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Best Carrier in the U.S.

So, this summer I am moving to the U.S for one year (Salt Lake City, Utah to be precise.) Never been there, so I have no idea which carriers offer the best customer-service, coverage, and of course prices.
Please tell me YOUR opinion

Verizon is highly expensive compared to everyone else, they've got a decent selection of phones but it will cost you. Customer service is pretty bad. I don't think they carry Windows Phone but don't quote me on it. Network is most expansive but CDMA - so only "world phones" can work outside the US.
Sprint is decent in price, phone selection is highly limited. Only a few really stand out, EVO 3D, GSII, seems they're gonna get the HTC One X though. Good customer support. Also CDMA.
AT&T is moderate, okayish prices and good phone selection, mainly the GSII and the GNote. Customer support is fine. Decent network but they're 4G HSPA+ network is a third of the speed of T-Mobile's.
T-Mobile is usually the cheapest and their phone selection is fine (Sensation, GSII, soon to be One S.) Their network can be limited at times, and the HSPA+ speeds range from 1Mbit to 14Mbits, sometimes more. Customer support is awesome.

It really depends on your location, check coverage maps and if all items are equal, Tmobile has the best selection of phones at the bottom end of the price range. Tmobile does not block tethering, but their new plans may restrict the amount of data at 4g speed. I am on an old family plan that has 5 lines, we pay $10 for unlimited texting for the whole account, $20 for unlimited (5gb) 4g speeds per line and $89.99 for 1800 shared minutes with fav 5 on each phone. Hope you like to ski or board, Utah has the best snow in the world.

Verizon sell the HTC Trophy which is a decent phone. Depends if WP7 is your cup of tea but I assume you're looking to keep the Sensation but use it on another operator?

Depends exactly on what you want.
Speed? If you have Verizon LTE in the area you'll be, they're the tops. Blazing fast.
Coverage for voice? Verizon.
Price? T-Mobile.
Coming from 7 years with Verizon for company business, their voice coverage was better. No iffs, ands or buts. That being said, we went to T-Mobile to carve 1/3 off our pricing...and I'll tell you from my experience over the past few months, they have about 90 to 95% as good of cell coverage where my company does business (All of Michigan)
Verizon will charge you for data overages. T-Mobile "may" slow you down.
Verizon will charge you for roaming. T-Mobile has no extra roaming charges inside the continental US. (IF a TMO tower is not in the area you'll be, you can roam to ATT for free)
T-Mobile offers wireless calling. If you're in a building or spot with bad cell service but has WiFi available, you can switch over to it.
I think T-Mo's customers service is better. Their pricing and plans are 100% certainly better.
But I will say Verizon's network is larger and stronger. Is it worth the price? Your call. For us, it wasn't.

Outside of the main cities and main highways, there is no tmobile coverage in Utah. I was vacationing out there at the national parks and had no coverage nearly the entire time
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G XE with Beats Audio using XDA

tissimo said:
Outside of the main cities and main highways, there is no tmobile coverage in Utah. I was vacationing out there at the national parks and had no coverage nearly the entire time
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G XE with Beats Audio using XDA
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Yep...the coverage map (which is only a tool, not bible) says the same.
If you're in or very close to Salt Lake City...you'll be fine. Otherwise...probably SOL.

socaljohn said:
Hope you like to ski or board, Utah has the best snow in the world.
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Yup, that's the main reason I picked Utah
dajogejr said:
Verizon will charge you for data overages. T-Mobile "may" slow you down.
Verizon will charge you for roaming. T-Mobile has no extra roaming charges inside the continental US. (IF a TMO tower is not in the area you'll be, you can roam to ATT for free)
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Uhm,does this mean calls outside Utah cost extra money on Verizon, and it stays the same on T-mob?
dajogejr said:
Yep...the coverage map (which is only a tool, not bible) says the same.
If you're in or very close to Salt Lake City...you'll be fine. Otherwise...probably SOL.
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I'm probably gonna be outside Salt Lake City alot
Sent from my Sensation using Tapatalk 2 Beta-2

NYC - Madison Square Park Samsung promotion

FYI if anyone is in NYC midtown area today Samsung has a display/event going on at Madison Square Park... If you tell them you are GS3 owner you are a "VIP" and get a prize.
I got a $20 gift card, not sure what else they are giving out.

lowg said:
FYI if anyone is in NYC midtown area today Samsung has a display/event going on at Madison Square Park... If you tell them you are GS3 owner you are a "VIP" and get a prize.
I got a $20 gift card, not sure what else they are giving out.
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Ahh damn, do you know how long this is going on for? I'm not back in NY until Monday...

