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Ask Slashdot: Best Cell Phone Carrier In the US?
martypantsROK writes "After nearly seven years of living abroad, I'm planning to return to the U.S. in early 2013. Last time I lived there, smart phones weren't out yet. Dropped calls were common, and poor reception (can you hear me now?) was an ad campaign. I'm used to South Korea's wicked speeds, both for internet and wireless networks, and I'm wondering what the Slashdot community believes to be best carrier in the U.S. Which is fastest? Which offers the best deal for lots of data? Nationwide roaming and coverage? Prices? Service?"
That's like asking what the best fast food restaurant is.
Depends on your location. Verizon has been the strongest as far as signal and speed form my experience.
TIng is a new provider running on Sprint's network. They have a really interesting a-la-carte plan, reasonable rates. No iPhone. Anyone tried it yet? Considering a switch from Verizon, which is just Far Too Expensive and Corporate for my taste.
www.opensignalmaps.com - Great for telling you coverage of the various phone providers. If you're going for sprint, try www.ting.com (I don't work for them) - but that said, they seem to be the most sane in terms of billing.
Verizon touts it has great coverage, but they dropped my calls maybe 50% of the time, no exaggeration. I couldn't cancel because they had me in a contract. I even was going on a first date with a pretty girl, but she wanted me to pick her up instead of meet at the place. She called me, I asked who it was, and then the phone dropped. I thought she hung up on me. She thought I hung up on her. Then she didn't want to talk to me again.
I eventually cancelled Verizon and went to Google Voice with a smart phone, and wifi. Turns out Google Voice isn't good though because it didn't have good enough call quality and often you couldn't understand what the person was saying. This was a land line "solution" anyway.
Last Christmas, my mom bought me a trak phone from Walmart and I haven't had a dropped call I remember. Verizon dropped hundreds of calls, but the Trak Phone dropped close to 0! Also Trak Phones are maybe 1/3 to 1/10 as expensive depending on your minutes use.
Now if you need a data plan for a smart phone so you basically have a mobile computer, I can't help you sir.
God spoke to me
Just accept that and find the plan that best suits your needs.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
The best customer service you'll get is T-Mobile. Not the best coverage if you are outside of a metro area but they have fantastic UMA (WiFi calling) support. Their plans are as good or better than others.
Just getting reasonable people on the phone for support is what has kept me happy for 7 years.
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Why would you want to deal with the screwed up telecom issues on top of the politics here?
Typically the most expensive, too, though, from what I've noticed.
Considering the choices, I'd still have to say Verizon is the best, though.
For most cities, Verizon is the fastest network. It also costs a bit more than average. They are discontinuing unlimited data, so you'll have to plan for that or get a family plan.
Sprint's prepaid (Virgin/Boost/Other re-sellers) is the cheapest for unlimited data and has pretty cheap voice. ~40 unlimited everything. But the network is pretty slow. Great if you buy your own android phone and plan to use it as a GPS in the car.
T-Mobile is for those who need good 3G or OK 4G speeds, but don't want to spend too much money. They go for about $50 all in (prepaid). Coverage is not as wide as the other 3 brands, but depending on the city is often the best combination of speed/price. Great if you want to watch TV episodes on your phone and you don't travel coast to coast often.
AT&T is like Verizon, but just slower. I only use it because my company gives it to me for free on my office phone.
But remember that none of this might work as you expect if you go post-paid. A $40 plan with Sprint will turn into a $90 plan with an iPhone on contract or a $60 pre-paid with AT&T will become a $110 plan on AT&T.
Where will you primarily be using your cell phone? City? Rural? Northeast? West? etc.
Do you plan on using a lot of minutes? Texts? Data?
The best provider, coverage wise across the US is probably Verizon. Verizon also has the largest LTE network currently, but they also happen to be one of the most expensive.
If you live in a city, don't use a lot of minutes, and rarely travel to very rural areas, I'd probably suggest T-Mobile's $30/mo prepaid plan (100mins, Unlimited texts & data 3g/"4g"). Of course, you have to buy your phone. And if you buy an unlocked phone with radios that work with AT&T as well, you leave yourself the option of easily switching carriers.
They are all terrible in one way or another. In the end it's going to be who sucks the least.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Why hasn't anyone mentioned these guys?
http://www.phonescoop.com/ Great site for comparing phones and carriers. We used it a lot when I worked customer service for various carriers.
Tech Support: "No, sir...clicking on 'Remember Password' will NOT help you remember your password."
"Get used to disappointment."
If you do not specify your requirements, you cannot expect to get answers with appropriate solutions.
After nearly seven years of living anal free, I'm planning to be anally raped in early 2013. Last time I was anally raped, giant spiked dildoes weren't out yet. Small penises were common, and good lube was an ad campaign. I'm used to South Korea's very small penises, both with lube and without, and I'm wondering what the Slashdot community believes to be the least worst anal raper in the U.S. Which is quickest? Which offers the least pain and lots of lube? Nationwide reaming and coverage (condom)? Sizes? Service?
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
...the harder part is finding out which one sucks just a little less at any particular point.
I'm that one guy who manages to get pretty good reception through AT&T where I live. I regularly make 2+ hour phone calls that do not get dropped. I don't have missed calls or SMS's that never arrive. On that note, I'm actually fairly happy with them. But in terms of service... UGH.
Twice this year I've had issues that required that I have a chat with them. Both were issues that could easily have been resolved via e-mail, and both ended up with a lengthy email exchange AND time on the phone. I don't meant that these were complex issues that required escalation or anything like that, I mean I had to send emails to the tune of: "Could you please READ WHAT I WROTE?" They have dumbasses answering questions and, frankly, their policies aren't designed to avoid issues. Really, they want you to go into overages. I suspect their service is so bad so that the next time you call to challenge an overage, you sit there and have a conversation with yourself about whether or not it's even worth the time. Of course, I really cannot prove that.
I've had a terrible time with AT&T this year, I just wanted to give you a heads up on that. (... and I just wanted to rant because I'm still pissed off at them.)
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Verizon has ubiquitous buildouts of outdated wireless infrastructure. They can service a text message or a voice call almost anywhere in the US. They also charge 70+ a month for basic service, and have technological limitations on surfing while talking. I hear their customer service is legendary in the "eldritch horror" category.
ATT has the best GSM tech buildout in the US, but is SERIOUSLY oversold. They engage in abusive market tactics, pathologically insist the problem isn't from overselling, and have customer service horrible enough that even verizon could appear desirable. Theoretically can surf and talk simultaneously, but charge extra for the priviledge of tethering, drop calls horribly, and have spotty data coverage.
