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Given same costs, which would you prefer?
I originally wanted to go to the Sensation, and I waited for it. But, lukewarm initial reviews, $5 more a month for a limited 2GB data cap (vs unlimited and LTE on VZW), and a more active development community with the Thunderbolt convinced me to change my order to VZW.
However, considering the terrible battery life of the Thunderbolt, the fact that I don't get LTE in my office or at home (1x and 3G are my normal connections), and the Tbolt being slightly inferior in the hardware department, I am thinking that i should switch back to the Sensation idea. I get 20% discount with Verizon, versus 12% on Tmobile.
I want to trust that upcoming Gingerbread ROMs for Thunderbolt will result in a better product on a faster network. I'm just somewhat underwhelmed with the Tbolt after a week.
Thoughts?
personally, i would look at it like this
1. what carrier has stronger signal strength where you are
2. LTE vs Hardware. your either going to get amazing download and upload speeds when LTE finally rolls out in your area and imo its amazing + its unlimited if you are grandfathered in; or you can get slightly improved specs which honestly, wont really matter in day to day usage. The only differences you'll really see are when you play high end games or something like that.
3. Which phone has a more developed community. As far as i know, the thunderbolt has a huge community just like the original incredible. Even now, after so many years the incredible is still getting roms. I saw a sense 3.0 rom on an incredible!
sooo up to you lol. your going to be using the phone not me :]
You know I was at the same exact crossroads. I just came off of my 2 year contract with T-Mobile and I was pondering buying the Sensation or switching to Verizon (which has much better coverage in my area). I like the Sensation just a tad better due to its dual core processor and how much shimmer it is. This goes without saying, the Sensation is one sexy phone. It all came down to the carrier for me. In my house I would average 1-2 bars. So I went with VZW and the Thunderbolt. Honestly I love the Thunderbolt. It's great. For you, I would say go with the carrier that has better service in your area which I believe is safe to say Verizon.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using XDA Premium App
if you don't get Ltd where you are most I would go with the sensation
Yeah, it is completely a coin toss. Look at the development community here vs. Sensation, the Tbolt is much more active.
Considering the hell that an AT&T buyout would bring to Atmosphere, I'd be far happier stuck on VZW for two years.
If I can just work around this battery misery, I think the Tbolt will be fine.
Sent from my TBolt using XDA App
BoulderGeek said:
Yeah, it is completely a coin toss. Look at the development community here vs. Sensation, the Tbolt is much more active.
Considering the hell that an AT&T buyout would bring to Atmosphere, I'd be far happier stuck on VZW for two years.
If I can just work around this battery misery, I think the Tbolt will be fine.
Sent from my TBolt using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Im getting about 8-10 hrs. on mine right now
setup in sig
Sensation looks pretty sweet. If Verizon had it in their line up it would be a top choice.
Agreed with everybody else. Depends on the carrier. If no LTE get the sensation.
T-Mobile will throttle down your data after you hit the 2GB ceiling, get Verizon before the 7th of July and you're locked in with unltd data with no cap or throttle, be it 3G or LTE. Even if you don't have LTE yet, you will eventually. The majority of features on a smartphone use network data, so all the memory and processing power technology has to offer means absolutely **** when your data stinks.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
If you don't get LTE in your area, download LTE On/Off or a similar program and switch to CDMA Auto. This will greatly improve your battery life.
I would take a not-so-hot device on Verizon's 4G any day over a "hot device" on a non Verizon carrier any day!!
Plus, the TB is definitely hot
Let me offer my feelings, because I have just completed the exact same journey you are embarking on, meaning I had a Sensation on Tmo, and just witched to VZW for the Thunderbolt. Here are my impressions:
HTC Sensation 4G:
I used to be on my company's corporate plan with blackberrys but recently accepted a new job, which allowed me to get whatever phone/carrier I wanted. I had used Tmobile years ago and did the whole HTC HD2 custom ROM thing and had a really good time with it. The sensation always claimed to be on 4g mode and I got relatively good speeds. I could always stream music/videos without any delay, and Speedtest would report about 3mbps on average, with a peak of 8 on a couple of occasions. Coverage was excellent & no dropped calls.
The phone itself is a work of art. It's very light, had outstanding battery life under heavy usage, and Sense 3.0 is beautiful. The tweaked functionality of the camera app among other things was nice. My favorite feature of course being free built in hotspot/tethering. However something was missing.
I really missed the screensize of the HD2. While both are 4.3" diagonal, the S4G has a higher aspect ratio, so the phone is actually skinnier. I didnt like this. I really liked how readable text was on my HD2, and the proximity of icons/buttons when texting were. All in all, the HD2 was simply the perfect size for me.
Then I went to a VZW store and made then unbox a thunderbolt for me so I could try it out without those security wires attached to it. I immediately fell in love and knew within seconds that this was the phone for me. I ran out the buyers remorse period on tmobile just to make sure, and finally made the switch on Monday! I cant tell you how pleased I am. The phone just feels right in my hands.
Every time I used the S4G I was constantly judging it for its screensize. This was a huge bummer, because I could never enjoy the phone. Every time I picked it up all I could think about was how much more smushed and how much scrolling I needed to do to get the same screen real estate visible on the Thunderbolt.
Thoughts on the Thunderbolt:
People arent lying, the battery life is borderline abysmal, but this is actually fine with me since I work behind a desk. I am actually charging it via USB as we speak. I'll probably also plug it into my car charger so it's boosted by the time I get home. I seem to get about 4-6 hours of heavy usage out of it (I was recording myself giving seminars this morning, then surfing all through lunch using the kickstand). I dont mind the battery life since I can easily keep it juiced, but I would NEVER recommend this phone for anyone on the go.
The only thing I actually dont like is how bulky the phone is. Even my HD2 was slimmer/lighter. Maybe its the LTE modem, or maybe it's the kickstand, but the phone feels fat in my hand. In fact, I've basically traded one nuisance for another, nagging on the S4G due to size, and nagging on the TB due to weight. Time will tell if I begin to regret my decision, but I think the other benefits will make up for it.
On TMO, within my first week on the S4G I had already used 1gb. Granted I was playing around with it a bit more than usual, but still. I think we're all gonna hit 2GB a lot sooner than we realize, and the carriers on banking on this (hence the reason they made them). Having 100% unlimited grandfathered 4G with the TB was probably my second biggest selling point. I dont like using a phone and constantly checking the MyAccount app, or 3g watchdog to determine how close I am to running over. It kinda sours the whole experience. With the TB I can just kick back relax and know I'll never be bothered with it.