I am in NYC is this some sort of building or just in the park? seems nice

They've been doing this for a while now. They had a booth set up o 45th st btwn 8th n 7th. I got a free shirt, water bottle and a $20 gc to AMC theaters

Every day? Going to the city Monday I'll stop on...
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Where is madison aq park at. Which st interceptions
VZW GALAXY S 3 4G LTE

DROID3R said:
Where is madison aq park at. Which st interceptions
VZW GALAXY S 3 4G LTE
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https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Madi...ent=firefox-aurora&channel=rcs&ie=UTF-8&hl=en

I am going to try and go today. Hopefully they are still there. Last time I heard they were in nyc I couldn't find them
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(OFF TOPIC) Verizon customer switching to AT&T.

Thinking of switching family over to AT&T. For one thing,to follow the new HTC one the is going to be released soon. And another is my monthly bill. Question is....how is the service compared to Verizon? I live in the sandhills of NC, near Fort Bragg.
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This would go better in the general discussion forum
Sent from my Nexus 4

Isn't that where it is posted?
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From what I've been through (only 14), when I go to buy a new phone the employees at the att stores are really nice. (San Antonio)
-Sugardaddy Duncan

I'm on AT&T, 5 lines, 4 smartphones. On the 700 minute plan all 250mb data plan was around $260 a month. Now we're on the mobile share 4gb and it's $300. The switch was due to lines going over data and adding charges. If you don't use data a lot, don't go with mobile share. Service is very reliable here in NJ. If anything, customer service is superb.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

In Houston/Galveston area in tx, love my AT&T service...no probs at all. Came from T-Mobile, pay a bit more but totally worth it. They don't support their phones update wise too well, but that's why we got XDA right?! I'd jump ship from big red
Sent from my now S-Off HTC OneXL

elfysrfr said:
In Houston/Galveston area in tx, love my AT&T service...no probs at all. Came from T-Mobile, pay a bit more but totally worth it. They don't support their phones update wise too well, but that's why we got XDA right?! I'd jump ship from big red
Sent from my now S-Off HTC OneXL
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I'm in the Houston area as well (so this may not help you for NC as much), but the coverage here is much better than T-Mobile. Talking with friends, it seemed like Verizon does have slightly better coverage (usually outside the city at retreat sites, camping sites, etc.), but in the end I would have ended up paying about 30 dollars more for a slightly better plan on Verizon that I wouldn't take advantage of (unlimited talk mostly, whereas I currently have 1 line, 400 anytime+rollover, 5000 nights and weekends, 3GB data and never come close to my minutes limit).
To be fair, the One X isn't available on Verizon, so with the exception of Rogers/Telstra customers, almost all of us are on AT&T, so there may be a little bias. Not that we all LOVE AT&T, but we're at least satisfied enough to stay (e.g., there aren't any major issues).

I'm in the San Antonio area. Coverage is great. But nexus 4 doesn't support LTE my hox did, but with 200 MB a month I always just used HSPA+
Sent from my Nexus 4

Let's go Texas
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Just left Verizon and have zero complaints. Costs the same per month but better value plans. Zero problem with services either... Plus... GSM is the way to go with the Nexus devices in the future.
Sent from my One X using xda premium

Awesome input .....thanks to everyone. Please keep them coming.
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I left Verizon for AT&T when the iPhone 3G came out and haven't looked back.
AT&T can be annoying at times, but when it comes to bloat and lockdowns, Verizon has always been a lot worse. Verzion has in the past tried to send updates that locked your phone if it detected root access.