Sprint-Nextel has a fairly stable network of comparatively subpar network technologies servicing cheaper prepaid type devices and feature phones. Cheap and ubiquitous, but data is a farce, IIRC.
T-Mo has very limited buildout, is not loved by the parent company (deutch telecom), and struggles in the telecom marketplace. Despite this, has fairly nice customer service, offers incentives for patronage of their users, and are trying to improve coverage maps and network tech. Currently involved in a fairly ambitious LTE 4G buildout. Reasonably inexpensive; no contract unlimited talk, text, and 2gb 4G data for 60/mo. (Not the fastest though. 5300kbps down, 1200kbps up last I measured in my area.) Spotty coverage. Claim to fame is wifi calling and free teathering.
To me, the ideal carrier could only be born from strongly enforced neutrality laws allowing cheap sublicense of spectrum and infrastructure, with a dual technology, quad-band handset, able to leverage verizon's CDMA network as a fallback, and full GSM operation on both ATT and T-Mo spectrum. Such a company could never exist in the USA under prevailing conditions, which do not foster true innovative service offerings, but rather collusion based pricing hegemonies.
That's about the schtick of it as far as I know.
I actually like T-Mo, despite the weak coverage areas. I recently got a nice promotional offer from them recently for being a long term customer. (They offered the next tier service at my current tier price for 12 months, which greatly increased my dl cap at 4G speed.)
As far as I know, ATT and verizon bend over backwards to make you lose old plans they think aren't profitable, and force you to spend money. (I can revert to my previous level of service very painlessly with T-Mo after the promotion ends.)
If you are spoiled by south korean telecom, you be mortified by the horrible state of american telecom.
Verizon is the best service money can but. That said, it's also the most expensive
The mobile phone system is terrible in the States. It's expensive, you get charged for receiving and sending calls, 3G is bad, and 4G is spotty at best.
I get better mobile service out here were I live in Vientiene, Laos and Phnom Penh Cambodia! My parents in boston complain about how expensive it is to call me, but it's as cheap for me to call the States as it is to make a local call.
That said, when I do have to go to the States I use a T-mobile prepaid and maintain a Google-Voice number in between.
I suggest you rethink moving back to the States.
Mobile phones will be the least of your disappointments.
Can't vouch for quality since I haven't tried many providers... but it is super affordable. Their usage is tiered, but they'll automatically move you without any penalty to whatever tier you use for that month, even if you use a lower tier. Yes, that means if you're on a 500 MB plan and you use less than than 100 MB, they'll charge you for the 100 MB for that month. How crazy is that?
My cell phone bill went down $15 switching from a voice + text w/ AT&T to voice + text + data with Ting. Only downside is that the phones aren't subsided, so I paid $200 for mine. But obviously the prices are still going to work in my favor in the long run, especially since I'm not a phone hopper and can easily see myself keeping this one for 3-4 years.
https://ting.com/
Competition is very tight between the main companies (sprint, t-mobile, AT&T) which means prices are comparable. It comes down to which has the features you want, with the most reliability and lowest price.
If you don't know, the United States does cell phone service differently than many other places. Here, you generally have your phone subsidized by buying a contract and that phone is then locked to the carrier, whereas (if I understand it correctly) in Europe you go buy a phone at full price then choose whatever carrier you want and pay monthly.
Check the coverage maps, then get an MVNO that operates off the towers of whoever has the best coverage. Straight Talk offers phones on all 4 major networks, for significantly lower monthly costs and no contracts. Boost and Cricket have pretty good prices too. In my area, the only national carrier with decent coverage is Verizon, but I'm sure that changes for the Eastern Seaboard.
I live 10 miles outside a city of 150,000 people and I drop calls on TMobile on a regular basis. Their map claims I should get two bars at home, some times I get none at all. In fact, their map of this area is one huge lie as I can tell you exactly where there are huge dead zones that they claim to be 1-2 bar zones, and I have confirmed this with several different phones on their network.
The situation has been this way for 7+ years now. Now as an added bonus sometimes when I am at home, if the call isn't dropped I get a delayed echo of my own voice in my ear. Not easy to deal with, when I am expecting to hear the other person and I'm hearing myself as well. I've also had several times where I can hear the other person, but suddenly and without warning they can no longer hear me.
Numerous times I have reported this to TMobile and never have they fixed it.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Sprint actually has an OK signal here, but I could never get their fucking self-service web page to let me log in. There are a couple of places in town where you get no signal with Sprint. This includes pretty much everywhere I work. Also no 4g coverage in my town from Sprint.
Never tried Verizon, I've heard too many things about them from their customers and ex-customers.
T-Mobile does have some gaps in coverage, but they actually do have 4G here. And I can actually use their web site for paying bills, managing auto-pay and stuff like that. AND, I can get coverage with them with their Android smart phone anywhere that I can log into wifi, and that includes pretty much everywhere there's a gap in their coverage in town. It seems like it automagically switches over to VOIP whenever it gets an internet connection, and that's pretty hot, if you ask me. Their customer service is also the least likely to make me want to spork my own eyeballs out rather than talk to them. I seem to recall that last time was almost a... pleasant... experience. If you can believe that.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
really just bait for the paid commenters right?
One other thing to consider is customer service. I switched to Sprint from Verizon and love it. No dropped calls for me and customer service is top notch. Got their home phone service for $20 bucks a month to keep from going over minites cause alot of my family still have landlines. Mobile to mobile is free night and weekends. (7PM) are free. I truely have unlimited data even if I am roaming. So I highly recommend Sprint.
Chris Sheppard
You're moving from South Korea to the United States? Voluntarily?
If that's the case, you're too stupid to use a cell phone.
They are exact opposites among 4 major carriers, each is best on its own accord:
Verizon - best coverage, fastest internet, but uses CDMA so cannot use phone abroad, they charge arm and leg for everything, including $30/mo for SMS (tmobile offers it for free), they will happily cripple your phone for no reason, and generally many people try to stay away from it.
T-Mobile - best prices on contract, GSM network, allows to bring your own phone and gives a monthly discount if you do. Was the first carrier to offer Android. Good coverage in populated areas, adequate coverage elsewhere. They do allow to unlock phone you bought with the plan but if you travel, then buy unlocked phone elsewhere then get their discounted contract.
I can't speak for the entire U.S. It seems that carriers focus on different regions of the country. I traveled quite a bit over the past 7 years and here is my experience.
I have the best coverage with Verizon. Speeds were consistent and good. In the New England area, I get 4 or 5 bars where ever I go.
In New England, AT&T just sucks. It sucks on speed and coverage. Drive two miles of the freeway in New Hampshire or Vermont, and signals are spotty. In the metro Boston area, I can't drive 5 miles on the freeway without dropping calls a few times. There was an AT&T billboard in Brighton (part of Boston) that said "More bar in more areas" I think they were describing the taverns and not their coverage.