And speaking of bulk/kickstand issues, I just want to say how AWESOME this kickstand is. I am constantly using it (even though it's only been 3 days lol). I love being able to stand it up and flick through web pages with 1 finger while I eat a sandwich or pasta or something at work. I'm really shocked they arent doing this will all their phones now.
Oh yeah, one other thing, performance. Believe it or not, but the TB actually feels snappier to me running Froyo than the S4G. Dual core or not, the S4G's framerate when switching homescreens always had a little choppiness to it. This really blows and feels like you're using a bogged down phone. The TB always has wonderfully smooth transitions. Obviously this is due to lack of 3d fx, but I'd rather have a smooth simply interface than a clunky advanced one. The only feature of Sense 3.0 I actually used was the lockscreen widget. It's pretty hand to be able to open emails/sms messages from here, but it really only saves you from 1 extra step when you use a standard lockscreen. All the other upgrades apps were pretty useless. Yeah the new weather widget is awesome and I would just stare and stare at it for minutes at a time. That was on my first day. On the 2nd day I never even noticed it. I even used the weather as my wallpaper, and still I didnt notice it.
P.S. I was really nervous about this whole ATT thing too. ATT has given some blanket statement that existing 4g users on Tmo's network will be "given an opportunity to upgrade" or something along those lines. Basically you WILL have to get a new phone eventually. LTE is NOT what Tmo is using, and ATT wants that spectrum baaaaad. Believe me, once it's theirs they are going to use it, and completely redeploy it for real 4G as they can. If you're LUCKY, they MIGHT do it in a series of phaseouts, letting users of phones like the S4G exhaust their contracts before each little piece of spectrum is gobbled up and transformed into LTE space. And thats assuming they're going to play nice, and since when has ATT ever played nice? ATT is always the first carrier to impose some asinine rules or restrictions on their services. They are the last company I would trust to be fair and not just force me to renew my contract in 13 months or be dumped to 2g speeds forever.
Hope that helps!
Verizon + Unlimited 4G LTE on the Thunderbolt can't be beat.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write that up, RunNGun!
You've hit upon many of my concerns and observations. I was actually thinking that the Sensation's aspect ratio difference and smaller size would be a positive for me. the Thunderbolt with a silicone bumper case feels as massive as the old Apple Newton I had in 1994.
But, I'm a relatively substantial guy at six feet and 215lbs, so it's not overwhelmingly large. I think that the 4" AMOLED of the Samsung Galaxy S line is the sweet spot for me. but, when I had one on AT&T, I returned it within three weeks. And I am glad that I did.
I'm getting about the same battery that you are. I also have USB at work and chargers all over the house, cars and motorcycles so I'm quite covered for applying power. I might get 8 hours on the stock battery, with wifi off and green power on.
I'm holding off the root and flash until I am out of return period and whatever upgrade that may come has been seen. I did port over my TMobile number that I've had since 1998, so I am pretty much sold on the Tbolt. i did a Speedtest in the car at a stoplight the other day and got 30mbit! And, I've already burned through 5+ Gigs of data just letting the bloatware do its thing and playing some Pandora.
I had a very good experience with Tmobile on my old Nokia 5800. But that sucked so badly for data services, that i only had text and voice on it. However, i could always make a call, where my GF on iPhone 4 has about a 50/50 chance of getting service or an inbound call.
I've also had good experiences with VZW in the past, but CDMA is such dead tech, it is hard to buy into it in 2011. I'd prefer a true world phone for my travels.
Cheers again for a great synopsis.
So you got the TB then? I have to agree with you about CDMA, but with a carrier as big and powerful as VZW I guess it doesnt really matter, they've certainly proven that it is a reliable platform and they can do great things with it. I wish I could use my phone overseas too, but at least I'll always have my wife's HD2 which is GSM for those occasions.
BTW I forgot to mention that my battery life is stifled from use of bluetooth a lot. I basically leave bluetooth on 24/7, GPS too, even though I'm not really using GPS that much. I dont actually shut off the radio. WiFi is always off. The first day I actually got 12 hours out of it before charging, because I was just too busy to play with it. Hard to say what my ultimate average will really be.
My wife has Virgin and she's sick and tired of her Samsung Intercept (what a shocker.) We want her to stick with a non contract provider, and it seems like most of the other carriers have sub par android offerings. The EVO V seems intriguing but I have 2 big concerns. 1. The phone is a year old. I know it had Good specs at the time and having ICS helps now but I want this phone to last more than a year. 2. I've read in some places that battery life is atrocious. Now my wife isn't a power user, but I also don't feel like hearing her complain constantly about the battery life. I'm leaning more toward this phone than the Milestone because I like the bumped specs and having a legit ICS is a big selling point. As far as a no contract Android goes, is this a good get or should I wait / keep shopping around or do others have some suggestions I may have overlooked?
dvandam said:
My wife has Virgin and she's sick and tired of her Samsung Intercept (what a shocker.) We want her to stick with a non contract provider, and it seems like most of the other carriers have sub par android offerings. The EVO V seems intriguing but I have 2 big concerns. 1. The phone is a year old. I know it had Good specs at the time and having ICS helps now but I want this phone to last more than a year. 2. I've read in some places that battery life is atrocious. Now my wife isn't a power user, but I also don't feel like hearing her complain constantly about the battery life. I'm leaning more toward this phone than the Milestone because I like the bumped specs and having a legit ICS is a big selling point. As far as a no contract Android goes, is this a good get or should I wait / keep shopping around or do others have some suggestions I may have overlooked?
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Click to collapse
The battery life is about middle ground as far as Android high end phones. You can get a full day out of it if you need/want to. The phone, IMHO, still has plenty of life left in it. It fits great in your hands. And watching 3D videos on YouTube is awesome. I know people will say it is/was a gimmick, but I completely disagree. It is just an extra feature on a phone that sets it apart from the other ones. I think once the iPhone comes out with 3D, everyone will rush to get one and other phone makers will make it a standard feature on all phones. It was just ahead of its time on the Evo 3D. With hardly any other phones to share 3D images with, it makes it hard to show off how awesome 3D images and videos are without being next to someone and showing them on your phone.
I can understand people wanting to have the next generation of bigger and better phones, but just because a newer model is out doesn't make the Evo 3D magically stop working or cease to have a dual core processor with 1GB of RAM...which still runs every app and game, still makes phone calls, and send texts with ease.
This may or may not affect you, but could...the Evo 3D uses WiMAX and will that network will still be support for a few years in places where it is operational. Such as my little city. I have WiMAX and I use it as if my life depends on it. Sure, I could get the newest phone with LTE, but until Sprint gets it in my city, I'm stuck with 3G. And once you go 4G you can't go back.
