Did anyone think it was going to be this bad?

[Mikey47]

I never understood why someone would buy a lte device knowing its not available yet then complain about performance of the device.

The exact same reason why people bought LTE devices then complained because they didn't work with WiMax - they're both 4G, right?

Because so many people buy things without knowing what the heck they are buying.

I bought my EVO 4G LTE knowing our area will be lucky to have LTE before my 22 months with the phone is up, but we never saw WiMax either... Simply put I considered it the best phone available at the time.

 

[bearballz72]

Here's the deal. People who live in a area that is not scheduled to get lte this year and opt to get a lte device should know that they aren't going to be able to use the benefits of it yet. I live in the Kansas City area and lte is amazing. So far speeds are great and battery life is good. Overall performance is amazing. If I did not live in this area I would of kept my og evo until lte launched and used wimax. I never understood why someone would buy a lte device knowing its not available yet then complain about performance of the device.

Sent from my EVO 4G LTE

It's not the performance of the device, frankly I love my SIII. It's performance of the network that stinks for most of us who don't have NV/LTE lit up in their area yet.

 

[Topgonzo]

But the network isn't ready for lte in all areas so I'm just saying that the really slow performance on the non lte network with lte devices should be somewhat expected.

Sent from my EVO 4G LTE

 

[Murphy5111]

But the network isn't ready for lte in all areas so I'm just saying that the really slow performance on the non lte network with lte devices should be somewhat expected.

Sent from my EVO 4G LTE

I understand. But if you have been in lots of places like big have and not been able to access data, when you call or go online it often shows that upgrades were made in that area, regardless of LTE. Yet the data and connections are still horrible.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[scuba_steve]

Well, for me, there is a new line in the sand...and believe it or not, it's the release of the next iPhone.

I have three phones with Sprint. The wife will be replacing her Palm Pre with the next gen iPhone to be announced in mid-September...and my daughter will also be replacing her Epic (with keyboard) with an iPhone. I will be getting a GS3.

We make our decision as to whether or not that is on Sprint or VZ based on a rollout of LTE in Northern VA when that iPhone is available...which should be around the 4th week of September. Not a date announced for rollout...an actual rollout. If Sprint has rolled out in NOVA by then, we'll re-sign. Otherwise, we are gone. I'll pay more for better service. I am done with unlimited data...where "unlimited" is defined as "all you can suck through this tiny straw."

Your move Sprint.

 

[jim302]

Sprint has a solid plan. It is very complex and time consuming, and in some cases things might get worse before they get better. However, they will get better in the long run. Every network has gone through growing pains... even AT&T and Verizon.

I'm telling anyone who asks me to be patient with Sprint if they possibly can. Leaving for AT&T or Verizon just makes it that much harder for Sprint, T-Mobile, and the regional carriers to compete.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[fjitb]

I'm in San Francisco and the very day Sprint started selling the iPhone, I couldn't get online with my phone at all. The next day I was able to get back online but it's slow and has not recovered. Voice and text are and always have been great. After almost 12 years with Sprint, I'm gonna be patient one last time and wait for NV and LTE here and see what happens.

 

[scuba_steve]

Screw patience. I (and most of us here) have been patient for far too long already.

I am not buying promises anymore. I am buying service. If Sprint has LTE service in my area in late September, I'll consider buying it. If not, we won't consider them....because we are buying LTE service and they can't offer it. It's the same reason that I won't buy LTE service from the kid down the street with a lemonade stand.

Keep in mind, even if they have LTE rolled out in DC/NOVA in that time, it will be something like 20% of the towers...with questionable backhaul. It will still take them a year or more after that initial rollout to upgrade all of their towers and backhaul. Thus, even with a rollout, you are likely to have poor to non-existent LTE service for almost the entire duration of your contract....and we are expected to also be patient for that INITIAL rollout?

VZ has 371 LTE markets as of today...as opposed to sprint's 5 (yeah, not buying them taking credit for nearby cities to get to 15...especially when some of those rolled of markets don't even have 20% of their towers upgraded).

Why have patience? If Sprint needs two years to get in the same ballpark as VZ, great, they can have it...I just won't be paying them during that time. I'll reconsider after my VZ contract expires.

That said, I'll stick with my earlier statement. If I can walk into a Sprint store in late September and get a phone that can get an LTE signal that very day outside of that store, I'll give them a shot. Otherwise, I am done screwing around.

 

[dchawk81]

I used to defend the hell out of Sprint but no more. I didn't care about LTE...I just wanted consistently usable 3G like I had in the beginning.

