Experience with T-Mobile

[Rango]

I'm looking for comments regarding network coverage from folks that are currently using T-Mobile since their purchase/merge with Sprint.

We currently have Verizon but want to change to T-Mobile's 55+ plan that appears to be a good deal for seniors.

Thanks for your comments ...

[eye95]

Originally Posted by Rango

I'm looking for comments regarding network coverage from folks that are currently using T-Mobile since their purchase/merge with Sprint.

We currently have Verizon but want to change to T-Mobile's 55+ plan that appears to be a good deal for seniors.

Thanks for your comments ...

We use T-mobile on our iPads. Great price, great speeds, not-so-good coverage. We buy the 150-day, 5 gig passes for 10 bucks. They last a few months because we do most of our Internet via WiFi.

We use Consumer Cellular for our phones. Great price, great speed, great coverage (I think AT&T). $35 to $45 per month for BOTH of us, depending on usage. We use hardly any Internet on our phones because of the iPads.

Typical cost per person: $25 per month for two devices each.

[moose074]

I will throw out another name. Alltese ( not sure of spelling) It is from Sudden Link they supposedly use Sprint and AT&T lines. I haven’t used them so can’t speak of coverage. My contract with Verizon is up soon and we are thinking about just me going to a different provider, while the rest of the family stays with Verizon. The hope is that we reduce or loss of coverage areas. Still discussing the thought.

[jeff64]

I have the 55+ tmobile. For the most part the coverage is good. In some areas where we camp with others who have attended or Verizon, they get coverage and we dont. We may have to go to cg office and connect to wi fi. They pay a lot more than $60/mo . I guess you get what you pay for

[Dennis878]

Rango I use mint mobile for my cell service and it runs on T-Mobile network. The cost is $15.00 month with 3GB of data, unlimited text and time. It works great at least on the east coast where I travel. There are dead spots but that’s the same with most carriers. There customer service is traffic also. You can purchase a sample try from amazon and that will be credited to your account if you go with them. The down side is your phone must be unlocked I guess that means not contract with another service. Forgot to get the $15.00 month you must pay in full the entire year.

[DadJones]

TMobile is getting better in coverage, but they still don't have the coverage that Verizon has. It all depends on where you live and where you travel.

I've had both and for traveling outside of the cities, I'd much rather have Verizon.

[TitanMike]

I'm currently using Consumer Cellular on the T-Mobile network. Has been great for coverage in most areas I travel. Only time I found Verizon would have been better was in the middle of Wyoming but according to those I spoke with, not much better.

Face it, there are places in the country where people are far and few between so there isn't much infrastructure in place from ANY company.

The big thing to expect from the Sprint/T-Mobile merger is the expansion in the 5-G service. The merger gave T-mobile access to some "licenses" held by Sprint that will allow some big improvements to T-Mobile's service nationwide.

As for me? I only want to be able to make a call where I am and have my kids reach me there when they need to. Experience has shown that no one company can make that happen yet. Except maybe for a sat-phone company.

[NMWildcat]

We travel with friends who have switched to T-Mobile. They are not happy. While traveling together it used to be easy to communicate with them via phone/text, but now half the time they have no signal. We started using our walkie/talkies again. They borrow our phones frequently to make calls when they have no signal. They feel the data speed is much slower.
True, their cost is less, but they are not happy with the service and will be going back to Verizon.

[babock]

I use Google Fi which uses both T-Mobile and Sprint and did so before any talk of merger. It all depends on where you are. Sometimes I am better than my wife's ATT and sometimes she is better. Same goes for verizon. We have friends with verizon who have no signal at our house in Big Bear lake CA but I have full signal.

As far as the merger is concerned, if you are on T-Mobile, no guarantee you are using any of the old Sprint network. Sprint uses CDMA which is going away and T-Mobile uses GSM.

Will be interesting how Verizon coverage is as they phase out their CDMA. Supposedly, that is ongoing.

Someday...everything will be real 5G but that rollout will be in cites first and then oneday....rural areas. Most of the 5G that is around right now is really just 4G LTE.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by babock

I use Google Fi which uses both T-Mobile and Sprint and did so before any talk of merger. It all depends on where you are. Sometimes I am better than my wife's ATT and sometimes she is better. Same goes for verizon. We have friends with verizon who have no signal at our house in Big Bear lake CA but I have full signal.

Cell signals are like the weather. I've had days when it's been raining in my front yard and not in my back yard.

My Son uses Verizon and I use the T-Mobile net. We can be sitting across the table from each other and one will have full signal, the other none.

Guaranteed that whatever service you pick, someone will find "the other one" will work better.

[BehindBars]

I think the experience goes being cellular signal coverage. There's the cellular service, and then there's the customer service. I left Consumer Cellular because of big mistakes made by their poorly trained customer service. I tried T-Mobile but their handling of our account was a nightmare. Verizon thus far has handled the account well and seems to have competent staff.

