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Slashdot Asks: Which Wireless Carrier Do You Prefer? 208

Posted by BeauHD from the axis-and-allies dept.
Earlier this year, telecommunications giants like T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint were battling to see who could release the best unlimited data plan(s). T-Mobile started the domino chain reaction with the launch of its "One" unlimited plan in August. But the competition became especially fierce in February when Verizon introduced unlimited data plans of their own, causing Sprint and AT&T to unveil new unlimited data plans that same week, both of which have their own restrictions and pricing. Each of the four major carriers have since continued to tweak their plans to ultimately undercut their competitors and retain as many customers are possible.

Given how almost everyone has a smartphone these days and the thirst for data has never been higher, we'd like to ask you about your current wireless carrier and plan. Which wireless carrier and plan do you have any why? Is there any one carrier or unlimited data plan that stands out from the others? T-Mobile, for example, recently announced that it added 1.1 million customers in Q1 2017, which means that it has added more than 1 million customers every quarter for the past four years. Have they managed to earn your business? MyRatePlan has a good breakdown of the current unlimited data plans on the market today.
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Slashdot Asks: Which Wireless Carrier Do You Prefer? More

Slashdot Asks: Which Wireless Carrier Do You Prefer?

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  • AT&T (Score:5, Informative)

    by slasher999 ( 513533 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:08PM (#54295325)

    AT&T customer here for several years. Evaluated all of the main carriers and a few mvno plays last year, including a trial with T-Mobile who came the closest in service quality. Ended up staying with AT&T.

    • Re: AT&T (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      AT&T and Verizon tend to flipflop in terms of which has better price offerings and which has bigger asshole policies and shitty customer service.
      Coverage / signal reliability varies by specific location. Bandwidth during peak times also varies, load increases then they up backhaul bandwith and it gets better for a while.

      So for me, Verizon is currently better where I am. Two years ago it was AT&T, and in a year they'll probably be better again.

      But both of them still piss me off all the time. Better i

      • Re: AT&T (Score:5, Informative)

        by schnell ( 163007 ) <me&schnell,net> on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @12:56AM (#54296409) Homepage

        Coverage / signal reliability varies by specific location. Bandwidth during peak times also varies, load increases then they up backhaul bandwith and it gets better for a while.

        Full disclosure: I work for one of the four big carriers. But this isn't a commercial for my unnamed employer, it's just a description of why they are different.

        There is a fundamental strategy difference between AT&T/Verizon and Sprint/T-Mobile. The key, of course, is money. And as a customer, you do get what you pay for.

        Did you know that in the US, almost 70% of the population lives in 3% of the landmass? (That sounds shocking until you think about Alaska, Montana, West Texas, Nevada and Wyoming.) It doesn't take (comparatively) that many towers to cover the 70%. But it takes a disproportionately higher number more to cover the next 10% of the population. And the next 10% after that take almost half again the number of towers. The expense gets higher and higher as you try to reach 99% of the population (which is contained in roughly 70% of the land area of the US).

        If you have the money to buy the spectrum and build the towers, you can choose to cover as many people as possible (and the side benefit is that you provide better coverage for people who travel a lot, especially to rural areas). If you have the money, you can also spend the billions on spectrum needed for the capacity to support users in dense areas and the backhaul to go with it. AT&T and Verizon, because they have the big subscriber/revenue bases and the cost advantages of legacy ILEC backhaul facilities in collectively more than half the states, choose that path. But it all costs money to do that, and you as a consumer pay more for the coverage quality.

        Sprint and T-Mobile don't have the big piles of money or the huge subscriber bases. The good news for them: like I said, it costs a lot less money in tower building to cover 70% of the US population, and if you have fewer subscribers then you don't have to shell out as much on spectrum and backhaul. They have chosen (probably wisely, given their bank accounts) to go for the low hanging fruit, which costs less money and they can price their service more aggressively because they aren't trying to spend the money to cover everybody. So their strategy works well for most people, although if it works TOO well, then they have to start shelling out money that they don't have for more spectrum. (Sprint already has more spectrum than they know what to do with, but most of it is high-band ex-Clearwire WiMax spectrum that is almost useless in dense urban areas with lots of buildings to penetrate.)

        So the bottom line is:

        • Live in an urban area and spend most of your time there? T-Mobile or Sprint are likely to meet your needs.
        • Live in a suburban/rural area, travel much and/or want to make sure you've got connectivity wherever you go? Verizon or AT&T are probably a better choice.

