byulax22

I'm ready to drop my Verizon service and take the plunge in to the world of prepaids. I've decided I'm going to get an LG Optimus Andriod phone, but I'm trying to decide between Virgin & Metro PCS as my carrier. Can anyone tell me if the data download speed will be faster with Virgin or Metro (assuming no 4G)? I'm confident the voice service will be similar (I'm in the Dallas area). Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Darnell0216

The Optimus has a max of 3G so forget about 4G. Virgin has 3G, Metro doesn't .

byulax22

Thanks. So is Metro significantly slower than Virgin? Or are we just talking a little slower?

allmanallpimp

well, metro has 1x and lte at the moment. virgin utilizes sprint's evdo service. with that phone in particular virgin would be better, but why not put something like the evo or epic or whatever you want on boost mobile??? same towers, lower bill (drops 5/month every six months until you're at 35/month as long as your payments are on time.) i personally have metro at the moment. it's the least expensive of the carriers that i have some nice pull with when problems arise, ha ha.

Oakland79

After being with Metro for YEARS I switched to Virgin to get a better phone and faster internet.

I missed SOOOO many text from various people on multiple carriers. Went back to metro and now I think I get all of my text again.

Virgin sucks and the support sucks like any other major company using India. I also got all kinds of unknown charges I had to keep calling and having removed.

polywood223

Metro rules all

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AndroidxGuy

Metro is slowly but surely getting better

Aplus

I couldn't agree more. And, with the upcoming LG Esteem, it seems like they are realizing that it's not just broke people who use the service but also people who don't like to be tied down with contracts. I'll admit being broke was the reason I chose them at the time about 10 years ago but I stuck with them because I wanted to have the freedom of not worrying about being under a contract and also I have never had bad reception in my area. I have just been waiting for them to release some higher end phones.

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AndroidxGuy

I've been with metro for about 7 years and I was broke at the time too but then I liked the no contract and obscene overage charges. Always had good to great coverage at most of my hangouts. I've also had the same $50 plan from day one and I find the fact that they usually had added features to my plan rather than remove quite nice. With luck and a good strategy metro will be in Tmobiles or even sprints spot in a few years.

byulax22

Thanks guys. I tried Virgin for a month, and after having no service in my house, or my office, I returned the Optimus V for a full refund. I then got my Optimus M through Metro, and have been very happy with my service. I did notice that if I was in an area with good Virgin service my internet was significantly faster than Metro's, but the service was much more spotty with Virgin, so I'm glad I made the switch.

Davedore

Metro has always had 3G. The 1X has nothing to do with meaning 1 or 2G. I rooted a Huawei Ascend and downloaded a cpu tuner that had a 3G only setting and I always had signal and service.

Re$TLe$$

I have an Ascend as well..mind sharing your tactics on how you got 3g with Metro?

AndroidxGuy

On metro phone dial *228 then click 5 when it asks what you want then say yes if it asks for confirmation about roaming list update. Once updated phone will reboot and if you got prl #3020 there's a good chance you'll get 3G service. I've been trying but I'm still stuck on prl #3019.

TRS-80

This post is somewhat misleading. Like the Metro reps who try to tell you that Metro's 1X is "3G". lol

1X-RTT is technically a "3G" technology. However, it only gives you speeds around 100 kbps (think dialup). When you say "3G" people have a certain expectation of speed, and Metro's 1X-RTT doesn't come anywhere close to that expectation, unfortunately.

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cafonez

What are the actual 3g speeds you get with virgin? With metros 3g im capped around 200kbps which is driving me nuts.. I just don't like vm now has a data cap

ChazzMatt

NO, Metro has always has 1x RTT which has a max data rate of 150kbps, and in real life often 100k or less. In 1997, the ITU officially classified 1X RTT as "3G" technology.

But in 2005, the ITU issued revised 3G CDMA guidelines which stipulated minimum data speed of 384kbps for "3G". While they never officially demoted 1x RTT from being "3G technology" it no longer met the requirements of 3G, namely data speed. EVDO is full 3G which is why 1x RTT started being called "2.5G". It was sort of in no-man's land.

Sort of like a pristine Model T Ford in 2011. It's still an automobile, it runs -- but it can't meet the minimum 40mph interstate speed that got imposed after in was invented. It can't compare to a 2011 Ford Focus.

