Considering a switch of carriers. - General Topics

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
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App

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.

Related

returning phone :( T-mo sucks!

I love this phone, but t-mobile sucks. I can't take the ****ty service anymore. I've had more dropped calls in the past 2 weeks than I've had with Att, sprint, and Verizon over the past 10yrs.
I originally thought I'd be able to use att towers, but we all know that isn't yet possible.
Not sure what carrier and phone to go with now. hmmmm....
What is Tmo's coverage map look like in your area? If it was bad to begin with, then you should be expecting this coming in.
If not, then you may just have a bad device.
not sure about dropped calls, but T-mobile signal coverage does suck
You meant to say Tmobile sucks in you location because it doesn't suck in mine (Baltimore) but you know who's service does suck in my area. ATT and Sprint. My wife's iPhone gets multiple dropped calls though out the week and there data speeds suck. Sprints WiMax is laughable and always gets static on the line. Tmobile however has insane 4g speeds where I live and I average 8mbs DL and 3mbs UL in and around Baltimore. Not to mention I haven't had a dropped call since I can remember. I don't even remember the last time I went without service. In the end there is no point for me to pay more and get less. A post like yours is all subjective depending on where you live and in the end, this thread is idiotic. Nobody wants to hear you high about carrier service in a forum dedicated to a device.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
eagercrow said:
I love this phone, but t-mobile sucks. I can't take the ****ty service anymore. I've had more dropped calls in the past 2 weeks than I've had with Att, sprint, and Verizon over the past 10yrs.
I originally thought I'd be able to use att towers, but we all know that isn't yet possible.
Not sure what carrier and phone to go with now. hmmmm....
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Click to collapse
Try here.
mikett26 said:
What is Tmo's coverage map look like in your area? If it was bad to begin with, then you should be expecting this coming in.
If not, then you may just have a bad device.
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Click to collapse
It shows as covering everywhere. I wouldn't have gotten the phone if the coverage maps were accurate. I get 3g att coverage on my company phone when I have 0 signal with tmobile.
Driving my kids to school 8 miles away I have NO service for 80% of the drive, never had issues with any other carrier. I can pretty much count on ONLY getting service if I'm at or near a city center.
In my area I have great t-mobile coverage and I had att before which was very bad.
So go for the network which works best for you. No point in cribbing here since I guess no can help you. All it does is a flame war.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
I'm just frustrated cause I like the phone so much. Don't need to get your panties in a bunch.
I get great service in my area (Indianapolis) with T-Mobile 4g damn near all day hardly ever drops to 3g and 4 bars everywhere I go..NO DROPPED calls ever I've been with T-Mobile since 2005
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App
After being with att, Verizon,and sprint, T-Mobile is by far the coverage for me on my area of Dallas TX, I sit at 1 bar with Verizon in the house if I'm lucky, sprint is always no more than 2 and att is the 2nd best for me.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
I'm having a fair amount of problems with lost signal, and all I did was upgrade from my Nexus 1. Still live in Chicago, still drive the same routes, but before where it was not an issue it is now. Which forces me to conclude it's either SW that still needs improvement, or hardware a la Apple's infamous antenna problems.
eagercrow said:
I love this phone, but t-mobile sucks. I can't take the ****ty service anymore. I've had more dropped calls in the past 2 weeks than I've had with Att, sprint, and Verizon over the past 10yrs.
I originally thought I'd be able to use att towers, but we all know that isn't yet possible.
Not sure what carrier and phone to go with now. hmmmm....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sprint=over priced/behind the curve (4g?!?!?)
At&t = big bill/****ty network and customer serivce (in my area... i was a customer for 4 years)
verizon= jacked up plans/high prices no customer loyalty or service..... (good service tho in my area)
T-mo= great customer service/decent service (my area) and i got a free g2x from them so suck it
/thread go get a trac phone
stop making useless threads how your gonna get better phones/service NO ONE CARES rant about it on your myspace page
KTHXBYE
I love your threads today...Stop making me laugh. It hurts when I laugh.
I have to say though that I think the I'm leaving posts have their place. If I'm researching a potential phone, I'm interested in disgruntled customers and their rants. They helped me decide on this phone for instance.
