Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

AT&T vs VZW ** help me out

Six8

Six8

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 1, 2012
1,140
142
Earth
I'm seriously thinking about ditching sprint. Horrendous data speeds and no signal in my home are killing me.

What I know is AT&T has good 4G here in Stuart FL. VZW has LTE. I've used AT&T's 4G and its plenty fast for my needs so LTE isn't a must. I will be using a share plan with 4 phones and will probably use the 4 or 6gb plan.

Is it worth the extra money for LTE with VZW? How does the customer service compare? Does AT&T still drop calls?

I travel to Orlando often, how are the networks there? All input and advice is appreciated!

Here's the speeds with sprint in my office. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1349360648.340832.jpg

I've seen 4-6 down with AT&T 4G. Big difference lol
 
Worth is relative, only you can determine if VZW provides a better network in your location to use them instead of ATT.

I'd say go with VZW because they do have LTE in your location instead of ATT's slower service.
 
maflynn said:
Worth is relative, only you can determine if VZW provides a better network in your location to use them instead of ATT.

I'd say go with VZW because they do have LTE in your location instead of ATT's slower service.
Click to expand...

and if you travel, they have lte in more places. 75% of the population in the us.
ATTs LTE is faster currently.. but thats only due to them having way less LTE devices on their current network. When verizon first rolled out LTE the speeds were exactly the same.
 
BFizzzle said:
and if you travel, they have lte in more places. 75% of the population in the us.
ATTs LTE is faster currently.. but thats only due to them having way less LTE devices on their current network. When verizon first rolled out LTE the speeds were exactly the same.
Click to expand...

VZw LTE market is bigger?
 
BFizzzle said:
and if you travel, they have lte in more places. 75% of the population in the us.
ATTs LTE is faster currently.. but thats only due to them having way less LTE devices on their current network. When verizon first rolled out LTE the speeds were exactly the same.
Click to expand...
It also depends on the spectrum that AT&T used in a certain region. In the Los Angeles region, AT&T used 10MHz compared to Verizon's 22MHz (20Mhz used)
 
Six8 said:
VZw LTE market is bigger?
Click to expand...
Bigger, with the caveat being that when you're NOT on Verizon's LTE network, you're back on their 3G network, which is similar in speed to Sprint's 3G network.

Verizon has had LTE in my market for a year now. If you're near a LTE tower here, you get smoking speeds. But since they didn't put LTE on all of their towers in this market, there are many areas that only get 2-3 bars of LTE coverage, which leads to speeds that aren't as fast as AT&T's 4G network is here. And there are even a few areas here where there's no Verizon LTE coverage. This is in the middle of the market, not on the outlying edges.

Because Verizon's LTE performance is so inconsistent in this market, and the fact their 3G network speeds are so horrible (for someone used to AT&T 4G), I paid an ETF to Verizon and went with AT&T for my iPhone 5 (and they don't even have LTE here yet).

I assume that when AT&T puts LTE in this market, it's going to initially be just as incomplete as Verizon's LTE is, but at least if I turn off LTE with AT&T here, I know I fall back to their very solid 4G network. That I can handle. I can't STAND Verizon's 3G network (which is what I'd get if I turned off LTE here).
 
aristobrat said:
Bigger, with the caveat being that when you're NOT on Verizon's LTE network, you're back on their 3G network, which is similar in speed to Sprint's 3G network.

Verizon has had LTE in my market for a year now. If you're near a LTE tower here, you get smoking speeds. But since they didn't put LTE on all of their towers in this market, there are many areas that only get 2-3 bars of LTE coverage, which leads to speeds that aren't as fast as AT&T's 4G network is here. And there are even a few areas here where there's no Verizon LTE coverage. This is in the middle of the market, not on the outlying edges.

Because Verizon's LTE performance is so inconsistent in this market, and the fact their 3G network speeds are so horrible (for someone used to AT&T 4G), I paid an ETF to Verizon and went with AT&T for my iPhone 5 (and they don't even have LTE here yet).

I assume that when AT&T puts LTE in this market, it's going to initially be just as incomplete as Verizon's LTE is, but at least if I turn off LTE with AT&T here, I know I fall back to their very solid 4G network. That I can handle. I can't STAND Verizon's 3G network (which is what I'd get if I turned off LTE here).
Click to expand...

i feel that, fortunate for me i live in austin, and verizon has done a lot of upgrades here due to sxsw.
 