When Verizon, AT&T, Spring get 2,000kpbs for their "3G" speed, the 1x RTT 100k is obviously not in the same league. It's doesn't meet minimum 3G speed.

All the people defending Metro's use of 1X RTT either don't know or don't want to admit the 2005 ITU revised standards.

Last edited by ChazzMatt; August 22nd, 2011 at 09:44 AM.

godsdragon

Questions:
1. How can you get an EVO shift with Boost??
2. How come you say Metro is the least expensive if Boost has reduction down to 35 a month and Virgin starts at 35 a month for limited mins??

I am with Spring atm and am looking at early termination of services due to the fee increase they are pulling. My contract was going to end last days of December... So I still need to make up my confused mind...

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Davedore

Wasnt trying to mislead anyone. Just trying to be of help. I had a friend root his android and tried setting it to 2g only. The end results were no recievable signal at all. Yes, after delving into the facts, metro's 3g signal is at the base end of 3g. After more research I was told that they are in the process of upgrading to a more desireable 3g signal. No E.T.A. though. :-(

ChazzMatt

No, they're not upgrading -- at least officially they are not. Metro is implementing a CAPPED EVDO in some of their 14 markets to relieve stress. Capped at 200kbps, seems to be the consensus. Again, only a few markets, CAPPED, and temporary. They plan on turning off their CDMA at some point -- probably in the next couple of years, since they keep promising publicly they will do it. They are pushing everyone to LTE and VoLTE.

Most of their 14 markets will never see EVDO.

Last edited by ChazzMatt; August 26th, 2011 at 11:43 AM.

biggpat86

I have both metro and virgin and i can honestlysay they are both rather even here in the dfw area where i reside. I have an intercept with virgn and an acsend (soon to be admire) on metro.

For about the last week or so ive had a 3g connection on my metro device. Was shocked as all hell and asked the question most o us did: "when the hell did metro get 3g?!" But its here and it works. My virgin phone does appear to download apps/images SLIGHTLY faster. But 3g coverage with metro is spotty en route to several destinations. But at work, my ole ladys house and my house, i keep a 3g symbol on my phone.

Davedore

Yes they are upgrading. Im not dreaming it up cause my source is a friend in corp. for Metro PCS

JoshHarris

Why wouldn't all markets see EVDO? and where do you come up with that?....not asking for your source, just curious as to where your knowledge comes from and if its believable or not.

ChazzMatt

I may have to retract that. Now Metro apparently is going to put EVDO -- still capped -- in all markets. The Metro employee who told me said initially was supposed to be "select" markets. However, it apparently will NOT "blanket" the markets, just in the busiest areas to relieve stress.

Metro themselves said publicly many times they were skipping "3G" (code word for EVDO) to go straight to LTE. Now they are going back and upgrading to EVDO in some areas of all markets, and still capping it.

JoshHarris

Ok thank you. That makes sence. I saw on some of your other posts the Bryce video you took (I think it was actually the LG Extreme). Can you say how well that functioned? The functions on your video look comparable to the IPod in speed. Also, how was the LTE coverage where you are?

SamsungAdmire

look at metro now >

THE W

metro completely owns all of the other budget phone services at this point.

THE W

Sorry to hear about your bad experience but this does not mean everyone who is on metro is guaranteed to have a similar experience and I certainly have not myself. There are customer service horror stories from people on every carrier. Metro isn't the only one and probably isn't any worse than the other budget carriers out there.

AppleUser

How does one determine which "prl" you get or are at ?

UKCatFan

It is in your settings in about phone.

lingming

well i can say this 4g less them 1mb 1x 100kbs-200 and their 3g signs will get you 500kbs tested in LA LV MI and AZ place like tmo and sprint might not get you unli 4g for a good press but you can get the unl 3g witch is 2-4mb and maybe 2g of 4g tmo also has a non contract metro is falling they mgiht be getting better phones but but their is no more unli 4g unless you pay 70bucks and 4g at metro is slow 1mb if your lucky

THE W

maybe im totally wrong about what i've been saying.

what other carrier is giving you unlimited talk, text, and unlimited 4g data for lower than $70 a month that has faster data speeds than metro?

