Carrier Need Help - Moving away from T-mo

[iMi]

I used to love T-mo and still believe they are a great carrier but over the past few months the service has really degraded here in Chicago area. Ton of dropped calls. Voicemails popping up without the phone ringing. People telling me they called before, but no missed calls.

Several calls to T-mo return the same answer - we're researching and will get back to you. No one ever does. I think it's a capacity issue, if you ask me.

So, thinking about switching. I absolutely despise Verizon and AT&T. That leaves me with Sprint or Xfinity Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network.

I travel overseas, so Sprint has an advantage here. Xfinity would be lower cost and runs on a better network, but overseas is basically useless or extremely expensive. A problem that could be solved by buying a local sim like everybody else.

Can everyone share your experience with both carriers?

How is the reliability?

Coverage in major metro areas?

Which would you choose? Spring or Xfinity Mobile?

 

[eyoungren]

I used to love T-mo and still believe they are a great carrier but over the past few months the service has really degraded here in Chicago area. Ton of dropped calls. Voicemails popping up without the phone ringing. People telling me they called before, but no missed calls.

Several calls to T-mo return the same answer - we're researching and will get back to you. No one ever does. I think it's a capacity issue, if you ask me.

So, thinking about switching. I absolutely despise Verizon and AT&T. That leaves me with Sprint or Xfinity Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network.

I travel overseas, so Sprint has an advantage here. Xfinity would be lower cost and runs on a better network, but overseas is basically useless or extremely expensive. A problem that could be solved by buying a local sim like everybody else.

Can everyone share your experience with both carriers?

How is the reliability?

Coverage in major metro areas?

Which would you choose? Spring or Xfinity Mobile?

If you are really considering Sprint, I'd ask for real world experience on their coverage in Chicago here: http://reddit.com/r/sprint

That said, Chicago is supposed to be a much improved market for Sprint now. It was garbage during the Network Vision rollout (LTE) due to incompatible hardware from Sprint's various vendors.

I did 16 years with Sprint and really it was only the last four years that were bad. Phoenix, were I live, is reportedly improved now but there was a point my wife and I could no longer make phone calls. That's when we left for T-Mobile.

I will say this. If customer service is important to you, then the way T-Mobile is treating you now is likely to be the better experience.

Sprint customer service is really only decent for new customers. They want to attract you. But once you're in, forget it. Continued employment for a Sprint CSR is based on metrics and not on actually solving any problems you may have.

Online, phone and in-store support channels operate individually. Think of them as one Sprint, but with three heads. They do not communicate and what one channel promises you is not honored by the other channels.

You may be lied to. You may have insurance pushed on you when you do not need or want it. You may be hung up on. You may be promised a callback that never happens. Etc, etc.

As long as you understand that customer service is NOT what you are paying Sprint for and you take measures to protect yourself (trust but verify) then you should be okay as far as dealing with the company's employees.

 

[Brandonjr36]

I voted xfinity since they run off of Verizon. I have never had them tho but there’s no way I would go to sprint.

 

[brock2621]

I’d do sprint purely for the data throttling that still includes 1080p YouTube video.

 

[iMi]

I’m leaning toward Sprint. Two reasons. One, I can use it globally and at great rates when traveling. Makes it really convenient. Two, Chicago is a big market for them. They are rolling out 5G starting next year with some kind of bridge 4.5G service starting this year.

One last consideration, T-mo aquasition. If it goes through, maybe the congestion issue will be (at least partially) solved.

T-mo customer service is good, but they do the same thing. They say they are “working” on the issue. They promise call backs, but no one ever calls. So, I think it’s changed a lot over the past year — service has really degraded in our city and the area in general.

 

[borgranta]

I’m leaning toward Sprint. Two reasons. One, I can use it globally and at great rates when traveling. Makes it really convenient. Two, Chicago is a big market for them. They are rolling out 5G starting next year with some kind of bridge 4.5G service starting this year.