Not going to lie, I think Verizon has better customer service and reception/speeds. But it's also highly localized. In SoCal, Verizon is assumed to be the best. I've heard in NYC AT&T is the best so it's probably best to see what those in your home town think.
As far as customer service, I'm not a fan of AT&T but they aren't as terrible as they are made out to be. But then again I've never had problems that required much service.
And for what it's worth, I'm not a fanboy on any service/phone/OS. I've had Sprint, tmobile, AT&T and verizon over the last 6 or 7 years in L.A. and overall I would probably rank at&t 3rd or 4th here. That being said I'm mostly satisfied with what I have. I'm on wifi more than LTE and let's face it, most of us aren't using voice calls as much now as 5-10 years ago.

I'm in the western part of NC and have zero problems with AT&T service
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app

KayxGee1 said:
I'm on AT&T, 5 lines, 4 smartphones. On the 700 minute plan all 250mb data plan was around $260 a month. Now we're on the mobile share 4gb and it's $300. The switch was due to lines going over data and adding charges. If you don't use data a lot, don't go with mobile share. Service is very reliable here in NJ. If anything, customer service is superb.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
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Co-sign with the service in NJ being good. Never had much of an issue with them since 2009

rizorith said:
Not going to lie, I think Verizon has better customer service and reception/speeds.
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Verizon's customer service was indeed pretty good. My beef was the corporate attitude toward their customers, which was "You'll take our bloatware infested, locked down devices and like it because we're Verizon."
AT&T still locks things down, but doesn't seem to care that much if you root and unlock (e.g., plenty of people have gotten warranty replacements despite having bricked via flashing the wrong stuff). Verizon has a history of actively trying to stop people being from being rooted.

Also live in Houston and LTE is phenomenal. Now I work in Odessa and as long as your close to the Midland/Odessa area, you can get reliable 3G coverage (3-7Mbps down) . As soon as you start to move out towards the boonies and their supposed 2G coverage area, this is where Verizon outshines AT&T.
I work in the oil field sector and most of the time when we're at a remote location in West Texas, the only ones who normally have consistent coverage are Verizon customers. Too bad their selection of android devices are horrid.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

T-Mobile in the Killeen/ Fort Hood area

Hello i just left sprint (coverage in my area is AWFUL). I just became a verizon customer 2 days ago so I'm still within the 14 days. Verizon coverage is amazing but its a little expensive though not bank breaking. But i was looking into T-Mobile and was wondering if anyone has it in the Killeen/ Fort Hood area? If so how is coverage? Also i want the S4 and initially verizon told me they would have it before my 14 days were up and now it wont be in until the 30th of May. T-Mobile is supposed to have it soon. Thoughts? Thanks in advance
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TMobile FTW!!!

So, in case you didnt notice, TMobile had a event last night as well as Amazon..
For us TMO users, some great news!
-Free unlimited music streaming, not to count against your data
-a new Music station, in conjunction with Rhapsody, free for t mo users
-VOLTE in 16 more cities now..
- a new program that allows a 7 day, "free test of TMO network" with the use of an Iphone 5S to try their network!!!
I just did a speed test inside my house, in the Suburbs of Chicago, one of the new VOLTE cities..
43 megs down, 13 megs up, in my BASEMENT!!!
Kudos to TMO for kicking the competitors to the curb!
http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/18/t-mobile-lte-now-in-16-us-markets-volte-now-covers-100-million-people/
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t...y-wireless-again.htm?AID=11031750&PID=6147683
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-rhapsody-introduce-unradio.htm
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-sets-your-music-free.htm

I'm in Columbus, Ohio one of the Wideband LTE markets and my speeds haven't gone any higher yet so not sure it's activated in my area yet. Still good speeds without Wideband LTE.
I don't think VOLTE is big deal.
I'm still kind of pissy that T-Mobile pulled a fast one and sent me renew later for my discount but dropped the association. lol I told TmoNews about and they did a story on it. Back when T-Mobile tried to drop discounts but didn't because customers were pissed they said current people with a discount would be grandfathered in. I have 4 lines and the savings was over 20 bucks. Not all about the money just the way T-Mobile messed up the discount thing not once but twice and I'm not alone. I have a discount AT&T and Verizon and looking into Cricket Aio.
http://www.tmonews.com/2014/06/aaa-and-pta-members-losing-their-t-mobile-monthly-discount/

well, after dealing with the horrible Sprint Network, and the horrible death star of ATT, for me, at least, TMobile is a fantastic, breath of fresh air..
God help us if they merge with Sprint..

