Member21

On 10/1/2023 at 11:00 PM, RedSpark said:

Just went through a ridiculous “carrier hell” process with post-Merger T-Mobile trying to add a new Apple Watch to another line on our T-Mobile account.

Purchased a new Apple Watch Series 9 Stainless at the Apple Store today for a family member for all the new health and safety features.

Went through the set-up/pairing process on their iPhone for them. Got to the Cellular activation step and the phone said to contact T-Mobile, so I called on the phone to add the watch. Waited 30 mins on hold to speak to someone.

Finally got someone in an overseas call center who said she’d activate the Watch on the line. Asked me for the IMEI which I gave. She confirmed the device was activated so I didn’t think anything of it and continued to set up the rest of the watch settings.

Get to the end of that and go to the Cellular page in the Watch App to confirm the E911 address… and it says to call T-Mobile again. The Watch itself says “No SIM”. Great.

Call T-Mobile, was on hold for 30 mins and got another overseas call center person who can’t figure out why it isn’t provisioning. However, she did tell me that it was important to stay hydrated before being transferred up, which I found flat out bizarre.

Get escalated to a Stateside Senior Tech Person who knew what they were doing. He saw that the device was added as an Android Watch instead of an Apple Watch. He fixed it.

Why can’t this process be Self-Service online or at least available by chat? I hate reading numbers over the phone and not being able to confirm things right in front of me.

Everything about this was “carrier hell”.

Ridiculous.

IIRC, the process was better under Sprint. Heck, I’d rather deal with AI.

T-Mobile has gone full circle back to its carrier roots.

So sorry to hear this!  On my family account, we have 1 Apple watch for our young son who uses it and doesn't have a phone (he's too young).  The watch line is in my name.  I dread the day when he's old enough to have a phone and it's time to:

-Get him an iPhone and transition the watch phone number to his new iPhone.  Assuming this can be done without too much pain, the watch will then no longer have cellular service and will bluetooth to the new iPhone. 

-Also, transition the number that was moved from the watch to his new iPhone from my name to his name.

Although this is a few years away, has anyone done this before, or something similar?

And, of course, we probably won't get promotional pricing on the new iPhone since we won't be "adding a new line". 

On 6/12/2023 at 3:09 PM, RedSpark said:

But wait.... There's more.

I also had to go into "Account --> Profile --> Caller ID" and manually update the Caller ID name on each line. I just happened to check it because I was curious about data integrity after the migration... and well, it was messed up.

The data migration made me the Caller ID for every line on the account, so I had to fix that for each line.

T-Mobile had better warn people about this stuff, because there's going to be a massive influx of calls about incorrect account settings from Sprint customers.

Maybe that's why they've been doing this migration gradually.... So they don't get slammed with customer service calls about migrated account information which is now showing incorrect.

My account was moved to T-Mobile a few months ago but I didn't think to check if the Caller ID data is correct for the lines on my account.  Well I just checked it and sure enough, all the lines on my account show my name for the caller ID, instead of the user of the line.  When I went ahead and updated the names on the lines for caller ID, I experienced an epic fail of the website for this item.  After saved I saved the name, I went back to check that it actually did save the name and sure enough it did not, it still showed my name.  Does anyone know if you have to wait for a certain period of time of the caller ID name update to actually update? 

That's what I figured.  Just don't know why I haven't received that email yet.  

I now no longer need the Magic Box in my house (all phones now on T-Mobile SIM and get decent 5G) and as of a few days ago, the MB no longer connects to a donor site.  Does anyone know what they are going to do with MB's?  I know months ago, some users got an email saying that it will be taken off their account and there's no need to send it back - recycle it properly.  Would love it if this gets applied to all, say after 3/1/22, to avoid the hassle of having to send it back and track that it's been removed from the account.  

On 8/23/2021 at 5:20 PM, comintel said:

 

There are also a bunch of people here like me in my area where it keeps hopping cobtinually between multiple bands and  frequently also enters a "no signal" condition.

So in my experience, the crazy band hopping and frequent / brief "no data" episodes seem to be a market thing.  I spend most of my time in my home area in Fairfield County, CT, but I have an office in Manhattan where I go a few times a month.  I don't have a lot of time to use my phone when I'm in my city office, but I have never noticed the two (2) fundamental problems that I experience in CT all the time.  For instance, in using the NY Times app, in CT I get "device offline, try again" many times a day, but I have never seen that while using it in NYC.  

My overall simplistic take on this is that they rush to add 5G all over the country, but that is step 1.  Step 2 is to optimize it (logic on band selection, making sure there is appropriate backhaul, etc.).  I feel that they prioritize step 2 in the major cities but the suburbs and other areas have to wait until they get to it.  Would love to hear more about what is really happening.

