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Verizon vs Sprint vs T mobile? What are your thoughts

dixie

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We are currently with Verizon but considering changing. I know with Sprint you can text from other countries for free. Plus Verizon is doing away with their Smart Rewards which we used to buy Carnival gift cards. Now they are switching to Verizon UP which makes u have to agree to Verizon tracking (can't remember what it is called) to be a part of so they can send you ads. I do not like being tracked by Google, Amazon, and FB.
Would love to know what you think.
thanks
 

bogey21

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I have been with AAT since 1998 (called Southwestern Bell back then). My Son has probably changed providers 5 times in the last 5 years and it has cost him money every time. Every time I considered changing ATT made me a deal reducing my cost.
 

AnnaS

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We have had T Mobile for many, many years. Many years ago my son's tried AT&T, Nextel and some other line. They are all back with me now. I like that we get free calls to Canada - we have relatives there. I compared with Verizon a few years ago and found pricing is almost more or less the same. Check coverage for the area also. Some areas can be spotty. I thought everyone tracked us now......
 

dixie

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Yes, I find the continual tracking down right scary. That is why Verizon is switching From Smart Rewards to Verizon Up and the benefits are not near as good plus it is so you have to agree to them tracking you to be apart of Verizon up. No. I clear my history all the time on internet searches etc. Plus just had my MasterCard hacked and had to reset everything that paid from that card...
 

mdurette

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Personally, I have been with Verizon (or companies they took over) for about 20+ year. Verizon has always had the best coverage in our local area and the areas we frequently travel to which is the reason why. But....it seems that coverage for all the others has grown (along with my Verizon bill!).

So...I'm starting to think about a switch. My main focus will not be about cost, it will be about reliable coverage.

Dixie - you mentioned something about smart rewards for cruise gift cards. Didn't think I even realized Verizon had rewards. I'm going to go log into my account....wonder if I have a couple of $$ in something over there to use!
 

wackymother

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I think we've tried just about everything. Sprint is my least favorite--we had a bad experience with them, but before that we used various pay-as-you-go phones that all used the Sprint network. They had a lot of dead spots. We switched to T-Mobile because we were traveling to Canada a lot, and we were happy here and there. T-Mobile also worked for us in Portugal and Spain!

One of my kids and I switched to Verizon because she is going to college in the mountains, and there is absolutely zero service for anything other than Verizon. That's where Verizon is worth it--in tiny little towns and remote places. They still do have the best network.

If I didn't have to have Verizon, we would all have stayed with T-Mobile. We were very happy with their service.
 

dixie

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Exit 32 you need to find out about your smart rewards quickly. They have to be used by Nov 1. We have mainly used them to buy Carnival gift cards and save 10%. We have saved quite a bit of money on cruises using them. They sell out quickly too. Don't buy the Rccl ones, they have too many restrictions. Check out Smart Rewards quickly. I found out about them on cruise critic.
 

rboesl

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Been with AT&T for 16 years. Ever since my son went off to college. Now have 5 phones on my plan. Never had any issues with coverage and support any where I've traveled (England, France, Italy, Germany, Aruba, Barbados, Hong Kong, you get the idea). Any time I've considered switching they've come up with a way to keep me at similar cost to competitor.
 

tompalm

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Tmobile has the best family plans and international service with no fees for texting or data. My phone with Tmobile actually worked better in South Korea and Europe than it does in some cities in the US. Seattle has really great service because their corporate headquarters is there. But LA is very spotty with good voice quality but lots of dead areas for data. Maybe it was just the areas I visited in LA and overall it works fine, but you really need to check with other people in the city that you live in. Sprint has a poor reputation for cell service, but Tmobile is in the process of buying them. If and when that happens, the service should get better, but maybe not if your phone is locked for Sprint cell Tower Service. AT&T has great coverage and Verizon is even better. But both are good. If you travel to other countries, the GSM network that AT&T and Tmobile use is what you need. But most smart phones now have the ability to receive all the networks.
 

easyrider

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I like Tmobile because of our plan which includes Mexico and Canada. I recently had 4g in Loreto Mexico and used my phone as a hot spot for our internet connections. My friends with Verizon and other services either had no service, or had service, but no or slow data.

Bill
 

vacationhopeful

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I changes homes to a townhouse last year ... cell service is on Verizon. Seems my new home has a DEAD SPOT ... at least one ... the one I found sitting in "my spot" on the living sofa. Yes ... 3 feet in any direction seems to be okay. but when the cell phone DOES NOT RING OR A CALL DROPS ... do I know how BIG the spot is. And this spot is only 3 feet inside my patio door.

