iPhone 7 and switching carriers (AT&T and Verizon)

[exi]

All,

I've posted about network switches with new phone releases in the past (like here).

Currently on a Verizon iPhone 6. Have been on AT&T and Verizon for years each. Will be getting the iPhone 7.

In my area:
- Rootmetrics: no report on my city. At a glance, Verizon appears better by heat mapping. A city an hour away places Verizon over AT&T.
- OpenSignal: At a glance, Verizon appears better by heat mapping.

Certainly looks like an easy decision.

In my previous thread, there was conversation about in-building penetration and pros/cons for each network. I understand that things have changed since that thread years ago.

I spend much of my time in "solid" buildings -- hospitals, etc. Phone is GPS when traveling.

Verizon, at home, has been around ~1 bar in the last couple years, with rare actual issues on voice calls. Don't know what AT&T would be here.

I previously had weird issues with portions of multi-part texts going missing or non-Roman characters not showing, but I haven't seen those issues in a long time.

Pricing for the kind of data I use on a cell network is similar.

So with all this, is there anything that'd make you consider a switch to AT&T? Just looking for discussion -- Verizon has overall been solid, but next month would be the time to switch if I switch at all.

 

[exi]

Only benefit I've been able to gather from poking around is the better voice quality on AT&T, it seems, even with VoLTE -- perhaps just me. Unsure if you guys can think of something I'm just not seeing.

 

[Applejuiced]

I wouldn't go much based on Rootmetrics or other measuring tools and maps. Or based on reviews at a city an hour away from you.
Best way to tell is use it for a few week and you'll know if it works out for you at the places you frequent the most.
Most carriers now let you try their network for a month and you can switch back before that with no additional fees.

 

[exi]

Appreciate the input. That's sort of the funny thing -- I experimented before, and I briefly had an AT&T model which I found to be on par with Verizon service in my neck of the woods in some ways, but then demonstrably worse in a few other then-important places.

Thing is, many of those "few other then-important places" are places and facilities which I no longer work at or frequent otherwise. I wonder if my fringe reception in neighboring rural areas would be as good (or if it would matter) -- or if being back on HSPA or a 3G connection would annoy me relative to Verizon and their giant LTE network.

Conflicted and annoyed at possibility of me ordering an iPhone 7 on AT&T on day one, finding it still suboptimal for any reason, and then having to switch back (and getting stuck with a weeks-long shipping delay).