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Virgin finally gets LTE

Until Sprint gets (or is about to get) a new top HTC phone, we won't see the Evo LTE. This usually happens once a year.

As for LTE coverage...
Initially it was scheduled that LTE would match Wimax by end of 2014 or so, and match 3g by the end of 2016, however with the buyout of Wimax and Sprint, the dates have changed.

LTE should just about match Wimax coverage now and LTE is expected to match 3G by years end according thel recent press releases by Sprint. This is probably why Virgin got LTE sooner than expected, they want to get people off Wimax and 3g A.S.A.P., as LTE is far cheaper to operate than either.
 
Leslie Ann said:
Until Sprint gets (or is about to get) a new top HTC phone, we won't see the Evo LTE. This usually happens once a year.

As for LTE coverage...
Initially it was scheduled that LTE would match Wimax by end of 2014 or so, and match 3g by the end of 2016, however with the buyout of Wimax and Sprint, the dates have changed.

LTE should just about match LTE coverage and LTE is expected to match 3G by years end according thel recent press releases by Sprint. This is probably why Virgin got LTE sooner than expected, they want to get people off Wimax and 3g A.S.A.P., as LTE is far cheaper to operate than either.
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Wouldn't that top phone on Sprint be the HTC One? If so, we might be getting the Evo LTE!
 
Mobstergunz said:
I heard that if you buy a Sprint GS3 you can activate it under Virgin Mobile .........
I'd call to make sure first since I don't know of anyone that's done it
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That would be pretty cool if it was possible. But what about dev support for the VM users? I can never go completely stock again. If Virgin Mobile announced that the SGS3 is coming to VM, I'd be all over that right now.
 
I see LTE is available in Puerto Rico, but what about the US Virgin Islands? Somebody help me out here, I'm dying for LTE, 3g sucks, I can only watch YouTube in low quality and only at certain times in the day. Other wise I have to wait till night, my best usable 3G speeds are from 11:00pm to 7:00pm.
 
rs98 said:
Edit: I think you made a typo when you said LTE should match LTE coverage.
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Fixed

Mobstergunz said:
I heard that if you buy a Sprint GS3 you can activate it under Virgin Mobile .........
I'd call to make sure first since I don't know of anyone that's done it
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HIGHLY doubtful, you can't even activate a Sprint Evo 3d if it wasn't switched over by HTC to Virgin Mobile. The only time I have seen them allow an outside phone was the Optimus S.
 
SuperAfnan said:
Maybe get T-Mobile?
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nsciucco said:
They don't have LTE yet
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T-Mobile is just starting their 3G and, as they are buying out Metro PCS, they should catch up on LTE coverage with Sprint rather quickly. Additionally, they already have HSPA+ 42 available in over 160 cities, which runs at speeds close to LTE (it typically maxes out around 20 Mbps). And you can use any phone that will work on their network -- it doesn't have to be a T-Mobile or prepaid phone.

Their other advantage is they have affordable prepaid plans, including a prepaid unlimited plan with no throttling. There are also MVNO's that use T-Mobile's networks that are around $50/month unlimited (typically 4 GB before throttling).
 
I've been waiting so long for virgin to actually get a better phone than the Evo 3d and they release this (the screen is even smaller lol). I left from Metro for this and will probably be heading back to get the s3. I live in Newark NJ a metropolitan area next to New York and virgin's service is spotty at best especially 4g. At least with metro no matter where you go you never lose 4g. My only gripe with them was their crappy phones. For the past few days I haven't even had service and the only way I realize this is by going on their Facebook page and see a lot of messages about outages. Anyway I'm done with a virgin. In the next few months ill be out. Anyway good luck to you guys who are still around.
 
