Fun Cell Service Debate

[Frenchy]

So I have been a Verizon customer for many years thanks to my parents decision and influence. I won't argue that in general coverage has been good, but I wouldn't say that it was excellent either.

My own experience has shown customer service at Verizon to be so-so and coverage in certain spots to not be as great compared to other carriers.

Because of this I'm actually considering switching to another carrier, but I don't exactly have much experience with the others and I want to hear the opinions of others. What have you tried carrier-wise and where have you been impressed?

Things to consider is I do go off grid from time to time with the four-wheeling. I do have a weeaboost device attached to my truck and I understand that's only going to do so much when I'm off grid. Totally okay with that. My main concern is going to be when I'm in the city or I decide to take a trip into the mountain towns or even to another state. It's nice to have cell coverage that isn't questionable because you decided to take a back road instead of the highway.

Please tell me what you like and why you like it. If it includes some bad experiences with a different carrier that's totally okay.

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[Chris M]

We left Verizon to go to Consumer Cellular which I believe to be an AT&T company. We liked Verizon and had it for decades, but we save now over $50 a month and have not suffered any service problems. I absolutely despised Verizons customer service.

 

[Frenchy]

We left Verizon to go to Consumer Cellular which I believe to be an AT&T company. We liked Verizon and had it for decades, but we save now over $50 a month and have not suffered any service problems. I absolutely despised Verizons customer service.

It's funny because I'm actually considering AT&T at the moment. I have them through my work phone and it seems to give better service at my home and in a major city I work in.

 

[Muscleford]

Left AT&T for Consumer Cellular. Events with a company discount on AT&T I am saving $40 per month.

 

[Frenchy]

I'm going to have to add the facts that if you are using a second hand carrier that uses one of the major provided cell service lines, but your vote there.

 

[AzScorpion]

We left Verizon to go to Consumer Cellular which I believe to be an AT&T company. We liked Verizon and had it for decades, but we save now over $50 a month and have not suffered any service problems. I absolutely despised Verizons customer service.

I've been with Verizon for 25 years and have always had great service in the areas I've lived and great customer service. Right now I'm paying $36.57/month (3 line family plan) and that includes our monthly payment of $8.65 for our 3 year mobile phone payment. I think one of their main benefits is they do have some of the best coverage while traveling. There's nothing worse than having dead spots and spotty service when you're on the road.

It's surprising to hear that you say you despise their CS because they've been nothing but fantastic and I think you know me well enough that I think most have mediocre CS at best now! Also while living in Goodyear my friend (who only lived 2 streets over) had AT&T and always had spotty service, barely 2 bars at best. He switched to Verizon and now has full bars and way better service with no missed/dropped calls. I had another friend who had Consumer Cellular that lived in Avondale just North of Costco. I could never hear him as he always sounded muffled and his service was spotty and at times I'd only hear every couple words. I've thought about switching to grab a new phone for free but for me it's not worth loosing the coverage and CS to save a few bucks on a phone. This coming from someone who's cheap frugal.

 

[RedlandRanger]

I've been with Verizon for quite some time and I'm surprised to hear people complain about the customer service. I've always been pretty happy with it. You don't have to sit on hold for hours and they have always been able to solve my problem without transferring me 27 times. They keep wanting to upgrade my plan but what we have works for us and upgrading would just cost us more money and not provide us any benefits so we've kept our plan.

I do a lot of hiking so I'm in "fringe" areas a lot and I've found Verizon to be the best in those fringe areas. With that said, I was out recently with a friend of mine who is on T-Mobile and he got service in some very interesting spots. He said they've recently greatly expanded their network with 5G. I'd love to get a "loaner" phone on T-Mobile to be able to test it out myself. When my parents were around they had T-Mobile and they were treated well.

I had a REALLY, REALLY bad experience with AT&T years ago and vowed I would never use their service again, so they are on the "permanently banned" list for me.

 

[Frenchy]

I won't argue that Verizon at one time was considered the king for coverage for many places. The funny thing about that is there are many places in Colorado that you would think you are good on service, but in reality you are SOL. I noticed many that used T-Mobile would be happy, but even I did a test run with them and wasn't impressed. What I did notice is my new work cell that has AT&T seeming to have better service at my home and other spots that Verizon was mediocre at best(a surprise I know).

For kicks I did find a Cell Coverage Map that covers the big 3 along with one other fir 4G and 5G. It's certainly interesting especially when I can say I have been to some of these places and not had great coverage (with Verizon at least). We shall see how it goes.

 

[AzScorpion]

T-Mobile must have done a lot of updating and added towers over the last few years. We use to call them T-Maybe as you never knew if you'd get a signal or not.

 

[KNI]

T-Mobile of course.

