ericdabbs

I've not received the update either. Android updates are always slow to release though.

You can clear out the data on the Google Services Framework app and try pressing the System Update button and it should come.  Alternatively you can always download the OTA.zip file and sideload it.

What app does it say is draining the battery in the Settings -> Battery section?

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.

Tmobile should still try to buy the 700 MHz A-block license from AT&T (Leap) too in the Chicago market to help with building penetration.  I am sure Tmobile has held off on this for 2 reasons:

1) They might not be sure if they can relocate the incumbent to another channel until 600 MHz rebanding is complete

2) AT&T (Leap) might be demanding a huge premium for the Chicago market.  Tmobile has said recently that due to the AWS-3 success in spectrum valuation, the remaining 700 MHz A-block licensees are putting a high premium on the spectrum.  I am confident that Tmobile will eventually obtain the Chicago license because AT&T (Leap) is under the gun to deploy or lose the license.  THis applies to all the other remaining 700 MHz A-block holdouts.

Ah, okay. For some reason I thought " FORCE STOP "  was part of the steps.

 

Thanks.

 

btw would you have the direct link for Sprints G2 on the XDA site

http://forum.xda-developers.com/sprint-g2

How has LTE performance been for the S6 and S6 Edge so far?  I know the article that AJ wrote several weeks made it sound like the RF performance on the S6 and S6 Edge would not be as strong as it was on the S5?  Anyone have any first hand comparison between the S6 and S5 or any other LTE phone.  I still deciding what LTE phone to upgrade this year and I was curious how real world RF performance is like.

I wish I could answer this better but, I guess it may still be there. I have only had two lengthy (5 min+) conversations and, I have not noticed a difference in voice quality.  But, to be honest, I didn't even know this was a "bug."  Sounds fine to me. 

Well the easiest way to tell is to enable the Voice Recognition -> From Any Screen option on the Google Search app and try making mulitple calls.  If people can hear you from multiple calls then it should be fixed.  On the ZVE firmware you had to disable the Voice Recognition -> From Any Screen option or else like 95% of your calls will be muffled and just irritated the folks on the other line because they can't hear you as if you are whispering.

I wish I could answer this better but, I guess it may still be there. I have only had two lengthy (5 min+) conversations and, I have not noticed a difference in voice quality.  But, to be honest, I didn't even know this was a "bug."  Sounds fine to me. 

Well the easiest way to tell is to enable the Voice Recognition -> From Any Screen option on the Google Search app and try making mulitple calls.  If people can hear you from multiple calls then it should be fixed.  On the ZVE firmware you had to disable the Voice Recognition -> From Any Screen option or else like 95% of your calls will be muffled and just irritated the folks on the other line because they can't hear you as if you are whispering.

Eric,

In my first 24 hours I think that signal/LTE performance remains unchanged, which is pretty good compared to many devices.   Battery life I think may be slightly improved, again, pretty good compared to many devices.  Overall, the phone performs quite well with Lollipop.  It seems they did a great job on the software side.  It's hard to believe that a phone this old is still this good and relevant.  If only all my devices could be this way.  This is by far the longest I've held on to a single handset and, to this day, I don't see any major reasons to upgrade. 

Awesome.  What about the muffled voice bug?  Is that still there?

I got a few questions about performance for those that have upgraded to ZVG firmware thus far

1. Has that lingering muffled voice bug been fixed related with the Google Now app (Current fix is to disable the "Ok Google" detection from any screen option)?

2. How is battery life and LTE performance thus far?

3. Any other issues or caveats you have observed thus far?

Anyone test GPS/NAV? That's been the only downfall for me on the G2.

Yeah eventually once I am done with the LG G2, I want to do that antenna trick where you open up the phone and lift and add tiny pieces of paper underneath the GPS antennas to ensure good contact.  People claim this has fix their GPS issues.  I don't think any software is going to fix it.

I was in Vegas late last year and was on 3G in a lot of places. Traveling to Vegas this weekend and hope it's an improvement and stay on LTE a lot

Well on the Strip it should be fine although it won't be the fastest speeds since not all the sites on the Strip have been converted to NV and not to mention the large number of users that are on the Strip.  If you look on the map it looks like areas outside of the Strip are well covered with B41 LTE so I expect you will see good speeds in most parts of Las Vegas.

