Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've used Verizon cell service for nearly 14 years. My plan expires in May and I think it's time to take a serious look around at the competition.
I need a family plan for two and neither one will be smart phones. Currently I have 450 shared minutes and each phone is limited to 250 texts per month. That's working fine. While I travel intermittently, both to cities and rural areas, coverage wherever I go is most important to me. I've read the newest Consumer Reports article (Jan 2011) with their ratings (At&t being the worst, Verizon, TMobile & Sprint being the best); they don't test the Boise area, just the large metropolitan areas.
I'm looking for the most bang for my buck and would love to hear what others in this area have to say about their experiences with cell phone companies & service.
I've had them since before they were called Verizon and they do have some of the best service and coverage has only gotten better over the years by both Consumer Reports and personal experioence. Billshrink.com is a calculator that can help you sort out needs vs. plans. I used a while back and came up that Verizon was still my best deal. We're a family of 4, 2 adults who rarely call or text and young adults who text a lot. I'm STILL not happy that we pay $130 a month, one phone is a data phone with a limited plan. And we have the smallest amount of shared minutes available, 700 I think, which we rarely get even close to. I was thinking of researching again this spring myself. I'd be interested in others input as well.
I use Verizon and have really good coverage throughout the state. When I go up to Sun Valley for work, my phone works for 90% of the drive. My boss has AT&T and his calls drop in Boise and he can only answer the phone at his house if he is standing on his back porch.
VZW still has the best coverage in the area AFAIK. I have T-Mobile, and while the coverage is fine in the Boise area, it gets pretty bad in the rural areas. I'm in the process of testing out Cricket service on a flashed Verizon Droid X to see if I want to switch, since their Smartphone plan is much cheaper. Sprint is their roaming partner, and I definitely do get better coverage than my T-Mobile phone. If coverage is your major concern, I'd recommend sticking with Verizon.
How often do you travel. T-mobile does have the cheapest plans around. But when you go rural, it starts to get spotty. If you stay on major highways you fine.
I sell Verizon, I have sold other carriers. You do not want to go with anything but Verizon. Coverage of other carriers is usually good in Boise, but once you leave...might as well use two cups and a string. Email me for more info on phones.
We just switched from Verizon who we had for 15 years to Sprint. Verizon just kept going up and up in price and we were getting less and less and frankly getting tired of the numerous price increases. We researched and after also reading consumer reports where Sprint is just slightly below Verizon we made the switch. Sprint uses Verizons towers and we have not had any problems so far even out of state. We are paying less then we were at Verizon and have a whole lot more for our money. We had 4 phones ( NO smart phones and 1 blackberry) on Verizon with only 1 with internet and all had unlimited texting and now we have 4 smart phones all with unlimited internet and unlimited texting on the everything plan and we are paying considerably less then we were with verizon with less service and getting so much more. It pays to research and several people in Sprint were also switching from Verizon as well as us.
Sprint does not use all of Verizons towers, only the one verizon lets them. Sprint pays extra for those. I have worked for all the carriers, and beleive me I hear complaints about all of them...in my store, I get AT&t complaints, followed by Sprint, then Tmobile.
Roaming agreements between carriers are complicated, but the gist of it is that they the carrier agrees to provide coverage in areas where the other carrier doesn't have service. The carrier pays a set amount per minute when their customers roam on another carrier's network. So it's definitely in a carrier's best interest to block roaming on another company's towers when their own signal is available. The phones are programmed to prefer the home carrier's network over all others, unless there is no home carrier signal available. So if you're in an area where Sprint gets two bars and Verizon gets five, your Sprint phone is going to have two bars.
Also, in a lot of areas the company does not actually own their towers. They lease space off of towers from third party companies, or from private individuals who have a cell tower on their property. Even if they do own the tower, it's common for carriers to lease antenna space on another carrier's tower. In urban areas carriers generally prefer to have their own towers. But in rural areas, it's not uncommon for a tower to have antennas of three or more carriers on it.
T-Mobile is the worst for signal reception. I still keep my pre-paid phone with them (because it is dirt cheap), but they definitely take the cake for weakest signal (barring cricket, which is essentially a dead stick when you leave the treasure valley). Even in the treasure valley they have plenty of dead spots and if you end up in a building with thick walls, well. . . .good luck. I have also heard countless complaints about AT&T in the area and honestly they are probably the worst since their plans are all a rip-off. Unless you are getting some crazy business discount with them then they are a bad bet all around.
Verizon has the strongest signal and the best for being out in the boonies, but as mentioned above they do some pretty screwy things with their plans and rates. I have also run into some areas (ie the foothills in Boise) where they are just as bad, if not worse for signal strength than the others, so even they are not infallible. They will be the least flexible with offering you deals, etc. When shopping around last go-around My wife had Verizon and they wouldn't give her or myself any kind of deal to keep our business and my employee discount would've actually been about 2% less than it was with Sprint. Sprint on the other hand did quite a lot for us.
Sprint I have found is the best compromise of all things. They offered me by far the most for my money and still have a pretty strong signal both in and out of the treasure valley. Not quite as strong as Verizon in some areas but still much better than T-Mobile or AT&T. My wife and I hate texting so we just have the regular family talk 700 plan, which is more than enough for us given the fact that the people we call most are each-other. It is $70 a month. The other thing is that Sprint is the only network that starts it's unlimited night-time calling at 7PM at no charge (it's 9PM for most networks, unless you pay $5 to $10 extra per month). The Sprint Simply Everything plan attracts a number of people though. $100 a month for unlimited texting, calls, i-net, etc. for the individual and
$189 for the family.
Regardless of which service you go with be sure you check and see if your work offers some kind of employee discount. Federal Employees/Military get about 15% with pretty much any network, and I know that St. Lukes and other major hospitals give their employees discounts as well. Most major corporations do as well. So be sure to check into that before signing up as it can save you big $.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
