It’s now been almost a week since Sprint unveiled its brand new 4G LTE network, available in a handful of cities and towns in four different states. Sprint is also hard at work bringing the new network to the rest of the country, but the G&E team has yet to experience LTE for itself: I’m in central Illinois, where we never even got WiMAX. Paul is in Tennessee, and Jenn is in Hawaii – like me, both of them are now stuck with 3G-only devices until LTE is deployed in their areas, as well.
So we want to know: if you’ve got LTE right now, what’s your experience been like? Are you impressed, or does it leave much to be desired?
I’ve been hearing mixed reports myself: some people have great LTE coverage and are posting impressive speed test results, while others can’t seem to maintain a connection. Coverage should improve over time, however, as Sprint works to complete the LTE network and fill in coverage gaps. But we still want to know how it’s treating you right now.
Take part in our poll below, and then let us know why you voted the way you did!
The poll needs ‘never had wimax AND still waiting on LTE’. I chose ‘waiting’, but I’m under both answers
You need an option to say I have connected to LTE only a handful of times but it was blazing fast compared to 3G. I will say LTE is not all over Dallas. I had a ton of errands across the city and only saw it connect to 4G in one small area.
Sprint is the only company I know that charges its customers a 4G fee when they do not even offer the service. What is even more troublesome is that they still charge that 4G fee when using the 3G iPhone. My current download speeds on Sprint’s ghetto network are consistent at .02, no wonder they offer unlimited data, it takes me 3 minutes to check my gmail. Even if I could stream data all day long it would not even come close to data transfer caps that other carriers offer. I cannot wait until my contract is up so I can get off of the food stamp network.
food stamp network lmao…you too funny
Sprint doesn’t charge and never has charged for using 4G … The $10 charge your referring to is a premium phone charge … It’s a charge to offset all the data you will be using on your top of the line smartphones … If you don’t want to pay it then get a less enhanced phone.
@mydamnbrainhurts, I was specifically told that my 4G phone was the reason for the 10 extra charge… they later changed their mind on what to call it… I don’t forget so fast though…
That is the standard Sprint response. But I was specifically told that the $10 fee was for the upcoming 4G speeds that I would have access to. The person may have been talking outside of their script but that’s what I was told. The EVO 4G was the only phone that the $10 fee applied to at the time. There were several other 3G data capable phones at the time, hell I upgraded from one of them and they did not have the $10 “enhanced data” charge. This notion that Sprint did not know that their customers were equating the $10 “enhanced data” fee with 4G speeds is a farce.
” It’s a charge to offset all the data you will be using on your top of the line smartphones”
And why will I be using all that data? Because I’m SUPPOSE to be getting 4G. Just because my processor was faster than their other Android based phones, didn’t mean I was going to use more data. The older phones handled the 3G traffic just fine. It simple was a fee to help them build their 4G network, which I, and MANY others, did not receive. Plain and simple.
This is directly from Sprint’s terrible website “We require this add-on for phones made to deliver a superior wireless experience including Web, email, video and social networking.” “Superior wireless is .02 download speeds, talk about low standards.
When they first implimented it they charged us based on the 4G/WiMaxx. Then when people started complaining they changed the wording of it.
Hahaha, quoting the site is pointless.Like ‘T’ said, and several others, the wording was different at the time.
the poll also needs: “no 4g for my two year contract 3g speeds good for 2 months till verizon sucked all the alltel towers into their own and now speeds at best are 150k on 3g” Sprint sux! cookie cutter replies from tech support… “oh yeah ur towers are really good” I say the one tower supporting Lansing, Mi is completely overloaded.
I completely simpathize with you. I’m in the only town in South Florida without 4g. It’s all around me, but where I live.
Need to add the option “I don’t care because Sprint Lied about WiMax in order to get me to buy the EVO 4G so I assume now that Sprint LTE will never come to my market.”
I too bought my epic 4g to take advantage of the speed of 4g hehem wimax… never got it now they are going to LTE and I never used 4g on my 2yr old phone… Sprint SUX when you call they try to appease you with 20 bucks for your trouble..
I don’t know what’s going on, but I have had zero luck with Sprint LTE in Houston. live in the Willowbrook area, I work on the NW (290/ Tidwell) side but am constantly in the Medical Center with the same thing. I’ve updated my PRL, my profile, reset my phone… Everything. A Sprint rep said that it’s bc the towers are still increasing, which I understand, but *nothing*??? And I have the 4G LTE. This is ridiculous, I’m starting to think it’s my phone bc I read comments that people are getting it fine in a lot of Houston areas.
What phone… my epic 4g and their old 4g phones won’t work with LTE
I’m in the same boat as you. My EVO LTE is not getting a good signal. The 3G turns off sporadically, goes from connected to connecting several times a day, and since LTE came on I pick it up in my drive way and lose it by the time I leave my neighborhood. I live in Katy and work in Cypress off 290 and I get no 4G anywhere but close to my house. I think there is something wrong with these phones as my OG EVO worked perfectly fine and I’m seeing lots of complaints about not being able to keep a connection to the network
If I were to add all the options you guys suggested, the poll would be ridiculously long… gotta draw the line somewhere!
