Cell Phone Cost and Coverage

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

How long ago did you have T-Mobile? I spent the summer up your way and had no coverage issues with T-Mobile?

I had it years ago but friends who have it now all have to have boosters in their house to even get a signal inside. Plus where we camp every June does not get T-mobile. I have not heard as much about dropped calls lately.

[cpaharley2008]

One of the reasons we go camping is to get away from phone calls at home, so if we are out of range, we just turn off the phone......

[Mike G]

No use continuing to be phoney when out of range of everyone.

[fudge_brownie]

You probably know this, but . . . The worst thing you can do when changing a cell plan is to rely on the service maps that the various cell providers have on line. These interactive maps are widly incorrect.

Unfortunately, unless you are on site or can read online of someones actual experience it is not possible to get a reading of whether you will have service. Even that comes with questionable reliability.

[Vermilye]

I'm here in Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia attending a fiberglass rally, and while AT&T is barely usable, Verizon has good coverage & very fast (57Mbps) data speeds. Don't know about T Mobile, but the ranger here said Verizon is the only one that works.

I carry both a Verizon & AT&T phone as well as a cell modem from each. Over most of the US coverage is about the same, although there are plenty of places where one or the other (like here) one service prevails. There are also places where there is no cell coverage from anyone such as Cades Cove in The Great Smoky Mountain NP in TN or Big Bend NP in Texas.

[oldwave]

In an area where this no cell coverage carriers are now rolling out emergency service via satellite, much like the standalone sat communication devices for back country users. This is a good advance and my latest phone is due to add that service by the end of the year.

[Chasing Trials]

Originally Posted by YakRV

When we bought our Escape trailer we shopped for new mobile phone plans. We found T-Mobile’s Magenta plans for 55 and over. We looked for a similar discount plan with Verizon and AT&T only to find that they just offer them to Florida residents. What??!

We now have one phone with T-Mobile on a Magenta plan, and another with Tracfone to have access to Verizon towers.

That sounds interesting, way of doing it. Plus I miss place phone a lot! Slipped under mattress in Escape once! I guess I have to look into T-Mobile. My problem is I just finished paying off a new 4/5 G clamshell phone. As Verizon, said they were/are dropping 3 G. I physically can't use a touch screen phone(Cut the nerve controlling fingertips in RT hand, for pressure), & have only used a hot spot for my laptop's internet. Was living in 3 places a year for about 12 yrs. Upstate NY(old house), NC(building new house), Naples FL(helping parents). My Hotspot is looking VERY poor but, still works! But Verizon is not happy now it seems in my NC house. 4/5G not as good as 3/4G was, when I checked before buying the land.

[fudge_brownie]

If you use the app called RV Life, and I would recommend their review section. They used to be called RV Park Reviews. For each park they have a section called Connectivity under Park Features. If you check Connectivity-Show you will see user supplied information on what cell services will work. Certainly not perfect as it is reviewers filling out or suggesting changes by checking or unchecking a box. Sort of a vote?

Originally Posted by fudge_brownie

You probably know this, but . . . The worst thing you can do when changing a cell plan is to rely on the service maps that the various cell providers have on line. These interactive maps are widly incorrect.

Unfortunately, unless you are on site or can read online of someones actual experience it is not possible to get a reading of whether you will have service. Even that comes with questionable reliability.

[Ruthe]

I'm reviving this thread to see if there are any updates on T-mobile. It's tempting to switch but I'm concerned about coverage when we are driving to more remote areas, like Yosemite and Death Valley. A big concern actually is the GPS -- The one installed in our Highlander is so-so, so we generally use the phone. In the olden days we relied on maps, but these days it's mostly the GPS. Then there's the issue of breaking down somewhere and needing a reliable phone. Any thoughts?

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Ruthe

I'm reviving this thread to see if there are any updates on T-mobile. It's tempting to switch but I'm concerned about coverage when we are driving to more remote areas, like Yosemite and Death Valley. A big concern actually is the GPS -- The one installed in our Highlander is so-so, so we generally use the phone. In the olden days we relied on maps, but these days it's mostly the GPS. Then there's the issue of breaking down somewhere and needing a reliable phone. Any thoughts?

