Best 2014 Cell Carrier Coverage for Sacramento City?

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by rah62

I had T-Mobile the entire time I lived in Sac and had no problem anywhere in the area. Then I moved to Palm Springs which has a mountain just a couple blocks from downtown, and couldn't get a signal to save my life. I switched to AT&T, and have had them ever since. No problems anyplace I've lived since, with AT&T.

That's generally the problem with T-Mobile.

In Sacramento, you're good until you get up around Placerville or Auburn... then it's pretty much useless. It switches to roaming (voice) eventually, but you've got a lot of area where it thinks you have reception on T-Mobile's network but really don't, so you can't even make a call.

On the other hand, I'm paying $80/mo which while isn't cheap comes with 5 GB of mobile hotspot and unlimited data. I've become a data hog. Since the LTE is faster than my broadband at home, I'll sometimes tether even at home. Other than that, Spotify/Navi, watching movies on my phone... I usually end up using somewhere in excess of 5 GB of data which means a comparable Verizon plan would be $120, plus occasional overages for excess data. Once you factor in the phone subsidy, Verizon isn't really all that much more expensive than T-Mobile.

Downsides for me is where I live, Verizon has crap reception. I had to go outside to make phone calls which was annoying. Also, T-Mobile's LTE is way, way, way faster. Downside is once you get in rural areas, it's useless. Since I travel a fair amount, that's kind of annoying. Overall, T-Mobile would be my pick though.

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by mddong

Thats too bad the original poster says Sprint sucks in Sac. I live in Woodland and commute to Rancho Cordova. My wife is working in the Woodland/Davis area and I am/was considering Republic Wireless which has great rates however runs on the SPRINT network! We have Consumer Cellular which has cut down our phone bill by about $40-50 from ATT, however I am always looking for better deals.

BTW anyone have Republic Wireless in the SAC/Yolo County and how do you like it??????

THANKS and Good luck OP

Well... more talk more more data?

T-Mobile has the "unlimited" everything plan for $30/mo. It's not really unlimited, of course. It's 5GB of 4G data and unlimited text and 100 minutes of talk. You can get around the talk by using something like Sipdroid. It used to be free, probably something else out there that is still but that would require digging. Otherwise, I suppose you could purchase minutes if you need more. I think they roll over with T-Mobile... just buy a $100 card whenever you need 1,000 minutes?

[Curmudgeon]

Verizon never let us down when we lived in Sacramento. It served us well driving 2,000 miles across the country plus another 500 on visits and we've never had a dropped call here in the wilds of the Ozarks.

[fbt263]

If reception is good where you work/play/live, T-Mobile all the way. Ridiculous (awesome) speeds on LTE, good call quality, and low prices. The essentially-free international roaming is a huge perk for those that travel overseas. Never had a problem with T-mobile in the entire Sac metro area. I do have have problems up in Tahoe however. I'll have "no bars" and my ATT and Verizon friends will have solid 3g data service. It mainly depends on how much you travel domestically, and how important it is for you to have strong service in rural areas. If you primarily stick to larger cities (like Sac), you'll probably be happiest with T-mobile.

But again, all cell reception is highly variable depending on phone used, topography, climate, network congestion, etc. There is no one "guaranteed" best provider. So take everything with a grain of salt and don't lock yourself into a contract with anyone! You always want the option of switching at moment's notice! Keeps the corporations on their toes