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I'm currently on Verizon, 4 lines together with my family.
I'm hitting some bad times financially so my parents are paying for it, I'm trying to save some money for them though, so I was considering switching to TMobile or Sprint.
I need some real time advice on their services and data coverage.
3G and "4G" speeds, what the signal is like, etc.
I know about their phones so I'm worrying about that later.
I've heard bad things about both carriers' speeds and signals but I'm sure that depends on where you live, hence I need real discussion from different people.
I live in central NC if that helps.
I'm not too keen on AT&T but if anyone has anything to add about them, go ahead, I'll consider it.
I would change to Sprint, the best coverage prices and the network is decent.
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If you do go with sprint if u have an AOL email that's an additional 10%, off ur Bill
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You almost literally have to get someone with the service to come to your house to test. Verizon is a total dead zone at my house, but is decent a couple miles away.
Sprint has a 30 day money back guarantee so you might try them first.
bleach168 said:
You almost literally have to get someone with the service to come to your house to test. Verizon is a total dead zone at my house, but is decent a couple miles away.
Sprint has a 30 day money back guarantee so you might try them first.
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How do I go about just randomly trying them?
I feel your pain but with my job traveling Verizon is really the only choice for me.
I Am Marino said:
How do I go about just randomly trying them?
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Are any of your friends on T-Mobile or Sprint?
im on t-mobile its cheap and i get good signal at my house but if i go a few miles out of this area i lose coverage when i leave the town and i dont have any 3g/4g coverage in my area t-mobile is spotty about 3g/4g i dont get any 3g coverage unless i travel 30 minutes west of here to get any 3g signal depending on where u live i would check coverage maps if ur area has 3g/4g go ahead with t-mobile
Whoa man!
Periods. Use them.
I know what you mean..but it comes down to $40 for me per month for my family on Verizon...I personally was on ATT for 18 months..really bad service in all ways you can think of..now they are buying tmobile..be prepared for you r bills to go up as well with this merger...when/if it happens..Sprint has only 1 carrier and that is ClearWire with its 4g backbone support..so far their testing 4g speeds have been really badnot to mention here in California my wife ALWAYS made sure our bill with Sprint was where it was supposed to be..meaning we got bills for $600..then down to $0 due to their irresponsibility (2009) ..not much of a price between tmo/sprint when compared to Verizon..personally..its not worth nickel n diming as I did for my family for 18 months and we hated it..and didnt pay off at all..good luck with your choice..try to consider MetroPCS or BoostMobile (cheap pre pay)
(if you choose not to stay)
ST
If I had to choose between staying with Verizon and switching to AT&T ... for the price, I would definitely choose Verizon.
I would consider Sprint, but not T-Mobile since I've had more than one bad experience with them and also because they are being absorbed my AT&T.
I have a friend who has Sprint and my girlfriend has T Mobile
but I feel like I need more testing though.
jiggy79 said:
I would change to Sprint, the best coverage prices and the network is decent.
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+1
been with sprint since 1998. Good coverage, good service and competitive pricing.
So I'm over T-Mobile and their crappy reception in my area.
I've had work tickets opened for trouble-shooting in my area and nothing..
I've written to corporate and was basically told either deal with it or pay the termination fee.. this 2 days after re-newing. Little did I know that you cant cancel as soon as you renew a contract, unlike when you open a new line (Thanks for NOT telling me that T-Mobile).
Anyhow, I'm probably gonna sell my Sensation, my wife's Galaxy S 4G, and our niece's Vibrant to pay the cancellation fees, and look to go elsewhere.
Verizon & Sprint seem to have the best reception in my area, but I like rooting my phones and I'd like to know, what phones or service have the more options when it comes to rooting??
wait... you are not even getting 2G ? as in EDGE?
you can certainly ROAM for free in the USA, back then when i was living there even when i get no 3G i can still roam just fine in 2G and get reception everywhere where 3G did not reach without additional charges
AllGamer said:
wait... you are not even getting 2G ? as in EDGE?
you can certainly ROAM for free in the USA, back then when i was living there even when i get no 3G i can still roam just fine in 2G and get reception everywhere where 3G did not reach without additional charges
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Well the reception is so choppy that in and around my condo, the reception goes from 4G to Edge, to nothing, to edge, and back n forth - ALL DAY around my place! I literally have to cross the street to receive a picture message!!
