my girl and i are both sprint/htc eve 4g lte and are both up for renewal. both phones are on the way out - hers cracked screen, mine cracked screen and dying a slow death (bad speaker, may or many not get texts/vm's, often the screen stays blank when receiving a call, etc). my youngest son needs a phone, as well.
me - open to a number of phones: htc one, lg g2, samsung s4, etc.
her - non-techie, she's thinking the same phone (htc eve 4g lte), htc one or iPhone (knows nothing else, really)
son wants an iPhone 5s since his mom and older brother are on iPhones, but it's really up to me.
needs: great service in atl (mostly) and western nc at a minimum (the latter screams verizon) due to bing in sales/local travel/on the phone ALL day long (both); unlimited everything (again, hers and mine are also work phones...); hot spot-capable; root.
i'm an htc fan, but def open to other ideas. i've looked at myrateplan,com, so i have a basic idea about what's out there, but i don't see anything about the service quality of the smaller companies specific to our area.
now, the questions:
1. where can i find current info on the service quality for our area of the no-contract companies (i have no idea whose towers metrics or virgin mobile, for example, use)?
2. if you're in/have recently been in the same situation, what would/did you do?
a lot to consider. thanks in advance!
Related
To those of you who've been brave enough to import the Touch HD, please enlighten the rest of us who are on the fence. I think we all know that the major issue is the lack of 3G for us in the states. Does EDGE work well enough for day to day mobile browsing? Is the lack of faster data speed a big enough minus to advise others against importing the phone? Are there other pitfalls that we may not be aware of at this point? Thanks for any information you guys can offer to the rest of us who may be considering buying The Touch HD for use with TMobile, AT&T, etc.
better wait
I am one of the people hesitating too. However I know I hate the EDGE speeds compared to the 3G network. In the my office the 3G reception is marginal and with my current HTC Trinity I change the E and H nets all day long.
What I hate about the E:
1. The phone is much more slow. by much I mean MUCH. browsing the internet on E speeds is amazingly slow.
2. If you happen to have the phone in a cradle like I do, and happen to have amplified speakers of the cheap kind , the one without magnetic protection, like most people will add to their office PC, spending few bucks, you will note how much interference is created by the phone while on the E network. Amazingly loud noise. While on the H network - quiet.
3. A co-worker of mine bought the Diamond before the US 3G version showed up. 3 months later the US version came out. It is different hardware so he will NEVER be on 3G with his over $500 investment.
4. I have consulted a reseller of the HD touch and he told me the chipset of the current HD touch will not support the US 3G frequency. it isn't that there will be a firmware or software tweak.
As much as I am eager to put put my hands on a new HD, I am waiting. If spending $850 will buy me a downgrade to EDGE networks, as good as reception is for me (Edge is working in a very nice coverage for me with AT&T in CA) I rather be patient. Either thee will be a US version, or maybe another phone. HTC already came up with 4G phone and Wimax support one, so I am sure they are not going to neglect the US market for long.
I personally believe as soon as they will finish milking the European market with 850 Euro per unit, it will have to appear here supporting US nets.
yeah...
I have one... cost me $710 shipped to me in two days from clove.
Edge is slower. 3G is faster.. some places more than twice as fast.
Depends on what you want... i absolutely love the phone... still having fun tweaking the heck out of it... the screen is to die for.. everyone wants to know what kind of phone it is.. i use slingplayer to watch shows at 350K on edge no problem... thats my highest bandwdith consumption piece. Side by side... my wifes iphone opens cnn in about 4 seconds less than my phone does it... i can give up 4 seconds for the goodness that is the Touch HD... really I can.. like i said.. some people will care more than others... me, Id do it all over again
Hi all,
I'm out of contract at the moment so I thought I'd see what was available, and settled on the BB Storm.
Originally I got my TP as I wanted a decent email machine but wasn't enthralled by anything else out there. And while I love the TP (thousands of available apps and themes, endlessly customisable, and excellent email support)...it's inability to hang on to a signal has tried my patience (despite me trying several different radios). What good is a phone that can't be used in my house!!
So, I have a BB storm waiting for me at home right now. The first thing I plan to do is try the vodafone sim in my TP and see if anything improves (currently with t-mob), failing that I will try the storm for a while. if it doesn't flick my switch then it'll be going back...and I'll be looking for something else.
anyone else any experience with the Storm?
My friend on Verizon has one, I played around with it at lunch.... that clicky touch screen pisses me off no end. As much as I dislike the Iphone3G I'd take that over a Storm.
