Full speed data?

[schlar01]

I'm not a VM customer yet but from reading around it sounds like people think VM data speeds are limited because it is prepaid? I know about the throttling after 2.5 GB.

Just curious because I saw this on the VM web site....thoughts? I'm waiting to sign up until the HTC One V (hopefully) or an even better phone comes to VM in the next few months. One concern I had was that I might get poor speeds because it is prepaid.

Also, is there a way to try to determine what my data speeds would be? I've looked at Sprint's coverage map but it seems like data speeds are pretty variable based on the area. Thanks!

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell...alk-plans.jsp?intcmp=p-hp-pt1-brandmsg-011812

All Plans Include 2.5GB Per Month of Full-Speed Data. 2.5GB gets you 400,000 Mobile Internet Page Views, or 91 hours of Streaming Music, or 20 hours of Video Clips, or ...

 

[lifeblows10]

You said it best, it is variable based on the area. I'd say you'll at least get 50kbps, which isn't bad. I get at least 100kbps on my phone. I'm in Houston BTW.

 

[Petrah]

Only two bars here upstairs in my office at home, but 99.9% of the time I'm on Wi-Fi.

Test Date: Apr 13, 2012 4:29:32 am
Connection Type: EvdoA
Server: Aurora, IL
Download: 1783 kbps
Upload: 495 kbps
Ping: 160 ms

Note: Tests done to Speedtest.net servers are not indicative to what your speeds will be anywhere else.

 

[schlar01]

So what would be 'normal' for Sprint's network? Do the speeds look like they are throttled by default because it is prepaid or not?

Thanks.

 

[Petrah]

Not that I've ever been able to tell. My old roommate had an Intercept with Sprint when I use to have the Intercept from Virgin Mobile (my daughter now has that phone). Same speeds. No difference.

One really can't say what the norm speeds would be as it's totally going to depend on your location.

 

[Petrah]

Well done good job

I see what you did.

 

[schlar01]

Not that I've ever been able to tell. My old roommate had an Intercept with Sprint when I use to have the Intercept from Virgin Mobile (my daughter now has that phone). Same speeds. No difference.

One really can't say what the norm speeds would be as it's totally going to depend on your location.

Thanks, I mostly meant the normal speeds for any given location.

A secondary question for those that have VM - if I buy a fairly expensive phone can I return it or re-sell it on ebay if I don't get good service in my location? It seems like the coverage maps are not always a good indicator of good service. It seems like it will be OK but I'm not sure.

 

[nnickn]

I'm on the border of Hangover Park in Schaumburg IL, which is oddly near where NoNameFace is, and get about .75-1Mbps on my Optimus V. That is quite a difference in speed for practically being in the same city. I guess this is a good example of how Sprint is quite variable, even in the same town.

 

[Petrah]

/waves

Howdy neighbor!

 

[marc12868]

Thanks, I mostly meant the normal speeds for any given location.

A secondary question for those that have VM - if I buy a fairly expensive phone can I return it or re-sell it on ebay if I don't get good service in my location? It seems like the coverage maps are not always a good indicator of good service. It seems like it will be OK but I'm not sure.

The normal speed... There isn't really a normal speed since Sprint's network isn't constant.

And if you buy a phone from wherever you should have 30 days to return it for a full refund. After that you could sell it for partial price to someone on ebay or craigslist or the like.

And yea coverage maps aren't always that accurate. I got bad signal even though according to VM's coverage charts I was in a perfect signal area...

 

[keisukehonda]

I live in the D.C. area and I routinely get around 700 kbps down, I guess it all depends on your location.

 

[schlar01]

OK, maybe another stupid question but I have not upgraded to the smartphone world yet. Are the speeds such as 700 kbps on par with other companies 3G service, T-Mobile for example?

 

[marc12868]

OK, maybe another stupid question but I have not upgraded to the smartphone world yet. Are the speeds such as 700 kbps on par with other companies 3G service, T-Mobile for example?

On par with T-mo... No since they use HSPA or advanced 3g. So on T-mo 3g or as they call it 4g you would get higher speeds depending on your area. I regularly get 5+mbps down. Now comparing to Verizon or AT&T 3g it might be on par. But not compared to T-mo's...