I vote get the Evo 3D. And enjoy! I know I have enjoyed mine and will continue to...I am eligible for an upgrade, but I'm not sure I can do it yet because I love this phone and 4G data.
-Ken
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
It's a great phone at $100 off craigslist if you are already on sprint or can flash it somehow for another carrier. To pay $300 for it would be an incredible waste of money. Sprints wimax is worthless if you are moving and only ok if you are not. If your house is right next to a wimax tower you might be ok. I thought it has been said it has a few problems out of the box with sprints\virgins version of ics so be ready to flash\root it right away to make it work better. A lot of work for a $300 phone. The 3d part is really just a gimmick, kind of a add-on for the kiddies. These are the realities of this phone.http://voices.yahoo.com/3d-devices-smartphones-causing-headaches-eye-8858717.html
I love my Evo 3D now with ICS, but I wouldn't buy a new one now. Phones get old fast, your best bet is to buy the latest and greatest and it may last 2 years.
Buy it new for like $100 flash it to virgin. Its $300 cuz your not signing a contract. I'm running meanrom ics and I get days of medium use with absolutely no lag or issues.
Everybody gets the latest and greatest because that's how manufactures control the market. I don't think any other phone for this price is even comparable.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
notasimpleway said:
The battery life is about middle ground as far as Android high end phones.
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Those must be the magical unicorn Android phones...
I'm averaging 50% remaining charge after ~36 hours with everything enabled except 4G. You can get 2 days out of the EVO V easily with Harmonia 3 (a cleaned up stock ROM):
http://www.vmroms.com/index.php?topic=157.0
I can't report on stock battery performance because frankly I rooted and installed Harmonia 3 about an hour after I got the phone.
Of the smartphones I've owned (Palm Pre, EVO 4G, Optimus V, Optimus Slider) and used, the EVO V is by far the best all around. This phone with a no-contract Virgin plan is just about perfect (for me).
I suspect those reporting atrocious battery life are leaving 4G on.
sailio said:
Buy it new for like $100 flash it to virgin. Its $300 cuz your not signing a contract. I'm running meanrom ics and I get days of medium use with absolutely no lag or issues.
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Click to collapse
There is a LOT of issues with flashing it to Virgin, he'd be better off flashing to Boost but regardless of which carrier it would involve cloning the MEID/ESN of a donor phone and I wouldn't suggest it unless you know a lot about phones and have a backup in case it takes you a while. It is worth it though even at $300, the specs are just as comparable to today's phones and over the time she would have the phone a couple of years it would have paid for itself several times in comparison to getting it on contract at a subsidized price. I would DEFINITELY suggest it, the phone's specs as I said are comparable to phones coming out today (even higher specs than some new phones) and whether or not it remains supported it'll still remain a good phone for a time to come.
Esn has nothing to do with flashing it to another carrier... Just firmware and pri. I work for radioshack so I deal with this on a daily basis
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Not to hate on HTC... but I would wait for new galaxy to drop in price. I think that is going to be the best phone out this year and honestly you will be good for atleast 2 years.
Battery is amazing if you are using a MEAN rom. Otherwise, so/so. Also... I would say the biggest concern is the crappy hardware. You are taking a chance at having a blown earpiece or failing digitizer. These are common issues and I suffer from BOTH.
sailio said:
Esn has nothing to do with flashing it to another carrier... Just firmware and pri. I work for radioshack so I deal with this on a daily basis
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
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lol it does when the carrier doesn't allow flashing Work at radio shack? I've actually flashed phones so I know Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile blocks MEIDs/ESNs that are not in their database. It's not like flashing to Cricket or Metro PCS because of this fact. You could flash to Boost or Virgin without changing it but you won't be able to put it on your account Go to Virgin or Boost and just try and activate an account with an ESN/MEID not in their database, it won't work and customer service won't do it either lol (nor will they add it)
The only and I mean *only* way to get a non virgin or boost phone working on a virgin or boost account is by flashing and changing the ESN/MEID.
Also, I HAAAAATE when people say "I work for Radio Shack" or "I work for Best Buy Mobile" or "I work for geek squad" and use it to say (hey I'm an expert) not to diss on any of these (in fact I'm sure a lot of them are very good), but the vast majority of people I know at these jobs know very little and only know what's part of their official training etc. Again not all of them but pleeeaaassseee don't be so sure in something you obviously don't have experience in and giving a user HORRIBLE advise in which they will likely regret it if they try and follow it In fact you probably shouldn't give advice on a subject unless you've tried it (which you obviously haven't lol)
Hello,
We are long time Verizon customers but have had enough of their capricious attitude, the insane recent price hikes and limited data plans. (although we currently have unlimited data). However, my husband's phone was stolen about a month ago and while we're using an old phone for the moment, we need to upgrade it for him. I like Sprint's current business model of unlimited everything (& we plan to sign up for everything data plus from the employees referral to save a bit and get more minutes). We also like the fact that Sprint is a green company and supports more things that we believe in. Yeah, I know that we're giving up the network for a bit until Sprint's Network Vision is completed but I think we can live with that.
Here's my dilemma. There are no Sprint owned stores in our area, just third party stores and only a couple of those so I can't buy through them &get everything data plus... Which is fine because they don't know much at all. I went there to try to see both the Evo 4G LTE side by side with the Samsung Galaxy S3...both working. Unfortunately, they didn't have a working model of the S3 but they opened up a package so I could at least hold them next to each other.
My concern most of all is with the radio quality and reception. I have some serious medical issues so being able to call for help is a frequent need. I took my current phone (HTC Rezound), my husband's Motorola DROID X, and the Evo LTE, and did side by side comparisons of the radios. My Rezound came in top at -80 give or take a few both directions, the DX, at -86 also give/take & the Evo LTE at -97 to -103. I then tried to load a webpage on my Rezound and the Evo. I picked yahoo because it has mixed media &was a first thing that popped into my head. My Rezound loaded the desktop version in less than 20 seconds... The Evo was still attempting to load the mobile version after several minutes.
So, do I believe the story that the mall kiosk has terrible Sprint reception? Was the demo Evo LTE one of the bad first batch? I know that there will be a step back in service speed but this was unbearable. I'm hoping that this isn't the normal for Sprint service... I mean it can't be, right? Right no one would use them.
