[nwl1987]

So at the moment I am using two phones. Boost's curve 8330, and the Att bold 9700.

I really don't get this. Everything is better about the Bold, except the service. I get all kinds of error messages all the time, saying it cannot load the page, even at five bars and full 3G service. Yet, my 8330 would load pages even faster at 1XEV and rarely ever got errors.

Is the 8330 a more reliable machine for service?

[ratsttam]

Actually, there is nothing better about the 8330 over the 9700 (some will argue the keyboard, but that's neither here nor there), except the fact that your Boost 8330 is running on Sprint, and your 9700 is running on AT&T. Obviously AT&T service where you are is sub-par compared to Sprint at that location.\
And for the record 1XEV is just CDMA talk for 3G service.

[nwl1987]

There's supposed to be great coverage here, and I usually have four, or five bars for 9700

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ratsttam]

There's supposed to be great coverage here, and I usually have four, or five bars for 9700

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Coverage does not equal service. The bars only indicate how powerful the signal from the tower is to your device. Where I live, I get solid data speeds and clear voice calling, as long as I have a single bar. The fine area between no service and just no bars, it gets a little choppy. Having 4-5 bars on a tower that is inundated by other users (or maybe just has a bad connection to the network backbone) will result in dropped calls and slow data transfers, as the tower is trying to rotate through the requests, even though the signal from the tower is still powerful.

[nwl1987]

And four to five bars at 3G on att isn't great here compared to boost/sprint at two to five bars on 3G?

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[ratsttam]

And four to five bars at 3G on att isn't great here compared to boost/sprint at two to five bars on 3G?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Based on your observations at your location, I would say yes, 4-5 at&t 3g bars is less than 2-5 3g bars on boost.

Other locations and users WILL see different results. If you feel that your particular 9700 is a faulty device, you can try to get your carrier to swap it for another one, but you may end up with the same results.

[nwl1987]

Its just weird because everyone around here says sprint is garbage

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[ratsttam]

Its just weird because everyone around here says sprint is garbage

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

All carriers are adding towers and upgrading the ones they currently have. I have to ask (no answer is needed mind you) do these reviews come from current sprint users in your area, or people that have switched months or years ago due to the poor service and customer service experiences? I ask only because your own observation is that Sprint is the stronger one for your needs where you are, and only as short as a few months ago, you may have had a much different experience.

They have also been working on their "image", and part of that was to increase capacity (not strength), hence less bars, but much more stable (no overloaded towers, like AT&T had with the explosion of data hungry iPhone use). Thinking about it, AT&T may not have gotten to you local tower for capacity upgrades. It's a possibility!

[silverfang77]

That's what I've read about AT&T's service. I know many iPhone users have been frustrated by it for years. It's a shame that AT&T sells nice phones like the Bold and the iPhone, but doesn't back them up with a strong network.

[nwl1987]

I don't really know, the people who've told me that Sprint is garbage are a couple people at work.

And I also never thought that all those other Att smartphone users could be hogging the network, making it lag and slow.

Must be there aren't hardly as many Boost smartphone users around my area