Time to ante up on Sprint 4G

[Iron.Wraith]

I live in nowhere... Sprint 3G is barely available. I have line of sight to a Sprint tower at home and get 1070 down. Voice coverage is annoying. I bounce between Sprint and a small local provider between home and work. I think the local provider is now booting roamers off after 10 minutes or so. AT&T has finally started putting in 3g / HSPA equipment on their previously EDGE only towers and and the local provider is bleeding customers. Sprint may be losing me come September. AT&T has better voice coverage now than what I'm getting on Sprint. One more tower here would make a world of difference for me but I'd be surprised to see one within the next 2 years....

No more than I've been using my EVO I could end up going the no contract route... $50 a month is appealing.

Edit: I'm in no way bashing Sprint btw. It's just the way the cellular cookie crumbles at this point in time. Sprint's plans still can't be beat for those in need or who finds it worth the prices of unlimited plans. Had to throw that out there to not sound like ship jumping whiner ... lol

[gullzway]

3g is nonexistent at my house, everywhere else it's 1.2 mb/sec max. But at $30/month I'm not complaining.

If I were paying what most of you are paying I'd have jumped ship a long time ago!

[teradog]

hey hey... kiowa & davetn same thread again! :>))
Sorry about your 3G Kiowa, you know what I'm getting! :>)) 3 mbs avg @ night, 2.6 daytime. .
I can't even imagine you guys @ a sprint store... I always have conflicts talking down to them :>))

We've discussed much of this in the past, but make sure you use fieldtrial or a droid signal meter to find the best reception. It would be VERY interesting to know what you are getting for -dBm...

I can see my tower about 2 miles across the lake. I get -55 in one window, turned a certain way... of course this is the spot I wifi & tether from...

The 4G tests I've done are a joke with Sprint, Clear & Verizon. All of them had their own sites & sheets showing awesome numbers, a couple even tried to show me some great live speeds... joke.

I took the device each time to my speed site & none of the 4G devices beat 5mbps in their kiosk/store!! Sprint barely cleared 4! If I'm getting 3, why the heck would I pay over $1000 more a year in plan charges for shotty 4G?!!

You could give me a free EVO 3G, I'd send it back... not worth a grand a year to me.

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by teradog

hey hey... kiowa & davetn same thread again! :>))
Sorry about your 3G Kiowa, you know what I'm getting! :>)) 3 mbs avg @ night, 2.6 daytime. .
I can't even imagine you guys @ a sprint store... I always have conflicts talking down to them :>))

We've discussed much of this in the past, but make sure you use fieldtrial or a droid signal meter to find the best reception. It would be VERY interesting to know what you are getting for -dBm...

I can see my tower about 2 miles across the lake. I get -55 in one window, turned a certain way... of course this is the spot I wifi & tether from...

The 4G tests I've done are a joke with Sprint, Clear & Verizon. All of them had their own sites & sheets showing awesome numbers, a couple even tried to show me some great live speeds... joke.

I took the device each time to my speed site & none of the 4G devices beat 5mbps in their kiosk/store!! Sprint barely cleared 4! If I'm getting 3, why the heck would I pay over $1000 more a year in plan charges for shotty 4G?!!

You could give me a free EVO 3G, I'd send it back... not worth a grand a year to me.

how the hell do they put the upgraded towers in MN first but not in the Chicago area? the highest I've ever seen here on 3G was 2.1M and that was when I was in Chicago itself. in my town last year I would consistently stay above 800 now im lucky if I can even stay above 300! they need to get their priorities straight Chicagoland is a much larger market than all of MN combined.

[teradog]

I've been getting + 2 mb speeds forever... key is... WHAT IS YOUR RECEPTION? How many -dBm?? It matters... and try in middle of night, see if it's better.

Here under the networking heading 1/2 way down in Jan, I reported 3 mbs speeds
DREAM PHONE - Mini guide :>)) updated startmenu remover cabs

Here's a post with a few speed tweeks..

Here's a speed test done on 3G Tp2... no... not wifi
site must have been screwed up :>)) #30273 6.7mbps with mobilespeedtest.com!!!

Don't want to turn OP's post into a 3G discussion, but he did mention 3G... one last thing..
Speed test results are ALL OVER THE BOARD!

What you are testing with & where & on what device...
If on the windows side of Sprint TP2,
ON TP2: (I just tested all of this again at the slowest time of the day here..)
I can use speedtest.com
Opera & get 600k, UC Browser & couldn't get a result... was too fast, largest file, UzardWebP & got 4.8 mbps

Using DSL reports:
mobile speed tests all over the board depending on the browser
You can run flash with UzardWebP, got 4.8 mbs... of course that's cheating.. runs flash on a host server like skyfire use to..
Got 3.3mbs on mobilespeedtest.com once with UC...

Some of the slower tests on Opera were 600k, however did see some 1.3 mbs

ON PC wifi hotspot/router: I use a dsl site close to me, lakeville.speedtest.frontier.com years ago had some of the fastest results on dsl reports, used it ever since as my standard. This is the one I get 2.3-3.13 mpbs on.

When we talk speeds, 1st state if it's on your ppc or PC tethered... 2nd which browser, 3rd... which site you used.

ALL of the speeds above were taken 3G, no wifi...