Spike15

You are probably in a bad area. I get 2-7 Mbps depending on the area. The most common speeds I see on my phone are in the range of 3-5 Mbps.

Last edited by Spike15; June 24th, 2012 at 05:53 AM.

narutoninjakid

Virgin now kicks metros ass. Go look at some of the phones they have now. HTC evo 3d, iPhone 4 and 4s plus HTC one v. I'm switching this month. If metro wants to keep up they better step up their game. That's all I have to say anyway.

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THE W

was thinking about switching to them too until i saw that they have a 2.5Gb data limit(3.5GB with mobile hotspot). their top plan is the same as metros $50 plan which is $5 cheaper.

iphones are 3g only so your data speeds wont be faster than what metro offers. i do agree that you're getting a better phone with the evo but with such restrictions you wont be able to use it to its potential.

Spike15

Buy they don't have LG Esteem!

dose17

the 2.5GB limit applies to 3G data, but the Wimax is caped at 10GB...

narutoninjakid

sold mine a few days ago on ebay for $313

THE W

Ok,

Someone else told me the 4G is capped at 2.5gb but the 3g is unlimited. Which one is true?

alfick3

I just looked at their Web site, and the 3G/4G data is capped after 2.5GB. If you get the hot spot, then you get 3.5GB. You still can use as much data as you want, but after those 2 numbers your speed will get capped.

In my opinion, that still makes Metro come out on top for data service. I'm quite content with my Optimus M+ also.

Edit: oh by the way, I looked up boost mobile and they are imposing the speed cap as well, after 2.5GB.

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Last edited by alfick3; July 6th, 2012 at 10:21 PM.

THE W

yeah, i've looked at the website.

they throttle you down to 256kbps for the remainder of your billing period after your allowance. someone talked about how they got on the phone with a salesrep and they were told that 3g was unlimited. i dont believe this as it doesnt say this on the website, all the fine print points to both 3g and 4g being throttled and it would be a great disservice to virgin to not put on their website that their 3g is unthrottled if it really is or that the 4g is uncapped up to 10gbs.

virgin and boost are more or less the same BTW.

Sterlsilver

One question. Does, metro throttle your unlimited data? I heard that happened.

alfick3

I have not had my data throttled. 'Course I don't know that I ever reach a high level of usage. I hook into wifi a lot, so my data goes that way.

THE W

Hasn't happened to me.

Sterlsilver

Oh ok I just had to be sure. And I hear that if you do have throttled data (say you go over 5gb) there is a way, to prevent throttling or, something like today idk.

alfick3

I don't think there is any way you can prevent the company from throttling your data. That is getting close to sounding like you are trying to cheat the company and that is frowned upon on this forum.

Sterlsilver

I'm sorry. maybe I read too much lol. My apologies.

euphan1555

just wanted to clear up some confusion.4g on vm is truly unlimited meaning they dont throttle it.also they dont throttle 3g on the evo but they do on every other phone.the speculation is they dont have a way to tell 3g and 4g apart on the evo.

sorry for bumping a old thread but i was over here doing some research to see if metropcs was for me since im planning on ditching vm at the end of my current billing cycle.i love having unlimited 4g on vm but the speeds are not consistent in my area.i could have a 15k speedtest and 5 minutes later have one for 100.

only one thing makes me nervous about switching to metro and that is they dont offer hotspot on the 70 month plan.i already had my data banned on tmobile for for using foxfi and really dont feel like being banned on another carrier.

narutoninjakid

vm was the best choice i ever made metro was a joke . i even get 4g in newark nj.

euphan1555

if you are in a area that has good to great 4g i will agree vm is the better choice but my 4g fluctuates way to much for it to be the right choice for me.you have no idea how frustrating it is to go from dl'ing a 200 mb file in under 5 minutes and the next one you download takes over an hour.im also getting sick of seeing netfix buffer so much.i want steady speeds and if i can get that with metro i will gladly make the switch but like said i just wish they offered the hotspot feature on their $70 plan.if i do switch i will just use pdanet and forget about wifi tethering.

THE W

apparently VM is having issues with their data tracking system so at the moment their 4g data is unthrottled.

Is virgin mobile 4g wimax unlimited for phones?