Arysyn

That sure sounds like an expensive project that isn't really needed. A nationwide broadband network only to be used for public safety, ugh! such a waste of tax dollars.

I'm in agreement with AJ and Cortney about this being bad for Sprint.

Personally though, I don't find SNL funny at all, the few sketches I've seen of it over the years, and generally stay away from any culture comedy at all, as they tend to attack more than they claim is just "satire".

However, I don't find Sprint employees like this in any way. I was in the local store the other night talking with representatives who were completely professional, though not smug nor arrogant in any way. Since they knew me from being in the store before, they talked with me as friends do, asked how I've been since the last time, discussed phone tech with me, and never made me feel like I was in their way or anything.

Sad thing though, I was the only customer in there at 6:00p.m. The store didn't close for another couple of hours. If anything, the SNL skit might make it worse.

I am assuming you mean wireless data usage.  My fiancee and I share a 2GB Sprint family share plan and usually use about 1.5GB between the two of us.

 

- Trip

Yes, wireless data usage typically used, not the plan subscribed to.

Alright, I'll post my idea here, before I go to sleep...

I've revised my specific rate plan from before, to now being a bit more simple, and shorter too :

15gb for $35 Monthly, 25gb for $55 Monthly, 35gb for $75 Monthly, and then 45gb for $95 Monthly, with Additional Data after 95gb being $1 for every 1gb. Overage rates within the sliding scale, if chosen not to automatically adjust to the next rate level, remains at $5 for every 1 gb.

Now for the unlimited data idea I mentioned, $90 Monthly with complete tethering included, then data stash/rollover options at :

$75 for 15gb, $60 for 10gb, and $45 for 5gb, with the starter data being three times that of the monthly data rate plan chosen (45gb/$75, 30gb/$60, 15gb/$45)

BTW, I just now selected the choice for between 15gb - 30gb monthly as my usage. I think this range of usage is going to become the typical average, if it isn't already.

Hi Everyone!

I had an idea for a poll, which I did a search for on here, just in case this already had been done here before, though I couldn't find any indication of it, so now I'm creating it.

As a former admin of mostly health-related sites, I loved having polls, as it was a great way of getting people to learn more general knowledge of other people's issues, ideas, etc. This poll post here is that I'm hoping will help start a discussion of data usage habits and such, while it also would be interesting to see how much data Sprint gets through its network from people on this site.

As I'm trying to keep my messages a bit shorter, I'm going to try very much to limit them to 3 6-line paragraphs or at most no more than 22 lines.

I neglected mentioning one issue in the post I just made here, which normally I'll try waiting to post again later, but this brief mention I didn't want to wait on.

Recently, I did some calculations on what the per gb data rate is on Verizon's current promotional plans, with one Edge Line included in my calculations. The 10gb plan costs nearly $10 for every 1gb, while the 15gb plan costs around $7.50 for every 1gb.

While I was on MetroPCS, I downloaded an hd movie from Xfinity To Go, which was around 3gb. If I did that on Verizon, that one movie download would have cost anywhere from around $22.50 to $30. The rate on my plan would be around $6 for that, which is the highest price something like this ought to cost for a wireless download.

Cricket also didn't let you tether (legally at least) with their rate plans.  The big 4 carriers allow you to tether and use your data allotment.  While your plan would be nice for consumers to have more data, I don't see in any way how it would reduce network congestion.  Give people much higher data limits like you're suggesting and people will definitely use more data than what they're currently using, especially if you can tether and use your phone as a hot spot.  Plus all the people that are paying extra for hot spot plans wouldn't need to with the extra data allowance you're plan will grant them.

 

Here's my personal anecdotal usage example - I have unlimited data with Sprint, and typically use 1.5-3gb/data month on Sprint's framily plan.  Yes you do have unlimited data users that use 20gb or more, but I think they are the exception and not the norm.  For $35 if I had 15gb, and I could use it however I want (i.e - hotspot) - I'd definitely use more data than what I'm currently using with my unlimited plan.  I think this would be the case for most people and thus cripple the network, not help it.

I forgot to check this thread for a few days and to make a response to this.

I realize by giving people higher data limits, they likely will use more, though only within the limits of the price they are willing to pay for it. However, I'm not addressing the issue of data usage itself regarding congestion, as I backed away from that issue a bit with this, as it seems there needs to be more technical solutions to resolve that problem, rather than by rate plans, as I had tried to do, but was convinced against it. Nor do I have any particular problem with people using a lot of data with unlimited. My thinking is that the unlimited data plans are likely to go away eventually, and are going to be replaced by per gb data plans, even though as I've said here many times, I like unlimited plans and don't want them to go away, though I think that they will.