Sprint was really good in New England. I had a plan that would allow me to roam on the Verizon network outside of Boston. I don't know if they still do that, but I always have coverage. In the 7 years of using a Sprint phone, I never experience a dropped call on my commute from the North West suburbs (Burlington) into Brookline (4 miles from Downtown).
I was getting free phones from Nokia and Microsoft and none of them got more than 2G data speeds on T-Mobile. I understand they offer 3G in the 800Mhz band. None of my phones could use the 3G. If you buy one of their special phones, it works. From what I understand they are rolling out HSPA on more frequencies and are also building out their 4G LTE network.
Buy an unlocked GSM phone, and activate it on T-mobile. Or, keep the one you have, if it can handle US frequencies.
Of the four national US carries (small regional carriers typically piggy-back on the big nationals), only AT&T and T-mobile are GSM. Verizon and Sprint use CDMA.
Over ten years ago I dropped AT&T after their network became too saturated, and became pretty much unusable. From what I hear, things haven't changed.
Verizon and AT&T have the largest network and best, fastest coverages; but if you're moving to a large, populated, city, T-mobile's coverage will probably be as best as the bigger guys. Out in less-populated areas, far away from the civilization, Verizon's going to be only game in town; sometimes it's AT&T.
Sprint falls somewhere in the middle between Verizon/AT&T, and T-mobile, who is the smallest, but I think they're the most friendly to people who prefer to use their own, unlocked phone, and have very low tolerance for US cell carrier B.S. They even used to have discounted plans for people who bring their own unlocked phones, but I don't think they do that anymore. They do have "pre-paid" plans, which seem to be a bit cheaper.
There's no such thing as an unlocked CDMA phone, so with Verizon or Sprint you have to buy one from them, when you buy service. Verizon is notorious for feature-castrating their phones. It's been my experience that "Bluetooth" on Verizon's castrated phones only means a wireless headphone. That's it. No bluetooth file transfer/browsing, no other Bluetooth profiles. If you want to load your own MP3 ringtone, you can only get them on the phone by buying them from Verizon. Sometimes, I heard a rumor that some Verizon phones let you configure an MP3 ringtone that you've transferred over USB, but, it's been my experience that the UI on Verizon's phones do not let you select an uploaded/copied ringtone.
I've been happy on T-mobile for the last ~10 years. They don't care what phone I use, I just pop in a SIM, and off I go. I finally decided to get a data plan as a back-up for my wired broadband, since I telecommute. Set it up, then twiddled a bit with my phone, and had it set up tethering without any issues. From what I heard, if you want to tether with the bigger carriers, you're likely end up getting charged extra, on top of paying for the data. Utter bullshit. From what I've heard, they've been getting bitch-slapped recently, on that account, because, supposedly they're not allowed to do that anymore, as a condition for buying some recently-auctioned wireless spectrum. Whatever, I don't care.
As far as prices go, the differences between the carriers are pretty much negligible. The only other thing is: T-mobile, themselves, does not sell Iphones; but if you get an unlocked GSM one, shouldn't be too difficult to activate it. Verizon and AT&T are the primary carriers of Iphone in the US. I think Sprint might be selling them too, though.
Each of the three major carriers are good is some ways and terrible in others. It all depends on what your priorities are.
Verizon has the best overall coverage US-wide. I've been to many areas that didn't have AT&T or T-Mobile coverage but have never found a place that didn't have Verizon coverage. That's about it.
AT&T has the fastest data speeds in most of the areas that it does cover (3G or LTE). Also, you can use data and voice at the same time on all of their smartphones right now. They are also less expensive than Verizon in most cases. Coverage is worse, though.
T-Mobile has ultra-low prices and the best customer service. Worst coverage and slow data speeds, though.
Oh, and there's Sprint. No idea if they will even be around this time next year.
I've been with all four. I'm with AT&T right now since I don't need Verizon's roaming coverage and would rather pay less and have faster speeds now.
As far as I know, ATT and verizon bend over backwards to make you lose old plans they think aren't profitable, and force you to spend money.
As far as I know about Verizon trying to make you spend money is only recent - I've been with them for ~10 years. If you are an old fart with Verizon like me, you have to give up your unlimited data UNLESS you buy your new phone outright at full price. Now I normally don't use a ton of data, but if they want to play games I can start tethering and guzzling bandwidth when I get my new phone.....
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ObBetteridge'sLawofHeadlines
There's much discussion of coverage and speed. Where I live, near Chicago, Verizon can't be beat. But the bigger thing for me is that their Customer Service is very good. I could not believe when I got my iPhone 5 a couple of days ago and had trouble activating it, I called Verizon and was speaking with a good english speaker in less than a minute. This was with millions of people getting the iPhone 5 (probably a good portion of them on Verizon.) My wife just had to call their tech support because her 4S wasn't getting on 3G. Again, she was speaking to someone within less than a minute who was knowledgable. Ironically, as I write this, it turns out the 3G network is down. But Verizon outages like this are very rare and in this day in age of complete crap support and idiot agents, I'd almost rather have a day of outage every year supported by decent people than only an hour supported by morons.
If you're on a budget, you can get good reception (so long as you stay in a city), unlimited 4G data, text and 300 minutes for $35 a month with no contract, about half what other carriers charge. Customer service is moronic, and you do have to buy a phone which will set you back a few bucks but you'll get it back within a few months.
price =/= service or quality of service...
sprint and at&t have the most coverage but the shittiest service
Verizon has the best service and ok coverage
T-mobile is middling
as is all the secondary carriers see: cricket, boost, tracphone, virgin mobile etc.
Personally I use Virgin mobile. I modified my settings so I have sprint level priority since it runs off sprint servers.
Verizon is the most expensive but has the fastest data.
-Noc
I pay too much for my cellphone bill, but I've found Verizon to have the best coverage and speed. Don't expect good customer service from any of them. They all are horrible. I was lucky to get grandfathered into real unlimited data with Verizon though, and even was able to keep it through and upgrade from 3G to 4G (Droid 2 to Droid 4). Sprint is really good if you can keep your travels into their coverage area. AT&T seems to be just mediocre overall, so it's really not bad, but it's not exactly good either. If you stay within the city and don't ever go anywhere, there's lots of services like MetroPCS that are SUPER cheap, however I can't vouch for their speed or quality as I don't know anyone that has used it for a smartphone.
Verizon has the best service (in terms of quality) in cities. But in the west at least, AT&T seems like they have better coverage outside cities than Verizon... I just switched to Verizon, and I have better luck making calls at my house but venturing up into the mountains of Colorado I lose signal in places where AT&T was somewhat there (mountains are pretty rough on cell phone signal though).
