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Thinking of switching from Verizon, how are T-Mobile/Sprint?

WoodrowCall

WoodrowCall

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 20, 2010
276
39
Memphis, TN
I don't have an upgrade with Verizon until next September, and right now Sprint and T-Mobile are offering to pay off ETF's. I've had Verizon for awhile, but I'm not particularly loyal to them as a company, does anyone have any recommendations or thoughts on switching? I checked the coverage map and I seem to have good coverage in my immediate vicinity.
 
It could be a big mistake.

Better check with anybody with coverage in your area, don't believe the maps.

Verizon is overpriced, but good coverage and reliable.

Sprint or t-mobile, I would be lucky to get a signal.
 
sillywabbit said:
It could be a big mistake.

Better check with anybody with coverage in your area, don't believe the maps.

Verizon is overpriced, but good coverage and reliable.

Sprint or t-mobile, I would be lucky to get a signal.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input; that is my suspicion!
 
I am doing the exact opposite. I'm switching from Sprint to Verizon. I know Verizon is overpriced but with Sprint it is spotty where you receive LTE and you have an abundance of dropped calls. I am willing to pay more to have better coverage.
 
chanesworth said:
I am doing the exact opposite. I'm switching from Sprint to Verizon. I know Verizon is overpriced but with Sprint it is spotty where you receive LTE and you have an abundance of dropped calls. I am willing to pay more to have better coverage.
Click to expand...

i did this when the iPhone 5 came out, and you won't be disappointed. best decision i made. great service and great LTE coverage.
 
My sprint LTE is slower than my friends throttled speed on T-Mobile. It seems wherever I go sprints data is much, much slower whether it be one bar or five(lol)
 
I think tmobile still has that test drive. Where they let you have a iphone 5 for a week to allow you to test out their service for free. (they just put a hold on you're card) You just return the phone after a week no question's ask, and they cancel you're hold. Give that a shot.

I left verizon after 8 years. I rarely travel, I get great coverage with tmobile where I live (Sacramento Ca), with almost twice the higher data speeds then I got with verizon.
I save about $35 from what I was paying.

Used to be tmobile sucked, that is just not the case anymore. The advantage that verizon and at&t hold right now is they own rural areas. The disadvantage is they cost more. Tmobile's is network is building into those rural areas, (suppose to be done summer 2015) so we'll see how long that advantage will last.

Bottom line, try that test run, and if its good and you don't travel, switch and save some money. It worked out great for me.
 
WoodrowCall said:
I don't have an upgrade with Verizon until next September, and right now Sprint and T-Mobile are offering to pay off ETF's. I've had Verizon for awhile, but I'm not particularly loyal to them as a company, does anyone have any recommendations or thoughts on switching? I checked the coverage map and I seem to have good coverage in my immediate vicinity.
Click to expand...

Try out the T-Mobile test drive. Your location says Greenville, SC and T-Mobile LTE is usually pretty fast for me when I head through there en route to Atlanta. As for Sprint, they're usually the slowest of the 4 carriers in most metros.

T-Mobile's biggest weakness in rural 2G, but they're actively upgrading all those areas to LTE and should be done late summer next year like the other poster said above.
 
All I have to say is do not trust Sprint's maps. They are drawn by the advertising and marketing departments and not the engineers.

If you do go with Sprint, get EVERYTHING in writing. Choose one form of customer service. If it's a store, go to the store. If it's online or on the phone, do it online or on the phone. Don't start online or on the phone and then go to a store and expect anything you were just told to be honored. And vice versa. Why I say, pick one form of service and stick with that.

Lastly, as much as you can deal with Apple for any iPhone related issues. Getting Sprint involved between you and Apple is not something you want. So keep the interaction with Sprint to a minimum.
 
DO NOT trust coverage maps! Especially sprint, they are liars when it comes to those maps.

I recommend you do the T-mobile test drive. It's a nice no-pressure approach to seeing if their service is good enough for your area.
 
Here's a good rule of thumb-

If there is a Sprint store within 10-15 miles of where you plan to use the phone, you should have good coverage.

As said though it's hit or miss. There's a 14 day return period if you're not satisfied.
 
