[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3] MattMJB0188:
Update: Got a T-Mo sim.

So I have been dying to try T-Mobile on my iPhone 5s for a while now. Finally got it unlocked and stopped at the T-Mobile store today. The manager (Erik) was a total douche. I immediately asked about their monthly 4G. Obviously, this meant no commission for him. He said I would NOT get LTE on my unlocked AT&T iphone 5s. I politely told him that the AT&T/T-Mobile iphone 5s are the exact same model. He said LTE required a different processor. I just was like, WOW, and left it at that. I get everything all setup and my iPhone 5S says "T-Mobile 4G". I then walk out the door and it now goes to LTE. I said, HEY DUDE, it gets LTE. Then he said, yea but it won't be able to take advantage of it. I said, yea to bad, a minute ago it needed a special processor. He looked really pissed and I said see ya.

Ok, that was funny, but that's not the point of my thread. The point of my thread here is to discuss the network quality of T-Mobile, preferably in Northwest, Indiana (Chicago suburb). I am driving away and the damn thing goes back and fourth from "4G" to LTE killing my battery. Ok, I get that, its a brand new technology. So I just turned it off. I was getting about 11 down on just HSPA+. So I'm sitting at the traffic light and I notice that spotify just stops. My phone still says "4G", but now I have no data connection. Now it just says, T-Mobile ****, showing 4 bars. Then I get E. I'm like WOW.

I decided to drive to the local AT&T/T-MO tower by my house. This tower is about a half a mile from my house. I always sit on 3 bars of AT&T LTE and HSPA+ in my house. Sitting in my car about 300 feet from the tower, my iPhone 5S is displaying 4 T-Mobile bars and 4G only. The speeds were averaging from about 5-11 mbps. I was getting the same speeds during a call, which is a huge step up from AT&T. So I drive down the street, about 2 years away, and now I have2 bars and the 4G is cutting in and out. Just down the street its now on EDGE. Its EDGE city all the way to my house. The EDGE is completely useless. Absolutely no data. Thankfully calls and texts can be made.

So, I still have a full month with their unlimited everything prepaid plan. I always knew the area in which I live kinda sucked, I just didn't think it was this bad. The iPhone 5S supports AWS HSPA+, which even seemed spotty. I will still test T-Mobile's network out at school and other places, but boy am I ever glad that I did prepaid before porting any numbers over.

AT&T is evil. AT&T locks their Android boot loaders and now is forcing all customers to their over priced mobile share data plans. I tried to escape them, but its just not possible right now. T-Mobile cannot provide a consistent experience in a very populated Chicago suburb. It's kind of sad. I wish they would completely abandon the AWS frequencies and they are just awful. The overall signal is just so weak, even with the tower in sight.

So spending $80 today actually saved me a big headache because I was going to port to T-Mobile in the near future. I just can't get over how inconsistent their network is. Don't get me wrong though, its amazing when it works. The HSPA+ is much faster than AT&T and has lower latencies. However, the LTE needs a lot of work. The LTE was no faster than the H+. I average about 40-60mbps down on AT&T's LTE network.

Just my thoughts. Maybe someone will think twice who is considering T-Mobile in Lake County, Indiana.

Cheers