T-Mobile vs Verizon

[steadyrock]

My wife's cell contract is up for renewal and I wanted to take a look around. It looks like T-Mobile has some deals, but we are Verizon customers now and I love the network quality. Does anybody have T-Mobile and what do you think? I have traditionally stayed away from them because of network quality.

From their website, they do not appear to offer any deals on phones when you sign up - unusual for a carrier. Because they use a different network, we can not bring our Verizon phones over. I really do not want to pay $500 or so up front for new handsets.

How happy is everybody with T-Mobile, versus Verizon? We need talk, text, and data on one of the two lines. A family plan is preferred. All usage for these phones is in the OC area.

[tlcwrites]

We have been Verizon customers for years, but switched to TMobile after some issues with VZW customer service a few years ago. Never again. We switched back the DAY our contract was up. Verizon's a bit expensive and their customer service sucks, but their network and reliability are miles above TMo.

Tammy

[Meety Peety]

Verizon's a bit expensive and their customer service sucks, but their network and reliability are miles above TMo.

Pretty much sums it up. As much as I hate Verizon's customer service, they have the best network that I've used. My old work phone was TM and it would reliably drop calls and certain areas were complete dead zones. One of those areas was the city that I live in (lol) so it was pretty inconvenient. I guess it might depend on where you live, it seemed like if you left the "Big city" area you would immediately lose reception. Add in the fact that literally 90% of the people I call have Verizon as well, I never come close to going over my minutes.

[email]

Verizon has some issues, but T-Mobile sucks worse

[undercow16969]

All cellular devices operate off of the same network the difference is there are carrier towers that enhance signal and repeaters to carry signals further. I would look at options like data usage which you are more than likely grandfathered in with verizon unless you didn't have it from the cut off on. Next I look at where I go frequently which is LA, Las, Vegas, Atlanta and its surrounding areas, and lastly home which for me is southern GA. T-mobile and at&t do not have towers in the remote part of GA. AT&T & T-mobile have poor and even then intermittent service here on Edwards AFB. I hear T-mobile has unlimited data but i do not know if it is them for sure. I personally have not had anything bad to say about verizon other than it is a little expensive (10$/mo more) and service has always been there except for when I go flying but it the same for all carriers at that point.

[tlcwrites]

All cellular devices operate off of the same network

Nope, but nice try. :-) Verizon uses CDMA/EV-DO networks. Everyone else (in the US, at least) is using GSM networks, plus whatever the GSM broadband data is called (I know people just call it 3G or 4G, but I forget the technical name for the signaling method).

This is why when switching to or from Verizon, you generally have to buy new phones. So called "world phones" have both GSM and CDMA radio modules, and so can switch between networks. The iPhone 4S has this capability, which is why my Verizon iPhone has a SIM module slot even though CDMA doesn't use the SIM.

Tammy

[DVSmith]

I have had T-Mobile since 2008 and it has been as reliable as my wife's Verizon service. I moved to T-Mobile from AT&T because they were just horrible to deal with. Added bonus, my phone works in Europe.

[Montu]

Verizon is the best network by far and it's CDMA/LTE

oh and tlcwrites I believe Sprint Uses CDMA and Wimax 4g (and claims it will eventually go lte)

so Verizon isn't exactly alone in using CDMA :-)

[wisefire]

If you want 4g lte, which is the fastest 4g Internet go with verizon since they have the largest lte network. Verizon cap their data at 2gb, and but have promo for 4gb data from time to time. Tmobile uses hspa+ which is slower and no where as fast as lte. They throttle your Internet Speed after 2gb, so I say go with verizon.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[Fot]

Verison has better coverage..

[JDay]

Nope, but nice try. :-) Verizon uses CDMA/EV-DO networks.

You forgot about LTE.

Everyone else (in the US, at least) is using GSM networks, plus whatever the GSM broadband data is called (I know people just call it 3G or 4G, but I forget the technical name for the signaling method).

AT&T and Sprint also have LTE networks now.

This is why when switching to or from Verizon, you generally have to buy new phones. So called "world phones" have both GSM and CDMA radio modules, and so can switch between networks. The iPhone 4S has this capability, which is why my Verizon iPhone has a SIM module slot even though CDMA doesn't use the SIM.

Tammy

All the iPhone 4s models are the same phone. It has a pentaband chip that works on nearly all 3G cellular networks in the world.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/iphone-4-hits-fcc-becomes-worlds-second-announced-pentaband-3g/

[JDay]

Verizon is the best network by far and it's CDMA/LTE

oh and tlcwrites I believe Sprint Uses CDMA and Wimax 4g (and claims it will eventually go lte)

so Verizon isn't exactly alone in using CDMA :-)

Sprint's LTE network has gone live in several markets already.

[707electrician]

Verizon is way better

[wisefire]

Sprint's LTE network has gone live in several markets already.

Sprint is always slow expanding their markets, look at the 4g wimax. Everyone was promise that there market will be next, but it never happened. There wimax coverage sucks and had to adapt lte

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[tlcwrites]

You forgot about LTE.

Yes, you're right. Of course, when LTE will be universally available remains to be seen. I know it's not available where I live...