I've come to realize that I require a hardware QWERTY on my phones, long emails are a snap with a real keyboard. The Raphael or X1 are really the best for that form factor so far.
What was wrong with your signal on the TP? Did you try different band settings?
I've tried all sorts of settings, in my house the absolute maximum I get is two bars, and as son as you move around it drops out. I really do think the phone has everything else, but a phone that doesn't work as a phone isn't much use to me.
I get good signal on my Raphael, compared to an old Nokia flip phone I keep around for backup the signal bars are always 5 on both phones.
If you try your T-Mobile SIM in a different phone do you get better signal than on the TP? It could be T-Mobile just has bad coverage in your area.
BB Storm is a great phone, with one caveat... the click screen forced them to have an open ridge around the screen, and I know of two people who have already complained that it attracts any lint from their pockets, and they've had to clean out that ridge a few times with a piece of paper (or toothpick).
I wonder what will get behind that screen after a few months, and will the click screen still work..
The SIM isn't activated by default and Verizon doesn't use the SIM in the US. The SIM is for international travel and it's a vodafone/Verizon SIM to enable their Canada access plan. You can have them enable that SIM, but it doesn't unlock the phone. They've apparently had a lot of people unlocking and dumping Verizon, so they've taken a hard stance on their 60-day unlocking policy. Sucks for us that actually travel. I had my first Storm unlocked with no issues, but got a replacement and can't get it unlocked now. Canceled my account and the phone is going back.
I have tried the Verizon version, and I can't get over the clicky screen. It's just plain annoying. I have been a BlackBerry user for 3 years, have had 20 different devices, and I will not get a Storm nor will I recommend it to anyone.
so, as my Kaiser gets long in the tooth.... I start the hunt for a new phone. I'm still happy w/ it, it's gotten over a year and a half of use from me (avg is 1 year max). as I peruse the forums for info, this is the first time, in which I'm not so sure what to get.
I'll tell you a little more info so you guys understand.
I live in Hawaii, and use Tmobile w/ the tzones hack.. (i was actually using it as long as I can remember, w/ my unlocked w800) so my phone bill is just under $50 a month. If I switch to att, then my phone bill would do the jump up to about 80 a month.
att has 3g in hawaii, tmo does not, and will not for the near future either. tmo's market share is so high in hawaii, that I guess, they didn't feel the need to upgrade us early.
The reason I like having unlocked phones, is that I have the choice, if I wanted to jump networks (although, I never would to be honest)
I have figured out that the xperia x1i, the touch pro, and the hd don't work on the 3g att network, but the fuze, and x1a do.
do I buy an unlocked fuze? and reflash? an x1a? (most of the available x1's are i, best buy has a few a's for $799)
do i buy an HD, and never use the 3g anyway, since I'm on tmo.
or do I wait.... until the new snapdragon and newer t-mo 3g capable phones come out, and hope that I like them.
a few more things about my prefrences..
I don't like typing on a touch screen, even the iphone screen.
I DO like playing 4pinball (but it sucks juice, and eventually i will get bored w/ it.)
I do lots of texting, and websurfing, listen to podcasts (sports shows), not a lot of video watching (only recently added youtube to the kaiser)
I have odyssey nav on the tilt w/ map for Hawaii(also, livesearch, and google latitude)
obviously, I've read through all the pro's and con's in each individual thread about the respective phones, I would rather have a touch pro and extra coin, but which one of those do I get if I do get it? and back around in a circle again..
one last tidbit, I love the sliding mechanism of the tilt, as oppossed to the cheap looking one of the g-1, and the xperia's sliding seemed only ok.
go and bring forth comments everyone.. thanks in advance.
Fuze or touch hd.... Personally i love 3g but with an hd i think i could live without it
If you do get the fuze make sure you pick up the screen responsiveness hack.... it help ALOT
does htc make a fuze in htc form? i.e. us frequencies. or do i hve to buy an unlocked fuze. it was so much easier w/ the kaiser...
Wait for the 09 HTC devices
They seem to be great!!
orb3000 said:
Wait for the 09 HTC devices
They seem to be great!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about it, but at the same time, the trend of HTC seems to 'localize" their phones to europe/asia, or america... The Kaiser seemed to be the last "jack of all trades", which is probably one reason why the thing is so damn heavy.
Honestly, I would buy an xperia x1-a but I've read so many problems w/ cracking cel phones. My kaiser has taken a beating, and it's done well, no wimpy silicone skin, or hard case for me, I am confident that I can drop it 6 feet to the ground, and it will be fine. I'm not so sure about the xperia.