 

[nnickn]

OK, maybe another stupid question but I have not upgraded to the smartphone world yet. Are the speeds such as 700 kbps on par with other companies 3G service, T-Mobile for example?

This is my extremely unscientific analysis on the subject in the Chicago area. All speeds are downloads.
T-Mobile 2G Edge about .10mbps
Sprint 3G CDMA Rev A. average about .75-1Mbps
Us Cellular 3G CDMA Rev? about 1-2mbps
AT&T 3G HSDPA average about 2-3Mbps
Clearwire 4G WiMAX 20-28Mbps
Verizon 4G LTE 20-70Mbps

 

[Petrah]

My boyfriend has the HTC Droid Eris with Verizon, so we did speed tests with our phones side by side on my desk. Here's the results:

Verizon 3G

Test Date: Apr 13, 2012 9:48:46 pm
Connection Type: EvdoA
Server: Chicago, IL
Download: 862 kbps
Upload: 447 kbps
Ping: 121 ms
-----------------------------------------------
Virgin Mobile 3G

Test Date: Apr 13, 2012 9:49:43 pm
Connection Type: EvdoA
Server: Chicago, IL
Download: 1652 kbps
Upload: 345 kbps
Ping: 161 ms

 

[schlar01]

Thanks everyone, do you find the speed to be good enough to support an occasional youtube video and general web surfing, email, etc?

 

[marc12868]

Thanks everyone, do you find the speed to be good enough to support an occasional youtube video and general web surfing, email, etc?

That really depends on where you are located and how fast your speeds are... Mine took about 5 minutes to load one page and to watch a youtube short youtube video I would probably have to let it buffer for a while... But other people have no problem so it ultimately comes down to how fast your data is.

 

[schlar01]

Thanks, I guess the only real way to know will be to sign up and see for myself. 5 minutes is pretty unreasonable for a web page IMO. I guess you get what you pay for but my area won't have 4G for a long time.

I know this forum isn't for T-Mobile but does anyone know how to check and see if my area is HSPA+ or is their entire network that way? Unsure of what I'm doing here.....I was also thinking about going with Str Talk with T-Mobile.

 

[marc12868]

Thanks, I guess the only real way to know will be to sign up and see for myself. 5 minutes is pretty unreasonable for a web page IMO. I guess you get what you pay for but my area won't have 4G for a long time.

I know this forum isn't for T-Mobile but does anyone know how to check and see if my area is HSPA+ or is their entire network that way? Unsure of what I'm doing here.....I was also thinking about going with Str Talk with T-Mobile.

T-mo's 3g network is HSPA/ HSPA+ depending on the phone you can either get HSPA or HSPA+ but you can check T-mo's coverage maps to get a general idea. Pay As You Go Coverage Map | Prepaid Coverage Zones | T-Mobile

 

[kangarooant]

im here in minneasota about 6 miles away from minneapolis hitting about 300kbps down and 200 up and when im in minneapolis been getting 1.5mbs down and 900kbps up

 

[thebryceee]

Not bad for 12 pm

 

[schlar01]

Not bad.....I'm probably going to sign up either here or with Boost if/when some new phones ever come out!

 

[thebryceee]

Not bad.....I'm probably going to sign up either here or with Boost if/when some new phones ever come out!

The Optimus Elite should be coming out some time this month and the Evo V (formerly known as Evo 3D) and the HTC One V should be coming out some time after May 27th.

 

[zachavm]

Here's MHO. Though I don't think VM is throttled, I do think that Sprint Customers are given priority. What this means to me is that if a tower is congested, the network customers get more allocated bandwidth. If they aren't then you get the standard fair (.8-2 Mbps). I have no real basis for this opinion mind you, just my minimally educated guess.

 

[thebryceee]

Here's MHO. Though I don't think VM is throttled, I do think that Sprint Customers are given priority. What this means to me is that if a tower is congested, the network customers get more allocated bandwidth. If they aren't then you get the standard fair (.8-2 Mbps). I have no real basis for this opinion mind you, just my minimally educated guess.

I used a Sprint PRL and didn't see that big a difference