Advice needed: Red Pocket network question for data...which one to get?

**bhoup** · 12-20-2018, 12:59 PM

Hello all,

I have cdma-v using Verizon towers however the data when I travel into the city is unusable no matter the time of day or night. I had heard that they provision it to be a lot slower than if you were direct through them on a plan. Do all the other carriers on red pocket do this? Anyone have experience?

**ShredFred** · 12-20-2018, 01:39 PM

What city are you in and what phone do you have? Not to say that it doesn't happen but I don't know of many people complaining about Verizon cdma service on Red Pocket. If you are in an area where Verizon is just not good(again rare but certainly possible), won't matter which service you use.

Verizon does not throttle their mvnos any more like they used to. A while back they were limited to 5mbps down and 2 up, but nowadays it's full speed.

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**Boz1** · 12-20-2018, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by bhoup

Hello all,

I have cdma-v using Verizon towers however the data when I travel into the city is unusable no matter the time of day or night. I had heard that they provision it to be a lot slower than if you were direct through them on a plan. Do all the other carriers on red pocket do this? Anyone have experience?

I'm not completely sure what you're asking. "I had heard that they provision it to be a lot slower than if you were direct through them on a plan" doesn't make a lot of sense.

As far as I know, RP does not throttle data speeds on any of their 4 offered networks, although I would guess that if certain towers are busy, there is probably deprioritization at the network level, which would be the same as most any MVNO on any network. However, since you say it occurs at all hours of the day/night, I don't know what's happening in your case.

For somebody wanting to switch away from a Vzw MVNO, I would suggest giving the AT&T network a try. Most MVNOs only allow use of the native network, and I personally would consider the native T-Mobile or Sprint network to be too limited to recommend, based on my experiences. I don't live in or near a really big city, so it's possible that the native T-Mo and Sprint networks could be just fine in a different location than mine, if you rarely leave that particular area. But then again, you said Vzw isn't working well for you, which is surprising, so it's hard to predict what you'll experience.

Good luck!

**ShredFred** · 12-20-2018, 01:58 PM

I am thinking user configuration error or phone error(probably an iPhone) but without any context, it's difficult to say.

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**bhoup** · 12-20-2018, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by Boz1

I'm not completely sure what you're asking. "I had heard that they provision it to be a lot slower than if you were direct through them on a plan" doesn't make a lot of sense.

As far as I know, RP does not throttle data speeds on any of their 4 offered networks, although I would guess that if certain towers are busy, there is probably deprioritization at the network level, which would be the same as most any MVNO on any network. However, since you say it occurs at all hours of the day/night, I don't know what's happening in your case.

For somebody wanting to switch away from a Vzw MVNO, I would suggest giving the AT&T network a try. Most MVNOs only allow use of the native network, and I personally would consider the native T-Mobile or Sprint network to be too limited to recommend, based on my experiences. I don't live in or near a really big city, so it's possible that the native T-Mo and Sprint networks could be just fine in a different location than mine, if you rarely leave that particular area. But then again, you said Vzw isn't working well for you, which is surprising, so it's hard to predict what you'll experience.

Good luck!

Sorry for the confusion. I meant to say '
deprioritization' instead of 'provision.' I have seen different cases on forums such as this that Verizon does this directly, not RP. That is why I am looking for advice on the other carriers that RP offers.

This happens in Altoona, PA (not a large city at all). As soon as I leave town, it works fine again. I am using a Moto G5S Plus.

**ShredFred** · 12-20-2018, 02:30 PM

Is that model xt1806?

I am told by someone I know that travels to Pennsylvania that for service in the lesser covered areas, it's Verizon or nothing.

Out of curiosity, is your network settings for mobile data set to LTE or Global?

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**bhoup** · 12-20-2018, 03:36 PM

Yes, that is the model I have. My setting is at global? Would

Originally Posted by ShredFred

Is that model xt1806?

I am told by someone I know that travels to Pennsylvania that for service in the lesser covered areas, it's Verizon or nothing.

Out of curiosity, is your network settings for mobile data set to LTE or Global?

Sent from my Moto G (4) using HoFo mobile app

Yes, that is the model I have. My setting is at global? Would either LTE/CDMA or LTE/GSM/UMTS solve my problem?

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**ShredFred** · 12-20-2018, 03:43 PM

Actually probably not, If my G4 is any indication it should be set to Global because when I have it set to the other 2, I get LTE only or nothing.

With global, I get 3g when I am in an area with weak or no LTE at least. So I leave it on Global. I thought maybe you had set it to something other than global.

When you are in Altoona, can you at least make and receive phone calls and texts messages?

Other than that, all I can suggest is to try a different phone to see if you can replicate the issue. With Verizon, you need bands 2, 4 and 13 to get LTE. What's the possibility that Verizon signal is just very weak in that area?

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**Digital Rules** · 12-20-2018, 04:30 PM

Both Verizon & ATT work great for me when driving through Altoona on routes 99 & 220. Both also work well inside the Walmart on Route 22 east of route 99. Both are robust all the way from Tyrone to Maryland with no dropped calls.

Data worked fine, but not there often enough to know how consistent it would be from day to day if I actually lived there.

