Arysyn

I apologize for my questioning certain things, as I'm still learning. What is GMO?

I just went to read that, and I'm a little confused. What is the difference between bolt on and full build? I'm asking here as I don't really want to join T4GRU, since I won't be posting there.

Is Chicago one of those markets?

I just talked with my mother through Skype/her current prepaid T-Mobile telephone I'm trying to help her replace, as I'm over at my grandmother's home still this week. Going back home though next week, so my mother and my aunt can clear up here since my grandmother died a few months ago, and I've been housesitting until they can move her stuff from here to clear it out for people to move in. I've been enjoying sitting here looking out the window in between breaks from online reading of tech stuff. Anyways, I heard from my mother. She's been on the phone with Sprint. Apparently (thank goodness) the manager at a NW suburb store has exactly one new Nexus 6 in stock and is reserving it for us to pick up tomorrow in exchange for the bad one I received. This manager doesn't have a problem with it, which I'm thinking you have a good point about, Vince. Its possible the Woodridge store had once accepted lots of exchanges but had to stop because of their monthly numbers, as you suggested, where the other store may not be experiencing this too often. Sometimes corporate management is more strict to certain stores than others, as I use to speak with people in retail who told me a bunch of similar stories, which is quite sad that not everything in retail is treated equally. Same goes for much in life though, yet it makes things difficult for customers and I imagine hurts the overall company when customers just get too frustrated and leave. I'm a bit more patient with this, as I have hope for Sprint from reading the site, and have had some good customer service experience with them on some levels with this situation, so I'm sticking with it now. I expect the device I'm picking up tomorrow should be in good condition, as I doubt Motorola would send stores used devices, whereas its easier to get through with singular online sales. I would have just done this entire transaction in store if the plan was available at the stores, but alas, it is not, only online. The people I've talked with at the Sprint stores I've been too are the nicest I've encountered, well along with the lady at the MetroPCS store I had setup that account with. Verizon and AT&T were a completely different experience, very rude and impersonal. If my mother decides to add the Samsung Gear S smartwatch plan to the plan we have already with Sprint, we'll get that arranged at the store. BTW Vince, have you been to the store on Ogden in Downers Grove? It is a corporate store and is very nice inside, great employees too!

Thank you, maxsilver, for all of the detailed information! I didn't mean congestion issues from my own experience, but rather my perspective of how I'd resolve congestion issues within wireless networks myself, if I had any sort of power to do so, based on my ideas/solutions. I haven't figured that out yet, but I do have some ideas for it that could later combine with other ideas I want to present here soon, and see if those ideas are supported or not by others here as real, workable solutions to congestion problems. Hearing about what wideband really is, is a big help! I was under the impression before that it was some sort of network enhancement requiring a certain amount of mhz spectrum amount, in order to implement.There are so many marketing terms going around in wireless, that it always is nice to be able to read the truth to what all of this really means technically. It reminds me of when I finally learned about CDMA vs GSM back in the day.

Corporate said we could go exchange the phone, but now for whatever reason, the manager at the closest store here in Woodridge, is claiming he can't exchange devices that were bought online Sprint's website, though a representative at the Employee Referral department is backing up the lady at corporate my mother spoke with yesterday in saying the manager can indeed exchange devices bought online. So what we now are dealing with, is a disagreement between corporate, along with being backed by the Employee Referral department against the corporate-owned store management. Several of the other local stores around here don't have Nexus 6 in stock, though my mother is trying the NW area of stores now, one which has one in stock, seeing what the manager there says about this. Besides, the Nexus 6 we were shipped is in bad shape on the back. Besides the hairs, it was "keyed", where it is obvious someone was holding up the back of the phone with keys scratching indented into the device's backside.