While there are a few(I'm leaving posts) for the G2X, there are not that many. And when someone is leaving for a bs, unenlightened, not ever gonna be satisfied reason, it's usually pretty apparent. But go to Androidforums and see all the complaints about the Indulge. There are legions of users who are unhappy. If one person is detered then the people who've posted have helped.
Thank Zeus for the forums. An educated consumer is a powerful one. You have to have a lot of opinions to make an informed decision. Even the redonkalous ones LOL.
I drive between NJ and PA around 70 miles to work everyday. Never dropped a call even while on drive all the way. Tmobile coverage is very good. It sure hops between 2g and 4g, but that is due to the software. AT&T is not at all good in my area.
eagercrow said:
It shows as covering everywhere. I wouldn't have gotten the phone if the coverage maps were accurate. I get 3g att coverage on my company phone when I have 0 signal with tmobile.
Driving my kids to school 8 miles away I have NO service for 80% of the drive, never had issues with any other carrier. I can pretty much count on ONLY getting service if I'm at or near a city center.
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8 miles to school!!! damn. Must not be in the city
Tmobile works well in the cities but not so much in-between. I travel and it sucks sometimes. Airports are the worst. ALL AIRPORTS SHOULD HAVE GREAT COVERAGE ON ALL CARRIERS... but they don't. With AT&T and Tmobile I'm often left with little to no cell signal. Verizon has the best coverage and is the most reliable. AT&T is second with Tmobile last.
90% of the time I am within the city and get great 4G data speeds and a reliable network.
I am always amused by how people are so easily affected my the media machine. BMW is the ultimate driving machine, Verizon is the best, Mercedes never break, blah blah blah...
I have Tmo in SoCal...I've had ATT, Sprint and Verizon. I would not trade Tmo's customer service for any or all of the other 3's claims. Sprint and ATT's data speeds are laughable here. Verizon is good but not worth 3x the price. ATT I think spends all their time trying to make their automated phones menus more torturous. The last time I needed to call ATT, I spent 2 hours calling number after number and never got my issue resolved. I cancelled all my ATT services at that point...took nearly all day to do it but boy do I feel good about it now.
jrwingate6 said:
You meant to say Tmobile sucks in you location because it doesn't suck in mine (Baltimore) but you know who's service does suck in my area. ATT and Sprint. My wife's iPhone gets multiple dropped calls though out the week and there data speeds suck. Sprints WiMax is laughable and always gets static on the line. Tmobile however has insane 4g speeds where I live and I average 8mbs DL and 3mbs UL in and around Baltimore. Not to mention I haven't had a dropped call since I can remember. I don't even remember the last time I went without service. In the end there is no point for me to pay more and get less. A post like yours is all subjective depending on where you live and in the end, this thread is idiotic. Nobody wants to hear you high about carrier service in a forum dedicated to a device.
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Same in baltimore with good service.
eagercrow said:
I love this phone, but t-mobile sucks. I can't take the ****ty service anymore. I've had more dropped calls in the past 2 weeks than I've had with Att, sprint, and Verizon over the past 10yrs.
I originally thought I'd be able to use att towers, but we all know that isn't yet possible.
Not sure what carrier and phone to go with now. hmmmm....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you feel better now?
I live in Kansas City, location of the Sprint World Headquarters, and can't recieve a Sprint signal in my house.
Do you have a point?
Try complaining to AT&T for not carrying the G2X...problem solved.
Tmobile is great in my location and wifi calling will not go against minutes pretty soon. You simply cannot beat that at all .
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

Probably leaving T-Mobile.. any suggestions based on rooting options??

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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Click to collapse
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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Any decent alternatives to Verizon in central new jersey?

Thinking about jumping ship. I am sick and tired of paying all this money and them treating us like this.
i had t-mobile back in the day and they absolutely sucked. but that was like years ago. i was wondering if there are any t-mobile, sprint, att customers who would recommend their service as a viable alternative to Big Red.
Sprint LTE is hitting central nj this year maybe even next month.