What I'm unable to find out is what the Samsung Galaxy S3 radio is like compared to the Evo LTE in similar circumstances. I can't afford to get one of the phones, not have it work, pay the restocking fee and a second activation fee. With two lines that's over $200 just to switch away from a defective phone. Is there any leeway given for phones that won't hold a signal... Like allowing us to switch to another phone if the first is defective? I know that the base chipset is the same between the two phones but from what I've read the radios themselves can be different based on the manufacturer. So, I don't know what either the HTC Evo LTE or galaxy S3 would be like on any specific phone and it sounds like there are differences in the batches. What do I do or what would you do? I know we're taking a risk switching to carriers but we want to live authentically and put money into companies that are supporting the things we believe in and shaping their company based upon similar values. We will be having to do a transfer of our Vzw account (assumption of liability) once we're settled into Sprint but not until we're positive it works for us. Then we'll give up our Vzw contract so we don't owe an ETF. It also gives my DH the phone upgrade he needs since his was stolen during one of my medical emergencies. Vzw refused to help us at all through the whole process.
But I digress.
What do you think phone wise? Bad reception? Bad Evo LTE? Would you take a chance on the S3 with Samsung's past radio issues... Do you think that they've improved them? Would you take a chance on getting a bad Evo LTE since HTC /Sprint have admitted to a problem there? Since I can't compare them side by side working or compare radio strengths I really need advice!
Thanks so much in advance!
All the best,
Rae
I just loaded up the yahoo desktop Site on my LTE in about 18 seconds and I have 1 bar and very bad 3G reception in my house.
Radios seem to be just fine on the Evo and from the GSIII. Sure Samsung had issues in the past but I think they have gotten them all squared away. Sprints network is just down right awful but as you said they are working to improve a large coverage area over the next 18 months.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Wow the was a beating to read but imo the radio is pretty good and I'm sure its getter than the gs3 also overall build quality is getter than the gs3 but if I were you I'd get a gs3 to play with for a little bit and compare side to side. I'm die hard HTC so there was no question for me
Sent from my htc_jewel using Tapatalk 2
Speeds will differ from city to city. I get 25kbps in my city where the towers are clogged and undergoing maintenance. I was on a road trip this weekend and got 2mbps a few hours from my hometown.
WiFi is your friend
Sent from my htc_jewel using Tapatalk 2
I tend to agree. I'd get the GSIII too if I were them. I just have a thing for Evo's and HTC.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Also, if you have high speed internet at home you can get an adaptor for your house to allow a mini like sprint tower for your house. My buddy did it and its only a few dollars a month for taxes. Something to consider if poor signal around the house.
Sent from my ClassicJewel
I just picked up the EVO for me and the wife. The radios are fine. You really can't go wrong either way, with the SG3 or the EVO. I had an SG1 before this. I would say you have to try it out at your house. If sprint doesn't fit the bill then you just stuck with Verizon.
There are some other differences between the SG3 and the EVO, I found that the Evo had the things that I really wanted like camera button. I really did think that I would have the SG3 about 2 months ago, just saying really look at them closely if that is the way you go.
I, too, am an HTC fan. Love Sense and I don't care for Touchwiz. I'm sure either phone would suit your needs. I would think Sprint would trade out your phone if there was a defect issue. I got mine through Best Buy but have bought from Sprint before and had issues with my 3D after I had it for about 6months and they traded it out for me. Also, just wanted to mention, in case you didn't already know, that any phone call made to any mobile number with Sprint does not come off your minutes. I barely touch my minutes because most of my calls are made mobile to mobile. And the nights and weekends start at 7pm instead of 9pm. You may not need the unlimited calling plan if you don't do a lot of land line calling.
Sent from my EVO LTE using xda premium
Let us know what you decide. I don't know what sprints return policy is. Think you should just go to Best Buy & see what there return policy is.
As far as price, sprint really is great. The network can vary greatly from horrible to average on 3g depending on if your tower has gotten the network Vision upgrade. (there are places online that you can check if it's gotten the upgrade, but I don't know the link)
As someone mentioned, you can get the airwave femtocell to improve service in your home and sometimes you can get that for free.
I too am a fan of Sprints green policies. And I love the screen on the this (evo) compared to gs3. But they are both great phones.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app
I love the sprint pricing/plan practice, but the network is terrible. It's usually been pretty good but lately it has been garbage, I'm hoping it's due to the upgrades and tower converting..
I wouldn't recommend Sprint at this time with someone who has health issues, but you can try them and see. I think they have a decent return policy
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
in my area the NV upgrades are causing lots of dropped calls for me and my wife... the 3g speeds have always been abysmal with sprint... the unlimited data sounds great, but do you really need more than the 2gb caps that most other companys have in place? I don't think I've ever used more than 1gb of data in a month.
If I were you, I'd wait a bit before switching to sprint, make sure NV actually does what is promised, before you commit to them for 24 months
varaonaid said:
I like Sprint's current business model of unlimited everything (& we plan to sign up for everything data plus from the employees referral to save a bit and get more minutes).
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Keep in mind that Sprint does free mobile to mobile. My family plan has only 700 minutes, and we usually end up with 500 minutes unused every month. That's free *any* mobile to any mobile. If you get a call from a verizon user, for example, you're still not using your minutes. Lots of minutes is nice, just make sure you don't end up paying more for a plan you don't really need
My concern most of all is with the radio quality and reception. I have some serious medical issues so being able to call for help is a frequent need. I took my current phone (HTC Rezound), my husband's Motorola DROID X, and the Evo LTE, and did side by side comparisons of the radios. My Rezound came in top at -80 give or take a few both directions, the DX, at -86 also give/take & the Evo LTE at -97 to -103. I then tried to load a webpage on my Rezound and the Evo. I picked yahoo because it has mixed media &was a first thing that popped into my head. My Rezound loaded the desktop version in less than 20 seconds... The Evo was still attempting to load the mobile version after several minutes.
So, do I believe the story that the mall kiosk has terrible Sprint reception? Was the demo Evo LTE one of the bad first batch? I know that there will be a step back in service speed but this was unbearable. I'm hoping that this isn't the normal for Sprint service... I mean it can't be, right? Right no one would use them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint has very similar coverage to Verizon, since they rent towers from each other. The difference is that Verizon uses different frequency signal, which penetrates some hard objects (like walls) better than Sprint. So yes, your reception indoors is likely to be worse with any Sprint phone.
Sprint can give you a minitower for your house though (they call them Airave). If you tell them you don't have reception in your house, they will give it to you for free. It plugs into your network router and gives you about 100' radius of very good reception.
As far as Galaxy vs Evo, I can't really say, since I don't have a Galaxy. Evo's reception seems to me to be very good, compared to my old Moment, Transform, and Epic. Similar to slightly better than my wife's iPhone4.