Now that I know satellite spectrum is in a completely different range than most cell spectrums, the idea of removing them would be insane on all levels for multiple reasons, also as it wouldn't benefit cell companies at all. I've been trying to think of ways in which spectrum can becoming more efficient/put to a better use, as someone asked me here earlier, one way which may include the government and all of the cell companies gathering around at a major meeting somewhere, taking a look at all the available spectrum, then coming up with an arrangement that would benefit all the companies, rather than the current use of spectrum auctions and all the talk of them being unfair. FYI, I'm of a mindset that doesn't blend well with the current business climate of hardcore competition and a lot of my ideas tend to lean towards something of a utopia state, as I'm thinking for what is best for all,rather than what is more realistic in terms of how things are, though I certainly realize and understand these things, just that my ideas don't always, or possibly don't usually blend well with this. I'd like to see something where spectrum is more evenly divided, then paid for by the companies to the FCC over time, so that companies can have what they need to give to their customers now, preventing congestion, and accelerating growth so everyone is working strong. With this said, I imagine deals could be reached where certain provisions be made for those who cannot afford more expensive wireless service in replacing television airwave broadcasts, though I'd want all of the crucial emergency airwaves left alone, along with having some sort of emergency stations provided for people using that method, even such channels devoted to news, just not your entertainment channels that can be provided via internet. Of course, there needs to be better access to the internet for people with financial needs, as it is an issue that isn't given enough attention to, I think. I hate it when I read story headlines online while I'm searching through wireless information, hearing about how AT&T or Verizon, etc. is cutting off certain crucial inexpensive services for people, trying to force them into services several times more expensive than their current service. This is very wrong and not much is being done about it in the current business system. Anyways, again thank you for the information, especially about the satellite and for the welcome! I'm definitely against getting rid of the satellite spectrum for service, and seeing that there really needs to be some thoughtful, well-intentioned planning before any such broadcast airwave spectrum idea as I suggested being done.

It sounds like a good idea to me there'd be a site like this for AT&T. Is there one for Verizon I'm wondering?

I've made a new thread regarding my wanting to get ideas from members here regarding congestion/wideband issues that I think will help me better understand the cost situations, so that I can give a better answer to how companies would pay for internet broadcast solutions compared with over the air spectrum broadcasting. Congestion seems to be a big issue with why companies are charging for per gb data and seemingly moving away from unlimited data, though I've also read that charging per gb for data usage isn't a real solution to the problem of congestion, but rather limiting bandwidth to users by giving them speed options. I love to think about rate plan solutions to these problems, but I also really want to expand my thinking to more technical solutions as well. Efficient use of spectrum is one of them, which the data speed idea really seems like a smart solution to a major part of the problem, while being more fair to users in a queue, everyone wanting to be at least at a decent priority level. I've given consideration to something I read here a while back, regarding the idea of individual cells, rather than shared cells, from someone who is trying to get his technologies to be accepted and used. I'm going to look more into that once I have more time later in this upcoming week, and hopefully have a well written presentation in the technical thread I just made here.

Thanks for the suggestions yesterday on the issue I had with the device. I just posted an update to the Nexus 6 post/service situation on the thread in the Smartphone section. Sprint was very helpful in getting it resolved, once my mother got through to the right department who switched her to someone at corporate, as the issue with Sprint was more of a communication issue my mother was having, besides the main issue with the device, Nexus 6. The porting issue also is resolved. Anyways, the main reason I'm starting this thread, as I'm excited for Monday when I get started officially with the new device and service (thats when I'm going to the store for a device swap), is I am working on a solution to the congestion issue, but I have a few questions about it first, then I will use this thread to post a plan about it later. I intend to post a rate plan here, but not only that, but a technical plan as well, which is why I'm starting a new thread, rather than continuing in the thread I made about plan ideas. I'm curious about ideas S4GRU members have for solutions to congestion issues, as I've read some on other sites, but I trust the information I read here even more. One example of trust, was in my having read wrong information pertaining to T-Mobile's ability to have a wideband network here in Chicago on another site, where it was more detailed in describing how it can be possible here in Chicago from reading both S4GRU and T4GRU. Accurate information is really important, so I'm learning to ask here before posting information I've read on other sites without some sort of verification from here as well. So, I'll start by asking about Wideband. Is wideband a solution to congestion, and how much different is is than just the normal spectrum mhz, example of T-Mobile's soon to be 15x15 AWS network. What I'm wondering is how T-Mobile's ability to have a wideband network with that spectrum is any different than just saying they have 15x15. I've heard Sprint is going to have a wideband network here in the Chicago market, though with the different spectrum bands, how is that going to be implemented, in comparison say to T-Mobile's implementation. I realize Sprint has more spectrum than T-Mobile, though it is more wide range spectrum variety, which is curious to me how T-Mobile or any other company's network could/couldn't have wideband with less spectrum. I'll post my ideas regarding solution possibilities later...

