Are Sprint and T-mobile the same?
By
HuutiMoney
In This blog post, we will answer the question, Are Sprint and T-mobile the same? We will cover topics like key features of T-mobile and Sprint, Key points of T-mobile and Sprint merger, switching from Sprint to T-mobile, and vice versa.
Are Sprint and T-mobile the same?
Yes, the Sprint brand has officially been discontinued and is successfully acquired by T-Mobile. If you have network-capable phones then it can take advantage of both CDMA and GSM services. This is possible because of the roaming agreements between T -mobile and Sprint.
Basics of network providers
We will discuss the basics of both network carriers.
What is T-mobile?
T-Mobile is the third-largest wireless network provider in the United States. T-Mobile is a German telecommunication industry and it has some investments in other mobile communication industries in the United States
T-Mobile USA has a network sharing agreement with Cingular Wireless, an American mobile operator. Due to this, T- mobile has access to some top markets in the USA.
Key features of T-mobile
- Monthly installment plans are offered for T Mobile phones.
- More priority is always given to the T-Mobile subscribers on the network over other subscribers. This is a prime important factor in case of network congestion.
- T mobile offers some better additional options, for example, international talk and data add-ons.
- T mobile network provider has an excellent customer service record.
- Some extra perks are offered only for T-Mobile subscribers.
Is T-mobile GSM or CDMA?
T-mobiles is a GSM network carrier and not a CDMA network carrier. GSM stands for global system for mobile, and it is second-generation cellular technology. T-mobile is a GSM network carrier used for mobile voice and data services. The term CDMA stands for code division multiple access.
What is a Sprint mobile?
The Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunication industry. Before the merging Sprint was the fourth-largest cell phone network operator in the United States. The Boost mobile and Open mobile were subsidiaries of the Sprint mobile network. The Sprint brand has officially been discontinued and is successfully acquired by T-Mobile as of August 3, 2020.
Is Sprint GSM or CDMA?
The older network of Sprint uses CDMA technology. The Sprint brand has officially been discontinued and is successfully acquired by T-Mobile in April 2020. If you have network-capable phones then it can take advantage of both CDMA and GSM services. This is possible because of the roaming agreements between T -mobile and Sprint.
Key points of T-mobile and Spring merger
- If you have an older Sprint phone which supports only CDMA networks then it will not work properly with T-Mobile’s GSM services. In this case, you need to upgrade the phone device.
- CDMA (older 3G network) will be retired as of 31st March 2022.
- LTE network of Sprint will be retired as of 3oth March 2022.
- You need to replace the Sprint sim card with a T-mobile sim card.
- For the voice calls, ensure that VoLTE( Voice over LTE) is enabled.
- The customers who hold older Sprint devices will not be able to access the CDMA network after 1st January 2022.
- If you have a Sprint mobile plan, you can continue your service without any change. You can switch to T-mobile, but it will not be considered as a new account.
- If you transfer to T-mobile, you are not eligible for added benefits for new T-mobile customers.
Mobile phone plans
T-mobile offers both postpaid and prepaid mobile phone plans.
T-Mobile plans
Under this category, we will consider the following significant plans
- Unlimited plans
- Family plans
- Prepaid plans
Unlimited plans
It is a plan which gives unlimited text and voice for the entire month. It also includes unlimited data. But after reaching a specific data limit, the data speed is affected, and it is reduced.
Technically, these plans are unlimited, but the fact is that speed gets reduced as you go on using premium data.
T-Mobile provides three unlimited data plans:
- Essential unlimited plan
- Magenta unlimited plan
- Magenta plus unlimited plan.
| Plan | Price per line | Unlimited text and talk | Premium data | Mobile hotspot data | Unlimited Video streaming | |
| Essential | $60 | Applicable | 50GB | Unlimited at 3GB speed | Sd streaming | |
| Magenta | $70 | Applicable | 100GB | 5GB high-speed data | Sd streaming | |
| Magenta plus | $85 | Applicable | Unlimited | 40GB high-speed data | Up to 4k UHD streaming |
Family plans.
T-Mobile network providers give reasonable offers for family plans. If you add lines, then the cost per line will get reduced. For the magenta max family plan, if you add one line, the cost per line will be reduced by $15. If you add more lines, you can bring the cost down to $40 per line. It’s a perfect offer for totally unlimited and high-speed data. Speed up to 30 Mbps or even more can be obtained.
