Sprint Service Plans and Coverage Review

Coverage: Sprint, which is now part of T-Mobile, was a major wireless service provider in the United States. While the Sprint brand has been phased out, customers are now under the T-Mobile network and plans. Here is a review of T-Mobile's service plans and coverage, which now encompass former Sprint customers:

Plans: T-Mobile offers a range of postpaid and prepaid plans to suit different needs. These plans typically include unlimited talk, text, and data, with varying data speeds and data allowances. Customers can choose from different plan options based on their usage requirements and budget.

Coverage: T-Mobile's network coverage has expanded significantly after the merger with Sprint. They provide nationwide coverage across the United States, with improved coverage in rural areas and expanded 5G coverage in select cities. T-Mobile utilizes a combination of low-band, mid-band, and high-band spectrum to offer wide coverage and fast data speeds.

Unlimited Plans: T-Mobile offers several unlimited plans that provide unlimited talk, text, and data usage. These plans may have different data deprioritization thresholds, meaning that after a certain threshold of data usage, speeds may be temporarily reduced during times of network congestion.

Family Plans: T-Mobile provides family plans that allow multiple lines to share a data pool. This can be a cost-effective option for families or groups with multiple lines.

5G Network: T-Mobile has invested in the deployment of 5G technology and offers 5G coverage in various areas. Their 5G network encompasses both sub-6 GHz and mmWave frequencies, providing improved speed and capacity in supported locations.

Device Selection: T-Mobile offers a wide selection of smartphones and other devices for purchase. Customers can choose from flagship devices, mid-range options, and budget-friendly devices. They also support Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs, allowing customers to use their own compatible devices on the network.

Customer Service: T-Mobile has customer service channels available, including phone support, online chat, and in-store assistance at T-Mobile retail locations.

It's important to note that the information provided reflects the combined offerings of T-Mobile and Sprint following their merger. It's recommended to visit T-Mobile's official website or contact their customer service for the most up-to-date information on their current plans, pricing, and coverage in your specific area.

Finding the best cell phone coverage just got easier by comparing cell phone coverage reports from other customers. Which wireless carrier has the worst cell phone coverage?

Other Reviews: 

• T-Mobile Service Plans and Coverage Review
• Verizon Wireless Service Plans and Coverage Review
• AT&T Wireless Service Plans and Coverage Review

Feedback is always welcome. Please submit your comments below.

@SprintCare Twitter Chatter
Tweets about @sprintcare

Solutions for Weak Cell Phone Signals at Home

The relationships, work, and information that fuels our lives is made possible by our cellular-powered devices. Remaining connected at home is no longer a matter of want; it has become a need.

This post is for those of you who have already tried the free tricks to improve cell signal and are now looking for paid solutions that can provide reliable cellular coverage within the walls of your home.

To improve cell signal for your home, you’ll want to start by answering the following questions to better assess your needs.

1.   What’s the strongest signal immediately outside of your home?

This is likely the clearest identifier for which solution will best suit your needs. To get started, learn how you can take a signal reading here. Use the results from your signal reading to determine which cellular solution will work best for you.

·     If the strongest single point of cellular signal outside of your home is less than -105 dBm your needs will likely be best met by a femtocell, which can provide reliable coverage for one or two small rooms in your home.
·     If your reading is -94 to -104 dBm you are in a gray zone; you may be able to use a signal booster but may also require a femtocell.

·     If your reading is better than -93 dBm you will be well suited for a cell phone signal booster and, depending on the signal booster kit you select and the size of your home, you can expect to receive usable cellular signals in spaces spanning from just a few rooms to an entire more.

2.  How big is your home?

The solution to boost the cellular signal for a two-bedroom apartment will likely be different from the solution for a five-bedroom home or 12,000-square-foot mansion. Signal boosters tend to provide a usable signal to larger coverage areas whereas femtocells are generally used in small spaces the size of one to two rooms.

3.   In how much of your home do you need to use mobile devices?

Think about how much area within your home will need to have reliable cellular signals. Depending on the solution you select and the signal outside of your building, you may only see an improvement in a small area. If a small area of coverage is sufficient, a femtocell may be a suitable solution. On the other hand, if you have a moderate outside signal, a signal booster may be able to repeat that signal throughout your home.