Could be a big mistake. Just about a year ago I switched to Verizon from Sprint and never looked back. Sprint was terrible and still is. T-Mobile is also terrible in ct. I'd really test drive their services first.
 
If you live in an urban area and rarely travel, T-mobile might be fine. Otherwise you'll want to stick to AT&T or Verizon (and really there's no reason to pick AT&T over Verizon anymore.)
 
Mr Hands said:
Here's a good rule of thumb-

If there is a Sprint store within 10-15 miles of where you plan to use the phone, you should have good coverage.

As said though it's hit or miss. There's a 14 day return period if you're not satisfied.
Click to expand...
LOL!!! Miss.

There's a corporate repair store less than five miles from where I live and LTE sucks. :D

Of course, all the other towers around me are upgraded, just not the ones I actually connect to! :rolleyes:
 
I have hotspots from all 4 carriers, and I have and iPhone 5 on Verizon and a 5S on T-mobile. Verizon can get congested, so you may be paying the price in slow data speeds sometimes, even though there's a signal in most places. Fortunately their recent addition of "XLTE" is helping to mitigate some of these problems now.

T-mobile really does have "the fastest network," like they advertise, but you need to check coverage where you live. There are a number of locations around me where it's literally 5-10 times faster than Verizon (but Verizon still wins a few other places, and occasionally can even match T-mobile's fast speeds). When I say fast, I mean around (or over) 30 Mbps both up and down.


Also, both T-mobile and Sprint have minimal spectrum implemented in the low bands (e.g. 700MHz), so indoor data coverage can be problematic at times (slow speeds in some buildings). At least T-mobile helps compensate for this by offering both WiFi calling and a free (with $25 deposit) Cel-Fi unit that will boost the LTE signal inside of your home.


Sprint advertises "the newest network," which means it isn't developed enough yet! It has its strong points, but for the most part I wouldn't consider it for at least another year or so. Also, Sprint iPhones (even the 6 and 6+) are pretty much locked to Sprint.

With T-mobile you won't be on a contract, so you can switch back to Verizon if you don't like it. Just pay off your iPhone, unlock it, and switch to AT&T or Verizon.
 
I live in mi and switched from Verizon to t mobile and I get coverage in most places that I had with Verizon. So far so good but best to test drive them before you join.
 
I just left sprint a couple months ago for T-Mobile and it is the best decision I have ever made when it comes to wireless carriers. Love jump program and LTE speeds are ridiculous in my area
 
Thinking of switching from Verizon, how are T-Mobile/Sprint?

I recently switched to tmo after some years with VZW. Have two lines with more minutes for $5 more than I was paying for one line. Performance is excellent as is sound quality.

Only issue is the plan interface. You get a web portal that looks easy to make changes but there's only one plan + extra data. Anything else, including family plans from the marketing section requires hold time with customer service.
 
Thanks for all the input. I just placed an order for a T-Mobile test drive. They're sending me a 5S, which is nice since that's what I'm currently using. I really like the test drive idea, and I'll make sure to update how I feel about coverage/plans/reception/etc.
Anyone have questions for me while I serve as a guinea pig in this process? :)
 
Be sure and ask people you know who are on TMo as well. I'm happy I switched a few years ago. My bill is half what it would be on Verizon, but the coverage in my area is also about half. There is even a major area I'm in frequently that has TMo cell, but no data. I'm OK with it, because 90% of the time my phone works just fine. I have my iPad on Verizon to make up the difference when I need it, and at $20/mo. for that, my bill is still much lower.

When we have a storm, Verizon is either the only carrier on, or the first one back up and running.
 
WoodrowCall said:
Thanks for all the input. I just placed an order for a T-Mobile test drive. They're sending me a 5S, which is nice since that's what I'm currently using. I really like the test drive idea, and I'll make sure to update how I feel about coverage/plans/reception/etc.
Anyone have questions for me while I serve as a guinea pig in this process? :)
Click to expand...

how do you place an order for a test drive?
 
The golden rule is you get what you pay for.

With VZW and AT&T, you get fantastic coverage and solid data speeds. TMobile has great speeds in select places, but terrible overall coverage. I'm not even going to touch on Sprint.

AT&T and VZW are on another stratosphere in this comparison.
 
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