Out east I think Verizon is supposed to be better everywhere.
One thing that Verizon actually does seem to do though that is important, is to upgrade equipment more often than AT&T did.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I've gone to a smartphone run as a wifi-only SIP VOIP phone, it works where there is wifi (many places) and costs nothing. Cellular service in the U.S. is hopeless.
"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool" - Jane Wagner -
If you call it "living abroad" and are all into smart phones, then you really belong over there.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Check out JD Power. They rank the carriers region by region. Here in the northeast they give the nod to Verizon.
Verizon is the one that DOESN'T have a problem with using voice and data at the same time. You're thinking of AT&T.
Why can't I mod this article/story flamebait?
Pigeons will soon be the more secure method of communication.
Leave Your Cellphone at Home
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Its kinda of a loaded question there are a bunch of factors. I use to be w/ Tmobile (from Voicestream) then switched to Verizon. Yes verizon has the best signal for me. I use to travel for a living so it worked out extremely well. ZERO issues in any city except this one unusual building which zapped ALL my signal. Aside from that yes verizon is more expensive but if u can find a work discount out there you can get a nice discount which brings the prices down to earth (I have 21%). I have friends w/ TMo and they have an occasional issue w/ losing high speed HSPA+ but hey its life. WIth my new Galaxy S3 I do drop from LTE to 3G once in awhile. Way less dropped calls. When I had issues w/ my old Treo 700p i must of went through 5 replacements, no questions asked via verizon, then went to a blackberry 8830 which i had for 2 years then to a Droid 1 for 2yrs 9 months and now a Galaxy S3. I'd say check out the area where you are moving to, whats your budget, family plan, kind of phone you want.
Like my oroginal subject: Whats the best beer in germany or belgium... the answer is: LOTS!!!! So it all depends on what kind of beer you want, high alcohol content, light vs dark, hoppy vs non-hoppy,etc..
Good Luck!
I have had ATT for a while and found it particularly frustrating. The "4G" is unreliable and even if you have several bars you can have zero data throughput. I travel frequently to LA and Florida and had poor service both places. Last LA trip we had a biz dinner at a place near the beach and I had no service, my buddy had full Verizon LTE.
Switched the iPhone 5 about a week ago and went to Verizon and its insanely better. LTE feels about as fast as WiFi at home, and actually faster than some hotel WiFis. I was back in LA the last few days and had great service in areas I had zero on ATT. Would deff recommend Verizon, eps with an LTE phone.
Other cool note: VZ lets you tether free, ATT makes you pay additional.
If you want to use an iphone then t-mobile is out (for now). Verizon's CDMA tech sucks but if you go iphone with them then your handset is gsm unlocked. Also their LTE is faster. Att is just plain expensive and their iphone supports less frequencies - so worse roaming overseas. T-mobile offers a bunch of plans for handsets that are unlocked and seems to be the most progressive- although you will be in roaming in most places. It's almost a toss up.
OP, what are you hoping to get from this Ask Slashdot that you couldn't get from doing your own research? What next, "how do I fix my computer?".
"You can justify anything by putting it in quotes, adding a famous name and making it a sig" - Albert Einstein
Sensorly.com provides coverage maps from user-generated data. I don't know how good the quality of the data is, but it allows you to compare many different carriers and avoids relying on the carriers themselves.
I was an AT&T customer from Nov 2003 to July 2011. (Note: I started as a Cingular customer and got acquired.)
When the time finally came that I wanted an Android, there was only one carrier in the market with unlimited data; Sprint.
So I switched to Sprint, and I've been very happy.
I'm pretty much the ideal unlimited data customer. The customer who doesn't even approach the cap of the other providers, but is willing to pay for unlimited data to avoid the hassle of tracking data usage.
It's too bad AT&T discontinued their unlimited plans, I would have been happy to give the money to them.
and in some cases better: for instance, T-mobile offers free Wifi calling, in and out of the country.
The US is a big place, and even within relatively small geographical areas there can be a lot of variation. Look at where you are going to be, and look at who has the towers and the coverage. There are even areas where cricket has a decent score.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
If you define best as in most reliable coverage, the answer tends to be Verizon regardless of the city in question. This is doubly true as soon as you get into more rural areas, but it's worthwhile in the city as well. (ie, Slightly less likelihood of losing signal in elevators, inside buildings, etc.. than AT&T or T-mobile. Call quality also tends to be better, with less distortions and other weirdness in my experience.)
For what it's worth, I've also found Verizon's support to be quite good. I'm not sure why all the vitriolic posts about them; every time I've needed them (maybe 4-5 times over the past half decade?), their support has been prompt and helpful, even for weird things like playing musical chairs with phones in an account while simultaneously preserving all upgrade/contract dates. It is also all US-based, and has great hours well into the evening. What more do you want, especially in this day and age of overseas, outsourced support from India that you can barely understand?
Verizon knows they are the best though, and thus rapes your wallet in every conceivable way as a result. If money is your bottom line, don't even look at them. Go with T-mobile or even AT&T. If however you want the best coverage and quality of service, Verizon is the way to go in most places.
i think nation wide verizon probably has the best coverage , or so they say.
$30 a month buys 300 minutes, unlimited texting, and unlimited 3g/4g (throttled after 2.5 gigs)
I worked in field applications in my previous job -- I lived by my cell phone & I was all over the place always, and 100% connectivity was paramount for me... I would also often need to do conference calls while travelling the highway. I tried a couple of carriers, and then tried Verizon. A few things I could tell you about Verizon:
0) Incomparable coverage -- I almost always had coverage everywhere across the country.
1) Rarely dropped any call... only intermittently driving I-5 across Camp Penalton.
2) I worked many times in an RF SHIELDED building, and I got calls ringing through the shielding.
So, for me there was no comparison. It cost more, but my butt was on the line with my connectivity, and I had to have that service -- and I have the service to this day.
Recently though, I had to go to take my dog to a remote area above Temecula in California to shelter my Dog for a trip. I could get coverage (bars) there, but I could not connect a call through. The lady running the kennel said that ATT was the only provider that worked there... So... for remote areas, maybe ATT is catching up? I've heard stories that ATT coverage is not so great everywhere, but at least in this one place it was the only option.
Since I happen to be here commenting for the first time in ages, as a verizon indirect agent, I would like to point out that a basic phone with basic service (700 minutes, no texting) can be had for $40/month. Old plans may be 70/mo, and I sometimes see some inexperienced or lazy agents offering the basic smart phone package(data included) with a basic phone service(non data device).... but I try not to put anyone on a 70/mo plan unless they believe its right for them.
