Switch to Verizon or AT&T?

[BakedPotato65]

I'm currently using Virgin Mobile as my carrier. I'm tired of not have signal in most of the places I'm at and the prices of the phones. I was thinking about going to Verizon or AT&T. I'm leaning towards Verizon because I know more people who have it and I know they have service in almost everywhere in my location. I'm wanting the cheapest plan from them, the $55 250mb more everything plan. I'm wanting the Galaxy S5 or the HTC One 2/M8/The New One when they come out. I heard that Verizon's extra fees are very expensive. I thought it would just be the $55 plan, tax, and small extra fees added to the bill. Is this true? Is AT&T any better or cheaper? I need the cheapest plan from either carriers. I've checked coverage in my area and they both seem to be equal in coverage. Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

Verizon doesn't add more "taxes and fees" than other carriers, but watch out if you need service, you go over a limit, you have to speak to someone on the phone (technical, customer service, billing, anyone).

But if they have covereage where you need it that AT&T doesn't, there's nothing for you to consider, since "do they have coverage where I need it" is the first question on the decision list. ANY carrier that doesn't gets crossed off immediately.

I don't care if AT&T gives you a Note 3 for $1.98 and charges you $3/month for unlimited everything. When you absolutely must make a phone call and have no coverage, you might as well not have a phone.

AT&T's family plan right now, if you need data (you can burn 250MB in a few minutes) and need more than 1 phone on the plan, is pretty good. But for 1 phone, they have a $65/month (plus fees, etc.) plan with 3GB of data.

Or you might want to check out Straight Talk. They use Verizon or AT&T (or Sprint or TMobile), and the price is $45/month (depending oon where you live, the fees and taxes could be as much as $5/month) for 2.5GB.

But coverage is first. If AT&T has a dead spot where you need coverage (and check each spot - a dead "spot" can be a few feet across), don't go with AT&T. (Even though, in my personal opinion, they're better than Verizon. They're still useless if you need coverage where they don't have any.)

 

[axel_2078]

Be aware that Verizon is also usually the last carrier to get the newest flag ship phone.

 

[Thom]

Well us Droid Maxx users would point out that is the only place to get the Droid Maxx.

The Moto X distribution went a long way to dispel the belief that Verizon was always last in line. With the Moto X they were always first or second.

... Thom

 

[axel_2078]

Yes but they tend to favor their Droid branded phones. What if you want something else like a Samsung or LG or Sony?

 

[Grey1001]

If you know more people on Verizon and get the coverage you need, you're in the same boat as I am.
I may pay a bit more, but I have a useable phone nearly everywhere I need it,
(motorcycle rides on some backroads the exception) and the calls between Verizon users don't count in the plan.

 

[Thom]

Yes but they tend to favor their Droid branded phones. What if you want something else like a Samsung or LG or Sony?

My phones have always been Motorola (except once) and the support through Verizon was always delayed in getting anything out. My point is that this changed when the Droid Mini/Ultra/Maxx and Moto X came out.

The best model for the future would be the Moto X that is available from multiple carriers.

Motorola is not owned by Verizon.

... Thom

 

[svensett]

Be aware that Verizon is the last carrier to get the newest flag ship phone.

Not so much recently...

LG G2?
HTC One M8?
S4?
Rumored to get the Sony Experia Z2 exclusively to start.

 

[trophynuts]

and also getting the SGS 5 at the same time as well. The only phone they really get left out on these days is the Nexus phones.

 

[mrnyjet]

Verizon doesn't add more "taxes and fees" than other carriers, but watch out if you need service, you go over a limit, you have to speak to someone on the phone (technical, customer service, billing, anyone).

But if they have covereage where you need it that AT&T doesn't, there's nothing for you to consider, since "do they have coverage where I need it" is the first question on the decision list. ANY carrier that doesn't gets crossed off immediately.

I don't care if AT&T gives you a Note 3 for $1.98 and charges you $3/month for unlimited everything. When you absolutely must make a phone call and have no coverage, you might as well not have a phone.

AT&T's family plan right now, if you need data (you can burn 250MB in a few minutes) and need more than 1 phone on the plan, is pretty good. But for 1 phone, they have a $65/month (plus fees, etc.) plan with 3GB of data.

Or you might want to check out Straight Talk. They use Verizon or AT&T (or Sprint or TMobile), and the price is $45/month (depending oon where you live, the fees and taxes could be as much as $5/month) for 2.5GB.

But coverage is first. If AT&T has a dead spot where you need coverage (and check each spot - a dead "spot" can be a few feet across), don't go with AT&T. (Even though, in my personal opinion, they're better than Verizon. They're still useless if you need coverage where they don't have any.)

