What is the best national carrier?

[C DM]

I seriously recommend T-Mobile, especially for a iPhone.

Yes Verizon has more coverage then any other wireless provider yeah we know that.

ATT has good coverage and allow voice and data at the same time, yeah we know that.

The only thing that there lacking is a Unlimited Data Plan.

Long story short, there is no point in having a smartphone phone when your limited on how your able to use it.

The data is the brain of the smartphone, when your limiting it, you unable to use it for its full potential.

T-Mobile covergae has improved, and if your in there coverage area I would get them, if not the next best thing is ATT, they have good pricing on data buckets, which will give your phone a bigger brain

Unfortunately when there's no coverage in a bunch of buildings that I'm often in and spotty coverage in some other places seems like that would limit how I'm able to use my smartphone by quite a bit.

It's simply different for different people in different places and even at different times. There isn't anything that's overall best that works the best for everyone or even most, just what's best for different people which can be and often is different for many.

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I have never met someone on Sprint who has ever liked it.

Clearly therefore there are no such people.

 

[AustinIllini]

Clearly therefore there are no such people.

Of course there are such people. But based on my small sample size, this (also small) sample size makes sense.

 

[C DM]

Of course there are such people. But based on my small sample size, this (also small) sample size makes sense.

So basically it doesn't mean much as far as information that really means something to someone else.

 

[johnparjr]

TMO for me works fine and I'm saving big $$$

 

[AustinIllini]

So basically it doesn't mean much as far as information that really means something to someone else.

I was only suggesting that there are people in this country who have service from a carrier they don't like. For example, I have yet to meet someone happy about their Sprint service.

Read the thread before you try to "outsmart" me.

 

[C DM]

I was only suggesting that there are people in this country who have service from a carrier they don't like. For example, I have yet to meet someone happy about their Sprint service.

Read the thread before you try to "outsmart" me.

Simply reading your original reply doesn't really imply that (or at least has more implications about something else) without the additional information you provided after a couple more replies prompted by my posts. No outsmarting or anything like that, but seems like just simply trying to understand what was meant by that comment as far as the topic and the context of the thread goes.

 

[RJinTX]

This has been a great thread to read. I live in Houston, TX and jumped from AT&T to Verizon when the iPhone 4 came out on Verizon. Stayed on Verizon with the iPhone 5 as well. In May I bought an iPhone 6 from the Apple Store (unlocked, SIM free version that works on every carrier). Kept my Verizon service, picked up an AT&T SIM to test out their network again (and I also have a prepaid T-Mobile SIM).

My experience pretty much echoes what people have said. In my travels around the country with friends the past few years Verizon always has some kind of signal. Maybe not the fastest, but it has one. AT&T is next with good data speeds and greatly improved coverage in the past year. T-Mobile is next, with limited coverage in rural areas. I guess the part we all think about is "what if" I'm traveling somewhere and I need to use my phone and can't!

Ironically, I get weaker Verizon LTE signals around town, at home, and at my offices compared to AT&T and data speeds are typically around 2 to 6 Mbps with Verizon (with both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6). Verizon LTE speeds were a lot faster 2 years ago. The iPhone 5 would drop off of LTE occasionally, but the iPhone 6 is able to connect to the 700 MHz band 4 (XLTE) which helps. Testing those same areas with AT&T I get 5 to 20+ Mbps and the signal is 4-5 bars, enough to make a difference for Facebook, web page loading, and YouTube videos. Really impressed with the progress AT&T has made.

The person that said Verizon is cheaper is actually correct for tiers above 3 GB with their current pricing (we'll see what happens when it ends later this month). You do get the discounted lines for Edge, Full Price, or BYOD. Verizon has finally updated their site to reflect this, including the shopping cart. Also, Verizon drops the line charge to $15 starting at 6 GB instead of 10 GB (AT&T) - at 6 GB both carriers charge $70 for data. After 6 GB Verizon charges less for the data buckets with current pricing.

I guess I'll do testing for another week and then decide whether to go back to AT&T or not. Have a road trip to New Orleans coming up so another good time to test!