I've just had it with all that and the fact that I kinda got duped by the freakin Loyalty dept themselves, I'm over T-Mobile.
AllGamer said:
wait... you are not even getting 2G ? as in EDGE?
you can certainly ROAM for free in the USA, back then when i was living there even when i get no 3G i can still roam just fine in 2G and get reception everywhere where 3G did not reach without additional charges
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Before I moved all I got was gprs sometimes. Most times I had to use wifi calling to make a call or stand by the street to talk. People could get 3 bars of AT&T 3G in my house.
Now I've moved and get full T-Mob coverage, but the 3G speeds are worse than Sprint and Verizon.
We plan to drop them soon, especiallyvafter they changed our rate plan and tried to extend our contract another.year.behind our backs and charged us $50 in minutes overages because their MyAccount app shoes the wrong minute used value on every phone.
Then lied about the rate plan change and told me there was a note on the account saying we were notified. After cussing her out for about 5 minutes I hung up in her face and called back. The next person fixed it probably just tobget me off the phone. I was fuming.
I'm going back to AT&T. They had much better customer service and infnitely better coverage. I don't mind paying more for piece of mind. Also, I want true unlimited mobile to mobile calling. Not T-Mobiles gimp version cause no one else except the people on my plan has them, anyways.
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I would get a Sgs2 of you can (At&T) or the sprint one. If the big (bad) red is your thing then the Razr seems to be the best from my useage. I work near a red store and Have gone to 2 and tryed both the razr and the 720p HTC and the razr seems more use able to me, but the S2 on AT&T H+ was able to = or beat them in loading web and video. The HTC could not even play 1080p video right and the first one I tryed at the store near me booted up and before I could do anything it went off for good.( I have never seen a phone do that in a store.)
I like AT&T now even if my speeds of 3-5mb is not as good as the 2.5-15mbs of LTE. P.S Yes I did a speed test on cnet and my phone got 3.8 and the HTC got 2.5. I don't think was right, but you never know.
Well in your area it could be complicated would not use Sprint their service is unreliable, so pick your poison, ATT and get bumped off alot from over crowding or Verizon and get over charged and deal with cdma
BTW, I have a friend who owns a percentage in the Arsenal team.....
You could get a booster for your house, TMO offers them, or you can buy a grey market one and THAT will solve alot of your problems.
perroh said:
So I'm over T-Mobile and their crappy reception in my area.
I've had work tickets opened for trouble-shooting in my area and nothing..
I've written to corporate and was basically told either deal with it or pay the termination fee.. this 2 days after re-newing. Little did I know that you cant cancel as soon as you renew a contract, unlike when you open a new line (Thanks for NOT telling me that T-Mobile).
Anyhow, I'm probably gonna sell my Sensation, my wife's Galaxy S 4G, and our niece's Vibrant to pay the cancellation fees, and look to go elsewhere.
Verizon & Sprint seem to have the best reception in my area, but I like rooting my phones and I'd like to know, what phones or service have the more options when it comes to rooting??
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Just to start this off, I'm not looking to rip Verizon. I have a family plan with just me and my wife on the contract. We have had VZW for 5 or 6 years plus and have been generally happy with them.
I switched jobs several months back and get no reception at work whatsoever. I leave and get a blast of texts everyday. I was ok with paying VZW's high prices for their superior coverage, but with no coverage at work, I would like to change carriers.
I'd like to move us both over to T-Mo, and I'm OK with paying the ETF on my wife's line since she has no problems, but since I'm changing due to no service at work, I'm very hesitant to pay an ETF on my line.
I've called multiple times, but they've offered no solution other than purchasing some expensive network extender.
My question is, do I just go to T-Mo and port my numbers and then tell VZW I'm only paying my wife's ETF, or do I call them first? I've never cancelled a phone contract before. How do these things usually work?
Thanks!
Anyone?!?!
rehughe said:
Anyone?!?!
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I am not a lawyer - but if you are having network coverage issues, you may be able to get out of the contract because there is no reception where you need it. I think it should be in your contract - don't expect it to be easy though. The company depends on you not doing enough followup.