I'll let you know. Mostly I want to know that Sprint will stand behind either phone if the radios aren't up to par without the restocking fees and a second activation fee... I can't afford $210 of activation, restocking and another reactivation fee for phones that are defective. I'm not talking about just changing my mind and wanting a different phone but needing to trust that one way or another I'll get two phones with no radio issues.
It's not as simple as just staying with VZW, my husband's phone was stolen during one of my medical emergencies... He's currently using an old phone but it's not working very well. So, we either pony up for a new phone (even if it's via Craigslist) or we get a new provider (who hopefully gives a care bc Vzw certainly didn't!), both get new phones and sell our current ones to cover most of the upfront cost of the new phones. We could wait until Network Vision is completed or moreso but will they still be able to offer unlimited data plan at that point. Since we feel that we want to switch, now feels like a good time to do so. Does that make sense?
No we're not out of contract with Verizon but have people lined up to do an AOL (assumption of liability or contract takeover) so we'd be out of it with no fees. However, we won't complete the AOL until we're sure that Sprint will work for us now.
Does anyone know if the everything data plus (we'd be looking at the 1600min family plan) has free activation? I'd have to order online and it would be via employee referral? Also, do you get any numbers you can pick that are unlimited to those numbers? Verizon had friends and family where you got to pick a handful of numbers that you call the most that don't count against our minutes. My only concern is my in laws as they have a VERY limited cell plan and use their land line almost exclusively. If we could add that one number that would help a ton. I'd read somewhere online that Sprint had something similar but now, of course, can't find it again.
I appreciate all of your help and advice so very much. I hope this explains more why we're considering the switch and why we need good phone reception... At least as good as is currently possible on their network.
BTW, when we informed Vzw about the phone theft we were tracking the phone on Google latitude and the refused to help or advise us as to what to do in any way. Super disappointed with their lack of help. If the customer service had been better, we might have gotten our phone back. I've heard good things about Sprint's customer service.
Any other thoughts or suggestions or advice... Please share! And many thanks to all of you who have shared!
I'll add my 2 cents. I have bought phones from Sprint local stores, employee referral that you mentioned (I have the 1600 employee referral plan). I have had similar service from all places. And yes, Sprint does have an add-on for call any number for free. It is called pick 3. After you sign up for service, call customer service, and tell them you came from Verizon which had that feature and you really miss it. Ask them about pick 3 and they should be able to give it to you for free. 3 numbers that don't use your anytime minutes. Can be different numbers for each line.
Sent from my Meanie ICS LTEvo
So I just signed up with Sprint so I can get unlimited everything, but I bought a Photon. I didn't realize how limited Wi-Max is, altho I wanted a dual mode GSM/CDMA phone for when I go out of the US, in case I do in the near future. I did have an Atrix on ATT with unlimited, but I had to leave my parent's plan and ATT doesn't offer unlimited data anymore. I'm also not too thrilled that Photon has to wait until Q4 to get ICS and prob won't ever get Jelly Bean or 5.0 when that comes. Should I just cough up the money and get a GS3, or should I wait until Sprint comes out with a dual mode phone with LTE, 4.1, etc.? I'll prob have more money come later this year or early next year anyway. I'm trying to balance having the latest and greatest vs. being financially responsible.
are you in an area in which Sprint has LTE or will in a short period of time?
How about Wimax?
Is this your primary access to broadband internet?
findthedr said:
are you in an area in which Sprint has LTE or will in a short period of time?
How about Wimax?
Is this your primary access to broadband internet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We don't have Wi-Max on eastern LI, but even if Sprint doesn't get LTE here for a few months, at least they're likely to build it here in the next year, and I'll be moving to an area later this year where they have both WiMax AND will have LTE (NYC). I also wanna balance having the best and latest and being financially responsible. Of course I can always wait till later in the year till I have more more, but IDK.
Financially, your phone is a depreciable asset. The longer you hold onto it, the less you will get at sale.
It doesnt sound like you will enjoy the benefits of LTE/Wimax until later this yr (at the earliest). Thus it makes sense to get a phone with those capabilities at that time.
So I just signed up with Sprint so I can get unlimited everything, but I bought a Photon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you truly "just signed up", than you should be able to give the phone back to the carrier. Depending on your usage of voice/text/data, a prepaid plan would make the most financial sense.
Here is some good advice on saving on smartphones.
I'm trying to balance having the latest and greatest vs. being financially responsible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
those who are financially responsible do not chase the latest and greatest depreciable asset.
findthedr said:
Financially, your phone is a depreciable asset. The longer you hold onto it, the less you will get at sale.
It doesnt sound like you will enjoy the benefits of LTE/Wimax until later this yr (at the earliest). Thus it makes sense to get a phone with those capabilities at that time.
If you truly "just signed up", than you should be able to give the phone back to the carrier. Depending on your usage of voice/text/data, a prepaid plan would make the most financial sense.
Here is some good advice on saving on smartphones.
those who are financially responsible do not chase the latest and greatest depreciable asset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does anyone know if Sprint is planning on coming out with an LTE/world phone anytime soon? That would be optimal.
Return the Photon, and run away from Sprint until Network Vision is imminent for your city. There's no good reason to subject yourself to Sprint or Motorola right now.
Let's start with Sprint. Right now, their 3G is in a state of collapse nationwide. "5 bars and 50kbps" is only an exaggeration in the sense that lots of guys now routinely see speeds that are LOWER. And in most places, it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets any better. The icing on the cake is that if your area's upgrade experience is anything like the experience they had in Houston, and we're having now in South Florida, 3G data will basically cease to exist for a month or more while they're doing the upgrade itself. With a wimax-capable phone, it's annoying, but semi-endurable with the knowledge that it's going to be a lot better in another month or two. With a LTE phone, you basically have no working data service during the transition. No working 3G, and no wimax to limp along with in the meantime.
Believe it or not, in some areas, guys who've disabled EVDO and forced their phones to use 1xRTT have been getting faster throughput than EVDO (due to the way traffic is routed on Sprint's back end).
Now, the Photon itself. If you don't mind owning a phone that's a locked-down consumer appliance with about as much potential for end-user enhancement as an iPhone, it's a nice phone. Otherwise, you're going to hate it.
Don't try to rationalize the purchase by thinking someone will crack the bootloader eventually. They won't. Yes, HTC and Samsung's attempts at locked bootloaders have been quickly cracked. That's because HTC and Samsung go through the motions, but don't really know how to do it... nor do they really WANT to do it. Motorola is another matter entirely. It's their religion and way of life. They have decades of experience making hardware with military-grade encryption. Spend an hour or two reading about real custom ROMs on real Motorola phones, and let it sink in just how grim the situation really is. In 3 years, maybe 4 Motorola phones have been meaningfully unlocked... and two of THEM were semi-open to begin with. The remainder have either been uncrackable, or have temporary solutions that can be taken away by Motorola at any time... possibly, without your permission.