One last consideration, T-mo aquasition. If it goes through, maybe the congestion issue will be (at least partially) solved.

T-mo customer service is good, but they do the same thing. They say they are “working” on the issue. They promise call backs, but no one ever calls. So, I think it’s changed a lot over the past year — service has really degraded in our city and the area in general.

Do you travel for business? If so you could look into business pricing since last I checked a smart phone unlimited plan was $20 cheaper than the consumer plan.
[doublepost=1530162837][/doublepost]I would have considered if not for the lousy internet speed at my home and surrounding neighborhood.

 

[snow755]

I used to love T-mo and still believe they are a great carrier but over the past few months the service has really degraded here in Chicago area. Ton of dropped calls. Voicemails popping up without the phone ringing. People telling me they called before, but no missed calls.

Several calls to T-mo return the same answer - we're researching and will get back to you. No one ever does. I think it's a capacity issue, if you ask me.

So, thinking about switching. I absolutely despise Verizon and AT&T. That leaves me with Sprint or Xfinity Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network.

I travel overseas, so Sprint has an advantage here. Xfinity would be lower cost and runs on a better network, but overseas is basically useless or extremely expensive. A problem that could be solved by buying a local sim like everybody else.

Can everyone share your experience with both carriers?

How is the reliability?

Coverage in major metro areas?

Which would you choose? Spring or Xfinity Mobile?

say a way from Xfinity run for your life trust me if you go too Xfinity Mobile you be on the phone or going too the store a lot this dont go too Xfinity

 

[madfelon]

I live and work in Chicago and would advise to stay the hell away from Sprint. There are parts of the city where I wouldn't even get 2g speeds, they are a joke. I was with them for 15 years and finally left my SERO account last year and never looked back. I'm with T mobile and very happy with their service. If looking to switch I would try Xfinity mobile.

 

[bls8195]

I am in northern Indiana. I haven't heard many good things about the Xfinity one around here, and I had Sprint prior to switching to AT&T and Sprint was horrible. However your market might be alot better than mine, I used to work in a very remote area and AT&T and Verizon were the only 2 providers that covered the area so that was my reasoning for going that right. Best of luck to you.

 

[democracyrules]

I used to love T-mo and still believe they are a great carrier but over the past few months the service has really degraded here in Chicago area. Ton of dropped calls. Voicemails popping up without the phone ringing. People telling me they called before, but no missed calls.

Several calls to T-mo return the same answer - we're researching and will get back to you. No one ever does. I think it's a capacity issue, if you ask me.

So, thinking about switching. I absolutely despise Verizon and AT&T. That leaves me with Sprint or Xfinity Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network.

I travel overseas, so Sprint has an advantage here. Xfinity would be lower cost and runs on a better network, but overseas is basically useless or extremely expensive. A problem that could be solved by buying a local sim like everybody else.

Can everyone share your experience with both carriers?

How is the reliability?

Coverage in major metro areas?

Which would you choose? Spring or Xfinity Mobile?

Despising Verizon is not a good idea, unless your purchasing power does not allow you to have them, which is pretty likely. As you experienced how limited service T-Mobile in coverage and services, only Verizon has the best coverage and services in the USA. Sprint is definitely the worst carrier. The only choice you have now for the budget carrier is Xfinity, which is using “Verizon” the best carrier in the US.

 

[javisan]

I live and work in downtown Chicago and I've had zero issues with AT&T. No dropped calls, no issues with internet, and I have not really had to interact with customer service, so I can't speak about that. In general, I trust no carriers, they all suck. IMO, the mobile and airline industry suck, you're essentially choosing which sucks less.

From what I've heard from friends and co-workers, AT&T and Verizon have the best coverage in the Chicago area.

 

[eyoungren]

Despising Verizon is not a good idea…

Why not?

…which is using “Verizon” the best carrier in the US.

Best by coverage and speeds correct?

What if using Verizon is not the best choice for someone else? Is it still the best then?

