Best Cell Phone Service

I would like to express my thanks to all of you who posted. I showed this to my wife and she was surprised as to the choice for Verizon. She has decided we won't be jumping into the Sprint deal with our daughter.

I was one of Sprint’s longest customers having been with them since 1994. Well a few months ago I couldn’t take it anymore. The voice part was always good but data sucked bad. I had gotten an iPad years ago with Verizon and would always bring it along for when Sprint wouldn’t work.
The problem with Sprint is they are using a Band frequency all their own, cell boosters like my Wilson Weboost won’t even work with sprint 4G LTE data.
Switched to Verizon on my iPhone and I’m glad I did.
Out in AZ there are big gaps in Sprint, Verizon seems to have most of that covered.

I’m actually posting on my Verizon iPad due to Cox cable being out right now......

My brother got our parents Sprint phones under the same deal. The salesperson in Florida swore to my brother that they would work. They don't. Another brother has ATT, I have Straighttalk with Verizon, and my wife has Google Fi. The Sprint phones are the ones that don't work at my parents house.

BB_TX wrote:
.. I specifically asked if they could recommend a phone model to allow us to get service there. Sure, they said. And recommended a model I now forget. We both bought new phones. Next time at the campground, still no service.

My experience is that the people who answer calls at cell companies are salesmen and women.

Charlie D. wrote:
Not to get off topic too far but does the cell phone play a role in reception? Type of phone, built in antenna, etc.?

That very question is why we ended up leaving AT&T. At a Colorado campground we could not get AT&T service on our phones. But another couple nearby both could get AT&T, weak but fairly reliable. This was before phones became very "smart". One had a very basic flip phone. The other had a slightly more advanced phone. Our phones were different from either of theirs. We could drive about 2-3 miles closer to a town and get good AT&T service.
Upon returning home, I called AT&T and explained our issue with no service while these other people did have service. And I specifically asked if they could recommend a phone model to allow us to get service there. Sure, they said. And recommended a model I now forget. We both bought new phones. Next time at the campground, still no service. That same couple was there again, and they still had service. Returning home, I called AT&T again and explained the problem of no service while others did have it. I told them the phones they recommended did not help and we would like a better option. "We can send you new phones" they said, but it would simply be exact same phones as the phones they had already sold us. "Will those work better than the same ones you already sold us?", I asked. "Not likely, we don't have service to that area", they said. So I ask, if they don't service to that area, how were others getting AT&T service at the campground, and we could get good AT&T service if we drove 2-3 miles away. They said "don't know, we don't service that area". I ask if we could return the phones that still did not work, and they said no, we bought them, we were stuck with them.
Upon arriving home, we cancelled our AT&T service (with penalty) and went to Verizon. And it has worked well every where we have been.
So don't expect a new phone to work in an area your old one doesn't.

Charlie D. wrote:
Not to get off topic too far but does the cell phone play a role in reception? Type of phone, built in antenna, etc.?

different phones may vary slightly, but not much. they all have the same output power, virtually all have built in antennas, and the chipsets used are pretty common performance. If you are in a very marginal reception area, it may make a difference with one phone giving you 1 bar and voice and another not.

We often are in areas with marginal or no reception, and for a given carrier, those with or around us with the same carrier have pretty consisent results. If one has no recpetion, others regardless of phones are the same. if i is marginal, again pretty much the same.

Now, going to a built in car phone, like onstar ATT phone can help since you will have an external antenna and more output power.

Do not be fooled by the "They use the Verizon towers" Line.

Another service may use Verizon towers, but to provide the coverage that Verizon does provide comes from their buying time on other systems. So, if another low cost carrier uses Verizon towers, they could well not be getting all of Verizon's coverage. A good friend recently learned this first hand.

Matt

Charlie D. wrote:
Not to get off topic too far but does the cell phone play a role in reception? Type of phone, built in antenna, etc.?

You will find the odd differences but no, they are all quality machines built with amazing technology.

The state park we're in right now has just about the same signal strength on both AT&T and Verizon from a tower about a 1/2 mile away. I understand T-Mobile is good here as well, but not Sprint. The previous national park we were at had good Verizon service, but weak AT&T with no T-Mobile or Sprint. The state park before that had good AT&T service, weak Verizon service, and no T-Mobile or Sprint. The bottom line for us is that Verizon and AT&T have kept us online everywhere we've been so far over the past few years.

Hands down VERIZON has the best coverage. Cheapest??? NO!