gusherb

Do you really think that 800 MHz LTE would crash if it were optimized for coverage in a market with 2x B41, and 2x 5Mhz FDD B25 (one of them growing to 10 MHz FDD)?

Verizon started offering that here a month ago. I believe it was exclusive to the Chicago market during that time. I doubt AT&T will follow, they seem to have their heels dug in pretty deep this time around.

Yes that is one of the things to factor in. Just today I was in a place where I could barely hold a signal on WCDMA 850 but had little problem hanging onto B17 LTE. That's a 5mhz WCDMA channel vs a 10 MHz LTE channel.

I think in reality, what goes farther is gonna be largely network dependant. On paper 1X is probably king, followed by GSM, and then UMTS/WCDMA, and lastly LTE. In reality I've seen it all over the place, though one thing that holds true almost all of the time is that 1x is king for distance. Locally, EDGE on 850 outcovers UMTS on 850, and UMTS on 850 outdoes B17 LTE, though I often see B17 LTE and UMTS 850 being a close tie. On T-Mobile I have seen band 4 LTE outperform UMTS on PCS in several odd instances as far as signal goes. I do believe it's been claimed that the 35 km distance on GSM is no longer true and that it can reach almost as far as CDMA 1x now. I've personally never picked up an EDGE signal from further than maybe 20 miles away, that I know of anyway.

I must be cursed with phones or something. I've been having all sorts of issues with my iPhone 6 replacements and so I ordered a 6S Plus since I was interested in the larger screen and a BRAND NEW in the box 6S Plus has uneven backlighting and a dead pixel!

It may be only anecdotal and perhaps even just a couple of localized instances, but I found T-Mobile VoLTE calls on band 4 a couple of times to actually hang on stronger than band 2 WCDMA in a few very weak areas that I've used it. In my market I could probably get away without calling issues related to poor signal on VoLTE 98% of the time on T-Mobile without needing band 12. So I would tend to think that testing VoLTE would hardly make any difference in the call metrics in T-Mobiles case.

Screw putting tracking chips in people just program the people to check in all the time at their own will!

http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/rsr/chicago-il/2015/2H Fascinating to see that since the last quarter, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile have all added LTE bandwidth and they all still remain in the same places.

Battery life has been just as good as ever for me.

As I said in another forum: That's actually funny and original. I would've just tossed out the card and kept the treats! I love this particular approach of Marcelo using kindness as a weapon.

I just got done using a Note 5 for the last week and fell in love with it. The screen size is perfect. The ergonomics are definitely not as good as a smaller phone but for the bigger screen I think I could live with it. Honestly once I got used to it I forgot I was even lugging a huge phablet around with me. I'm thinking about switching to a 6S Plus now from my 6. (I think finally got a 6 with a screen I can live with though, though still far fromperfect, so I may just hang onto that till the 7). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Chicago report reflects my experiences with the carriers almost to the tee. Not surprised that AT&T and sprint are a perfect tie in reliability, and that sprint has a better rating in calling. Nor that AT&T is rated faster in network speed. I do believe the week they tested was after AT&T upgraded band 2 to 10 MHz. And of course, T-Mobile is pretty much overall last (big surprise lol) and that Verizon is number one (they're the only one actually adding cell sites in NWI). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can also go into field test and then open a waiting notification and then hit the back to button back to field test and it'll display the dbm without needing to slide the notification window down every time.

I aggregate 5 mhz band 4 with 10 mhz band 17 all the time, and used to with 5 mhz band 2 but that's been upgraded to 10 mhz recently. Also now according to a post on HoFo Verizon has CA live in Chicago and is aggregating 20 mhz B4 with 10 mhz B13. The speed was in the 170s. Not sure if that was a fluke or not but seemed real.

Yeah I would probably go with the 6S series. I would do it myself if I could do it for very little cost to get away from these never ending issues with my 6 (replacement number 9 since getting it right after launch is on its way). If I can just get one with even enough backlighting and no dead pixels I will be happy til iP7.

Their policy is absurd. They aren't even allowing the new Nexus devices to use VoLTE or even have VVM. While T-Mobile and even Verizon of all carriers, grants them access to VoLTE. I really hate being with at&t but I get too good of a deal to let my feelings dictate whether to stay or not, and the service works well for me. Oy.

You won't get it on any non branded unlocked device except for iPhone. And if you're not using an iPhone or carrier branded device don't even bother trying to get them to enable VoLTE. It will be a futile attempt...

VoLTE has been fine here. No problems with multi hour phone calls.

If I can't get a "proper" 6, one that has zero defects, then I'm gonna start considering upgrading, only thing is I promised myself I would wait until the iPhone 7 (that'll probably be a big disaster like the 6 with my luck), which is why I got apple care + and sure enough its coming in handy. I'm considering a switch to a TOL Android if this doesn't get worked out. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I seem to not be able to get a break with these faulty iPhone 6's. The replacement of the replacement has a dead pixel too, and that issue where the backlighting leaks out the mute switch. Spoke to a senior care rep whom is sending yet another one out and also gave me his direct line and said he would follow up with me on Tuesday. I love Apple customer service but I wish I didn't have to contact them so much!

Brought a second phone with me to the city this afternoon and found T-Mobile struggling on the expressway (Dan Ryan) giving me nothing but sub 1 mbps results and after I got off at sox park it picked up a little in speed, and then at 35th and Halsted was around 20 mbps. Not impressed.

There is one difference though, you're using a 6Plus. Perhaps that's what I should've gotten to begin with. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Either I have terrible luck or the iPhone 6 quality was never quite up to par. I just had my 6 replaced because the home button was getting funky and making that crunching noise. The replacement has a dead pixel... The latest one coming via express replacement will be my 7th iPhone 6 in just over a year. Am I the only one? Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

So to answer my own question from before about how well the 5X performs on GSM carriers, so far it's quite well. On at&t's network I drop off LTE in my basement when a phone is in my pocket normally and this phone didn't. I put it in the "black hole" zone on the concrete floor in a very particular spot that makes phones lose signal all together and it didn't, it clung to 1 bar of WCDMA which my iPhone 6 does too (but not without falling to searching and no service first for a few minutes). I'm pleased with RF so far, makes my Nexus 5 look like a total POS. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In my 2.5 years on Sprint and lots of traveling through the plains and western states having that roaming from Sprint made all the difference for me. When I look at it from a basic voice/text point of view I could go so far as to say I had the best coverage of any US carrier with them, because I had the denser network (at the time than Verizon) for my area, and then Verizon and many other roaming partners networks for when I was in BFE. If I had T-Mobile I would've been screwed for hundreds of miles at times. Even AT&T hasn't had as much basic coverage as I had with sprint between its own network and roaming partners. That's just my experience. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk