Sprint will begin throttling its unlimited plans in June

[soccerballtux]

I think Sprint is a special case, though, in that the backhaul actually is part of the problem. If you haven't been on Sprint before you can't understand how awful it is. Trying to use their "3G" data is more like using dial-up. Why anyone still uses Sprint is beyond me, literally anything is better. It also kills several affordable prepaid carriers like Ting, Republic Wireless, and Virgin Mobile. No matter how little you pay it's too much.

nah. Most of the time that I've actually been on 3G, it's been FINE. 100KBps loads any webpage in 5 seconds.
The problem is there are many times when you're on 1x and don't know it because they just made all their phones say it's 3G ALL the time even when it's not. Which is VERY frequent. In fact I've had times I'm just sitting at home with a perfectly solid 3G signal and the PRL will tell the phone to jump to another tower with 2 bars instead of 5 for whatever dumb reason. Went through this for years on their MVNOs and just gave up. I don't know why they haven't gotten it worked out. If their 3G actually stayed at 3G and didn't dump you back to 2g 1xRTT I would have been fine with them. I can go without streaming video, most of the time I just want music and websites, which 100KBps was fine for.

When it's not fine it's either 1xRTT or their Proxy isn't responding or the website server isn't responding...the proxy one bothers me the most... just give a straight connection to the internet...stop proxying everything for me.

 

[soccerballtux]

I'm on straight talk with ATT now. I have an LTE signal all the time. The LTE bandwidth test is always like 20mbps or more...which is more than enough.

The problem is, again, their proxy doesn't respond half the time and inserts 10 second latencies to DNS when there should be none.

It really pisses me off.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I'm on straight talk with ATT now. I have an LTE signal all the time. The LTE bandwidth test is always like 20mbps or more...which is more than enough.

The problem is, again, their proxy doesn't respond half the time and inserts 10 second latencies to DNS when there should be none.

It really pisses me off.

Yeah, I think the carriers look for the speed test ip's/signature and give them preference to inflate the speed indication. I can sit for a while waiting for a page to load or data to populate but speed test still indicates decent performance. Not unlike the phone makers tweaking Android to perform better with benchmarks when real world performance is a lot less.


Brian

 

[Brian Stirling]

But that has nothing to do with us endangered "data hogs" and everything to do with dumbphone owners going smartphone.

Nonsense, we've been fairly saturated and in a replacement market for a couple years now. But in addition, the typical user is eating more data every year as they use Netflixs and YouTube more.

The typical user a few years ago ate perhaps 250MB/month, but the typical user is probably pushing near 1GB/month now. The average data use is a lot higher than that do to data hogs eating 10GB to over 200GB per month. It doesn't take many people eating 200GB per month to push the average up.

So in truth it is BOTH the increase in data use of the typical user AND the data hogs that are crippling the networks.

Much as I hate to say it the telecoms are likely to get there way so they can charge Netflixs customers more to consume high bandwidth media.

In the end, and I've been saying this for years, were likely to see the carriers move to metered service so they can charge you for the amount you use. And, as usual, it will be the hogs that they will argue to the FCC and congress that is driving the need for additional charges. The folks exploiting the system will be the ones that drive the cost up for everyone.


Brian

 

[midwestfisherman]

Just another of many reasons that Sprint sucks!

 

[HumblePie]

Been a Sprint customer since 1998. Only reason I stayed was I was on a really cheap original plan back in the day until they forced me off. Then I got the original SERO. Until they forced me off. I picked up the SERO-P and have been using the HTC EVO 4G LTE for the past 2 years. My contract is up and I'm now looking to end this farce. Sprint was only good because of the price in the past. It isn't the cheapest, not does it even compete with any one else at the price points it offers. Even with slightly cheaper SERO plan. I've had my wife on Straight Talk for 2 years now and she has been doing great. way better coverage, almost always have 4G LTE access. Good speeds too most of the time. I get absolute horrible connections. I'm lucky to get any data access even when I am standing within 100' of one of their 4G LTE towers. I mean the damn service won't even pick up my phone or constantly flickers from nothing, to 3G, to 4G, to nothing. It's stupid. And it is just not the phone. I seen other people with the same problem with different phones like the Samsung Galaxies.

So I'm ready to drop Sprint like a hot potato. Which means I'm in a market for a new phone. I'll probably do Straight Talk like I did with my wife. Still means I have to find a nice unlocked GSM phone I want. The other problem is that my wife sees me getting an "upgrade" and of course she wants an upgrade to her Note 1 as well now. Which means shelling out over a grand for a couple of decent unlocked phones. Ugh.

Trying to fend off her upgrade fever though for a bit. Which means I'm having to be stuck on Sprint since I don't want to be shelling out that much cash when I have a baby expected to be due in a bit over a month. I have my eye on the 64 GB OnePlus One though for the price. If I can get a couple of those for $700 or less, that would be what I go with. Of course my wife has her heart set on the LG G2 though or maybe the upcoming G3. Just don't feel like pushing out that much cash right now when I'm trying to make sure I have enough on hand for any emergency problem I might have with the delivery of the baby. But for some reason that logic doesn't seem to getting to her. Which means I'll have to stick with Sprint for a while longer I guess.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Humble, I'd grab two Nexus 5's right now and get the hell off Sprint to save yourself the every-day frustration you're currently dealing with. That would be a whole world of difference for you.

 

[mikegg]

Sprint is horrible anyways. Their LTE gets best down even by hspa. Truly was pitiful when I had them and so glad to have dropped them.

When I had Sprint in 2013, I would connect to their LTE network with 4 bars and my data connection still didn't work sometimes. It's a god-awful experience. Sprint is a freaking scam.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I don't know what you're smoking. No one has been able to get unlimited on AT&T or Verizon for rather longer than these 18 months, and yet, as you note, service has gotten worse. Hell, no one even *has* real unlimited on AT&T any more, and Verizon has shrunk its base considerably by zapping upgrades.

So what's caused the skyrocketing demand that's swamped the networks, which were working just fine when the last unlimited customer walked through the gate? Not some influx or multiplying data use by us unlimited "hugs". It's the exploding number of smartphone newcomers. Limited data per customer doesn't mean limited data use in the aggregate.

My AT&T service has not gotten worse. If anything I've seen them improve HSPA speeds from 2011 to 2012, and then roll out decent LTE in the Bay Area. I've also seen them deploy Band 4 AWS LTE in LA since LA seems to be spectrum squeezed.

The issue is that more and more users are getting pulled into smartphones. Even if a good portion of the population was before, they're now ditching their crappy Samsung Infuses or HTC Arias now for Galaxy S4s and S5s that consume data like no other. The 5s introduction also pulled the last iPhone users still not on LTE into LTE. So yeah, you can bet data is getting more use. It's not like AT&T has been sitting there with an LTE network built in 2012 and just watching it fill up while doing nothing. Do I agree they could still improve their network more? Yeah, but it's not like data caps don't help them.

 

[Sheep]

Humble, I'd grab two Nexus 5's right now and get the hell off Sprint to save yourself the every-day frustration you're currently dealing with. That would be a whole world of difference for you.

I did this with one Nexus 5 back in November, eating a $150 ETF. It was TOTALLY worth it considering I now pay less to AIO for far better service. I've already more than made up the ETF in savings.

 

[HumblePie]

Humble, I'd grab two Nexus 5's right now and get the hell off Sprint to save yourself the every-day frustration you're currently dealing with. That would be a whole world of difference for you.

Except my wife doesn't want a Nexus 5. Too mainstream for her or some BS. Plus she likes the bigger "phablets" as phones. She has a Note 1 and loved it when I first got it for her. She doesn't want a Note 3 though because someone else at her work that she doesn't like has one already. Women.

Besides, I've been on my current setup for a couple years now. Another month or two isn't going to kill me. My wife might though....

 

[s44]

Except my wife doesn't want a Nexus 5. Too mainstream for her or some BS. Plus she likes the bigger "phablets" as phones. She has a Note 1 and loved it when I first got it for her. She doesn't want a Note 3 though because someone else at her work they she doesn't like has one already. Women.

Hilarious.

Unless she needs the pen (in which case she's SOL until the Note 4 appears), 1+1 seems perfect for her. You could also go backwards to the G Pro 1.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Except my wife doesn't want a Nexus 5. Too mainstream for her or some BS. Plus she likes the bigger "phablets" as phones. She has a Note 1 and loved it when I first got it for her. She doesn't want a Note 3 though because someone else at her work they she doesn't like has one already. Women.

Besides, I've been on my current setup for a couple years now. Another month or two isn't going to kill me. My wife might though....

If she wants to go for a non-mainstream phablet, you can't get more hipster than a Lumia 1520.

Android is too mainstream.

 

[paperwastage]

Except my wife doesn't want a Nexus 5. Too mainstream for her or some BS. Plus she likes the bigger "phablets" as phones. She has a Note 1 and loved it when I first got it for her. She doesn't want a Note 3 though because someone else at her work they she doesn't like has one already. Women.

Besides, I've been on my current setup for a couple years now. Another month or two isn't going to kill me. My wife might though....

GPE Xperia Z Ultra @ $449 + tax/ship...

doubt there are a lot of people buying straight from google, and a extreme phablet too (6.4")

 

[gmaster456]

Their entire network has been throttled for a few years now.