HTC one M8 (and S5) on Sprint

[Blade of 3]

Both of these phones are great but can be a waste if used on the Sprint network. I have heard that the issue has to do with the phones being tri band and thus not optimized for standard LTE. Whether this is the case or not, there are some clear issues with the sprint network on these devices.

Personally, I have had the following issues:
-terrible call reception/calls going straight to voice mail
-lack of 4g speed and reception
-multiple text sending or not sending at all (after notifying that it has sent)

*The issues are much more reoccurring in lower reception areas but do happen even in stronger 4g areas*

I have been testing out the antennas and I have been getting twice as fast and MUCH more consistent 4g while the antenna was set to 4G only. I have no idea why the 4g is much better with only 4g and call reception is better with only CDMA. At least on Sprint, these phones are only good for one thing at a time.

The bottom two tests are the two being compared. The second to bottom is 4g only and the bottom is when I got 4g on the default 4g and CDMA antenna setting.

 

[Digital Controller]

Did you want me to move this thread to the Sprint forum, or perhaps device comparison to maybe get some better responses?

 

[SolApathy]

Both of these phones are great but can be a waste if used on the Sprint network. I have heard that the issue has to do with the phones being tri band and thus not optimized for standard LTE. Whether this is the case or not, there are some clear issues with the sprint network on these devices.

Personally, I have had the following issues:
-terrible call reception/calls going straight to voice mail
-lack of 4g speed and reception
-multiple text sending or not sending at all (after notifying that it has sent)

*The issues are much more reoccurring in lower reception areas but do happen even in stronger 4g areas*

I have been testing out the antennas and I have been getting twice as fast and MUCH more consistent 4g while the antenna was set to 4G only. I have no idea why the 4g is much better with only 4g and call reception is better with only CDMA. At least on Sprint, these phones are only good for one thing at a time.

The bottom two tests are the two being compared. The second to bottom is 4g only and the bottom is when I got 4g on the default 4g and CDMA antenna setting.

You have to understand that Sprint is currently upgrading their network to the new "Spark" LTE service and it is causing a lot of issues. Ever since they were bought out by SoftBank and had a huge infusion of cash they have been upgrading like crazy, causing a lot of network issues across the states.

If you are having issues make sure you call in and report it to tech support and request that an engineering team be dispatched to take a look at the reception in your area.

They can also look at what towers most of your calls are routed on as well and see if there are any issues and request a power bump for the radios on that tower.

While the phone is "Tri-band" it doesn't affect the service the way you think it does. LTE is data only (At least until carriers finally get VoLTE going) and towers use what is called Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) to switch to the CDMA radio when a call comes in. Due to the antenna design you are unable to have both radios working simultaneously which is the only real gripe I have.

You can see what is going on in your area with this map: Tower upgrade status- Sprint

 

[Scifigeek4life]

Drop sprint go to tmobile, they have expanded and have awesome LTE and they will pay your termination fees, get another phone or the same but on tmobile switch it over, tmobile is better then its ever been

 

[randp1]

Drop sprint go to tmobile, they have expanded and have awesome LTE and they will pay your termination fees, get another phone or the same but on tmobile switch it over, tmobile is better then its ever been

I agree, didn't realize how bad Sprint is, until I switched to T-Mobile.

 

[Rxpert83]

Service speeds obviously depend on the specific network variables in your area.

I've tried both T-Mobile and sprint here, and both are good. A consistent 20-25mb/s on T-Mobile and anywhere from 12-45 on Sprint depending on the area.

With that said, what Sol said about the triband devices are true. Sprint gave up simultaneous voice and data in order to get triband. It shows a lot of promise.

For the record - I get the same speeds on LTE or the global settings on my nexus 5.

Changing to CDMA shouldn't be using your 4G radios, so that would explain your speed difference , although 4+mb/s is pretty fast for 3g - so that doesn't sound like what's going on

 

[sikclown]

Service speeds obviously depend on the specific network variables in your area.

I've tried both T-Mobile and sprint here, and both are good. A consistent 20-25mb/s on T-Mobile and anywhere from 12-45 on Sprint depending on the area.

With that said, what Sol said about the triband devices are true. Sprint gave up simultaneous voice and data in order to get triband. It shows a lot of promise.

For the record - I get the same speeds on LTE or the global settings on my nexus 5.