I miss the good old days of Sprint tri-band LTE working for me like it was supposed to: 2500 while out on the street, changing to 1900 in a building at the perimeter and changing to 800 while deep inside a building in a windowless office or a basement.  

On 8/2/2021 at 12:43 PM, swintec said:

This infuriates me to no end, i dont necessarily have no signal but it jumps on bands that are absolutely useless and stays there.  why hold a -121 signal reading on band 2 with 5G when n71 is there? Also goes through fits of seemingly no data access despite the phone showing no problems (usually when on n71).

So I had an even worse user experience today at my parents' townhouse style condo, where I haven't been since before I got my S21 with the T-Mobile SIM.  They both have 2020 2nd Gen. iPhone SE's w/ the T-Mobile SIM, which stay parked on B71 (600).  My S21 (with roaming turned off) has no service about 90% of the time, and then gets service from B71 or n71 about 10% of the time.  It's crazy how the S21 5G will not stay on B71 or n71 and yet the non-5G iPhone SE's have no issue staying on B71 and that the network decides that the 5G phones need to constantly hop from band to band, even if that means going to no service.  Hope they are actively fixing this on the back end.  

Thanks everyone.  Later in the day, I went to an area of town where all carriers have weak service (a residential area where no one want a cell tower "in my backyard").  With my old S7, I would not even be able to get LTE, it would connect to borderline unusable 3G.  However, with my S21, I now get n71 and n71 only.  Thus, the user experience was way better there since it didn't have a choice.  Hope they fix the issue that occurs elsewhere, which seems to be quite widespread.  When I get some time (and patience), I may try to contact support. 

Just wanted to share my experience so far:

-I'm in Fairfield County, CT and my house is shown on be on the edge of T-Mobile's "5G Ultra Capacity".

-I upgraded my phone from an S7 to a Sprint S21 from Best Buy a few weeks ago.  When Best Buy shipped it, the S21 included a factory installed Sprint SIM card and for some odd reason, they included another Sprint SIM card - stuck to the factory box with my BB order sticker, rather than include a T-Mobile SIM card.

-When I activated the S21 online, the system told me it is highly recommended to install a T-Mobile SIM instead of a Sprint SIM (well, I would have if it was provided by your authorized retailer, lol).

-I finally got around to ordering a T-Mobile SIM, which I installed last night.

-When my S21 was on the Sprint SIM for a few weeks, on the 2nd floor of my house, it would stay on an unspecified 5G (I believe n41 (2500)).  On the 1st floor of my house, 5G would drop and it would bounce between b12 (700) and b2 (1900).  On the Sprint SIM, I never saw it connect to n71 or b71 (600).  I used it on both floors with no issues (just technically slower on the 1st floor with no 5G, but not noticeable).

-Now, with the T-Mobile SIM installed as of last night, I noticed a few things.  First, I am noticing it being able to connect to n71 / b71 (600).  But, with "more choices", it is bouncing around a LOT.  On the 2nd floor, it bounces between n71, b71 (600), n41, b12 (700), b2 (1900).  And on the 1st floor, it does a similar thing, but connects to n71 more so than on the 2nd floor, but it doesn't stay parked on n71.  With all the bouncing around that it does, I seem to loose data service for a brief period while it is transitioning between bands.  For instance, the NY Times and Twitter apps tell me "my device is not connected" and then after about 10 seconds, it works fine to load data.  I never noticed this issue with the Sprint SIM in my S21 for a few weeks.  So, although the T-Mobile SIM seems to make b71 / n71 (600) available (and of course SA 5G), the overall user experience in my case in my house is worse than that of the Sprint SIM.  

The network really aught to keep and leave my S21 on n71 while inside my house.  I'm not sure what to expect in the future as far as real world improvements to the user experience. 

Are they continuing to optimize the network for proper common sense band selection? 

Also, is there anyway to report this to the network team and get actual results? (how do we even contact them these days? the My Sprint app?  T-Mobile Twitter DM?)

19 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

If Tmo plan on VoLTE only, there is no need for a toggle. 

Got it, thanks (was thinking the toggle might still be there now in order to be able to select it as "on" and avoid using something older for calls like GSM (if that still exists)).  Glad that it is nice and clean by being on with no way to turn it off. 

So my parents are legacy Sprint customers and both have 2020 iPhone SE's.  They just received the new SIM cards that T-Mobile is pushing legacy Sprint customers to get.  I helped them do the SIM swap and I noticed something very surprising.  Before we did the swap, I was curious if VoLTE was on or off, so I went to:

-Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data and saw the VoLTE toggle, which was off.