Prepaid plans
T-Mobile offers its prepaid plans. The range of prepaid plans is from $45 to $75 per month. You can avail 4GB of LTE data for $45 and 10GB of data for $50. At the higher end, T-mobile offers unlimited data plans for $75.
Sprint phone plans
The major unlimited Sprint mobile plans are summarized in the following table.
| PLAN | PRICE | DATA CAP | HOTSPOT | PERKS |
| Unlimited basic | $60 | 50 GB | 500 MB | NA |
| Unlimited plus | $70 | 50 GB | 50 GB | Hulu and Tidal |
| Unlimited premium | $80 | 100 GB | 100 GB | Hulu, Tidal, Amazon prime membership, Lookout |
As far as deprioritization is concerned, T- mobile has an edge. The prices are almost similar But if you want more perks then Sprint will be a better option.
Network coverage
The 4G network of T-Mobile covers 59% of the country. T-mobile network carrier provides good coverage in city areas and suburbs. The T mobile network average speed is only about 31 Mbps. On average, the T-Mobile network provides much faster 5G speeds compared to its major competitors. If you have a 5G mobile with a T mobile network, you can expect internet speeds of about 85 Mbps.
The 3G network coverage of T-Mobile is only 21%. The coverage is spotty in some areas. In certain areas, you need to have a handset that will support both CDMA and GSM services. Sprint also has spotty coverage. Historically, Sprint is supposed to be having the worst network coverage.T- mobile network coverage is better than Sprint network.
3G and 4G download speed
The 3G and 4G download speeds of T-mobile are much faster than the Sprint. These speeds are equivalent to the download speeds of the Verizon network. The following table shows the download speed of T-mobile and Sprint.
| PARAMETER | T-MOBILE | SPRINT |
| 3G download speed | 3.46 Mbps | 1.46 Mbps |
| 4G download speed | 19.42 Mbps | 12.02 Mbps |
Perks
Both the network providers offer extras and perks to their customers. It depends on the phone plan which you have selected.
For T- mobile subscribers
T mobile offers the following parks to their subscribers.
- On every Tuesday, Magenta and Magenta Plus subscribers are eligible for freebies. It may include movie tickets at discounted prices or free food.
- For family unlimited plans, if any one of the family members is not using the full data, then T-mobile offers an account credit.
- T mobile offers a “digits program “, where you can use one number on multiple devices, and subscribers with two or more lines will get a free Netflix subscription.
For Sprint subscribers
For an unlimited premium plan, Sprint offers the following perks.
- Hulu
- Tidal
- Amazon prime membership
- Lookout
- Unlimited data and texting in most of the countries.
Can I switch from Sprint phone to T-Mobile?
Yes, it is possible to bring your sprint phone to T-Mobile. T mobile uses GSM technology and Sprint uses CDMA technology. Most of the new cell phones support both CDMA and GSM services.
Steps to bring the Sprint phone to T-Mobile
Use the following steps to bring your phone from Sprint to T-Mobile.
- Unlock your phone.
- Check the compatibility of your phone using the IMEI number.
- Purchase a new T-Mobile SIM card.
- Select a T-Mobile phone plan.
- Finally, Insert a new SIM card into your phone.
Eligibility criteria to unlock Sprint phone
One can unlock Sprint phone devices, provided that the following criteria are satisfied.
- You must have purchased the cellular phone from Sprint.
- The cell phone should not be reported as blocked or lost.
- An account concerned with the Device must be active for a minimum of 40 days.
- Any associated service agreement must be fulfilled. For example installation billing agreement, lease agreement, etc.
- Depending upon prepaid or postpaid plans, the Device should satisfy all necessary unlock requirements.
- The device must have SIM unlock capability.
What are unlock instructions?
If you get a notification that your phone is eligible for unlocking then use the following steps.
- If in the notification, unlock code is mentioned then contact Sprint customer support to get the unlocking code.
- Select the “devices page” and then click on “security” to get a device to unlock steps.
- Click on “permanent unlock *.
- Restart your phone.
For Samsung phones
- Go to the” settings “.