        • Live in a suburban/rural area, travel much and/or want to make sure you've got connectivity wherever you go? Verizon or AT&T are probably a better choice.

          I live in a rural area, travel quite a bit (domestically and internationally), and need connectivity wherever I go, and I find Project Fi works better for me than Verizon (haven't tried AT&T). The combination of T-Mobile and Sprint's networks gives me roughly equal coverage to Verizon in the US (there are places I can't get coverage with my Verizon SIM and places I can't get coverage with my Fi SIM, in about equal proportions), and Fi's international coverage is great.

          Disclosure: I work for Google (on

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gfxguy ( 98788 )
          I have to raise an eyebrow about your comments. Granted, I'm not out in the middle of nowhere, but I live in North GA and can drive all the way to Orlando, FL and not lose service, although it may not be as strong in some places, it's still there. On the other hand, there's a control room at work, buried deep in the middle of the building, and if the door to the room is closed, I get nothing. If the door is open, I get enough to get the occasional text message. I have to go to my office to make a call.

        • ...until you think about Alaska, Montana, West Texas, Nevada and Wyoming

          So don't think about Utah (highest porn consumption in the nation) or New Mexico (legal bestiality)? ;)

        • Travel much? Unless you're traveling to some FAR rural area in the U.S. you want T-Mobile. The international access you get as part of your account is simply amazing. I've been in a dozen countries across Europe, Asia, and Central and South America over the last 18 months and have had free data and text as soon as my plane touched down in each country. Coworkers on Verizon and AT&T are stuck buying expensive supplementary data plans.

    • I'm AT&T mostly because I inherited it from a work account. It did have the best voice coverage of anything else in the state. I don't care about data plans though, so I bought the minimum allowed for smart phones, which I think is ridiculous (they should allow no dataplan if that's the customer choice, otherwise it's just another expensive tacked-on fee).

    • Especially when (Score:5, Insightful)

      by s.petry ( 762400 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:50PM (#54295539)

      You travel overseas. AT&T makes this very simple and has deals with local phone companies in ever country I, and people I know, have traveled. It took all of 2 minutes to enable, and while perhaps a few bucks more than some of the other methods required nothing extra. No hardware swapping, no hassle.

      Prices have come down recently, which made me happy. Price was my only knock against AT&T, and I have been a customer since the iPhone 3 which had no choice but AT&T.

      • If you can be careful with your calling when overseas, T-Mobile has a great offering: data (slow, but usable) is free. SMS is free. Calls cost money, but not too much and, if you use WiFi calling, calls become free.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by quetwo ( 1203948 )

        T-Mobile has had this for years as well. Their current plan actually offers /free/ roaming to most countries. I travel to Canada and Mexico on a regular basis, and voice and data at LTE speeds are included in the base package for free. In Europe, roaming is also free, but not always high speed.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gfxguy ( 98788 )
          Yes, this... and when my son traveled to Germany we were able to talk to him at no extra cost.
    • Fewer dead spots along I-70 through the Colorado Rockies with AT&T than Vzn.

    • I was an AT&T customer ever since they bought Cingular, including buying the iPhone 1 (iPhone 0? iPhoneC for "classic"?). Even with a heavy corp discount, T-Mo was still a better deal than AT&T. I switched over and had the worst time unlocking my phone. It took almost 2 weeks, several lengthy calls to customer service, and several escalations in tech support (I wondered how much longer it would be until they connected me to the CTO or CIO!). It was their fuck up, 100%. As if the pricing weren't ince

  • Keeping the subject matter relevant to geeks (Score:5, Informative)

    by redmid17 ( 1217076 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:11PM (#54295345)
    It's not as if there is a website that does yearly reviews of things like this: http://www.consumerreports.org... [consumerreports.org]

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:16PM (#54295373)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • This... after I looked at my actually usage I switched to USmobile for 12$ a month, 250mb is plenty for me.

    • People are trying to minimize the money you get constantly while trying to maximize what they take from you.