As with everything else, your mileage may vary.

[Rango]

Moose074 has a great idea, now he has me thinking that I might just move over to T-Mobile and leave my wife on Verizon for a while since we are not under a contract and there is no price break for having one vs two lines. If things are satisfactory we can switch her over later.

I should have mentioned that we are not planning anymore big trips out west for the next couple of years, our travel will be on the east coast. We just got back to Florida from going all the way to Washington state and we experienced a lot of dead areas in the mid and north west so as indicated in a lot of reply's, each carrier has dead spots just some are deader than others.

Thanks for all of the great reply's ...

[NavyLCDR]

I have T-Mobile personal phone and Verizon work phone. My Verizon work phone will get better signal than T-Mobile, and sometimes when T-Mobile won't have data at all, my Verizon work phone will.

[babock]

Originally Posted by Rango

Moose074 has a great idea, now he has me thinking that I might just move over to T-Mobile and leave my wife on Verizon for a while since we are not under a contract and there is no price break for having one vs two lines. If things are satisfactory we can switch her over later.

I should have mentioned that we are not planning anymore big trips out west for the next couple of years, our travel will be on the east coast. We just got back to Florida from going all the way to Washington state and we experienced a lot of dead areas in the mid and north west so as indicated in a lot of reply's, each carrier has dead spots just some are deader than others.

Thanks for all of the great reply's ...

Before you move to something like Altice, there are few bad things.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AlticeMobil...nd_why_not_to/

Personally, I was with StraightTalk for awhile. They are just like Altice which purchases network bandwidth from the main carriers. It kinda sucked having to deal with them and getting throttled. I had the ATT version of StraightTalk and it never worked as well as my wife's real ATT network.

[Fifth Wheelers]

We've been using the +55 program since T-Mobil started it. No problem with connections other than a few spots out in the middle of the desert. I use my phone as a hot spot that we can both use at the same time. Can do some streaming depending on where were are staying. Very few problems(slow) using the Hotspot for internet access. Can't beat the service for the price.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by BehindBars

I think the experience goes being cellular signal coverage. There's the cellular service, and then there's the customer service. I left Consumer Cellular because of big mistakes made by their poorly trained customer service. I tried T-Mobile but their handling of our account was a nightmare. Verizon thus far has handled the account well and seems to have competent staff.

As with everything else, your mileage may vary.

As you said, mileage varies.

For me my phone needs are simple. I haven't had any issues with Consumer Cellular Customer Service because I haven't had a single reason to call or contact them in the 8 or so years I've used them.

I had enough of phones before I retired. Now I just want to be able to call someone I WANT to and find that I rarely use more than 3 Gb or data when on the road.

Remember, I'm retired and don't feel like being tethered to a phone. Especially a Cell Phone which I've had since 1981.

[babock]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Remember, I'm retired and don't feel like being tethered to a phone. Especially a Cell Phone which I've had since 1981.

1981? Have a picture of this phone? How would a 1981 cell phone even work anymore?

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Fifth Wheelers

We've been using the +55 program since T-Mobil started it. No problem with connections other than a few spots out in the middle of the desert. I use my phone as a hot spot that we can both use at the same time. Can do some streaming depending on where were are staying. Very few problems(slow) using the Hotspot for internet access. Can't beat the service for the price.

^^^^^^^^^THIS!
We also got it when it first came out. We are quite happy with it. We travel up and down the West Coast and rarely have any coverage issues. T-Mobile has vastly improved their coverage over the years.
And I'm not willing to pay double the money for the same type of plan from Verizon.

[Summit1]

Originally Posted by DadJones

TMobile is getting better in coverage, but they still don't have the coverage that Verizon has. It all depends on where you live and where you travel.

I've had both and for traveling outside of the cities, I'd much rather have Verizon.

Exactly. Verizon has several plan options; check them out and you may be surprised. Their only contracts involve monthly payments on phone purchases; those can be paid off after six months.

[BehindBars]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

As you said, mileage varies.

For me my phone needs are simple. I haven't had any issues with Consumer Cellular Customer Service because I haven't had a single reason to call or contact them in the 8 or so years I've used them.

I had enough of phones before I retired. Now I just want to be able to call someone I WANT to and find that I rarely use more than 3 Gb or data when on the road.

Remember, I'm retired and don't feel like being tethered to a phone. Especially a Cell Phone which I've had since 1981.

I agree, Consumer Cellular was great until . . . I was going to travel to Alaska by motorcycle, and I simply wanted to know if they could offer me service in Canada during my travels. I was told, "Yes." That's when it all went to hell, and their poorly trained staffed showed their true colors. Eventually it led to both mine and my wife's phones being mistakenly disabled, while I was in Canada and she was in the USA, with no way to contact each other. The Consumer Cellular representative's final advice to me was to simply go to a different company for service, since they couldn't straighten out the mess. So, that's what we did.

If you keep it simple and don't ask much, CC can serve you well.