 

[bearballz72]

Screw patience. I (and most of us here) have been patient for far too long already.

I am not buying promises anymore. I am buying service. If Sprint has LTE service in my area in late September, I'll consider buying it. If not, we won't consider them....because we are buying LTE service and they can't offer it. It's the same reason that I won't buy LTE service from the kid down the street with a lemonade stand.

Keep in mind, even if they have LTE rolled out in DC/NOVA in that time, it will be something like 20% of the towers...with questionable backhaul. It will still take them a year or more after that initial rollout to upgrade all of their towers and backhaul. Thus, even with a rollout, you are likely to have poor to non-existent LTE service for almost the entire duration of your contract....and we are expected to also be patient for that INITIAL rollout?

VZ has 371 LTE markets as of today...as opposed to sprint's 5 (yeah, not buying them taking credit for nearby cities to get to 15...especially when some of those rolled of markets don't even have 20% of their towers upgraded).

Why have patience? If Sprint needs two years to get in the same ballpark as VZ, great, they can have it...I just won't be paying them during that time. I'll reconsider after my VZ contract expires.

That said, I'll stick with my earlier statement. If I can walk into a Sprint store in late September and get a phone that can get an LTE signal that very day outside of that store, I'll give them a shot. Otherwise, I am done screwing around.

Well I can definitely understand you frustration! Here in Chicago it's been pretty painful. But I can only speculate that you'll probably not have LTE in your area by September. Check out s4gru which is a site that tracks the Sprint LTE deployment and see how your area is coming along.

Remember Verizon and AT&T had a pretty good head start with their LTE deployment while Sprint made the dreadfull decision to go with Wimaxx and now they're playing catch up. Sprint has only been at it for a year maybe upgrading to LTE? It's going to take Sprint a while to upgrade all it's towers across the country. When I was on AT&T during their LTE upgrade a few years back and it was pretty painful as well.

My only advice is that if your area won't be ready for while and just can't wait, you have 2 choices:

1)Wait it out an see if it comes to your area.
2) Jump to Verizon or At&T, and jump back when when the deployment is done in a year or two when your contract is up.

Really simple as that.

You can rant and rave all you want but it won't speed up the NV/LTE rollout (believe me I've complained a ton on these forums).I'm sticking with Sprint because of a lower bill, unlimited date and hopefully LTE this Fall.

 

[truthteller10]

When I heard about Sprint ditching Wimax and going with LTE I was pretty happy about it. Finally, Sprint was getting their act together (after several bad decisions) and upgrading their network in order to compete with Big Red and the Death Star (Verizon & AT&T) and give their customers reliable service and pretty fast data speeds.

Well, fast forward to June 2012. I picked up my shiney new LTE equipped Evo 4G LTE. Great phone, nice features but quickly noticed the terrible 3G speeds, and for the first time since I've been on Sprint, more dropped calls than I've ever had in the previous 2 years. I'm talking just not dropped calls but no calls at all. I've had 15-20 people call me and the phone never rang, all I would get is a notification and message that a person had called.

I just thought OK, it was going to be a bit slow for a while, while the NV upgrades were going on but it should be OK, just a minor inconvience. Well I was wrong. I know Sprint has gone live with LTE in about a dozen cities, which is great. But it's such a tiny fraction of Sprints user base. I also know that some people haven't been effected as badly as others, which from what I've read in various other blogs seems to be hit and miss. For me I get decent reception and speeds at work but terrible recepton and speeds at home or while driving aound the Chicagoland area.

For the rest of us patiently waiting for service to be restored at least to point where you can make and recieve calls, my question to all of you is this:

Hindsight is always 20/20 but knowing what you know now, did you think it was going to be this bad? Did you anticipate this or did you think as I did?

I'm really rooting for Sprint because they're the underdog and their plans and pricing, plus the unlimited data are a real incentive for customers to switch. But I have to tell you, I never saw this coming.

To add to the frustration Sprint claims to have LTE in those markets, however, this isn't true. The coverage of LTE is very poor and you may get a signal that last all of a couple of minutes. Houston is terrible 4g and makes the GS3 drain battery like crazy. Sometimes I have to turn of data just to maintain my batter off the charger.

 

[jean15paul]

To add to the frustration Sprint claims to have LTE in those markets, however, this isn't true. The coverage of LTE is very poor and you may get a signal that last all of a couple of minutes. Houston is terrible 4g and makes the GS3 drain battery like crazy. Sometimes I have to turn of data just to maintain my batter off the charger.

While you make a valid point, even with great coverage leaving LTE on will eat through your battery even when you're not using it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums