Switch Cell Providers??

[Adony]

Am thinking about changing from Verizon to T-Mobile.. Verizon has raised prices and we get very poor cell service in our housing area..2 blocks away Verizon is strong but not here..Any thoughts on switching from Verizon to T-Mibile? Good..Bad..??

[flyflotrtim]

Can;t really adddress service in your neighborhood but generally T Mobile's reputation seems to be that it does not have as good coverage in the fringe (read camping) areas. This is definitely true in my area. Perhaps you have a friend with T mobile that could address T mobile service at your residence.

[llr]

For the cost issue you could look at Visible, still Verizon service but that won't address the poor signal at home. I use a Visible phone as my primary hotspot in the camper, $25/month unlimited is hard to beat.

Can you find anyone with AT&T and/or Tmobile that you could invite over to see how they do? If none work you may need a signal booster. Signal maps are not generally detailed enough to help

[5picker]

It all has to do with location as far as service.

I have both Verizon & T-Mobile for work.
When traveling the East Coast, for data, some places Verizon wins and some places T-Mobile wins.
T-Mobile is getting better coverage since the acquisition of Sprint.

For cell service, Verizon wins. Especially in rural areas.
I'd give a slight nod to T-Mobile on 5G & Ultra coverage though.

And even though both tout "unlimited data"... I have been throttled by both after 100 GB.
Verizon so much so, I could not use it for anything.

As for pricing... well that depends too. They are both about the same in the long run.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Adony

Am thinking about changing from Verizon to T-Mobile.. Verizon has raised prices and we get very poor cell service in our housing area..2 blocks away Verizon is strong but not here..Any thoughts on switching from Verizon to T-Mibile? Good..Bad..??

As was said, a lot depends on where you live. Since you have no information as to where you live, lisred in your profile, I don't how much we can help.
We are Tmobile customers and had great service when we lived in the North SF Bay Area and in the Puget Sound area. But now that we're in the Phoenix area, it's nor as good.
But we love our 55+ Tmobile plan.

[cboss]

We've been a Verizon customer since the beginning (think Bag Phone). We travel all winter and rarely do we not have cell service. A few dollars increase would not make me switch from Verizon.

BTW: When gas went up to $4+ did you switch to electric?

[Bob K4TAX]

Yes, location and terrain do make a big difference in the quality of service.

When we moved here 25 years ago we had Verizon. We kept getting disconnects here in the house, yard, and my shop. I spoke with several people with Verizon until I finally got someone with a bit of technical knowledge. Once he discovered my location, he said "ah, I know the issue. You are higher than the cell towers". Yep, we do live on a hill and look down on the cell towers. Since then they have added new towers up here on the hill and the service is great. Of course, I'm not impressed with any price increases.

I don't believe in any of the advertising hype. I agree, do your own research and make your own decisions.

Bob

[NavyLCDR]

I have had both Sprint and T-Mobile in the past. I dropped them both because of lack of coverage in Oregon. I'm on AT&T which has much better coverage than either T-Mobile and Sprint (now the same company, but still less coverage).

[pgandw]

In my neck of the woods (Eastern NC), Verizon has 2-3 bars, AT&T 1-2 bars, both depending on weather and where in the house you are. AT&T tower is a few miles SW, Verizon tower is about 1.5 miles east, across the creek. We use AT&T but may consider switching now that Verizon has lowered their per line prices. Computer is on a Verizon hot spot because they offered 100GB for the same price AT&T would only give 40GB. Ain't no such thing as 5G away from the cities, but I'm glad to be rural.

We have never failed on voice on AT&T at home (we have no landline or cable), but will occasionally drop Android Auto/Apple Carplay and voice while driving in the area (same happened in Colorado).

On the waiting list for Musk's satellite system, but we MAY have too many tall trees for that to be successful.

Fred W
living the dream in Eastern NC

[Rolland]

Originally Posted by NavyLCDR

I have had both Sprint and T-Mobile in the past. I dropped them both because of lack of coverage in Oregon. I'm on AT&T which has much better coverage than either T-Mobile and Sprint (now the same company, but still less coverage).

We live in the same general area as you do and have been shopping cell service. As a long time Verizon customer I've had several times where they are took excellent care of us with circumstances that aren't the norm. I've compare recently their cost with Consumer Cellular who is a reseller of AT&T. I'm not enthused to be with a reseller, but the AT&T coverage in Oregon is better than Verizon.

My question for NavyLCDR is how you find AT&T coverage on the coast and Central Oregon.