You may have to go to their store and tell them that you don't get network.
Search google for "ehow How to Get Out of a Phone Contract" and you will be able to find a link that describes this scenario. I can't post the link due to my user account restrictions.
Good luck.
vikas.mishra said:
I am not a lawyer - but if you are having network coverage issues, you may be able to get out of the contract because there is no reception where you need it.
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My reception problem is similar. At home I get one bar of cell coverage and my 3G is at dialup speed (and I have a 4G phone), so most of my home data is on my wifi (yes, I have an "unlimited data" plan). When I complained to VZW they dropped $10 a month off my bill for a year. The year passed, and the reception remained dismal. So they offered an extender that relies on my cable service. What good is that? I already have VOIP, an the extender is useless if I'm at the neighbor's house or at the community pool.
IIWY, I'd just grind it out until the contract expires. That's what's going to happen anyway as VZW will drag out a resolution.
I am still using my Vzw Galaxy Nexus on a grandfathered unlimited data plan. I have been seriously thinking of getting a new phone for a while now, and the Nexus 5 is my preference...but with the news of Verizon not supporting it (and my contract expiring in early 2014), I am strongly considering leaving Big Red. My main question is where to go next. I am currently focusing on either Sprint or T-Mobile as they do have unlimited plans available.
I have always been with Verizon as part of a family plan, so I lack firsthand experience with either. T-Mobile has the better plans, but the local coverage is not particularly good. For those who have firsthand experience with T-Mobile and Sprint, what should I be aware of? Does anyone have any specific suggestions/warnings? Any other carriers I should consider (I am located in east Tennessee)?
Since I have not yet ordered the N5, I have a little bit of time, but would like to make a decision fairly soon. Any input is greatly appreciated.
As this is not entirely a Nexus 5 question, my apologies if it should be in another forum.
I'm in the same boat as you. Download Sensorly from the play store and it will tell you who has the best coverage for your area/commute.
I'm leaning toward T Mobile for speed and good price plans for prepaid.
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do you really need 5gb of data every month? if not dont worry about the unlimited data and find what has the best coverage in your area
sheryip said:
do you really need 5gb of data every month? if not dont worry about the unlimited data and find what has the best coverage in your area
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Rarely, but in some months, yes. I'm concerned more with the other members of that plan - the other one who still has unlimited averages more than that. Of course if I don't bring the rest of that group with me, it becomes a moot point.
etmccreary said:
Rarely, but in some months, yes. I'm concerned more with the other members of that plan - the other one who still has unlimited averages more than that. Of course if I don't bring the rest of that group with me, it becomes a moot point.
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I am a VZW subscriber, and switched to TMO for the $70 a month unlimited plan. I get a corporate discount on TMO. I use my cell for work, so I needed voice minutes. I also looked at AIO Wireless for their $70 7GB plan, but I heard that ATT will be rolling them into their Leap wireless service, and pricing would be up in the air at the point. I was a long time Sprint user before VZW and their LTE rollout has been hit or miss (mostly miss in suburbs).
Will report back my findings.
bigbrown said:
I am a VZW subscriber, and switched to TMO for the $70 a month unlimited plan. I get a corporate discount on TMO. I use my cell for work, so I needed voice minutes. I also looked at AIO Wireless for their $70 7GB plan, but I heard that ATT will be rolling them into their Leap wireless service, and pricing would be up in the air at the point. I was a long time Sprint user before VZW and their LTE rollout has been hit or miss (mostly miss in suburbs).
Will report back my findings.
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This will be me.
Dropping VZW for T-Mo with this plan once my N5 comes in. $70 gets you unlimited data with no cap after Xgigs of usage.
I wish there were a lot more of us in this boat so verizon would actually notice the amount of people that are going to bail. Then maybe they'd stop raping us.
Btw, J.Guido85, thanks for the Sensorly app info. That will help me figure out true TMO coverage in my area.
Enjoy being out of contract and get Straight Talk. $45/mo unlimited* everything and you can choose service thru either at&t or T-Mobile.
MaxRabbit said:
Enjoy being out of contract and get Straight Talk. $45/mo unlimited* everything and you can choose service thru either at&t or T-Mobile.