Unlimited plans could be replaced by the currently expensive per gb data rates which most people on unlimited will be very upset by having their data limited, or else pay a lot more money for it. The other option being a more rate accessible per gb data plan. I doubt people currently on unlimited who currently use 15gb or more monthly would suddenly use more data. My plan for over 15gb up to 25gb monthly, is only 5gb more data than what Cricket offered on their Advanced Plan with autopay, though my plan offers tethering included. Up to 35gb is $75 monthly, which is between what Sprint and T-Mobile charge monthly for unlimited. Up to 45gb is $95 monthly, which is more than what Verizon use to charge for their unlimited plans.

So, I don't see how there will be much more data usage at these prices, though they are designed to accommodate people with moderate data usage under current unlimited plans. I consider moderate to be between 15 gb and 45gb per month. Anything up to $100 per month is a reasonable price for these moderate users of unlimited data plans to pay for.

I have an idea that would work as an alternative to current unlimited plans while still being unlimited. This idea I thought of could be something carriers might implement for a while as a way of making it work better for them financially, before deciding to get rid of those plans. I post it here soon...

DUDE!!! TL;DR.  Learn to summarize and not drag on and rambling off topic.  To be honest your last long post was talking more about Sprint and NOT about Tmobile which is the point of this thread.  Not to trying to jump on the hater bandwagon but I think we all understand here at S4GRU that Sprint still has some major work to do and is nowhere near done....hence Marcelo's "Next Generation Network Plan" but its just going to take some time.

I was trying to give ideas for Sprint to improve its reputation, though I know they are doing a good job on their network. Thing is, no matter what good Sprint is doing on their network, I still read so much hate against them in comments sections, much of which is unwarranted. The complaints I read about on their facebook sometimes seem legit, but then they go on saying things like "We've been with Sprint for 8 years, or 12 years or 16 years, etc." If they were so unhappy with Sprint, why then do they remain customers with them for so long, then complain about it on Facebook.

So while I was typing these thoughts, I got a bit carried away with it, something that happens when I'm thinking too much, then I forget how long a message I'm writing. Though I didn't mean to attack Sprint in any way. Besides, I'm considering going back with them, from an offer I've received from someone here on S4GRU, which will be pretty great.

I never was a fan of the unlimited minutes after such and such time at night/weekends, as I find it unfair to those who have different usage periods and cannot take advantage of this. Same goes for data. I think it is better ultimately to convert unlimited data plans, along with high priced per gb data plans, to a per gb data plan that is much more reasonable and fair to everyone, such as $2-$3 per gb.

It better include tethering, seeing how you pay for each and every MB you use.

 

Using Tapatalk on Nexus 6

I completely agree!

Although, I wonder how people would feel knowing they have to watch their data usage even more carefully during tethering especially, those who are on Google Fi but still have an average Wireless budget. Kinda takes away from the enjoyment of the experience when it is needed to keep checking on data usage figures in the settings.

Is Seinfeld one of your favorite shows, AJ?

Is it only the south where the rebanding needs done?

Hi everyone,

I just wrote a very long post elsewhere on the forum. I didn't realize was so long until I posted it seeing in long form. I'm on a strong bit of pain medication which sometimes causes me to keep on writing even longer than normal, which i realize is becoming a problem. I'm really going to make a better effort of this from now on.

Starting with this thread, I'll try...

I was reading an article somewhere online yesterday, where people in the comments section were debating over which was better,, 1xrtt Advanced or VoLTE, but they didn't give much detail about it, other than Sprint has decided to use 1xrtt Advanced. I already know quite a bit about VoLTE, but nothing about 1xrtt Advanced. Could you please inform me about it, and what the differences are between it and VoLTE.

Post done, yes!!!

Oh wow, that is a long post.

I promise to break my posts down a bit more from now on. I apologize.

I'm really not sure, as I'm far from a network engineer. But, what I can tell you is, out of my testing of all providers in this market, sprint is the only one that consistently (for me) lost LTE more than 75% of the time of stepping indoors with my phone in my pocket. Maybe it's the network, and possible lack of optimization, or maybe it's the way the iPhone handles signal and LTE band handoffs, I'll never know. I can also tell you that it's being noticed by the non-tech savvy. I have a few family members that I've converted to Sprint that are so upset that they're always on 3G in a bar, restaurant, or store, can't load anything, and have to go searching for wifi (horrible, I know). They repeatedly tell me, "that never happened on AT&T." That little "LTE" logo up top is very comforting to the masses, and when it's gone, the network is "crap." And when AT&T/T-Mobile drop down to "4G," nobody bats an eyelash.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Thanks for the response, Vince.

