Cell phone carrier? (prices, good, experiences)

[DUNNDFRNT]

Sprint is decent if you have a tri band LTE phone is pretty fast, the problem with sprint is that just like verizon if you buy a phone from them then you are stuck unless you get a nexus 5 or 6 sprint phones are sprint phones, then they are upgrading their coverage aggressively which is a good thing long term but short term it means it can be spotty for days at a time, they can take a tower offline then your coverage gets crappy for a couple of days then it comes back. If you are looking for good coverage thats inexpensive check out cricket thats ATT prepaid. I had all the carriers I have a verizon iphone from work which now sits on my desk, i had sprint, t-mobile and att, currently I have ATT, but i live in South Tampa and commute to ST Pete so i dont venture out to the farther suburbs a lot and when I do I am not on my phone that I would notice if the signal dropped out.

[PDF]

The thing with Verizon is that you get great building penetration. If you switch to Sprint or T-Mobile for cheaper prices, be prepared to not get a signal indoors most of the time. Verizon is also great all over the country, I've never had an issue with them.

[Vannort54]

We like AT&T we have had them since they were the first to offer the iPhone. We love our apple products.

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by DUNNDFRNT

Metro is throttled t mobile. Not that is a bad thing just same towers and coverage.

Oh, by no means am I saying that Metro is the best service you can have in Tampa. That said, I, personally, have had very few problems with them, and $60 for unlimited everything is awesome.

[EngGirl]

We have T-mobiles for years and recently switched to their new unlimited 4G LTE plan (unlimited data, calls, texts) for $100 for 2 lines. Never had any problems with T-Mobile in Tampa, but weak signal in Jacksonville at certain areas (south). Internet is faster than our home internet. Since T-Mobile no longer have contracts, it might be wise to check it out and switch to other carrier if needed.

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by PDF

The thing with Verizon is that you get great building penetration. If you switch to Sprint or T-Mobile for cheaper prices, be prepared to not get a signal indoors most of the time. Verizon is also great all over the country, I've never had an issue with them.

Sprint and Verizon have similar frequency footprints, Verizon LTE runs at 700 which gives them more coverage with less towers as opposed to everyone else who has 1900, sprint actually owns three bands 800 1900 2600, so 800 would give them coverage and 2600 smaller waves gives them building penetration specially in steel beam buildings that are so common in Florida.

[Tim Tim Tim]

with my company I have tested all of the major carriers and can tell you that Verizon is by far the best in terms of coverage and reliability. T-Mobile is the worst that I used - if you live outside you will be fine but their building penetration absolutely sucks. Metro is essentially T-Mobile so your other real options are sprint and ATT. Neither are great, some may claim faster 4g but honestly, Verizon will get you well over 50mbps regularly... how much faster do you need?

[Tim Tim Tim]

Originally Posted by DUNNDFRNT

Sprint and Verizon have similar frequency footprints, Verizon LTE runs at 700 which gives them more coverage with less towers as opposed to everyone else who has 1900, sprint actually owns three bands 800 1900 2600, so 800 would give them coverage and 2600 smaller waves gives them building penetration specially in steel beam buildings that are so common in Florida.

you realize that the higher the frequency the LESS penetration, lower the frequency the better then penetration....

[PDF]

Originally Posted by Tim Tim Tim

you realize that the higher the frequency the LESS penetration, lower the frequency the better then penetration....

Yup. There is no way that Sprint could even come close to matching Verizon when it comes to building penetration. T-Mobile can't either.

[DUNNDFRNT]

Originally Posted by Tim Tim Tim

you realize that the higher the frequency the LESS penetration, lower the frequency the better then penetration....

Not to get into a conversation about absorption, in simplest terms wavelength is inversely proportional to the frequency, the higher the freq the smaller the wavelength, in typical Florida commercial building with steel frame construction you would get higher penetration with higher frequencies, in urban environments due to the multipath effect (in essence waves bouncing off glass, materials with less absorption rates) higher frequencies also have better penetration, in suburban environments yes lower frequency better penetration, concrete wooden structures prevalent in residential housing do a number on higher frequencies, which you can see if you ever try to put up a 5 ghz wifi network. My point is Sprint provides the best of all worlds with their triband LTE, having said that I am no sprint fan if they ever get their network up and fully functional they will have better coverage than Verizon.