We all hope Google will clean house, make Motorola non-evil, and unlock the bootloaders. If that's their plan, they've done a great job of keeping it a secret so far.
This is harsh, but assuming you're still within the 15-day return period and can walk away from the Photon and Sprint without penalty... do it. You have nothing to gain by choosing Sprint today. If you're in an area where T-Mobile is good, they're probably your best bet today. If you can live with 100 voice minutes (no free nights/weekends, either), T-Mo has prepaid for $30/month with 100 minutes voice, unlimited text, and 5 gigabytes of data (after 5 gigs, speeds drop down to EDGE). If you like the Gnex, you can buy an unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus from Google for $350.
If you want to keep the door open to Sprint, maybe you can get a year-old Sprint phone like the Galaxy S2 and reflash it to Metro PCS (I'm pretty sure the Gnex and GS3 will be Metro-able soon, but I'm pretty sure neither one is Metro-flashable yet). Stay away from Virgin, though... they use Sprint towers and backhaul, and are as dysfunctional as Sprint right now.
Choosing betweeen AT&T and Verizon is kind of like choosing between death by firing squad and electric chair, but AT&T is probably a tiny, tiny bit less bad just because at least you can use an unlocked GSM phone with AT&T and avoid most of their blatant control attempts. I'm totally sure about the specific ways Verizon defiled and tainted their Nexus, but I've heard a Verizon Gnex reflashed with non-Verizon ROM is basically a wifi tablet that can make voice calls.
bitbang3r said:
Return the Photon, and run away from Sprint until Network Vision is imminent for your city. There's no good reason to subject yourself to Sprint or Motorola right now.
Let's start with Sprint. Right now, their 3G is in a state of collapse nationwide. "5 bars and 50kbps" is only an exaggeration in the sense that lots of guys now routinely see speeds that are LOWER. And in most places, it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets any better. The icing on the cake is that if your area's upgrade experience is anything like the experience they had in Houston, and we're having now in South Florida, 3G data will basically cease to exist for a month or more while they're doing the upgrade itself. With a wimax-capable phone, it's annoying, but semi-endurable with the knowledge that it's going to be a lot better in another month or two. With a LTE phone, you basically have no working data service during the transition. No working 3G, and no wimax to limp along with in the meantime.
Believe it or not, in some areas, guys who've disabled EVDO and forced their phones to use 1xRTT have been getting faster throughput than EVDO (due to the way traffic is routed on Sprint's back end).
Now, the Photon itself. If you don't mind owning a phone that's a locked-down consumer appliance with about as much potential for end-user enhancement as an iPhone, it's a nice phone. Otherwise, you're going to hate it.
Don't try to rationalize the purchase by thinking someone will crack the bootloader eventually. They won't. Yes, HTC and Samsung's attempts at locked bootloaders have been quickly cracked. That's because HTC and Samsung go through the motions, but don't really know how to do it... nor do they really WANT to do it. Motorola is another matter entirely. It's their religion and way of life. They have decades of experience making hardware with military-grade encryption. Spend an hour or two reading about real custom ROMs on real Motorola phones, and let it sink in just how grim the situation really is. In 3 years, maybe 4 Motorola phones have been meaningfully unlocked... and two of THEM were semi-open to begin with. The remainder have either been uncrackable, or have temporary solutions that can be taken away by Motorola at any time... possibly, without your permission.
We all hope Google will clean house, make Motorola non-evil, and unlock the bootloaders. If that's their plan, they've done a great job of keeping it a secret so far.
This is harsh, but assuming you're still within the 15-day return period and can walk away from the Photon and Sprint without penalty... do it. You have nothing to gain by choosing Sprint today. If you're in an area where T-Mobile is good, they're probably your best bet today. If you can live with 100 voice minutes (no free nights/weekends, either), T-Mo has prepaid for $30/month with 100 minutes voice, unlimited text, and 5 gigabytes of data (after 5 gigs, speeds drop down to EDGE). If you like the Gnex, you can buy an unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus from Google for $350.
If you want to keep the door open to Sprint, maybe you can get a year-old Sprint phone like the Galaxy S2 and reflash it to Metro PCS (I'm pretty sure the Gnex and GS3 will be Metro-able soon, but I'm pretty sure neither one is Metro-flashable yet). Stay away from Virgin, though... they use Sprint towers and backhaul, and are as dysfunctional as Sprint right now.
Choosing betweeen AT&T and Verizon is kind of like choosing between death by firing squad and electric chair, but AT&T is probably a tiny, tiny bit less bad just because at least you can use an unlocked GSM phone with AT&T and avoid most of their blatant control attempts. I'm totally sure about the specific ways Verizon defiled and tainted their Nexus, but I've heard a Verizon Gnex reflashed with non-Verizon ROM is basically a wifi tablet that can make voice calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an incredibly informative post. Well said. +1
bitbang3r said:
Return the Photon, and run away from Sprint until Network Vision is imminent for your city. There's no good reason to subject yourself to Sprint or Motorola right now.
Let's start with Sprint. Right now, their 3G is in a state of collapse nationwide. "5 bars and 50kbps" is only an exaggeration in the sense that lots of guys now routinely see speeds that are LOWER. And in most places, it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets any better. The icing on the cake is that if your area's upgrade experience is anything like the experience they had in Houston, and we're having now in South Florida, 3G data will basically cease to exist for a month or more while they're doing the upgrade itself. With a wimax-capable phone, it's annoying, but semi-endurable with the knowledge that it's going to be a lot better in another month or two. With a LTE phone, you basically have no working data service during the transition. No working 3G, and no wimax to limp along with in the meantime.
Believe it or not, in some areas, guys who've disabled EVDO and forced their phones to use 1xRTT have been getting faster throughput than EVDO (due to the way traffic is routed on Sprint's back end).
Now, the Photon itself. If you don't mind owning a phone that's a locked-down consumer appliance with about as much potential for end-user enhancement as an iPhone, it's a nice phone. Otherwise, you're going to hate it.
Don't try to rationalize the purchase by thinking someone will crack the bootloader eventually. They won't. Yes, HTC and Samsung's attempts at locked bootloaders have been quickly cracked. That's because HTC and Samsung go through the motions, but don't really know how to do it... nor do they really WANT to do it. Motorola is another matter entirely. It's their religion and way of life. They have decades of experience making hardware with military-grade encryption. Spend an hour or two reading about real custom ROMs on real Motorola phones, and let it sink in just how grim the situation really is. In 3 years, maybe 4 Motorola phones have been meaningfully unlocked... and two of THEM were semi-open to begin with. The remainder have either been uncrackable, or have temporary solutions that can be taken away by Motorola at any time... possibly, without your permission.
