Houston LTE coverage

[FusioNFro]

I was curious on how well the lte is in Houston. I've done a search and haven't came up with much. I've looked at sensorly but don't put much weight in it and rather go by actual customer experience. I'm thinking about buying out of my contract or paying the etf since I have until July '13 until its over or upgrade in May.

I'm looking to move to straight talk's t mobile sim using a nexus 4 since there is 42mbps in Houston, unless Sprint's lte is pretty decent. What I consider as decent is better than wimax here. Wimax, even on the major highways, is spotty. My Evo 3d consistently cycles between 3g and wimax thus eating up my battery. I get one or two bars of wimax on my driveway but my bedroom twenty feet away I can't pick it up.

I'm tired of dealing with the slow 3g and pretty much never toggle wimax. Basically I want to know if Sprint lte is built out well along south and west loop 610, southwest freeway to midtown area 59, and along the beltway near bellaire. If lte still drops frequently, I don't want a repeat wimax experience and will migrate to T-Mobile's hspa+ coverage. Maybe I'll give sprint a try again when 800 and 2500 MHz lte is built out unless you guys say its pretty good now. Sorry for the long post/rant. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[CharleneTX]

My brother-in-law was here for Thanksgiving. He loves T-Mobile in Colorado; had lots of problems while in the Houston area. I have no problems with Sprint LTE in the Galleria area and Sugar Land. In the Richmond/Rosenberg area it's iffy. There seems to be a complete dead zone near the Brazos Town Centre Kroger (59 & 762).

 

[FusioNFro]

Hrmm...was your brother primarily staying around Sugarland where he was having issues with T-mobile? If it was the areas I listed earlier, I suspect I wouldn't like T-mobile's coverage either. Do you experience lte cycling on and off while driving on the highways? I can tolerate it cycling occasionally, but not constantly. Are you pretty happy with Sprint's current lte? Are you getting pretty good building penetration? Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm glad to hear that the Galleria area is covered well. I'm still curious about the performance in the other areas I mentioned in the first post.

 

[CharleneTX]

He was staying with is parents in Katy and moving around the greater Houston area visiting friends. Lately I've found that when I move around the city I often have to turn data off then on again to get it to sync up with the tower. I don't know if it's because of the work they've been doing on the network or a problem with my phone. It mostly works fine for me, but there does seem to be dead or dead-ish zones in the Rich/Rose area. Last year I left AT&T and tried T-Mobile. I found their service for my area to be horrendous. Sprint worked better for me. (I had not problem with AT&T's service; they didn't have a phone I wanted.)

 

[ubigred]

LTE is great in the city of Houston. The burbs? It's in and out. Around the Beltway and Bellaire = 18 down, 5 up

Sent from my SGS3!

 

[archangel849]

I have no issues with LTE around Houston. I live south of Houston in Lake Jackson, and travel all over the Houston, SW area and Katy. Where I live, is in the sticks. I average anywhere from 30 to 35Mbps down and 18 up consistently.

Sent From My Galaxy SIII

 

[FusioNFro]

He was staying with is parents in Katy and moving around the greater Houston area visiting friends. Lately I've found that when I move around the city I often have to turn data off then on again to get it to sync up with the tower. I don't know if it's because of the work they've been doing on the network or a problem with my phone. It mostly works fine for me, but there does seem to be dead or dead-ish zones in the Rich/Rose area. Last year I left AT&T and tried T-Mobile. I found their service for my area to be horrendous. Sprint worked better for me. (I had not problem with AT&T's service; they didn't have a phone I wanted.)

Do you happen to have the Evo lte? I've heard that particular phone has trouble with connecting with the lte towers. Like people would have to turn airplane mode on and off to get it to connect. Thanks for the clarification on T-mobile's performance. I figured it would be okay because I figured their network should be pretty mature by now. I'll never go to AT&T. I have had and heard many negative experiences with their customer service.

 

[FusioNFro]

LTE is great in the city of Houston. The burbs? It's in and out. Around the Beltway and Bellaire = 18 down, 5 up

Sent from my SGS3!

I'm glad to hear that the beltway and bellaire has good coverage. Thanks for your input!

I have no issues with LTE around Houston. I live south of Houston in Lake Jackson, and travel all over the Houston, SW area and Katy. Where I live, is in the sticks. I average anywhere from 30 to 35Mbps down and 18 up consistently.

Sent From My Galaxy SIII

It sounds like the areas you frequent are the places where I travel. I'm a couple miles north of Pearland along 288 S, so hopefully what you said about Lake Jackson holds true around my area since you probably commute past my place. As long as coverage along the highway is good without much loss of signal, I'll be pretty happy.

Are you guys getting good building penetration? Thanks for all the replies!

 

[CharleneTX]

Do you happen to have the Evo lte? I've heard that particular phone has trouble with connecting with the lte towers. Like people would have to turn airplane mode on and off to get it to connect. Thanks for the clarification on T-mobile's performance. I figured it would be okay because I figured their network should be pretty mature by now. I'll never go to AT&T. I have had and heard many negative experiences with their customer service.

I have a Samsung Epic 4g; he has a Samsung Galaxy III. My experience with AT&T was good; they just didn't have a phone I wanted. YMMV.

--Charlene

 

[ubigred]

Any updates?

Sent from my SGNote 2!