AT&T... What should I know before I switch?

[jimmiekain]

What you all don't know is that all tech can carry voice and data at the same time. Its just that Verizon and sprint choose not to do this because it causes a more severe strain on their networks. It certainly pulls more bandwidth than a gsm phone. At&t is just cool enough to let us do it. I've been surfing and talking since the iPhone 3G came out thankfully now I'm on android

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I think you're right. I just watched a video of a guy doing simultaneous voice and data while on 3g on sprint on YouTube.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[jonathanm1978]

Uh, no. It's not because one company is cooler than the other. But that is quite an amusing statement to make. The technology is what allows that, not the "coolness" level of said company.

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[jimmiekain]

here it is... HTC Evo 4G LTE - Using Sprint 3g network while talking on the phone at the same time - YouTube

and

SVDO on the HTC EVO 4G LTE - YouTube

Both of these videos show people using data and voice at the same time on sprint 3g... so i guess it can be done depending on what area and phone you have.

 

[epicness4G]

Uh, no. It's not because one company is cooler than the other. But that is quite an amusing statement to make. The technology is what allows that, not the "coolness" level of said company.

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Not saying its cool or not but ALL networks are capable of doing it, its just that its cost effective for Verizon and sprint not to allow it, simple as that

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[jonathanm1978]

Dude are you seriously meaning this heaping, smelly pile of poo you are typing? You think they are spending millions on 4g because it will make them have a new "g number"?
My God, use Google before you make yourself sound more like a fool than you already have.

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

 

[jonathanm1978]

as for the videos showing 3g while talking on phone, READ the comments on those videos g the first video has comments that explain it all), so I'm not typing it here. But only a couple of phones can do that on Sprint and Verizon. It's got nothing to do with what they allowed, it has to do with the radios inside the phone and the technology. These couple of new phones have the two radios to support voice and data at same time.

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

 

[jonathanm1978]

And to prove it, I just called my house then went to CNN.com since I never loaded that page on my phone before just now. It's only a screenshot but shows me in active call while surfing net
View attachment 33954View attachment 33954

See the phone active icon and the 3g icon?...
And this is Sprint. Guess they are "cool"

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

 

[epicness4G]

And to prove it, I just called my house then went to CNN.com since I never loaded that page on my phone before just now. It's only a screenshot but shows me in active call while surfing net
View attachment 33954View attachment 33954

See the phone active icon and the 3g icon?...
And this is Sprint. Guess they are "cool"

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

What point are you trying to prove? All I said is that all networks can handle data+voice simultaneously..

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[jonathanm1978]

What point are you trying to prove? All I said is that all networks can handle data+voice simultaneously..

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that's the part that makes you sound like a fool and the point of me yelling you to Google what you are trying to convince yourself of. You think it's all in the network and are claiming they all could do it and chose not to all this time and that is a frigging lie. It has to do with GSM and how it handles voice and CDMA and how it handles voice, and the towers involved with the two technologies. Apparently you're missing the point and believe what you're trying to say so explaining any further is pointless, but fact remains that you're wrong when you suggest they could do it all along.

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

 

[epicness4G]

that's the part that makes you sound like a fool and the point of me yelling you to Google what you are trying to convince yourself of. You think it's all in the network and are claiming they all could do it and chose not to all this time and that is a frigging lie. It has to do with GSM and how it handles voice and CDMA and how it handles voice, and the towers involved with the two technologies. Apparently you're missing the point and believe what you're trying to say so explaining any further is pointless, but fact remains that you're wrong when you suggest they could do it all along.

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

Okay bro keep googling, if that is what floats your boat :thumbup:

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[jonathanm1978]

Since I have enough sense to know about how the two cell phone technologies work, I don't need Google. And I didn't need Google, only common sense to know that they haven't always been able to do it and just chose not to. That's hilariously funny though.

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

 

[jimmiekain]

@jonathanm1978

are you in Alabama right now? I ask because this feature is only available on sprint in some areas. Do you live in one of the areas where "network vision" has been completed? What speeds do you get on 3g?

