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Help Upgrading phone

JLeslie

Well-Known Member
May 6, 2010
108
21
My wife has an Essential phone which we're getting ready to upgrade. We're with Sprint so of course getting a T-Mobile phone. They are offering us a free upgrade to a 5G phone and I believe our area has good coverage for it but I'm not sure whether to go with one of them or just get her a Pixel which is the only type of phone I've had for some years and will ever have if possible.

The phones they are offering are REVVL 5G, REVVL V+ 5G, Samsung Galaxy A32 5G, and OnePlus Nord N200 5G. So far I've not found any reason to prefer any one of those 4 over the others.

Anyone care to provide info as to getting one of these free trade-ups vs getting for example a Pixel 4A? Can't really say I see a compelling reason to get a 5G phone but free is free.

Jonathan
 
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I'll offer a counterpoint, only from my experience. I had been using a Pixel on Mint (T-Mobile towers) and had what I'd always had for coverage (and usual dead spots). I upgraded to an S20 with 5G and I now have much better coverage, even in areas where I never had coverage with any carrier. I may not get the blazing 5G speeds, but it is much better than dropped calls and being unable to call up navigation.

So I guess your tradeoff is phone or coverage, or the Pixel with 5g.
 
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Where do you reside?
T-Mobile might work out well for her, but it's typically very dependent on locale. Take into consideration where you are, not where any of us live when it comes to coverage of any U.S. carrier. In a densely populated area there's likely to be good coverage with all carriers but in more sparse areas it's more of a 'maybe' where you have multiple options or just one or two. And be wary of the coverage maps of the carriers themselves, they may or may not be completely valid, but that's also not definitive, it again depends on where you live.
Also, which carrier to you use on your Pixel? If you're with T-Mobile than the question of adequate coverage isn't such a variable.
Or try installing this Opensignal app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.staircase3.opensignal&hl=en_US&gl=US
It's primarily a speed test app but includes a function that shows you a local coverage map of the major carriers, along with locations of their respective cell towers/access points. Just note that it relies upon user contributed, crowd-sourced data so in populated areas will represent actual coverage stats really well, but not so effective elsewhere. Or ask around to friends and family that might live nearby and are with T-Mobile -- their opinions will have a lot more relevance.

As far as which phone might work out best for your wife, just my opinion but I'd be averse to getting any phone from a carrier. Branded, carrier-locked phones might have good pricing involved but I still prefer just buying my own carrier-free, unlocked phones. Of course a free phone is big selling point, but this most likely involves getting tied into a contract with T-Mobile. If she doesn't like the phone, just buy one that does work out better (and is of course compatible) but if T-Mobile service is a problem for her and you're locked into a contact, that's going to be sticky matter.
 
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Yup. What the others have said, plus...
I had Sprint and was very happy with it.
T-Mobile bought them, and now the service is horrible.
I live in the same place.
Only the carrier has changed.
Literally the worst cellular coverage I have seen in 20 years- no exaggeration at all- I used to sell cellphones back then.

My area of ~25,000 people will likely not see any advantage of 5G in my lifetime.
 
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Thanks everyone for your input, it's all much appreciated and very good food for thought.

Just to be clear, I am the Pixel user and wouldn't trade it for anything. My wife has never had one but is a fairly basic user while I tend to be the "power user". I've noticed since I got her the Essential that she has trouble with it that I never have and while on trips she won't have a signal whereas I still have a decent one. So I definitely want her to have a better experience this time around. So I'm leaning towards a Pixel for her but am not sure at all about the usefulness of getting a 5G at this point. We're in the KC area so coverage is decent but for a basic user I'm not convinced 5G is needed.
Let me know what you think about that.
 
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Thanks everyone for your input, it's all much appreciated and very good food for thought.

Just to be clear, I am the Pixel user and wouldn't trade it for anything. My wife has never had one but is a fairly basic user while I tend to be the "power user". I've noticed since I got her the Essential that she has trouble with it that I never have and while on trips she won't have a signal whereas I still have a decent one. So I definitely want her to have a better experience this time around. So I'm leaning towards a Pixel for her but am not sure at all about the usefulness of getting a 5G at this point. We're in the KC area so coverage is decent but for a basic user I'm not convinced 5G is needed.
Let me know what you think about that.
yeah i think that you can save your money on her and not get the 5 G version. not until 5 G is more prevalent everywhere.
 
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