Cell service, AT&T or Verizon?

[Stopsignhank]

I am in SoCal and looking to upgrade my daughters phone. It is a good time for us to switch providers. We currently have AT&T but I have hear good things about Verizon. We have 3 phones and are on the 10GB of data plan. We use about half of that each month. Oh yeah, we are also iPhone users. I would look at the Samsungs but my autistic son likes to use his iphone and mine so I don't want him to have to learn another system.

Anybody have any words of wisdom?

 

[XavierMace]

No experience with AT&T, just left Verizon for TMobile. Far cheaper and superior data offerings.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I can offer a mixed opinion for one reason: My wife has T-Mobile, and I have Verizon.

This is because my company pays for my phone (well, most of my phone), and this forces my wife to have a separate line/service since it's obviously not a part of my companies business line.

Whenever we travel (especially by car/vehicle), my phone is 100% superior. It has signal, more signal, or better signal in all cases.

HOWEVER. That said, if I actually had to pay for the Verizon bill I would shit bricks. I hate Verizon's charges, they tend to be over the top. Our T-Mobile bill is a flat $40 for unlimited text, data, and a cap on minutes that we never get near. Simple. Her T-mobile does get dropped calls occasionally, which is annoying - but it is still overall worth it if you live your day-to-day life in a city.


AT&T Wise - my wife used to have it for her phone. It became way too expensive. The service was okay, it had occasional dropped calls as well, but the coverage was better than T-Mobile. But both lose to Verizon as far as coverage.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

ATT dropped my bill fro $300 to $180 recently.

 

[kt]

Stay away from AT&T, they are crappy all around (customer service, reception, pricing). Started with Sprint, went to AT&T because company paid for my service. Company switched to Verizon because of constant complaints from employees that they get calls dropped. Verizon has good reception in most of SoCal area but a bit pricey. I made the compromise and went to T-Mobile when I left the company and had to pay for my own service. Coverage is almost same as Verizon in SoCal but T-Mobile is so much cheaper.

 

[Engineer]

ATT dropped my bill fro $300 to $180 recently.

and did you go from subsidized phones to you paying 100% of the new phone price?

 

[Stopsignhank]

I had not thought about TMobile. The one thing is my daughter goes to college in Santa Barbara so need service there. It is kind of spotty up there.

I am not looking for the cheapest service. Sounds like it might be time to talk to Verizon.

 

[notposting]

Every area varies, but the general rule would be that Verizon has better coverage, especially the further out in rural areas, or along highways between metro areas. However, they definitely can suffer congestion and have dead zones as well.

AT&T is next, but is also closest in pricing.

T-Mo is the only major carrier alternative (ruling out Sprint here) but you have to be pretty confident in coverage locations, etc. Pricing could work out in favor though.

 

[notposting]

Also, may want to look at the combinations of the More Everything with Edge pricing and bring your own device pricing in regards to VZW, versus 2 year deals, could work out with a mix of phones (maybe a used older phone off eBay for your son? Not sure how old he is, what his needs are).

Probably whatever their salesperson suggests first off is a big rip though

 

[Brovane]

I have had Verizon for over 10-years now. Switched from Sprint because of crappy coverage. The Verizon coverage is excellent. I can go just about anywhere and I get cell coverage. The biggest problem for me is the cost, but I get the coverage. I keep hoping with some of the competition that Verizon will drop some of their rates but it doesn't look like it is happening. When my children get older and it is time to get them cell phones I could be shopping for a new provider.

 

[Belegost]

and did you go from subsidized phones to you paying 100% of the new phone price?

When they made the change they wrote off existing contracts - my wife and I both had phones less than 1 year into our contract and they dropped our bill $60/month and ended the contract. They also just bumped my 10GB (for 3 lines) to 15GB for the same price a couple days ago.

I've had VZW, TMO, and ATT in San Diego area - TMO had the best pricing, but the worst coverage, and honestly their support was the same if not worse than ATT. VZW and ATT have about equivalent coverage, but as bad as ATTs customer service is, VZW is 1000% worse, I wouldn't deal with them unless they gave me completely free phones and plan. Overall I found ATT was a good compromise between service and coverage, and the pricing is a bit better than VZW though not as good as TMO.

Unless you can get discounts from work/school/etc. TMO killed all their discount programs - so after a 25/month discount from my work ATT is actually cheaper than TMO.

~edit~ Also, the TMO Jump and ATT Next programs are quite straightforward, and an excellent deal. They just take the retail price of the phone, divide it by 20 (or 24) and that's the monthly payment. So it's effectively a 20 month interest free loan on a phone. So when my wife wanted a new iPhone, even though we had money to pay cash for it, we used Next and left the money in savings to earn interest.

 

[Thump553]

I have had Verizon for over 10-years now. Switched from Sprint because of crappy coverage. The Verizon coverage is excellent. I can go just about anywhere and I get cell coverage. The biggest problem for me is the cost, but I get the coverage. I keep hoping with some of the competition that Verizon will drop some of their rates but it doesn't look like it is happening. When my children get older and it is time to get them cell phones I could be shopping for a new provider.

I was in the same boat for just as long. Switch to one of the pay as you go providers that use Verizon towers and phones. Bring the phone you have already paid for (probably over and over again). I now pay a little over $30 per month for Pageplus and the coverage is great. I travel a lot by car and use the phone for business so continuous and reliable coverage is essential.

 

[RGN]

Had AT&T for about 8 years until February of this year. Switched to t-mobile in Feb, then to Verizon with the release of iPhone6. At work was Nextel, then Sprint then Verizon.

AT&T was ok, but away from populated suburbs, the coverage isn't good. Data rates drop dramatically or are nonexistant, even if voice is still active. This can include Interstate highways between lower population cities.

Verizon seems to have a median amount of coverage *everywhere* I go.

T-Mobile is great in a major city, or its close suburbs. If you don't travel much, this may not be bad. If you do travel, likely gonna be SOL unless its to another major metropolitan area. Overall, I was pleased, but only with the cost of the network factored in.

Its been a bit since I was on the Sprint network, they have rebuilt and changed a lot. But it wasn't good then, if it was me, I would buy T-Mobile service.

I ended up on Verizon after travelling with my personal AT&T and T-Mobile phones, comparing it to my work issued Verizon. I felt VZW was the best bang for the buck, across the board. Look up the Verizon ads where they show the coverage maps between the carriers. Having used them all, I think it was an accurate and brilliant way to market.

 

[Stopsignhank]

So it sounds like you get what you pay for. It seems that Verizon has the best coverage, but is also the most expensive. Tmoble is cheaper but the coverage is not as good. AT&T is is the middle of both.

Sounds like I need to talk to Verizon. The issue is the phone was going to be a Christmas gift for my daughter, which could make the switch harder to do it I want to keep it a surprise.

I was looking at the AT&T Next program. We did like Belogest and cancelled our contract. Now if we get a new phone we pay for the price of the phone. They only pay for half of the cost of the new iphone 6 anyway.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

and did you go from subsidized phones to you paying 100% of the new phone price?

I did, I went from Subsidized phones to just keeping my iPhone.