The previous winters we had both Verizon and T-Mobile. Every year, since T-Mobile bought Sprint, T-Mobile's coverage improved. This past winter we didn't fire up our Verizon phone and didn't miss it. T-Mobiles goal is to have coverage in North America like they have in Europe, virtually everywhere.

We just got back from camping for the "Family 4th" last weekend. Previously we didn't have T-Mobile service and there was poor Verizon service. We had five bars with perfect service, but the Verizon users still had issues.

Our biggest problem is my new iPhone 14 that was purchased the end of November, 2022. It sucks! Terry got a Samsung Flip the same day.

• Many remote places I have no service, but Terry does. I've never had service when Terry hasn't. Terry's Samsung also gets service where we've never gotten it before (Chiricahua National Park for instance).
  
  
• It will not hotspot to my Windows computer (does hotspot to my iPad though), so I have to use Terry's hotspot when doing business or things an iPad won't.
  
  
• It can't decide what speaker to use in our truck if using hearing aids (a known problem since iPhone 12). It switches between my aids, the truck speaker, or the phone speaker while you're talking, and switches every 30 seconds or so. Never had this problem with my One Plus phone, my old Pixel, and the aids work perfect with Terry's Samsung Flip.
  
  
• I have to put my phone on "Airplane Mode" to use my Gaia, Mapy, or All-Trails hiking apps, else the battery runs out (OP, Pixel and Terry's Flip have plenty of battery). Yes, I turn off all the other apps. I've run into other Apple users that have extra battery packs and were happy to hear Airplane Mode would work (our friends with Apple 12 and 13 must do the same).

Food for thought,

Perry

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Ruthe

I'm reviving this thread to see if there are any updates on T-mobile. It's tempting to switch but I'm concerned about coverage when we are driving to more remote areas, like Yosemite and Death Valley. A big concern actually is the GPS -- The one installed in our Highlander is so-so, so we generally use the phone. In the olden days we relied on maps, but these days it's mostly the GPS. Then there's the issue of breaking down somewhere and needing a reliable phone. Any thoughts?

Cellphones don't need cell service for their GPS to work. They use satellites for GPS location just like a Garmin. What a cellphone does use cellular service for is map data. There are navigation programs that you can download the entire country to your cellphone in advance like Copilot. Even Google Maps lets you predownload maps for an area, though not the entire country like Copilot.

No cellphone provider has 100% coverage. If you plan on travelling to remote locations I strongly encourage you go get a Garmin inReach two way satellite text messenger. The annual Safety Plan is only $13 a month, well worth it to be able to call for help or let family reach you if there is an emergency at home, even in areas where there is no cellphone coverage from any carrier.

edit: By the way, regardless of who your cellphone carrier is you can call 911 if there is service available from any carrier. So if you have a Verizon phone plan and there is T-Mobile coverage in the area, but, no Verizon coverage you will still be able to call 911.

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by Perry Butler

• It will not hotspot to my Windows computer (does hotspot to my iPad though), so I have to use Terry's hotspot when doing business or things an iPad won't.

I can't speak to your other issues, but my 1-month-old iPhone 14 does create a hotspot for my laptop. So, not all the 14s are acting up in that regard. I never liked my previous Samsung but I'm enjoying having an iPhone again (it's been a while; my last one was a 3!). The built-in camera's capability in tough low light situations has been a pleasant surprise.

So far the only thing off-putting was was when I wanted to set a morning alarm; the iPhone made me go into "health" and asked for all sorts of ridiculous permissions to monitor my sleep habits and transmit data! I declined them all, of course. Then the phone 'decided' that I should go to bed at 10:30 and get up at 7.... Apparently a separate alarm clock is preferable IMO.

[Randy in Maine]

Originally Posted by Ruthe

I'm reviving this thread to see if there are any updates on T-mobile. It's tempting to switch but I'm concerned about coverage when we are driving to more remote areas, like Yosemite and Death Valley. A big concern actually is the GPS -- The one installed in our Highlander is so-so, so we generally use the phone. In the olden days we relied on maps, but these days it's mostly the GPS. Then there's the issue of breaking down somewhere and needing a reliable phone. Any thoughts?

