Sprint Spark problems

[techmeister]

I just got the LG G2 a few days ago only to find out that the spark technology isn't being widely implemented.

I discovered that I couldn't receive incoming calls while in 4G LTE mode. I could make out going calls, but there was at least a 15 second delay where the phone said dialing before it would actually connect. However when I went in and selected CDMA only, and it went back to 3g mode ~it worked just fine.

I then did some research on the web to find out that this is a problem with all of the new tri-band phones that use the so called "Spark technology", but when I contacted customer support they vehemently denied that such a problem existed, stated that my new phone was surely defective, and told me to return it to a local store for a replacement.

On my way to return it I only found one spot in 3 different cities where the phone operated properly in LTE mode for both making and receiving calls...No where else did the phone receive incoming calls in LTE mode!

Here is just 1 of the many articles that I have found on this subject:

Before we continue, this only affects several devices: the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Galaxy S4 mini, the Galaxy Mega, the LG G2, the Google Nexus 5, and the HTC One max.
Before Sprint started selling these triband devices, the LTE devices on offer all supported two separate transmission paths on CDMA 1xRTT and on LTE. This allowed customers to continue making and receiving texts and phone calls while remaining connected to the LTE network. The technology behind that is Simultaneous Voice and LTE (SVLTE), and the current triband devices on offer do not support this.
Instead, the One max, Nexus 5, and G2 are only technologically capable of handling one transmission path

 

[ScorpDX]

I came from an S4 to the G2 and haven't had a problem with either one making/receiving calls.

 

[techmeister]

I came from an S4 to the G2 and haven't had a problem with either one making/receiving calls.

That's because your area [Texas] was one of the first markets to get the upgrade...Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, and San Antonio ~have supposedly been completely upgraded, so in theory should work great, but where I am we have only one City that is said to have been completely upgraded (haven't been there yet, and it's about 40 miles away)

I agree that it works [makes a seamless switch out of LTE] great on the one tower we have around here, but once you are out of that area and still connected to LTE it doesn't make the switch back when you get an incoming call.

I don't mind waiting for the upgrade in my area, but it irritates me when every Sprint rep tells me this problem doesn't exist, that if I keep my phone in Global, or LTE/CDMA mode it won't connect to LTE unless the tower has been upgraded ....But yet every area Sprint store I have called is very familiar with this problem and tells you that unless you stay in CDMA only mode you won't receive calls ~because the phone will automatically connect to LTE and the towers don't have the software installed to drop the LTE connection and switch back to CDMA.

 

[stef7]

I would think that would give you justification to get out of the LG G2 and into a phone that would work properly without penalty. That situation would not be acceptable to me.

 

[techmeister]

I would think that would give you justification to get out of the LG G2 and into a phone that would work properly without penalty. That situation would not be acceptable to me.

They did offer me my choice of any non tri-band phone in the store, but spec wise that was a downgrade as they all had older slower processors, JB 4.1, smaller batteries, etc.

I really like this phone and aside from the LTE issue it's an amazing phone. I will just have to leave it in CDMA mode to receive calls and manually switch to LTE when I want to use 4g...And hope that we receive the area upgrades in the near future. I can probably even live with just using it in 3g because speeds on average here are 3Mbps ~which is more than enough for my browsing needs.

I just don't like feeling that I have been misled and chose a product for something it supposedly did, only to find out that it doesn't yet do it in my service area...We should have been notified of this in advance.