Six8 said:
I'm seriously thinking about ditching sprint. Horrendous data speeds and no signal in my home are killing me.

What I know is AT&T has good 4G here in Stuart FL. VZW has LTE. I've used AT&T's 4G and its plenty fast for my needs so LTE isn't a must. I will be using a share plan with 4 phones and will probably use the 4 or 6gb plan.

Is it worth the extra money for LTE with VZW? How does the customer service compare? Does AT&T still drop calls?

I travel to Orlando often, how are the networks there? All input and advice is appreciated!

Here's the speeds with sprint in my office. View attachment 366343

I've seen 4-6 down with AT&T 4G. Big difference lol
Click to expand...

http://www.rootmetrics.com/check-coverage/

I'm biased towards Verizon.
 
I think you need to figure out exactly what you are looking for. Both your needs and your wants.
Then measure them all out. Afterwards you should have your answer. No one here can tell you which is better for you and your needs.

I'm in Dallas. Here (in general), AT&T makes Verizon look like they're using tin cans and a string. But elsewhere, I'm sure its different.
Get what you want that best fits your needs.
 
I switched from Sprint to At&t and Im very happy, but all comes down to what works the best for you. In my case, I knew how was the reception at work and for home I invited friends with Verizon/At&t iPhones to my house and test the service. Unfortunately with Verizon I had 0 reception at my house and living in NY that something really weird... on the other hand At&t was full signal.

When it comes down to internet connectivity if AT&T HSPA+ is available almost everywhere you go then AT&T is a no brainier. If you dont then Verizon is the way to go, their LTE coverage is way better.
 
I am fortunate to have both AT&T and Verizon LTE phones. VZW is a work line...AT&T personal.
Bottom line it comes down to where you live/work, and travel (i know obvious). One thing I have noticed is that I have had AT&T LTE in my area for months and they have not even promoted or advertised it yet. I naturally compare the two and I literally receive more ATT LTE signal than I do Verizon....and Verizon touts it on billboards and commercials all over the Providence Metro.

AT&T's own coverage map shows future LTE (green dots), but like Providence, many might be turned without consumers even knowing. If you are in or around a major metro, go to an AT&T Corp store and check the demo phones/devices before making a final decision.
 

Attachments

  • AT&T LTE Coverage.jpg
    AT&T LTE Coverage.jpg
    117.5 KB · Views: 77
Unfortunately we can't decide if 4G LTE is "worth" it to you. I will say for me it is, being able to have 25-45 Mbps down is a huge advantage for me on vzw
 
AppleFan91 said:
Unfortunately we can't decide if 4G LTE is "worth" it to you. I will say for me it is, being able to have 25-45 Mbps down is a huge advantage for me on vzw
Click to expand...

4g seems good enough but I have not experienced LTE
 
Too me, having LTE with a limited data plan is like owning an Indy car but limiting it to a half mile oval. You have all the speed you want but nowhere to use it.

That said, i just switched from ATT unlimited to a Verizon share plan and I'm honestly not sure I made the right decision. I have LTE in my area and it's fast, but I'm not sure I'll realize the benefits of that speed. With ATT 3G, i'd regularly get 2-4 Mb down and 1-2 Mb up. That was 3G, and for the most part was sufficient when I wasn't in range of public WiFi. Comparatively with Verizon, when I drop to 3G, it's borderline unusable. Verizon 3G is awful. I haven't traveled yet with the new phone, but i'm concerned that in areas without LTE, i'm going to be screwed.
 
Verizon has a very aggressive LTE deployment strategy in place meaning coverage will literally be everywhere in the US soon. And being able to add a sim from any gsm carrier is a big plus for the Verizon iphone. I will be traveling abroad soon, using a att sim with a international data and voice package in my unlocked Verizon iphone. In my opinion you can't lose with Verizon.
 
Six8 said:
Is it possible to use my sprint iPhone on VZW or AT&T?
Click to expand...

Yeah, better find this out first otherwise it would be moot point.

Getting conflicting posts even though iPhone has both GSM and CDMA radios, once u sign up with a carrier, the other radio is disabled, permanently?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back