I do have my qualms with a lot of things from every carrier including my own, but I personally like Tmobile and Verizon the most. Verizon has more coverage in most areas I travel, and Tmobile I feel has the best service and pricing in localized areas where they get good coverage..
Bring your phone from korea. It will work on ATT. Get a pre-paid straight talk SIM but do NOT use over 2GB of data/mo. They have a very lame hard limit grrr.
If you have a penta-band (Galaxy Nexus is the only I know off hand) then the T-Mo options for a data lopsided plan is fine if you don't take voice calls (100 min/mo is designed to be too little, of course). But the 5GB of data is sweet, esp since it just gets throttled to edge if you pass it.
If you feel the need to overpay for your phone on a lame contract then pick any of the big 4. They all suck for the price the charge.
FYI: At $25/mo is break even for unlimited service in CONUS. If you pay anything more you should expect *something* right?
All of them.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Mainly because it was Cingular when I started there, and they haven't yet pissed me off enough to bother going through the effort of switching. I am unable to tell you about the nuts and bolts of my plan because it really just doesn't interest me and I'm too lazy to open another tab and track down the details. This is what I know of it, though:
- I can't comment about dropped calls, simply because I hardly ever use the thing as an actual phone. On the rare occasion that I do use it as a phone, I push a few buttons and it connects me to other people. Then I talk to them. Usually briefly.
- When I want to know where I am, my device locates me quite accurately on a map. A map, in fact, that is a remarkably useful thing by itself.
- If I wish to take part in the Internet, my device connects me to it. The connection is adequate. It is certainly not as lively as I prefer, but I never expect much from any connection away from my own desk. And I'm really not all that interested in taking part in the Internet when I'm away from my desk, anyway.
- My device takes decent photos and video. This is a key feature in my life. As a father of a 6-year-old, I cannot overstate the value of always having a camera and video camera in my pocket.
- My device is also quite good at keeping boredom at bay. It can carry around a ridiculous amount of video games, movies, music and books.
- It's also useful for keeping track of my life.
- And there's a meaninglessly large amount of apps for the thing. The actual number is meaningless because I will never even look at more than a tiny fraction of them.
Come to think of it, it's a rather remarkable device. And it costs about the same as my cable.
I'd add www.coveragemapper.com and www.cellmapper.net to the list although I'm not sure how complete their coverage maps are for USA; pretty good for Canada.
I checked out opensignal.com (formerly opensignalmaps.com) and was disappointed in the countries & cities they had maps for.
That answer really depends on your perspective as to what's the best, why, and what your local market is. There really isn't a good answer.
Of the Major Carriers:
1) Sprint has to have the most consumer friendly plans and business practices, but falls short on network technology, and a plethora of other factors.
2) AT&T has the best network technology, with an extensive 42mbps DCHSPA+ network, backed by a small but growing LTE network, which happens to sport better speeds than Verizon. Simultaneous voice and data in most of the country, like all GSM carriers make it solidly well rounded, and it's signal quality is actually pretty good if you live in the Southeast in particular. Where they fall short: they continuously find new ways to be anti-consumer and general lead the industry in the worst way possible.
3) Verizon has the best overall network coverage, especially if you live in the west region. They also have pretty solid customer service, but if you have a billing issue -- forget about it. They also have the most extensive LTE coverage, but it's also already getting congested. Still, if you gotta have it, they're a pretty decent provider overall. Just be prepared to pay through the nose. Their new plans are NOT friendly for the single person, or large family, but for a family of 2-3 with quite a few devices and fairly hefty usage, they work out pretty well.
4) T-Mobile is well known for quality customer service. Also, using GSM technology makes for a fast FauxG network and flexibility. Sadly, they are SEVERELY impeded by lack of spectrum, marketshare, and network buildout which make them operate as a weird stop gap between the regional carriers like Cricket and C-Spire and more major players, like Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. They, like Sprint, also operate fairly consumer friendly plans and are the only major carrier not to cave to warrantless wiretap requests from the FBI during the Bush administration (if you should care about such things)
What it all boils down to is: how much do you travel, what are you willing to spend, who has the best coverage in the areas you most frequent, what sorts of anti-consumer policies are you willing to live with, and what sacrifices are you willing to make? There really isn't a perfect answer for everyone. As for me, I go with Verizon on my LTE iPad, and AT&T on my cell phone, which gives me a diversity of coverage options, and the best network technology for things like conference calls, simultaneous voice and data and general network things that you take for granted until you have to live with one of the CDMA carriers. Anyway -- hope that helps. Kind of.
Apple.
You left in 2005 or so and there were no smart phones? I bought my first in 1998, and it wasn't even that novel, though it was WindowsCE (nothing makes you wince like WinCE). I used VoiceStream and had no problems with calls or speed. The biggest problem was having to pay for Opera Mobile at the time.
But as my subject says, coverage is a local issue. Some are great on one part of town, and horrible on another. So asking the world about what to get when you move to the US is like asking which gas station chain has the best prices in the USA.
Learn to love Alaska
I've been a US Cellular subscriber since 2005 and have had no issues, and unlike some plans and carriers, ALL incoming calls, ALL mobile to mobile is free, nights and weekends start at 7 pm and unlimited every kind of messaging for pretty cheap. I only have 450 minutes a month to use, but with free incoming everything and free nights and weekends starting at 7 pm, I end up not even using all of that a month. I also pay for a small data plan with it and US Cellular has the Belief Project which is a loyalty program where by simply being a customer and paying your bill on time you can earn upgrades faster.
Mobile companies and networks in the US are out to milk as much money as possible from their customers. Creating a good product or network is the least of their concerns.
You're used to the "wicked speeds" and are looking for coverage compared to South Korea? Try some perspective first. Detroit has parking lots bigger than South Korea, and my personal backyard network would probably qualify as a MAN.
Kidding, mostly. But before you cop an attitude about dropped calls and poor reception, you might consider that you're using your experience in a nation the size of one of our urban areas and then asking for that in North America.
For the sarcasm impaired, here's a graphic. And yes, it probably could be argued that Detroit IS a parking lot the size of South Korea. Just with no DMZ. (Well, or all DMZ. Depends on how you want to call it.) http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/KR
MetroPCS is about to be T-Mobile, so not really a separate option.
paintball
I work on Android, so I need a phone that can take a SIM card, because I change my phone only slightly less often that I change my underware. In the US that means AT&T or T-Mobile. So it's T-Mobile.
