Sprint Denies Claims of Slow Data Speed on iPhone 4S

The iPhone 4S debut on the Sprint network was a sheer success. The 4S released on Friday to a crowd of iPhone hungry customers, waiting for an update since the iPhone 4. Since then, many customers have received their iPhone 4S and are beginning to test out the new camera, Siri Personal Assistant, and the A5 chip.

Many customers on Sprint have complained on numerous forums and directly to Sprint that their network has been operating rather slow and data speeds aren’t what they expected when compared to AT&T and Verizon.

Today, PCMag reported that Sprint released a statement addressing concerns pertaining to data issues.

As always, Sprint is carefully monitoring the performance of the 3G network. We are looking into a small number of reports of slow data speeds when using the iPhone 4S, however there are also reports showing that Sprint’s network is the fastest, such as the Gizmodo report that came out earlier today. Speed tests represent a moment in time and are subject to many variables including weather, time of day, device, and proximity to a tower. Sprint will continue to monitor the feedback we are getting from our customers and will investigate and resolve any issues that may arise,” the company said in a statement.

Sprint is defending their network out rightly and addressing the concern by pointing out to customers that many factors could be involved in decreased in data speeds. However, PCMag also mentioned in their report that Sprint is known to have the slowest data speeds of the three networks carrying the iPhone. iPhone customers, new to Sprint may experience a different usage and data speed than other networks.

Have you had issues with Sprint on your iPhone 4S? Do you support Sprint’s claims? Sound off in the comments below.

{via Mac Rumors}

18 Comments on “Sprint Denies Claims of Slow Data Speed on iPhone 4S”

  1. Dahhha

    I am using the epic 4g touch and even my speeds dropped to 250 kb’s on 3G which is a joke. This happend about 12 hours after fridays iphone launch ugh. 

  2. Dgeerlings

    I have had the sprint htc evo for over a year and loved it! i never had a problem with slow data speed. I just got a iphone 4s and the speed sucks, siri apologies for the wait all the time.I wish i didnt sell my evo. know what do i do i just signed a two year deal with sprint

  3. sprintslooooow

    Cancelled my Sprint service yesterday and ported the number to Verizon. The Sprint network was just too slow, and their unwillingness to admit to any network issue is unsettling.

    1. alex

      Did you pay a restocking fee for your iphone ($35) and the first months bill which is over $100?  I was told that if I canceled my Sprint service, I’d have to pay the first months bill even though I’ve only use one week of phone service with Sprint.

  4. Coopercreative

    I have been on Sprint for about 9 years, and just switched from the HTC Evo 4g to the iPhone 4S… big mistake. The Siri assistant is cool, but you can’t use her for much because the internet speeds are so bleedingly slow. Like .o2 mbps up and .11 mbps down! My HTC was never this slow.

    I’ll give them a couple days to figure it out or I’m retiring the iPhone.

    Sucks!

  5. Ecollazobaco

    I live in Puerto Rico and the signal is vey bad! Said Extended all the time, i call sprint customer service and the said that “extended” is rooming, and they will discount to my minutes, but I loook to my account and said that i only used 35 minutes in 3 days so i dont understand, the data is very very slow i will move to other company!

  6. Nupre69

    Service with sprint is terribly slow and I tried calling customer service they said I wasn’t even in the comPuter at one point

  7. Daroncannon

    I have had sprint for 10 years an never seen it this some but I talked to a rep an they told me that sprint has had bad service for the past year because they are fixing towers erecting new ones an by nov 1st it should be done idk how true that is

    1. Anonymous

      I’ve had problems with Sprint for the last year too. The data speeds are horrible. When I first signed up with Sprint, they were fast and I was happy. Now they’re not holding up their end of the contract. The 3g data feels like 1x. Not kidding.

  8. Phoking808

    Please see my Complaint and what Sprint had to say:

    I am very disappointed at the data speeds your company provides for the
    iphone 4s.
    Please see speed test:
    Test Date: Oct 18, 2011 3:16 PM
    Connection Type: Cellular
    Server: Los Angeles, CA
    Download: 0.04 Mbps
    Upload: 0.18 Mbps
    Ping: 206 ms
    I was getting 20x better data speeds with At&t on my iphone 3gs. I mainly use this
    phone for company email and web browsing which is sluggishly
    slow.please
    resolve this problem or me and my friends who recently switched over
    carriers will be forced to cancel our plans

    See The transcript from a Sprint agent chat:
    You: OK Miles A: I apologize for the inconvenience. Please give me a moment while I research your issue.

    You: hello?

    Miles A: Yes.

    Miles A: I’m still researching the information for you. Thanks for your patience.

    Miles A: Thank you for waiting. You: so what is sprint doing to resolve this issue?

    Miles A: I am sorry for the inconvenience.

    Miles A: There is a temporarily outage for slow data.

    You: huh?

    Miles A: Our Technical support team are engaged and working to resolve it.