If I could find a touch pro for american frequencies that's NOT a Fuze/att brand, I would be more inclined., but it's either Fuze or TP international branding.
Just because I don't plan to use att, doesn't mean I don't want the choice to switch and take advantage of their 3g network. I mean, for me, that's the whole point in having an unlocked phone... not being 'stuck' to one provider.
even, talking to cel phone experts, no one is ever sure which phone to buy, or what they are even selling.
one last thing about the xperia, their panel selection sucks... seriously, 6 aftermarket panels???? all worthless stuff?
The only benefit of getting the xperia 1a for me, is that it's fully warrantied through best buy, although i can get X1i's for way cheaper, and that take better photo's etc. (but no us 3g, IF I ever switched to ATT..lol)
If I had a better idea of both what is coming down the pipeline from htc, and when hawaii will get t-mo 3g, it would greatly help my decision.
bought an Xperia x1-a.. I figured, that I can always buy the next gen stuff later. I'm actually surprisingly happy w/ it.
My current situation is as follows:
I was on Alltel, then Verizon bought it. The location in which the account originated from (Orangeburg, SC area) is being divested and sold to some no-name company. In the process, even though we are on "Verizon" service, I have 1-2 bars.. constantly.
Now, the move is happening, our account is ending because we are refusing service, as we have no service.
The other two people on the account have already moved to AT&T, because that was their only choice as they live out in nowhere. Whereas, I'm in a semi-populated city, Charleston SC.
Heres my problem..
I want, or at least I think I do, the HTC Incredible.. It could be two weeks before its out.. two months, who the hell knows..
I wouldn't mind an iPhone, but the lack of user customization kills me.. the whole "loyalty" to apple blows and it probably wont be long till the next ver of iPhone is released (they found deeper in the iPad OS "iPhone 3.2" and "3.3"..).
I could even go with Sprint for the Evo 4g.. but, no I'm good..
Will Verizon allow me to sign a contract and honor a phone deal for a phone that isn't even out yet, for something they can't even price me for?
If I have no choice but to get an iPhone, do I just grab a simple 3G (I could care less about picture messaging) since a new one is around the corner.. or is the 3GS really that much better?
Help.. I'm at a wall.
I'm currently rockin an Touch Pro, but I need something with some power to it.
They all are saying AT&T is evil, I'm crazy blah blah vampire emergency blah...
OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE????
Seriously. All Cellular carriers in the US are evil. Just in different ways. Why all the AT&T hate? Where's the gotchas?
Are they paying for your phone or wireless bill?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
mesasone said:
Are they paying for your phone or wireless bill?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto. Plenty of people have legitimate reasons to complain about AT&T (dropped calls, lack of coverage, etc) but plenty of people have never had a single issue with them. Personally I just switched to AT&T for the Captivate (formerly with T-Mobile) and I've been happy so far. I get at least the same if not better coverage and my bill is actually cheaper thanks to a 21% discount from my employer.
it's fashionable to hate at&t. If you listened to these people, at&t would have worse coverage than tmobile. Anyone who's ever owned both outside of a major metro area knows that's a joke.
AT&T issues are market-based and are not universal. If any of your "friends" are iPhone 4 users, their problems are universal.
i dont have any real complaints with service anymore (one perk of the iphone)
but i dont think ive had one single interaction with att that they didnt mess up (ex. adding a line and putting a messaging block on the whole account. wtf?)
I was one of those that had trouble with at&t. I had each iPhone generation, and all 3g versions would drop calls. Now I will say I worked for apple retail at the genius bar for this time period, and it was all to frequent in terms of customers complaining. I bought the hype that it was at&T's sucky network causing all the issues.
Then the iPhone 4 hit. I had one. Returned it due to lack of satisfaction with he fix for the search grip as well as the proximity sensor issue. I immediately went and got the captivate.
I haven't dropped a single call since. Not one. Even in areas that were guaranteed to drop on 3 successive generations of iPhone. I have yet to have any issue.
That tells me something.
That I will not go back. No matter what.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
id10terrordfw said:
I haven't dropped a single call since. Not one. Even in areas that were guaranteed to drop on 3 successive generations of iPhone. I have yet to have any issue.
That tells me something.
That I will not go back. No matter what.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same, my wife and I were disgusted with our iPhone 3Gs, both dropped calls and limited customization, and poor performance with the iOS 4 update. It was so bad we thought it was AT&T's network and were contemplating on switching carriers. I decided to try out the Captivate, and it's been awesome.