 

[bls8195]

Yes every company is going to vary based on where you live in the country or world for that matter. I have never had an issue with ATT however doesn't mean someone else won't.

 

[Harthag]

I used to love T-mo and still believe they are a great carrier but over the past few months the service has really degraded here in Chicago area. Ton of dropped calls. Voicemails popping up without the phone ringing. People telling me they called before, but no missed calls.

Several calls to T-mo return the same answer - we're researching and will get back to you. No one ever does. I think it's a capacity issue, if you ask me.

So, thinking about switching. I absolutely despise Verizon and AT&T. That leaves me with Sprint or Xfinity Mobile, which runs on Verizon's network.

I travel overseas, so Sprint has an advantage here. Xfinity would be lower cost and runs on a better network, but overseas is basically useless or extremely expensive. A problem that could be solved by buying a local sim like everybody else.

Can everyone share your experience with both carriers?

How is the reliability?

Coverage in major metro areas?

Which would you choose? Spring or Xfinity Mobile?

Coverage is not an issue for any carrier in Chicago. It is spectrum in the case of T-Mobile (they are starved here) and congestion. You can't go wrong with AT&T or Verizon. In my personal experience, in the city since 2005, Verizon has been and is the best by far in terms of consistent speed and call quality (drop outs, dead zones, etc.). AT&T is unusable in certain pockets of the loop during the day. Depends on location, same could be said for Verizon but I haven't experienced anything bad. Verizon has deployed small cells up the wazoo here. My vote is go for Xfinity since they are on Verizon. Not sure if you'll get HD voice or voice over LTE or wifi calling on Xfinity, but then again Sprint doesn't even have voice over LTE yet either.

I strongly suggest you visit https://www.howardforums.com/content.php. You will find very helpful information there and people very knowledgeable about the cellular industry as a whole.

 

[iMi]

Coverage is not an issue for any carrier in Chicago. It is spectrum in the case of T-Mobile (they are starved here) and congestion. You can't go wrong with AT&T or Verizon. In my personal experience, in the city since 2005, Verizon has been and is the best by far in terms of consistent speed and call quality (drop outs, dead zones, etc.). AT&T is unusable in certain pockets of the loop during the day. Depends on location, same could be said for Verizon but I haven't experienced anything bad. Verizon has deployed small cells up the wazoo here. My vote is go for Xfinity since they are on Verizon. Not sure if you'll get HD voice or voice over LTE or wifi calling on Xfinity, but then again Sprint doesn't even have voice over LTE yet either.

I strongly suggest you visit https://www.howardforums.com/content.php. You will find very helpful information there and people very knowledgeable about the cellular industry as a whole.

Verizon is off the list because they have screwed up in a major way a few years back. Cost is not an issue and this is my business phone, so I get to write it off anyway. I truly despise them and will never do business with them again unless absolutely necessary.

I’ve had AT&T for a few years when the iPhone was still an exclusive device for them and then for a while afterwards. I got tired of the dropped calls. It was pretty bad at some point.

Then I’ve had the T-mobile service for a few years now and it’s been great until about 6 months ago when it just started degrading at a progressive and alarming rate. Dropped calls. Missed calls with voicemail notifications popping up. As it has been said, it’s a spectrum issue. They are becoming a victim of their own success.

So, Verizon I can’t stand. AT&T experience has been subpar (maybe better now?) and T-mobile (which I loved) degraded. Sprint isn’t ideal either as they lack VoLTE. Then again, I had to turn it off on T-mobile just to stop the insane number of dropped calls. So, I guess that is pretty much on par now.

What other choices are left out there?

 

[Harthag]

Verizon is off the list because they have screwed up in a major way a few years back. Cost is not an issue and this is my business phone, so I get to write it off anyway. I truly despise them and will never do business with them again unless absolutely necessary.

I’ve had AT&T for a few years when the iPhone was still an exclusive device for them and then for a while afterwards. I got tired of the dropped calls. It was pretty bad at some point.