      Don't take the money from yourself. I pay $36-something for 4G Verizon MVNO / 5GB through Walmart and the ability to access data on the road saves me more than $36 a month (Gas Buddy, kids-eat-free deals, GPS navigation, Prime audio books, etc.). It would harm me economically to get a cheaper plan.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:18PM (#54295377)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:T-Mo (Score:5, Informative)

      by magarity ( 164372 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @08:07PM (#54295627)

      I have to travel internationally every couple of years and the TMo international is no joke. Upon landing in Beijing you get a 'Welcome to China' text and service includes unlimited pokey 2G data speed data that goes straight through TMo's US servers so the websites blocked normally in China work just fine. Coverage is most excellent; pretty much any city or town, just not out in the countryside.

    • honest question from someone who lives in a country where these kind of cheap ($10) additional lines do not exist. What is stopping group of friends from subscribing together and splitting the bill? One must be an idiot to get one line for $50 when you can get 8 for an average of $17.50/line before tax and your international calling add-on.

      • What is stopping group of friends from subscribing together and splitting the bill?

        Nothing.

        Some years ago, I worked for a large company and what they did was group their cellphone users into family plans. I could see the total usage of the group (other employees) in the same plan as I was on (no call records, just total minutes).

      • There's one person's name on the bill, and that person has pay the whole bill (and subsequently collect from everyone else) every month. When you're all family, this is pretty straightforward. Can be trickier with friends. Furthermore, from the add-on's perspective, would you really want someone else to be able to cancel your phone service at any time, no questions asked, because they're the account holder and you're not?

        • To me it sounds like you don't have very good friends if you don't trust them to pay you the $15-20 they owe you every month or if you fear they will cancel your phone line without asking.

      • One of your friends inevitably runs up an $800 overage and then vanishes to another country.

    • I love tmobile. If my data is getting used up they tell me (text). If I run out of data, they tell me. They don't charge me more, and they don't shut it off - they just slow things down.

      After having been gouged by AT&T and Verizon (some years ago), I have no interest in going back.

      • I am quite happy with T-Mobile as well. I know that the other providers are doing "unlimited" plans, but I much rather deal with a slight slowdown than a surprise big bill.

        Plus, historically, it has been "the" provider to go to, if you have an unlocked phone.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bgarcia ( 33222 )
      You should seriously look into upgrading to the T-Mobile One plan [t-mobile.com].

      Features: Unlimited calls, texts, and unlimited 4G data! Also, 10GB high-speed tethering for each line (3G tethering when exceeded). Unlimited texts & 3G data internationally, Unlimited calls to/from Canada & Mexico. Free use of GoGo Wifi on domestic flights.

      I have 7 lines for $220. This includes all taxes.
      Additionally, for each line that uses less than 2GB of data in a month, they refund you $10!!!
      My bill this past month

    • Huh. I have Mintsim and pay $200/year for 1 line, 2GB/month 4G LTE, unlimited text, unlimited voice. My next renewal is $160 for the year, though. Taxes are an additional 3%.

  • Project Fi (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DiSKiLLeR ( 17651 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:24PM (#54295417) Homepage Journal

    I use Google Project Fi. Just because.

    • Re:Project Fi (Score:4, Insightful)

      by chmod a+x mojo ( 965286 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:50PM (#54295543)

      Same here, no regrets.

      I get coverage from T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular, so you really have to be in the middle of bum fuck nowhere to not have anything.

      The only downside would be to people who are heavy mobile data users, as it is strictly pay for what you use on data. With WIFI being everywhere I only use a small amount of mobile data these days, so paying ~$24-25/ month for phone + data is pretty sweet, especially after years and years with VZW and USC.

      • Hey, have you ever even been to Bum Fuck, Nowhere you insensitive clod?
              Project Fi works fine here, especially in our city center (central Bum Fuck). Perhaps you were on the very outskirts of Bum Fuck, or maybe in our sister city Western Bumble Fuck, Nowhere when you had reception issues.
             

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kevoco ( 64263 )

      Shout out to Project Fi and Republic Wireless
      I'm on Project Fi and my kids are on Republic Wireless

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HEMI426 ( 715714 )

      Project Fi is working very well for my wife and me. Bills are lower than they've ever been since we got smartphones, plus the coverage is outstanding around here.

  • Ting (Score:5, Informative)

    by msk ( 6205 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:29PM (#54295443)

    https://ting.com/ [ting.com]

    • Ditto. Unlimited data is for people who just like giving away money.