I believe you on your points, especially as I experienced the same thing in a few places while on Sprint. When I posted about it, you were one of the few responders who were fair to me about it, and didn't disregard what I was saying or borderline suspecting me of lying, as I felt some of the other responders did, which really hurt me. I need to get this out to people here, which despite that I do feel more accepted and understood here recently, I felt a certain hostility here for a while. although Vince, you and quite a few others have been kind to me while still being fair in your responses, even when we disagree, which I appreciate.

However, to others who were (as I feel) were more hostile to me, particularly when I mentioned the 295/88 3g issues I experienced, I absolutely was telling the truth. The recent discussions on this thread really reminded me of the post I made about my travel to Naperville, as I was shocked and a bit hurt by some of the comments I've mentioned. I've been very open about my own personal issues that many would consider surprising that anyone would openly admit to, which is something that ought to give people a reason to trust me.

Anyways, back more to the topic specifically regarding Sprint and T-Mobile, I'm certainly not being harshly critical by my mentions of their problems, just as most posts here doing the same thing are just as fair. It is a much different situation obviously than what is on sites such as FierceWireless and TmoNews, where people just outright bash Sprint. Somewhere more borderline I think, would be the comments on Sprint's Facebook account, which is quite shocking. Now, I realize there are complaints on all the carriers' Facebook accounts, but Sprint's seems to have the most and the angriest of all of them. Even on the Google search results for Sprint Facebook, is a link right there for a "Sprint Sucks" account, which is pretty bad for Sprint to have right next to their own.

Sprint has got to do something about this image problem. I realize they are trying to improve it by doing all of these network upgrades that will help get their network both better user experience along with better rankings and reports with Root Metrics, etc., but in the meantime, Sprint uses these network upgrades almost as an insider knowledge only sort of thing, with mysterious project names and such. They only seem to give basic information out to the public about this, rather than engaging the public in a teamwork sort of way, which is what T-Mobile is doing by actively encouraging its users by its "Uncarrier" announcements. The only thing Sprint has to an engaged base, is S4GRU, which no offense meant towards this site, but I wouldn't call this a properly engaged site with the company.

So, what seems to be going on here with Sprint, is they have areas needing to be upgraded without communicating to them about the towers being down, or on 3g for a certain time, etc. Many people who experience these problems end up going on Sprint's Facebook, where their often enraged complaints just get louder or they are shut off completely by the bland, stale, scripted sounding responses from various Sprint employees on there. Let s face it, people who go on to Sprint's Facebook to type something akin to, for example (btw, I did not experience these serious of issues with Sprint myself, this is based on typical writings I've read on Sprint's Facebook, combining them into an example) "My network goes in and out of LTE to 3g and back every hour, I'm getting less than 1 mbps half of the time, and all I keep getting from Sprint is lame excuses and false promises, etc. Sprint really sucks!!!", these people certainly are not going to think better about their issues or even about Sprint when Sprint responds something akin to "We are very sorry you feel this way. What is causing the issue, message if we can help - Juan L" over and over and over again.

This, among so many other things is contributing to Sprint's reputation getting worse in some ways, among not visibly improving this reputation in others. Despite my Framily issue with the representative I spoke with that one time, I haven't had any issues with other staff, and Sprint seems to be handling the closed account quite well, at least according to my mother. I spoke with a few store representatives last night who knew me, and they were very helpful discussing certain things I needed to discuss about a potential return to Sprint with the aid of a very kind member here on S4GRU. I'm definitely getting the impression of honesty from them that I just didn't get at T-Mobile, which was and still is being proven to me. Only reason I tried back with T-Mobile was for my mother's wishes, which now even my mother seems tired of T-Mobile, finally!