I'm in central jersey, on t-mobile.. like it a lot
connection is pretty much always good, and data speed is great
georgei11 said:
I'm in central jersey, on t-mobile.. like it a lot
connection is pretty much always good, and data speed is great
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+1
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Jackson is a service black hole, as you probably already know. The town basically banned towers from being constructed, it's a nightmare. Surprisingly, T-Mobile has decent service in Jackson, my AT&T service is fine, Sprint's was a bit iffy there. My experiences have been along County Line Road, where I have family.
Outside of Jackson, I'd highly recommend AT&T. Sprint's 3G data varies wildly, anywhere from 2mb/s down in Brick, to maybe 200k in Holmdel. Since AT&T upgraded our area, I'm getting about 5mb down during the day, a high of 7-8mb down at night.
For the record, if you don't care about LTE, Straight Talk works GREAT around us. Same speed as AT&T's normal service, for $45/month.

verizon vs tmobile

I've been with verizon since 2000 and never really had an choice to change since they always had the best service in my area. I've never liked at&t and the rep for tmobile has been its known for prepaid and shotty service. Thing is now, I see more and more people moving over to tmobile and are loving it. Its cheaper per month than verizon and service in my area in NJ is pretty much the same as verizons. Plus there are some features like the wifi calling, the hspa+ coverage, lte. that make it pretty attractive. But the kicker on whats making me consider the change is the phone selection. Verizon seems to always be lagging behind and I'm tired of having to wait for new phones to hit verizon and for updates to be released. Has anyone else thought about a move?
topaz330 said:
I've been with verizon since 2000 and never really had an choice to change since they always had the best service in my area. I've never liked at&t and the rep for tmobile has been its known for prepaid and shotty service. Thing is now, I see more and more people moving over to tmobile and are loving it. Its cheaper per month than verizon and service in my area in NJ is pretty much the same as verizons. Plus there are some features like the wifi calling, the hspa+ coverage, lte. that make it pretty attractive. But the kicker on whats making me consider the change is the phone selection. Verizon seems to always be lagging behind and I'm tired of having to wait for new phones to hit verizon and for updates to be released. Has anyone else thought about a move?
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I'm probably going to switch to their pre-paid service when my contract is up. I want a Nexus.... Verizon doesn't seem to be getting another any time soon.
I would definitely go with Tmobile for better phone selection & price, but the service in my area is below average. Hopefully LTE rolls out to my area then I'll jump ships.
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I have to jump ship Verizon breaking my bank bad got to pay a fortune to keep service . I gotta switch back to my iPhone I know -_- and go to T-Mobile prepaid because they have the 1900 MHz support in my area
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If you go to a T-Mobile store they might be able to help you pay for your ETF fee, at least that's what they did for me. I would have to pay Verizon 150, but the rep just credited my T-Mobile account 100$ when I switched. He told me that this is something every store has a budget for. It's definitely worth a shot just asking the rep. It's saved me quite a bit of money so far (even if coverage isn't perfect)
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
I had T-Mobile and really liked 'em. They were NOT cheaper, I'm able to get on VZW's Old Fart Plan and it was just $5/mo more than the T-Mo plan I had.
CS is about equal with both except for T-Mo's prepaid which gets you people who speak no intelligible English, with postpaid you get good CS.
Coverage, very close to zero with T-Mo, everywhere I went. Only spotty coverage in the largest cities, VZW has 3g or better everywhere I travelled.
A phone that can't make a call until you find a Starbucks with free WiFi isn't useful to me.
Have your car break down on California 371 in the middle of the Cahuilla Indian Reservation? You're 50 miles from ANY T-Mo signal and you've got 2 - 3 bars with Verizon.
I really liked T-Mo but it wasn't usable for me.
for those that had coverage issues how long ago did you have tmobile? I heard coverage recently got better and that they are aggressively expanding to more towers across the country.
I don't like Verizon's pricing, phone selection, and the hassle required to unlock their phones for international use.
That being said, I switched from t mobile to Verizon in 07 for one reason: coverage. I use to live in Philadelphia in an 5 floor apartment with a T-Mobile store like three blocks away. No coverage in my apartment unless I kept the phone by the window.
Now I live and work in north nj and Verizon is the only reliable wireless carrier (by word of mouth). Not sure how much has changed in six years but I would leave Verizon if anyone had coverage close to the theirs
topaz330 said:
for those that had coverage issues how long ago did you have tmobile? I heard coverage recently got better and that they are aggressively expanding to more towers across the country.
