You bastards. You bloody bastards...
So, in Q4 of last year, I was on the lookout for FLOW's LTE offering. But then on October 12, they announced that they "would likely avoid investing in LTE infrastructure for its network", which took the wind out of my sails. Oh well, I thought..their HSPA+ network is pretty decent.
So yesterday, my brother calls...wants to know what I think about Caricel, and I'm the family techie. I've never used their service, but I remembered that there was a thread here about it, so I came by the forum, and came across this very thread...good ole Brandysull spilling the beans on the rollout in progress.
You bastards. You bloody bastards. Flow was rolling out LTE, and none a y'all told me?
Of course I went straight to the Flow Store in Boulevard Supercentre a few hours later. The rep (surprisingly, based on others' experience in this thread) knew all about the SIM change required, and replaced it free of charge:
http://i.imgur.com/BleXEyu.jpg (Receipt)
http://i.imgur.com/WLed7Hx.jpg
My heart sank when I realized that it was series 07.00 SIM, and not the 08.00 that Brandysull recommended. But then I realized that they must know what SIMs can give you LTE, and sure enough:
http://i.imgur.com/R02ZAiz.jpg (Pic of SIM card front)
Gotcha.
Popped that baby in, and right after reboot, it found that sweet LTE signal. The network sent some Config Messages for browsing and MMS, but I could browse without installing it. I did install the MMS one though (side note: Does anybody use MMS? I don't think I've ever gotten it to work, nor tried that much, tbh....).
Now of course, the obligatory speedtest, right in front of the cashier:
http://i.imgur.com/fJ7ARJ8.png
And that's on 2 bars. Prentice is a happy camper
Brandysull, I made sure to capture this for you:
http://i.imgur.com/5MJ19pT.png
My phone is a Galaxy S6 Edge, model SM-G925I. Band 4 support, but no Band 13. Does have Band 28 and 700APT, tho
At home, in Patrick City, I still have LTE signal, but not as strong:
http://i.imgur.com/M1bLW0w.png (Pic of speed test at home)
Just one bar, and sometimes 2 or 3 depending on where in the house I am. Here are typical SNR readings:
http://i.imgur.com/dAARasQ.png
http://i.imgur.com/kexeZso.png
Brandysull, in the image immediately above, when it says "Voice network type: LTE", are we to assume to VoLTE? I think not, as I made a few test calls and everytime, the signal switched from LTE to H/H+, so it definitely feels like a CSFB is occurring.
All in all, I'm really happy though. We're living in an amazing time. I still remember the days of bmobile GPRS, where I used a Motorola "Peanut Phone" as a USB modem, and was thrilled when I could download Table Tennis videos from Chinese FTP servers at 2Am at 4.4KB/sec. It was supposed to be $9/day, but they never charged hehehe... Yes, kids...there was an Internet before YouTube...now get off my lawn, goddammit!
But this is great. And to think it's been happening right under my nose. Then again, that's what makes it such a pleasant surprise.
Y'all are still bastards for not telling me tho...