Carrier AT&T vs Verizon (4 lines with 10GB shared data)

[EbookReader]

AT&T 4 lines Family Plan:

1) buy or finance your phone
2) $160 a month for unlimited talk, unlimited text, 10GB of SHARED data


Verizon 4 lines Family Plan:

???

(can't make sense of their new "More Everything" plan)

 

[T5BRICK]

I stuck with AT&T and my wife moved her line over from Verizon.

 

[alent1234]

verizon costs a little more but they have better voice and indoor coverage

 

[T5BRICK]

verizon costs a little more but they have better voice and indoor coverage

That is pretty dependent on the area you live. For example, the building my wife works in had very poor coverage when she was on Verizon. Yesterday she commented on how much better her call quality and data speeds were since switching.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

Assuming you leave the buy/finance phone out of the equation:

AT&T 4 lines + 10 gigs shared data = $160/month
Verizon 4 lines ($40x4) + 10 gigs shared data ($100) = $260/month

Literally, with AT&T's new family plan rates, you are getting your data plan for "free" relative to Verizon.

Typically, the carriers just start matching each others' rates to remain competitive. But Verizon's response was the "MOAR" plan which, unless you were at the low-end of their tiered models, didn't do jack squat for you.

Unfortunately, with 4-6 lines on your typical family plan, you are well and truly stuck with significant ETF fees to make the switch unless you are already off-contract. So I think Verizon is pretty safe in assuming they won't have many defectors from their family programs....just too expensive to switch for many.

 

[CEmajr]

AT&T definitely has the better deal. Verizon just has better overall coverage though.

 

[BlueGoldAce]

AT&T definitely has the better deal. Verizon just has better overall coverage though.

Yes, if you are largely considering the moral rural areas or the great plain states. But in my case, in northern Indiana and michigan, att has better speed and coverage.

It depends where you live and how much the savings is worth. Myself... I made the switch from Verizon to att today. Significant etfs? Yes... But the att store gave me 400 in credits for my two lines. That combined with the savings and equal or better coverage was too much to pass up.

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

AT&T definitely has the better deal. Verizon just has better overall coverage though.

Doesn't AT&T have an overall faster network (CDMA[1~2 mbps] vs HSPA+[5~15 mbps]).

 

[0000757]

Doesn't AT&T have an overall faster network (CDMA[1~2 mbps] vs HSPA+[5~15 mbps]).

Speed ≠ coverage

And they both use LTE.

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

Speed ≠ coverage



And they both use LTE.

I meant AT&T has a bit less coverage but an overall faster network whereas Verizon has better coverage but an overall slower network. There LTE map is almost the same and currently Verizon's LTE speeds are slowing down.

 

[iPhonemaster5S]

AT&T is by far the better value compared to Verizon now, coverage is dependent on where you live. Still it's not like AT&T has shoddy coverage.

 

[I7guy]

I meant AT&T has a bit less coverage but an overall faster network whereas Verizon has better coverage but an overall slower network. There LTE map is almost the same and currently Verizon's LTE speeds are slowing down.

Notice the 55...that's LTE. Yep, they are really slowing down.

 

[chuffman15]

if you read the fine print. it only comes out to 160$ if you buy your phones outright or bring your phone to att. also if you buy your phone through their "next" promotion.
i know that i don't have 750$ for an iPhone 5s (32gb)
and if you go through their next program you're monthly bill will include the price of the phone.
if you are like me and get a 2 year contract with your new phone the price is the same as verizon.

 

[0000757]

I meant AT&T has a bit less coverage but an overall faster network whereas Verizon has better coverage but an overall slower network. There LTE map is almost the same and currently Verizon's LTE speeds are slowing down.

AT&T does have faster LTE but it's coverage is nowhere near as good as Verizon.

 

[aneftp]

Notice the 55...that's LTE. Yep, they are really slowing down.

I have both ATT and verizon. I have noticed a significant slow down from 2011 to 2014 with verizon.

Verizon lte couldn't handle a little Tennessee resort town the few days leading up to New Year's Eve while ATT lte was working. I mean I couldn't get any data going after 6pm. Than verizon lte data would work magically around 5am when traffic was low (I had kids so up early).

Same thing happened recently in orlando during peak times with tourists with verizon.

There is only one conclusion on my part since I am early adopter. Since iPhone 5 was released. This has been the main factor with verizon lte.

 

[CEmajr]

I meant AT&T has a bit less coverage but an overall faster network whereas Verizon has better coverage but an overall slower network. There LTE map is almost the same and currently Verizon's LTE speeds are slowing down.

Verizon is still quite a bit ahead of AT&T in overall LTE coverage. But yeah Verizon has begun to slow down in cities where they haven't yet deployed LTE over AWS. So for now they can probably still get away with being a little more expensive than AT&T.

 

[aneftp]

Verizon is still quite a bit ahead of AT&T in overall LTE coverage. But yeah Verizon has begun to slow down in cities where they haven't yet deployed LTE over AWS. So for now they can probably still get away with being a little more expensive than AT&T.

Verizon doesn't have a 4-5 year head start over Cingular/old ATT like they did with their CDMA voice/data back in 1996-1997 with old bell Atlantic mobile days. Cingular/ATT only started gsm service around 2000-2001 and real 3G data (not edge) around late 2003/early 2004.