If you in chicago, give me your test criteria Eric, I'll be happy to run it up here to compare. (site, file size, on ppc or pc, browser used, android or windows if ppc, etc.. (I have both xdandroid & windows on my ppc)

later

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by teradog

I've been getting + 2 mb speeds forever... key is... WHAT IS YOUR RECEPTION? How many -dBm?? It matters... and try in middle of night, see if it's better.

Here under the networking heading 1/2 way down in Jan, I reported 3 mbs speeds
DREAM PHONE - Mini guide :>)) updated startmenu remover cabs

Here's a post with a few speed tweeks..

Here's a speed test done on 3G Tp2... no... not wifi
site must have been screwed up :>)) #30273 6.7mbps with mobilespeedtest.com!!!

Don't want to turn OP's post into a 3G discussion, but he did mention 3G... one last thing..
Speed test results are ALL OVER THE BOARD!

What you are testing with & where & on what device...
If on the windows side of Sprint TP2,
ON TP2: (I just tested all of this again at the slowest time of the day here..)
I can use speedtest.com
Opera & get 600k, UC Browser & couldn't get a result... was too fast, largest file, UzardWebP & got 4.8 mbps

Using DSL reports:
mobile speed tests all over the board depending on the browser
You can run flash with UzardWebP, got 4.8 mbs... of course that's cheating.. runs flash on a host server like skyfire use to..
Got 3.3mbs on mobilespeedtest.com once with UC...

Some of the slower tests on Opera were 600k, however did see some 1.3 mbs

ON PC wifi hotspot/router: I use a dsl site close to me, lakeville.speedtest.frontier.com years ago had some of the fastest results on dsl reports, used it ever since as my standard. This is the one I get 2.3-3.13 mpbs on.

When we talk speeds, 1st state if it's on your ppc or PC tethered... 2nd which browser, 3rd... which site you used.

ALL of the speeds above were taken 3G, no wifi...

If you in chicago, give me your test criteria Eric, I'll be happy to run it up here to compare. (site, file size, on ppc or pc, browser used, android or windows if ppc, etc.. (I have both xdandroid & windows on my ppc)

later

I use my HTC Arrive Mango IE9. the sites I use are mobilespeedtest.com (the 100k and 1MB tests) and the dslreports mobile test, I also have an app called bandwidth that I use too with various servers around the world.i only experience this issue in my hometown in the far north suburbs of Chicago rather than in Chicago itself. I also dont even experience these slow speeds in the county seat of my county,so imagine that. and we can't yet discuss 4G till 3G is back to working the way it was last year at least.

[teradog]

wow, long stretch along Lake Bluff & then zion & north are 3G only... but, 3G should be solid for you 100 miles any way but east!
Per: Sprint - Nationwide Coverage

Haven't looked at the coverage maps in a while, new to me it the 4G "In building" vs. "On the Street". Interesting.

Will do some more tests on mobilespeedtest.com & dsl mobile again soon... but those are the ones I tested with.

Did you try field test yet & see what your -dbm is around your place? Don't know if it works with wp7 or not, but must be another that does???

*edit*
Opera 9 speedtest.com around 500kbs @ -58dbm (very good reception) 1 mb files
UC Web speedtest.com from 2000kbps on 1 to 3 mb files, & a couple times around 3500kbps.. 3.5mbps

Don't think UC Web browser uses a server & just sends screen pops like skyfire or UzardWeb browser, not sure what's the diff, but many report it to be the fastest surfing for them... probably doesn't work on a wp7 dev.
Didn't run any Uzard tests as the results are skewed due to above reasons.

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by teradog

wow, long stretch along Lake Bluff & then zion & north are 3G only... but, 3G should be solid for you 100 miles any way but east!
Per: Sprint - Nationwide Coverage

Haven't looked at the coverage maps in a while, new to me it the 4G "In building" vs. "On the Street". Interesting.

Will do some more tests on mobilespeedtest.com & dsl mobile again soon... but those are the ones I tested with.

Did you try field test yet & see what your -dbm is around your place? Don't know if it works with wp7 or not, but must be another that does???

*edit*
Opera 9 speedtest.com around 500kbs @ -58dbm (very good reception) 1 mb files
UC Web speedtest.com from 2000kbps on 1 to 3 mb files, & a couple times around 3500kbps.. 3.5mbps

Don't think UC Web browser uses a server & just sends screen pops like skyfire or UzardWeb browser, not sure what's the diff, but many report it to be the fastest surfing for them... probably doesn't work on a wp7 dev.
Didn't run any Uzard tests as the results are skewed due to above reasons.

a sprint rep finally calls be today and tells me what's up and it appears that the tower 1.1 miles from my house is blown and is receiving upgrades that aren't expected to be completed till 9/30 (ouch!) and then she mentioned another tower 1.6 miles from me on the far west side of my town that is in good condition but receives heavy load at times.

[teradog]

Originally Posted by eric12341

a sprint rep finally calls be today and tells me what's up and it appears that the tower 1.1 miles from my house is blown and is receiving upgrades that aren't expected to be completed till 9/30 (ouch!) and then she mentioned another tower 1.6 miles from me on the far west side of my town that is in good condition but receives heavy load at times.

Well at least you know what's up & that someone is working on it! Good luck

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by teradog

Well at least you know what's up & that someone is working on it! Good luck

convenient place for a tower,I didn't even know it was there. (middle of a wooded area on the far northeast side of my town)