- Click on” connections “.
- Select ” more settings “.
- Finally, click on” network unlock “.
- Restart your phone.
For one plus phone
- Go to” Settings “.
- Select” WiFi and internet “.
- Click on” SIM and network “.
- Finally, click on” network unlock “.
- Restart your phone.
How to check the compatibility of your phone?
Even if you have an unlocked phone, you need to check the compatibility of your device on the T-Mobile network. Use the IMEI number to check whether your device is compatible with T-Mobile or not.
How to check IMEI?
To check the IMEI number of your device following steps are used.
- From the Home screen, select Main Menu.
- Scroll to and select Settings.
- Scroll to and select Phone Settings.
- Scroll to and select Phone info.
- Scroll to and select Version info.
- Scroll to and view the IMEI.
You can find the number in your phone’s settings. Here’s
- Android
Go to” Settings “then click on “ About Phone”, then select” Status.” - Windows phone
Go to Settings > About, then More information. - iPhone
Go to Settings > General, then About.
Or
On the dial pad screen, press *#06#, and you will see the IMEI. Some phones require you to press the send key after the code.
Once you have the IMEI number you can directly go to https://imei.net/carrier/t-mobile-imei-check/ enter your IMEI number there and click on check.
Can I switch to the Sprint network?
If you are planning to switch to the Sprint network with your old device, first you need to check If the device is compatible with the Sprint network.
To check the compatibility just visit the official Sprint website.
It’s a simple 4 step process:
- First, check the compatibility of your device with the Sprint network. On the website the entire list of domestic phones is given, you can scan through the list and confirm. If you do not find your device on the list you can visit the Sprint store for more details.
- After confirming that your device is compatible with the Sprint SIM, buy the Sprint sim kit from the Sprint store or online.
- Once you have ordered your SIM choose the best plan for your device
- Now take your device and the SIM kit to the Sprint store to get it activated.
This feature is now available for only domestic devices. In some cases, even if the device is compatible, you may not get the full experience if the device has network bad limitations. The device needs to be unlocked by the current carrier. The device’s IMEI should be clear.
What are the requirements for Sprint SIM Registration?
When you want to activate and register your Sprint SIM you need to keep a few things in mind
- Keep the device fully charged If you are doing it on your phone, and make sure there are no interruptions during the entire process.
- Keep your IMEI (International mobile equipment identity) ready.
- You need to be a sprint account owner to activate the Sprint SIM online, by logging
Below are other Sprint articles you may be interested in:
Does sprint use sim cards for iphone?
How much does a sim card cost Sprint?
Conclusion
This article answered the question “Are Sprint and T-mobile the same?” This article outlined the importance of various factors like Mobile phone plans, Network coverage, download speeds, and Perks. It also covered the steps to switch to the Sprint network.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs): Are Sprint and T-mobile the same?
How to Activate your Sprint SIM on a new device?
If you have bought a new device and you want to swap it with your account, you need to follow a few guidelines
- Keep the box safe and charge your phone.
- Take note of the activation code present on the box or you can dial *#06# to find it.
- While your phone is charging, back up all the data by visiting the official Sprint website sprint.com/backup. You have a “how-to guide” to help you with the steps.
- Create My sprint account, if you have it already, just sign in
Even after following all the steps, some services of your device might not get transferred to your new one. You might need to re-establish it once you finish the activation
What’s an unlimited plan?
It is a plan which gives unlimited text and voice for the entire month. It also includes unlimited data.
But after reaching a certain data limit, the speed of data is affected and it is reduced.
Can you put a sprint SIM card in an unlocked phone?
Yes, you can use a Sprint SIM card for a domestically unlocked phone. On the official Sprint website there is a list of all the devices which are compatible with Sprint SIM cards, once unlocked.
Can I use a Sprint SIM card in T-Mobile phones?
If the device is unlocked, you can use your sprint SIM card with T-Mobile phones.
Is Sprint T-Mobile now?
Yes, the Sprint brand has officially been discontinued and is successfully acquired by T-Mobile as of August 3, 2020.
Can Sprint give you a new SIM card?
Yes, if you are upgrading your device and your old sprint SIM is not compatible with the new device, Sprint will provide you with a new one.
References:
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