Great news to report! Sprint has come through with the port, according to a person at the corporate office who spoke with my mother today. They also told her that we could go swap the device at the local corporate store, which is really helpful and am glad they are giving me that option, rather than having to wait for a new shipment, which they said could take over a week to do. Its possible this could have been some sort of shipment problem between Motorola and Sprint, that the device was shipped to Sprint used, rather than new. Although, I'm very glad Sprint is being so helpful in resolving this. The thing seems to be that with any company, it is important to speak with someone who speaks clear english whenever a problem occurs, as the frustration my mother was having yesterday was getting people who didn't to understand her/vice versa, where Sprint was just trying to get her through to a more workable situation with someone who could better communicate with her, hence the switching around yesterday.

Good advice here. I'm not going to activate it, as the guy from Sprint couldn't guarantee my number wouldn't be lost in the porting process, as my MetroPCS account will be terminated at midnight without a payment for the next month. Part of the problem though is my mother has been so busy lately I can never get things done when they need to, before it gets to a time where things are tight. Although those are a bunch of personal issues I won't waste space on the site going into, though part of the problem was Sprint not telling us enough detail about the process yesterday, otherwise this could have been done yesterday without the time crunch,.granted the phone issue not have happened also. Since it did, the best thing to do now is to pay for the next month of MetroPCS service, then deal with Sprint retention department about how to resolve the issues.

The covering on the glass looked pretty good, except for a spot the size of my thumbprint where there was a weird moisture spot that wasn't on any part of the glass, along with very thin scratch mark, but nothing that looked like used from that perspective. The main shock/surprise came when I turned the phone around the back and noticed the hairs. Ha! I actually haven't checked that function, for obvious reasons. I bought a new device and don't expect to have hairs as part of the deal. The concern I'm having right now though is my mother is starting to get upset as Sprint is redirecting her through various departments.

Oh wow does that bring up memories! Several years ago, I had a few years of full cable service all for the cost of local service, after my mother called them to cancel all but local service. Apparently comcast never got around to removing the extra channels, but at least didn't charge for them after the attempted cancellation.

Ugh, I'm very disappointed/upset/sad, etc. I just opened my new Nexus 6, that I'm starting Sprint service with, and it has three hairs on the back of the device - certainly not my hairs nor my mother's, who is sitting with me calling Sprint now while I type this post. We need to get this activated, as tonight is the deadline on my MetroPCS service, and I didn't want to pay another $50 for the month of May to receive service I don't need since I now have Sprint. We are porting the number to Sprint, which unless we activate this device, we'll lose the telephone number, according to what both Sprint and MetroPCS told my mother earlier today. But why the heck would Sprint send me a potentially used device, which the only thing I can think of is that these hairs belong to the person who boxed the device. These hairs were clearly attached to the device along with what appears to be some sort of moisture/perspiration-possibly, in causing these hairs to be "stuck" on the device, the back of the device is where they are/were, as some of them came off as I was pulling to inspect the device. I'm feeling badly now, because I wanted this to work, but my mother who is highly stressed/easily agitated, although she seems to be handling this issue pretty calmly right now, thank goodness. I hope Sprint is going to be helpful in replacing this, since if my mother starts stressing out, I'll need to cancel it, because she has high blood pressure and at least seems satisfied enough with T-Mobile and MetroPCS, even though I'm not. Although, if this device actually is new, then what possibly is going on with Google's quality control department, or Motorola's. The LG Google Nexus 5 I had for a short time prior to when T-Mobile decided to not let me keep my NFB discount I was initially told I could keep, which caused me to need to return the device, at least that device is was in very good condition and hair-free.

