T-Mobile Coverage (Thinking of switching from Verizon) (San Diego, Chula Vista: house, to buy)

[guy711]

Hello everyone I just wanted to know if T-Mobile coverage was good in San Diego? Mostly in the southern SD area (Chula Vista, Eastlake, El Cajon, Downtown SD and the like). But it would be nice to hear general comments about the whole county.

I'm currently on Verizon but it is getting pretty expensive and I was looking at T-Mobile plans and I can save some money by switching but I don't want to have the same experience I had with Sprint a long time ago.

How is call quality with T-Mobile? and the most important for me is 3G, LTE (internet) coverage as I use the internet a lot while I'm on my phone.

Now, I know it probably won't match Verizon when it comes to 3G, LTE coverage but is it as bad as Sprint 3G? Sprint's mobile internet is USELESS.

All of the people I know either have Verizon or Sprint and the only person I know that has T-Mobile told me well I have no complaints but then again I rarely use the internet on my phone, so that's why I'm here.

Thank you everyone.

[moved]

I have T-Mobile with 4G, and have no problems with the call quality or using the internet.

[Mugsy]

I have T mobile pay as you go. It costs me $60.00/month.

The coverage is really great.

I do have 4G and I do go on the internet more that I use the phone feature.

I had Cricket which was not as reliable.

[davdaven]

I have had good experiences with T-Mobile in all those areas. I frequently spend time in Chula Vista and El Cajon and can get 4G easily, as well as decent voice calls. I have friends that live a little off the beaten path in La Mesa, and my 4G coverage there is nonexistent when I go indoors (but calling and texting still works fine). This has to do with the frequencies T-Mobile uses, which don't penetrate buildings as well as the competition. However, most places have wi-fi and I will happily save the $$ every month. Also, T-Mobile has been investing heavily in its coverage issues ever since the AT&T merger was called off, so it keeps getting better. I even get coverage out in Jamul these days, which not even AT&T offered until recently.

[earlyretirement]

You know something? I was going to dump TMobile in December when my contract expired (I don't think the new plans have contracts but I was on a plan before that had a contract). However, I probably won't leave them now.

They have this amazing plan they just rolled out: Our unlimited data coverage has gone global in 100+ countries. | The Source

It's really wonderful for those of us that travel internationally quite a bit! I just opened an office in Canada and cellphone service up here is VERY expensive for data. Now with this new TMobile plan I can roam free along to many other countries I go to as well.

Hopefully before too long, all the rest of the competitors roll out similar types of programs.

[Think4Yourself]

Last time I had T-Mobile was 2003 so it has been 10 years and maybe things have changed since then but when I did have them as my service provider I found their coverage to be EXTREMELY patchy. Even at my parent's house in Scripps Ranch I couldn't get any service, you'd find random dead spots all over the place, plus their voice mail system just plain sucked because you'd have your phone on the whole time but it would suddenly beep saying you missed a call three days ago and only now were they getting around to telling you that a new message was in your voice box. Verizon has none of these problems but it cost about twice as much.

BTW my younger brother currently has locally based Republic Wireless which is a local reseller of air time and he swears they are great. For $16 per month you get unlimited voice, data, and text though they use something called hybrid calling where it uses local WiFi networks where possible and if there is no WiFi available then you use the Sprint network. He claims service is great in San Diego and the price really is cheap. The downside is you have no choice of which phone you want as there is just one Motorola phone (android based) which they offer for their network.

[moved]

Unfortunately, the new plan doesn't do me any good. I checked into it, and they want $.34 per minute for international, so I still can't make/receive calls or use the internet here in TJ, so I only do that when I cross the border, but I can use some of the apps, so it's still useful here.

I just installed a Magic Jack Plus on my computer, and have to buy a phone to use with it this week. That should solve the telephone problem.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

I am a consultant in this industry and can tell you that their rollout for the past 12-15 months not only in San Diego but other cities nationally has improved ten fold. I would not have advised getting T-Mo even a year ago.

While its not par with Verizon' reliability it has certainly climbed past Sprint for the region.

Where T-Mobile is thriving is being more progressive for end users with their plans and services. I am really glad one of the big four did as the industry was really static for a while.

As with any mobile service, when you hit the fringes or outskirts, some services may shine better than others. The question is whether its really that important for you to have services in the outskirts for scattered amounts of time.

[NYSD1995]

I was a T-mo user before I switched to Verizon. I travel a lot and T-Mo was consistently dropping calls and had spotty service. If you stick to the same area and the T-mo service is good, then I think it's really as good as any of them. If you need reliable connections to voice and data wherever you may go - I wouldn't use them again.

[rgb123]

I've been with Tmobile for like 13 years....perhaps their oldest customer. And I've moved a lot. I almost dropped them when I moved to CA due to the bad coverage (And a few other places but coverage always seemed to improve after my move) even where I live right now coverage is terrible (I live by the ocean on a peninsula) but its terrible for other providers as well. Overall I've been happy to stick with tmobile but from what I understand verizon has much better coverage in CA overall...that said I've never had trouble on major highways, its just in little places like where I am now.

oh and I'm not in SD but oxnard/ventura.