Is Verizon the only carrier....

[deborah3756]

To have so many 4G/data issues? Does any one know how the other carriers are faring with 4G?

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[Dave12308]

There's really no other carrier to compare to, as no other carrier has been deploying a LTE network at such a rapid pace.

 

[nateohio]

To my knowledge, They are the ONLY carrier with LTE as of right now.

ATT is the only other carrier that has a plan to implement LTE and I don't think they have begun rolling it out yet.

What other carriers are touting as 4G, is not LTE technology. It's nowhere near as fast. Example: My buddies "4G" sprint phone maxes out at 7MBit download, The fastest download speed I've gotten on my bionic is 39MBit download.

 

[tjk629]

To my knowledge, They are the ONLY carrier with LTE as of right now.

ATT is the only other carrier that has a plan to implement LTE and I don't think they have begun rolling it out yet.

What other carriers are touting as 4G, is not LTE technology. It's nowhere near as fast. Example: My buddies "4G" sprint phone maxes out at 7MBit download, The fastest download speed I've gotten on my bionic is 39MBit download.

MetroPCS has an LTE network, and even had it a bit before vzw. Though their coverage is extremely small.

AT&T just recently launched their LTE network.

@OP

There are some things that need to be remembered:

1. LTE is a new tech to vzw. Outside of it just being new; LTE is GSM. Verizon is a CDMA network. Which is why I believe AT&T will have a smoother roll out.

2. The LTE network just recently turned 1. When deploying something as large as a network, expect the first few years to be rocky.

3. Everything is 1st gen.

If people want reliability; they should have waited till sometime 2013 when the network and tech matured.

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[CPKIII]

MetroPCS has an LTE network, and even had it a bit before vzw. Though their coverage is extremely small.

AT&T just recently launched their LTE network.

@OP

There are some things that need to be remembered:

1. LTE is a new tech to vzw. Outside of it just being new; LTE is GSM. Verizon is a CDMA network. Which is why I believe AT&T will have a smoother roll out.

2. The LTE network just recently turned 1. When deploying something as large as a network, expect the first few years to be rocky.

3. Everything is 1st gen.

If people want reliability; they should have waited till sometime 2013 when the network and tech matured.

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BAH ... what is this reason you speak with? It should just work....

 

[ripper2860]

... If people want reliability; they should have waited till sometime 2013 when the network and tech matured.

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I disagree. Your statement seems to insinuate that folks suffering through this are doing so as a result of a "self-inflicted wound" due to their lack of due-diligence and falling for the hype. Verizon heavily marketed their 4G LTE as the best thing since sliced bread. At no time did they "tap the brakes" and reign in their 4G LTE marketing machine -- even as they experience wide-spread outages the marketing machine rolls on. They continue to introduce more and more 4G phones and continue to heavily market to consumers and corporate customers with promises they are clearly unable to deliver upon at this time. I think it is unreasonable and unfair to lay blame on VZ customers and state that if they wanted reliability they should have waited. VZ has failed to deliver on the promise and failed to notify 4G customers that they were in essence signing-up and paying to participate in a BETA program while they work their network issues out. VZ is to blame here -- not the consumer. And the consumer has every right to be dis-satisfied and upset.

 

[tjk629]

I disagree. Your statement seems to insinuate that folks suffering through this are doing so as a result of a "self-inflicted wound" due to their lack of due-diligence and falling for the hype. Verizon heavily marketed their 4G LTE as the best thing since sliced bread. At no time did they "tap the brakes" and reign in their 4G LTE marketing machine -- even as they experience wide-spread outages the marketing machine rolls on. They continue to introduce more and more 4G phones and continue to heavily market to consumers and corporate customers with promises they are clearly unable to deliver upon at this time. I think it is unreasonable and unfair to lay blame on VZ customers and state that if they wanted reliability they should have waited. VZ has failed to deliver on the promise and failed to notify 4G customers that they were in essence signing-up and paying to participate in a BETA program while they work their network issues out. VZ is to blame here -- not the consumer. And the consumer has every right to be dis-satisfied and upset.

I agree. Verizon shouldn't make claims to have America's "most reliable" 4G network. I didn't mean to make it seem like vzw customers are to blame. I'm just saying that if they wanted reliability they should have waited.

 

[ripper2860]

I agree. Verizon shouldn't make claims to have America's "most reliable" 4G network. I didn't mean to make it seem like vzw customers are to blame. I'm just saying that if they wanted reliability they should have waited.

If only we had known then what we know now. Oh, well. Hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[nateohio]

I disagree. Your statement seems to insinuate that folks suffering through this are doing so as a result of a "self-inflicted wound" due to their lack of due-diligence and falling for the hype. Verizon heavily marketed their 4G LTE as the best thing since sliced bread. At no time did they "tap the brakes" and reign in their 4G LTE marketing machine -- even as they experience wide-spread outages the marketing machine rolls on. They continue to introduce more and more 4G phones and continue to heavily market to consumers and corporate customers with promises they are clearly unable to deliver upon at this time. I think it is unreasonable and unfair to lay blame on VZ customers and state that if they wanted reliability they should have waited. VZ has failed to deliver on the promise and failed to notify 4G customers that they were in essence signing-up and paying to participate in a BETA program while they work their network issues out. VZ is to blame here -- not the consumer. And the consumer has every right to be dis-satisfied and upset.