This idea came to mind just a moment ago when I was reading a thread here, where a member is concerned about Sprint's plans to cancel Wimax home internet service in their area around Ohio. Robert replied, mentioning Sprint is working with Dish Network on a home internet service trial in Texas, which got me thinking... Could Softbank/Sprint possibly buy Dish Network, seeing as they were involved in the huge merger deal between each other over a year ago. I'm also wondering if Masayoshi Son is waiting to see how the AT&T merger with Directv goes, before making any firm decision about it. After all, it'll probably be much more likely to pass FCC approval than the merger idea of Sprint/T-Mobile was. I'd really like for such a merger between Softbank/Sprint/Dish to happen, as Dish purchased a bunch of AWS spectrum here in Chicago back in the AWS auction, which a merger with Sprint would make the already great Chicago network even more powerful, and would allow me to ditch AT&T UVerse home internet service for good, without having to rely on Comcast Xfinity for it, granted if the Dish/Sprint home internet service would be available here, not just a merger happening.

Thank you, AJ. I was unsure if there was a difference or not between them, and if it could be counted separately. Although it does make me think there is moire likelihood that unlimited will go away in favor of data, so there is more control over data. Then today from reading around online, seems more people are open to the idea, if there also is an option of varied speed choices in data packages, which I'd definitely support.

Thanks to those posting in the new T-Mobile thread for helping me with this idea, which carries some questions I have while I continue to learn more about wireless technology here... As I'm understanding this, all television stations have channels that operate on spectrum, or is this only local channels that use airwaves which do? I'm thinking if somehow all of the television stations stopped using airwaves for antennae use, rather depended on broadcasting over the internet, then they wouldn't need spectrum, is this correct? The reason I'm considering this, which I also understand that not only would this be about antennae broadcast, but also satellite broadcast which uses spectrum, and I'm trying to imagine the possibility of this changing, so that all television broadcasts would be internet based, with the result of not needing spectrum, except for the wireless internet providers using spectrum to get the data in/out. However, clearing all the spectrum over airwaves from broadcasters and non-internet use of sending/receiving television signal, would free up this spectrum to give to wireless data providers, such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, to use in broadcasting wirelessly. If this were so, the FCC ought to have much more spectrum to sell to these companies by requiring television broadcasts be based only by internet transmission. I realize there already are providers doing this, though there still remains over the air broadcasting, which since no longer is such a necessity in the consumer marketplace, I'm left wondering why there isn't a stronger movement pushing for greater acceleration over to the internet for these broadcasts. Then again, I also want to make sure I'm understanding this spectrum issue in that broadcasters don't need spectrum anymore, if they stop sending over the air broadcasts, moving over completely to the internet.

Ah! So this reminds me way back in the mid 2000s when I first started reading about wireless technology on Howard Forums. My mother had started her prepaid T-Mobile phone around this time, a cheap Samsung bar phone she still uses to this day that only has the pcs band on it. I remember sometime within a few years after that, T-Mobile had a major spectrum enhancement I mistook for being in the lower spectrum bands, and only realized I was wrong on that a few years ago, when I heard about AWS and started learning the differences in bands and how they penetrate through building walls vs being mostly outdoor use, etc. Had I realized this much sooner, I probably would have talked with my mother about getting a prepaid phone with another company working with lower spectrum bands and never got T-Mobile service to begin with, as local coverage is very important for us. I have a question regarding spectrum bands, with an idea in mind, though not T-Mobile related. so, I'm going to create a thread about it in General Topics, though the information I received here in this thread certainly has helped me with that!