 

[jonathanm1978]

Yes, made that call from home, vision hasn't been done here yet but is worked on in Birmingham.

This can only be done with phone(s) that have the dual radios in them right now for areas without 4g. The sgs3 has the dual radio that will let you do that , so does the new Evo.

Swype'd with my Sammy Galaxy S3

 

[res1bxh3]

@jimmiekain
I live right next to you buddy, in Chino. I made this switch 2months ago from an EVO3D to AT&T Iphone4S (Company discount that I'm using till the next neXus) and the difference has been night and day!! ATT3G speeds are far superior to sprints WiMAX, And no more horrible 4G battery drain. the price doesn't come out to that much of a difference either. I held on to sprint cause of unlimited data, but one day i realized what does that matter if your speeds never allowed for more than 2GBs a month (while on 3g). My experiance on AT&T so far have been amazing and I'm glad I made the switch. Be advised though I don't think LTE had made it's was to Chino or Ontario yet. I believe it cuts off around Anaheim, but it should be here eventually.

 

[BillTheVampire]

I just switched to AT&T from Sprint for basically the same reasons that everybody stated here.

Also for the amount I would pay to add tethering to my Sprint phone I would get tethering with AT&T for the same price becuase my company offers a discount with AT&T.

WAYYYYY better data speeds with AT&T. I didn't mind the "slow" Sprint network though, it was stable. But now that I actually have speeds close to 10mbps I find myself using data all the time jjust because it's like surfing the net at home. Pages load so fast.

Another big reason I switched to AT&T was because I wanted a Windows Phone. Long story short I had a Lumia 900 that broke the first day and a Titan II that would have intermittent data signal so I decided just to get the Galaxy S3 until Windows Phone 8 comes out.

Sprint has yet to confirm whether or not they will carry any WP8 phones.

Verizon - Too expensive, but amazing coverage
Sprint - Horrible data, but great customer service.
T-Mobile - Terrible coverage, but cheap!
AT&T - Cheaper than verizon, better data than Sprint, and better coverage than T-Mobile. They are kind of the best "all-around" for me.

 

[cgardnervt]

One thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that a buddy of mine has an iphone on ATT and he complains that ATT has a wifi network that is at a bunch of McDonalds, Starbucks and hotels etc... He said that this is so that ATT customers can reduce the data that they use on there cell networks but its annoying because the wifi is always slow and his phone automatically connects to them when he is near one.

He says that there is no way to turn it off and that even when he turns the wifi off it still connects to any nearby ATT hotspot. Is this something android users have to deal with too or is that only on the iphone?

This can be turned off on Android phones. I think its in the data tab in your settings. I figured this out on my first day with ATT. You can also disable the service VIA "Manage apps" in your settings tab as well.I like it but I find it annoying.

 

[cgardnervt]

I just switched to AT&T from Sprint for basically the same reasons that everybody stated here.

Also for the amount I would pay to add tethering to my Sprint phone I would get tethering with AT&T for the same price becuase my company offers a discount with AT&T.

WAYYYYY better data speeds with AT&T. I didn't mind the "slow" Sprint network though, it was stable. But now that I actually have speeds close to 10mbps I find myself using data all the time jjust because it's like surfing the net at home. Pages load so fast.

Another big reason I switched to AT&T was because I wanted a Windows Phone. Long story short I had a Lumia 900 that broke the first day and a Titan II that would have intermittent data signal so I decided just to get the Galaxy S3 until Windows Phone 8 comes out.

Sprint has yet to confirm whether or not they will carry any WP8 phones.

Verizon - Too expensive, but amazing coverage
Sprint - Horrible data, but great customer service.
T-Mobile - Terrible coverage, but cheap!
AT&T - Cheaper than verizon, better data than Sprint, and better coverage than T-Mobile. They are kind of the best "all-around" for me.

+1

I agree with you 100% with this post! You said it right.