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I tried 2 weeks ago, just to test their service and see how it was since I haven't been with them for 1 year and a half and its still sucky. They do have 4G (HSPA+) in my area now but I get 1 bar of it and when it dont get a strong signal it'll go to Edge. I hear a nearby area "might" get LTE in late June so that means my area "might" get it late 2013. I'm just waiting to see what happens...my contract is up in November for Verizon
My buddy has tmo and hates the service. He doesn't get service with his phone and winds up using his Verizon work phone 90 percent of the time to make calls.
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I had Verizon before I switched to T-Mobile. T-Mobile is cheaper, has just as good of support and a good selection of phones. However, Verizon does have better service so if you travel frequently expect some dead zones.
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I used to have T-mo and I loved it! The reception in my area was incredible. I moved to verizon and it's still in the same category in satisfaction. T-mo is a lot cheaper than verizon, so I would give it a try. You're not going to regret it. Sim cards are the best.
I recently jumped from Verizon to T-Mobile and pretty much all comments thus far are justified.
topaz330 said:
for those that had coverage issues how long ago did you have tmobile? I heard coverage recently got better and that they are aggressively expanding to more towers across the country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They've added -some- sites in recent times, but the "re-farm" you seem to have heard about is primarily a massive equipment refresh for about 85% of the existing WCDMA sites. Unlike Sprint's Network Vision or AT&T's "add an LTE panel to an 8 year old WCDMA site" rollout, T-Mobile is doing a -complete- equipment refresh on said sites using either Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Base Station solutions or Ericsson's Antenna Integrated Radio setups. For the sites that get the new equipment, coverage could see a 10-15% improvement in coverage and in-building penetration due to each of the NSN/Ericsson setups having the radio at tower-top.
T-Mobile will do you well if you are a city-rat. The lack of rural expansion pre-AT&T failed merger was due to the cost of infrastructure and backhaul when the only spectrum you have is high-frequency (PCS/AWS). Even in areas of excellent coverage, there's still a few limitations: Deep inside buildings, attenuation -will- eat the signal. Terrain is another big one that affects all carriers... if you happen to be in a place where terrain blocks your line of sight, you're not gonna get a good signal. Now, the equipment refresh is to facilitate LTE, as both setups are capable of LTE-A out of the box. T-Mobile had to sit on their hands for 18mo and not do any proactive system/coverage upgrades due to the AT&T merger debacle, but it was a good thing as now that they have the money and spectrum from both the merger fallout and MetroPCS plus new equipment, they're good to go. So, depending on where you live, work, and play, T-Mobile could potentially be great...
but...
bbqsfire said:
My buddy has tmo and hates the service. He doesn't get service with his phone and winds up using his Verizon work phone 90 percent of the time to make calls.
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MiG8GT said:
I had Verizon before I switched to T-Mobile. T-Mobile is cheaper, has just as good of support and a good selection of phones. However, Verizon does have better service so if you travel frequently expect some dead zones.
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Unfortunately, when all you have is high-frequency spectrum to use and a network that hasn't seen significant expansion since 2009, this is going to happen. As with all carriers, one man's perfect signal might have a crap signal from another carrier in the exact same spot. Happened to me: with Verizon, could pull 30mbit LTE from bed, but at work I could kill an entire charge with light use because the phone had crap signal on all 3 services (1x EVDO and LTE(whose average speedtest at the desk was 2-3mbit down)). Meanwhile, terrain eats T-Mobile's WCDMA signal at my house(edge only), but I pull 3x the speeds on T-Mobile because of a near perfect signal than I could with Verizon at work.
If you have a friend with T-Mobile, treat'em to lunch and ask them to take a ride around town with ya to see how the service is where you go. Another option is to borrow someone's unused, unlocked T-Mobile phone and grab a sim, sign up for the $30 100min/unlim data&text online and carry that around with you for a bit.
For someone like me who -rarely- leaves metro areas when I travel, T-Mobile is great. For you, it could be different, just take the "ZOMG SPOTTY COVERAGE TMO SUCKS" with a grain of salt, and understand that no carrier is perfect everywhere, even if those comments for that individual are justified.