Hmm. I mentioned in a post the other day that I read somewhere about how the Chicago market for T-Mobile doesn't have enough spectrum for wideband. Is this not true, or is it that the wideband here just won't be as strong as it is in other markets. Regardless, 15x15 AWS LTE, along with 5x5 PCS HSPA+ doesn't sound strong enough for an area as large as Chicago.

I was reading another thread here on S4GRU just a moment ago, and decided to quickly come over here to this thread and post something I thought of when also viewing a website for a business the other thread referred to, something I hadn't heard of before, ntelos wireless. I noticed there plans separate the service items, sort of how Sprint does for its Employee Referral Plus plans, which is how I got onto Sprint the other day with its Unlimited My Way Plan. BTW, I'll have a review of my Sprint service either Monday or Tuesday, as I'm having difficulty getting MetroPCS to properly port my telephone number to Sprint, something which ought to be simple, though by no means is this Sprint's fault. MetroPCS has a duty to get this done well. Anyways back on topic, the ntelos plans gave me an idea... Sprint could decide to separate unlimited minutes from the data, in making such per gb plans cheaper, though I think that wouldn't be around long once VOLTE is at mass establishment. Perhaps then there would be a way to charge voice calling within data use, giving a choice for users to make calls using data, not having to pay for unlimited calling, unless I'm just overlooking the situation of voice calling being so cheap now it just doesn't matter anymore. I'm going over an idea I have about this, and will post it here within a few days. Although I'm still hoping unlimited sticks around long enough it will be embraced more than it is currently, considering all the news about it lately.

While my ability to give much at one time is extremely limited, I certainly plan on giving $50 per year (more if I can) I'm not sure if that financial figure is close to what the Honored Sponsors give, though I certainly can appreciate my figures not being close, as it is a great sign of how much this site has helped people.S4GRU certainly is worthy of it, and as I imagine Sprint growing customers, so will S4GRU grow paying membership, leading to more exciting times for both. Unfortunately though, these forum softwares never truly offer the features operators really ought to have to give to their sites and members. Certainly operators can do great things with what they have, as has happened here, though I think forum software still could offer more, which would be shared by the operators with members. Features that certainly would continue to help bring value to members looking to upgrade their memberships to higher levels, which results in helping these sites overall. I say this as a former forum administrator who always felt underwhelmed by the options forums gave me to add features for members. I got tired of being an administrator partly because of it, and found myself focusing on designing all sorts of forum designs as a way to make up for minimum forum features, instead giving members various choices in how they want to view the forum, even doing holiday designs and other special design options for higher memberships.

Thank you very much! I considered posting my first thread on the Chicago Market thread, until I realized my post was more about unlimited data and pricing than it was regarding local experience (currently still only about MetroPCS), though I've ended up mentioning my wireless experiences around here quite a bit since then (again MetroPCS, which I'm glad to soon be gone from), which I'm sure I'll have use of that thread more now that I'll be a part of the growing Sprint network experience here in Chicago. My Nexus 6 arrives today with the service, and I'm very excited to get everything setup on it! I've been thinking more about how pricing might be in a future without Unlimited Data plans, as I seem to be more convinced of that happening sooner rather than later, considering all the news stories about it lately. Of course, I don't want it to go away and I know how important it is to many people, including myself. Robert makes very valid points regarding companies' practice of charging more per GB, which makes it a real concern not just for people who "abuse" or "highly use" the unlimited data, but even for those who use around 15gb-30gb per month, as prices for those current gb data plans are quite a bit more expensive to very much more expensive than current unlimited plans. My thinking though, call it "hope" if you'd like, is that companies will realize people cutting back so much on their data, they start losing money from the loss of unlimited plans from people who just refuse to spend much on data to the point where they spend a lot less than they did on it. If this does happen, which has some chance of, especially if other companies like Republic Wireless and Google, etc. keep coming up with innovative ways to connect cheaper and allow for more data use (Google will definitely have to be charging less than $10 per gb for this to happen), then possibly the carrier companies will need to lower gb rates and find innovative ways to get unlimited data users back (those who use more data, but don't use excessively). Having a fair & flexible data situation, is a great idea, especially for Sprint when/if they decide to stop offering unlimited data. I was thinking that at first, before any possible lower gb data costs happen, a good start to this might be say, $55 per month for 5gb, of data, then have a scale of $15 per 5gb after that. it would make, for example, 10gb $70, 15gb $85, 20gb $100, etc., which the latter is in line with the current family share plan. I don't think Sprint will get rid of unlimited data until T-Mobile does, which I think mean people will flock to Sprint and then Sprint might be inclined to do this before having any problem with excessive users, or might do the fair & flexible data idea to prevent it, which also could indicate they find a happy medium right away and satisfy everyone. If that happens, and a big if, because companies will naturally want to keep the data more expensive, but dependent these other factors, I'm curious if we might not see something akin of 30gb around $90 to $100 as a good balance point of data and price. Again, I'm basing this on the idea of 30gb data being the ceiling of this. Well, just some ideas I've been pondering while waiting for my shipment to arrive today from Sprint. I've got to say they were very fast at this, and great to deal with getting my number ported, etc.

