Why can't a T-Mo phone get LTE?

[guy48065]

On the Net10 website it sez a T-Mobile phone will get 4G but not LTE. An AT&T-branded phone will get LTE. What's the difference, since they're both GSM phones and will be on the same AT&T towers??

 

[Rukbat]

IF they're both on AT&T towers (you can also use a TMobile SIM on Net10), TMobile phones are missing one of the LTE radio bands - the one AT&T uses for LTE. (No need for them in a TMobile phone, since TMobile doesn't use that band.)

Don't worry about it - if you're getting 21mbps (TMobile's speed) between you and the gateway, it's still FAR faster than most data travels on the internet. Thhis "speed race" is mostly hype, and will continue to be hype until Internet II, when we have giganet speeds on the internet itself.

It's like I have a Ferrari and you have a Lamborghini - which one goes faster in mud? The internet is mud right now. They're still testing materials like concrete and blacktop. Sure you can get 85mbps on Ookla when you do a test - that's through about 2 nodes. Do a speed test using the same phone, the same app, but a server halfway around he world, or in "spit&bubblegum-istan" (you can choose the server to test with) and see how much those super speeds are worth in real usage.

There's a server in New Zealand that a lot of people use to distribute files. (Not warez - legitimate stuff.) For those of us in the US, it's start the download and go to dinner. Download the same size file from Microsoft and it's start the download and don't get up. It's nice to have a phone that can do a zillion files per second speed - but the internet still has to catch up. The difference between my phone waiting 80% of the time or waiting 85% of the time, because the phone is so much faster than the internet that it spends most of its "download" time waiting for the next packet, really never concerns me. I just hope I live long enough to see file transfers going 12,000 miles at 20mbps regularly. (About as likely as my winning the Irish Sweepstakes without buying a ticket.)

 

[guy48065]

I guess it's a moot point now--she grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on that day. She also didn't take my advice to buy the activation kit from Best Buy where she could get some help. Instead she waited til late and bought a "universal" kit from Walmart and is now confused by all the sim choices. The kit has CDMA instructions and sim cards for Tmobile & AT&T. She installed & activated the Tmobile sim. I told her I think that's not specifically for a Tmobile phone, but it's to get on the Tmobile network. Am I right on the intention of their confusing packaging?

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

So why dose my tmobile note ii get lte on at&t towers with aio wirless?

And no I do not mean 4g hsdpa+ as I did with at&t go phone [blocked with the imei, by at&t] and straight talk.

Aio wirless lte is caped at 8mbps tho, but their throttle is much higher than straight talk.
They also do not complain about me teathering, using upwards of 30gbs a month or disconnect my dsts like straight talk.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

If the phone is locked tmobile sim for tmobile phone.
If unlocked, either
I did not see anything confusing about it but I am a geek.

My earlier post straight taln also includes net10 which I have also used.

Please check out aio if your tmobile phone is unlocked.

 

[guy48065]

The"long range" plan for the Family is to bail on hopeless Net10 and sign on the new-priced AT&T multi - line plan. So i guess it really doesn't matter for less than a month.

 

[guy48065]

But I AM curious about aio. Even though i don't like them throttling to 8mbps i think I could live with that if it was real - world speed.
In practice you're happier with them than Net10?

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Aio by leaps and bounds over att, tmobile, straight talk, net10, boost.

Because the throttle is 128kbps after high speed. Which is manageable, as opposed to net10/st throttle wich might as well just turn off your data.

8mps is a real world speed test.
Uploads are unthrottled.

 

[guy48065]

Better how, exactly? Looking at their website their plans and pricing are nearly identical to Net10. About the only thing I could do with unlimited 128kps is streaming music continuously.

I've been happy with Net10 price and coverage. I've never dropped a call and clarity has been great. The reason I'm leaving is their horrible CS and frequent errors. AT&T 4 lines & 10G shared for $160 looks good to me. As does their "don't care how you use your data" fine print.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Indeed.
The price, two 5gb plans is cheeper than att shared 10gb
As for call quality, it is the same as you would expect from at&t as aio is soley an at&t mvno opporator.

