Who has signal as good as VZW?

[dheymann]

I switched from Sprint to VZW over a decade ago because I travel all of north America and need a reliable signal for business. I am wondering if 10 years later, AT&T or T-Mobile has coverage as good as Verizon all over the 50 states and Canada. Saw only one recent post on the topic and it said VZW and ATT are better than T-Mobile. Does anyone who travels a lot have a sense of who has coverage as good at VZW? I have Pixel phones. thanks!

 

[Unforgiven]

That question depends on where you are traveling and when ones experience is from. I switched from VZW to a T-Mo MVNO about 8 years ago (with a short stint on an AT&T MVNO in between) and had decidedly more dead areas. That lasted until 5G came out, and now I have fewer dead areas than I had even on VZW. Most notably campgrounds, which are notorious bad signal areas.

What I can't say, because I no longer have VZW, is if they have improved in the interim years as well. Or has AT&T? With the seemingly limitless variations on tower locations, antenna strength, topography, device specific antennas, the software driving those devices, it can be difficult to impossible to say what's "best."

If I were to do it again, I try the same thing did before. Cheap unlocked phones and prepaid service on throwaway numbers. When I was satisfied enough to change, I ported my real number to the new service.

 

[dheymann]

[QUOTE="If I were to do it again, I try the same thing did before. Cheap unlocked phones and prepaid service on throwaway numbers. When I was satisfied enough to change, I ported my real number to the new service.[/QUOTE]

This is a brilliant idea. If I did this with AT&T or TM, would I then still be able to get a new customer deal when I switch or would the prepaid phone make me an existing customer?

 

[Unforgiven]

This is a brilliant idea. If I did this with AT&T or TM, would I then still be able to get a new customer deal when I switch or would the prepaid phone make me an existing customer?

Sure, if you us an MVNO prepaid. I think it was Net10 or something for AT&T, and I'm using Mint Mobile for my T-Mobile, so neither AT&T or T-Mobile ever knew I who I was. I was never their customer.

 

[nickdalzell]

Where I work the best service is AT&T. I have VZW but it still tends to drop LTE and go to 1x/3G in that area. Given that LTE is the de-facto required minimum, however, you can't do anything with 1x/3G than browse the internet slowly. texting and phone calls refuse to work if you're stuck in that type of coverage.

Many rural areas lost entire coverage due to the 3G sunset. Thanks for nothing, carriers! Nobody asked you to do that! No customer wanted 5G that badly. Hope no one there needs to dial 911 anytime soon!

BTW does Net10 still exist? I haven't seen their refill cards or their phones in years. Last time I had service was in 2016 with an LG Optimus Net (Android 2.3).

 

[The_Chief]

It really depends on where you are and where you go. Urban areas will have a good variety of service providers, all with robust coverage. Where I am, however, GSM coverage is sparse unless we're right along the interstate. Verizon rules here, in both voice and data signal.

Although TMo's coverage map shows full LTE coverage here, the map is a LIE and I'd actually filed an FCC complaint against the provider for misleading consumers into switching to a provider with little or no service... and losing incentives from their previous provider. I will never use T-Mobile again for that reason.

 

[nickdalzell]

I think all those coverage maps are lies. They're all solid colours here depicting the type of network more so than the actual or estimated coverage (red USA for Verizon, blue for AT&T to tell you what a particular phone is meant to run on). I haven't seen estimated coverage maps since 2013.

I still hate that I MUST have data on in order to text anyone though. This started in September, and if I switch off data it just fails to send and no longer receives. It was one of the many benefits of SMS to not need internet (which is rare where I go, data vanishes often, and that's one of many reasons I never bought into the whole 'just use WhatsApp' mantra) but today you NEED a data plan to text, at least, in Kentucky. Yes, even with a flip phone like I'm using now (ZTE Cymbal). I could go a week longer on battery just switching off data but that makes the phone a paperweight.

Not just data either, but LTE data minimum. Something I only get like 1/8 the time (like when I'm at home). At work? either no data and only bars, or 1x/3g and no calls/texts. I've started leaving my phone at home.