  • 4 smartphones and a Samsung LTE tablet, unlimited data plan, heavy data users, $279/mo includes payments for a Pixel phone and a Droid high end phone (we own the iPhone 6+ and 6S). Always have good coverage, good calls, no drops, fast data, no complaints. We've been with Verizon since our first cell phones. We're always open to offers, but so far no one has beat VZ on quality. Price maybe, but connections, stability, speed and quality count for a lot. Cheap service isn't a value if you can't use it.

    • And speaking of "what can you afford", I've found that with my phone on Verizon and my wife's on AT&T (she's still on her parents' plan after fifteen years of marriage), one of us will have service almost anywhere. If you can split the big two carriers, you can vastly improve your service availability. The new Verizon "unlimited" plans are well above my usage level, and treat Canada, USA, and Mexico as one big no-roaming zone for call and text (though they do throttle you after 500 MB/day data in CA/MX)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by garcia ( 6573 )

      I take trips with my buddies each year where we fly to a big airport and drive around 1500-2000 miles round trip from there into rural areas on back roads.

      We are a great cross-section of providers with Tmo, ATT, Sprint and VZW. I was the only one with service for the entire trip the last two times (NE states and NW states). ATT was next best. Sprint was the worst and Tmo was next.

      My family takes a ~3000 mile road trip every summer. I've only been out of service once or twice in 7 years and those were in rur

  • Over the years, I've been with T-Mobile, AT&T, and lastly, Verizon, whom I've been with for 10 years. All three of them excelled at charging an arm and a leg, and were never shy about letting me know all the new ways I can go into debt with them (I politely declined all of these "wonderful" opportunities)... but Verizon, despite costing the most by a hair, had the best coverage and reliability. I've been letting them pound me in the rear end, sans lube, for 10 years, and unless I move, I see this relati

  • This question is very subjective... (Score:4, Informative)

    by sudden.zero ( 981475 ) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (orez.neddus)> on Monday April 24, 2017 @07:41PM (#54295487)
    ...it really depends on so many variables that there is no accurate answer. For example I am currently a T-Mobile customer, and have been for several years. Their service, for me, was very good until about four years ago. Then about four years ago my usage, and coverage area changed. I used to use my service mainly in major metropolitan areas, and T-Mobile is great in those types of areas. However, the minute you are anywhere out of the ordinary T-Mobile's service goes down the toilet. Four years ago a couple of things changed for me: My parents retired, and became part owners of a resort. I also bought a boat around the same time. These details are important because whenever I am on my boat or at the resort I have no service. This brings me to my next point which is anytime I see someone using their phone at the resort or on the water I ask them what carrier they use. The answer is almost always Verizon, and if it is not it's AT&T. Not a single person has ever answered that question with T-Mobile or Sprint. Nor has anyone ever said Cricket, Boost, Freedom Pop, etc. Just my opinion whatever that's worth.

  • They're not the best but i don't care. i have a 6 line account where my mom and in-laws pitch in for their part. $270 a month including all taxes and paying installments on two iphones.

    just switched to unlimited and I get HBO included along with a $25 discount on Direct TV now which is great since my internet is only $45. $25 a month for TV i was watching the NBA playoffs yesterday and will be watching the Yankees this summer and the NFL this fall. Another $10 a month and I'll get college football

  • Been using straight talk for around 4 years. Never had an issue. I use the "at&t" tower frequencies, since at&t has better coverage in my area. 5GB data, which I never go over, unlimited talk/text, just under $50.00/month.

  • I had ATT for years and generally no issues with them in my area, my wife has used various services on the sprint network and is now with sprint, and it mostly seems ok

    my current phone is on Verizon, and wow for as much crap they talk, at least in my area, it sucks donkey ass, its constantly at 3g or lower, often with no mobile data, and it drops at a gnats fart, not impressed for as much as it would be costing me.... now to be fair its mostly fine when I travel to other large area's, but I don't do that bu

  • Verizon has the best coverage here.

    Att is very close in coverage and is faster in town.

    T-mobile has great speeds nearly everywhere you can get a signal but there are still too many places that I can't.

    Sprint suprisingly has fairly good coverage here but their speeds are terrible everywhere 8Mbps tops.

  • Cricket/AT&T kept jacking up my rates. T-Mobile neglected to mention the "Regulatory Compliance Fees" that added $15/mo to my bill (and made them look like taxes when they're not, and no, they're not the fees for giving poor folks phone access, those have a separate line item). Verizon's expensive as hell and has overage fees like crazy (yeah, unlimited right now, but as soon as the pressure's off they'll start cancelling those plans). The little guys who resell for the big 3 have lousy coverage because

  • Most of the time *I'm* the wireless carrier, and it saved so much money over what I was paying Sprint, it paid for the phone in 4 months (for the Nexus 5X).