Forgot to add: T-Mobile won't see any WCDMA expansion for the foreseeable future since their current focus is on the equipment refresh on existing sites. The next round of expansion will come after the 600MHz auction next year.
Shoot me an IM/PM if you have any more questions.
Opposite for me, since Tmo coverage is awful for even making calls in a lot of areas where I live. I agree that they are easier to deal with, but lack of coverage in a lot of areas in Kentucky and Ohio nix them for me.
rushless said:
Opposite for me, since Tmo coverage is awful for even making calls in a lot of areas where I live. I agree that they are easier to deal with, but lack of coverage in a lot of areas in Kentucky and Ohio nix them for me.
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yes, I have Vzw, for two reasons, one they have good coverage nearly everywhere in the us and two data speeds are good. important if you need t use Google Navigator.
topaz330 said:
for those that had coverage issues how long ago did you have tmobile? I heard coverage recently got better and that they are aggressively expanding to more towers across the country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a T-Mobile S3 and Verizon Z10 for work, Verizon Bionic and TB for personal.
I get better coverage and internet speed on my Verizon devices than my T-Mobile.
I'm in Chester County, PA.
coverage
You could always do a bit of research for your expected area to see what the coverage is like across the various carriers.
www dot opensignal dot com
As if the captchas and relogins aren't enough, I can't friggin post links either.
I've started to take a hard look at T-Mobile and seriously thinking of switching when my contract end on Verizon. I live in southern NH and work in MA. There are T-Mobile 4G towers close to my house and work, but my commute would be mostly 2G.
Comparably, Verizon is mostly 4G in the area, a strong 4G signal at work, but at home I rarely get a 4G signal and half the time the phone will drop because of poor signal strength. There are 3G spots and some bare areas on my commute.
My step-son has T-Mobile and he get a strong 4G signal at our house. He also says he mostly has phone service in the area(drop spots) and data is mostly 2G. When you get closer to the highways or bigger tows / cities there is better service.
Verizon
T-Mobile is awesome, if you live in a coverage area, work in a coverage area, and/or go to school in a coverage area. Also, if you DO NOT EVER plan on traveling, or, at least, taking your phone with you when you go.... Their coverage is horrible compared to Verizon, but their prices are nicer, the packages are more appealing, and prepaid is way better. Really, it's just all up to you, and what you want.
I never had any problems while traveling with t mobile service I have gone from one end of the country to another with mine when I had them before and I'm looking to switch back only switched because I wanted to give Verizon a try not liking them way to pricey and crappy phone selection
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[Q] Straight Talk vs TMobile vs Ting vs ???

Curious what opinions are...
What is the best cheap provider?
I see there are some big threads about TMobile, but searching around the net, I see a lot of people who seem to like Straight Talk.
Anyone use Ting?
Any opinions? Any first hand experiences?
Thanks
www.lycamobile.us and www.gosmartmobile.com also have better deals, especially for pay-as-you-go users.
.jond said:
Curious what opinions are...
What is the best cheap provider?
I see there are some big threads about TMobile, but searching around the net, I see a lot of people who seem to like Straight Talk.
Anyone use Ting?
Any opinions? Any first hand experiences?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard too many complaints about Smart Talk to consider them a first option. They're good for basic AT&T-area coverage I guess, but not very heavy data usage. T-Mobile has less coverage but is much better about data.
Get a plan at aiowireless.com. They're owned and operated by AT&T and have great service. I've used them for 2 months now and don't regret switching from T-Mobile. I get way better coverage and LTE nearly everywhere. T-Mobile's LTE is still in infancy and only in a few markets across the USA.
AT&T is trying to buy Leap Communications which owns Cricket. If government regulators allow them to do so, AT&T will be merging Aio with Cricket. Same service, new name. Though Cricket has been viewed as a "cheap and crappy" pay as you go service for many years, if owned and operated by AT&T, I think it'll really boost it's way into competing with the bigger dogs now that it'll have better coverage and service to offer.
.jond said:
Curious what opinions are...
What is the best cheap provider?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One son switched his galaxy nexus from ST ATT to ST TMob in Dec. His coverage (Orlando, FL/UCF) improved and dl speed went from 6 to 11/12MB . In June, I switched him to TMob $30 (100 min) plan. Coverage seems the same, but now he has 5GB high speed data. I keep extra $ in the account in case he needs more minutes but he hasn't yet.
