Who has the best coverage? (not fastest speeds)

[araxxis]

All i ever hear about with wireless carriers (reviews on youtube, etc) is how fast their LTE is, but honestly once you get to a certain speed what difference does the overkill make?

I cannot decide between T-mobile and cricket wireless. From what i have heard cricket has a LARGER 4G LTE area but T-mobile has a FASTER LTE area where its available, is this generally the consensus?

I dont understand why people harp on LTE speeds so much, i have come to the conclusion that you only need 4Mbps to stream HD video and i cant come up with a reason where you would need more bandwidth than that.

I dont live in a large city im about an hour south of the twin cities in MN (my zip code 55021 if you want to look at the coverage maps for me). And again from what ive heard cricket (ATT) has the wider coverage area which is more important to me, from the maps T-mobile says my city is fully covered in LTE but right now i use virgin mobile (sprint) and they say my city is also fully covered in LTE and that is a straight up lie, my 4g drops constantly and i have 3g more than i have 4g lte in my city.

T-mobile would end up costing my about 20 bucks more per month than cricket after taxes and fees, i know t-mobile would also have far better customer service but that is less important to me than having a consistent data signal.

I know first world problems lol, but this is a tough one to decide. Either way im going to be using a LG G2 unlocked.

 

[rui-no-onna]

Best coverage in general is Verizon followed by AT&T. Of course, it really varies by location. I have no idea what the actual coverage is like in your area. Probably best to ask friends and family living in the same area.

Another thing, T-Mobile offers a test drive program. They send you a loaner iPhone 5s so you can test T-Mobile coverage in your area for 1 week. They put a hold on your card for the cost of the iPhone until you return the device (so be sure to use a credit card and not a debit card).

T-Mobile Test Drive | Try our 4G LTE Network for Free

 

[araxxis]

Best coverage in general is Verizon followed by AT&T. Of course, it really varies by location. I have no idea what the actual coverage is like in your area. Probably best to ask friends and family living in the same area.

Another thing, T-Mobile offers a test drive program. They send you a loaner iPhone 5s so you can test T-Mobile coverage in your area for 1 week. They put a hold on your card for the cost of the iPhone until you return the device (so be sure to use a credit card and not a debit card).

T-Mobile Test Drive | Try our 4G LTE Network for Free

lol id love to do that but no one i know has att. Most of my relatives have t-mobile and im sure voice calling is fine but none of them stream videos like i do (i use twitch tv instead of listening to the radio). With virgin i have to lower the quality of the stream before i go on a drive so it wont buffer and close during the commute, seems like a minor annoyance until you have to do it everyday lol. With my new carrier i want to be able to not have to touch video quality settings and the stream stays smooth.

 

[rui-no-onna]

Then just try T-Mobile's free test drive for now. You've got nothing to lose.