And their custumer service dosent suck and dose not have over seas call centers.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Aio wont care how u use ur data either. And if u go over u dont haft to pay extra but just slow. An avrage user shpuldent have an issue.

I assume ur looking at getting two lines?

 

[guy48065]

Looking to get 3 or 4 lines.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

160 for four lines?
At&t then hands down.
Best price
Is that real world price? Or pre add this fee and that administrative fee ect?

 

[guy48065]

That's their nationally advertised rate--but it's probably pre-tax, regulatory add-ons, etc. I like the way they've structured the plan:
$100 for 10G of high-speed data
$15 per line for BYOP, no-contract price.

This way the more lines, the better the deal--as long as you don't exceed your data cap.

BTW in reading Aio's Wireless Agreement they do allow tethering--but looks to me like they prohibit any activity you'd likely want to use tethering for. Like many MVNOs they probably ignore the violations until you cross some imaginary line and become "unacceptable"

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Indeed.
As long as you are under 220 at the end of the day, att
Over 220, aio

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Still wont get lte on att directly with a tmobile phone tho.
Least not in my experience.

 

[guy48065]

Still wont get lte on att directly with a tmobile phone tho.
Least not in my experience.

In post #4 you said you do get LTE on your Tmo phone. Or do you mean you get the LTE indicator but not the speed?
Does Aio state publicly they throttle their high-speed data to not-so-high-speed?

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

I get lte. It is the lte bands that are in use but because of the aio proxy it is throttled to hsdpa+ speeds of 8-9mbps.

But since with every other carrier on my tmo device [att, straight talk, net10, I got only hsdpa+ anyways, which obviously cannot be because I lack an antenna because the att note ii and tmobile note ii have all the same antennas.

Tmo
GSM:
850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
UMTS:
850, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz
FDD LTE:
700 (band 17), 1700/2100 (band 4) MHz

[The lte is not listed on many specs because it wasent advertised at release, but it is there and was unlocked with a new version of android. [4.1.2]]

At&t
GSM:
850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
UMTS:
850, 1900, 2100 MHz
FDD LTE:
700 (band 17), 1700/2100 (band 4) MHz

] I am happy with that speed as the trottle on the spft cap is higher than any other carrier and there is no hard cap like with att go phone.

So as you can see it should work, regardless of what band lte at&t is using in your area provided your device is similar to mine. [I cant remember whst tmo device u have of hand]

I cannot run tmobile because one of their non lte frequencies interfears with base opporations near my home.

However when I was in salt lake city last march, I got on tmobile for a month because of the isis sim was in that area and come to find out so was the lte rollout on tmobile and low and behold lte speeds of 21-30mbps [if memory serves for the max, I know it was 21mbs usualy.] depending on time of day.

Same icon, on hsdpa I dont get a 4glte icon I get an h or on hsdpa+ an h+.

Also looking in hidden menus and playing with the connections I am sure its realy running lte on aio.

I have not run this device on att post pade tho, u may have better luck there.

 

[trinian]

Greetings,
I know this is a little off topic but I have a issue was hoping I could get advice on. I have a HTC one from tmobile but I don't have an account there. I unlocked and use ATT sim. I bought the phone from a guy on craigslist. Lately I've been noticing a pink tint when taking picture in the dark. Googled it and they say update software. I now have KitKat. Same problem. I want to get the phone fixed. Considering I am not with TMobile etc. How do I get them to fix or possibly replace this phone? Any help given will be really appreciated

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

If it is under warrenty ur recept frome purchase shoud suffice if it has been less than two years, of more than two years you will prolly just need to get a new phone. Sounds like its a problem with the cammera.

You can try getting a small stsr point and open the phone and replace the cammera, the lense is modular and should have a disconectable ribbon cable but I am not sure.