I'm grandfathered in on their unlimited data plan and share 400 minutes and 1000 texts with a second line. Unlimited mobile to mobile too. Throw in a 20% discount from a former employer and we're paying about $115/mo including taxes. I travel a lot and the coverage is excellent all over the country. The other day I compared plans with Verizon. They came in at $160/mo (before taxes!!!) and that was sharing 5GB of data, not unlimited. Way too expensive. Plus, they don't use SIM cards so you can't use one of their phones anywhere overseas. Not a big fan of VZ. Sprint and Tmobile come in at about what I'm paying now. The contract-free providers are not much cheaper although it's tempting. I'd like to be able to use the same phone I have now if I switch to contract-free but it seems they want you to buy another phone. For now, I'll probably just stick with AT&T. They all kind of suck but the service is good so no real incentive to change yet.
Let me simplify this.
Go with t-mobile.
T-mobile coverage sucks where you live? Well, then you're stuck with Verizon (or whoever else is around).
What about AT&T you ask? Let me tell you. If you're a person who never had to deal with AT&T, you're one lucky lifeform. I'm not so lucky. I pay twice the AT&T advertised rate to the monopoly cable ISP for my home just so that I won't have to deal with AT&T.
Sprint, I don't know about.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
No, I'm sorry, but that is wrong. I tested it the other night.. My friend set up tethering on his verizon phone and I started streaming video via his wi-fi. Phone #3 calls in to the tethering phone, and data drops 100% so the phone can ring.
I had a sucky sig.
Take your pick: Choose whichever one fucks you over the least. And that's the tough part, because no matter what you're bound to get fucked over from multiple directions no matter what carrier you choose. And when you sign a contract, you basically sign yourself to get fucked over for two years straight with no way out of it. If you try to weasel your way out of a contract, you'll get fucked hardcore with an early termination fee.
Good luck...
The big two are Verizon and AT&T. They're also the most expensive, and it's generally not necessary to buy service DIRECTLY from them.
If you're in AT&T's service area, and want service with them, sign-up with T-Mobile. You'll want to make sure you get a dual-band phone, but you'll be able to roam onto AT&T's GSM.
Verizon generally has the best coverage, and is the most expensive. If you want service with them, sign-up with Sprint... Sprint is cheaper, and allows you free roaming onto Verizon's network whenever needed. Sprint is also nice in that they advertise that they have no caps/limits on their data plans, but you should expect slow-down / congestion using data on their network during peak times...
The only reason you might NOT want to use this strategy, is if you want extra fast and super reliable data service. I, personally, don't care... I've got fast WiFi access at home, work, and when visiting family and all my friends. So that pretty much leaves streaming Pandora and others to my car stereo while driving down the freeways.
On Sprint's network, I haven't had my streaming audio stop mid-stream (yet) but I wouldn't expect video streaming such as youtube to be smooth, whereas Verizon's deeper network is faster, and more consistently so. Plus, Sprint is in a bad spot, transitioning it's 4G service from WiMax to LTE. Of course Verizon and AT&T's LTE networks are both pretty patchy yet, so I recommend just being content with 3G (and WiFi) for the next couple years.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I've found the pocket to be ideal to carry my cell phone. It has just the right size, and I've got it with me all the time.
SCNR
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Carriers won't tell you if you'll get good coverage.
I live in a Verizon dead zone, and with Sprint I get 4-5 bars while on my wife's Verizon phone she gets 0-1. We haven't switched to the family plan because I need coverage at home, and she swears Verizon is better - even though Verizon drops calls ALL of the time.
Sprint is unlimited, and has the best customer service. Verizon is very expensive, is limited, with terrible customer service - but will work in more areas.
I'd go with Sprint if it is available.
Cheers to Maow, fermion and be99 - best info so far
http://www.straighttalk.com/ Get the AT&T network SIM - pay $45/month - use your own phone. I got this for my son and so far it has worked fine. It is supposed to be unlimited, but as usual that really means about 2 GB/month. NO contract. You can drop it anytime. I have both AT&T and Verizon phones now (work and home) and honestly they each have an area where the other one works better. Sprint and T-Mobile are not good out in the countryside.
I've used Verizon Wireless since roughly 2002; I've only had to call customer service a handful of times, but it was usually painless and quick. The only time things took a while was when I had to get my phone serviced under the best-buy service plan, and I "lost" my unlimited data. The Verizon rep got me my unlimited data back, but it took a couple of weeks to receive a waiver.
Longer version: I left my phone in my jeans when they went in the wash. Took it to bby, where I had a service plan for the phone, and they gave me a temporary feature phone and, while activating it, told the Verizon rep that I had unlimited data and that they should give it back to me when I received my repaired phone. When I got my phone back, they put me on a metered plan. The Verizon rep who worked on getting my unlimited back said that bby had screwed up and that, since I had a smart-phone data plan, they were supposed to give me a smart-phone as a temp. Tbh, I believe the Verizon rep because I recall clearly that when I had gone to bby, the person who handled my service claim said they didn't have an open phone to give me to use as a temp and called her manager over, who told her to open up & give me the cheapest phone they had on hand.
This is not the greatest sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
are you a complete idiot?
StraightTalk costs $45/month for unlimited voice/data/sms, without contract! They use the AT&T 3g network so you get better coverage than T-mobile. They use sim cards which will actually work on a LOCKED T-mobile or AT&T phone.
The only reasonably priced 4G is MetroPCS. You pay 50-60 a month (again, unlimited data, no contract) and you need to be in a big city. Their big drawback is that they don't use sim cards and their handsets suck compared to everybody else. They're at least a year behind in tech.
Everybody else will rape you without lube. Sprint will give you unlimited 4G for $100/month, AT&T and Verizon are way worse. I still can't believe they went from unlimited data to selling by the gig. Their greed is unfathomable.
I examined this and other similar maps based on (urban) neighborhoods where I've had terrible reception on particular providers, and I don't think you can easily tell from these maps. I think it may be best to just ask people who already have phones and will be living and working in areas where you will be.
Yeah, going from Korea's amazing cell service to America's shittastic cellular service? Will be like going from eating the finest foods imaginable to digging what you can find out of the garbage dump. My suggestion? Stay in Korea, American internet and cellular companies give zero fucks about providing 'high speed internet', 'great cell service', 'customer support', and 'dropped calls', all the while doing their very best to nickle and dime you to death. while doing the least they can do to get you stay with them.
It's a new company running over T-Mobile's network, $49 unlimited Voice/Text/Internet no roaming fees, no contracts. nationwide 4G. http://www.solavei.com/sethrosen
Just like real estate, sir, it's location, location, location....
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Verizon. No question. They are a little bit more expensive but the phone coverage/quality is so much better than at&t and Spring, they should be embarassed. I just switched after being on at&t for 6 years. It is so much better.
