Shade00

I believe the Moto Z2 Force has excellent RF performance. It's also pretty cheap (well under $300 new or like new), has a Snapdragon 835 (like the Essential), near-stock Android (will be updated to Pie), and excellent battery life. I believe it also supports HPUE and Massive MIMO, and will also support wifi calling. Hopefully at some point it will support VoLTE.

The one downside to the Z2 Force is the shatterproof screen. It's got a plastic top layer that is prone to scratches. Motorola will replace it for you, but I'd suggest getting a tempered-glass screen protector as soon as you get it. The tempered glass feels much better than the plastic and will protect the plastic from scratching, while maintaining the shatterproof glass. 

8 hours ago, Flompholph said:

Just to let you know where I roamed on 310260 which I think is Tmobile was outside the market. To the south was just on the other side of the AL boarder and to the north was a good hour in to KY around mile marker 68.

Thank you! I wonder if that means that they haven't enabled T-Mobile roaming here yet.

Yes, we're referring to the same thing. 34.0 is recent and based on what I can glean probably the latest available for anything below an 8. The 8 and above have been getting updates related to VoLTE. Hopefully someone else can confirm. 

What carrier bundle do you have? Some iPhones 8 and up received carrier bundle 34.1 on iOS 12.1. Some who are on the 12.1.1 beta have received 34.5.5, but I believe again only 8s and up.

1 minute ago, MacinJosh said:

The problem you have is software implementation on the network side is different than device. Too many different factors to consider. Maybe Sprint feels that all iPhone's pre-2017 wouldn't benefit from VoLTE due to antennas, or maybe too much of a resource drag on the network side. Unfortunately Sprint hasn't given any reasons publicly why they aren't allowing the 7/Plus and the 6S/Plus. They are still very capable devices that have a decent lifespan left for them. As for my friends 6S though. There is seriously something wrong with it. I'm probably moving her to my iPhone X this weekend. Her phone shut down yesterday mid day with 10% left on the battery. It's used as a business device so we have to keep it working properly.

Thanks for the response. The 7/Plus are still great phones, but I guess I'll have to upgrade her to an 8... sigh. 

Has your friend gotten a new battery from Apple yet? They're replacing batteries for $29 until the end of the year. Sounds like a battery issue to me. 

Posters on Reddit are suggesting that due to Sprint's implementation of VoLTE (not sure of the technical details), VoLTE will not be available on pre-2017 devices. I would think the iPhones at least would share the same software implementation of VoLTE so I'm having a hard time understanding why an iPhone 7 wouldn't be as capable as an iPhone 8 of VoLTE. I'm certainly hoping it will be available on the 7 - that's what my wife is using on Sprint. Also anxiously awaiting the ability for her to roam on T-Mo on the 7.

Anybody getting T-Mobile roaming in the Nashville area? My wife works near downtown Franklin and at her building she gets really poor speeds on Sprint, but T-Mobile is fantastic there - in fact, we'll either be moving her to T-Mo or Verizon if something doesn't change. She's on an iPhone 6S but we were going to move her to an iPhone 7. However, I'm seeing that the iPhone 8 and up are the only ones supporting VoLTE right now, and I don't know how that affects roaming.