T-Mo experience Seattle vs. NYC

[tai4de2]

I love T-Mobile and experience excellent service in my home area near Seattle, using both T-Mobile branded devices and non-branded ones. My T-Mo branded Lumia 925 gets LTE all over the place, almost never drops to "4G", and E is unheard of. My European Lumia 920 gets 3G/H/H+ just about everywhere also. Basically it looks like the Seattle area has been refarmed to the point where 1900MHz 3G support is as pervasive as AWS 3G support.

Just got back from a vacation in New York. If I lived in or near NYC I don't think I could use T-Mobile. My 920 saw frequent drops back to E, suggesting that the NYC metro area is not completely refarmed. There were areas where there was no signal at all on either my 920 or 925. And there were times when it looked like I had a data connection but data simply wouldn't work. Also my battery drained much faster in NYC than at home.

One additional observation: my unbranded 920 shows the stock data speed indicators (3G/H/H+ instead of this "4G" nonsense). Around Seattle, it shows "3G" most of the time and then ramps up to "H+" during periods of data use. Around NYC, it shows "H" most of the time. There are obviously differences in network topology and configuration between the 2 areas.

To me it looks like Verizon is the king of connectivity around NYC. Shudder -- glad I don't live there.

 

[Laura Knotek]

That's too bad T-Mobile did not work well when you were in NYC. Hopefully, their network will be better the next time you visit NYC.

 

[rdubmu]

I will second that T-Mobile is pretty good in the Seattle area. My unlocked Lumia 920 gets LTE speeds of around 30 down on T-Mobile. There are more pockets of no service than AT&T.

Sent from my LG-D801 using WPCentral Forums mobile app

 

[HeyCori]

Shame to hear that T-Mo is spotty in NY. I took a vacation there last year, had LTE the entire time with AT&T. I actually plan on switching to a MVNO soon but really wish I could switch to T-Mobile because I like their pricing models. Sadly, their coverage is pretty bad in my area. I guess that explains why there's only one T-Mobile store within miles.

 

[metalchick719]

Seriously? I see LTE frequently on my Rogers 920 here in the NYC area, or at least in parts of Manhattan and Queens (I'm not around the Bronx or Brooklyn all that much). When I'm in Long Island, I'll see 4G. I very minimally see E appearing on my phone unless I have 2G selected for the speed (which I generally never do).