I was using Verizon post-paid, so not sure if Red Pocket would be slower.

**bhoup** · 12-21-2018, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by ShredFred

Actually probably not, If my G4 is any indication it should be set to Global because when I have it set to the other 2, I get LTE only or nothing.

With global, I get 3g when I am in an area with weak or no LTE at least. So I leave it on Global. I thought maybe you had set it to something other than global.

When you are in Altoona, can you at least make and receive phone calls and texts messages?

Other than that, all I can suggest is to try a different phone to see if you can replicate the issue. With Verizon, you need bands 2, 4 and 13 to get LTE. What's the possibility that Verizon signal is just very weak in that area?

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I have perfect signal. Texts and calls go through.

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**high technology** · 12-21-2018, 05:42 PM

Whenever I hear someone experiencing problems at all times of day in the same location, I tend to blame the signal at the location or the network. Since you have issues in a particular place, it would seem to dismiss the device being the issue.

Since calls work fine, can you use an app like LTE Discovery to see separate signals as the phone also uses CDMA, which means I never know which signal is being displayed (I presume it's the stronger one). Are you able to tell from the App what LTE band you are on? Please use the Speedtest app to check your data speeds, and let us know how the signal strengths and data speeds are.

Also, if possible can you play with the mode settings to see if you can get something akin to LTE Only and try again to see if that makes any difference, since the 3G network is now total crap just about everywhere (and you might be in a place with poor LTE coverage).

If your phone is programmed to camp on a higher frequency band (2 or 4), then your in-building signals can be poorer than if on Band 13 (which is 700mhz). Your device should have all 3 bands if you bought it from Verizon or Motorola as unlocked, but which band a device camps on more is a software thing that you can't really control.

FWIW, while they all deprioritize MVNOs to some degree, usually that doesn't result in a really poor experience other than times of extreme congestion. For example, I live in a suburb of NYC and share my home tower with a community college a mile or two away. During the day I typically get 10-20Mbps, , but at night I can pull 80s (I am on post-paid Verizon on a corporate plan). That same device can maybe pull 2Mbps during a leg of my commute into NYC where there is just tons of traffic and now many people streaming video while riding in buses. That is an extreme example that I would only expect during my rush hour commute and perhaps at some live events (concerts, games, etc.).

**bhoup** · 12-28-2018, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by high technology

Whenever I hear someone experiencing problems at all times of day in the same location, I tend to blame the signal at the location or the network. Since you have issues in a particular place, it would seem to dismiss the device being the issue.

Since calls work fine, can you use an app like LTE Discovery to see separate signals as the phone also uses CDMA, which means I never know which signal is being displayed (I presume it's the stronger one). Are you able to tell from the App what LTE band you are on? Please use the Speedtest app to check your data speeds, and let us know how the signal strengths and data speeds are.

Also, if possible can you play with the mode settings to see if you can get something akin to LTE Only and try again to see if that makes any difference, since the 3G network is now total crap just about everywhere (and you might be in a place with poor LTE coverage).

If your phone is programmed to camp on a higher frequency band (2 or 4), then your in-building signals can be poorer than if on Band 13 (which is 700mhz). Your device should have all 3 bands if you bought it from Verizon or Motorola as unlocked, but which band a device camps on more is a software thing that you can't really control.

FWIW, while they all deprioritize MVNOs to some degree, usually that doesn't result in a really poor experience other than times of extreme congestion. For example, I live in a suburb of NYC and share my home tower with a community college a mile or two away. During the day I typically get 10-20Mbps, , but at night I can pull 80s (I am on post-paid Verizon on a corporate plan). That same device can maybe pull 2Mbps during a leg of my commute into NYC where there is just tons of traffic and now many people streaming video while riding in buses. That is an extreme example that I would only expect during my rush hour commute and perhaps at some live events (concerts, games, etc.).

I'm using a Moto G5S Plus. I was looking online and it seems like the Moto G6 supports more bands. Does anyone know if this is true and if it would help me on either Verizon or T-Mobile (Red Pocket)?

**bobdevnul** · 12-28-2018, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by bhoup

I'm using a Moto G5S Plus. I was looking online and it seems like the Moto G6 supports more bands. Does anyone know if this is true and if it would help me on either Verizon or T-Mobile (Red Pocket)?

The US models have:

G5S Plus LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 25, 26, 38, 41, 66

G6 LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 41, 66

So the G6 adds the bands: 20, 28, 29, 30. I don't know of carriers that use them in the US.

I would not buy a new phone for T-Mo without their new band 71. The Motos don't have it yet - maybe the G7 when it is released.

**ShredFred** · 12-28-2018, 03:55 PM

So the G5s Plus is definitely missing band 4? That's a pretty important band in the US.... Used by both Verizon and AT&T/T-Mobile I believe.

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**bobdevnul** · 12-28-2018, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by ShredFred

So the G5s Plus is definitely missing band 4? That's a pretty important band in the US.... Used by both Verizon and AT&T/T-Mobile I believe.

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Yes, that looks like a mistake at GSM Arena, which is not uncommon.

Corrected my post.