Then I’ve had the T-mobile service for a few years now and it’s been great until about 6 months ago when it just started degrading at a progressive and alarming rate. Dropped calls. Missed calls with voicemail notifications popping up. As it has been said, it’s a spectrum issue. They are becoming a victim of their own success.

So, Verizon I can’t stand. AT&T experience has been subpar (maybe better now?) and T-mobile (which I loved) degraded. Sprint isn’t ideal either as they lack VoLTE. Then again, I had to turn it off on T-mobile just to stop the insane number of dropped calls. So, I guess that is pretty much on par now.

What other choices are left out there?

Nothing worth spending money on. All other MVNOs run on Verizon, Sprint, or at&t. Maybe try Cricket which runs on at&t? I hate Verizon and Comcast as companies but they are the best for me. You're not hurting the companies by not using them. You're possibly hurting yourself / business by holding a grudge and considering inferior carriers or MVNOs.

Not attacking you at all, btw. I have 1 line and jet pack with Verizon and rely on them daily for work and haven't looked back since 2014.

 

[msp3]

Jump on the 1 year free promo while it lasts: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html

 

[timeconsumer]

Verizon is off the list because they have screwed up in a major way a few years back. Cost is not an issue and this is my business phone, so I get to write it off anyway. I truly despise them and will never do business with them again unless absolutely necessary.

I’ve had AT&T for a few years when the iPhone was still an exclusive device for them and then for a while afterwards. I got tired of the dropped calls. It was pretty bad at some point.

Then I’ve had the T-mobile service for a few years now and it’s been great until about 6 months ago when it just started degrading at a progressive and alarming rate. Dropped calls. Missed calls with voicemail notifications popping up. As it has been said, it’s a spectrum issue. They are becoming a victim of their own success.

So, Verizon I can’t stand. AT&T experience has been subpar (maybe better now?) and T-mobile (which I loved) degraded. Sprint isn’t ideal either as they lack VoLTE. Then again, I had to turn it off on T-mobile just to stop the insane number of dropped calls. So, I guess that is pretty much on par now.

What other choices are left out there?

This is exactly where I’m at with US carriers and my experiences are similar. I’m currently a verizon customer but getting tired of the slow/unusable speeds even though I have a limited data plan and rarely use more than 4GB per month. I think I’ll try T-Mobile again soon as @javisan said it well as with carriers you’re “choosing which sucks less” and in my opinion that is T-Mobile currently.

Definitely should consider the 1 year free deal as mentioned by @msp3 with Sprint if that would work for you. I’m tempted by it.

 

[HDFan]

only Verizon has the best coverage and services in the USA

No longer true according to Consumer Reports. Depends on your location. On their city list Verizon was at the top for only 4 cities, T-Mobile for 17. For Chicago Consumer Cellular was the best, then TracFone,T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint.

When they rate plans Consumer Cellular, Republic, Cricket, etc. were rated over T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint (in that order).

But then if you read the PC world review you get different results:

https://www.pcmag.com/Fastest-Mobile-Networks/21

PC World sent out drivers to the various cities to determine the fastest network, so it is a limited dataset. Consumer Reports based their results on consumer surveys, so other factors are included beyond network speed.

For national results PCWorld rates Verizon just 6 points over T-Mobile, 11 points over AT&T, and 24 points over Sprint.

 

[BiggAW]

You're giving up a lot of coverage with T-Mobile versus the big two, and that much more with Sprint. I have Sprint and AT&T, and I don't know how Sprint's network is so bad. They have the fewer sites in my area of any of the four, but even when I'm near one, the service is unreliable. I have the free for a year, it's just a toy I ported from a prepaid T-Mobile SIM.

XFinity Mobile is a half-baked service. You get Verizon for super duper cheap (as low as $12/mo if you only use 1.1GB). As you mention, the international is terrible.

