diagoro

You don't have access to B41 on a Note 2 which I am connected to 50% of the time when I am in Los Angeles.  Can highly recommend you test driving a Spark device and if your not satisfied returned the phone within 14 days.  B25 is not great in So-Cal because of lack B26.  B25 is weak and B41 covers most of the gaps so far.  Won't see B26 until later this year or early next year.

 

I drive up and down the 405 towards the airport from San Diego, I drop to 3G in some spots in Long Beach because lack of B25 on those sites.  But other than that, I see more B41 than B25.

So in order to get an adequate signal, I have to continually update my phone (like it seems you do). I'll admit that the note 2 is a bit older, but there is no reason Sprint can't support devices they sell. 

 

I've had reception issues non-stop with Sprint, regardless of phone. It looks like it's not the device, tower, or bandwidth. Clearly it's Sprint.

 

I appreciate the response, and understand where you're coming from. But I'm not signing any new contracts with Sprint until I see proper support. Not just reception, but CS and other aspects. Probably time to move on anyways, considering I get .30m down where I'm moving, and my support experience has been the worst of any company yet.

I drive through Orange Country from San Diego twice a week.  I haven't experience any issues other than dropping to 3G on the toll road going towards Long Beach.  I am on LTE 98% of the time from San Diego through Torrance.  

 

I am trying to gather more data that can help pin point if there was a network wide update that we can request Sprint network exec to look at.

My experience is completely different. They may have provisioned 4GLTE near most freeways (though my issue is currently next to the 57). But quite a few other areas seem to be sparse, at least the areas I visit. Vast parts of Anaheim (not near Disneyland), Stanton, Garden Grove, Westminster, and Huntington Beach. As I might have noted earlier, I will be moving to the north-east section of HB in a few weeks. Have been on 3G every time I checked. It's weak enough that stepping into a store dumped me into roaming.

If the lack of SvLTE is what is keeping you from upgrading, bad news. All other carriers, not just Sprint are moving towards the single radio design. SvLTE is a dying technology. Until there is more widespread adoption of VoLTE, simultaneous talk and data is a thing of the past. Of course, you can always use the Hangouts Dialer as a VoLTE substitute and have your simultaneous talk and data back to bridge the gab between now and VoLTE.

I was mistaken if this is the case. Do you know of a reason for it? Seems like a step backwards.

Do not expect call center reps to provide network or handset tech support beyond script reading.  That is unrealistic.  If they had the necessary education, training, and access, they would be engineers or technicians, not call center reps.

 

The most likely explanation is that you are on a site where band 25 is congested.  That happens -- especially as you are still on an old Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which is single band on Sprint.  Orange County is a tough situation right now because of the delay to deploy band 26.  But band 41 certainly will help.  And you presently have no access to band 41 with your old handset.

 

Basically, if you want a good Sprint experience, you need to take responsibility to upgrade to a tri band handset.

 

AJ

Appreciate the response, and agree about the first tier support being unable to help. I find fault more with Sprint's support ethic, where reps seem to have the ability to say anything at any time, regardless the situation.

 

And yes, my Note 2 is a bit older. But regardless, I had decent service at home, and now I'm stuck on .60m 3G. This would have been solved if someone at Sprint actually tried to resolve the issue, rather than say "we're in a network upgrade process, please bare with us"........

 

I've been out of contract for a few months. And while I'm heavily interested in the Note 5 (aside from hardware changes, which mystify me), I don't see myself signing a new contract with Sprint. Especially when they only offer one antenna Spark service going forward. All the services have issues, but Sprint takes the cake thus far.

Update.......tried contacting via tweet again. 

Received a call from the tech department stating there IS a problem with the tower closest to my location. They state it's either a power issue, or 4G is faulty. Either way, it's being worked on now.....

Yup your phone is LTE band 25

 

I'll see if I have a chance to drive around your area and check out how my moto x works. I used to pass by there on my way back home from work but now take the 91 so its been a while.

Not only that, but the rep also stated that "all carriers will have single band phones" (as Sprint is doing with Spark). Seems that was also wrong....

 

Oh yeah, the rep also failed to call me at the promised time. As much as I appreciate the response via the tweet, it's really sad to see so much mis-information and lack of follow through. 

 

As for the signal. About the only thing that, was update the PRL. I showed more of a 4G signal initially, but speed test results were the same as before. About .6M down and 1.3 up.

Is the Note 2 Spark capable?

No, but it's a 4g LTE phone (per everything I've read).

All towers around your area have been upgraded. Perhaps they are doing some enhancements to the towers? I mean upgraded equipment shall bring more reliable services so I dont believe your services will get worse.

 

Have you tried tweeting @marcicarris? she works for customer service and heard she and her team are taking care of lots of customer complaints. Try it and let me know how that goes.

So I tried tweeting, and get a very quick response. Ended up speaking with a tier 2 rep, but less than impressed. His first comment was that my phone (note 2) is only 3G......

 

We'll see. He's checking on things.

Tweeting has been very effective since Marcelo took over.

 

Id suggest opening up an account and give it a go.