I figured it after losing a bunch of calls in progress or which did not connect ... calls where I went to sit on the sofa verses standing in the kitchen or garage, etc. And after 6 months or so ... as I never had any Verizon calls drop before in my other travels in the area over the years.

Do I have to disclose cell phone HOLES to a new owner?
 

mdurette

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Exit 32 you need to find out about your smart rewards quickly. They have to be used by Nov 1. We have mainly used them to buy Carnival gift cards and save 10%. We have saved quite a bit of money on cruises using them. They sell out quickly too. Don't buy the Rccl ones, they have too many restrictions. Check out Smart Rewards quickly. I found out about them on cruise critic.


Thanks, I logged in and found the section for Smart Rewards, but I got a message that my plan isn't eligible at this time. My guess is this must have been something I needed to opt into at some point and I never did. All well....
 

geist1223

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We have had AT&T for years. We now have free service in Mexico but not Canada. We considering switching to T Mobile to save on costs. AT&T quotes great plans for low cost but forget to mention all the add fees.
 
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We currently have SPRINT, and have great service. I work as a truck driver going in and out of Chicago-area rail yards to all Midwest states (Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and occasionally Ohio). I tried T-Mobile with our unlocked Sprint phones (Galaxy S6), service was poor. Even at our house in Debary FL. They said we needed to buy new phones to get better service. Nope. So, we returned to Sprint. Since our phones are paid off, 2 Galaxy S6 phones + iPad Mini4 all unlimited data is about $145/month. I also get a corporate discount, you can save money if your company has one.

TS
 

WackyLucy

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Do I have to disclose cell phone HOLES to a new owner?

No. Provider's signal strength is not an issue inherent to your property and it's a problem which disappears with a different service provider.

That said, if you report that issue to a real estate entity representing you, they are obligated to relay that disclosed issue (if specifically asked).
 
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nkldavy

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If you are 55 or over, T-mobile has a great plan for 2 lines ... $60 subtotal before taxes etc. Where I am in Wisconsin summer place, I get great reception, but wife on AT&T not so much. I had Verizon and switched in 2014.
 

Brett

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I use T-mobile and Galaxy S7
good cheap rates, unlimited data, etc.
very nice ... but check plans in your area
 

Makai Guy

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We had Verizon back in the pre-smart flip phone years in Michigan, as it gave us the best coverage as we moved around the state (at least that's the conclusion we reached when comparing the various providers' coverage maps). Some time after retiring to South Carolina, we switched to a prepaid TracFone plan (still on flip phones) to try to save some money on voice calls (did zero texting and weren't into data use yet). Our TracFones used T-Mobile as their carrier, and reception was okay but not great in our immediate neighborhood, but sometimes we had to go out on the back deck to have a useable connection.

But those smart phones started appealing to us as we both got into more and more activities and we really needed to have instantly-available calendars for each other, so we bought a couple of Galaxy s3's and returned to Verizon, after conferring with a bunch of neighbors about their experience with their carrier. Nobody with Verizon had coverage or connection complaints; those with T-Mobile, Sprint, or AT&T were less satisfied. As we travel around our own and neighboring states, when on routes we're already familiar, many of which are hardly main roads, we've noticed the coverage is better with Verizon than it was with TracFone/T-Mobile. We've been with them ever since and are now using Galaxy s7's for all sorts of functions. Pulled the plug on our land line about 4 years ago.
 
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Glynda

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My husband has T-Mobile and I Verizon. Having both comes in handy sometimes. I have service where he doesn't and his T-Moblie has better International calling than Verizon.
 

Mosca

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We had Verizon for years, recently switched to AT&T because they merged with DirecTV and we get a discount for having both services. I can't say I was upset with Verizon, they provided good service for many years.

AT&T's service in our area is essentially similar, in speed and coverage. I will say that the staff at the local Verizon stores far outclass the staff at local AT&T stores, both in knowledge and personality. If I need to know something about my AT&T plan I go on line or call, because the people at the store are useless.
 

Ken555

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Tmobile has the best family plans and international service with no fees for texting or data. My phone with Tmobile actually worked better in South Korea and Europe than it does in some cities in the US. Seattle has really great service because their corporate headquarters is there. But LA is very spotty with good voice quality but lots of dead areas for data. Maybe it was just the areas I visited in LA and overall it works fine, but you really need to check with other people in the city that you live in.

I was with LA Cellular and then ATT for many, many years. Switched to T-Mobile a few years ago. Both had areas of poor coverage in LA but neither is generally much better. I live in LA and T-Mobile is great so curious where you were that you experienced such poor coverage. Note that they have made significant coverage improvements nationwide in just the last few years.