  • Unless your usage patterns are the same as mine (and you live/work in my neighborhoods), my experience really will not help you. Between the provider coverage maps and comparing my usage against their restrictions, my choice was obvious.

    I am fortunate that my phone will show me monthly usage (Settings >> Wireless & Networks >> Data Usage) so I can quickly understand which restrictions are irrelevant to me. And, yes, headroom/carryover are parts of that equation.

  • T-Mobile, despite issues (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Octorian ( 14086 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @08:05PM (#54295611) Homepage

    Unfortunately, we only have 4 real options in the US. Everyone else is just piggybacking on one of them.

    I like to be able to use whatever phone I want, gotten from anywhere, without needing to buy it through my carrier, and which I can keep updated without needing to crack it.
    That means I refuse to use a carrier with a sufficiently proprietary network technology that enables them to be assholes about devices. This excludes Verizon and Sprint right off the bat.

    So my only real options are AT&T or T-Mobile. Since T-Mobile has gone out of their way to be the least-jerk'ish mobile carrier in the US, while AT&T generally hasn't, I've basically stuck with T-Mobile. Sure, their coverage may not always be the best, but it does keep improving. And if I ever actually want to travel, I don't need to worry about having to shut off my phone to not be totally gouged on the bill.

    • same here. For the price and extras they are the best deal for me. Coverage is fine and I travel overseas so the free data and texting are a big plus. I can Skype on the slow speed data just fine so calling works and my clients Skype routinely so they are used to reaching people that way, and 90% of my needs are covered by texting for non-business needs. Even with clients a quick text is generally the prefered method anyway. Their customer service is great, any issues I have had with billing were resolved

    • verizon and sprint still use CDMA for voice. AT&T and Verizon have VoLTE on newer phones but it's still flaky and the older tech works better.

  • TMO and Xfinity WiFi (Score:3)

    by grumling ( 94709 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @08:12PM (#54295641) Homepage

    T-Mobile is pretty good in my area, they really got good after the AT&T deal fell through and they picked up extra spectrum. But I also take advantage of the Xfinity wifi hotspots I get through Comcast, which are great when they work and save a lot of data on the LTE side. And they were the first US company to do wifi calling and are pretty good at it. I have an iPad and iPhone 7 that both have the latest LTE radios to get the 700 MHz band. Pricing isn't too bad either, I get a discount through work on an unlimited talk/text plan with 6 GB/month of data on each device, with rollover that lasts for (I think) a year.

  • Carrier comparison (Score:3)

    by SteveWoz ( 152247 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @08:19PM (#54295671) Homepage

    Many who comment here will have a reason that they chose one carrier over one other carrier. They may have switched carriers. I always found that the latest carrier plan was better than the competition, and that it would go back and forth or be too confusing to come up with one clear answer. I actually have iPhones and aPhones on 5 carriers. I also travel the world quite a bit. Domestically, all the carriers are good for most unless you live in an area not covered by some. I remember times when Verizon was faster but now it seems that AT&T is faster for me, most of the time. I remember when you could buy international data from Verizon that covered 200 countries, while the AT&T list was only about 50 countries. That affected me in places like Russia and South Africa, back then. T-Mobile has incredible data plans for here and away but they don't seem as fast as claimed unless I'm in the store. Sprint has gone far out of their way to help me with issues, including a stolen phone number. Right now I believe that the best carrier I have, for my own needs, is Google Project Fi because the plan works in over 100 countries. You can even order a free data-only SIM for free, without even a shipping charge, to use it on iPads and the like. I would never say that anyone's choice of plan is bad in any way though.

  • I've been a custom of theirs before smart phones were even around. I had a small pay-as-you-go phone before getting their iPhone. It's $30 a month unlimited but throttled after 1 gig. Which for me is no big deal. Just give me phone, e-mail and weather and I'm fine. Also, when I bought my iPhone 5c I think it was $350. Which was $100 cheaper than everyone else at that time.
  • No, you've probably never heard of it.
    But seriously, if you don't use a ton of data, fuck every other carrier. Ting is an MVNO that's incredibly cheap, allows you to bring your own device, runs on Sprint for CDMA and they won't say for GSM. But get a GSM phone because whether its AT&T or Tmobile the cost is the same and the reception is better. How cheap? You pay only for what you use, no fixed monthly fees beyond lines and the usage rates for anything other than data are great.