 

Also as a premier member on this forum we have access to maps showing upgrades done on NV 1.0 that might be more accurate than whatever you heard from Sprint.

Hope my response didn't come across as obnoxious as any way. I have (had) an account from about 2010, just never used it....I don't follow personalities/celebreties. But can see the value of using it for this (in a limited text kind of way), an will give it a go. 

 

Ultimately I will probably be forced to leave for Verizon. While all mobile companies seem to have issues, I've been especially surprised by the depth of Sprint's lack of care for customer concerns. The business model really seems to be "charge than build", rather than "build than charge". I've never seen so many ways to dismiss customer concerns, or feign ignorance. 

 

Ok, thanks for the help! End of rant

All towers around your area have been upgraded. Perhaps they are doing some enhancements to the towers? I mean upgraded equipment shall bring more reliable services so I dont believe your services will get worse.

 

Have you tried tweeting @marcicarris? she works for customer service and heard she and her team are taking care of lots of customer complaints. Try it and let me know how that goes.

I actually don't 'tweet', but thanks for the suggestion....

 

The following is the tower status from a Sprint rep from a few weeks ago. Looks pretty far from 'upgraded' to me. In fact, it makes me wonder when/if things will ever improve. 

 

The closest tower to the location you provided (.2 miles away) is near South Anita Drive. The following upgrades have taken place;

4G 2500 MHz:

Completed (8/6/2013)

4G 1900 MHz:

N/A

4G 800 MHz:

Not Scheduled

3G 1900 MHz:

N/A

Voice / 1xRTT 800 MHz:

N/A

Backhaul:

The next closest tower to your location (.3 miles away) is near W. Chapman Avenue and have the following upgrades:

4G 2500 MHz:

Completed (10/18/2014)

4G 1900 MHz:

Completed (10/13/2013)

4G 800 MHz:

Not Scheduled

3G 1900 MHz:

Completed (9/24/2013)

Voice / 1xRTT 800 MHz:

Not Scheduled

Backhaul:

Ethernet

Any recommendations on the best method to report the quality problems? I'd like to use the sprint zone app, but it's not an option for me since I have a nexus. I have called customer care in the past, but they don't do anything beyond telling me to reboot my phone or update PRL...

I've been with Sprint for three years, and have found that they appear to have very little interest in actually helping customers. Granted, there are a few reps that actually do try, and give a very strong effort. But there seems to be a systemic policy/ethic that negates the value of the customer. It's as though they are more interested in the churn, and replacing customers (the half off deal), than supporting and keeping the ones they have.

 

I've been dealing with poor coverage in my current area the entire three years. I've heard nothing but excuses.

 

"we're working on it"

"there's an outage that's being repaired"

"upgrades are scheduled"

"no upgrades are scheduled, please be patient with us, as the future is going to be great"

"please bare with us"

 

Only once did I get what I felt was an honest answer. About a year ago, a senior tech (who clearly knew his stuff) said "it is what it is, there's no improvements coming".

 

So to answer your question, there are numerous places you can report an outage. But in the end, I think Sprint has a current plan in place that leaves no room for complaints. It's like purchasing cable, only to find half the promised channels aren't working yet, and you can only get 480p half the time. I don't see how Sprint gets away with it.

 

Still demanding my monthly "please bare with us" discount. 

 

Of the 8 tests, I averaged 0.50 down, 0.80 up and a 80 ping

Would attach an image, but it's not allowing me to.

This is one of the areas I've been complaining about recently. This is a county wide problem though. Service has been deteriorating the past month or two and is getting worse. Very unreliable and it drops to no service or 3g.

This is surprising considering the stadiums, mall and traffic in the area. Come to think of it, it's started for me about the same time that the recent baseball season started....

 

Just ran some tests, which are very representative of my experience...

 

 Sorry to hear about the bad service, have you reported all the issues thru the Sprint Zone App? I read on here and reddit to always submit on the App. So that might be another work around? 

 

What exactly you located? Any cross streets? 

Thanks for the response. I haven't tried the app, just getting the regular "please bare with us" runaround from Sprint forums and phone support.

 

I'm near Orangewood and the 57. I'm actually moving to Huntington Beach in a month, but it looks like that area is struggling as well. I actually went into roaming (near Bolsa Chica and Warner).

Anyone over near Anaheim Stadium? I'm just the other side of the 57. I've generally struggled with Sprint through much of OC, but in the past had 4G at home (would drop to 3G when going downstairs). Wasn't very fast, but was 'reliable'....though phone calls have always been poor voice quality,  regardless of where I am. 

About two months ago I suddenly started dropping to 3G, and often will notice that data dropped alltogether. It will randomly show 4G, but will hang a bit, than drop back to 3G. All I get from Sprint is the "please bare with us" nonsense. 

I will say that back around Januray spoke with a tech who seemed fairly high up. He was very knowledgeable, patient and pretty considerate (for a Sprint rep). I was a bit surprised when he said things are not going to improve, and the service I had at the time was as good as I should expect. I honestly wasn't expecting it to regress as it has, but it certainly hasn't improved!