I moved two Iphones (4s) from ST ATT to GoPhone in July. The other three of us live in a rural south Florida area with decent coverage about 100 feet from our house. We usually get a signal inside the house. Local coverage/signal the same; however, I no longer have to constantly (weekly at times) re-negotiate the data connections and mms just works. (ST never fully supported GSM Iphones. ) I considered aio but went with gophone. ATT installed the sims and made certain everything was working. All I paid for was the first month ($60.+sales tax), no sim or activation fee. Since then, I have gotten refills for $54./month--no tax.
I have a Nexus 4 and am still on ST ATT. I was waiting on my last 90 day purchase to run out before moving to GoPhone, when they actually became transparent with their data policy. I just purchased another 30 days and a new LTE sim in anticipation that one day, Google will actually make the Nexus 5 available. After I experience LTE through ST, I will decide to stay or go.
My Orlando area son will take my n4 as he will be on LTE with it. I will get ATT LTE when in covered areas with n5.
We have no experience with other prepay. We had been Sprint customers for 12 years until we no longer were able to receive a signal in our house (tried TMob with same results). I do thank Sprint for not caring about our situation since it made me consider prepay. The best thing about prepay is you can leave if you don't like it. If you watch forums (howardforums is great for carrier info), you can find out when good deals are available. Last month I picked up TMob micro sim for a buck as I was considering trying them again. As I mentioned, ATT did gophone set up for free.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Great information! Very cool.
Anyone else?
Rarscaryfrosty said:
Get a plan at aiowireless.com. They're owned and operated by AT&T and have great service. I've used them for 2 months now and don't regret switching from T-Mobile. I get way better coverage and LTE nearly everywhere. T-Mobile's LTE is still in infancy and only in a few markets across the USA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also thinking of switching from regular AT&T to Aio, although it will mean the loss of some coverage since it will only talk to AT&T towers (no roaming). From a practical standpoint, however, this probably isn't a big deal since 99% of the places I'm likely to be have AT&T coverage; it's mainly on long trips to the west (Nebraska, Wyoming, etc.) where it gets thin.
How the hell is this Nexus 5 General?
ritchea said:
One son switched his galaxy nexus from ST ATT to ST TMob in Dec. His coverage (Orlando, FL/UCF) improved and dl speed went from 6 to 11/12MB . In June, I switched him to TMob $30 (100 min) plan. Coverage seems the same, but now he has 5GB high speed data. I keep extra $ in the account in case he needs more minutes but he hasn't yet.
I moved two Iphones (4s) from ST ATT to GoPhone in July. The other three of us live in a rural south Florida area with decent coverage about 100 feet from our house. We usually get a signal inside the house. Local coverage/signal the same; however, I no longer have to constantly (weekly at times) re-negotiate the data connections and mms just works. (ST never fully supported GSM Iphones. ) I considered aio but went with gophone. ATT installed the sims and made certain everything was working. All I paid for was the first month ($60.+sales tax), no sim or activation fee. Since then, I have gotten refills for $54./month--no tax.
I have a Nexus 4 and am still on ST ATT. I was waiting on my last 90 day purchase to run out before moving to GoPhone, when they actually became transparent with their data policy. I just purchased another 30 days and a new LTE sim in anticipation that one day, Google will actually make the Nexus 5 available. After I experience LTE through ST, I will decide to stay or go.
My Orlando area son will take my n4 as he will be on LTE with it. I will get ATT LTE when in covered areas with n5.
We have no experience with other prepay. We had been Sprint customers for 12 years until we no longer were able to receive a signal in our house (tried TMob with same results). I do thank Sprint for not caring about our situation since it made me consider prepay. The best thing about prepay is you can leave if you don't like it. If you watch forums (howardforums is great for carrier info), you can find out when good deals are available. Last month I picked up TMob micro sim for a buck as I was considering trying them again. As I mentioned, ATT did gophone set up for free.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you get your Gophone refills at $54?