4.   What is your budget for a cell phone booster?
Your pricing options range from a few hundred dollars for a femtocell or signal booster that can support small spaces to $1000 for very large homes. For signal boosters that can cover very large homes, the cost can exceed $1000 and may require a cellular system design service, which SureCall provides free for buildings above 10,000 square feet. Your cellular provider may offer you a free (or discounted) femtocell solution to enhance your signal within a small area of your home. To pursue that option you’ll need to contact your provider.

5.  Are there other carriers who provide better service for your area?

If you have poor reception with your cellular provider but have friends or family who have better reception with a different cellular carrier, you may want to consider transferring carriers. There can be early contract termination fees if you are not at the end of a contract term. Check with your cellular provider for their contract termination fee or to see when your existing contract expires.

Based on your responses to the questions above you will be best served by one of two viable cellular solutions: femtocell or signal booster. Dive into the details of each cellular signal solution below.

Femtocell

Also known as microcells, femtocells produce a cellular signal by using your internet connection. Femtocells can be purchased through your cellular carrier and will be carrier specific. So, if you have a cellular plan with Verizon you will want to purchase your femtocell through Verizon.

Femtocells are the ideal solution for homes with no cellular reception, which we consider readings lower than -100 dBm. In most instances, femtocells will enhance cellular signal for a small space, but typically not much more than one to two small rooms.

Femtocells cost between $100 and $400 and require a monthly subscription that will be added to your internet bill. Your cellular carrier may provide this for free, but this is very situational and something you shouldn’t depend on.

Signal Booster

Also known as bi-directional amplifiers (BDA) or repeaters, cell phone signal boosters come in kits that include an outdoor antenna, indoor antenna, signal booster, and cabling to connect and power the system. Some kits may combine the indoor or outdoor antenna and booster for a minimalist appearance in your home.

Signal boosters are carrier agnostic, meaning most signal boosters will improve your signal no matter which North American device or provider you use. These are the best solution for homes with weak cellular reception (readings stronger than -93 dBm) outside of the building.

Cell phone signal boosters work by capturing the signal that exists outside of your home with an outdoor antenna before feeding it to the signal booster. The signal booster then amplifies the signal strength and sends it to the indoor antenna to transmit the signal inside of your home.

Some signal boosters are more powerful than others, and the coverage area will primarily depend on the signal that exists outside of your home and density of internal walls and building structure.

Generally, with a clear line of sight, signal booster kits with a Yagi outdoor antenna can reach towers up to 40 miles away, whereas Omni-directional outdoor antenna kits reach towers up to 20 miles away. This range is dependent on the strength of the signal leaving the tower and the number of obstacles between you and that tower.

Signal boosters cost around $300 for small homes and apartments, around $400 to $600 for large homes, and around $1000 for very large homes. These kits can be customized with different indoor antennas to adapt to the layout of your home and outdoor antennas to adapt to the distance between you and the nearest cell phone tower.

Both femtocells and cell phone signal boosters present strong solutions that, given your cellular circumstance, can take you from weak or unusable cellular signals to strong signals. If you have any questions, we suggest doing your research on SureCall, a top signal booster manufacturer. Check out all of SureCall’s cell phone signal boosters for home.

Sprint Femtocell Growth Up 240% in One Year

Sprint (NYSE:S) now counts 600,000 femtocells on its network in 2012 according to this Fierce Wireless article. This is a big jump from the 250,000 femtocells Sprint said it had deployed as of March of 2011. Sprint also it plans to update its Airave femtocell product to support CDMA services over its 800 MHz network and to enable the products to better work together to coordinate coverage.  The updates would be available sometime in 2012.

What is a Sprint femtocell and how much does it cost? Femtocells are essentially mini cellular base stations that users can install in their house or workplace for voice and data coverage, and can route the resulting cellular traffic through a standard wireline Internet connection.  The device made by Samsung costs around $99.99 and carriers a $5 monthly fee.

