[Q] Looking For Suggestions On Sprint Phablets

[gil_happy]

Hello,

I plan to switch from T-Mobile to Sprint after being with T-Mobile for almost 10 years. The 2 main reasons I'm looking to switch from T-Mobile to Sprint, is that Sprint is the only other provider that offer native WiFi calling (not Skype, etc) and also have a much better 4G network.

That being said, I have been using Samsung phones for the past few years and love them (although I really haven't used anything else besides these 2 models and a Blackberry) - first was the Galaxy SII and now the Note 3. I see that Sprint offer the Note 3 and Note 4 as well as the Note Edge, the Nexus 6, LG G Flex, and other Phablet phones.

My question is this (I know this question has been asked a million times before), of the Phablet phones offered by Sprint, are there any better or recommended models for someone like myself who would like to 'root' them, or even install a custom ROM? (on my Note 3, I only rooted it, but was looking at installing a custom ROM to mainly get rid of all the bloatware). I see that some forums recommend 'not' going with Samsung because of Knox concerns when rooting.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Member282753]

One thing that you need to understand with Sprint is that they have announced a roaming agreement with the CCA. The CCA is a huge group of rural carriers and LTE roaming on those carriers will be handled as native coverage. This will drastically increase Sprint's coverage footprint. This partnership is just getting started and will reach full steam in 2015. However, if you do not have a CCA compatible phone with Sprint you will not be able to realize the benefits of this. Right now, the only phone that is fully CCA compliant is the Nexus 6. The LG Flex 2 that was just announced at CES is also compliant. Personally, there is no way that I would buy a new phone right now with Sprint without it being CCA compliant unless you just do not ever travel anywhere outside of your home market. In order for a phone to be CCA compliant it must support LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12, 25, 26 and 41. Even the latest iPhone leaves out one of those bands, I cannot remember which one, so it is not compliant either.

 

[gil_happy]

Hello, thanks so much for the information..... From my posts on other forum sites and some of the responses I have received, I think I may just stay away from Sprint altogether. I may switch to Verizon as not only do they have the best 4G coverage, they plan to offer WiFi calling sometime in 2015.

 

[kate]

I may switch to Verizon as not only do they have the best 4G coverage, they plan to offer WiFi calling sometime in 2015.

Sprint has had WiFi calling for a year now:
WiFi Calling - Sprint

Not every phone supports it though so I don't know if their phablets can. I'm not sure if all Verizon phones will work with WiFi calling or just some, similar to Sprint.

 

[Member282753]

Hello, thanks so much for the information..... From my posts on other forum sites and some of the responses I have received, I think I may just stay away from Sprint altogether. I may switch to Verizon as not only do they have the best 4G coverage, they plan to offer WiFi calling sometime in 2015.

All that I will say is that a pretty coverage map doesn't mean a whole lot when you can only be in one place at one time. That is not to say that one carrier isn't better for you in your own personal situation. It very likely is. But at least think past the marketing commercials. Try to figure out what the coverage is like in the areas that matter to you and then make the best decision that you can.