Cell Phone Cost and Coverage

[Perry Butler]

Coverage

Our observations in the last 4-6 years. Previously we had Verizon because it's coverage was superior in Minnesota. I tried Google Fi for a year , but there were just too many dropped calls. In 2017-18 Google Fi was using T-Moble and Sprint towers, but after a year we went back to Verizon.

In 2020, T-Mobile bought Sprint. Sprint was an early adopter to 5G and also had cash available for more investment in 5G. Plus duplicate towers were slimmed for savings to invest in other towers. A lot has changed with T-Mobile coverage in the last two years alone.

Only the uninformed in rural Minnesota have AT&T since their coverage just plain sucks away from our urban areas. For instance, look at their coverage map for Iowa and Nebraska, they're massively behind in 5G coverage. Talking to those with AT&T when traveling in rural Minnesota or Iowa there are huge dropped areas, despite AT&T showing coverage. As always, YMMV.

We travel with our 2 phones on our main carrier, now T-Mobile, and another phone on another, now Verizon. In late 2020, we switched to T-Mobile as our main carrier to get free phones.

We spend winters in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. Because of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger we noticed we had slightly better coverage in Arizona, New Mexico, and especially western Texas with T-Mobile than with Verizon in 2021.

In 2022, we hardly ever had to use our Verizon phone and found T-Mobile to have better service where we camped. Last winter we had T-Mobile service in Bonita Campground in Chirichaua National Monument whereas our Verizon phone had none. We were amazed at the T-Mobile coverage in Utah as well. Again, YMMV.

Of course there are areas where one is better than another, but.......

Plans

We're looking for new phones again and I checked plans for both Verizon and T-Mobile. Two phones with the best package are $160 just for Verizon service (phone prices, protection plans, etc. not included), or $90 for a senior plan on T-Mobile, or a savings of $70 each month. I checked at four Verizon stores and called Verizon directly for a senior plan, and they have none. Unbelieveable! Apparently Verion doesn't care about senior citizens.

We can switch to Verizon and get free phones, but an extra $70 a month ($840/year or $1,680 for the two years required to get the free phones) buys us the phones plus keeps significant money in our checking account.

__________________________________

For those who travel the US, in the last two years have any of you switched from Verizon to T-Mobile? What are your experiences?

Food for thought,

Perry

[Iowa Dave]

Glad you’re getting it all sorted out. If I attempt to use the phone and have no service, I think to myself, “guess you are out in the sticks” and am not going to use the phone just now. It doesn’t bother me one way or the other.

Hunted on the farm last week. Called my son who was in a tree about 3/4 mile away a couple times. Contemplated the fact that my grandparents and my mother had stood on the same ground as me over 100 years ago, picking corn behind a team, turning the garden with a spading fork, planting seeds well before hybrid seed corn, throwing the ears into the Belgian drawn wagon off the “bang board”. Then home to no electricity till the 30’s, supper on a wood stove, and finally a phone, “two shorts and a long”. I can’t believe I have it real bad when a call “gets dropped”. But that’s probably just me.

Gotta mow the grass today with our 27hp Z turn with weight adjustable padded seat, electric start, sealed bearings etc, etc. Gave about $100 for winterizer fertilizer the other day. Grandpa mowed with sheep and didn’t need fertilizer. Maybe I went to school too long?

Thanks for your report.
Iowa Dave

[splitting_lanes]

Hi Perry -

Mary and I both used T-Mobile for our just completed cross country trip. It worked out better than I expected every where we went, from California to MRR, Door county, Cape May, Pennsylvania, and the Poconos. Mary is on 4G, so her service wasn’t quite as good as mine on 5G. I have a three phone plan that’s around $125/mo, which is the price I used to pay for a single phone on AT&T. I switched about ten years ago and have never looked back.

I’m a T-Mobile fan.

[Deva]

Originally Posted by splitting_lanes

I’m a T-Mobile fan.

Good info! I’m looking to change carriers AND upgrade my phone this year. I’ve had AT&T since the dark ages and never thought about changing because I was grandfathered in to their “unlimited” plan, which was all fine and dandy when I was static in Florida. Now that I’m traveling back and forth from PNW to the SW on an endless loop, I’ve been very disappointed by coverage in these areas. I like to boondock mostly and prefer to have cell service if at all possible. Im going to check into T-Mobile. I only need a single phone, so hoping they have a phone and plan that works for me. Thanks again for the info!

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Perry Butler

For those who travel the US, in the last two years have any of you switched from Verizon to T-Mobile? What are your experiences?

We use T-Mobile.

In 2018 we did a multi-month trip from Florida up through he Michigan UP and then west to Yellowstone. On that trip we carried a StraightTalk phone on the Verizon network in addition to our T-Mobile phones. We noticed slightly better coverage with Verizon.