I have a feeling with all of the adds T-Mobile is getting, while they continue to have limited spectrum, regardless of all the 700mhz stuff I think most of you here on S4GRU know that I'm not a fan at all of T-Mobile's decision to get that spectrum, though it isn't going to do much with the capacity issues T-Mobile still is likely to have. This would be a good time, maybe not for network improvement advertisements, but instead for some form of Sprint getting together a connection to its users moire publicly, beginning with its long time users and fans. I've been reading that many of Sprint's long time users are upset at how Sprint doesn't offer them nearly s good of deals as they do for new signups. If Sprint changed that, reaching out to them more, while appeasing its fans with some sort of kind gestures, they would have a good foundation to move towards getting people involved in the updates going on in Sprint, which could be an initiative spawned by the recent "getting better" advertisements.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. While I realize doing this extensive kind of public relations buildup is costly and time consuming, but a great start to this besides the advertisements I mentioned, would be for Sprint to reach out to Robert here on S4GRU and negotiate a plan for this site to be funded and cross-promoted in conjunction with Sprint, while allowing him to run this site with very little interference by Sprint. The could be several useful features between the forum and Sprint for the community which would grow even bigger. For instance, there could be a section for Marcelo to do a weekly update and have a fan input section to go along with it, where people could communicate to him right there on it. Also, I have several other ideas I have for this concept, but won't go into right now, as this already is becoming a long post by me, as is typical of me, I admit. Although I am trying to lessen my posts in certain topics.

To finalize my post here, if Sprint were to do these public engagements with its users along with expanded "getting better" advertisements, such as having an uncarrier-like public announcement system, but instead of titles using numbers, it could be called "Getting Better June 2015, Better at getting... Network Densification", along with the details. Beginning this sooner rather than later is crucial at doing things when T-Mobile could be getting worse where people leave. Winning those people over are critical and crucial to Sprint's success, which many of them would appreciate Sprint's newly formed systems of communication with their customers, both style and substance.

This also means addressing those areas where users often complain. If Sprint can begin to address those very quickly, almost rapidly, despite whatever extra it may cost, doing so by fixing a problem while maintaining customers and their satisfaction, would quickly go into reversing this nasty view of Sprint being "too slow". As that publicly known part of Sprint's reputation reverses itself, many of Sprint's public interactions will help with the rapid reversal of those negative aspects of its reputation. Once much of that is healed, Sprint can then truly begin to see results in the way people view them, particularly in having people start to view Sprint more the way Sprint is hoping they'd start with, which is the quality of network and the value of the service, rather than just on reputation, especially a decades old reputation that is filled with negativity, and hardly representative of what Sprint truly is, even in their worst markets.

Ultimately, Sprint can fix those towers and improve the 4g LTE so that 3g doesn't appear so frequently. Although, Sprint ought to first publicly heal enough of its reputation first,. in order for people to truly notice they've fixed the network, Or else, Sprint will always appear to suck even when it doesn't, just because enough people say that, regardless of the truth. Kind of like a vice versa situation going on with T-Mobile. People say it doesn't suck when indeed it truly does, other than for the people who truly are satisfied with the service they receive from them, and not just because they think John Legere is the second coming of Christ.

It is very dense here, just slow in a lot of busy places. In fact, I find T-Mobile to have a very strong signal, even in the woods, and indoors sometimes, contrary to how people label T-Mobile the "outdoor only carrier." It doesn't drop LTE nearly as much as Sprint does which is disappointing considering Chicago is Sprint's bread and butter market.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Is there a reason for the LTE drops for Sprint in Chicago. As I've mentioned recently a few times it happened to me, but it did come back on, and I got some good advice here on S4GRU as how to get it to return quickly, though I'm not familiar with the reasoning for it happening. Is it because of network density or a difference in handoffs in contrast with T-Mobile?

I don't believe AJ was being critical of your post. The proper forum etiquette at S4GRU is to not quote an entire lengthy post unless you are really addressing points throughout the quoted post.

 

It is asinine and annoying to all the other readers to quote such a long post. Especially with just a single line response.

 

It is best when quoting a long post to truncate it to only the pertinent part you are responding to or just the first line. This is what AJ is calling out lou99 for doing.

 

Using Tapatalk on Nexus 6

 Hi Robert,

Actually I understood what AJ meant, just saw this as an opportunity to turn my own post around had I written it the other way, which I'd be completely open to criticism for, as I can't see anyone thinking that Sprint would purchase Google.

John Legere sort of looks like Gollum in that photo, with the exception of the hair and the suit.

It makes perfect sense to me. The selling point of being a Sprint customer, or any carrier that isn't an MVNO, is basically two things, the availability of off network roaming and the price/GB of additional data. The logical niche for MVNOs is to have lower upfront costs, but make up the balance by making their money on marking up the data that their customers DO use.

