T-Mobile vs Verizon

[wc12]

I'd pick the carrier that has strong signal in areas that I'm in. Particularly inside my home. With that said, Virgin Mobile (using sprint network), works for me. It is prepaid, no contract plus cheap but decent smartphone (they will also be coming out with iphones).

As for LTE, I know for a fact that Verizon, T-Mob, and AT&T are vigorously upgrading their networks. Sprint should be right behind. Metro PCS is aggressively trying to catch up.

[Ricky-Ray]

Been a T-Mobile customer since 2003. Overall I'm pretty happy with their service. Over the years I've gotten to know where the good and bad areas around LA are for their service and really hasn't been a major issue for me since I'm not on the phone much.

The main reason I still stay with T-Mobile is because the rate plan I'm on is soooo old, if I was to move to another carrier I would be spending almost $100 more for all 4 of my lines.

[JDay]

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

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

Sprint is pushing out LTE pretty hard. IIRC they just got permission to use their AWS spectrum for LTE so they can roll it out fast.

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...

You're in Santa Barbara correct?

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/verizon-wireless-brings-its-4g-lte-network-to-santa-barbara-county-california-tomorrow-129804148.html

http://www.verizonwireless.com/wireless-coverage-area-map.shtml

I wouldn't be surprised if MetroPCS has LTE coverage in your area too.

[jmlivingston]

T-Mobiles coverage in OC is really good. We had T-Mob up until 2 years ago, and loved it. Seems like they generally have better plans than AT&T or VZ. We switched to Verizon because all our family (on both sides) have Verizon and so we were able to go with a lower minute plan by taking advantage of the free mobile-to-mobile calling. In the areas we frequent VZ has just a very slight edge over T-Mobile in coverage.

[bg]

[trew10]

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.

you want to talk about dropped calls, i have ATT and every other call is dropped, i had verizon before and regret leaving. all customer service suck, we are treated like what we are a paycheck to them. i would stick to verizon best network out there.

[DiscoBayJoe]

When an LTE iPhone comes out, VZW will most likley be the best choice, as their LTE network has great coverage. My iPad is on Verizon and it has great data coverage. The current Verizon iPhone cannot do simultanous voice and data coverage and has the much slower CDMA/EVDO based data network.

Until then , AT&T with an iPhone is the best choice, as it's the only iOS choice that allows for simultanous voice and data.

As others mentioned, TMo is a GSM/HSDPA carrier like AT&T with better customer service but an even worse network... and no 3G+ iOS choices.

[choprzrul]

I have TMO in the Pismo Beach area and am pleased with their coverage. Contracts are up on our 2 phones, so I am going to switch us over to Walmart's Family plan. 2 phones with unlimited everything for $80/month total. It uses TMO's backbone, so why not save some bucks?

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[Mr. Meeseeks]

I switched from AT&T about 4 years ago to T-Mobile, I'll be free in November. I can't wait, its cheap but it sucks bad, much worse than AT&T. I'm planning on switching to Verison when my contract is up.

[the86d]

I left Verizon with 2 smart-phones because of their policy of 2GB cap changing from unlimited, their loving of locked bootloaders, and their price of data plans (even for 3g).

I grabbed a GREAT Epic 4g, with all the bells and whistles I could want, but I could not get service at work (behind 3 concrete walls), and I FW all calls after 4 rings to my cell. I was missing like 12 calls a day. Data would even drop with full bars for apparent reason at all in the middle of ANYTHING...

I then tried T-Mobile, and the added benefit of being able to handle all data (including phone-calls, and TXT messsaging) over WiFi pipes made me a convert. I was impressed coming from Verizon's 3g phones (6Mb down/3Mb up consistent).

I would not leave them now, but I have run into a few places where data drops (in route to the sticks, not in the sticks, but in route ), but they are few and far between.

I have been happier with T-Mobile than I was with Verizon(, even if I have a Sidekick 4g that I had to pay a bounty for a developer make a more stable Android build than stock).

One thing that I noticed later is that if I were to have issues or break my phone is some way, I can SIM-Swap to a temporary phone while mine was be being repaired. Tough to do that on Verizon, or Sprint with no SIM card. Another added T-Mobile bonus is that if you finish your contract, and have a phone you would like to use with no data, you can SIM-Swap a dumb-phone's SIM into an Android (well in theory, as this was done on a G1) and have a full keyboard smartphone (...well smarter because it is Android ) with no data plan. AT&T, Verizon, AND Sprint will not reactivate a smartphone for phone-only, they require a data plan, and AT&T WILL charge you for data if you SIM-swap to a smart phone from a dumb phone...

My lady had dead-spots with AT&T (none she mentioned with T-Mobile)...

Oh, I forgot to mention that Voice/Data same time on 4g (almost everywhere), without LTE Data Prices... If you hit the 2GB cap on T-Mobile they throttle you to 3g speeds, not overcharge you like the others do.

I have TMO in the Pismo Beach area and am pleased with their coverage. Contracts are up on our 2 phones, so I am going to switch us over to Walmart's Family plan. 2 phones with unlimited everything for $80/month total. It uses TMO's backbone, so why not save some bucks?

Can you use a Walmart SIM on a T-Mobile phone once your T-Mobile contract is up?!

[t0kie]

T-Mobile is cheaper & has better plan, but Verizon has the best coverage nationwide.

[choprzrul]

Can you use a Walmart SIM on a T-Mobile phone once your T-Mobile contract is up?!

Yep. You can also use the latest 4G Android Walmart phone on TMO's network with a TMO SIM card.

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[nekokoneko]

Verizon is great coverage, although pricey. Tmo good coverage, but can't compare to verizon. I wasn't too happy with Tmo when I was living on the east coast. Too many dead spots. But now that I live in California, I like it.

[the86d]

Verizon's coverage is a bit better than Nextel's when I switched. T-Mobile's service coverage is less than Verizon's for sure.

If you are going to go with T-Mobile, I'd stay away from the Sidekick 4g unless you WANT to gain root access and tinker with ROMs. Stock on that is unstable as hell.

Pure Google, 59 discussions, all pretty normal questions and inquiries:

http://support.t-mobile.com/community/phones_data_devices/android/google_nexus?view=discussions

Sidekick 4g, 323 discussions, everybody pissed off... :

http://support.t-mobile.com/community/phones_data_devices/android/sidekick_4g?view=discussions

[Digital_Boy]

FWIW, I interviewed with a C&E company this morning who builds sites for the major players (AT&T, T-Mo, Vzn, Sprint) and T-Mo is building a lot of new sites in/around SD county and elsewhere, and upgrading from HSPA. Hopefully I'll be on one of the crews putting the stuff in.