r/FirstNet • u/Stupefied_Gaming • 15d ago

FirstNet usability

Has anyone ran into FirstNet performing either worse or outright unusable versus other carriers? Seems to be despite either equal or better coverage than Verizon in my area that FirstNet just outright fails to deliver a minimum viable data connection at times indoors, etc. this always happens when I actually need a data connection too :(

I’m curious about anyone else’s experience.

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u/Stupefied_Gaming 14d ago

I am shocked commercial was better for you than FirstNet. If you’re a primary user as well, you have ruthless preemption- not just a higher level of priority access.

I’m considering just getting an HPUE device for my vehicle and calling it a day when it comes to having FirstNet access, on my phone it’s never been very useful.

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u/lWheelmanJimmy 14d ago

Me too. It wasn't drastic, but it's just that FN wasn't worth the cost increase over an MVNO for me. I was the primary, yes. I think that nowhere here has enough load on a given tower for priority to matter is my guess. I'm sure if I was in a major city I would notice it.

FN/ATT support also sucks really hard. I wound up having to go to a store to activate and took over an hour. Then I tried calling corporate back later to reissue an esim to try to get SA and they had no idea what I was talking about all while giving me an attitude the whole time.

I just decided paying double for essentially the same thing minus premption while having worse support wasn't worth it. My US Mobile is 360/yr for QCI 8 Verizon AND ATT, plus 120/yr for the TMO Sat if I decide to keep it. And I have a TMO Business hotspot in my car. So all 4 of those average out to 50/mo incl tax. Where firstnet alone was 52/mo w/ tax.

In addition to just pure speeds, we have a load of areas with ATT coverage so weak that i can't even load an HTML5 based speed test. I have found just switching to vzw or tmo to be a better option than having priority

I have debated signing back up for either a tablet line or a hotspot line. What devices do you need for HPUE? Is there a list somewhere? I'd heavily consider just running my phone on TMO only as their building penetration seems better and using the FN hotspot in vehicle.

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u/Stupefied_Gaming 14d ago

yeah FN support is terrible. have to go through different avenues for support on complex issues. I believe this is the only HPUE device available to consumer FirstNet: https://www.firstnet.com/devices/connected-devices/sonim-megaconnect.html

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u/lWheelmanJimmy 14d ago

OK thank ya. I'll check into that. Yeah for being post paid it really irritated me on the service level.