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Which carrier for iPhone 5?

Bobs415

Bobs415

Suspended
Original poster
Jan 13, 2012
2
0
Orlando
My TMo contract is up in June. Will wait until iPhone 5 is released to jump ship to another carrier, AT&T or Verizon. AT&T just unveiled 4G LTE here in Orlando. Of course, Verizon already had it. I don't make international calls, but do make occasional interstate calls within US. I utilize my smartphone (currently BB Bold 9700) 85% for organizing my life & Internet, 15% for telephony.

Can you recommend which carrier to consider, and why? Thanks!!
 
Until the iPhone 5 comes out, I wouldn't be comfortable recommending any carrier.

We don't know when exactly it's coming out. We don't know it it'll have LTE, or if it will support the AWS spectrum and be available on T-Mobile. if it ends up having LTE, we don't know how built out the LTE networks are going to be compared to each other, or if Verizon will have their LTE outage issues sorted out.

There's way too many unknowns. I would wait until it comes out to make that decision.
 
I suggest going with the carrier that gets better reviews for their 4G network coverage and speed in Orlando in Sept. 2012.

Unfortunately I don't have any links for that yet. Check back in 8 months!
 
I'll be looking to leave Verizon, their "unlimited" data sucks, I've already been throttled twice for going over 2gb in a month, and throttled speeds are about half of what EDGE is.
 
I remember how terrible 3G coverage (on all US carriers) was when the 3G and 3GS rolled out. I would expect LTE to be similar. Your market may have it, but I bet a lot of them will not. To me, it's likely not going to make a difference. Unless we magically get better battery life while using the LTE radio, it likely won't be something I use, hardly ever. 3G also has been more than adequate in my browsing needs. While I realize that LTE is much faster, it's nothing like going from loading a web page on edge versus 3G. As such, LTE coverage will play very little in my personal decision on the next phone. If LTE matters to you, certainly wait. If not, go with what coverage maps look good to you NOW. They likely will not change drastically.
 
I would wait till we see who gets the 5. That might make up your mind. Also consider who has the best coverage for the area you live, work and travel in. Last cost of the plan you will need and who offers the features you want the most!
 
AT&T for the iPhone 5

AT&T all the way, they just spent about 30 billion overhauling their cellular services. It will be incredible with the iPhone 5 and its 4G service;)
 
Bobs415 said:
My TMo contract is up in June. Will wait until iPhone 5 is released to jump ship to another carrier, AT&T or Verizon. AT&T just unveiled 4G LTE here in Orlando. Of course, Verizon already had it. I don't make international calls, but do make occasional interstate calls within US. I utilize my smartphone (currently BB Bold 9700) 85% for organizing my life & Internet, 15% for telephony.

Can you recommend which carrier to consider, and why? Thanks!!
Click to expand...

Verizon. We've been with them for several SEVERAL years now, and I've just always had a good experience with them. They are the most expensive carrier in the US, but from my experience on both AT&T and Verizon, Verizon is the way to go. They also do have the fastest data available. It's not cheap though, but you get what you pay for.


Votekinky06 said:
I'll be looking to leave Verizon, their "unlimited" data sucks, I've already been throttled twice for going over 2gb in a month, and throttled speeds are about half of what EDGE is.
Click to expand...

They don't offer Unlimited Data so I'm assuming you're grandfathered in. My mom has unlimited data on her iPhone 4 and she's never been throttled (and uses about 3GB/month)
 
This has to do with your 4G coverage...

If you live in an ATT area where LTE is active, then ATT
If not then probably Verizon cause their 4G has more availability...
If you live in the middle of nowhere, and LTE will take awile to get you, then I would get the 4S and wait a year or two
 
Yeah that is weird that you would be throttled for 2gb. I have a Verizon grandfathered unlimited plan and used 5.1gb last cycle and didn't notice any evidence of throttling.
 
Verizon recently announced that all its future phones will need to be LTE with few exceptions. I'm not sure if Apple will be able to place LTE into the iPhone 5 because of the battery life expectations from their products. However, if the iPhone 5 did not have LTE Verizon would almost certainly have to make an exception.
 
chrislaw said:
Yeah that is weird that you would be throttled for 2gb. I have a Verizon grandfathered unlimited plan and used 5.1gb last cycle and didn't notice any evidence of throttling.
Click to expand...

I called them, and the CSR confirmed that I was being throttled. She said that I could expect to be throttled if using anything more than 2gb, but verizon won't confirm a hard limit on unlimited data.
 
The next iPhone will be the iPhone 6!! .....at least that's what I heard from a well informed insider on this forum. :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
First question is are you happy with your service with T-mobile?
If the answer is yes do not jump ship for the iPhone. You will regret it.

Remember first rule of choosing a cell phone service choose your carrier and then worry about the phone.

Speed wise lte vs hspa+ you are not gong to gain much as hspa+ is fine for what a phone will do for the most part. Yeah lte is faster but I would not see its gains to be that much better. Hspa+ can handle streaming video.

If you are not happy with you carrier then it still depends on your area.

Also not having the iPhone see not a valid reason for not liking them.
 
I would recommend Verizon. I paid out of my AT&T contact when they were still Cingular, and barring something really extreme will never go back.

In my experience, Cingular had terrible customer service, terrible reception in my area (especially Irvine, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and other places I travel to for work). And now that they're throttling their data services, even my girlfriend who's been with AT&T for the last 6 years has considered switching to Verizon.

The only thing I really don't like about Verizon is their insistance on locking basic phone features and charging for them separately (non-issue on Smartphones like the iPhone), and just how long it took them to actually get the iPhone. Even now, they've wildly underestimated demand for the phone, so it may take you a while to get yours at a store. I ordered mine online.
 
First of all (and call me crazy) but I have Tmobile AT&T And Verizon lines.

Anyways I am in Orlando. Verizon LTE is very spotty for me. When I get LTE it's super fast. Like 10-20mbs. But it's painful when it switches to CDMA speeds. About 500kbps-1.8mbs.

AT&T launched LTE in orlando last month. The beauty of AT&T is if you are out of LTE you can default back to hspa plus speeds which is far faster than CDMA.
 
Don't discredit Sprint. Their current policy is a 14-day money back guarantee. If you're not happy, bring the stuff back, no questions asked.

Sprint is also rolling out LTE but they won't be done until the end of 2013.

As for my existing location, my 3G Data Speeds are great and my voice calls are fantastic.

Again, it depends on your location but certainly don't count out a provider like Sprint.
 
Verizon all the way. Im sure the next iPhone will be LTE ready and Verizon's network is amazing. 0 Problems what so ever. Coming from a Verizon Wireless customer for 8 years.
 
I read an article a while back saying that speeds/coverage were tested and that AT&T had faster 3G speeds but Verizon had better coverage. I had AT&T for years but just moved up north to where I needed Verizon and I travel from Colorado to North Dakota a LOT now and I can definitely say that the news article was indeed correct. I had way faster 3G speeds on AT&T but the coverage is surely better on Verizon.
 
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