[TitanMike]

This recent announcement could make a dent in the dead zones across the country:

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-car...nd-with-spacex

T-Mobile's 5G customers will be able to have coverage, although somewhat limited in bandwidth initially, through Space-X satellite antennas starting sometime next year.

Should be interesting.

[Tabasco_Joe]

I've had both Verizon and T-Mobile on work phones.
Right now, I have a Visible (Verizon) personal phone and a T-Mobile work phone.
Both identical iPhones.
Verizon has better coverage. Hands down.
Still, buy primarily on the coverage where you use the phone the most.
In my case, I get good coverage at home on both.
So Visible had the best package for my data usage.

[Sunseeker16]

I switched from Verizon to TMobile and I think it's great. I also got rid of spectrum at home and went to t-mobile internet.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

This recent announcement could make a dent in the dead zones across the country:

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-car...nd-with-spacex

T-Mobile's 5G customers will be able to have coverage, although somewhat limited in bandwidth initially, through Space-X satellite antennas starting sometime next year.

Should be interesting.

I agree, will be interesting. I have little to no cell service of any type at home or the neighboring counties. Get away from town and............. no bars .

[Mike134]

First contact your existing provider and tell them you are canceling, often they will give you a promo rate. Works for me for 2 "promo terms" then they refuse, and I need to shop for a different provider. 2-4 years later I'll cycle back to my original (after the 2nd vendor drops their promo pricing) and get the "new customer" pricing.

Have to play the game or pay up.

[RGrimm]

Originally Posted by Adony

Am thinking about changing from Verizon to T-Mobile.. Verizon has raised prices and we get very poor cell service in our housing area..2 blocks away Verizon is strong but not here..Any thoughts on switching from Verizon to T-Mibile? Good..Bad..??

For your weak home signal with Verizon, you might want to call Verizon and ask if they'll give you a Verizon LTE Network extender for your home. We started having a lot of dropped calls recently (like over the last 4-5 months) and I call Verizon and they offered me an extender for free. I now have 4 bars any place in the house and no dropped calls. Basically, the LTE Network extended uses my internet to convert my Cell calls (in and out) to Voice over IP calls.

An Extender may be a solution for your weak at home service.
-Russ

[MevetS]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

I agree, will be interesting. I have little to no cell service of any type at home or the neighboring counties. Get away from town and............. no bars .

Based on information at https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/ the joint effort will most likely be : " The technology is focused on basic messaging apps - not on providing full internet connectivity. "

All carriers have great service in some locations and are lacking in other locations. Where we are they are all marginal, mainly because of being more distant to the majority of cell towers. For RV use we have our cell service, and a MiFi Data plan, with Verizon, just because AT&T is not about Customer Service. Also, we have a data only plan with T-Mobile.

I've been experimenting with T-Mobile for home Internet, currently on Xfinity. Download speeds on the T-Mobile home Internet are great but upload speeds are a crawl. But that works fine for steaming.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by RGrimm

For your weak home signal with Verizon, you might want to call Verizon and ask if they'll give you a Verizon LTE Network extender for your home. We started having a lot of dropped calls recently (like over the last 4-5 months) and I call Verizon and they offered me an extender for free. I now have 4 bars any place in the house and no dropped calls. Basically, the LTE Network extended uses my internet to convert my Cell calls (in and out) to Voice over IP calls.

An Extender may be a solution for your weak at home service.
-Russ

And if that option doesn't work for you, many of today's cell phones have that capability built right into them. We use that feature on our Samsung Galaxy S21+ all the time.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by RGrimm

For your weak home signal with Verizon, you might want to call Verizon and ask if they'll give you a Verizon LTE Network extender for your home. We started having a lot of dropped calls recently (like over the last 4-5 months) and I call Verizon and they offered me an extender for free. I now have 4 bars any place in the house and no dropped calls. Basically, the LTE Network extended uses my internet to convert my Cell calls (in and out) to Voice over IP calls.

An Extender may be a solution for your weak at home service.
-Russ

Modern phones have the same "extender" built-in. It's called Wi-Fi calling. I used it in many different countries to make free phone calls back home (and a lot of my friends used my phone because theirs didn't have Wi-Fi calling). Text messaging works over Wi-Fi too when Wi-Fi calling is enabled.

[NavyLCDR]

Originally Posted by Rolland

My question for NavyLCDR is how you find AT&T coverage on the coast and Central Oregon.

I camp about every other weekend during the summer both along the coast and central Oregon and the only campground I have not had AT&T signal at is Riverbend County Park outside Sweet Home. I chose AT&T over Verizon because AT&T is cheaper for military members.