This is how Verizon built up their "reputation"

The times are different now. Verizon's lte advantage over ATT is much smaller. They launched lte only 7-8 months earlier than ATT.

ATT has just about caught up with Verizon this time. 270 million population (ATT) vs 300 million population (verizon)

http://gigaom.com/2014/01/06/att-passes-the-500-market-milestone-in-its-lte-rollout/

 

[maflynn]

I voted for verizon, because of superior coverage. I agree their latest marketing campaign is too confusing.

 

[Prise]

Unless one's in an area or travels to places where ATT has abysmal coverage, I can't imagine anyone on a 4 phone plan opting for Verizon over ATT, given the huge price disparity.

 

[aristobrat]

Verizon 4 lines Family Plan:

???

(can't make sense of their new "More Everything" plan)

To me, the big reason to switch is to only have to pay $15 per line (AT&T) or $20 per line (Verizon).

But it seems like Verizon only offers their $20 per line deal if the phone is on their Edge program.

AT&T seems to offer their $15 per line deal if the phone is on their Next program OR you bought the phone outright.

I typically buy my phones outright, so with Verizon, I'd be paying $40/month for that line. With AT&T, I'd be paying $15/month for that line. So I ported my 3-line Verizon share plan to AT&T yesterday.

 

[BlueGoldAce]

To me, the big reason to switch is to only have to pay $15 per line (AT&T) or $20 per line (Verizon).



But it seems like Verizon only offers their $20 per line deal if the phone is on their Edge program.



AT&T seems to offer their $15 per line deal if the phone is on their Next program OR you bought the phone outright.



I typically buy my phones outright, so with Verizon, I'd be paying $40/month for that line. With AT&T, I'd be paying $15/month for that line. So I ported my 3-line Verizon share plan to AT&T yesterday.

Same here, same reasoning.

 

[carjakester]

how do you make a poll but don't provide information for both sides?

 

[aristobrat]

Verizon is still quite a bit ahead of AT&T in overall LTE coverage. But yeah Verizon has begun to slow down in cities where they haven't yet deployed LTE over AWS.

My experience with Verizon is that AWS isn't always an immediate solution.

Verizon recently deployed a AWS tower near where I live, which increased the LTE signal from 1 bar to 4-5 bars. I was happy to have the extra coverage [not so much in my house (where I use WiFi), but in my neighbors houses and the stores/restaurants near my house], but the new AWS coverage did absolutely nothing to speed things up. It's like Verizon hasn't gotten around to increasing the backhaul at the towers in this market or something.

Below are three recent speed tests. All were done on the same iPhone 5s and from the same location (my living room).

#1 - Verizon's new AWS LTE coverage. Done Thursday night.
#2 - AT&T's LTE. Done Friday morning, after I ported to AT&T.
#3 - AT&T's 4G ("faux G"). Done this evening.

It just amazes me that Verizon let their LTE network in this market go to crap. It was also surprising to see that recent new AWS coverage here only helped with signal strength, not overall speeds.

I'm sure they'll eventually fix this market, but after 2+ years of waiting for it, I'm not going to be giving them any of my money anymore.

 

[T5BRICK]

if you read the fine print. it only comes out to 160$ if you buy your phones outright or bring your phone to att. also if you buy your phone through their "next" promotion.
i know that i don't have 750$ for an iPhone 5s (32gb)
and if you go through their next program you're monthly bill will include the price of the phone.
if you are like me and get a 2 year contract with your new phone the price is the same as verizon.

If you add up cost of the plans over 2 years, AT&T is still cheaper even if you buy new iPhones outright. Here are some examples using the 32GB iPhone 5s x 4 and 4 lines.

Verizon:
$260 x 24 - service for 2 years
$6,240
4 x $300 - 32GB iPhone 5s(under contract)
$1200
Total cost: $7,440

AT&T:
$160 x 24 - service for 2 years
$3,840
4 x $750 - 32GB iPhone 5s(either paid up front or spread out with payments using the Next service AT&T offers)
$3,000
Total cost: $6,840

The point is, spending $750 per phone up front seems like a lot, but over two years the AT&T plan is $600 cheaper. If Verizon and AT&T have comparable service in your area, it's worth checking out.

 

[aneftp]

If you add up cost of the plans over 2 years, AT&T is still cheaper even if you buy new iPhones outright. Here are some examples using the 32GB iPhone 5s x 4 and 4 lines.

Verizon:
$260 x 24 - service for 2 years
$6,240
4 x $300 - 32GB iPhone 5s(under contract)
$1200
Total cost: $7,440

AT&T:
$160 x 24 - service for 2 years
$3,840
4 x $750 - 32GB iPhone 5s(either paid up front or spread out with payments using the Next service AT&T offers)
$3,000
Total cost: $6,840

The point is, spending $750 per phone up front seems like a lot, but over two years the AT&T plan is $600 cheaper. If Verizon and AT&T have comparable service in your area, it's worth checking out.

That's not a apples to apples comparisons.

ATT mobile share is $100/10gb plus $15/smartphone line. So 4 lines equals $60.
$160/month.

Verizon EDGE is now $100/10gb plus $20/smartphone. So 4 line equals $80. $180/month.

So verizon edge is $20/month more than ATT.

Don't think that's significant enough to have people switch from verizon to ATT. This is Verizon's move to make it somewhat a lateral more to ATT. $20/month extra isn't significant enough. If it's 3 lines than it $15/month extra. Even less reasons to switch.