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Straight talk only gives you 2.5gb of data per month at high speed.
donatom3 said:
Straight talk only gives you 2.5gb of data per month at high speed.
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Yes, that's why I said unlimited*. It's still a great deal.
Good article comparing the prepaid services:
http://www.droid-life.com/2013/11/04/best-prepaid-wireless-plans/
I've had Sprint SERO for years. I live in the SF Bay Area, and even though the coverage is bad (it ALWAYS drops calls on the Bay Bridge), and the data is slow in most place, it's only $59 per month (with taxes, etc.). Of course, I've always had the hope that it will get better. Those hopes have now been bolstered by the Softbank deal.
Now that I have a Nexus 5 that can be used on multiple carriers, as a test, I got an AT&T Straight Talk SIM ($45 per month) and have been using that for a few days. It's night and day - calls go through and don't drop, data is fast - it's RELIABLE! Although Straight Talk has gotten (deservedly) bad rap for throttling, recently they changed their policy and published a 2.5 GB limit at which point you get throttled. That's enough for me, and, in the rare case that I go over before the end of the month, I can pay the next month's $45 early and get a new 2.5 GB. And, if ST goes bad, there's always AIO or other AT&T MVNOs.
But, I'm reluctant to switch. If Sprint really does get a good LTE network going and I can use unlimited data to watch Netflix without worry, that would be a nice thing. And, once I cancel the SERO plan, there's no going back.
Of course I've hung on for years because I thought Sprint would get better, and it never has. But, with my luck, the month after I cancel my SERO plan Sprint will improve 1000%.
Any thoughts? I can't be the only person going through this.
(I use Google Voice so the (perhaps) temporary change of carrier is not notice by people that call me, except there is no MMS.)
I just dumped Sprint and paid a $140 ETF. It was worth it friend. I did not have the SERO deal, but I now know what it's like to have real phone service. I switched to a Go Phone plan and could not be happier. Living in NYC and being with sprint was BEYOND painful. Each morning, I would try to listen to NPR on my way to work. It would take forever for the stream to get going on LTE and when we would reach a spot in my commute where it had to hand off to 3g, the stream would just die. I would then have to toggle airplane mode until I finally found a usable signal. So yeah, now that I have Go Phone as my provider, even on 3G I can stream my liberal news to my hearts content. Not to mention, that I have LTE almost everywhere I go with actual LTE speeds. Dump those suckers.
AliLaPointe said:
I just dumped Sprint and paid a $140 ETF. It was worth it friend. I did not have the SERO deal, but I now know what it's like to have real phone service. I switched to a Go Phone plan and could not be happier. Living in NYC and being with sprint was BEYOND painful. Each morning, I would try to listen to NPR on my way to work. It would take forever for the stream to get going on LTE and when we would reach a spot in my commute where it had to hand off to 3g, the stream would just die. I would then have to toggle airplane mode until I finally found a usable signal. So yeah, now that I have Go Phone as my provider, even on 3G I can stream my liberal news to my hearts content. Not to mention, that I have LTE almost everywhere I go with actual LTE speeds. Dump those suckers.
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No car radio?
More seriously, how many GB do you have from Gophone - and can you listen to NPR and not burn up all your GB?
Go to s4gru, donate a couple bucks and look at the map for your area.
Maybe read a little and educate yourself on how sprint is improving their network.
After you do that you can make an informed decision based on facts rather then asking for opinions here.
---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 PM ----------
AliLaPointe said:
I just dumped Sprint and paid a $140 ETF. It was worth it friend. I did not have the SERO deal, but I now know what it's like to have real phone service. I switched to a Go Phone plan and could not be happier. Living in NYC and being with sprint was BEYOND painful. Each morning, I would try to listen to NPR on my way to work. It would take forever for the stream to get going on LTE and when we would reach a spot in my commute where it had to hand off to 3g, the stream would just die. I would then have to toggle airplane mode until I finally found a usable signal. So yeah, now that I have Go Phone as my provider, even on 3G I can stream my liberal news to my hearts content. Not to mention, that I have LTE almost everywhere I go with actual LTE speeds. Dump those suckers.
