Cell phone service/providers best coverage??

On the east coast, Verizon is generally regarded as best. On the west coast, T-Mobile. In the middle, well, I have no idea. I do know that I am in NJ, have Xfinity Mobile, and couldn't be happier.

 

I've had AT&T for years and never had the slightest issue. I can't speak to cost, I'm on some ridiculously-cheap grandfathered family plan.

 

I was with them for about a year. Then I lost my Moto and never went back.

Nothing bad to say

 

I have Verizon. I hate Verizon. Spotty coverage where I live and in other parts of SD. Vegas though, GREAT coverage. My hatred really comes from their horrendous customer service. I don’t know how many times I’ve taken a screen shot of something a chat rep said could happen and then I went into the store it was mysteriously not allowed. I will say, higher management has been helpful in those situations though.

I’m exploring some WiFi calling options though. I’d love to just tell Verizon to fuck off. But, I’m sure I’ll get pissed that I left if I do so it’s a huge debacle, lol.

 

I have Verizon, the kids have ATT. We've been happy with both. I think when we've travelled ATT seems to get slighter better service than Verizon. There's times I can't anything and the kids still have a couple bars. That's going to really depend on where you're at, though.

 

We have had Verizon for many years and never had a problem with them. We have iPhone XR’s.

 

I use Verizon Prepaid. $35 / month for 15GB. Coverage just about anywhere.

 

I have Consumer Cellular ... its been great! My phone bill is about $40... no contract.... I had great reception in NJ and now in Florida....

 

Where we are, neither AT&T or Sprint work at all.
Verizon works, and so that's who we're with... costs are very reasonable... 3 phones, unlimited talk/text and shared 5 GB of data - total cost (with taxes & fees) is $135/month, but $25 of that is a phone payment which will go away soon... so, $110/month.
I have no idea if this particular plan is even available anymore, but we also get 'carry-over' of unused data, so the "5 GB" is actually always more than that.
In 10 years or so, we've only gone "over" on data twice... & Verizon one-time billed us for the difference in price between the 5 GB plan & the 10 GB plan...which was only $15, as I recall.

 

Make sure you unlock your phone and verify it is unlocked before switching carriers. Even if you buy new you'd have a backup if it is compatible or could sell/give away.

I don't think Sprint is as resilient since they dropped CDMA, most carriers have gone that way though...
I think US Cellular is still using CDMA.

Visible has a $25 a (mostly) unlimited plan. (a prepaid division of Verizon) if you want something cheap.

 

This is very important. As far as I know, only Verizon's phones are unlocked the minute you purchase them. My parents had paid off their ATT iPhone yet I still had to get ATT to unlock it once I switched them to Verizon.

 

Don't rely on coverage maps. They are fiction. We've had ATT forever and it's routine to be somewhere that their map says is covered and in fact have no service.

We travel extensively throughout the west, mainly the northwestern and upper midwestern states. Also a lot in the southwest. Verizon wins hands down. Anytime we're somewhere with no service and ask someone using their phone who they have, it's Verizon. For one trip I got a T-Mobile prepaid plan as a backup to ATT because they offered better Canadian service. It was great in Canada, horrible in Idaho/Montana/Wyoming/the Dakotas. I think more dead space than live. ATT was much better.

 

Hang out with the kids at Defcon and you can learn how to r00t yer f0n3. (Just don't brick it!)

 

It's pretty easy. A lot harder to jailbreak an iPhone

 

first is how strong is the signal around you
second what type of phone and IF it "matches" the cell band radios the service you are using
i know t mobile is exclusive high band some number and verizon uses several

you have to match your phone to your "network" most newer phones will have most of the radio bands but some
will not work with t moble/att /verizon . just cause how they set up their towers.

root metrics does a great job showing connections and towers.

https://webcoveragemap.rootmetrics.com/en-US

 

It's just me, so no need for family plans or multiple lines. Started with Virgin Mobile until they crapped out and Boost took over. Switched to Consumer Cellular via Target, quick and clean, easy peasy. Very satisfied.

 

you made a great choice!

 

It just isn’t mobile phone service that has issues. The video and internet providers have their challenges as well, yet we all keep paying their monthly charges. You would think that among these three services somebody might get around to getting it right, but apparently the cost to get there just isn’t worth it, so we are stuck with what we have. I can’t believe all these providers are colluding to provide less than optimal service or if by chance where somebody would build the better mousetrap, that they would be worried about antitrust concerns.

 

For those still looking, Visible (Verizon) is running a Labor Day special. $15 a month for 2 months. Comes with unlimited voice, data and hotspot. If your phone is e-SIM capable, you can activate instantly.

 

I dealt with cell phones for years where I work. With most carriers they have agreements to use other towers. However if you can even pick up a tiny bit of their signal you will stick on that. We have USCellular & Verizon. Towers are about half each. I can be a mile from a Verizon tower and it will still force me to hang onto a 1 bar USCC signal. Obviously they don’t want to pay another carrier for your usage if they don’t have to. I normally resolve this by disconnecting cellular & turning back on. The strength of the other tower will then grab so I have full bars.

I love USCC & no issues EXCEPT they only give deals to new customers. I want a new iPhone. I’ve been a customer for over 20 years. No free phone. Only if I am new. I was hoping they’d pick up on the ‘same deal’ that ATT runs. Coverage has been fine no matter where I travel.

I won’t ever do ATT simply because of the way they screwed up our DirecTV.