    If that sounds like

    • My next Mintsim renewal for 2GB/month is $160 for the year. The standard price for 2GB/month LTE, unlimited voice, unlimited text is $199/year + 3% taxes ($205). For 5GB it's $299/year +3%; 10GB is $399/year +3%.

      What's Ting? $6/month for the line, plus $3 for any voice at all, plus $3 for text, plus another $5 for data, plus $7 in taxes, plus any usage? That's like $24/month minimum; if you're eating more than 100 messages and more than 500MB data, you're already around $38/month. I'm paying $17/mon

  • Virgin Mobile (Score:3)

    by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @08:51PM (#54295787)
    $35/month, good signal in my apartment, good signal all around town.

    Some 15 years ago I drove from San Diego to Oklahoma with my sister. She had Verizon. She had signal between cities when I had nothing. Then again, she was paying twice what I was. When I got close to a city I got a signal.

    Few years ago I drove from San Diego to Salt Lake City, then to Montana. Never had an issue with signal strength.

  • Tel$tra

  • Short answer.... (Score:3)

    by LVSlushdat ( 854194 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @09:12PM (#54295859)

    In my case its Ting, an MVNO that operates on both the Sprint and Tmobile infrastructure.. I buy my own phones, currently a Nexus 4, and refuse to do contracts.. With Ting, you only pay for what you *actually* use. My only nit with them (and its not just them) is their data usage prices are a bit steep.. For instance, my phone bill for TWO phones this month was $21.. It was that low as wife's phone was turned off most of the month, and I only used less than 100Mb of data.. On average, in normal months, the bill for two phones is between $35-$45.... Can't beat that with a stick...

    • $13.73 month this year, normally $17.08/month, 2GB LTE, unlimited voice, unlimited SMS, one line. You're doing better with anemic data use on two phones, slightly.

  • I use an MVNO (puppy wireless) on verizon's network. Downside vs. vzw branded: no international coverage (incl canada, presumably mexico), no visual voice mail on iphone. Customer service mediocre, but i have had a couple problems and they have come through.

    Upside vs. vzw branded: It's really cheap. $10/mo for a basic plan, and $.015/mb $.015/min $.01/txt PAYG. Or $30/mo for 1.5GB, 750min, 750txt.

    MVNO's are by nature a little flakey, and i've seen warnings on web forums about the puppy operator be

  • All I want is consistent coverage, even in hard-to-cover areas. Verizon wins hands-down. BTW, I tried AT&T for 2 days - without being able even to connect to a tower! - then spent 6 months dealing with their billing department even though I returned and canceled within 3 days of their "30-day" trial period. Fuckers! In a decent society, I would be able to bill THEM for the HOURS I spent arguing over a fucking 12-cent bill that they were going to "turn over to collections".
  • T-mobile MVNO's seem to be cheap and offer decent service.

    Mintsim is $300/year for unlimited talk/text and 5gb of data per month. This beats most comparable service for a single line.

  • ... due to the rural area. :(

  • super cheap and the data just cuts down to 2g speed when you go over limit, so no fees or disconnection.

  • The real question with wireless is who provides the best coverage where you need to use it.

    Forget the TV ads and coverage maps. You don't care if they claim to cover 99% of the country. Real-world, in the places YOU use it, is what matters. Once you know who works where you need it, find the best deal.

    In determining coverage, it is important to use a device that can take full advantage of the signals in use. For example, if you are looking at T-Mobile coverage, you should do so with a LTE band 12-capabl

    • Right, which is why I'm on O2, even though their data speed is shitty and their coverage on my train ride to work is sketchy. They do, however, have good enough coverage in my house, whereas the generally superior Three couldn't do that but did everything else much better.

  • Fi (Score:2)

    by reanjr ( 588767 )

    Google Fi.