Which network is best depends on where you are. I live in the Hudson Valley north of NY and in this sorta rural area, it's verizon or nothing. Literally. If you will be in a city, and have a consistent commute, you could save money with one of the other carriers. Based on Caller ID, I get more crappy/unreadable signals to my office from T-Mobile callers than anyone else. Oh, and be sure you like the smartphone handset. You'll be stuck with it for two years.
Because it frees you from having to use a phone at all. You can stick your head out the window and shout at more people than mere 'phones' on Sprint can reach.
Page Plus Cellular will get you Verizon's native network at much reduced cost. But that depends on whether you care about 4G. If you care about 4G, this won't be an option. Also, the largest amount of data they offer in a monthly plan is 2GB, which is fine for most people, but not if you're a heavy data user via your phone.
Good job, wierd_w. I think your post is not only accurate but objective. martypantsROK should understand that if he lives in a large metro area in the USA that he'll have much better results than in a rural area. In rural areas you probably have to use Verizon. I live in a large metro area and I used T-Mobile for years and was happy with them, but I did not use them much for data. My work required me to get a new subsidized phone and I was not able to stay with T-Mobile as for reasons unknown to me, they are the only one of the four major US carriers that my company does not have an agreement with. martypantsROK is likely to be very unimpressed with US mobile and internet service after having lived in South Korea, but that's just how it is.
Credo Mobile, if they're available in your area, is excellent. They use the Sprint network, so you can get unlimited data for a reasonable price on an older phone... but the customer service is even better than T-Mobile (who I used for years) and Credo's not only friendly to rooting your phone but supports the EFF, among other non-profits, with a portion of their revenue.
Try them all out for a month or two each before deciding.
Never argue with a man carrying a water buffalo
used to be Centennial Wireless here... got aquired by AT&T. I've found most spots for Verizon are outside only, with AT&T inside is full bars -- my parents (central Illinois) have Verizon, all of my In-laws (who live in North Central Indiana in the same area) are on AT&T
Look at coverage and speed.
My two year sentence with Sprint is almost up. I have the unlimited plan for two phones. I priced out plans from all the carriers and the prices are all within $12 USD of each other. This is very annoying because they all limit data usage expect Sprint! I want to cut costs, but I can't find a cell phone plan that doesn't make me fell like I'm being raped in the wallet. But Sprint has poor coverage.
From my experience, Sprint has truly unlimited data (I used well over 20GB /month several times with not issues). Yes twenty GB! I contribute most of that to tethering. (rooted of course, I've already paid for the data, I'm not paying again!) But it's the pudding that proves Sprint did not take any action. I was using the "4G" connection that would give an average of 4Mb/s (not LTE).
Bottom line, live in a big city and you won't have many issues. Live in a small town and you may as well give up.
I'm used to South Korea's wicked speeds
When I last went to Korea, and connected to the phone network, wicked speeds is what I was expecting. In reality, things weren't really any faster than I get in most areas of Canada. To add to that, many sites were slower due to what I assume was a lack of cache/etc in Asia. Once you hit a minimum level of quality then the speed difference isn't so noticeable (unless you're into downloading movies/music on your phone, perhaps).
Is it that bad in the US? Everywhere, or just outside of bigger cities?
Actually, I tended to go there because I wasn't all that big into fries as a side. Most burgers I can get away with, but a load of salty, starchy fries tended to leave me feeling bloated and uncomfortable after visiting most other fast food places.
Wendy's offers salad, baked potato, or chili as the side. Chili is a winner for me (especially when they don't forget to pack the extra hot-sauce), but YMMV depending on preference.
Sounds fair. Ask me where my favourite burger place is where I currently live, and the answer is probably Wendy's.
Ask me when I lived in the east, and the answer would likely have been Harvey's (but they don't seem to have one in BC, Canada, much to my dismay).
Cricket, as long as they have service in your market. All phone companies suck, and you pay each month for that suckage. Cricket is cheap, they have decent (but not excellent) phones, and they are cheap. (Yes, I know I said that twice.) $60 for all you can eat plus 3G tethering! I'd like to see any of the big carriers beat that.
My favourite has been Verizon. They have had the best coverage. The prices are annoying but about on par with everything else, but then I don't do data, so my comment might not be totally relevant to you. I've also seen some posts about the customer service being bad. It's definitely not *good*, but it's also on part with every other customer service experience I've had with other companies. If you need customer service, you call, you get a robot fifty times, you wait a lot, people at first don't know what is going on, but in the end it all gets sorted. I can count on one hand the number of times in my life I've gotten customer service ANYWHERE that I liked.
So, if you're returning to the US, does that mean there's a computer-related job opening in somewhere in South Korea? 'cuz I've about had it with the lack of wireless and wired broadband here in the supposedly most advanced country in the world. If you could introduce me to your South Korean employer, I'd very much appreciate it.
(Actually, I have Verizon and Century Link. Speed is next to useless, but good wireless coverage, no dropped calls and my DSL line is rarely down.)
I wonder how much money Slashdot makes from these marketing...I mean "questions".
I was in your position too. Going from AU and Softbank in Japan to KTF and SK in Korea, and then back to the US. Verizon still has the best nationwide coverage. ATT is probably a close 2nd best, but from what I've heard has faster real-world data. It's also slightly cheaper. Sprint has the cheapest unlimited data plans (well, aside from Virgin - but I won't go there). I am currently using T-Mobile, and I HATE it. The reception is garbage most places. (I'm currently in San Francisco, but when I am in the East Bay in a location that is right next to two of their towers I can't even make calls or even send text messages). And everything will be 5x or more expensive here. Also, pretty much ALL carriers in the US also charge you for receiving calls or messages...
That said, since my reception is so bad with T-Mobile, I'm considering moving to Virgin so I can keep my bills reasonable. They also have the perk of cheap international calling if you prefer that to Skype - but expect lousy coverage and horrible customer service.
That is correct on Verizon when using anything but 4G LTE. 4G LTE works while on a call.
I'm in mid/west lower Michigan. I'm in a fairly rural area by comparison, but only about 20 miles outside Grand Rapids.
I got a cheap cell phone in the late '90s through my friend who worked at Best Buy. Omnipoint (later VoiceStream, later T-Mobile) was cheap, but the coverage wasn't that great around home (though nobody really was at that time). In '99, I got a job at a company that sold Nextel, so I got one of those cheap. Again, coverage wasn't great (it was often referred to as "Nextime", because it might actually work the next time you tried it). However, Nextel's Direct Connect really took off here (this region used up all its numbers in the first fleet, so they had to add a second fleet and eventually cross-fleeting ability so new users could talk to their friends and family on the old fleet). The more people you knew with Nextels, the more useful it was.