Damn, I'm wondering if I should jump ship to MetroPCS before the T-Mobile merge deal is done in case monthly plans change? This way I get a grandfathered plan
 
EazySteve said:
Damn, I'm wondering if I should jump ship to MetroPCS before the T-Mobile merge deal is done in case monthly plans change? This way I get a grandfathered plan
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Metro should keep the prices the same if you head over to their forums their articles and posts about the merger. They don't want to lose existing subscribers.
 
narutoninjakid said:
Metro should keep the prices the same if you head over to their forums their articles and posts about the merger. They don't want to lose existing subscribers.
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That's why I'm thinking about going now so I have an existing account with them, rather than waiting till the merger and they decide to increase the cost of their plans for new customers
 
Seeing as how it's a prepaid carrier without a contract there's no guarantee that their prices won't increase tomorrow without offering any grandfathered plans. Not having a contract works both ways. :rolleyes:
OB
 
OverByter said:
Seeing as how it's a prepaid carrier without a contract there's no guarantee that their prices won't increase tomorrow without offering any grandfathered plans. Not having a contract works both ways. :rolleyes:
OB
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Metro has never increased a customers existing plan
 
Im happy Virgin Mobile is really stepping up their game. I wonder when Boost when will make their changes as well.

but sucks for me since i dont have LTE in DC yet....but im content i get good service, 3g/4g in my areas of travel, and now that im rooted, wifi tethering is heaven on earth lol

i really did wish we got a better phone atleast, i wish we got that HTC One SV.
 
EazySteve said:
Metro has never increased a customers existing plan
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Neither did Virgin until they said if you switched to any phone introduced after May 1st you lost your grandfathered plan, bottom line is without a contract, especially as it's not even going to be the same company after the merger, they can do anything they want, all of the no contact mvno's can increase their prices tomorrow and not have to grandfather anyone.
OB
 
Why is there so much hype with lte? Sprint lte is practically nowhere right now except a FEW cities and still spotty. Sprint wimax and evdo (3g) are slow anyway. Why don't you guys come to T-mobile or something like me (no im not gone lol) and buy a nexus or something...
Metro pcs lte is not real 4g and can barely reach 10mb a second. Some people even clocked in only 3 mb a second.

Hspa plus is technically 3g but many times faster than metro's lte and sprint wimax. Its also much more expanded. :)
 
SuperAfnan said:
Why is there so much hype with lte? Sprint lte is practically nowhere right now except a FEW cities and still spotty. Sprint wimax and evdo (3g) are slow anyway. Why don't you guys come to T-mobile or something like me (no im not gone lol) and buy a nexus or something...
Metro pcs lte is not real 4g and can barely reach 10mb a second. Some people even clocked in only 3 mb a second.

Hspa plus is technically 3g but many times faster than metro's lte and sprint wimax. Its also much more expanded. :)
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I wouldn't call it MUCH faster than Wimax. As everyone knows, speeds depend on where you are located, ex. how close you are to a tower. Wimax definitely does not cover as much land as HSPA+, but that's because T-Mobile already had its 3G network to build off of, so there is no way to know where you are getting 3G speeds and where you are getting 4G speeds based on the coverage maps for T-Mobile. Sprint definitely has a larger 3G network, but some say it is sluggish and worthless. I get 1.5 to 2 megabits per second, so again, it all depends on your location.
 
rs98 said:
I wouldn't call it MUCH faster than Wimax. As everyone knows, speeds depend on where you are located, ex. how close you are to a tower. Wimax definitely does not cover as much land as HSPA+, but that's because T-Mobile already had its 3G network to build off of, so there is no way to know where you are getting 3G speeds and where you are getting 4G speeds based on the coverage maps for T-Mobile. Sprint definitely has a larger 3G network, but some say it is sluggish and worthless. I get 1.5 to 2 megabits per second, so again, it all depends on your location.
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Here is a list of the 163 cities where T-Mobile has HSPA+42. T-Mobile has HSPA+21 (which roughly equals WiMax speeds) in 290 cities. While I will give credit to T-Mobile to having fairly accurate coverage maps, they really need a map that shows the HSPA+ coverage areas.