Serious question….
Dont you think it may have been a better business move for Sprint to have hit areas with LTE that never did get to experience WiMax?
I live in an area of Ohio that Verizon is taking over because they have 4G and have had for over a year now. Us “lame” Sprint customers are still struggling with our “dialup 3G” speeds. Just seems that It would make sense for Sprint to at least pretend that they want to compete with Verizon in areas like mine.
Just ran my daily speed test on my EVO LTE and I am getting 6.5mbps down and 9.15mbps up. I am in Houston and my LTE reception seems to get stronger every couple of days. The max speed i’ve seen is about 9 down and 12 up.
No complaints.
Thank you to Easymoney for actually answering the question rather than being Wendy Whiner.
There are plenty of places to complain, that want the point of this article. If you think Sprint is so bad, pay the fee, get out of your contract, and go away. If you stay on Sprint and keep paying your bill, you are not doing anything to fix your problem.
Some people are not happy unless they have something to complain about.
Atlanta Wimax my area 10 down 1.5 up
Why are the initial LTE speed tests from people showing Sprint’s LTE is not much faster than WiMax? Makes me wonder why they just didn’t continue to expand it.
the speed of a l t e would be nice but I’m stuck using wimax 4 g on my old htc evo 4 g in saint louis missouri so I went into a sprint store and was looking at the new phone I asked a sprint representative when ltd was coming to saint louis he told me he couldn’t give me a time so I told him why would anybody buy a new phone and you’re not even guaranteed to have the ltd service anytime soon you could be 6 months it could be a year why would you wanna buy a new phone on 24 month contract and not even be able to use the full functionality of the phone 4 part or half or more of that contract that’s pretty stupid I think people should hold off buying ltd devices until they rolled out to more cities it would force them not to drag their feet what’s the hurry for them if everyone is buying the phone anyway I’m just saying by the time lte rolls out to every city there’s going to be a lot more phones to pick from so don’t be in a hurry to pick up a crippled phone that could be stuck on 3 g for the next 12 months
The 4g f g I e a aor me has been very disappointing. It’s a sad day when the OG Evos performed way better then this unit I have been given. I was excited when the 4g first connected in my house ..I ran a few speed test and it was soaring . Jumped on the mobile internet & it shut right off ..tried it again it shut off again . To add insult to injury …where’s the enhanced 3G speeds I was suppose to see ? I’m still not pulling 1.0 down . I don’t know if its the phone …I heard someone say Evos have bad LTE chips in them..but that is Rumors I guess . It could be the fact that I’m rooted with this awful buggy ROM ? Maybe I shouldn’t flashed the update idk or it’s just sprints awful Network idk either way something is not right and should be addressed. Instead of them saying now our customers can enjoy 4 g speeds & enhanced 3g because that is a lie.I haven’t read a single article of people enjoying anything.
I upgraded from an EVO 4G to a LTE last Sunday. This was after Sprint announced they had rolled out LTE in Dallas. The SPRINT converage map shows dallas is covered, North Dallas in Mckinney, Allen are not. Plano has some coverage. So I was like ok, I work all day in Dallas, I’ll try it. The sales rep was like, yup, they rolled it out, it’s live. The phone camera didn’t work and no LTE downtown. Ok, camera was bad, so I talked to tech support and they told me to return the phone but that I should be getting LTE in my current zip. Ok, got a new phone. Camera now works. No LTE. I checked a few zip codes in downtown Dallas. Sprint CSR tells me that you should be covered. Must be the phone. You need to go into the Sprint store and they will fix it. I try several stores. No we don’t have LTE is what I’m told. Finally, I call a store and the rep tells me that there isn’t any real coverage. Only 20 percent. It’s not really going live until November. I thanked him for his honesty. I then went back to Best Buy, returned the phone, and informed the manager that his people needed to be aware that customers asking should be told the truth. I re-activated my EVO 4G (don’t trade it in, it’s worth it’s weight as a TV remote). I plant to switch carriers. I have 9 months left on my contract but plan to pay a termination fee. I don’t want to do business with Sprint. Best of luck Sprint! Take an ethics class..
Simple solution: Manually update your PRL to roam on Verizon’s 3G and use a crapload of data. Sprint will kick you off your contract without termination fees.
4G LTE in Newnan and Douglasville but none in Atlanta! WTF
I am loving it so far. At home my speeds are slower but still twice as fast as my wifi. In town. I am getting some sick speeds!
I’m in ATL, and I can say I’ve experienced LTE. From what I’ve experienced, it’s been impressive. To date, my most impressive results are 34.56 up, and 16.11 down. Well I happened to be driving by the same area yesterday, and I couldn’t top 2 up or down.
*LTE isn’t everywhere.
*It can work on one block, but not the other.
*My LTE signal fades in and out. This could be due to Sprint still testing in the areas I’ve encountered LTE. The LTE is not on all day – or my phone just doesn’t keep the signal. It’s may also be due to the rollout not being complete.
I’m sure LTE coverage in my area will get better with time.
I see u need some help saying its very poor service