And your buddies are jealous, that's all
id10terrordfw said:
I was one of those that had trouble with at&t. I had each iPhone generation, and all 3g versions would drop calls. Now I will say I worked for apple retail at the genius bar for this time period, and it was all to frequent in terms of customers complaining. I bought the hype that it was at&T's sucky network causing all the issues.
Then the iPhone 4 hit. I had one. Returned it due to lack of satisfaction with he fix for the search grip as well as the proximity sensor issue. I immediately went and got the captivate.
I haven't dropped a single call since. Not one. Even in areas that were guaranteed to drop on 3 successive generations of iPhone. I have yet to have any issue.
That tells me something.
That I will not go back. No matter what.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience is similar. I have had at&t for years.i never had a problem with them until I had an iphone. The three I had dropped calls constantly. Now I have the captivate and at&t is great again.
thanks all. You'll never get a die hard apple fanboi to admit the iphone problems are problems with the phone. Thanks for the positive stories
Yeah, when I had my first gen iPhone, I occasionally dropped calls and just generally had bad quality. I figured it was AT&T's infamous network. I almost switched carriers, but I was prepaid at that time and had built up nearly a 500 dollar balance on my account, so I didn't want to lose that. So, I gave the Blackberry Bold (9000) a try - turns out it was the iPhone all along. I got great reception and fantastic call quality on my Bold.
I haven't made many calls with my Captivate - frankly, the voice/phone portion of my cellphone is fairly low on my priorities - but while it doesn't really seem to quite be up to the level of my Bold, it's still far ahead of my iPhone.
Same story here.
Had a WinMo phone for years (HTC Hermes) then switched to iPhone, started dropping calls, and losing data. It wasn't too big, and at about the same time I moved into a basement apt. I chalked it up to all the concrete that I could not talk on the phone when home. We moved again, and on my commute to and from work there were 3 spots that would lose signal EVERY time. Calls would drop, Pandora would stop playing, etc. Then I got my HTC Aria, same commute, far fewer dropped calls, then my Captivate (day 30 of my Aria return window) and haven't dropped a call since on the commute. AT&T having network issues? I think not.
I am giddy at the chance of a Verizon iPhone, so all the people complaining about AT&T will see that the iPhone on any network sucks.
I've had at&t for years, because until recently it was all we had I'm my area that was any count at all. Recently Verizon has moved in, and I did consider switching because of hardware choices. But I waited it out, and decided to go ahead with my Captivate, and I'm loving it. My friends all have iPhones and so did I. I never had the problems that they seem to have, but I'm happier now anyway being away from the tyranny of Steve Jobs.
Sent from my GT-I9000-Captivate using XDA App
i had to switch to at&t because of work. i do a lot of international travel and at&t's list of countries is about 5x bigger than any other carrier for reduced roaming rates. and GSM is more universal and i didn't want verizon's blackberry offerings.
i had minor issues with call drops, but that's because i'm usually in large metal/concrete airplane hangers.
so far though, no issues with captive. even with one bar, no call quality issues either in the states...or as of so far hong kong.
oh and my entire office but 2 others have iphones and i got nothing but flack for not getting one. glad i didn't
I have been with ATT since 1998 and the only issues I have ever had with dropped calls was with the following phones since the Cingular/ATT Merger: Nokia N-Gage QD, Motorola V551 *just close to my house*, Motorola V3 *close to my house and when the phone was at the end of its life*, Samsung Sync *bought it used of fleabay worst cell ever*, Nokia N55 *would drop in typical black hole areas*, Motorola Razr2 *POS never could get a good voice call on it no matter what area I was in*, Blackberry Curve 8300 *dropped calls in blackhole areas*, BB 8310 *same as 8300*, BB Bold 9000 Same as the previous BBs, and now the Captivate *same as the BB in terms of dropped calls which equals about 2 dropped calls in the past 5 weeks or so*...
Now funny thing when I talk to a couple of my friends who actually have the iPhone, they drop randomly and it is pretty funny where I dont have the issue with my Captivate. Even my friend who is also a snake breeder *boas, pythons and other snakes*, told me today he likes his iPhone 3G besides the dropping call issue and asked me how Android is treating me, I said I love it and not going back to BB...
HTH,
Charlie
Gunny, wtf Re you doing here in the ATT phone section? Shouldn't you be in the Hero section? >¦(
LOL
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
LOL notasimpleway. Got tired of having an out of date phone and super slow EVDO.