What does the growth of femtocell usage say about carrier macro networks and WiFi alternatives?  It says that carrier macro networks are still very congested and that most people are still using their cell phone and smart phones to access data at home and in the office.  Will consumers finally learn to use WiFi whenever possible?  T-Mobile allows customers to make WiFi phone calls and it works great.

Related Articles:
Sprint Home Cell Tower or Femtocell

Buying a home next to cell towers

How to Buy a Femtocell

The question of "How to Buy a Femtocell" seems to be a recurring question for our users and US mobile phone customers.  However, when you ask AT&T, Verizon and Sprint when and where you will be able to buy a femtocell they often want you to "jump through hoops" to get one.  We have published two articles that should help you understand that your carrier is thinking of themselves first and don't care about your coverage.  The bottom line is you have to be good at complaining and have documented evidence that coverage is horrible where you live.  Wireless operators just want your money and here are some ways to negotiate with Sprint & AT&T.  How to get a free Sprint 3G femtocell & How to get a free AT&T 3G MicroCell.

Sprint's femtocell Airave is available in most stores and they currently have a 2G (paid) and 3G (free) version.  Don't ask me why?   AT&T launched a 3G femtocell in 2010 and they call it the AT&T femtocell MicroCell.  It can be purchased for $150 plus a data plan.  Verizon has a femtocell that they call the Verizon Wireless Extender but it is only 2G and it sells for $250.   T-Mobile has taken a contrarian route and intends on using Wifi vs. femtocell for improving in-building coverage.  Smart move, if you ask me since Wifi is ubiquitous throughout the world and access, is free and unlicensed.  

Femtocells are available in most US cities for AT&T, Sprint & Verizon but not T-Mobile.  As competition intensifies so will free femtocells and subsidies for customers who have suffered from poor in-building coverage.  Femtocells are currently available on a geographic basis and are better off purchased at the store.  However, I expect Best Buy, Radio Shack and Amazon Wireless to get into the game soon and this will likely help educate consumers why and how they can purchase one.  

It will be interesting to see what role the cable broadband providers Cox, Comcast, Cablevision and Time Warner have in deploying femtocells since they reside on their network.  Read our post about how Cox Wireless is deploying their own mobile phone service.   Stay tuned as 2010 could be the year where the femtocell industry finally takes off.

10 Funny Femtocell Product Brand Names

AT&T's New Sponsor Sudafed - "Congestion Relief for Our Network"

SudaCell - Congestion Relief for the Network

SinuCell - Relief for your Network Congestion

MicroHell - Because we know your outdoor cell coverage is actually getting worse

Wi-For-Free - Why would we want to use a free back-haul service like Wi-Fi?

Never Drop - Or we pay for the call

Extenna - Extension for your iPhone 4 antenna that won't reach the cell tower

Ubiquity - Your phone should work everywhere our coverage maps claim

Auto Re-Dial - Because we know you will have to do it at least once

Show Me the Money - Just pay us and stop complaining about your poor service quality

Cell You Crap - When your $150 + $20 Per Month AT&T MicroCell drops calls

What are femtocells?  - They are 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE or Wi-Fi wireless device that has been specifically designed for cell phones and used it is used to enhance cell phone reception indoors and lower cell phone costs at the same time.  Femtocells are typically used to relieve network congestion, dropped calls and areas that have no cell phone reception.  

VCs Betting Femtocells Will Coexist with Wifi

The femtocell industry has been waiting to take off for almost a decade due to slow adoption from the telecom industry and reluctance from cable operators innovate.  It appears as if we are about to "cross the chasm" of growth into the mainstream consumer as the "femtocell" or "microcell" topic becomes more widely understood.  There has long been a healthy debate in the telecom industry if femtocells and Wi-Fi will even coexist as Wi-Fi has become ubiquitous throughout the world and is a viable offloading option for mobile phones. However, as we have all seen by AT&T's iPhone fiasco that control over the voice network seems to be most important as data speeds and capacity get larger and larger.  It also remains to be seen if the cable operators will continue to stick to their stance that Wi-Fi is their solution and they don't intend to purchase femtocells at this time.