We all hope Google will clean house, make Motorola non-evil, and unlock the bootloaders. If that's their plan, they've done a great job of keeping it a secret so far.
This is harsh, but assuming you're still within the 15-day return period and can walk away from the Photon and Sprint without penalty... do it. You have nothing to gain by choosing Sprint today. If you're in an area where T-Mobile is good, they're probably your best bet today. If you can live with 100 voice minutes (no free nights/weekends, either), T-Mo has prepaid for $30/month with 100 minutes voice, unlimited text, and 5 gigabytes of data (after 5 gigs, speeds drop down to EDGE). If you like the Gnex, you can buy an unlocked GSM Galaxy Nexus from Google for $350.
If you want to keep the door open to Sprint, maybe you can get a year-old Sprint phone like the Galaxy S2 and reflash it to Metro PCS (I'm pretty sure the Gnex and GS3 will be Metro-able soon, but I'm pretty sure neither one is Metro-flashable yet). Stay away from Virgin, though... they use Sprint towers and backhaul, and are as dysfunctional as Sprint right now.
Choosing betweeen AT&T and Verizon is kind of like choosing between death by firing squad and electric chair, but AT&T is probably a tiny, tiny bit less bad just because at least you can use an unlocked GSM phone with AT&T and avoid most of their blatant control attempts. I'm totally sure about the specific ways Verizon defiled and tainted their Nexus, but I've heard a Verizon Gnex reflashed with non-Verizon ROM is basically a wifi tablet that can make voice calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
I am glad I switched over even though the 4G service isn't great where I live, I can sacrifice that for being able to customize MY phone/tablet/computer/anything any day. ...
If any one sees or hears anything about root/recovery for the other service providers, let them know. I know I would greatly appreciate any information to get my phone working the way I intend it to.
Thanks.
Sent from my rooted 'beaned' SM-G900T using Tapatalk Premium
em0ney14 said:
I am glad I switched over even though the 4G service isn't great where I live, I can sacrifice that for being able to customize MY phone/tablet/computer/anything any day. ...
If any one sees or hears anything about root/recovery for the other service providers, let them know. I know I would greatly appreciate any information to get my phone working the way I intend it to.
Thanks.
Sent from my rooted 'beaned' SM-G900T using Tapatalk Premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you. I had five lines with Verizon, all with unlimited data that I only paid 9.99 a month for because I got in on some discount; I switched them all to T-Mobile. It was a tough decision at first, but I had such a terrible time with my note 3 on Verizon, I just couldn't do it again.
Admittedly, the service isn't better, but it is good enough and now I can actually do things with my phone.
Sent from my SM-G900T using xda app-developers app
So true! I just left Verizon yesterday and signed up for TMobile! SO happy so far. I just feel good
I left Verizon for TMO 5 1/2 months ago, not long after the Note 3 came out. I had a Note 2, and my upgrade date was 4 months away. I was 20 months into my contract, and they used to do upgrades at 18 months. I was with Verizon for years, ever since they first came around. I called customer service to see if I could get my date moved and get a Note 3. The rep told me I qualified for something called Pre-Edge, so if I signed up for Edge, I could get a new phone that day. He gave me his name in case there were issues and made notes on my account. I went to the store, and no one had ever heard of Pre-Edge, nor did they see any notes on my account. When I called CS and asked for him, I was told he'd call back. I never got a call and had to leave the store because they were closing. I called back multiple times over the next 2 days and no one knew what Pre-Edge was or who I was talking about. Needless to say, I was angry. The same day, I went to T-Mobile and switched. I still have no idea what happened with that guy or what he was talking about.
I just signed up with T-Mobile yesterday and got the S5. I have been very interested in them the last couple of months. I have tried on them on pre-paid and its good enough. Much better with an actual T-Mobile branded phone. I am so disgusted with AT&T's BS on locking bootloaders and everything else that goes with that. AT&T is good for those who travel. I do not travel and so far I'd give T-Mobile about an 8/10.
Things I've noticed so far:
Generally weaker signal versus AT&T (most likely due to the high bands) Still works though.
HSPA+ is very fast, but when you hit -105dbm or greater it starts to go.
LTE is not as fast as I thought, but still very good.
Call quality is SO much better than AT&T.
LTE on Band 4 is pretty weak overall, but still usable.
13 more days to see if they work for me.
I hear ya OP. I have been watching here and the ATT forums. I am feeling really sorry for the guys over there right now. I am almost betting they will be lucky to get safestrap working and that for me personally is NOT enough. It feels like a ghost town. Since I have had my S1,S2, S3, and S4 there almost always have been a ROM or more on the first day I owned the devices (usually within a few days to a month of release).
I just called T-Mobile about switching my 4 lines from ATT over to T-Mobile. Checking prices and plans. Looks like I could save some money per month. Soecially if I just bring a few of my devices onto Tmobile (My daughters S3 and Wife's S4. I would pass her S4 to my son and get her the S5 while I get the S5 as well.
No guarantee yet that I will be over here though. Just weighing out my options. I am waiting for the 32Gb version if and when...
Sent From My Spiderman,Ironman,Red,Dark Blue,Green, GreyedOut BadAss Themed I337
...yeah, Verizon user here
I hate being locked down by Verizon. I have a T-mobile sim that I used to test T-Mobile(prepaid) in my Verizon Note 3. T-Mobile LTE is fast, but coverage is pretty sub-par compared to Verizon. When my contract is up in July I am probably going to sacrifice coverage for freedom, I mean come on still no KitKat, Verizon sucks.
I don't know about Verizon but I just left at&t for T-Mobile this past Tuesday and couldn't be happier. Their LTE is averaging about 30MB down where I live, work, and all points in between. With at&t I was averaging about 3 or 4MB on LTE at home. I'm loving this S5 but I think I'm loving T-Mobile even more. I checked the at&t forums and it is really quite over there.
TL;DR Recent family Sprint convert and so far we couldn't be happier with the S5 and TM!
I just switched my whole family (me, wife and two kids) over to TM from Sprint... we'd actually been happy with Sprint for about 6 years, weird as that may sound, but they were now trying to force us to change plans and not give us any deals on upgrades and basically it was going to cost more to stay with them monthly and we wouldn't be able to get reasonably cheap upgrades like before... for the past few years, because my kids' phones were bought almost exactly a month after mine and my wife's, we'd go in once a year, swap our phones to the kids and me and the wife would get new ones... well, they said no dice to this now. Sure, we give up unlimited data (sort of- TM is technically "unlimited" if you don't count throttling) but as it happens, that's a total worth it tradeoff.
