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Call quality differences between T-Mobile and At&t

gstaytru

Oct 6, 2007, 1:46 PM
When I changed cell providers from At&t to T-Mobile, I noticed a big difference in the call quality. Call volume was louder and much clearer. No distortion. Call quality was similar to Verizon's. I live in south Florida. Does T-Mobile and At&t use different technology even though they are both GSM?
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beeferjay

Oct 6, 2007, 6:56 PM
T-mo operates on the 1900Mhz band (commonly referred to as PCS) along with Sprint.

The old sprint ads referred to being able to hear a pin drop. (thats been incorporated into their new logo, if you remember their old logo)

It has to do with the Mhz n stuff. i hate to get all technical. Look it up on wikipedia dog



---seacrest out
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terryjohnson16

Oct 7, 2007, 12:17 AM
Um...I think it has to do with AT&T using Half rate instead of full rate codecs like T-Mobile.
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renardlee

Oct 9, 2007, 11:12 AM
tmobile has the advantage to use full rate codecs b/c they have less customers, the more customers they add the chance that they might have to use half-rate codecs, but im switching to tmobile b/c the call quality on at&t is horrendous. they over use half rate just to squeeze in more calls. i dont have 3g service from them, it might be better but who knows?
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nextel18

Oct 7, 2007, 10:31 AM
I would think that T-mobile’s coverage and capacity are not better than AT&T’s if that is where you are leaning your post towards, because the fact that T-mobile (before the AWS win) has less spectrum than AT&T. It is possible for T-mobile to have equal coverage and capacity as they would roam but I doubt that T-mobile would, by itself, have better coverage and capacity. T-mobile before the AWS win had I believe only 30 MHz of spectrum while Cingular is in the high 50s. You could designate certain amount of spectrum to voice and/or data, which could allow you to have better voice coverage then the rest.
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Pictor

Oct 7, 2007, 12:41 PM
Better voice coverage doesn't equal better sound from the phone. The better audio quality has to do with the CODEC used and most carried will use multiple CODECS and switch to higher compression when needed due to high utilization of a tower. Another factor will have to do with the phone itself. Unless you compare two identical phones it's hard to make a direct comparison. However, I have noticed call quality from TMo to be better than ATT as well, even when using the same unlocked V3i on each network.
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nextel18

Oct 7, 2007, 2:55 PM
Well having great voice capacity and coverage has to deal firstly with the spectrum and tower in that given area and then the codecs or voice coders in the device itself. Moreover, the device itself needs to have flawless software and hardware. I know all about codecs and voice coders, but spectrum and its efficiency are a bit more important. As of right now, without putting T-mobile’s AWS win on their network, they are lacking AT&T by more than 2 times the amount and that is why in many areas T-mobile lacks in capacity and coverage than AT&T. After T-mobile puts its AWS winnings onto its network then they would be on a MHz wise very close to what AT&T has and if they put the necessary towers in place for capacity and code plugs/voice ...
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gstaytru

Oct 7, 2007, 3:06 PM
That was my point exactly. I know At&t has more coverage nationwide. However, the call quality from my T-Mobile phone (Rizr Z3) is noticeably clearer and louder than when I'm using the At&t network. Also, I've used an unlocked Razr V3 on both networks, and I can clearly hear a difference in the sound quality.
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nextel18

Oct 7, 2007, 3:23 PM
It just depend on what they install in each single phone. As you know some phones can have different software than the other one even though it is the same manufacturer.
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LilShorty

Oct 7, 2007, 5:27 PM
nextel18 said:
It just depend on what they install in each single phone. As you know some phones can have different software than the other one even though it is the same manufacturer.


They've said that they've used the same unlocked RAZR on both networks. Remember, it is a possibility with GSM to use not just the same model, but the EXACT same phone with different carriers. Meaning, they got an at&t sim card and put it in the phone, tested it, took the at&t sim card out, put a T-Mobile sim card into the very same phone (not the carrier's version of the phone) and tested it and found more favorable results with the T-Mobile sim card in the phone as far as the sound quality. Now, since the sim card doesn...
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nextel18

Oct 7, 2007, 5:46 PM
Well there could be the same models but different updates on the device, as you and everyone knows, you can download updates for the device. gstaytru also mentioned they used another device. so again could be the updates in place. Overall, T-mobile is no match for AT&T so I do not care if it is the same or similar device, the former does not have a chance against the latter, especially with the extra 20-30 MHz not added to his or her existing spectrum networks. I would also like to have more data but obviously, they have not provided it.
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gstaytru

Oct 7, 2007, 7:04 PM
Nextel18, why can't you believe that I experience a better call quality with T-Mobile's service than with At&t? I know At&t has more coverage nationwide. I don't dispute that. However, I can only judge the coverage in south Florida. T-Mobile's coverage is very strong down here. Like I mentioned before, their call quality is similar to Verizon's. If I was to rank the major four companies based solely on call quality in the south Florida area, it would be 1. Verizon 2. T-Mobile 3. At&t 4. Sprint.
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nextel18

Oct 7, 2007, 7:07 PM
Oh, this is also in Florida. Not even a good comparison because that area is horrible when it comes to mobile phones.

Why? Because it is unlikely for that to happen.
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gstaytru

Oct 7, 2007, 7:31 PM
Do you live in south Florida? If you don't, then how would you know what call quality and coverage is like here? Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach are heavily populated counties with coverage from the four major networks and Metropcs. I've already mentioned how I rank the major four in terms of call quality. Metropcs's call quality would be number five on that list. This is my experience using all five of these networks.
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nextel18

Oct 7, 2007, 7:38 PM
I do not live there but I have been there many times especially for a few Super Bowls and just for visiting. I have not been there within a few months but within half a year I have and the services there for all carriers are just horrible. I just take the coverage and quality based off a number of factors. It is that simple. It may change by markets but given that it is Florida and their issues, carriers will not build out big networks because chances are it would be destroyed.
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LilShorty

Oct 8, 2007, 7:44 PM
Seriously, I used to think that you were smart, but you either have some horrible reading comprehension, or have come to believe that you are so smart, you only have to pay attention to half the post to understand it. It is NOT THE SAME MODEL of phone used, it is THE SAME PHONE. T-Mobile doesn't have software updates available for handsets like RAZRs, so if you're thinking they downloaded some update to get it to work better, that would be incorrect. And I have rarely heard of anyone flashing a phone to brand it, if that's what you're getting at. Most people try to unbrand their phones. Now, I can't speak for at&t, but I'd hope they're not updating phones to have poorer voice quality than T-Mobile. Now, you can speak generally about ei...
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nextel18

Oct 8, 2007, 9:21 PM
Sorry, but I did not read the rest of your post especially because you were very rude in your opening. I am not rude to people if I do not agree with them so how dare you do the same especially as someone as informative as me. So if you want to have a civil conversation that is fine, but bringing up what you did is a childish act. If not, do not bother.
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LilShorty

Oct 9, 2007, 12:04 AM
And my point is proven. 🙄
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