Two leading femtocell developers based in the UK have seem to be getting the most traction around the world with carriers and have recently announced new funding rounds.  It is great to see VC's continuing to  fund the operations of these companies who are have been slugging it out for many years.  See our list of femtocell companies funded back in 2008.

Ubiquisys, a UK-based developer of 3G femtocells, has just raised $9 million in new VC funding and a total of $57 million so far.  The new money is going to be used to meet the demand from many carriers testing across the world.  Yasuda Enterprise Development Co. led the round, and was joined by return backers Advent Venture Partners, Accel Partners and Atlas Venture. The latest round comes from a combination of 5 new investors: Continents Consulting Group (5CCG), Yasuda Enterprise Development Co., Advent Ventures , Accel Partners , and Atlas Venture. Ubiquisys, which also has Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and T-Mobile Venture Funds as strategic investors, has its femtocell technology commercially deployed at SoftBank Corp. in Japan and SFR in France through its systems integrator partner NEC Corp. Rumor has it that AT&T may be announced soon in the US as well.  Read full article on Light Reading.

PicoChip recently raised $20 million influx of funds. UK femtocell chip maker picoChip Designs Ltd. has announced that it has raised an additional $20 million in equity funding and sold 1 million femto chips. All of picoChip's existing investors participated in the latest funding round, namely Atlas Venture , Highland Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Pond Venture Partners, Rothschild, Samsung Venture Investment Corp. and Scottish Equity Partners. With the new money, picoChip wants to hire more engineers in its development centers in Bath, England and Beijing. The company plans to increase its 150-employee base by between 25 percent and 30 percent. PicoChip's has sold 1 million femtocell chips.

Forget 4G Cell Towers, Bring on Femtocells

Will Mini Cell Towers Replace Giant Cell Towers Sitting on Rooftops and Hills? 

North America, Asia and Europe carriers are still debating and dragging their feet asking whether they should deploy citywide or one consumer at a time, using femtocells.  The industry has been talking about femtocells for many years and I have been reading headlines about the launch since 2007.  Its shocking that AT&T is ONLY rolling out its' 3G fetmocell (Microcell) today and no carrier to my knowledge has a 4G femtocell yet.  Why doesn't Clearwire / Sprint have a 4G femtocell?  

There are many headlines dating back to 2008 promoting femtocell launches by Clearwire (Wimax)  GigaOm and Electronita Verizon's 4G femtocell that never happened.  Is it for real this time and should you be concerned if I owned cell phone tower real estate or an investors in American Tower, SBA Communications or Crown Castle.  

Verizon Femtocell Sells For $249

Check for Availability in Your Area

After all of the "Can You Hear Me Now Commercials" and "AT&T Coverage Map Bashing"  Verizon Wireless still has incredible amounts of Dead Zones to fill in. You would never know from their misleading commercials but less than 50% of US homes have seamless wireless coverage and could use a femtocell to improve home coverage.  However, in order to improve Verizon's coverage in your home you the customer must pay for your own personal mini cell phone tower at a cost of $249.  Keep in mind Verizon's femtocell is only 2G as well and not 3G currently.   

Sprint was one of the first carriers to launch femtocells with Sprint Airave (awful close to the trademark name Airwave) in 2008, but Verizon was not far behind in bringing femtocells to the masses with a Verzion Wireless Network Extender in January of 2009.  AT&T 3G Microcell is also in trials in North Carolina, Georgia and San Diego and is expected to launch nationwide sometime in the Spring of 2010.  T-Mobile is also in trials with Ubiquisys and Huawei and is expected to launch something this year as well.  The black box will send out a CDMA signal covering up to 5,000 square feet of the home or office with support for up to three simultaneous calls. Like Sprint's solution, the Wireless Network Extender uses GPS to verify that you're not creating little tiny Verizon networks outside the U.S. and plugs into the internet source of your choice via Ethernet. It'll be available in Verizon stores and online for $249.99. Pretty expensive if you ask me and not clear if an additional monthly subscription or long term contract goes with it.  We have only read reviews online that are quite negative about the price but would like to hear from consumers who actually use the product in our comments section below. 

Be aware of the pros and cons with cell reviews allowing you to compare before deciding on a mobile phone purchase.