I pay ~$27 per line for five lines with TM, while I used to pay ~$130 per month for one line with ATT. Rates have changed since then but still...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Blues

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If you are 55 or over, T-mobile has a great plan for 2 lines ... $60 subtotal before taxes etc. Where I am in Wisconsin summer place, I get great reception, but wife on AT&T not so much. I had Verizon and switched in 2014.

Can you add international coverage for this plan? On a per-country basis, or the whole world? And how much does that add.

The T-mobile over 55 plan sounds great. But I need a way to add coverage when we travel overseas. Yes, I could buy local SIM cards; but my experience with that has been spotty. After running all over Paris looking for one, and finally paying for something that didn't work, I'd prefer coverage with via my cell carrier. Currently on Verizon, which has per-country plans; but their basic service is much higher than noted above. Wondering if it would be worth it to switch to T-Mobile. Alternative is Consumer Cellular, but AFAIK they have NO international coverage.
 

Luanne

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We were with AT&T for years since I worked for them and got my land line free and a significant savings on cell service. Then we moved out of AT&T territory and I retired. Basically they cut me off. So I switched to Verizon for cell service. We live in an area with a lot of dead spots and Verizon has the best coverage for this area.

When I am in Canada visiting our dd I pay $5.00/day for the days I use my phone for calls or texts.
 

dixie

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So, it sounds like Tmobile is better than Sprint generally and has great rates for out of the country. Now with an Iphone 6 that I have used with Verizon are they unlocked when they are this old to use with another carrier? Will you lose all your contacts if you are backed up to Itunes?
 

taterhed

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So, Let me make a few points. I have just completed a fairly exhaustive study of the major carriers and done some testing to back up my thoughts/suspicions.
  • I've had Sprint (spectrum) in one form or another since 1993 (out of KC).
    • Sprint used to have very poor customer service, unless you were business--which we are, but is now much much better IMO
  • We currently live in an area that has poor to very poor reception.
    • All the carriers will work in our area, but with varying levels of throughput/quality
  • We update phones every 2 years and have ONLY had Sprint phones on our network.
    • Many networks have bands/coverage that are specific to their brand of phones (or full-band unlocked phones YMMV)
    • Just because the phone WILL work on another network does NOT mean that you have full area coverage or coverage at the highest speeds/quality
    • Many new technologies have been implemented on some networks that radically change the quality/reliability of the network, Old phones may not
  • I've traveled coast to coast, internationally and all-over the country with my phone.
    • I can only address Sprint, but in the last 5 years, my sprint coverage has been great, and with tower sharing, phenomenal. I'm convinced that most people who complain about sprint coverage in the last 2 years are either using old equipment, cheap equipment, less than full band coverage (other carrier equipment) or have really high expectations for cellular coverage
    • Sprint international phones (and iPhone 6/7) work great overseas but with slow data speed (without paying for hi-speed data)
T-Mobile currently has better deals on service, phones and overseas coverage. Really, look at the 55 and over with International plus service.
  • T-Mobile is now outgrowing the competition
  • T-Mobile has the best options for international use IMO free or 'plus' level paid coverage. Plus full GSM/LTE bands gives better options for coverage/speed
  • I would NOT use T-Mobile with another carriers phone/unlocked phone unless I had full spectrum/brand coverage for T-Mobile. I would NOT use an 'old' T-Mobile phone on T-Mobile either.
I purchased a new, full-band phone to test T-Mobile coverage in my area (across a 100 mile journey) and compared it to an IPhone 6 (sprint) on T-Mobile Sim.
I further compared my current Sprint coverage to the T-Mobile coverage (east coast NOVA)
  • The Sprint coverage (which is dual tower shared with T-Mobile) is slightly superior to T-Mobile (not dual tower). So, maybe 95% vs 92% (decent coverage with 4g hi-speed data)
  • The T-Mobile coverage was equal to or higher than Sprint where coverage was available. Significantly higher data speed (10x+) in some areas.
  • The T-Mobile band 12 LTE coverage was absolutely required for adequate service. Do NOT use T-Mobile without band 12 extended LTE.
Further, T-Mobile will loan/rent or sell you a micro cell spot for your home if the coverage is weak. This is huge for some folks (like me). T-Mobile is very Wi-Fi calling friendly.
T-Mobiles 55 and over plan is really attractive.

T-Mobile current spectrum (**band 71 is deploying now): bands: 2, 4, 12, 66, 71** freqs: 1900, 1700 def, 700 a, 600

If you're thinking about switching for the price, the deals and the overseas coverage, then at least give the carrier a good look by using a new, fully compatible phone vs an old craigslist special that won't take advantage of available bandwidth etc....

BTW: Costco is selling a very nice T-Mobile Moto phone for about $250 in stores. It was a very nice phone and quick. A great alternative to a $700 IPhone or S-phone. Again, YMMV.
 
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