In 2019 we did a similar multi-month trip up through the Michigan UP then west to Crater Lake, south to Yosemite. We started that trip with the Verizon network Straight talk phone, but, cancelled it after the second month as we found T-Mobile's coverage was actually better.

The difference is less about T-Mobile acquiring Sprint than it is differing approaches between T-Mobile / Sprint and Verizon on 5G. Verizon's 5G is based on higher capacity, GHz frequency, shorter range bands. They spent all of their infrastructure funds building that out. So in Metro areas you might get higher speeds with Verizon over T-Mobile.

T-Mobiles approach to 5G is using lower frequency, lower bandwidth, but, longer range frequencies. T-Mobile basically pairs two 4G bands to create their 5G. I don't know what kind of speeds Verizon 5G has, but, I get 100mbs download speeds with T-Mobile's 5G. Since T-Mobile's focus has been building out these longer range bands in building their 5G they have surpassed Verizon in coverage. T-Mobile did obtain additional 600 Mhz and 700 Mhz band when acquiring Sprint. Verizon filing with the FCC apposing the merger stated those additional bands gives T-Mobile an 'unfair competitive advantage'.

Boeing recently dumped Verizon for T-Mobile, and Berkshire Hathaway who is famous for buy and hold, has sold their Verizon stock.

However, regardless of which cell carrier you chose, I highly encourage everyone here to get an inReach two way satellite based text messenger. The inReach annual safety plan is about $13 per month including taxes. I wish my family in Florida who had Verizon in Florida had an inReach as the Verizon network went down after Hurricane Ian and we were out of contact them for days. Verizon stayed down for at least a week. The only way we heard from them is my nephew's girlfriend's phone was not on Verizon. So, for $13 a month an inReach seems like a no brainer to me.

Edit: Perry, T-Mobile will finance new phones for you interest free for 2 years keeping more money in your checking account.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

Edit: Perry, T-Mobile will finance new phones for you interest free for 2 years keeping more money in your checking account.

Yep, both Verizon and T-Mobile claim interest free. The monthly payment is actually a non-disclosed credit on the bill. Our current balance for our nearly two year old OP phones is $124 for both phones with two months to go. On December 10th the $124 will be paid off and we'll get two new phones. I'll be getting a 256 GB iPhone 14 Pro and Terry a 128 GB iPhone 13 Mini.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Deva]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

We use T-Mobile

However, regardless of which cell carrier you chose, I highly encourage everyone here to get an inReach two way satellite based text messenger. The inReach annual safety plan is about $13 per month including taxes. I wish my family in Florida who had Verizon in Florida had an inReach as the Verizon network went down after Hurricane Ian and we were out of contact them for days. Verizon stayed down for at least a week. The only way we heard from them is my nephew's girlfriend's phone was not on Verizon. So, for $13 a month an inReach seems like a no brainer to me.

Edit: Perry, T-Mobile will finance new phones for you interest free for 2 years keeping more money in your checking account.

I have an in reach mini, but I think the newest iPhone has satellite capability, iirc. This is something I’m happy to see! I don’t know the details, but when I stop by T-Mobile I will check it out.

[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.

[brroberts]

I have a 15 gig plan with Verizon. Barb has a 5 gig plan with rollover with ATT. The truck has ATT unlimited. It cost us $87 a month including taxes. TMobile does not work where we live. We have plenty of data for what we need on the road.

[Mike G]

My wife and I together pay right around $50 (with taxes, fees, and all) for our 2-line Consumer Cellular plan. $25 apiece. (That includes hotspot capability, although it must be requested of customer service to have activated.) Hopefully when I get to travel more in future years the reception where I travel won't be bad enough to make me pay more for something else.

[RBRV]

Long time Tmobile customer, their coverage was questionable but cheap here in the south many years ago. I used to have trouble getting a signal off the beaten path but not anymore. We bought some google phones recently because our old phones were failing and now that we are on 5g I am rarely without service. We have only been in LA, AR and TX with them so far. Our plan is crazy cheap but is also not available anymore.

[Bobbie54]

Verizon gets the best coverage here but look into Prepaid plans. They discount after you stay on it for a few months. I've had T-mobile and AT&T but T-mobile dropped calls all the time and AT&T has a lot of dead spots (as does T-mobile) in my area. I have the original unlimited AT&T data plan on my iPad so if Verizon is out I can use the iPad. (Happens during power outages) or if I have good signals and want to stream something that hogs data I use the iPad. Single users get robbed on most cell phone plans. If you don't need or want 4 lines the advertised charges mean nothing.

