This is going to be a rant because I feel like I got jipped on my S3 for Sprint, both data and calling.
On June 6th, I pre-ordered this awesome phone. I knew that LTE was in the works, but decided to get it anyway on Sprint because you just can't beat their unlimited data and prices, IMO. I knew it would only be 3G capable for a while because the LTE towers were being processed.
On June 21st I got it. I always use wifi at home, so I hooked it up and had endless hours sitting on the couch drinking beer learning my new device. I had previously owned the EVO 3D. I had done a lot of reading and noticed where I live (Houston) the LTE towers would be turned on July 15th. So a couple weeks went by and I saw someone on here had LTE in Kansas as that was another area to get LTE when we would. On July 14th, I switched to LTE on my phone and the 4G appeared. I was really excited. When I went a few miles away from the shopping center I was in with 4G, 3G came back on. The next day I had 4G only on my 20 min ride to work. No 4G at work and I am about 12 miles from downtown Houston.
I have an hour lunch break at work where I used to ALWAYS mess with my EVO - going from youtube to facebook, texting, internet, downloading apps... I did it all because an hour for lunch can be boring. The rest of that week I did NOT have 4G anywhere. A guy I work with had just gotten one on July 1st and he was getting as aggrivated as me. I called Sprint customer service. They said there was an LTE tower not far from my work and that now, the 4G was just basic and not LTE until at least August 15th. I told her the 4G is so scarce I can almost never use it. It's hit or miss when I'm out of the house. She couldn't give me an answer why.
Then I started looking online for a map of 4g LTE coverage for Sprint and when I saw the estimate for mid 2013 my jaw dropped. It was horrible.
I kept remembering the commercials for Verizon and AT&T for LTE, LTE, LTE. In the back of my head I knew I made the wrong choice by staying with Sprint, but I didn't want to accept that or say it out loud.
2 more weeks went by and my honest conclusion is that this phone for Sprint is virtually UNUSABLE. Even the phone signal is very poor unless you're in a happening spot of town. In my apartment I would get 0-1 bars. I could barely send texts, and when people would call me at home I felt I couldn't even use it. At work I had 0-1 bars, sometimes 2 or 3. I've gotten more rejected txt messages in the last month than I could ever think was possible. My EVO never did this.
The data is terrible. 4G LTE is non existant (at least not now or anytime soon). 4G is so patchy it may as well not even turn on. And the 3G is just a plain joke. There were times when it would take minutes to load a page instead of seconds. Sometimes, the pages would never even load period because 3G wasn't even working!
I am not waiting around another year for the LTE. By then, newer phones will be out. And why am I paying 10 a month for data now? I don't even have data capabilities almost!
Shame on Sprint for bringing out 4G LTE phones MONTHS before their sh*t was together. At least try to have them work with WIMAX in the meatime or something! The S3 for Sprint should be compared to a Ferrari without any gas in it. It's cool to look at, but doesn't have what it takes to run.
After all that grief I decided this past Friday I was ultimately FED-UP!
I went out yesterday morning to AT&T, signed up and took home a REAL 4G LTE S3. I played with it at the store and the speeds are crazy fast. I saw a speed test on youtube of two S3's - one on Verizon and one for AT&T. They did 3 tests. AT&T won every time. Like I said, I just renewed last month and STILL left. Huge cancellation fee and all - that's how horrible it was.
Sure - I'm paying more a month, but I'm paying for great service now.
Thanks for reading.
On June 6th, I pre-ordered this awesome phone. I knew that LTE was in the works, but decided to get it anyway on Sprint because you just can't beat their unlimited data and prices, IMO. I knew it would only be 3G capable for a while because the LTE towers were being processed.
On June 21st I got it. I always use wifi at home, so I hooked it up and had endless hours sitting on the couch drinking beer learning my new device. I had previously owned the EVO 3D. I had done a lot of reading and noticed where I live (Houston) the LTE towers would be turned on July 15th. So a couple weeks went by and I saw someone on here had LTE in Kansas as that was another area to get LTE when we would. On July 14th, I switched to LTE on my phone and the 4G appeared. I was really excited. When I went a few miles away from the shopping center I was in with 4G, 3G came back on. The next day I had 4G only on my 20 min ride to work. No 4G at work and I am about 12 miles from downtown Houston.
I have an hour lunch break at work where I used to ALWAYS mess with my EVO - going from youtube to facebook, texting, internet, downloading apps... I did it all because an hour for lunch can be boring. The rest of that week I did NOT have 4G anywhere. A guy I work with had just gotten one on July 1st and he was getting as aggrivated as me. I called Sprint customer service. They said there was an LTE tower not far from my work and that now, the 4G was just basic and not LTE until at least August 15th. I told her the 4G is so scarce I can almost never use it. It's hit or miss when I'm out of the house. She couldn't give me an answer why.
Then I started looking online for a map of 4g LTE coverage for Sprint and when I saw the estimate for mid 2013 my jaw dropped. It was horrible.
I kept remembering the commercials for Verizon and AT&T for LTE, LTE, LTE. In the back of my head I knew I made the wrong choice by staying with Sprint, but I didn't want to accept that or say it out loud.
2 more weeks went by and my honest conclusion is that this phone for Sprint is virtually UNUSABLE. Even the phone signal is very poor unless you're in a happening spot of town. In my apartment I would get 0-1 bars. I could barely send texts, and when people would call me at home I felt I couldn't even use it. At work I had 0-1 bars, sometimes 2 or 3. I've gotten more rejected txt messages in the last month than I could ever think was possible. My EVO never did this.
The data is terrible. 4G LTE is non existant (at least not now or anytime soon). 4G is so patchy it may as well not even turn on. And the 3G is just a plain joke. There were times when it would take minutes to load a page instead of seconds. Sometimes, the pages would never even load period because 3G wasn't even working!
I am not waiting around another year for the LTE. By then, newer phones will be out. And why am I paying 10 a month for data now? I don't even have data capabilities almost!
Shame on Sprint for bringing out 4G LTE phones MONTHS before their sh*t was together. At least try to have them work with WIMAX in the meatime or something! The S3 for Sprint should be compared to a Ferrari without any gas in it. It's cool to look at, but doesn't have what it takes to run.
After all that grief I decided this past Friday I was ultimately FED-UP!
I went out yesterday morning to AT&T, signed up and took home a REAL 4G LTE S3. I played with it at the store and the speeds are crazy fast. I saw a speed test on youtube of two S3's - one on Verizon and one for AT&T. They did 3 tests. AT&T won every time. Like I said, I just renewed last month and STILL left. Huge cancellation fee and all - that's how horrible it was.
Sure - I'm paying more a month, but I'm paying for great service now.
Thanks for reading.
