Sometimes it works, sometimes not, at the same location.
Could be a handful of factors. If it does this occasionally, there could be a maintenance issue with the local towers. If it’s been like this for a long term, you may be in a congested cell. There is limited bandwidth available, and if enough other people start actively using it - streaming video, etc - you could be downgraded to 2G.
You could also be in very marginal coverage, and minor interference could impact your signal. When you do have 3G, how many bars of coverage does the phone show?
I don’t get “bars” on my display. Just anicon that says 3G and two dots that flash when data is flowing.
The indicator is white when the signal is weak and green when it is strong.
It is just strange that sometimes it is off, sometimes ir is white and sometimes it is green, at the very same spot.
Same thing happens to me with my 4G. Sometimes it’ll just disappear for no reason in a location I usually get reception. Sometimes turning on Wi-Fi (and immediately turning it off) brings back the 4G connection. Sometimes it doesn’t and I need to restart the phone. Sometimes nothing works.
Sprint 3G & Boost Mobile suck @#$%& stay away from their services horrible customer service, pathetic signal and slow data for $55 a month no more…
Just about my favorite thing to do with a smartphone is to stream radio; I use mine for that far more than anything else. Among the several stations that I routinely listen to, or try to listen to, some are almost always reliable while others tend to stutter and stop. I’m sure it’s a coincidence, but it sometimes seems that the closer a station is, the less reliable is its stream. My nearest NPR affiliate KCRW–which happens to be the premier public radio outlet in this region–is almost unstreamable while KPCC in Pasadena works fine. The one in San Francisco works very well too. I don’t really think geographical distance has anything to do with it, but it must be related to the quality/capacity of the outgoing signal.
OTOH with Sprint you can often get free domestic roaming. That being the case, though, I find that all the major carrier signals are pretty bad in my neighborhood. We have Sprint now and it’s so-so. A few years ago we tried Verizon and the signal was so bad that they let us cancel and waived the early termination fee.