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I have had T Mo for 8 years, and during that time had service through other carriers for one reason or another (phone from work, such as Nextel, or trying out no-contract providers such as Metro PCS and Virgin Mobile, for example), and my opinion is that "voice call service" is pretty much the same for everyone if you live in major city, or a decent-sized one at that. I am currently using Verizon, which everyone says is the "best", and to be honest, it doesn't seem any better than T Mo.
Ah, 3G, 4G, etc. doesn't really mean much as all they indicate is the third generation of data-transfer capability, 4th generation, etc. for that particular provider. They are not all the same. Since each provider has their own unique data-transfer capabilities based on their own unique band-widths, it is kind of a moot point. T Mo's 4G is not the same as Sprint's. Or Verizon's. Or AT&Ts.
One thing I really like about T Mo is that they are GSM, and their phones use SIM cards. I can take my SIM card and place it into another phone that requires a SIM card, and if you call my number, the "new" phone will ring. Plus, GSM is pretty much the World-wide standard. My T Mo phone will work in Europe. My Verizon phone will not.
All four major U.S. carriers have pretty much the same coverage. The difference is in the little nuances of remote areas and smaller rural towns. But, if you live in most U.S. cities, or drive along major U.S. highways, you will find you have the same coverage.
Most people live in cities, so the idea that you can get coverage in some remote location is rather ridiculous since most Americans are not going to find themselves out in the middle of Montana, per se.
All four major U.S. carriers have pretty much the same coverage. The difference is in the little nuances of remote areas and smaller rural towns. But, if you live in most U.S. cities, or drive along major U.S. highways, you will find you have the same coverage.
I will agree with you for the most part except in Jersey T-Mobile is decidedly the worst of the big 4...Going from NYC to Philly on the NJT and to AC on the GSP, T-Mobile has more holes than a strainer.
His job is listed as Tech Support, so maybe he works for Tmobile. There are spots though across the country where some carriers are stronger than others but as a whole the coverage across the US is 1-Verizon, 2-Sprint, 3-AT&T, 4-Tmobile
AT&T is #1, covering 97% of all americans.
Verizon is #2, covering 94% of all americans.
On a many cross country trips, the only place I have ever lost coverage on Sprint is the White Sands Missle test range and MiraMar MCAS. My friend on Verizon lost coverage in the Mountain Areas or Utah and Colorado, and even then it was only for a few miles.
with AT&T, my brother can't even get a signal in many parts ofSan Francisco, NYC, and Albany. More oftern than not he will not get a signal in more remote parts of the country. More often than not, if a call is dropped, it is usually because the other party is on AT&T.
Too bad they don't cover 97% of America. THAT would be something.
To shut down your threadjacking before you even get a chance to begin:
OP, the difference between the two is really entirely up to you. Despite what Mr. AT&T Marketing here says, the only important factor is whether or not your device works where you need it to. To this end, your coverage and network performance will vary greatly from area to area, and in fact, from user to user.
So the only simple answer I have is to try them both. Both offer reasonable return periods. From my first-hand experience, I can tell you that both are comparable -- though T-Mo seems to have more dead spots around here (Pennsylvania). If customer service is at all important to you, go with T-Mobile. Sprint's customer service is beyond awful (again, my first-hand experience).
The short answer is that there's no one carrier that's best for everyone.
That's interesting considering Sprint roams on Verizon's network.
Sprint devices only fall back to Verizon when there's no native Sprint coverage to be found. When this happens, it's my understanding that they lose EVDO. Verizon only allows Sprint devices to access 1xRTT data. This would definitely explain a major difference in coverage between voice and data.
It's been three years since I had a Sprint device, however, so it's entirely possible that this has changed.
Sprint devices only fall back to Verizon when there's no native Sprint coverage to be found. When this happens, it's my understanding that they lose EVDO. Verizon only allows Sprint devices to access 1xRTT data. This would definitely explain a major difference in coverage between voice and data.
It's been three years since I had a Sprint device, however, so it's entirely possible that this has changed.
This has changed. Due to a conflict with the agreement Alltel had with Sprint, Verizon had to open up EVDO to Sprint customers.
Coverage from cell phone companies will vary by city. Here in Phoenix Verizon and T-Mobile have the best. The coverage I get from Sprint is acceptable to me based on what I'm paying. If they continue to offer unlimited data when my contract is up in 1.5 years then I will gladly pay the extra $10/month for premium data. But I still think Verizon and T-Mobile have superior coverage, it doesn't mean I work for either of them.
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