Best Cell Phone Coverage/Service for the Money
Decatur Metro | December 2, 2013 | 9:23 amCredit for this post goes to Margo, who wrote in a couple of days ago…
My contract is almost up with AT&T and we have unlocked phones. I want to know who has the best priced /good coverage plans for smart phones. Since we all have smart phones, I would love to know what other Decaturites are using. How are AIO and some of the other discount plans?
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Two best networks by far are Verizon and AT&T. TMO and Sprint have some catching up to do regarding high-speed data.
Depending on how much you travel, you may find that VZ has better coverage & data speeds than AT&T. In and around Atlanta, I find that VZ has just a slight advantage in terms of coverage over T. Pierce will beg to differ…
So far as the discount guys (Aio as one example) — these guys use either VZ, T or the Sprint network to carry the mobile portion of the call. I haven’t checked how these Tier 2/3 guys handle large data throughput users and abusers — they may throttle your speed or cut you off after a certain amount of data throughput.
AIO is AT&T-owned, uses AT&T’s network, and gives me the same speed I got on AT&T for significantly less. Unlimited phone and text with 2GB of data is $55. Add a gig of data (even in the middle of the month) for just $10.
I have been very happy with ATT when traveling abroad. It is important to me to be able to use maps, web, email, texting, etc while on vacation and ATT has a good international network. They have plans that make it affordable – you can cut on and off international service right before and after your trips. Not sure about the others.
I’ve used Virgin Mobile for about two years now and have overall had an excellent experience with it. I just bought a high-end phone (on super sale right now, hooray!) and I pay $35/month plus tax for unlimited text and data and 300 minutes (which I never come close to using because I do things like use Google Voice when I’m home and lots of texting like all those crazy kids). You can get more minutes/month for more money if you need to, of course. And yes, they will throttle you if you reach a certain threshold of data within the month, but they won’t cut you off, and again, I’ve never come close to using that threshold. Is my solution the *best*? I’d never say that. It’s the best for me though so I like to tell people about it. YMMV!
Also happy with my move to Virgin. Saves money and have never come close to my limits. The folks live out toward Athens and I haven’t had a problem with reception out there either.
VIRGIN MOBILE!!!!
We switched to VM from Verizon two years ago. We cut our bill in half by switching and have been thrilled with the service.
We have been with Sprint for years and had been very happy until this past year. The corporate culture changed significantly over the past year. Their customer service has been very poor and they have started nickel and dime charging for anything they can think of to take your money. We’ll drop them in the next year! My work phone is AT+T and I have generally been happy with them. There are some drop points in ATL, but not too bad. Importantly, they have worked well all over the country for me, even in some fairly remote locations. Others in my office have Verizon for their work phones and have been very complimentary. I think one of my considerations when we change next year will be that AT+T has a branch in downtown Decatur!
We use Ting which uses the sprint network and roams on verizon for voice and text only. It is not nearly as good a voice network as verizon, (more dead spots and drops) but for the price you cannot beat it. I have four on it with smart phones (we picked up refurbished htc evo 4g phone’s from ebay for about $70 each) and our combined bill is running at about $60 per month including tax and fees. We are not heavy data users so it works for us, but I can see it would not be for everyone. I have trained my kids and myself to use the landline and wifi whenever possible and have limits on their usage, and it is good so far (4 months into it). We came from verizon where our combined bill was $130/month before with no data and a limited number of minutes, so as you can imagine my kids were happy to have cooler phones.
I do miss the free in network calls and have had to switch to the landline to talk to my husband during the day to keep our minutes low. So in addition, we went to a google voice landline (no phone ) just got a decent handset and had to buy an obi modem thingamajig from amazon for about $40 to set it up. No monthly landline phone bill after that. We do use comcast for tv and internet, so I guess that makes up for all this penny pinching.
The low cost carriers are much better for the money and you can save a boatload of cash over a year. Republic wireless is probably the best although you can’t use an iphone. Best iphone network is either Virgin or Ting.
I’ve got to second Republic Wireless, especially if you’re normally around wifi. I’m paying $10 per month with unlimited text and talk over the Sprint network. You can pay extra for 3G, but I don’t have a need for that.
It depends on what you need most, fast unlimited data, talk minutes, unlimited texting, great customer service, etc. Do you need multiple lines on the same plan? If you have unlocked AT&T phones you should probably look into MVNOs that operate on AT&T’s network. There are many like Straight Talk, Ting, and AIO.
Here is an example of one with plan rates. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/att-mvno-pure-talk-introduces-rollover-data-plan/2013-10-07.
Good luck!
For those with grandfathered unlimited data plans with Verizon- we upgraded our phones over the weekend and were pleasantly surprised to find that Verizon has a special, one time offer for those converting the unlimited data plans as part of a phone upgrade. We lucked out with a great Verizon rep who told us about the “Verizon Max” plan- with two smartphones, we get 6GB of data/month EACH for the same price as a Share Everything plan for 2GB shared between the two of us. The rep told us this option was only available at the moment you switch from the umlimited data plan- you can’t wait and try to switch later. We got our phone at a non-Verizon store, and just had a Verizon rep on our phone working w/ the store guy to move our plan to the Verizon Max plan (store guy couldn’t do on his own). The customore service was great. We stuck with Verizon for the great nationwide coverage, corporate email connection ability for my job, very good customer service and free minutes to minutes with other family members on Verizon.