I've thought quite a bit of this issue, and I can see your point. My problem with it though is how it is marketed towards Wifi use, ala Republic Wireless, while also having such a great aspect to it network use. I feel that the network usage they have between Sprint and T-Mobile ought to be more accessible, which at the $10 per 1gb rate isn't, especially considering it works out to be more expensive than Verizon in certain situations. Verizon obviously is well known for being too highly priced for many people, and while I'm not against Google's right to do this, I just think they ought to have made the price a little bit lower, more akin to the value they are offering for Google Fiber, especially in contrast to what AT&T is charging for their non-personal privacy invasive pricing.

Google will never buy sprint.

maximus, if you are going to quote all of one of Arysyn's novel length posts just to reply with one or two lines, please do not bother.  Save yourself the trouble -- and staff the trouble of going in and removing your needlessly long quote.

 

AJ

At least I didn't write a several paragraph long novel "How Sprint will buy Google". That certainly would be a problem.

Uh, yeah.

 

But if you did not know that, you are qualified to run a T-Mobile news web site.

 

 

AJ

BTW, I'd do a heck of a better job than Cam.

Uh, yeah.

 

But if you did not know that, you are qualified to run a T-Mobile news web site.

 

 

AJ

I read so many wireless websites that have conflicting information where some said it did and some said it did not. I was just meaning to verify it here on S4GRU. Plus, it had been awhile since I read about the technical specifics and with everything ongoing in my life, including my pain management situation, I wasn't really thinking about the inner working of AWS3.

Aws3 is not compatible with current phones.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So the spectrum sold at the auction was spectrum that doesn't work for currently available devices?

Im in Chicago and i have excellent LTE everywhere including my apt and job site.

 

Sent from my LG Optimus F60 on MetroPCS using Tapatalk

Right now, I'm on T-Mobile, but don't have any active service to my device, due to not having it unlocked, something MetroPCS was unwilling to do, despite taking my device to nits parent company. I'm not blaming MetroPCS much for it though, as I am towards T-Mobile and the store I was at for not being more informative to me about this when signing up. Then despite being promised by them they'd resolve this issue, just a few hours later at the exact same store they denied doing anything realistic to help. The only reason we didn't already cancel is because we don't want to lose our telephone number, which I'm now going to wait a bit on a few other options, though need to move it by the end of the month, no later.

At this point, I just really hate T-Mobile to where I can't be impartial about them anymore. I had a lot of hope for it on Tuesday after a nice experience in store with all the talk of getting my device connected on it no problem, and the store's  "once their (MetroPCS) computer system is back running, they'll unlock it for you within minutes and you'll be connected, no problem", then having MetroPCS tell me Wednesday morning that they have a 90 day no unlock policy, which since I had service with them something like 72-78 days, I didn't qualify for the unlock, despite taking it to their parent company on the same network, not like it was competition for them.

Granted, the store employees agreed they should have done it, along with the promises and guarantees of them getting it resolved, I sat there for a few hours on Wednesday after coming from a horrific doctor appointment that was a reunion of sorts with a doctor I had for several years up until a few years ago when she got a promotion and couldn't see patients anymore. Now that she was back to seeing patients, I had hope for my medical issues to have a reliable place to be taken care of. Instead, things were a lot different, and without going into much detail, especially since I don't mean to venture off topic, but basically I was told that I should basically just suffer in excruciating pain rather than take the pain medications I'm on that is helping me not to be screaming all the time, just because there is a possibility the pain medication  could make the pain worse, which it doesn't, my terminal neuropathy is doing this to me.

The T-Mobile store knew I was already not doing well, as the transaction with the sales representative the day before and also working on Wednesday, was a personal experience, communicating life experiences and such. I didn't have any issues with explaining things to him about my life struggles, particularly because my need for wireless service involves having an emergency backup, if need be, which is why I'm hoping eventually to have this line of service, while my mother adds on a smartwatch plan for herself to use, or vice versa where I have something with me whenever I'm away from the computer but might have an emergency fall or something like that.

So for a store to make such a strong promise and guarantee towards me, along with not being informative upfront in regards to this device working or not being locked to MetroPCS, put me at risk. Once the port went through, my Sprint service was cancelled immediately, losing all connectivity. Although T-Mobile was so sure there wouldn't be an issue with the device being unlocked by MetroPCS, even after reviewing all of the paperwork my mother had with her. I had wanted to go with Verizon, but she was so strongly for going to T-Mobile and saving money with them. Go figure. Makes me think Verizon has a point with their "Never Settle" campaign.