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no you can only stream 2.5gb worth assuming you do not use data for anything else.
lafester said:
Go to s4gru, donate a couple bucks and look at the map for your area.
Maybe read a little and educate yourself on how sprint is improving their network.
After you do that you can make an informed decision based on facts rather then asking for opinions here.
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This may sound stupid, but what exactly is the different between s4gru map and the one from Sprint? That said, I look at the Sprint LTE map before and the current Sprint LTE signal is weak. There are many area in LA county(not city) that even though it show LTE on the map but I only have 3G. And yes Sprint 3G is suck. That said, I'm looking forward to try the Spark(tri-band LTE), which as far as I'm concern, most of the place I'll be around had good WiMax. So if things goes smoothly(meaning I'll have LTE signal like I used to have when I got WiMax), I will be happy to stay w/ Sprint SERO-P. Then again, this is my experience. My term w/ Sprint isn't up yet anyway. So, I will use it and try Spark when I have Nexus 5 until the term is over then decide.
I am in the same boat, no LTE in my town but I am supposed to have LTE at work in Midtown Manhattan. I get an LTE signal on my N5 with Sprint at work but when I do a speedtest I am getting .25Mbps down and like .01 up. I hear Verizon is no better in Midtown and now that they have publicly admitted it, they are not even a consideration. So that leaves ATT or Tmobile, I will not go with Tmo so that leaves ATT. Went to an ATT store on Park Ave close to my office and ran a speedtest on one of their display LG G2s and only got between 1-2mbps down.
So none of the carriers are good for me now in Midtown, but ATT and Verizon would be good at my house, but I am on wifi at my house so coverage at work is more important. I have been waiting and waiting for Sprint and I know their LTE network is going to be great when it finally gets here, but when will that be? How long can you wait and keep paying them for crap service, it is very frustrating.
I agree that you should do some research on S4gru, but that will only take you so far. Sprint was promising a great network back in the Wimax days and that stuff fell apart. They then promised LTE and I have been having spotty coverage for more than a year. I'm really happy after my switch to Go Phone. No issues here. Also, nowhere near to close on my data allotment. I dont use a car radio because, well, I live in NYC and take public transit.
AliLaPointe said:
I agree that you should do some research on S4gru, but that will only take you so far. Sprint was promising a great network back in the Wimax days and that stuff fell apart. They then promised LTE and I have been having spotty coverage for more than a year. I'm really happy after my switch to Go Phone. No issues here. Also, nowhere near to close on my data allotment. I dont use a car radio because, well, I live in NYC and take public transit.
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Maps can only take you so far. For example, the maps show a strong signal (Sprint calls it "Best" voice signal at my house, and calls constantly drop. There are other places on the maps where a strong signal is shown and the calls always drop. The fact that in the entire course of its existence Sprint has not been able to figure out (or hasn't bothered to figure out) how to not drop calls consistently for people driving across the Bay Bridge is amazing. There are places on the map where strong data coverage is shown and the data is so slow as to be unusable.
So, the real thrust of my question was whether Sprint is going to change its spots and have consistent and reliable service, not whether it can show a map which covers a large area but in reality is full of holes.
I'm sure there are a lot of us in this position.
I have this n5 with two SIMs two, AT&T works great just about everywhere I go, Sprint , junk. And now that LTE won't work at all until the 3G/4G towers have been fully completed, more bad news, from bad planning by Sprint.
I like the Google voice integration with Sprint, and my number is not eligible to be ported to Google voice.
It seems that Sprint is always promising a better service is just around the corner. They're doing this again with this 'spark' talk, which really won't do much.
They should their time implementing LTE 1900 Mhz, before they get ahead of themselves and offering LTE 2500 Mhz too, they need to walk before they can run.
I was thinking about using net10's 2 line family plan, over Straight talk, not sure of the different between the two, the same company.
If t-moble had coverage, i'd consider them too.
The S4GRU site will show you the Sprint tower locations, not the coverage.
Edit: One blog post here: http://seth.killey.me/?p=1049
I had sero on sprint and just ditched them for tmobile and could not be happier. I have been hanging on to sero for years waiting for coverage to improve and it has only gotten worse. I finally gave up and have not looked back since.
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