Was downtown again today and brought my T-Mobile test drive iPhone. Nothing different from last week, was pretty much on Edge in my office, and speeds were on average slower than Clearwire B41 at street level. I'll be sticking with Sprint even though T-Mobile does better at my gym in Irvine.

 

Sprint is definitely already deploying the 800 RRUs in LA county, I've seen at least one on a tower next to the train tracks along my Metrolink commute. I took a pic today and will post in the sponsors forum with site ID. However, on a tower further south along the train tracks near the Fullerton station, no 800 RRUs yet.

Actually parts of LA County (Pasadena, Downtown LA, Glendale, Santa Monica, etc) already have 800 RRUs installed if you see the NV complete map for those sites that are already deploying CDMA 800 so that is not anything new.  

I guess new data points would be if any of the OC county OR eastern part of LA county/San Bernardino county labelled NV sites start to have 800 RRUs installed then that is something worth noting.  As you pointed out a site in Fullerton has yet to receive 800 RRUs which is what I expected.

Sprint is already out deploying 800 RRUs (and antennas where needed) to get ahead of the curve. Once they are cleared to fire things up, it will already be in place.

Thanks.  I was not aware of this effort.  I'll have to keep an eye out on the NV sites I pass through to see if they have started to put up 800 MHz RRUs and connected them to the panels in preparation of the completion of the SB county rebanding effort.  I'll report back to see what I find.

Sprint has 190mhz and WiMAX is taking 10-30mhz. So huh?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

First off, Sprint never stated they had 190 MHz nationwide of 2600 MHz spectrum.  190 MHz is the entire B41 range so that can't be true at all.  Sprint has said in the past that they have on average about 100-120 MHz nationwide (some less, some more) in its markets.  Not sure how they came up with that number since spectrum maps I have seen don't even come close to that.  

However you have to keep in mind that Sprint is deploying TD-LTE which requires contiguous spectrum.  Its not FDD-LTE where if you want to deploy 20 MHz in total you have paired 10x10 spectrum so you need large blocks.  WIMAX requires contiguous spectrum too We don't know what 2600 MHz spectrum Sprint is using for its WIMAX network (BRS or EBS).  The main contiguous 2600 MHz block is the BRS2 block which is only 55.5 MHz wide of which Sprint is currently using for its TD-LTE netwrk. The rest of the spectrum blocks (BRS1, F4, E2, F1, G3) are scattered chunks of spectrum and most are not nationwide.

Look at the spectrum map made by SGT and then tell me where can Sprint deploy its Wimax network.

http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

Sprint B26 will go MUCH faster than T-Mobile B12. Sprint already deployed 800MHz equipment with network vision, so all they will need to do is activate and optimize.

No that is not entirely true for all of LA/OC.  The sites in LA/OC that cannot deploy 800 MHz CDMA or LTE currently do NOT have the 800 MHz RRUs already installed on the racks.  The panels are installed but that is only because the panels used in NV are dual band (800 and 1900) supported.  I have personally witnessed that many NV sites that falls under the restricted zone (mainly eastern part of LA county and all of OC county) do NOT have the 800 MHz RRUs installed but only the 1900 MHz RRUs.

So when Sprint finally gets the go ahead to deploy, they will need to deploy quickly.  From looking at the NV complete maps you can see that there is a portion of LA that has 800 MHz CDMA already deployed and I agree for those sites the 800 MHz LTE should be lit up quickly but for eastern part of LA county and all of OC county Sprint will need to send crews to install the 800 MHz RRUs and connect them to the NV panels and optimize.

When do you guys think Sprint will begin to add more markets to the international value roaming program?  I am hoping by Q2 earnings call that we will hear some more roaming partnerships especially Canada and most of western Europe.

at&t surprisingly. Has been working excellent too. Haven't lost LTE once since Monday and I've been all over the the city and in basements too. The only exception would be Chinatown Mall, where nobody works. 

Ended up getting a 22% discount through freelancers union, and got them to match Verizon's latest deal - the 15 GB's for $100 so the price comes out to $133 for two lines one on contract and one "BYOD". 

