Always go with YMMV in situations of coverage and speed. Ive been on all of the big 4 at one time or another, At&t was good to me and you get what you pay for even though expensive to a degree. They had good coverage and speed even though they had to start expanding coverage and bands they use because it was starting to get congested. Sprint has great deals but the worst speeds and last in coverage of the big 4 IMO. Having 4 - 5 bars and still not having data is an issue that happens a great deal more than everyone else for some strange reason. I have a free for a year BYOD line with them but after that expires will most likely drop them.
T-mobile had the better deals as a new customer, but decided to leave them just this past Thursday. I had my other line with them, but left because on a trip earlier last week once again I saw the limits of their coverage. They are great in major cities and to a degree on highways, but once you go off the beaten path a bit you see the negatives of their urban only coverage approach. They don't have the tower densification of At&t or Verizon and they either roam or you have almost no coverage at all out into Rural America and the beaten paths. This was a trip from TN to OK and it was not pretty at all for either my Sprint or T-mobile line.
Now lastly lets talk about Verizon. They are indeed expensive on cost above everyone else but I have to admit they get away with it because they have coverage just about everywhere IMO. This is where I ported that T-mobile line out too. I'm please that I have coverage just about anywhere I've traveled with good speeds. They currently sit last when talking about spectrum holdings behind everyone else. Their network management though is second to non and they do well with the spectrum they have. Speeds are better and less network congestion no thanks to the fleeing of customers to T-mobile(price) and the firstnet deal At&t scored. They are also in the process of closing down their CDMA side and repurposing that spectrum back into LTE and 5G which is welcomed.
My words of wisdom is to check where you travel and where you go to pick the best for your use. I travel a lot and go off the beaten path so it's a must that I have Verizon or At&t because the other two aren't close in that regard. If you just city hop and don't go near the sticks then t-mobile or sprint will save you money in that regard.
I mostly agree with you. The only thing I wanted to add about T-mobile that if you are in major city it is not necessarily you can enjoy their service.
I’ve just tried T-mobile and canceled them. Some areas are very fast, but some are so congested, that I couldn’t load a web page.
The price was really good, but I better pay 30 dollars more for 4 lines and have reliable service.
I visited NYC with Att and T-mobile and after couple days I found that T-mobile is the way over advertised and the same level is over congested. Boston and the area have the same problem during rash hours. I have no service in some buildings including major hospitals. Att and VZW have more DASs and small cells in the city.
I also want to add that VZW and Att have more backup generators than T-mobile.
I use Att now, not Verizon, because:
- in Gloucester, MA VZW almost not exists.
- I’m on Att Unlimited Plus plan, that less expensive, have unlimited Canada/Mexico( not 5gb or first 0.5Gb/day).
Anyway everything depends on you needs, area and how deep is your pocket.
My advise, go ahead and switch to T-mobile, so I have even better and faster network