[Upfisk]

The exceedingly rural area in AZ where we live is only available on Verizon. We have 4 lines with my sister and her husband, our most recent bill was under $160 for all 4 lines. We all are on the $45/mo/phone plan. We all get 25gb/mo/phone of hotspot data. We are getting a discount for prepay, loyalty, and senior. My sister also has a visible phone that she uses as a hotspot for streaming movies. At $25/mo that is a bargain. New visible plans are now $30/mo, and for Mex and Can roaming the cost is $45/mo. We roam in both Mex and Can so north american roaming is important to us. Both Vzn and visible limit data use to 0.5 gb/day/phone outside the US. Our workaround is to buy a SIM card in Mexico from Telcel. We are able to buy 8 gb of data for about $25 US

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

Verizon gets the best coverage here but look into Prepaid plans. They discount after you stay on it for a few months. I've had T-mobile and AT&T but T-mobile dropped calls all the time and AT&T has a lot of dead spots (as does T-mobile) in my area.

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

[Rossue]

The one mostly unknown thing about Verizon is that their phones are unlocked, so if you travel to a foreign country you can buy a pre-paid simcard and use it in your Verizon phone. "Verizon struck with the FCC in 2008 when it licensed the "C block" of 700 megahertz spectrum, which powers its 4G LTE network."

In June of 2019 Verizon got permission to lock phones for the first 60 days to "help curtail theft".

Other carriers are supposed to unlock your phone once it is paid off, yet it often is like pulling teeth to actually get it done.

[Perry Butler]

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?

Unless you're talking more than 2 years ago T-Mobile is every bit as good as Verizon. We were in the Yarnell area in 2021 and I don't remember not having service. I realize there are always service area exceptions with any provider, but I'm not talking exceptions. T-Mobile buying Sprint in 2020 made a huge difference for us and many others, and put their coverage on a par with Verizon. We'll still activate a phone on Verizon for our three months in the SW this winter and see how often we need Verizon service.

Because of how we travel and use data, we need the best plan for hotspot data offered by the carriers. I've investigated and some Verizon members saw a offer for $40 off their plan after a few months and some never did. It's not a standard practice for Verizon, and I've had at least three corporate Verizon stores express their frustration about the lack of a "Senior" plan. I don't want to wait to see if I will or won't get a $70 discount. Every month I don't get the discount will cost us $70. However, if the discount is only $40 that's still $30 more each month.

Food for thought,

Perry

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Rossue

The one mostly unknown thing about Verizon is that their phones are unlocked, so if you travel to a foreign country you can buy a pre-paid simcard and use it in your Verizon phone. "Verizon struck with the FCC in 2008 when it licensed the "C block" of 700 megahertz spectrum, which powers its 4G LTE network."

In June of 2019 Verizon got permission to lock phones for the first 60 days to "help curtail theft".

Other carriers are supposed to unlock your phone once it is paid off, yet it often is like pulling teeth to actually get it done.

Our T-Mobile phone had no problems being used in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czechia, or Austria on our 9 week trip last summer. I never asked for it to be unlocked and it worked great.

We're getting new phones in December and will ask if they are unlocked or not.

Enjoy,

Perry

[Deva]

Single users get robbed on most cell phone plans. If you don't need or want 4 lines the advertised charges mean nothing.[/QUOTE]

Finding this to be very accurate. I haven’t changed my phone or plan in ages, and boy! Big eye opener when I look into new plans for a single line…🙁

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by Perry Butler

Our T-Mobile phone had no problems being used in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Czechia, or Austria on our 9 week trip last summer. I never asked for it to be unlocked and it worked great.

We're getting new phones in December and will ask if they are unlocked or not.

Enjoy,

Perry

Deutsche Telcom owns T-Mo and gives U.S. customers free roaming in much of Europe, which is great. I wanna switch, yet gotta be sure it works as well in places like Eastern Sierra.

They were going to gives us $200/line to switch plus pay up to $1,000 for phones we still have on payment plans. For us that would be almost $1800, so pretty tempting.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Deutsche Telcom owns T-Mo and gives U.S. customers free roaming in much of Europe, which is great. I wanna switch, yet gotta be sure it works as well in places like Eastern Sierra.

They were going to gives us $200/line to switch plus pay up to $1,000 for phones we still have on payment plans. For us that would be almost $1800, so pretty tempting.

And for us at $70 per month for 24 months that's $1,680 savings over Verizon, so basically a wash. Of course IF we get that $40/month off after four monts then it's only $860, but our two iPhones are around $1,050.

But this thread is not about exceptions, like Eastern Sierra or Chirichaua National Monument. It's about coverage in the US and the monthly costs for those who desire a unlimited hotspot plan. For us, it's that extra $70 that the Verizon marketing team convinces the common consumer that they have something special, when they really don't.

If it wasn't for that $70/month we'd be getting new free iPhones from Verizon, because as far as I'm concerned both Verizon and T-Moble have great coverage, barring their exceptions.

Enjoy,

Perry