  • In the pacific northwest, Verizon. (Score:5, Informative)

    by eggman9713 ( 714915 ) on Monday April 24, 2017 @11:39PM (#54296261)
    I've been with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile in the pacific northwest (Washington, Oregon mostly) for the last several years. During that time I have traveled both to the more metropolitan western Oregon and Washington, as well as the more rural eastern sides of the states. AT&T is pretty good around major metros and most semi-rural areas. T-mobile is very spotty outside of the metros and most major interstates, and many rural areas of eastern Washington and Oregon they have zero coverage at all. I've never used Sprint in this area but I don't know anyone who even has Sprint so that should tell you something. Verizon seems to have the best overall coverage in the pacific northwest, especially the more rural areas. Even when really out in the middle of nowhere they always seem to have some coverage to at least get a call out if nothing else. I can't speak for Idaho as I have not traveled in that area in several years. All of the major companies are awful in terms of pricing and customer service when you have a problem, but the best of all of the evils seems to be Verizon in my experience in this region of the US.

  • You can kind of game them on data, SMS and voice to keep your costs near zero.

    Granted, certainly not for everyone but there is nothing less expensive and coverage in the States is fine.

  • T-Mobile (Score:3)

    by erp_consultant ( 2614861 ) on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @01:18AM (#54296455)

    I was with AT&T for 12 years but they finally nickel and dimed me off their customer list. First, they were charging me for text messages when everyone else includes them. Then they started playing games with the grandfathered "unlimited" plan I had. Twice they raised the price by $10/month. That was the final straw.

    I went from paying about $145/month (and that included a 22% discount from a former employer) for two lines to $100/month for 3 lines with T-Mobile. The third line was a promotion so I put a chip in the wife's iPad and she's happy as a clam. No contract. Unlimited data, voice and text. No charge for tethering. Unlimited calling to Canada and Mexico. Pretty sweet deal.

    As near as I can tell, the coverage is just as good as it was before. Maybe better in some places. I think there was a time when AT&T and Verizon could legitimately say they had better networks. But I think the gap has closed considerably. It all comes down to where you live and the coverage in your neighborhood. Now it's just a race to the bottom.

  • Any carrier that offers unlimited 3G data for less than 20$/month per line.

  • Lyca (Score:2)

    by Tomahawk ( 1343 )

    I use Lyca. They are a Polish based carrier that are setup all over Europe, so offer lower (or no) roaming costs. And they are cheap. I can pay €5 and get some free data with that. Or €10 and get a lot more free data and free calls and texts. Or €15 for even more. Plus they have other packages available for people with different usage patterns. They don't offer LTE in Ireland (yet?!), but I'm happy with the speeds I to get on HSPA.

    But I guess you are asking about US carriers...

  • Annoying (Score:3)

    by Thyamine ( 531612 ) <thyamine.ofdragons@com> on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @07:25AM (#54297209) Homepage Journal
    As someone who's company has paid for his phone/plan for the last 15 years, we are in the middle of having our numbers released and will be in charge of selecting our own provider and coverage plans. We've had Verizon for years, and I haven't had any complaints with coverage (mostly suburban/metro area), although I'm probably in that low-hanging fruit area where everyone has coverage.

    For me now, the biggest interest is in unlimited data, tethering/hotspot usage, and how much I get before I get dropped to lower speeds, although 10 GB for hotspots seems a default. AT&T slows speeds after 22GB of data; T-Mobile seems like they don't except if you fall into the >30GB a month and there is congestion (take that as you will). My new vehicle has a built in hotspot (cool or a WTF, I'm not sure yet), but I'm stuck with AT&T if I want to put it on a plan. So far T-Mobile seems to be the most cost effective, but as others have mentioned, rural coverage will be lacking. Right now, I expect I'll be negotiating with T-Mobile to see what my wife and I can get. If that is enough savings, I may then look at a separate plan for the vehicle to help offset coverage when I travel (I travel a good bit for work).

    You need a matrix just to try and keep track of what you need/where, and how to connect to avoid issues or using the 'wrong' data.

  • We celebrated the new year by ditching Cingular and getting those awful Blackberry 7105t phones with unlimited voice/data/text.

    I'm still grandfathered into that plan, which isn;t always the cheapest, but it is NEVER data capped for me, NEVER limited in any way for video playback, NEVER limited for streaming of any sort.I have never had an overage in now 11 years and 3 months, ever.

    Now the complaints...

    At my previous office location, the cafeteria suffered from being located too close to an old GPRS tower th

  • I live in a rural mountain-west state. Around here, all four major carriers are fine in the center of the "city" (by city, I mean a town of about 50k people). However, in the surrounding area, Verizon is really the only show in town. T-Mobile is growing, but Sprint and AT&T don't really even have 3G reaching my house, much less 4G.

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