    You: is there an ETA because i have 9 days to cancel?

    You: And this is directly effecting my work

    Miles A: I am sorry for the inconvenience.

    Miles A: It will resolve as soon as possible.

    You: Will
    it be in the next 9 days?

    Miles A: Yes.

    You: Ok ill take your word on it.. Can i get a transcript of this conversation

    Miles A: Sure.

    Miles A: Is there anything else I may assist you with ?

    You: yes why is the iphone battery dying so fast compared to my friends At&t iphone 4s?

    Miles A: We have also good network but you are facing some issue due to temporarily outage.

    You: so after 9 days i see no difference in data speeds will sprint honor my cancellation

    Miles A: Correct.

    You: with no penalty?

    You: or restocking fee

    Miles A: Yes.

    You: Ok thats all i needed to know

    Miles A: Is there anything else I may assist you with ?

    You: No, Thank you for reassuring me that i did not make a mistake by switching carriers from AT&T to Sprint

    Miles A: You’re welcome.

    Miles A: It’s been my pleasure chatting with you today. You’ll
    receive an email transcript of our chat within a
    couple of hours.

    You: OK

    Miles A: Good bye. 20x
    better data speeds with At&t on my iphone 3gs. I mainly use this
    phone for company email and web browsing which is sluggishly
    slow.please
    resolve this problem or me and my friends who recently switched over
    carriers will be forced to cancel our plans

    See The transcript from a Sprint agent chat:
    You: OK Miles A: I apologize for the inconvenience. Please give me a moment while I research your issue.

    You: hello?

    Miles A: Yes.

    Miles A: I’m still researching the information for you. Thanks for your patience.

    Miles A: Thank you for waiting. You: so what is sprint doing to resolve this issue?

    Miles A: I am sorry for the inconvenience.

    Miles A: There is a temporarily outage for slow data.

    You: huh?

    Miles A: Our Technical support team are engaged and working to resolve it.

    You: is there an ETA because i have 9 days to cancel?

    You: And this is directly effecting my work

    Miles A: I am sorry for the inconvenience.

    Miles A: It will resolve as soon as possible.

    You: Will
    it be in the next 9 days?

    Miles A: Yes.

    You: Ok ill take your word on it.. Can i get a transcript of this conversation

    Miles A: Sure.

    Miles A: Is there anything else I may assist you with ?

    You: yes why is the iphone battery dying so fast compared to my friends At&t iphone 4s?

    Miles A: We have also good network but you are facing some issue due to temporarily outage.

    You: so after 9 days i see no difference in data speeds will sprint honor my cancellation

    Miles A: Correct.

    You: with no penalty?

    You: or restocking fee

    Miles A: Yes.

    You: Ok thats all i needed to know

    Miles A: Is there anything else I may assist you with ?

    You: No, Thank you for reassuring me that i did not make a mistake by switching carriers from AT&T to Sprint

    Miles A: You’re welcome.

    Miles A: It’s been my pleasure chatting with you today. You’ll
    receive an email transcript of our chat within a
    couple of hours.

    You: OK

    Miles A: Good bye.

    1. Voice_of_reason

       Here’s an idea – if you’re mission-critical dependent on your phone for work, don’t get a phone that you know will be extremely popular on the release date and expect it to work without flaws.

  9. Gizmo8748

    i purchased 2 iphones today from sprint. we originally had at&t and should have just stayed with them. my internet is running super slow and most of the time its not responding. i called and a rep told me that a tower in my area was down so im undecided if i should just cancel sprint. this is one of the reasons why i left them in the first place 2 years ago but i guess not much has changed. the worse part of it is that i was grandfathered into at&t with unlimited data plan and now they no longer offer it. If you are thinking about switching dont. 

  10. SrslyAndrew

    I just upgraded to the iPhone 4S from an EVO 3D on Sprint’s network. I am having the same data issues. I am having an average of 0.25 Mbps down and about 0.15 Mbps upload. With my EVO 3D (4G turned off) I was averaging around 3.0 Mbps download speeds. From the moment I activated my iPhone 4S with Sprint I have had a “º” where my signal indicator should be. I also get the word “Extended” where the word “Sprint” normally is next to the signal strength bars. This whole situation is especially  aggravating now that Sprint is not acknowledging their slow network speeds.

    1. Bobby Ray

      As much as I like my EVO 3D it is not possible to have 3 Mbps download speeds on the 3G network…you must have had the 4G on your 3D and when you downgrade to a phone only running 3G it will reduce your speed….

    2. 123

      Call sprint they will shut your phone off then on have u put in a 8 digit good starting with a# and ending with a # and bam fast all over again. I was like what’s wrong with my phone but its a simple fix

      1. Victoriacharles1

        Just purchased the iphone 4s, I am with sprint, I’m hearing all about these issues with slow data and I am thinking about canceling.

        Is there really a quick fix?

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