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LTE coverage

M

msaeger

Member
Is there a way to tell if I would get LTE on straight talk using either tmobile or at&t? Right now I am using the walmart family mobile plan on tmobile and I believe they limit that to whatever 3g is. I am fine with it but if I can get LTE for 5 bucks more a month why not.

I have a nexus 5 on the way so that would support LTE on either tmobile or at&t I believe.
 
You can look on AT&T's website for where their LTE coverage for prepaid/gophone is and that will give you a good estimate on whether you're covered or not.
 
Unless I am very much mistaken, i think tmobile allows same tower access to the prepaid customers and MVNOs as their post paid customers.
At&t on the other hand restrict tower access and throttle speed for prepaid.
 
T-Mobile prepaid doesn't provide data roaming to prepaid. Since there isn't much LTE that's band 4 from other carriers (thought it's growing), you'll likely not notice it at the moment. However, you will notice in EDGE only areas that you'll have signal for calls and texts, but data won't work because it's technically an AT&T tower. Or because EDGE sucks :p
 
There may be some new phone models coming out at some point for Straight Talk. I read that one of them looks like it might be for Verizon, as it is a dual LTE/CDMA model.

There is a third party company that provides the data for Straight Talk (for new AT&T LTE activations and on Verizon CDMA).

I'm definitely going to take a look at that phone, when/if it's released. :)

I have great Verizon signal everywhere and a great AT&T signal at home. But at work, the nearest AT&T tower is one mile away and it's all forest between the two, so their signals are minimal at best there, even outside in the parking lot.
 
msaeger said:
Is there a way to tell if I would get LTE on straight talk using either tmobile or at&t? Right now I am using the walmart family mobile plan on tmobile and I believe they limit that to whatever 3g is. I am fine with it but if I can get LTE for 5 bucks more a month why not.

I have a nexus 5 on the way so that would support LTE on either tmobile or at&t I believe.
Click to expand...

If you look at a Straight Talk phone package at Walmart, it will have designations such as GSM-A, LTE-A, or CDMA-V on the packages. The first two are for GSM and LTE that will activate on AT&T. CDMA-V is a CDMA phone that will activate on Verizon.
 
Drove me nuts the first week or two with my Nexus 5 not having LTE with my at&t sim. Then one day I got it for about 5-6hrs, then it was gone for a week or so, then they apparently set up a macro cell site Very close to my house (a very rural area with a Verizon tower 2 miles away and a newer at&t tower 3 miles away, which didn't provide LTE here till about a month ago.) My speed tests are pretty phenomenal, considering it's MVNO at&t LTE. This is in the most rural area in my town, and I'm usually right around -78 to -87 dBm with signal strength. Couldn't be happier with it! Full LTE service at home, but when I go to town (a couple miles away from the at&t tower/macro cell,) my bars drop to 2-3 instead of the full 4 I get at home. Here's a speed test result from home. Faster than my girlfriend's VZW contract LTE most of the time!
 

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akmsr said:
Unless I am very much mistaken, i think tmobile allows same tower access to the prepaid customers and MVNOs as their post paid customers.
At&t on the other hand restrict tower access and throttle speed for prepaid.
Click to expand...

Oh att throttles it a lot sometimes it even effects call quality at times.
 
werewolfboy said:
Oh att throttles it a lot sometimes it even effects call quality at times.
Click to expand...

Actually, my brother has an M8 on contract with AT&T, and my phone (AT&T MVNO thru Straight Talk) actually crushes his with speed tests, and overall signal strength. And LTE is not used for calls, just data transfer. You can turn your data off and still get calls and texts. My phone switches to HSPA+ (at&t 4g) when I have my data (LTE) on, and I make or receive a call. As soon as I hang up, my LTE comes back on.
 
xxjostaxx said:
Actually, my brother has an M8 on contract with AT&T, and my phone (AT&T MVNO thru Straight Talk) actually crushes his with speed tests, and overall signal strength. And LTE is not used for calls, just data transfer. You can turn your data off and still get calls and texts. My phone switches to HSPA+ (at&t 4g) when I have my data (LTE) on, and I make or receive a call. As soon as I hang up, my LTE comes back on.
Click to expand...

My ZTE Majesty with Straight Talk does the same. I have 3G data (CDMA), but if I make a call, the data icon changes to 1X for the duration of the call, then switches back to 3G when the call ends.
 
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