How much data do you use? If you can minimize data consumption, XFinity Mobile on an iPhone for domestic coverage and Project Fi on Android for International would be a great combo and a great deal, and would get you both an iPhone and an Android phone. If you keep your real number on XM, you can pause Project Fi for up to 3 months at a time when you're not traveling.

 

[Dodgeman]

Jump on the 1 year free promo while it lasts: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html

(I had Cingular at one point over 11 years ago and it was garbage they changed to ATT. )

Had Verizon the last 10 years or so and switched due to price.

I switched to Sprint and I have had them for one week or so on my Note 8 and so gar so good. They even ran a deal which as I am looking back I should've jumped on but it was 15/month per line which is great if you stay with them long term. I instead opted for the 1 year free for the hot spot and the "faster" speeds plus if it sucks I at least get a couple months free but looking back paying 30-40 $$ a month for 2 phones is not bad.

Once the Sprint plan converts back you are able to do the uogrades/payments and bogo offers which on the $15 plan you can't. So you get deals on phones.

I honestly haven't noticed a difference yet with Sprint and their customer service was solid so far.

I qlso am using it on a Note 8 which has the talk/surf calling feature (volte?) Not sure that works on iPhone as I have been wanting to find that out as I am considering switching back to iPhone.

 

[iMi]

I decided to pay for the phones on T-mobile in one shot. That’s done and all I have now is service, which has improved since I tuned back VoLTE back on. It’s noticeably more reliable.

I turned it off before due to poor coverage/dropped calls. That was their advice and it made a difference. But it has been over a year now. Now they said switch back to LTE for call. I guess that is where their investments have been in terms of coverage and capacity.

Anyway. I will give it a couple of weeks. If no improvements, I’ll consider Sprint.

 

[maj71303]

You're giving up a lot of coverage with T-Mobile versus the big two, and that much more with Sprint. I have Sprint and AT&T, and I don't know how Sprint's network is so bad. They have the fewer sites in my area of any of the four, but even when I'm near one, the service is unreliable. I have the free for a year, it's just a toy I ported from a prepaid T-Mobile SIM.

XFinity Mobile is a half-baked service. You get Verizon for super duper cheap (as low as $12/mo if you only use 1.1GB). As you mention, the international is terrible.

How much data do you use? If you can minimize data consumption, XFinity Mobile on an iPhone for domestic coverage and Project Fi on Android for International would be a great combo and a great deal, and would get you both an iPhone and an Android phone. If you keep your real number on XM, you can pause Project Fi for up to 3 months at a time when you're not traveling.

I have the exact setup you stated here. Xfinity Mobile for in the USA and I have Project Fi for international and it works well. I've had no problems with my Xfinity service and I don't rely on them for international as most US carriers have always sucked for international use until the lat 4-5 years for some like T-mobile and Sprint. For an MNVO Xifinity is fine and not exactly half baked as they are not a full blown carrier with own network and towers.

The OP just needs to find a combination that works for them and works well. The above works fine for me.

 

[BiggAW]

For an MNVO Xifinity is fine and not exactly half baked as they are not a full blown carrier with own network and towers.

It can definitely work for some, but they have the ping problem, they don't have BYOD Android working, Wi-Fi calling is flaky on iPhones and doesn't work on Android, and their international service sucks. So combined with Project Fi, it's a pretty compelling option for someone who can use a minimal amount of data.

 

[Harthag]

I decided to pay for the phones on T-mobile in one shot. That’s done and all I have now is service, which has improved since I tuned back VoLTE back on. It’s noticeably more reliable.

I turned it off before due to poor coverage/dropped calls. That was their advice and it made a difference. But it has been over a year now. Now they said switch back to LTE for call. I guess that is where their investments have been in terms of coverage and capacity.

Anyway. I will give it a couple of weeks. If no improvements, I’ll consider Sprint.

Wait a second. You've had voice over LTE disabled for the past year? That's the problem right there if so. A lot has happened over the past 1+ years with their LTE...unless I misread your post?