Buy the National Geographic Death Valley and Yosemite map at the ranger station. It is worth it.

[kavm]

Originally Posted by Mike G

I can't speak to your other issues, but my 1-month-old iPhone 14 does create a hotspot for my laptop. So, not all the 14s are acting up in that regard. I never liked my previous Samsung but I'm enjoying having an iPhone again (it's been a while; my last one was a 3!). The built-in camera's capability in tough low light situations has been a pleasant surprise.

So far the only thing off-putting was was when I wanted to set a morning alarm; the iPhone made me go into "health" and asked for all sorts of ridiculous permissions to monitor my sleep habits and transmit data! I declined them all, of course. Then the phone 'decided' that I should go to bed at 10:30 and get up at 7.... Apparently a separate alarm clock is preferable IMO.

How about the Clock app in iOS (Apple). It has world clock and lets you set alarms - no questions asked. It's not fancy but I have never needed to go to the Health app. It's available on iPad and iPhone... I use it all the time... In any case, apps are a function of iOS version and not the iPhone model...

[Mike G]

Originally Posted by kavm

How about the Clock app in iOS (Apple). It has world clock and lets you set alarms - no questions asked. It's not fancy but I have never needed to go to the Health app. It's available on iPad and iPhone... I use it all the time... In any case, apps are a function of iOS version and not the iPhone model...

Well, that's what I did. I clicked on the clock app, tapped "sleep/wake up" and it made me go into "health" and answer questions. But yes, now that you mention it, I see there is a way to add an alarm at a custom time and have it never repeat; I'd thought that particular part of the alarm feature was only for alarms that would repeat daily or weekly or whatnot, but now I see I can select 'never'.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by Ruthe

I'm reviving this thread to see if there are any updates on T-mobile. It's tempting to switch but I'm concerned about coverage when we are driving to more remote areas, like Yosemite and Death Valley. A big concern actually is the GPS -- The one installed in our Highlander is so-so, so we generally use the phone. In the olden days we relied on maps, but these days it's mostly the GPS. Then there's the issue of breaking down somewhere and needing a reliable phone. Any thoughts?

My work phone is T-Mobile here in St. Louis. I cover a fairly large area in MO, IA and IL and T-Mobile works good along highways. Service disappears a little once you get farther off the highways. All in all it's not bad.

From Sumas, WA back home to St. Louis I had service almost everywhere.

PS: Get a basic Garmin GPS for the out of cell areas.

[marant]

For a number of years we have used Tracfone and been very satisfied. They are owned by Verizon and use their towers, so we have good coverage nationwide. Depending upon the phone you get either 4g or 5g service, and we have noticed no throttling or reduction of service. Very seldom do we have a dropped call, and when we do it is a normal coverage problem you get with every service.

My cost is about $12-18 per month with unlimited calls and texts. My annual plan costs $125, and includes 1.5 gig of data, which I only use when there is no wifi data available. I also purchase extra data at $10/gig if needed. Data rolls over if you renew your plan. I find I can get by on 4-5 gigs/year since I do not stream much.
I purchased an unlocked Samsung A53 online to get 5g, and it works well. Tracfone has a number of choices at a wide variety of prices and features.

The only fly in the ointment I have found is that my VPN interferes with a few websites, but it is easy to pause it when needed. I think that is a VPN problem, not Tracfone.

[sofmerc]

I have had good results with T Mobile.. Their billing is much better than Verizon, who I was with for years..But I'm on the East coast, so can't vouch for coverage in the interior of the USA.

[brroberts]

I have Verizon, and my wife has ATT. One of us usually has coverage, but not always. In the SW, ATT has more coverage than Verizon. In the SE, Verizon is more likely. Most places we both have coverage. We also have a GPS just in case and have needed it in Ok, Ar, Tx, Az, Ak, and other places I don’t remember. We mostly avoid interstates and cities. As far as data, I get by with my 15GB plus Barb’s 5 and her rollover data. We have StarLink mobile, but it’s permanently mounted at our house. We don’t have a need for it traveling.