AT&T and Verizon might have better coverage, but their service is run over ancient systems and stone age processes, offering little flexibility. Sure you may be all good with a fixed service for the contract term, but try to acquire a company and transfer the assets over and you're heading for a disaster (It might be better to just write off those existing contract, take a hit and get new contracts for the acquiring company. Just do due dilligence and deduct the cost from the aquiring contract).

T-Mobile running on Nokia hardware is also a plus. You get the second best mobile network in the world (after Huawei).

 

[R_B]

I currently use Verizon Visible where I'm at in Pahrump Nevada at the moment. $25 unlimited txt, calls and data. I know it's data is not on the highest priority connection or speed but it works for me since they upgraded several towers in the area.

I have been looking at the US Mobile website for a possible switch.
You can switch between networks. It looks interesting. Annual plans are cheaper than monthly.

https://www.usmobile.com/plans

Right under the "Get Started" blue button-box, click on "varies by network" button for more details.

Then you click-select between the different Network Options (Dark Star, Warp & Light Speed) at the top of the page to see the offers details or contact Customer Service.

Also click on the "Transfer Network" and "Multi-Network" button for more info.

**US Mobile's "Warp network" is built on Verizon's infrastructure, providing access to Verizon's 4G LTE and 5G coverage, including their mid-band spectrum like C-Band for faster speeds.

**US Mobile's "Dark Star" network is its branding for access to the AT&T network, offering high-speed 5G connectivity for superior mobile experiences like streaming and gaming.

**"Light Speed" with US Mobile is the brand name for their mobile service that uses the T-Mobile network infrastructure. It provides access to T-Mobile's 5G network, offering fast data speeds, but its data can be subject to deprioritization during network congestion. Light Speed offers priority data with a QCI-7 priority level.

30 day free trial. Details can be found here: https://www.usmobile.com/

Anyway, just thought I would pass it along.

Thanks, Robert

 

[Friday yet?]

Verizon customer for years. But, work phone is on AT&T so I see both. In my experience, I get better coverage with Verizon. Obviously I’ll have better AT&T signal at times. But overall, Verizon coverage is best.

While I live in Tennessee, I travel for work. Canada and around the US. So I get to compare the two regularly. In my mind, AT&T is the “Interstate highway” carrier. If you are traveling the Interstate AT&T will provide excellent coverage. But when you start hitting the backroads (my favorite mode of travel) you’ll be better served with Verizon.

I like hiking and just generally being out in the woods. On those occasions I’d say Verizon is better 90% of the time.

YMMV

 

[Motorpsychology]

My employer had Verizon for our company phones, later we started using the company Verizon on our own phones and they deducted $15/mo. from our pay. Great coverage, never had a drop, although no matter where in the US I was, there was only 2 or three of 4 bars, but that was back in the 4G-5GLTE days. I went back to AT&T when I retired, as that is the business plan my wife obtained for her business; some sort of 4 lines for $X/mo +++. She handles all that stuff. But we travel to the North & South shores of Lake Superior and the Black Hills SD a couple times a year and there are several dead spots. along the way. I am seriously thinking about T Moblie for myself at least. I'll wait until my iPhone 12 Mini shortens its battery life.

I guess it depends on where you need service the most. If you are on the road a lot, Verizon plans tend to be more expensive, but excellent coverage. AT&T is good in metro areas and along Interstates, but can be lacking outstate. T-Mobile might be the best of both.

 

[Frenchy]

Verizon customer for years. But, work phone is on AT&T so I see both. In my experience, I get better coverage with Verizon. Obviously I’ll have better AT&T signal at times. But overall, Verizon coverage is best.

While I live in Tennessee, I travel for work. Canada and around the US. So I get to compare the two regularly. In my mind, AT&T is the “Interstate highway” carrier. If you are traveling the Interstate AT&T will provide excellent coverage. But when you start hitting the backroads (my favorite mode of travel) you’ll be better served with Verizon.

I like hiking and just generally being out in the woods. On those occasions I’d say Verizon is better 90% of the time.

YMMV

I will note that if you're going to be off grid hiking or something, you should probably get something like a Garmin inreach for those emergency communications. I don't care what phone you have and what carrier you have as the phone is most likely not going to be enough in that situation.

 

[Nellieg]

I had verizon for 25y, switched to tmobile and now am on mint (20 a month annual prepay on T-Mobile)... Am out in fringe areas a ton... Found some deadspots in the Pennsylvania Allegheny range recently but otherwise tmobile has had solid coverage. Verizon tunes their network so you get connections but more low bandwidth issues (voice drops) but txt works... At&t typically tunes for more solid connections.... When you are on a fringe area...do you want bandwidth (full voice) or able to get a sms (low bandwidth)...

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