I do not get insurance but have two or three phones so I can switch whenever I want. Same applies if you travel outside USA, as a gsm phone can be switched or provider changed by you moving the sim card between phones or getting a local sim card in another country. Far easier to do both on gsm than CDMA. Plus, if you fall off LTE, gsm HSDPA is more than 3x faster than 3g on CDMA. So, AT&T or T-Mobile are much better. Just my opinion, since I have used both systems and all 4 carriers at some recent time.

 

[axel_2078]

Not so much recently...



LG G2?

HTC One M8?

S4?

Rumored to get the Sony Experia Z2 exclusively to start.

Verizon was the last carrier to get the S4 and purposely delayed it for so long that it was speculated that they weren't going to carry it. I can't speak for the LG but they struck some exclusive deal with HTC which may allow them to sell for a few weeks before they allow preordering for the S5.

 

[trophynuts]

I do not get insurance but have two or three phones so I can switch whenever I want. Same applies if you travel outside USA, as a gsm phone can be switched or provider changed by you moving the sim card between phones or getting a local sim card in another country. Far easier to do both on gsm than CDMA. Plus, if you fall off LTE, gsm HSDPA is more than 3x faster than 3g on CDMA. So, AT&T or T-Mobile are much better. Just my opinion, since I have used both systems and all 4 carriers at some recent time.

I've used my VZW Iphone5 using a pre-paid Vodasim in Germany. No issues and super painless. I also have the option of doing the same in Australia and South Korea when i travel there. I've also put in a Tmo pre-paid sim. While it doesn't support Tmo's LTE it does support the network and the HSPA band.

The newer iPhone 5S/C on VZW will work on Tmo's LTE and also AT&T's LTE. Using that carriers sim. The VZW iPhone is the only one that comes unlocked out of the box and free to use any carrier sim in it.

 

[mrnyjet]

I've used my VZW Iphone5 using a pre-paid Vodasim in Germany. No issues and super painless. I also have the option of doing the same in Australia and South Korea when i travel there. I've also put in a Tmo pre-paid sim. While it doesn't support Tmo's LTE it does support the network and the HSPA band.

The newer iPhone 5S/C on VZW will work on Tmo's LTE and also AT&T's LTE. Using that carriers sim. The VZW iPhone is the only one that comes unlocked out of the box and free to use any carrier sim in it.

i do not buy apple. Android is the most widely used phone and ditto for gsm. Lte is a form of gsm, so eventually cdma will disappear. If the courts rule correctly, patent trolls like apple will disappear as well. Out-sell beats out-sue.
all the tmobile and at&t phones can do the foreign switch but only special "world" models , in android or iphones, can do what you said. You don't have as much phone choice with cdma.

 

[BCM]

Beware of AT&T. My GF wanted to leave them for various reasons and they made it very difficult despite her willingness to pay ETF's. Very, very bad customer service to a 10 year customer.

My experience with Verizon has been excellent. The only knock against them is their pricing, beyond that they are great!

Bryan

 

[mrnyjet]

Beware of AT&T. My GF wanted to leave them for various reasons and they made it very difficult despite her willingness to pay ETF's. Very, very bad customer service to a 10 year customer.

My experience with Verizon has been excellent. The only knock against them is their pricing, beyond that they are great!

Bryan

i used to have them under contract with a 20% govt discount. Verizon charged more for 3 flip phones with 700 shared voice minutes than l paid for 3 prepaid smartphones with unlimited everything. Now, i use at&t prepaid with faster lte, faster 4&3 g, and still unlimited voice with text for less than verizon. And there is no lte on prepaid verizon. If you want to star in a contract " 2 yrs. a slave" movie, then that is your right. I respectfully decline.
btw, i had to get 3 new phone numbers when i switched cause verizon deliberately dragged their feet on porting despite not owing them any money. They refused to release so i told radio shack to just activate with new numbers and then shut down my verizon account when i got home.
their retention rep called me later and i gave her an earful. I would not go back despite free lte phones and bill credits. After they pulled that porting hostage nonsense, i was never going to use them again.

 

[ylexot]

My suggestion is to get a used, unlocked phone and a SIM from Straight Talk (which uses the AT&T network) to try out the network. You can pick up a Moto Atrix for under $100, $7 for the SIM, and $45 for a month of the plan. It's a small price to try it out and if it doesn't work, you can resell the phone.



I tried this and unfortunately, the signal wasn't good enough at my house, so I'm stuck with Verizon. I really wanted to switch too so that I could consider phones like a Nexus, Oppo, or the new OnePlus One.