Then, after the SIM swap, the VoLTE toggle was gone!  How could that be?  I though T-Mobile is planning on carrying calls on VoLTE only? 

Thanks all.

SA 5G is not important to me at this point.  The aspects of a Sprint-SIM phone, including having non-keep sites as a fallback is more important to me at this point.

If one gets a new SIM card with a new phone purchase (as mentioned in my original post, such as Best Buy providing on Sprint's behalf or requesting it through the My Sprint app), will it be the Sprint SIM by default? (that is, if you don't request a specific type?)  Do TNX SIM cards need to be specifically requested? (either on an existing phone or an upgrade phone that is requesting a changeover to T-Mobile)  Also, for new Sprint SIMs that are not TNX SIMs, will those need to be changed out to a New T-Mobile SIM once the Sprint network is completely decommissioned and New T-Mobile is in place?

Hi All, wondering if someone can weigh on several things:

First of, my situation: I'm still rocking an S7 and family members of mine have an iPhone 6 (ios updates ended a while ago) and an iPhone 7 (still gets ios updates).  I received a letter from Sprint saying that my S7 will no longer work starting on 1/1/22 (due to no VoLTE support, etc.)  The letter did not mention the old iPhones.  The old iPhones do not have a VoLTE toggle in the settings (but my company supplied iPhone 7 on VZW has VoLTE and hence has the toggle).  As far as my S7, I was thinking of replacing it anyway, so I am considering getting an unlocked S21, either from Best Buy (where I believe they will provide a SIM card on Sprint's behalf) or directly from Samsung (where I believe I would need to order a SIM card through the My Sprint app).  

My questions are as follows: 

1) How is it that the old iPhones were not included in the Sprint "device end of life" letter.  Will these old iPhones get the VoLTE toggle, maybe through a carrier update (especially on the 6, which doesn't get ios updates)?

2) For my potential S21 purchase, and maybe this is a silly question considering Sprint is really pushing all legacy customers to order a T-Mobile SIM card, but I presume that for all new phone purchases where Sprint provides the SIM (as mentioned above, either through Best Buy or the My Sprint app), the provided SIM will be a full on T-Mobile one?  If so, will this SIM card no longer provide access to Sprint towers (unless it is a Sprint "keep site", which will eventually get moved over)? 

16 hours ago, sunmybun said:

its the tnx tmobile sim card.

itll let you use tmobile as primary network.

you will be able to use tmobiles sa 5g.

For those who currently have a 4G phone looking to buy an unlocked S21 directly from Samsung, if you order a sim card from Sprint via chat, will they send a TNX sim card by default?  Or is there a non-TNX sim card available that would use Sprint as the primary network in non-5G areas where it would use Sprint 4G instead of T-Mobile 4G?  

8 hours ago, ingenium said:

If you activate it at the time of purchase, I think you get charged an activation fee ($35 I believe), which may go to best buy. Hence the discount. If you buy it without activating and just swap it on, there is no activation fee. Neither of them will affect your plan.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

Thanks for the info!  I may actually wait for the 4a 5G since I can keep my plan.  I do remember the activation fee being around $35 although currently Best Buy's website indicates $20, not bad considering a $50 discount.  I'll bet Best Buy gets some type of kickback or monthly bonus from Sprint for all the activations they perform for both new lines and upgrades.  I read somewhere that legacy T-Mobile stopped selling phones through Best Buy and other big box retailers years ago to cut cost. 

Hi Folks, wondering if you could weigh in on the following.  I'm still rocking a 4 year old S7 and I'm on an Unlimited Freedom plan from 2017 w/ 2 lines for $100/month ($60 1st line + $40 2nd line) that includes HD streaming.  My account is still on Sprint.  I'm thinking of changing my phone to a Pixel 4a (the 2nd line phone is an iPhone 7 which would remain).  I'm thinking of buying it unlocked from Best Buy online and activating it with Sprint during the checkout process.  My question is, will my existing plan be able to remain intact, or will be I forced onto a current Sprint plan?  The HD streaming is important to me and a current plan with HD steaming would raise the monthly fee to $120/month.  I'm hoping that since it would be an unlocked "bring your own device" that the plan would not change.  Also, how is it that Best Buy can provide a $50 discount on the phone for "activating today"? (and not relevant to me, but the discount is $100 for "activating today" for a new line)  In addition, if I wait until the Pixel 4a 5G comes out, would that phone upgrade purchase force me onto a current plan (since 5G access would be required)?