I stuck with Nextel until '05, when the Direct Connect wasn't really useful to me anymore due to changes in who I was talking to and their chosen cell service. I went to Verizon, who have pretty widespread coverage around here. VZW seems to be the default if some random person wants a cell phone. As others have said, they have pretty good coverage for calls and texts. My current employer uses VZW for their cell phones, so I switched from my personal VZW plan to the company VZW plan when I started working here.
When the iPhone 3G came out, the company started getting them for some employees, and obviously those people switched to AT&T. I eventually got a 3G and switched also. When the VZW iPhone 4 came out, we started going back for new users. When the 4S was released, the company made the decision to switch everyone back to VZW.
My early experiences probably don't count for much. There wasn't much coverage here at all, and quite a few things have changed in the past 10+ years. My recent experiences involve only 3G, due to using the iPhone 3G/4/4S. However, there was a noticeable speed drop going from the ATT iPhone 4 to the VZW iPhone 4S. Whereas I'd normally get about 3Mb down with ATT, I'm lucky to break 1Mb with VZW (with full bars on each). With ATT, I had noticeable areas of no coverage. A few coworkers got femtocells because ATT simply lacks coverage in a number of places around here. Since switching to VZW, I don't know if I've ever seen it without at least a little coverage (short of my annual camping trip to Middle-of-Nowhere, Canada). However, I frequently find myself with ~3 bars on VZW, where ATT usually seemed to have 4-5 bars (when I had signal). With the 4S having HSPA+, I really wished I was back on ATT, especially since they seem to have added a tower close to my house out in the sticks - one day I suddenly had 5 bars and great speeds. I'm hoping to upgrade to the iPhone 5, largely for LTE (though VZW's map doesn't show any coverage at home or work, but it'll still be handy when I'm out and about).
I never had any issues with any of the companies regarding my personal accounts, so I can't speak for customer service on any of them (though the lack of problems itself is something to mention). I don't deal with the details of the business account. The only thing I've done is having ATT unlock my old iPhone, which was a bit of work. Their automated system replied that it got my request, but never sent me an update to let me know it was finished. When I called in, Support said it had already been processed, but something wasn't quite right with it, so they did it again. Other than that, I have nothing to report.
First question, are you getting a new phone or bringing your own? Second, you specified nationwide roaming but will that be in primarily cities or will you be in rural areas too? Third, what is your priority? Price, speed, ubiquitous coverage? Like the old saying goes, pick two.
I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile earlier this year. Our big sell was that T-Mobile is the only mobile phone company which has an unlimited international calling feature for only $20/mo (woah!). The rest of the pricing was much better as well. We have unlimited everything on our phones (voice, sms, data, international calling) and are only paying $20/mo more than we were on AT&T for 700 minutes, no SMS, and 200 MB data.
The network is not as comprehensive, but a few weeks ago T-Mobile sent us a two-unit $525 Cel-fi booster for free. We didn't solicit for this. T-Mobile just sent me a text message one day asking if I'd like to opt in. YES!
T-Mobile customer service rocks and we haven't had any surprises on our bills. I highly recommend T-Mobile.
Chingu, coming back from S.Korea is gonna suck invariably.
To answer your question: there is no "best" carrier here. there are no "good" carriers either.
Unless you don't mind signing a _lease_ for a _phone_ (which is what all those 2 years plans are, essentially), just go to a Walmart and pick any phone you like.
Whatever you choose, you're gonna hate it anyway, at some point.
I've been happy with Ting for their insanely cheap Sprint-powered coverage.
Wife and I dropped Verizon a little over a year ago because the relatively strong signal we used to get at home (a few miles outside of Chapel Hill, NC) had vanished seemingly overnight. Instead we had phones that would drain their batteries to the point of shutdown overnight "searching for signal."
We decided to try Sprint. Coverage looked good based on their map. But when we got home with the new phones we had pretty much the same experience as with Verizon - stand in one specific corner of one room if you wish to make a call. And yeah, the battery drains and the phone dies overnight "searching for signal." So we took 'em back. Sprint was actually really good about it - they gave us no hassle and recommended we go back to Verizon. So we did.
The Verizon guy I spoke with the next day was a total douche. He actually told me that I had "lost a lot of credibility with Verizon" when I attempted to switch, so I could no longer get the deal they had offered me mere days before to try to retain me as a customer. I shrugged this off and signed up again at a shiny new anus-burning price point. Note to Elvis, the Verizon rep: I will never forget that call, Elvis, and if we ever meet in person I will enjoy beating the smug out of your little punk ass.
So we got our new Verizon shit phones. Lo and behold, we had the same issue with no service in the house, and phones dying overnight "searching for signal." Another call to Verizon put me in touch with a much nicer rep who agreed to sell me (yes, sell me) a "network extender" that would plug into my router and allow me to make calls from any room in the house, and would prevent the batteries from draining overnight. They wanted $300 for this magical device. I told them no and that I would be canceling my service. After a few minutes on hold they offered me the device at $200. Like a fool I bought it. So here we are a little over a year later, just beyond the midway point of the 2-year contract. We have to choose one of a few different specific locations to stand in for a call to have reasonable quality. And every once in awhile the batteries still drain overnight - I attribute this to the black box they sold me being a piece of shit. The blinky lights confirm it - when they're all blue battery life is good. When one flashes purple it's gonna be a dead phone morning.
I'm not sure where to go from here. It certainly won't be Verizon again. Unless they offer to send Elvis to my house in person, where I shall use him as a catharsis pinata whenever my service sucks.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
Thanks to all for the comments, both the serious and helpful ones and the fun ones. I think I have all the data I need - America's telecom systems are just as jacked up as they were when I left (sigh).
Reason - Verizon (Vodaphone in Europe) they'll be partnering (already in process) with Comcast which will soon allow for a unified cell/broadband/wireless/phone/TV/Cable package.
Xfinity already has blasts on the FiOS side of things and this will soon be the norm (Comast/Xfinity + Verizon/Vodaphone) in one place -
No one out there in data-land is doing this, although AT&T is laying tons of fiber - but that's all catchup now, compared to the combined forces now in motion.
Also, broadband will still be an option, but also becoming more common are FiOS options for customers - which will be as prominent as 4G LTE (the best 4G currently on the market)
Virgin Mobile uses Sprint Towers and is very economical. I'd have to say it is the best prepaid in the US.
Recent news story said >50% of US cellular users now use prepaid phones.
I would lose sleep if I bought another 2 year contact with Devil.
Ting.com will be my next phone carrier with a hotspot thru VZW sans contract. When we travel into areas lacking Sprint data, we will buy a month of data thru data card.
See 3gstore.com for data cards from $89 up w/o contract. $10 to $50 per month of 10MB to 5GB data, only if you buy a month.
Won't you hate you if Google (or X) sells fast cheap service before your contract expires? Service much better than US now has?