After looking at all the options, I could have gotten away a little cheaper with Verizon (surprisingly!), and AT&T wasn't going to be much different than Verizon, but TM made it a deal we couldn't refuse: pay the Sprint ETF's, everyone got S5's financed, and we actually walked out of the store with the phones, Otter Boxes for three of them (I keep my phones "naked") and we actually had a $16 CREDIT on our first bill Yep, no money out-of-pocket whatsoever!
So far, we're loving it... had a minor snafu getting one phone switched over, but that was fixed quick and easy... the S5 itself is of course fantastic, which is no surprise... but so far, for the first time ever we actually get GREAT cell reception in our house even without IP calling (which we do use though), and it's 4G no less! (of course we're on wi-fi to save data, but still, we could barely get a Sprint signal before let alone a strong 4G signal like now). I also love that we get Hotspot for no extra charge, unlike Sprint... call quality thus far has been fine, though we frankly only use about 20 minutes a month COMBINED talk time so it's really not important anyway... coverage seems no different than Sprint so far overall... 4G speeds have been very good, about on-par with Sprint, maybe a hair better even. We only got the 1Gb plan because in looking at the past year with Sprint, only my son and I have ever gone over that line, twice each, and only once was more than a hundred Mb over... so 1Gb should be fine 99% of the time... we'll take the throttling after that if need be but no overage concerns is sweet.
And, of course, I rooted all four phones (screw the warranty, JUMP includes the handset insurance anyway and even though that costs something it makes the warranty a moot point to me) and I wouldn't give up that freedom for anything, so Verizon was a non-starter anyway (which is a shame really because we have FiOS and Verizon home phone and it would have been nice to have one provider for it all)... gotta have my root for Greenify and the mod to make the SD card writable!
Yeah, absolutely nothing to complain about at this point. I suppose things could go south at some point... until I see the ETFs paid off and the first bill to make sure nothing got screwed up I'm a little concerned... but assuming no surprises with either of those things I think this has been the best decision we've ever made WRT cell service (we had previously been on Verizon years ago, and AT&T before that, so we have some experience with all of them).
Verizon has never been a terribly bad deal for big families, but they hate single people with a vengeance
willbur73 said:
So true! I just left Verizon yesterday and signed up for TMobile! SO happy so far. I just feel good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So did I! But I made sure to get an iPhone 5s from Verizon the day before so that I could sell it and get reimbursed from T-Mo for breaking the 1 day old contract. :laugh: Also sold my S4 and bought a junk phone to use as my trade in to T-Mo. Now the money I made off the iPhone and the S4 will pay for the T-Mo S5. So got the S5 for next to nothing.
I am on ATT - but starting with my NOTE 3 and now my S5 - I don't buy ATT PHONES. I buy TMOBILE PHONES and use them on the ATT Network. They work beautifully well.
I actually signed up for TMobile for about 2 days - but I was so dissapointed with the speeds I got - compared to ATT they were horribly slow - ATT gives me phenomenal speeds around town and inside my house. The final straw was that I found the only way I could make calls from inside my house is if I used WIFI CALLING. I started thinking the reason that TMOBILE Came up with WIFI CALLING was because so many people had trouble getting signals in their house. I don't know if that is why they did it, but It sure seemed that way to me.
Anyway - I have never been happier - I get the best of both worlds - an ulocked device I can use - and a network that provides lightening fast speeds..
it works for me - and I hope whatever you guys are doing works for you as well...
mocsab said:
I am on ATT - but starting with my NOTE 3 and now my S5 - I don't buy ATT PHONES. I buy TMOBILE PHONES and use them on the ATT Network. They work beautifully well.
I actually signed up for TMobile for about 2 days - but I was so dissapointed with the speeds I got - compared to ATT they were horribly slow - ATT gives me phenomenal speeds around town and inside my house. The final straw was that I found the only way I could make calls from inside my house is if I used WIFI CALLING. I started thinking the reason that TMOBILE Came up with WIFI CALLING was because so many people had trouble getting signals in their house. I don't know if that is why they did it, but It sure seemed that way to me.
Anyway - I have never been happier - I get the best of both worlds - an ulocked device I can use - and a network that provides lightening fast speeds..
it works for me - and I hope whatever you guys are doing works for you as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do the same. Unlocked T-Mobile phone on ATT.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Super Sam Galaxy said:
So did I! But I made sure to get an iPhone 5s from Verizon the day before so that I could sell it and get reimbursed from T-Mo for breaking the 1 day old contract. :laugh: Also sold my S4 and bought a junk phone to use as my trade in to T-Mo. Now the money I made off the iPhone and teh S4 will pay for the T-Mo S5. So got the S5 for next to nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha tha'ts messed up but a good idea.
This actually is the first time I had to buy a TMo version to use on ATT due to the locked BL in nature...If you can afford it, then its the best way to go in regards to the S5.
Guess I'm lucky, T-Mobile is awesome in my area. Slightly less coverage than AT&T, but the data connection is very stable and consistent.
Just took a look over there finding bounty thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2728051
I donated 20.00 to the cause , If anyone has extra $ they can throw their way please do.
sling said:
Just took a look over there finding bounty thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2728051
I donated 20.00 to the cause , If anyone has extra $ they can throw their way please do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here was my post over there cause I donated too... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52145012&postcount=60 I have Verizon and T-Mobile so I grabbed the M8 on Verizon and the S5 on T-mobile. Best of both worlds, although the M8 is waaaay snappier in pretty much every task. I wish Samsung would slim this damn TouchWiz down. Look at your available ram and tell me that this baby don't NEED 3gb of ram like the Note 3. WoW! Anyways, the more devs we all have the better if you think about it. Look how many roms and mods get ported over from different carrier variants. Yes, I am a crack flasher for sure. Glad to see you donate too though. :good:
I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile the week before the S5 came out, I was paying $125 for a single phone on Verizon with 4GB data. Now on T-Mobile I get the same 4G coverage (in come cases better) as I did with Verizon, yet my girlfriend joined my account and together we get 3GB high speed data per month each, and its $100/month plus paying for the phones per month, I got the S5, she got the Note 3. Verizon is too expensive and controlling. I am very happy switching to T-Mobile.
Those who got the TMO S5, can you comment on performance? One guy on here feels it is not optimized for AT&T. He said it can be stubborn and prefer H+ in LTE areas.