Speed in a non-LTE area?

[slope72]

I'm going to upgrade my Samsung Epic 4G to the EVO 4G LTE. However, I'm in New York City, which isn't currently on the list of LTE-enabled cities. Anyone know what kinds of speeds to expect with the EVO 4G LTE w/o LTE? Will it be comparable to my Epic's 3G speeds or the WiMAX speeds?

I don't want to end up with a beautiful piece of hardware that is only usable over wifi...

Thx!

 

[Mikey47]

If no LTE, it will just be 3G.

 

[manonmoon49]

^^ what he said.

 

[moosc]

It will b slow. And a lot folks will b mad with no wimax and its speed.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

 

[WeGlobal]

Sprints 3G service sucks really bad. Thank God for WiFi

 

[Mikey47]

Never really had a problem with 3G speeds and i travel a whole bunch. Always surprises me to see all the 3G hate.

Not saying it isn't valid, just surprised.

 

[truthteller10]

Horrible!! just like it is now..50k download and thats it.

 

[apinkel]

I believe New York is in the first round:
Network Vision/LTE Deployment Running List - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

So, from someone who lives in one of the small markets who's rollout isn't even on the map... quit cher bit chin .

Supposedly after towers are upgraded under network vision 3G speeds jump quite a bit. This is according to a user that hit one of the newly upgraded towers. Here's a link:
New Network Vision Photos and Performance Info from a new site in Beverly, Massachusetts - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Now, I'm not getting my hopes up too much about this since I'm guessing he ran his 3G tests underneath a tower that had hardly any traffic on it, but regardless I choose to look at it as good news... but I'm clueless that way.

 

[Mikey47]

Horrible!! just like it is now..50k download and thats it.

Horrible? No, it's awesome. I'm sitting here in the middle of nowhere Illinois and I'm get 1.25Mbps down and 1.13Mbps up.

Obviously I kid, your mileage will vary. Just because where you are right now Sprint is slow and VZW is fast does not mean that's the way it is everywhere (and vice versa).

You have to take a broad view. If you fall victim to the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" you will never be happy.

 

[f1nzup]

When I upgraded from the Evo 4G (single core 1.0 GHz) to the Evo 3D (dual core 1.2 GHz) my speed increase was noticeable, so I think just having a phone that has multiple cores and a bigger processor will help with your speeds.

 

[apinkel]

When I upgraded from the Evo 4G (single core 1.0 GHz) to the Evo 3D (dual core 1.2 GHz) my speed increase was noticeable, so I think just having a phone that has multiple cores and a bigger processor will help with your speeds.

Yeah, there's some merit to that... with the snapdragon S4 and tegra 3 we'll finally have phones fast enough to make use of LTE speeds.

 

[Technosticrati]

Horrible? No, it's awesome. I'm sitting here in the middle of nowhere Illinois and I'm get 1.25Mbps down and 1.13Mbps up.

Obviously I kid, your mileage will vary. Just because where you are right now Sprint is slow and VZW is fast does not mean that's the way it is everywhere (and vice versa).

You have to take a broad view. If you fall victim to the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" you will never be happy.

That actually mirrors my experience with Sprint perfectly. The city is slow & highly congested with speeds of .1 Mbps and the rural burbs are flying at speeds of > 1 Mbps. Sprint outgrew their capacity big time and are playing catch up. LTE can't get here fast enough.

Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

 

[klau25]

I believe New York is in the first round:
Network Vision/LTE Deployment Running List - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

So, from someone who lives in one of the small markets who's rollout isn't even on the map... quit cher bit chin .

Supposedly after towers are upgraded under network vision 3G speeds jump quite a bit. This is according to a user that hit one of the newly upgraded towers. Here's a link:
New Network Vision Photos and Performance Info from a new site in Beverly, Massachusetts - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Now, I'm not getting my hopes up too much about this since I'm guessing he ran his 3G tests underneath a tower that had hardly any traffic on it, but regardless I choose to look at it as good news... but I'm clueless that way.

Thanks a lot for the links, just noticed DC area is part of the first rollout area w/i 2012. going to be loving lte whenever i get it.

 

[apinkel]

No problem. The site has got some pretty in depth info about the upgrade... frequencies, protocols, markets, etc..

 

[klau25]

No problem. The site has got some pretty in depth info about the upgrade... frequencies, protocols, markets, etc..

haha, all i care is that i prob will have it by this year. this really make me feel soooo much better for getting a lte phone now. wimax is horrible, i hardly get any wimax service. hopefullly lte will be a huge improvement.

 

[ollieg]

I just tested my service (in San Francisco):

3G: 0.77-0.87Mbps down, 0.42-0.47Mbps up
4G (indoors): no service
4G (outside with no bars): 1.13Mbps down, 0.36 up

In some areas the 4G feels blazing fast, but not near my home where the 4G signal strength is very low.

 

[apinkel]

haha, all i care is that i prob will have it by this year. this really make me feel soooo much better for getting a lte phone now. wimax is horrible, i hardly get any wimax service. hopefullly lte will be a huge improvement.

Yeah, I can understand that. I work in telecom so I like to know some of the tech details.

Regardless, even if you couldn't care less about the tech details there is a lot of discussion about when markets go live (prior to the official announcement by srpint) so there's still some good info on that site outside of the tech stuff.

 

[apinkel]

I just tested my service (in San Francisco):

3G: 0.77-0.87Mbps down, 0.42-0.47Mbps up
4G (indoors): no service
4G (outside with no bars): 1.13Mbps down, 0.36 up

In some areas the 4G feels blazing fast, but not near my home where the 4G signal strength is very low.

The 2.5ghz spectrum that sprint uses for wimax sux donkey balls due to poor building penetration and interference from all kinds of devices in the 2.4ghz spectrum (wifi routers, microwave ovens, etc.).

You do live in one of the first round markets though so if you can afford to upgrade to an LTE phone your 4G should be quite a bit more reliable and a good deal faster (supposedly 5MB+ down).