back B41!!!!!

I experienced the same thing in my home town (Janesville WI) they activated B41 on 4 local towers, two fairly strong, two very very weak -110 or worse regardless of position from the panels it would drop band 41 less than two blocks from the tower.  then suddenly they deactivated two of the 4, and "turned up the power" on the remaining two.  I think it was testing and i hope they get the final tower in town upgraded soon, so they can turn it all back on and optimize. (supposed to happen by October   )  side note band 25/26 are very weak from the towers that had band 41 shut down on them. 

It's impossible to stream actual 4K content because the screens themselves won't be able to display it. Perhaps maybe 2 years from now, but not today.

 

It's ludicrous to think that we need 4K screens on our phones though.

I agree but 4k YouTube streams to phones will be a problem in the not to distant future Samsung seems to love adding pixel density... Only a matter of time before 4k is pointlessly on a smartphone and some people will feel the absolute need to stream 4k on it...

 

 

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Probably a little of both. Investors love to hear fancy words that they don't understand like "the cloud" or "big data"

 

That would be impressive if it was real-time, but it's probably easier to work with the data in batches than trying to recognize patterns as they are occurring.

the real time is wishful thinking, but even say last months data would be awesome, to get performance data from every phone on your network, in a map format... say color code connections 1x connections in bright red, all lte bands different colors and so on, have to imagine that would make small cell placement planing very very easy... look all those red dots, small cell in the middle BOOM!!!!  

I don't think so, not in the urban areas at least.

 

If Sprint is going to deploy and use all of their 2.5ghz using small cells and such, they should be in a great position for future growth.

I agree, at one point they stated the end goal 2.5 was to deploy 6 carriers in every market using 3CA i think they can.... talk about capacity, after you consider the plan to add 70K small cells and over 1K macro sites I think they will have capacity for some time (unlimited data or not)  realistically they will need to tackle people trying to stream 4K on their phones (pointless as is full 1080p) but other than that.... 

After going down to the Chicago market for a meeting with Sprint today I'm excited for Milwaukee to add some speed allover the market including all the surrounding little cities.

A coworker of mine got a speed test of 130 mbps down today on his G3 while my IP6 managed "only" 35 mbps down.

 

I'm pretty content with the performance of my home tower which gives me faster/better performance than my wifi, I'd just like to see these kinds of speeds more widespread. I have plans to order a new Moto X and see how that helps my network experience since the iPhone seems to like to sit on 3g until I toggle airplane mode somewhat regularly.

Good to hear I will be in Chicago this weekend, I am excited to see a market sprint advertises at one of their best.

 

 

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I've noticed the same thing in Brea. Do you recall if these were Clearwire B41 signals before? I still think something is wrong in OC. I'm waiting for this mysterious "big data" thing to work and to see that people went from 80% or more on LTE to 50% or less while driving.

I wonder just how big this "big data" statement was, is this something new for them, will they build a map internally of all real time performance of every phone on the network??? Or did he say "big data" because it's a word investors like to hear...

 

 

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Support is a bunch of people sitting in front of a computer terminal with very little techincal and no engineering background. There is nothing they can do or tell you that the computer doesn't already say. They aren't getting the true details other than on/off. You can turn on the notification data gathering setting in your Sprint Zone. At least that will send back some technical data to Sprint that they will hopefully analyze.

I like to think that I'm in contact with someone better than that, he is on Marci Carrs's "executive support staff," she is the vp of customer support but your right, my support guy could be no better than the rest.... I just like to think I can somehow help make changes.... Only time will tell.

 

 

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