How's the battery life on this phone?

If you have a new phone that supports Sprint VoLTE and you call a landline phone, does the call go over the regular old CDMA or does it initiate over LTE and then go into the landline network?  

2 hours ago, ingenium said:

 

 

What phones do they have? If they're older, it could be an eCSFB issue (Airave 3 got this issue when it went EOL). Do they have VoLTE enabled?

I believe Sprint is still sending them out. Everything works fine on mine. They recently (in last couple months) enabled VoLTE on the Airave 4, so they're still supported, at least until July. Who knows after that.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

 

Thanks.  They all have the iPhone 6.  Is there any way to fix the potential eCSFB issue on the A4?  

So family members of mine, who live in a condo, have had an Airave 4 since July 2019.  They got it since there are a few dead spots in their condo where the macro site cannot reach (in the deepest portion of the condo, away from the exterior walls, but overall it's a small portion of the condo).  Within the past few days, the A4 has been unusable as incoming calls go straight to voicemail (although outgoing calls work).  They tried unplugging and plugging back in the A4, which did not help.  They are now keeping the A4 unplugged and just using the marco site.  Wondering if anyone else has seen this issue and if there are any fixes?  The bigger question is, what is Sprint doing with A4's these days?  Are they still sending them out and is it possible to get a replacement?      

19 hours ago, Bennyjet29 said:

https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-the-sprintt-mobile-merger-means-for-sprint-customers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Springboarding off this article, I wanted to further explore the question of: will folks with older Sprint phones, such at the iPhone 6 eventually be forced to get a new phone to be able to make phone calls?  As the article says, CDMA will be shut down on 12/31/21. So, will phone calls be shut down on the example Sprint iPhone 6 on 12/31/21? Or will either or both of the following scenarios play out:

-I believe Sprint phones have had GSM hardware for many years, mainly to allow the phone to make phone calls while roaming internationally (say in Europe, which I believe never had any CDMA carriers).  So, would New T-Mobile allow the example Sprint iPhone 6 to make GSM calls?  Or will GSM for calls itself be shut down and thus all calls will be on VoLTE?

-With regard to VoLTE on Sprint phones, it's been for iPhone 8 & newer and Galaxy S8 and newer.  However, I know that phones as old as say the iPhone 6 have the hardware for VoLTE (my company provided iPhone 6 on Verizon had it and it worked well).  Sprint seems to be only enabling VoLTE on said newer phones.  So, would New T-Mobile enable VoLTE on the hardware capable example Sprint iPhone 6?

Not expecting anyone to have the answer to this, but perhaps a best guess?

Just curious, are you folks ordering the unlocked version or the Sprint version?  What are the pros and cons these days of the unlocked version vs. the Sprint version?

For those of you with the unlocked Note 10 / 10+, what do you do for voicemail?  I saw on Reddit that some folks are saying that the Sprint voicemail app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.  I tested this theory with my current phone (Sprint branded S7) and the Sprint voicemail app does not show up in the Play Store for me (despite being preinstalled and in use on my phone). 

On 8/21/2019 at 2:31 PM, themuffinman said:

Delivered about 2 hours ago and so far impressed.

How's the speed of the fingerprint scanner?  Also, how's the battery life? 

It turns out that my GS7 connects to the A4 no problem along with an iPhone 6, but there is another iPhone 6 in the family that does not connect to the A4 consistently.  The 1st iPhone 6 was initially having problems, but perhaps updating the carrier settings helped (it says "Sprint 36.1")?  The 2nd iPhone 6 also says "Sprint 36.1" on the "carrier settings".  First of, is 36.1 in fact the latest?  Not sure why one iPhone 6 connects consistently and the other doesn't? 

1 hour ago, ingenium said:

For mine it took about 1-2 days before phones would even see it in neighbors. Then they started connecting to it about a day later. Basically, I think there's some sort of automatic integration that has to go occur at the network level. I say this because when it was finished, my MB had changed PCIs. I think anytime a device like this comes online, all the others like it in an area change PCIs. Small cells behave the same way.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 

Thank you!  After my initial experience when the A4 was first set up and my phone did not stay consistently connected to it, I went back to their residence about 5 hours later (and I also updated the profile & PRL on my phone) and my phone latched on and stayed connected to the A4 for the entire time I was there (about 2 hours).  During my initial experience 5 hours earlier, I made a Sprint to Sprint test call on the A4 and HD Voice was not working (HD Voice does work in their area on the macro network).  I forgot to make a test call during the time I was there 5 hours later.  Does the A4 support HD Voice for Sprint to Sprint calls?