 

[jonathanm1978]

As my signature shows, I was posting last night from my GS3 and didn't really want to come in here to the desktop or crank up the lappy..but ...

AT&T Wifi in McDonalds:

I would make use of the quick shortcuts and cut Wifi off when out & about. Other than that, I'm not sure of any other way besides turning it off - either shortcuts or via settings menu. I have the free wifi included because I'm a DSL customer...but I don't think I've ever used it before (I just found out that Home Depot has it also in my area)...

CDMA vs GSM:

The two technologies are mainly a big difference if your someone who travels internationally...GSM is more prominent abroad in foreign countries than CDMA -- but CDMA DOES exist in some countries..

GSM has the SIM chip that you can switch between (unlocked) phones..whereas CDMA utilizes CSIM, or CDMA2000 SIM technology...where you can't just take a SIM out and put in another phone...
CDMA also excels in this because if someone steals your phone, yes they can use some parts of it, but if they ever hit a tower with that (reported to police) stolen phone, they can be caught if someone is keeping up with them via an app, like Lookout (and The Protection plan app from Sprint allows remote lock plus tracking, and wiping of the phone remotely)...

The poster that was telling everyone that "all carriers could do simultaneous voice+data, and that Verizon and Sprint just choose not to do it" is such crap that I can't believe the person typed that...it has nothing to do with what the carriers "WANT" to do..the technology on CDMA doesn't allow simultaneous voice+data unless the phone has DUAL radios built into it for handling such...because of what I told you about the CDMA handshake on the tower, and the GSM handshake on the tower..the way that CDMA connects and transmits doesn't allow data on the same radio chip...HOWEVER
The newer phones coming out, like the HTC Evo 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy SIII have DUAL CDMA radios built in, so they CAN let someone surf the web while talking on the phone at the same time.

Prior to this it wasn't cost effective to put the dual radios in the phones when they were spending the money for 4G which allows this on CDMA...the LTE technology that Sprint currently is turning on and building out doesn't necessarily NEED dual radios to operate both voice+data, and I believe the LTE chip operates independently when on a voice call...I haven't read up on the new LTE to see how it handles that, yet.
But for them, they probably said "why put dual-radios in phones when we're pumping money into 4G which will allow the very same thing to be done..resulting in a double-spending for the same tech??"
The reason you're seeing it now, I believe, is because of some FCC rulings...newer phones are required to have the ability to do both at the same time...but also it's become increasingly cheaper to do this with the new phones we see that can do this on CDMA.

 

[crackcookie]

Hi everyone I'm looking for a little help. I currently have sprint and I am considering a switch to AT&T. Nothing against sprint its just that I really need better coverage and better data speeds. I live in Southern California (about 45 mins east of Los Angeles and 2 hours north of San diego) in a city called Ontario. On average I drop about 4 calls a day and my 3g data speeds are about 119KBPS. On 4g I get like 800KBPS (wimax).

The reason I am considering AT&T instead of VZW is that from what I understand GSM carriers like ATT offer better features and technology like being able to call up to 5 people at one time for a conference call, being able to import phones from all over the world and using data while on 3g or 4g.

My question is what else does AT&T offer that Sprint/ CDMA does not offer? PROS and CONS maybe?

Thanks in advance for all your help and suggestions.

FYI: I currently have the Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic 4g Touch on sprint and if I switch to ATT I will be getting the Galaxy S3

The best most honest advice I can give you is to ask people who work with you how their service is, and remember if you buy a phone you have 30 days to return it can cancel your contract! ATT has stepped its game up a lot in the past years

 

[RyDawgBoston]

I just switched 3 months ago from Sprint. All I can say is it was the best change I have ever made to mobile needs!

$10 more will get you better CS, coverage and you will never be on the world's biggest dial up network anymore! In this case the grass is for sure greener on the att side! Jump ship...I Mean hell the Sprint ship is currently sinking. Fast!

I just left Sprint last month and I am loving my Lte. It's fast and I can finally make and receive calls.

Sprint has the slowest data possible.