Changing to CDMA shouldn't be using your 4G radios, so that would explain your speed difference , although 4+mb/s is pretty fast for 3g - so that doesn't sound like what's going on

12-45 on Sprint??? Where do you live? I am happy to get 3 or 4 down on Sprint in New Olreans anywhere I am away from Wifi. They are upgrading the area but it has been a painful upgrade and speeds have not increased much at all.

 

[Rxpert83]

12-45 on Sprint??? Where do you live? I am happy to get 3 or 4 down on Sprint in New Olreans anywhere I am away from Wifi. They are upgrading the area but it has been a painful upgrade and speeds have not increased much at all.

Twin cities (Minneapolis/st Paul)

 

[SolApathy]

On the LTE service in Grove City, Ohio I get around 16 down and 7 up.

I am out of town right now...Actually in Minnesota, Rxpert83....Up in a tiny town called Tamarak about an hour west of Duluth at our lake house...Population 81...Here is a test from last week, though in Columbus.

 

[PyroSporker]

I am out of town right now...Actually in Minnesota, Rxpert83....Up in a tiny town called Tamarak about an hour west of Duluth at our lake house...Population 81

Cabin Country. Beautiful land in our Great State.

 

[Blade of 3]

You have to understand that Sprint is currently upgrading their network to the new "Spark" LTE service and it is causing a lot of issues. Ever since they were bought out by SoftBank and had a huge infusion of cash they have been upgrading like crazy, causing a lot of network issues across the states.

If you are having issues make sure you call in and report it to tech support and request that an engineering team be dispatched to take a look at the reception in your area.

They can also look at what towers most of your calls are routed on as well and see if there are any issues and request a power bump for the radios on that tower.

While the phone is "Tri-band" it doesn't affect the service the way you think it does. LTE is data only (At least until carriers finally get VoLTE going) and towers use what is called Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) to switch to the CDMA radio when a call comes in. Due to the antenna design you are unable to have both radios working simultaneously which is the only real gripe I have.

You can see what is going on in your area with this map: Tower upgrade status- Sprint

Wether the tower is being upgraded or not should not cause such a discrepancy in signal strengths on different antenna bands. It shouldn't be increasing my 4g signal if I only set it to 4G only and that is my main concern. The other issues may be tower related but I find it hard to believe when it happens as soon as I switch to my new phone. Texting was never an issue on my last phone.

 

[Granite1]

I'm in and out of 4G around Pittsburgh, haven't had any serious issues with mine. It sometimes has a delay handing off 3G to 4G and vice-versa, but other than that it's golden. Either the towers around you don't have that switch required for Spark enabled devices or the phone itself has issues. Take it to a Corporate Sprint store and ask for an RF box test. Best way to see if there are any radio issues with that device.

 

[PyroSporker]

I've been meaning to post this for weeks, but it is a long complicated story and didn't know how to condense the length of it. I had an M8 which developed a bad radio. Could be unrelated, but I spent a 10 hour day on a job downtown in a concrete and metal building built like Fort Knox. I wondered if it was ruined after searching for signal all day. Seemingly all of a sudden right after that day it wasn't connecting to any mobile internet and was not able to consistently place calls, or send text messages, plus came up with some LTE errors. A few other cases of this around the internet. A few people called it the "no 3G of death".

Went around and around with 2 different Sprint stores and a few of their techs trying to get it replaced (within the 14 days). The phone had an obvious issue as the radios were cycling very frequently from no signal to a fading signal back to no signal. However, it would function in their store (their signal booster was the crutch the phone was leaning on). They were saying nothing was wrong with it, and blaming it on my local towers and that they couldn't test it. I persisted that the phone was bad (I know my crap) but to no avail since all there was to go by was their word against mine.
Eventually one reluctant tech replaced it for me, the new phone works amazingly. Has a very strong LTE signal and a moderate 3G signal, when compared to the floor displays. The screen isn't the best one I've seen, but the radio is strong.

Allegedly the old RF box test was made for the older phones, and the newer Sprint LTE phones do not work with it. This is what both stores techs had told me.

 

[jjmjraz]

You have to understand that Sprint is currently upgrading their network to the new "Spark" LTE service and it is causing a lot of issues. Ever since they were bought out by SoftBank and had a huge infusion of cash they have been upgrading like crazy, causing a lot of network issues across the states.

If you are having issues make sure you call in and report it to tech support and request that an engineering team be dispatched to take a look at the reception in your area.

They can also look at what towers most of your calls are routed on as well and see if there are any issues and request a power bump for the radios on that tower.

