Am I weird for preferring HSPA+ over LTE at this point and for the near future?

[AznAnarchy99]

I have to agree. Until LTE is really widespread, where I can reliably connect to a 4G network in a majority of the places that I regularly stay at, I'm perfectly satisfied with AT&T HSPA+.

I switched from AT&T (dumb phone) to Verizon (smartphone) in 2008, and back to AT&T (smartphone) in 2010. Verizon's 3G isn't much to write home about speed wise. Their coverage is good, but AT&T has come a long way in the past several years, at least in my area.

Idk.. LTE has been pretty widespread in all of the areas that I've traveled to in the last few months. That includes Orange County, Los Angeles, in the desert on the way to Vegas, in Vegas, in Edison New Jersey, all around New York.

TBH I wouldnt trade my 20+ Mbps and sub 50ms ping for HSPA+.

 

[Aikouka]

That's part of it - if you have Verizon, you desparately want LTE, because EV-DO is horrible. If you're getting 21+ HSPA on T-Mobile or AT&T, you can probably live with it until the technology improves.

That's something that's been nagging at me for awhile. Verizon already has LTE in my area, but AT&T doesn't. If I decide to get a phone with LTE, I would obviously have to go with Verizon. However, if I ever leave my area, I end up stuck with the much slower 3G speeds compared to what I would be on AT&T's 3G or "3.5G".

So... just continue to be a recluse, and I'll be fine! :biggrin:

 

[bearxor]

That's something that's been nagging at me for awhile. Verizon already has LTE in my area, but AT&T doesn't. If I decide to get a phone with LTE, I would obviously have to go with Verizon. However, if I ever leave my area, I end up stuck with the much slower 3G speeds compared to what I would be on AT&T's 3G or "3.5G".

So... just continue to be a recluse, and I'll be fine! :biggrin:

But if you were already on Verizon you'd be saying 'BUT I CAN HAVE LTE WHEN IM IN THE RIGHT AREA!!!'

Which you should totally feel that way.

 

[hans007]

i guess for me, i consider LTE basically "verizons network" at this point. and hspa+ as at&t / t-mobile.

and in the end it was a choice between a tetrrrible network (t-mobile) and verizon at the time i switched. i suppose if there was a mythical network that was as good as verizons but ran HSPA+ like if say t-mobile's network wasnt awful, then thats where i'd be. Sadly this mythical network doesnt exist in a lot of cities.

 

[soccerballtux]

I was comparing T-Mobile to Verizon. I personally can't even consider AT&T, on three separate occasions they doubled my monthly bill (no explanation), and they once tried to charge me with an ETF for an item I returned one day after buying. Their service was shit back in the iPhone 3G days, and it doesn't matter how much/little they've improved, I just don't care about them anymore.

I'm not on AT&T I'm on straighttalk

 

[soccerballtux]

That's part of it - if you have Verizon, you desparately want LTE, because EV-DO is horrible. If you're getting 21+ HSPA on T-Mobile or AT&T, you can probably live with it until the technology improves.

I wonder if they're making it bad to get you to go to 4G. That wouldn't surprise me. They're perfectly capable of making it be faster than Sprint's 3g. 100KBps is plenty for webbrowsing and I think many people wouldn't want to go to 4g if they got solid 3g service.

 

[basslover1]

Idk.. LTE has been pretty widespread in all of the areas that I've traveled to in the last few months. That includes Orange County, Los Angeles, in the desert on the way to Vegas, in Vegas, in Edison New Jersey, all around New York.

TBH I wouldnt trade my 20+ Mbps and sub 50ms ping for HSPA+.

Yea, areas with a high population density. In my neck of the woods, I need to head south towards Tampa, or on the coast covering most of US 19. Where I live, and where I work, which is where 99% of my phone usage is I don't get LTE even though I'm in an "Extended Coverage Area." My house isn't a big deal because of WiFi, but at work I would kill for LTE since the 3G connection is pretty shitty.

 

[lothar]

I'm happy enough with HSPA on my iPhone 4. I can pull 3-5Mbps down in most spots and it's more than fast enough for my phone browsing.

Now, if I was on Verizon, I'd definitely want LTE. If I was on Sprint 3G at this point, I'd definitely want LTE and would wait until it's in my area.

But, for AT&T and T-Mobile, I'm not quite convinced that the benefits to LTE are really as pronounced. Once LTE starts hitting over 50Mbps maybe (though I understand AT&T's implementation is hitting in the mid-40's but Verizon's is in the mid-20's). And of course, I think we all expect LTE to be a serious contender for home internet replacement once bandwidth issues are resolved. I'm most anxious to see that but I know I won't get LTE in my area through AT&T until 2016 or so.

AT&T is only hitting that level because no one is on their network yet.

 

[lothar]

i guess for me, i consider LTE basically "verizons network" at this point. and hspa+ as at&t / t-mobile.

and in the end it was a choice between a tetrrrible network (t-mobile) and verizon at the time i switched. i suppose if there was a mythical network that was as good as verizons but ran HSPA+ like if say t-mobile's network wasnt awful, then thats where i'd be. Sadly this mythical network doesnt exist in a lot of cities.

AT&T HSPA+ doesn't exist in your area while T-Mobile does?
That's a bit surprising to me.

 

[dagamer34]

AT&T is only hitting that level because no one is on their network yet.

Also in some markets like Chicago, they don't have as much spectrum to use as Verizon does, and certainly not a single license across the entire continental US for a single band.

 

[lothar]

Also in some markets like Chicago, they don't have as much spectrum to use as Verizon does, and certainly not a single license across the entire continental US for a single band.

I was not comparing AT&T to Verizon...I was comparing them to T-Mobile.

 

[Rambusted]

I am on tmobile in the northeast and my data speeds in my area are fast enough to browse the web, download apps, and stream netflix without any issues at all. But with limited data plans what difference does any of this make. I cant stream netflix because it chews up too much data so most of my data usage goes to web browsing and the speeds are overkill for that. I would not trade faster speeds for less battery unless I had a truly unlimited data plan.

 

[Anubis]

Idk.. LTE has been pretty widespread in all of the areas that I've traveled to in the last few months. That includes Orange County, Los Angeles, in the desert on the way to Vegas, in Vegas, in Edison New Jersey, all around New York.

TBH I wouldnt trade my 20+ Mbps and sub 50ms ping for HSPA+.

i live in a town of 6000 people in western NY

Ive had 4G for months, the speed is nice but i never use it, i dont have it at work and i just sit on wifi if im at my house, if i drive 6 miles south of where i live it drops out and does not pick back up for 60 miles, going north it stays in for about 15 miles then nothing for 30 and then it comes back but is super spotty

its simply easier to stay on 3g and that even does not have 100% coverage out here either

 

[poofyhairguy]