Woot woot
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I was with Sprint 14 years and left them a year ago for T-Mobile because they kept telling my slow web speeds was because of four of my phones were defective. lol If the Sprin T-Mobile merger happens I'm probably gone even if T-Mobile is running the show. I don't see how the will lower prices like the Softbank owner says but probably awhile before it happens if it happens at all. The good thing is T-Mobile is lowering prices for all the carriers.
Sorry I'll shut up now. haha

yeah, quit hijacking my threads!!!
I had Sprint for 10 years, and actually liked them alot, until they were bought by Softbank; then they became just as tough to deal with as ATT/Verizon, plus, their network went to hell, and even though Chicago was one of their first cities with the new network, we couldn't even make calls in our house, let alone get any reliable data speed..
I am counting on the FTC to not let this merger happen, and if they do, I will probably just buy a Virgin Mobile phone and go that route; all the "major" carriers really suck now, except TMO, IMO, and its not worth partnering with any of them at this point.

Well apparently the rhapsody deal is only for the credit check unlimited plans. If you're on the no credit check unlimited plan you have to pay Four to Ten dollars for service. I've been having issues the past few day with my service in Dallas getting 5-10megs where I normally get 35-50 megs down and for a long time. Apparently there is something going on that should be corrected in the next 72hrs said the T-Mobile rep. I'm hoping they're upgrading or something, but I don't see getting much higher than I'm used to atm.
EDIT: Well after reading Dallas is also one of the cities supposed to recieve volte today so that could be the reason for the current troubles.

Wait so this music thing, you can use it without it affecting your data? Cus I have 2gb and it would kill my data
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your answer is right here
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/t-mobile-sets-your-music-free.htm

sweets55 said:
I'm in Columbus, Ohio one of the Wideband LTE markets and my speeds haven't gone any higher yet so not sure it's activated in my area yet. Still good speeds without Wideband LTE.
I don't think VOLTE is big deal.
I'm still kind of pissy that T-Mobile pulled a fast one and sent me renew later for my discount but dropped the association. lol I told TmoNews about and they did a story on it. Back when T-Mobile tried to drop discounts but didn't because customers were pissed they said current people with a discount would be grandfathered in. I have 4 lines and the savings was over 20 bucks. Not all about the money just the way T-Mobile messed up the discount thing not once but twice and I'm not alone. I have a discount AT&T and Verizon and looking into Cricket Aio.
http://www.tmonews.com/2014/06/aaa-and-pta-members-losing-their-t-mobile-monthly-discount/
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Tmo has not dropped state employee discounts. I switched from Verizon because they were cleaning me out even with their discounts. Tmo costs me 80/mo less than big red. And the coverage in the sticks with Tmo is not as bad as I thought it would be.
Btw just got my G2 the other day and I am loving this phone!
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brons2 said:
got my G2 the other day and I am loving this phone!
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Yep. this is the most all-around pleasing phone I';ve ever owned.

My dad is retired from the military so I'm going to make him a authorized user so we can get our discount back.
T-Mobile couldn't tell me what 16 Wideband markets were active. Then another T-Mobile told me "although wideband LTE is available in 16 markets every tower in that market may not support it yet. We will continue to improve and you will continue to see advancements in the future! A customers reply "if T-Mobile doesn't have the info on when these cities would be activated why would T-Mobile announce that they are in 16 new cities now. They didn't say it's coming they said we are now in 16 new cities with wideband LTE. This is very unprofessional to say the least. Good point...
I really liked the G2 but the curved design got me with the Flex. The G2 would probably feel small now.