Sprint News

There is some rather interesting news from Sprint today, they found a way to get 30% further reach with their 2.5 GHz spectrum. This day and age Sprint is notorious for having very poor reception many areas. Often times they have towers in the area but since the usage of a high frequency on their spectrum it won't penetrate building walls. Not being able to penetrate buildings is a huge issue in today's economy. Other cell phone providers have had similar issues however AT&T and Verizon use a very low frequency that can penetrate buildings easily.

Luckily for everybody Sprint has found a way to gain 30% further reach with their cell towers. This technology will work great with their 2.5 GHz spectrum which has trouble reaching out very far for high-speed data. There is one downside to that as with any new technology seems like you always need a new device. This is no different however there having serious trouble getting Apple to comply with the iPhone. So iPhone users may not really get this newer technology.

However even if the iPhone doesn't get this, you have hundreds of phones choose from most likely over time or at least tens of phones to choose from. Samsung, and QUALCOMM already agreed to start producing this technology. It's possible once Apple sees the other iPhone sales are diving on Sprint's network that they may choose to start implementing this. However until then your options will probably just consist of multiple Samsung galaxy phones and other phones such as that.

Currently this part of spectrum from Sprint only covers about 200 million Americans which is far less than even Verizon's LTE, nearly hundred million less. On the flip side Sprint is much cheaper than competitors however you certainly sacrifice coverage. It's even worse when outside you have great coverage, then inside the building you have none. Sometime early next year we should see new Sprint phones with this newer technology to improve coverage. Until then Sprint users will just need to wait it out a little bit longer.

Sprint has been struggling for years to get coverage, in recent times they are struggling with the other big 3. Sprint has tried nearly everything, from offering plans they claim as unlimited, to unlimited talk and text. They just can't hold onto customers though, even with their much lower prices. If this proves anything for sprint, it's that coverage really is king, a lack of building coverage hurts them also. There is an auction for a low frequency spectrum going on now, but sprint most likely won't bother with it. I feel that this is not in their best interest at all and will hurt them in the long run.

If any of you have heard of the at&t microcell then you most likely know what I talking about. A microcell consists of one device hooked up to your internet at home. This device is made to throw out a cell signal in a dead zone. As with any carrier with low coverage these may be needed at home. So sprint tends to offer them to customers if they need one. They will sometimes them them away for free if your lucky.

What exactly does a microcell do?

As we mentioned above a microcell connects to your internet and uses that to direct calls. It also works for "4G" and texting. However it's a bit of a spoof at best because it's not using "4g". What it's really using is your home based internet to route everything through there. So you may be thinking, if it works then why do I care how it works?

Why do you care?

You should care because when you use it for your home it uses your bandwidth. Bandwidth is how much data your internet can push at one time. If you have speeds of 100Mbs which is really fast for home internet. Then a device like this may not bother you at all. However if you have speeds of 5-10Mbs then prepare for buffering from your favorite Netflix show. Making calls or sending texts most likely won't be an issue. However if someone is using their phone also to watch Netflix, you're going to be piggybacking off the shared limit.

What if I don't have home internet?

Well in that case a sprint microcell is not for you. It's a requirement that you have home internet for it to work. As you can imagine this also adds an extra cost to your sprint service. You must have home internet which has a monthly bill. I understand that some folks have it anyways, but do you need a sprint microcell?

Wifi Calling:

If you haven't heard by now the galaxy seven has been having some serious battery issues. With these issues there's been a very vast array of recalls on the phone and they're trying everything they can to get them back. There's even been much talk about them not allowing them on airplanes anymore because of fire hazard. They're taking extra steps in order to try and get all the phones back including giving a software update so you can't use your friend passed 65% battery.

Since they haven't been able to get all the phones back at Samsung continues to work with carriers. Currently Sprint and a couple other carriers are offering a free replacement phone or a different phone in exchange for the note seven. Luckily for us there hasn't been any reports of a phone catching fire on an aircraft, but there has been reports of fires other places. This is a rather large fumble for Samsung with their note line. As you may recall Apple has had several issues throughout the years. This includes dropping calls if the phone is held incorrectly and of course removing the headphone jack as of late.

However I don't believe that an iphone has ever caught fire or been recalled because of fire. Plus the fact that you can't take them on planes, or at least it's not advised. This issue seems to be on all carriers and not just Sprint however, so it's not Sprint's fault entirely. Luckily for users there's also other phones that are equally or nearly as good as the new note. Many people are drawn to the note for the screen size. However in recent years other friend of caught up.

Looking back even a year or two the galaxy S5 had a large screen. This should give lots of people many options to choose from you had there or settlement note 7. Many other phones have similar specifications and features, however you may miss the stylus. During my personal use of the note I rarely use the stylus and I'm not sure if other people use it more.

Is Sprint really the underdog that's the question that we ask all the time. Many people believe the Sprint is the under dog solely based on coverage alone and nothing else. However if you notice Verizon and the other companies charge much more further service plans. This brings in the question is price or coverage the only factors in choosing a service provider should you use something else instead. Were going to cover it all all the basics if a provider would be good or bad for your situation Sprint may be best for you. However in some situations a more expensive provider could be better for you

The first thing that we need to talk about first of course is the price Sprint offers to cut the price in half of your current plan. Sprint also offers unlimited data plans, however these do have, stipulations much like all the other unlimited plan offerings from the other companies. Once you hit somewhere north of 20 GB of data usage you will be throttled. Most people of course don't actually use unlimited data, the 20 GB usage much is much more than you would expect anyways.

The next thing we need to talk about of course is the Sprint coverage, coverage can be good or bad. It really depends on where you're at if you live in a city the chances of you having good Sprint coverage is fairly high. However I would advise against getting it if your way out in the middle of nowhere. That seems to be where sprint really lacks coverage versus Verizon or AT&T. Some areas of course have no coverage from any carrier much like many parts of West Virginia.

There is the option of buying a repeater you really need to get service way out the middle of nowhere. These can the cost quite a bit of money however when your cell phone bill is half-price compared everybody else it will pay for itself within a few months. I feel it these devices make Sprint a viable option plus their way cheaper than everybody else so is Sprint really the top dog?

Sprint coverage, this is the question that everybody asks before they buy cell phone services. Can there be coverage in my area. Often times the coverage at this stage is amazing in all areas more or less except for some mountains. So going with Sprint really is not a bad deal for about 90% of the people in America. However the other companies seem to feel that Sprint does not hold up to them very well.

Sprint coverage has come a long ways in recent years, 10 years ago coverage was questionable. However if you remember 10 years ago, Verizon was also questionable and so were the other big providers. This raises the question, is does it matter who your provider is today or will any of them do?The good news is cell phone providers have come a long ways in recent years. The smaller coverage areas such as the mountains are in the woods way away from the interstate have now been covered well.

Many areas 10 years ago did not have service such as way out west in the desert or the mountains. However the mountains have now been covered along with the interstate or big cities such as Tucson Arizona. You can even get service way up in Anchorage Alaska if you need it, of course if you give further you will loose service. Up in the Alaskan Bush may not have cell phones nor do they want cell phones to cover it.

I feel at this day and age that Sprint coverage is within 1% of the other big three. They are of course closer to T-Mobile than would be vs the other providers. They also offer the benefit of having unlocked phones so you can root your android friends phones if you would like. The reason why Sprint coverage is often poor is because the frequency's that they have to use are much slimmer than the other ones. This can also cause issues penetrating through walls.