rochrunner said:
I'm also thinking of switching from regular AT&T to Aio, although it will mean the loss of some coverage since it will only talk to AT&T towers (no roaming). From a practical standpoint, however, this probably isn't a big deal since 99% of the places I'm likely to be have AT&T coverage; it's mainly on long trips to the west (Nebraska, Wyoming, etc.) where it gets thin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, where I work, my office is in a basement. I sadly cannot get coverage in the basement with Aio Wireless, but I got 2 bars of HSPA with T-Mobile. My coworker who has Aio also can get service though, I assume this is due to antenna differences in our phones. I have a nexus 4 right now, and it's commonly known is has a crappy antenna compared to some other phones. I'm hoping the antenna on the nexus 5 will pick up reception better, but it's no big deal since I walk up to the main level of the office multiple times a day where I can get perfect coverage.
Tmobile's $30/mo prepaid is tough to beat overall if you don't use much voice. 4G, good coverage, and cheap! I'm planning to dump my Verizon plan after I see some good reviews on the Nexus 5. I'll save $53/mo even with my company's Verizon discount.
TiltedAz said:
Tmobile's $30/mo prepaid is tough to beat overall if you don't use much voice. 4G, good coverage, and cheap! I'm planning to dump my Verizon plan after I see some good reviews on the Nexus 5. I'll save $53/mo even with my company's Verizon discount.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you say good coverage?
ryude said:
Did you say good coverage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Duh.. a-yup....
Got 1 question, if you switch to tmo prepaid, would you be able to keep your number? And how long it takes for number transfer?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Lancez said:
Got 1 question, if you switch to tmo prepaid, would you be able to keep your number? And how long it takes for number transfer?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can transfer your number. Typically it takes up to 8 hours for everything to work. It took me 2 weeks to even get texting working. Once it kicked in though, I had no issues sending/receiving texts to and from people. It was a bit frustrating going 2 weeks without texts. I was surprised when I switched to Aio wireless and it only took 2 hours for me to send and receive SMS and MMS.
TiltedAz said:
Duh.. a-yup....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where I live Sprint has better coverage... and that's saying something.
Rarscaryfrosty said:
You can transfer your number. Typically it takes up to 8 hours for everything to work. It took me 2 weeks to even get texting working. Once it kicked in though, I had no issues sending/receiving texts to and from people. It was a bit frustrating going 2 weeks without texts. I was surprised when I switched to Aio wireless and it only took 2 hours for me to send and receive SMS and MMS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Took me 40 seconds after I ported my number, but maybe that's because I ported my number from TMo postpaid to prepaid
.jond said:
Curious what opinions are...
What is the best cheap provider?
I see there are some big threads about TMobile, but searching around the net, I see a lot of people who seem to like Straight Talk.
Anyone use Ting?
Any opinions? Any first hand experiences?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I say try both yourself and see which best works for you. You can pick up a Tmob SIM for $1 on sales they have all the time, ST sims they go for like $6, so one month port your # into TMob and the next month port it to ST, see which one works best for you.
Tmo Pros: 5GB data, $30 bucks flat, no extra fees
Tmo Cons: only 100 mins (why i use talkatone and port my main # to GV, no mins used, only data)
ST Pros: Unlimited Mins, ATT Towers
ST Cons: $45 bucks + $3 something in fees, 2.5GB and after that they throttle like crazy (basically useless), they are picky with streaming music/vid
miamidesigner said:
I say try both yourself and see which best works for you. You can pick up a Tmob SIM for $1 on sales they have all the time, ST sims they go for like $6, so one month port your # into TMob and the next month port it to ST, see which one works best for you.
Tmo Pros: 5GB data, $30 bucks flat, no extra fees
Tmo Cons: only 100 mins (why i use talkatone and port my main # to GV, no mins used, only data)
ST Pros: Unlimited Mins, ATT Towers
ST Cons: $45 bucks + $3 something in fees, 2.5GB and after that they throttle like crazy (basically useless), they are picky with streaming music/vid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And depending where you live, ST actually has service whereas Tmo does not.
You can also try Solavei. Offers the most data for the lowest price. (4GB for $49. First two months are $39 right now.) Best value I'd say compared to what others offer. Runs off of T-Mobile.
Disclaimer: I am an independent rep with them but I've personally used the service since November (when the Nexus 4 came out) and love it.
Link in my signature or PM me as I can get you some freebies as well.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

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