While the phone is "Tri-band" it doesn't affect the service the way you think it does. LTE is data only (At least until carriers finally get VoLTE going) and towers use what is called Circuit Switched FallBack (CSFB) to switch to the CDMA radio when a call comes in. Due to the antenna design you are unable to have both radios working simultaneously which is the only real gripe I have.

You can see what is going on in your area with this map: Tower upgrade status- Sprint

You can call into Sprint until you're blue in the face, and they'll do nothing. I live in Tucson AZ about 3000ft from an upgrade 1 tower. When I put my M8 on LTE/CDMA, the phone won't ring when a call comes in - it goes straight to voicemail. When phone is set to CDMA only, the calls ring in. The problem then is I only get 3G data speed. Sprint's LTE network can't seem to make the M8 ring when in LTE mode, and frankly have done nothing to correct this. Sprint reportedly rolled out the Spark LTE network without proper beta testing, and the people who bought their highest priced phone get the shaft. "We're working on it" is all I've ever heard from the Sprint "Trouble Team (1-877-882-7401) who are well aware of the problem, but apparently don't tell their Customer Service Reps or their Sprint Store personnel. I've called back to Customer Service to check service on the problem, and they aren't even aware of the problem. Store personnel have never heard of any problems with the M8 and sell them to unsuspecting customers. I also checked with HTC, who says it's apparently a Sprint network problem and to contact Sprint. HTC is apparently not putting any pressure on Sprint to fix this issue, and Sprint doesn't seem to be giving any priority to it. So if you have an M8, you have a really good 3G phone where the calls ring in, or a 4g phone that doesn't ring when someone calls you. This will be my last HTC phone, and probably will dump Sprint when the contract is up.

 

[Rxpert83]

You can call into Sprint until you're blue in the face, and they'll do nothing. I live in Tucson AZ about 3000ft from an upgrade 1 tower. When I put my M8 on LTE/CDMA, the phone won't ring when a call comes in - it goes straight to voicemail. When phone is set to CDMA only, the calls ring in. The problem then is I only get 3G data speed. Sprint's LTE network can't seem to make the M8 ring when in LTE mode, and frankly have done nothing to correct this. Sprint reportedly rolled out the Spark LTE network without proper beta testing, and the people who bought their highest priced phone get the shaft. "We're working on it" is all I've ever heard from the Sprint "Trouble Team (1-877-882-7401) who are well aware of the problem, but apparently don't tell their Customer Service Reps or their Sprint Store personnel. I've called back to Customer Service to check service on the problem, and they aren't even aware of the problem. Store personnel have never heard of any problems with the M8 and sell them to unsuspecting customers. I also checked with HTC, who says it's apparently a Sprint network problem and to contact Sprint. HTC is apparently not putting any pressure on Sprint to fix this issue, and Sprint doesn't seem to be giving any priority to it. So if you have an M8, you have a really good 3G phone where the calls ring in, or a 4g phone that doesn't ring when someone calls you. This will be my last HTC phone, and probably will dump Sprint when the contract is up.

You're suffering from the CSFB issue. Calling them won't do anything because there's nothing a person sitting at a phone can do

 

[Blade of 3]

You can call into Sprint until you're blue in the face, and they'll do nothing. I live in Tucson AZ about 3000ft from an upgrade 1 tower. When I put my M8 on LTE/CDMA, the phone won't ring when a call comes in - it goes straight to voicemail. When phone is set to CDMA only, the calls ring in. The problem then is I only get 3G data speed. Sprint's LTE network can't seem to make the M8 ring when in LTE mode, and frankly have done nothing to correct this. Sprint reportedly rolled out the Spark LTE network without proper beta testing, and the people who bought their highest priced phone get the shaft. "We're working on it" is all I've ever heard from the Sprint "Trouble Team (1-877-882-7401) who are well aware of the problem, but apparently don't tell their Customer Service Reps or their Sprint Store personnel. I've called back to Customer Service to check service on the problem, and they aren't even aware of the problem. Store personnel have never heard of any problems with the M8 and sell them to unsuspecting customers. I also checked with HTC, who says it's apparently a Sprint network problem and to contact Sprint. HTC is apparently not putting any pressure on Sprint to fix this issue, and Sprint doesn't seem to be giving any priority to it. So if you have an M8, you have a really good 3G phone where the calls ring in, or a 4g phone that doesn't ring when someone calls you. This will be my last HTC phone, and probably will dump Sprint when the contract is up.

I have the exact same experiences. I wouldn't blame it on HTC though, it's sprint that is behind on phone technology.