 

I'm glad it wasn't to T-Mobile because lets face it, their indoor coverage is still lackluster and the rural coverage still has a ways to go yet before being acceptable. I'm gonna be traveling alot this summer, especially to the southwest so I think I made a good choice. Roaming on Verizon or Commnet 1x was not always easy and I carried a phone with an at&t SIM last year for backup anyway.  

Tmobile needs to buy that 700 MHz A-block license from Leap (AT&T) eventually so that they can deploy LTE in Chicago which needs it badly.  I am sure there is a game of poker being played because I am sure Tmobile will eventually buy the license out in Chicago from AT&T since AT&T has no plans to build out LTE there just for that 1 market and they have build out requirements which need to be met for that spectrum.

I think Tmobile isn't in a rush to buy the 700 MHz A-block license in Chicago because it knows the Ch. 51 interference issues can't be resolved quite yet until the 600 MHz auction occurs.  I am sure the channel in Chicago can't be relocated to another channel.

Longtime Sprint user since I got my first cell phone in high school (I think it was in 2001). I've really had no reason to switch carriers as Sprint has always performed well enough for me most of the time. However, I signed up for the T-Mobile test drive the other day and received it (iPhone 5S) yesterday. I've heard a lot that the T-Mobile LTE network is a lot more improved (as well as a faster network fallback to HSPA+ instead of 3G), and the plans have peaked my interest, especially the addition of VoLTE, WiFi calling and texting that can handoff to cellular, and free unlimited data (albeit not 4G) and texting in 122 countries. So, with that said, here's how my experience has been while working in downtown today...

 

I live in OC and work downtown a few days out of the week, so I commute on Metrolink. On Sprint, my phone is pretty much on LTE the entire trip from the Tustin station to Union station, switching between B25, B41 and Clearwire B41. There are a few stretches where it can drop to 3G, but this is more the exception than the rule, and doesn't happen every trip. I was monitoring the T-Mobile iPhone 5s on the ride up this morning, and it was connected to LTE the entire way except for when it dropped to HSPA+ between Anaheim and Fullerton. I did plenty of speed tests throughout, but ultimately was unimpressed with the speeds. LTE DL was clocking in between 1-3 mbps, with UL being slightly higher. There were a few times when DL speeds went into the 10-20 mbps range, but only a couple times. On the way back I did speed tests alongside my Sprint phone at most stations (Buena Park, Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange and Santa Ana), and Sprint outdid T-Mobile every time. If I remember correctly, B41 was at each of these stations. I'm commuting to LA again on Monday, and will see how it is then.

 

I work on the 37th floor on Bunker Hill in downtown LA. Once the Clearwire B41 towers were turned on about a year ago, my phone stays on LTE at a signal of around -115dbm, and I'm able to pull down around 5-7 mbps, which is plenty good. Today, the T-Mobile iPhone was jumping between LTE, HSPA+ and Edge, spending most of it's time on HSPA+ and Edge. Speed tests on LTE and HSPA+ were producing DL and UL of .1 mbps, Edge even slower. Disappointing to say the least, but I will point out that the iPhone 5S doesn't support B12 (700 mhz), which is currently in the active stages of being deployed in LA. One can be hopeful that B12 would reach into the building. Even so, even my speed tests outside on the T-Mobile phone was underwhelming (~3 mbps, if that) in the vicinity of my building. However, I did walk down south towards the financial district at lunchtime and did pull down around 13mbps. Still, my Sprint phone (which stays on Clearwire B41 downtown), consistently brings down 10-20 mbps.

 

Now, with all that said, I know that the highest speeds don't dictate how great a network is. But it seems like the T-Mobile network was overcapacity (even with their 15x15 "wideband" LTE) during the workday downtown, and while I was still able to load webpages at a mostly acceptable speed, Sprint's B41 seemed to be handling the capacity a lot better - which should be expected, but it was nice to see in real world experiences.

 

As for OC, T-Mobile is definitely doing better than Sprint, at least the areas I frequent. I've got a solid LTE signal at my house and pulling around 20mbps (and pulling the same speeds on HSPA+). Same thing at my gym near the Spectrum. Sprint switches between LTE and 3G in both these places, and Sprint 3G is still awfully slow at the gym, but LTE and HSPA+ is plenty fast on T-Mobile. Note that I turn off LTE on the iPhone to connect to HSPA+ to test the speed, so I'm not losing an LTE connection, just forcing HSPA+. I'll continue to monitor over the weekend how T-Mobile performs against Sprint, but so far it's looking a lot better than downtown LA.

