Sprint EPIC "4G Service" Useless Indoors

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At my home in Haverhill, MA it works like a charm outside....full boat signal and it flies speed wise.

Walk in the house and the signal drops to a fragile connection.

Assuming it was just a fluke at my house, I tried it this morning in Boston as well while going to a project meeting.

Same thing...wonderful signal outside with great up and down speeds....walk indoors and POOF...it's gone.

What good is it if it only works OUTDOORS?

Are others finding this issue as well?

I have started a thread on the SPRINT website about this as well since it seems that SPRINT actually does monitor those threads and gives them attention...

http://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/44204

That's because WiMax operates on a 2.5GHz band, which is terrible for penetrating structures and solid materials. This has to do with the wavelength being used -the waves are more likely to be blocked/absorbed by particles in the material than to diffract around them.

Originally Posted by APOLAUF

That's because WiMax operates on a 2.5GHz band, which is terrible for penetrating structures and solid materials. This has to do with the wavelength being used -the waves are more likely to be blocked/absorbed by particles in the material than to diffract around them.

QFT - they should have used a licensed band of radio spectrum. Oh well, I'll never see 4G at my house anyway.

Here in Las Vegas, the Clear 4G market has been active for over a year. I have full 4G bars at home, inside and out. I have 1-2 bars of 4G at work, inside and 3-4 bars, outside. I had the Clear service until Sprint came out with these Epic 4G phones.

Have you used the Sprint tool to monitor 4G coverage for your area? The green cloud is pretty accurate in showing exactly where you get only outside coverage and where you get inside building coverage as well. I can attest to it's accuracy. My home in Texas is barely in the outside green coverage and no inside coverage at all. My son verified that he cannot get the signal indoors, but can get it outdoors.

As the market matures in MA, you will see more towers "turned on" to provide better 4G coverage. That did happen here in Vegas!

Originally Posted by Kcarpenter

QFT - they should have used a licensed band of radio spectrum. Oh well, I'll never see 4G at my house anyway.

2.5 Ghz is licensed spectrum. Perhaps you're thinking of 2.4 Ghz?

Ditto on Vegas being great on 4g coverage... I was out there for a week... stayed on the 12th floor and all the way down to the casino I had screamin fast internet... I just wish sprint would pick up the pace on LA - OC coverage... suppoedly wimax towers were going to be put on every walmart, wonder if that's still gonna happen

Awkwardly, the evo never had the issue.. I did notice one thing, the power of the signal is weak but that's cause it might not be an official band. :)



Sent From The Moon... :)

I live in a "4G" city, and I am disappointed. According to Sprint's coverage maps I'm supposed to have 4G inside my home, but I don't. Also, driving even on freeways has dead pockets.

That forces me back to 3G, which on the Epic has well-documented poor performance, especially on uploads.

I do get decent 4G indoors in a downtown office. When 4G is hot, it's hot -- about twice the 3G speeds I got with T-Mobile's HSPA+ on a Vibrant. But T-Mobile's 3G service is more consistent, with better infill coverage and indoor penetration. Overall, I think I got better real-life service with the #4 carrier. I may go back.

Originally Posted by boomerbubba

I live in a "4G" city, and I am disappointed. According to Sprint's coverage maps I'm supposed to have 4G inside my home, but I don't. Also, driving even on freeways has dead pockets.

That forces me back to 3G, which on the Epic has well-documented poor performance, especially on uploads.

I do get decent 4G indoors in a downtown office. When 4G is hot, it's hot -- about twice the 3G speeds I got with T-Mobile's HSPA+ on a Vibrant. But T-Mobile's 3G service is more consistent, with better infill coverage and indoor penetration. Overall, I think I got better real-life service with the #4 carrier. I may go back.

Im getting the Epic today in the mail, and ive already been missing tmob. The vibrant did get great speeds and in a wider coverage area. If im dissatisfied with the service in two weeks, ill just get another vibrant.

I live in Vegas and the WiMAX service sucks the big one. You can't maintain a connection while driving and because data doesn't smoothly transition, you get horrible data service. It's the outdoors network. Suburbs, no 4G, buildings without a 4G tower perched up next to it, no 4G.. driving down the street, no 4G. It's really poor. Sprint 3G coverage is ok, but the 4G is just plain horrible and there are no signs of it improving soon. They've colocated on all of the towers they can, so they will be building new ones if they want better coverage and as of right now cash is low at Clear.