Have you guys ever heard the saying "Buyer Beware"

Its not VZW's fault that you failed to look into things before signing up. The problems with 4G LTE have been well publicized and if you don't want to deal with the issues of being an early adopter of a new technology, its quite simple. Stay with 3G devices until the new network is more established.

If you really think that you have a false advertising argument, take it too the courts and see how far you get.

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[nateohio]

MetroPCS has an LTE network, and even had it a bit before vzw. Though their coverage is extremely small.

AT&T just recently launched their LTE network.

@OP

There are some things that need to be remembered:

1. LTE is a new tech to vzw. Outside of it just being new; LTE is GSM. Verizon is a CDMA network. Which is why I believe AT&T will have a smoother roll out.

2. The LTE network just recently turned 1. When deploying something as large as a network, expect the first few years to be rocky.

3. Everything is 1st gen.

If people want reliability; they should have waited till sometime 2013 when the network and tech matured.

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You learn something new everyday.

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[bendystrawboy]

Really best to consider lte still in beta.

 

[ripper2860]

Have you guys ever heard the saying "Buyer Beware"

Its not VZW's fault that you failed to look into things before signing up. The problems with 4G LTE have been well publicized and if you don't want to deal with the issues of being an early adopter of a new technology, its quite simple. Stay with 3G devices until the new network is more established.

If you really think that you have a false advertising argument, take it too the courts and see how far you get.

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Fortunately for consumers -- buyer beware is not a legal defense that companies can use to invalidate false advertising and,or breach of contract claims. (BTW -- I'm not saying that any of these would apply in this case as I'm not a lawyer.)

To your other points ...

What data did the early adopters have available to them before making their decision other than past experience with a highly reliable 3G network and VZ promises of the same or better experience with the newer/faster network? And why are things worse now than previously?? Your argument would hold water if things were better now or significantly improved. 1 year later and the outages are worse. We're not talking minor glitches and short disruptions -- we are talking wide-spread and lengthy outages. False advertisement are your words not mine - but if the shoe fits...

I am willing to endure the issues and wait it out. I too think that it will ultimately improve. However, that's a decision I've made and I don't expect everyone else to follow the same path. I will not minimize or trivialize what others are going through and will not adopt a "too bad / so sad" stance. If you honestly believe VZ are delivering on the promise at this point in time -- then good for you. Either your expectations are rather low or you are rather lucky. Either way -- I would bet you stand in the minority.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[nateohio]

And what data did the early adopters have available to them before making their decision other than past experience with a highly reliable 3G network. And why are things worse now than previously?? Your argument would hold water if things were better now or significantly improved. The outages are worse. We're not talking minor glitches and short disruptions -- we are talking wide-spread and lengthy outages. False advertisement are your words not mine - but if the shoe fits...

I am willing to endure the issues and wait it out. I too think that it will ultimately improve. However, that's a decision I've made and I don't expect everyone else to follow the same path. I will not minimize or trivialize what others are going through and will not adopt a "too bad / so sad" stance. If you honestly believe they are delivering on the promise at this point in time -- then good for you. Either your expectations are rather low or you are rather lucky. Either way -- I would bet you stand in the minority.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

I do think they are delivering on the promise, pretty effectively actually. My 4gLTE works 90% of the time and when 4G goes down, my 3G connection is rock solid in CDMA only mode. I have seen improvements and I do think it is getting better.

The only early adopters that have an argument IMHO are the ones that adopted 4G in the first 2-3 months it was available because the issues weren't clear until that time. That means anybody that has gone to 4G in the last 8 months (the majority of people complaining), should have known what they were getting themselves into.

It's not that my expectations are low or that I don't hold VZW accountable, it's that my expectations are simply REALISTIC when dealing with a virgin technology. If you have a 4G device and you don't want to deal with the issues, put your phone into CDMA only mode until the issues are resolved. My bionic has never been unable to obtain or keep a data connection when in CDMA only mode, except a little while ago when there was a nationwide outage of both 3G and 4G data. Which happens very rarely.

 

[Mike8016]

I have only Lost 4g When the LTE went out twice in the last month. Otherwise my 4g is pretty good and fast. I live in the Bay Area though.

 

[ripper2860]

I do think they are delivering on the promise, pretty effectively actually. My 4gLTE works 90% of the time and when 4G goes down, my 3G connection is rock solid in CDMA only mode. I have seen improvements and I do think it is getting better.

The only early adopters that have an argument IMHO are the ones that adopted 4G in the first 2-3 months it was available because the issues weren't clear until that time. That means anybody that has gone to 4G in the last 8 months (the majority of people complaining), should have known what they were getting themselves into.

It's not that my expectations are low or that I don't hold VZW accountable, it's that my expectations are simply REALISTIC when dealing with a virgin technology. If you have a 4G device and you don't want to deal with the issues, put your phone into CDMA only mode until the issues are resolved. My bionic has never been unable to obtain or keep a data connection when in CDMA only mode, except a little while ago when there was a nationwide outage of both 3G and 4G data. Which happens very rarely.

You're lucky. I bet at 90% availability of 4G a lot of the negative threads would disappear and any that are loudly complaining w/ 90% are being a wee bit unrealistic. I can ride it out because I use my phone at home and work for data, and I have WiFi available at both locations. Data was down for most of yesterday and the day before and it's the 3rd complete/extended outage in my area this month. If it were not for WiFi, I'd have been screwed. Let's hope that we will all soon experience the level of service that you have!!