Tri-Band technology?

-Mike- · Dec 11, 2013

Im about to leave sprint and move to VZW. My service is absolutely horrible here in the Baltimore area. The VZW rep said that Sprints bandwidth is crappy, and their lack of towers make their it suck. I told my sales rep that I'm heading out to best buy on friday to move all 4 of my lines to VZW. He then tells me that Sprint just had a hefty cash relase and will be aggressively working on towers and making upgrades at a much faster rate, blah, blah, blah. he then went on to say that once the upgrades were complete, Sprints "tri-band" technology would destroy every other carrier. i know sprint lies more than they offer the truth but Im wondering if anyone can shed any light on this tri-band stuff and this cash surplus/tower upgrades.

I have been calling into complain since May 2013. I call on a bi-weekly basis to emphasize my dissatisfaction. they tell me the same thing, almost as if they're reading from a script. And they always say things are about to get better.

Is there any truth to this?

Rxpert83 · Dec 11, 2013

Sprint has the most spectrum of any US carrier. Its just a matter of repurposing it/putting it to use. The triband tech is just that... Putting it to use. Their branding of the triband technology is "spark", and shows some real promise. How fast you'll see it depends on your location.

Just keep in mind- of course the Verizon rep is going to say sprint sucks and lie, and its only natural sprint is going to try to get you to stay.

In the end, do what makes you happy.

-Mike- · Dec 11, 2013

In all honesty, i feel like sprint is telling to me go f myself. as a business owner myself, i hold others to the same standards in which i treat my customers. i do not feel that sprint has shown any initiative to retain me. i guess this is why my sales rep (after my inflammatory rejection of his offer of a gps tracking unit for my vehicles) called me in a hot panic. still, he's dropped the ball on me as well. we're going into 48th hour of a promised 24 hour call back with a solution.

i understand about the VZW rep. we'll say anything...... i did take it upon myself to do some research and found that the VZW and Sprint bands arent that much different. In fact, i think they were almost identical from what i read on wikipedia. its just very discouraging when you and a vzw user are sitting side-by-side and he's streaming a thursday night football game and i cant even send a text message.

do any of the newer devices (S4, Note3, One/One Max) offer any better data performance?

Rxpert83 · Dec 11, 2013

-Mike- said:
In all honesty, i feel like sprint is telling to me go f myself. as a business owner myself, i hold others to the same standards in which i treat my customers. i do not feel that sprint has shown any initiative to retain me. i guess this is why my sales rep (after my inflammatory rejection of his offer of a gps tracking unit for my vehicles) called me in a hot panic. still, he's dropped the ball on me as well. we're going into 48th hour of a promised 24 hour call back with a solution.

i understand about the VZW rep. we'll say anything...... i did take it upon myself to do some research and found that the VZW and Sprint bands arent that much different. In fact, i think they were almost identical from what i read on wikipedia. its just very discouraging when you and a vzw user are sitting side-by-side and he's streaming a thursday night football game and i cant even send a text message.

do any of the newer devices (S4, Note3, One/One Max) offer any better data performance?

Data performance has much more to do with the network than the device. Sprints network is going through a complete rehaul nationwide. On the whole, performance for data is pretty bad. However, in places where network vision (their normal 3g and LTE improvements, not triband) is nearing completion (Chicago for example), people on here are getting upwards of 30 mb/s. Spark could double that with in the next few years. When they get it fully rolled out and aggregated they've claimed 150-180mb/s could be possible.

It all depends on when it comes to your area, and how well its actually implemented

Verizon's network is fast and far reaching now, but you really pay $$$ for it. Look into Verizon's data plans if you haven't already.

jhawkkw · Dec 11, 2013

I had Verizon and I couldn't wait to leave them. It had nothing to do with service, but more to do with their business practices. Personally, I think they represent everything wrong with the mobile industry and couldn't support them with my money. I won't deny that they own the best spectrum available to carriers at the moment, but things could change this upcoming summer because a very prized piece of spectrum is getting auctioned off. I also try to push people away from going with a CDMA network because of situations like this. If you try to carrier hop, your current devices can't come with you. While if you were with a GSM carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile, you can bring your devices with you if they're SIM unlocked. Just more things to consider.

Rxpert83 · Dec 11, 2013

I'd tend to agree. If you're going to switch, check out ATT or T-Mobile if they're in your arwa :thumbup:

Edit: I've also moved this thread to the Sprint 4G section

-Mike- · Dec 11, 2013

Speed is relatively important but it takes 2nd place to reliability. Thats been a major part of my problems. It just doesn't work. When it does, its fine.

Still no contact from sales rep that promised a call back within 24 hours on Monday........

Trevinator110 · Jan 4, 2014

I would honestly wait for spark. Although sprints network is outdated now, what the sprint rep told you was true, once spark is released it'll steamroll big red and everyone else just because its faster and can reach you in more places based on your connection type. Softbank might have gave them that massive lump of money and when or if they buy Tmobile, spark is going to start spreading pretty fast because of the profit increase. I would wait but definitely buy a spark device first if your looking for faster data speeds, and wait for the spread of spark.

Tri-Band technology?

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