It will be interesting, in another year, to compare T-Mobile's and Sprint's LTE networks.
 
mogelijk said:
Here is a list of the 163 cities where T-Mobile has HSPA+42. T-Mobile has HSPA+21 (which roughly equals WiMax speeds) in 290 cities. While I will give credit to T-Mobile to having fairly accurate coverage maps, they really need a map that shows the HSPA+ coverage areas.

It will be interesting, in another year, to compare T-Mobile's and Sprint's LTE networks.
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I didn't know there were cities around me with HSPA+42! However, what I meant to say was that with T-Mobile's coverage map, the 3G and 4G are the same because 4G is just boosted 3G. Therefore, I figured it was a little bit of give and take when comparing T-Mobile 4G to Sprint 3G, as T-Mobile is much faster, but Sprint 3G still covers much more that T-Mobile 3G and 4G. Also, I don't think HSPA+21 is as fast as Wimax... I might be wrong, but from what I've seen on YouTube compared to my wimax speeds of about 14 megabits per second, Wimax is faster. However, all of that does not matter because VM got LTE.
 
rs98 said:
I didn't know there were cities around me with HSPA+42! However, what I meant to say was that with T-Mobile's coverage map, the 3G and 4G are the same because 4G is just boosted 3G. Therefore, I figured it was a little bit of give and take when comparing T-Mobile 4G to Sprint 3G, as T-Mobile is much faster, but Sprint 3G still covers much more that T-Mobile 3G and 4G. Also, I don't think HSPA+21 is as fast as Wimax... I might be wrong, but from what I've seen on YouTube compared to my wimax speeds of about 14 megabits per second, Wimax is faster. However, all of that does not matter because VM got LTE.
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Actually, from what I've seen, T-Mobile and Sprint are fairly similar in terms of 3G coverage. Much of it just depends on what part of the country you are in: for example, Sprint appears to have more coverage in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota, whereas T-Mobile has better coverage in the Western US. Both tend to cover cities well and be non-existent in rural areas that aren't near a city.

HSPA+ 21 technically supports speeds up to 21 Mbps -- granted, you won't ever see those speeds IRL but you can get the 14 Mbps that you are talking about getting through Wimax. Personally, I had a WiMax phone for a short time and, with a Galaxy Nexus (which is HSPA+ 21) get similar top speeds and better average speeds than I got with the WiMax phone locally -- and with much better coverage than WiMax.

As I said, I'll be interested in how Sprint's and T-Mobile's LTE compare a year from now. Sprint's LTE has about a head start of half a year, though T-Mobile will be able to use Metro PCS's LTE to help catch up. It will also be interesting to see how much, if any, faster T-Mobile's LTE will be, since they are using LTE-Advanced (Release 10).
 
Yeah, wimax is some pretty old stuff; LTE's the real deal these days, but I think Sprint will end up having far better LTE coverage than T-Mobile. I know in my area at least, Metro PCS has no coverage.
 
rs98 said:
Yeah, wimax is some pretty old stuff; LTE's the real deal these days, but I think Sprint will end up having far better LTE coverage than T-Mobile. I know in my area at least, Metro PCS has no coverage.
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Except that T-Mobile is not only putting LTE in MetroPCS locations. For example, the first two T-Mobile LTE cities are Las Vegas and Kansas City -- I don't believe MetroPCS has stores in either city. Unfortunately, I can't find anything about exactly what cities, or the timeline, of where T-Mobile has plans to add LTE service.
 
T-Mobile's LTE test run back on 2/13. I believe it'll be way faster now. I'm currently on Straight Talk and I caught that LTE signal when I was on T-Mobile's $30 prepaid. I'll jump back on it on the next billing cycle and see if it's faster.

Yes, I know it says Kansas, it's the closest server it let me connect to at the time. I live in Vegas.

Yes I know my Wi-Fi was on at the time of the screenshot, look at the network type.
 

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