I've been posting quite a bit here since becoming a member earlier, and due to my health, I sometimes need to make messages I write a bit short, trying to get to the point a bit too much, where I really ought to better explain what I'm saying and to avoid using too simplistic, generalized words that may not be entirely fitting, such as the word "lies". The word "misleading" is a better term for what I meant, of course. Although, I know T-Mobile never claimed to have 700 mhz spectrum here, the promoting of that spectrum seems to be what T-Mobile is using as their way of expanding service to people, and a major part of their network expansion this year. Since T-Mobile doesn't have 700 mhz spectrum here, and has limited spectrum as it is around Illinois, they can't build it out well as they can where they have more spectrum, particularly the 700 mhz spectrum. I've read they don't have enough spectrum in Illinois to build out a wideband network here, which while it doesn't mean there network is bad at all around Chicago, it means that this area is more prone to becoming congested as the usage increases and starts clogging what they do have here, unable to expand beyond that. Again, I should have been a bit more informative about my experiences here using T-Mobile's Network, expanding on my vague statements,m but I'm battling some issues with my typing abilities, trying to not let my physical issues keep me from being part of something I have much respect for. I'll try to expand more when I can, and will do so now... I do get fast speeds where T-Mobile works, which is when I'm in the car while my mother drives us places. Though, there are moments where there isn't just a slow drop in speeds, but a complete drop that occurs in a matter of seconds from when it just was very good. I'm not so worried about Sprint being "slower" when I get my phone in tomorrow and start the service actively. I need the coverage where I'm at not dropping off completely, whereas T-Mobile has done already enough times that it has become a risk for me not having a connection. Although, this mostly happens at home, but is where I'm mostly alone and most in need of the connection. So, while there are areas which T-Mobile is fast, the complete dropping of signal a moment later, is troubling, and I've had no other reason than to suspect it is network congestion dropping me off the signal. Certainly, I'm not denying other possibilities though, just that is what I'm currently thinking it is, as the device works elsewhere. If it were the device, it wouldn't be working anywhere. If it were the tower proximity, then why does the signal come back fully a few feet away, even fluxuating working in the same space some moments later after having completely dropped. I'm certainly not pretending or even claiming I know everything about wireless stuff, and I'll freely admit to having learned so much of what I do know from people here on S4GRU. That is how I know to have these particular reasons to suggest as to why these problems are occurring with the MetroPCS service.

I really doubt T-Mobile can even do that low-quality coverage. I live in the Chicago market, and its filled with a major hole in the suburbs around me, which from reading about T-Mobile's spectrum in this area and around illinois, I really doubt they have enough to cover so far out from here across the state. I think T-Mobile is becoming too engulfed in delusion from their own success that they now are just saying whatever comes to mind expecting and possibly knowing most people in awe of them will just believe anything they say. Heck, If John Legere claimed T-Mobile could provide LTE signal a couple hundred feet under water, you'd have quite a huge TmoNews scuba diving party.