So does your post mean that Verizon is forcing customers on unlimited plans to switch to a data cap plan when they renew, or does it mean they are offering a deal for those who choose to switch? A company discount pretty much locks us into sticking with Verizon, but I’d like to compare the cost of a 6gb plan to our current unlimited plan.
I’ve been with Verizon for many years and have unlimited data. When I got my last phone, they told me that the next time I upgrade, my unlimited data will end. So, as long as I keep the almost-two-year-old Droid, I’m still grandfathered in. Definitely going to check into what macarolina had to say because I’m ready to upgrade.
I was told I couldn’t keep the unlimited data if I upgraded my phone- they mention that about 10 times during the process. I’m sure the Verizon Max plan is a way to cushion the blow of the loss of umlimited- I’m doubtful it will be around when I next upgrade.
If you look at AIO (pronounced ayo), understand that it is lookalike version of MetroPCS. They have announced that they are shutting down. They are still heavily advertising it though, probably for the holiday sales. When they shut down, I don’t know what becomes of the customers.
On a side note-They also bought Cricket Wireless, a similar service in other markets, which according to my resources within- they are not shutting down.
Cricket is a subsidiary of Leap Wireless, which is being acquired by AT&T.
Didn’t AIO just open a new store near Willie’s? Or is that something else? I’m thinking it just opened within the past couple of weeks.
As an employee of AT&T, I will recuse myself from this discussion.
However, I have to correct you on Aio – they do not plan to shut down. Rather, once the acquisition of Leap/Cricket is completed, they have openly discussed the possibility that they drop the Aio brand in favor of the Cricket brand that is already established.
T-Mobile coverage in Oakhurst stinks. Last year, at some festival there where they had a booth, I mentioned that and they agreed and were surprised. According to the maps, their closest tower is only a couple of miles away.
I’m strongly considering switching to AIO when my T-Mobile contract is over in about 6 months. Unlock the phone, new SIM and should be good to go.
VirginMobile is all I need. $35 for unlimited Internet, text and 300 minutes.
Here’s another vote for Virgin. I don’t do a lot of video on it, but visit web sites several times a day and get all of my email on it. $45 a month (I could probably switch to the $35) which is about half what I paid for Verizon.
I bought my phone and found helpful folks at the Radio Shack in Ansley Mall. They were able to transfer all of my data.
Virgin has a customer service line that I only used once but that went well. It’s a Sprint re seller and the coverage isn’t quite as good as Verizon in the far far away rural counties of Georgia, but it hasn’t really been an issue.
This is one of the more useful threads I’ve seen in a while. What would make it REALLY great is if somebody would put it all in a spreadsheet. Wouldn’t that be a worthwhile project for which some teenager could get some kind of school credit? Should be.
STG,
there is a pretty good summary in this article (tried to cut and paste the graph from about a quarter way down, but don’t know how to make it work in this comment box, so here is the whole thing)
http://www.androidauthority.com/ting-vs-major-carriers-244210/
also, google “MVNO list” and see some others in a spreadsheet listing
there is not a one size fits all plan that is best for everyone, depends on your habits and expectations. and if you are not on a budget and simply want the best network, verizon wins hands down for call quality, national coverage and data network.
Zact is another MVNO that looks promising and would be a good choice for kids since it allows you to micromanage their usage, if that is important.
Don’t they ALL throttle you? Some are more ‘up front’ about exactly when it happens (Straight Talk which uses Verizon says it will throttle down after 2GB in one month.) I have AT&T with the “unlimited” plan but the guy in the store admitted that it would slow down after their limit was hit regardless of me having the unlimited data plan.
I was with Verizon for over 5 years, and was super stoked when my contract was finally up last month. I had one of the lowest plans in terms of minutes/data and was still $100 a month just for me alone. Went to TMobile, and have 2 lines of unlimited everything for $80. No more annoying minutes checks to make sure I wasn’t blowing through them, and using the computer for calls because of minutes. I will say though, we went hiking 2 weeks ago in N. GA and I couldn’t get a signal on the mountain where we were, but I had been able to get one up there the last time we went and I was on Verizon.
Yep, T-Mo has pretty lousy coverage outside of the Metro, much like Sprint.
I really don’t have many complaints about TM coverage overall. The places outside of cities where they don’t have coverage are where I would not expect coverage. TM roams with AT&T, so it’s mostly pretty good.
I miss Straightalk–enjoyed what unlimited service I needed at only $45.77.
B/c of husband’s job, we switched to AT& T and find ourselves paying a lot more–taxes alone are almost and extra $10 each for our 3 smartphones!