 

Sorry this is so long, but wanted to share my real life experience with how T-Mobile is performing against Sprint. Still undecided if I'll switch, we'll see how it goes over the next few days.

I am intrigued about Tmobile's network and how it performs in the LA/OC area.  I still want to try the Tmobile test drive for comparison but I do want to wait until I see 2 things first before using up my 1 time test drive.

1.  700 MHz network is built out for the decent portion of the LA/OC areas.

2. The test drive offers an iPhone version that supports B12 LTE.  Currently only the iPhone 5S can be used for Test Drive and even the iPhone 6 does NOT contain the B12 LTE bands.

I would be curious to see how Sprint's LTE network holds up once Sprint can start deploying B26 LTE later on this year once San Bernardino County is cleared out and has rebanded entirely.  Hopefully Tmobile builds out B12 LTE quickly and puts pressure on Sprint to build out B26 LTE quickly as well so that they don't get left behind for the LA/OC markets.

DIE WIMAX DIE!!!! Wimax is taking up valuable spectrum which could be used to deploy more LTE carriers.

Just curious for those with the S6, when you do the dialer code (##DATA#) if you are able to change the LTE band priority for the CCA bands (B4, B12, etc)?  I know the current Sprint phones will allow you to change the LTE band priority for its own LTE bands.  Just curious if you could alter the non Sprint LTE band priorities.

Well, June 2015 completion date as of June 2014. 

 

"estimated one year post approval of this amendment, June 17, 2015."

 

http://cob-sire.sbcounty.gov/sirepub/agdocs.aspx?doctype=minutes&itemid=230670

Well lets hope they stick to the June 2015 time frame.  Its been lonnnggggg overdue.  Too many areas are being affected by the SB county PS issue.

Any update on the San Bernardino situation?   Last I heard they will be done with the switch over by May 2015. 

Where did you hear about May 2015?  I thought it wasn't until later on in the year.

Well I was hoping for smaller LG G4 in the range of 5.2-5.3 inches but I guess it will have to be 5.5 inches.  Still can't wait to see the official unveiling to get all the details.

Did anyone who added "Direct Connect" get a Sprint order status email? I talked to them and they said its related to the Direct Connect feature add-on...weird.

I checked my account this morning and it is listed as an Service add-on.  I think that is your confirmation that it is added.  Sprint does not send another email when service adds on are officially added to your account.

RE: Uncarrier delayed

 

Is this all Marcelo's doing, or was it already in the cards and just took time?

 

I mean, I think it's fair to say that features such as paying off ETFs and free global texting/data are a direct result of T-mobile doing it.

 

The question is, was Hesse a roadblock preventing Sprint from adopting these kinds of policies (ie, thinking they were useless gimmicks), or did he ok them but it just took many moons to get them through?

I don't think this is all Marcelo's doing.  While Marcelo has been reacting to Tmobile's Uncarrier initiatives rather quickly to compete with Tmobile,  it is still a reaction vs. being proactive which IMO is mainly why Sprint gets so much heat for it even though it is a good thing.  Also to the fact that the Sprint "Uncarrier" moves are nothing unique or that makes them any better or worse than the ones Tmobile is offering but rather just matching their deals (ex: 2 lines for $100, International Value Roaming with less countries for now) doesn't really help set them apart.  I don't think if Hesse was still at the helm that these Tmobile Uncarrier initiatives would have been incorporated into Sprint plans at all so kudos for Marcelo for that.  Personally I don't really care which carrier created the ideas just as long as it had a big enough impact so that Sprint had to react and offer the same deal which is good for Sprint customers.

The Cut-Your-Bill-In-Half and the $50 single line unlimited plan for iPhone promos are unique to Sprint so I hope Sprint keeps it up for the next few years.

I am not so sure how I feel about this right now.  I mean Nokia seems to be doing pretty well with its network equipment but I just don't know how much impact this has on LTE deployment especially in markets that use their equipment for B25/B26/B41 LTE.