Please help deciding new carrier!!!

Rick America said:
If you travel internationally (from the US), my advice would be to stay with AT&T. Most other US based carriers are horrible outside the US --- Verizon being the worst...more a function of who their local carriers are I would suspect. I spend well over half my time traveling outside the US (Europe, Asia, Japan, Africa, South America). I had AT&T for several years and was forced by my company to switch to Verizon 2 years ago. Where with AT&T the service was "transparent" wherever I went globally, with Verizon I experience a succession of dropped calls, limited to no data service, etc. Also, Verizon's inability to handle cellular and data at the same time is a pain.
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I would think T-Mobile to go international. They give you unlimited text & data (128Kbps but free ) in 100 countries. AT&T will charge roaming fees. I got hit with a $30 charge because I had to check an email when I travelled to Spain a couple of years ago. In the end though it comes down to the coverage in your area. I'm actually switching to T-Mobile today and I'm waiting for the UPS guy to bring me the phones. We'll be finally LTE equipped.
 
I went from Tmo to VZW a year ago. Tmo voice was fine, but their 2G Edge data drove me crazy. I'm in the Boston area, and dropped to Edge way too often. Been far happier with Verizon's data. Especially appreciated having Verizon up in rural New Hampshire a couple weeks ago ...LTE almost everywhere I went. Same deal in central Mass.

Yes, I'm paying more, but you get what you pay for.
 
Truckondo said:
I would think T-Mobile to go international. They give you unlimited text & data (128Kbps but free ) in 100 countries. AT&T will charge roaming fees. I got hit with a $30 charge because I had to check an email when I travelled to Spain a couple of years ago. In the end though it comes down to the coverage in your area. I'm actually switching to T-Mobile today and I'm waiting for the UPS guy to bring me the phones. We'll be finally LTE equipped.
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Definitely go with T-Mobile if you plan to go international. You can use your t-mobile text, data internationally at no extra charge. The rep told me voice costs 20 cents a minute internationally extra. If you can use your data at no extra charge just use your google hangouts number or viber.
 
JOSE891 said:
tmobile coverage is garbage.
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In many locations is great and their speeds are fast.
If you're not traveling throughout the US on the regular and coverage is good in your area then you can save lots of money and get good HSPA+ and LTE speeds with them.
 
As always, coverage varies. OP needs to verify real world coverage in locations where OP needs it the most.

Globug said:
pretty sure you can't use google voice for international calling. Only local.
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"Pretty sure" doesn't seem to mean what you think it means. GV can certainly be used for international calling. I use it all the time to talk to my parents in Japan. They do charge per minute and rates are available on their site.
https://www.google.com/voice/rates

Perhaps you're confusing GV with some VOIP service?
 
PsstGreek said:
TMobile prepaid: $30/month, 100 minutes, 5GB of 4G/LTE, unlimited text. I was originally on the Unlimited Uncarrier plan but decided to switch to prepaid yesterday.

I hardly talk on the phone, mainly emergencies or quick conversations, and I doubt I'll be using anything over 100 minutes a month.

When, I was in Chicago for the summer (mainly the suburbs) coverage was great with T-Mobile. Coverage was kinda iffy downtown though but otherwise okay.
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I'm trying this now and ported my number. Do you know how long it takes for them to transfer? I know they said it might take 24 hours but I'm hoping it won't take that long. Please advise. Thanks.
 
edtorious said:
I'm trying this now and ported my number. Do you know how long it takes for them to transfer? I know they said it might take 24 hours but I'm hoping it won't take that long. Please advise. Thanks.
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Took literally minutes for me. They do how ever require you to go to walmart and buy that $30 card. You just need to give them the activation code on the back.
 
edtorious said:
I'm trying this now and ported my number. Do you know how long it takes for them to transfer? I know they said it might take 24 hours but I'm hoping it won't take that long. Please advise. Thanks.
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The girl at the store said up to 24 hours. It was finished before I got home.
 
Caffeino said:
Hi everyone!

My contract with AT&T is due and I'm having a hard time deciding between AT&T or switch carriers

I need at least 5gb data a month
International calling and if possible hotspot for my laptop.

Thanks in advance
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I pay $70/month for Tmobile. unlimited everything except 2.5gb only hotspot but you can pay for more. Their international rates are cheaper than the other carriers too if i'm not mistaken.

Just tried out their free global data last week when i was in australia. Speeds are 3G but limited to 2G speeds, was still usable for facebook/twitter/imessage. At at night, my apps still update automatically no problem. For free data, i'll take it.

LTE service in most major metro areas, 4G fallback. The only disadvantage with Tmobile is awful building penetration and you'll find EDGE in rural areas. According to Rootmetrics, Tmo's lTE is fastest in 10 out of 20 metro areas tested.


I would avoid the prepaid options because none of them offer mobile hotspot.
 
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