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I'm a subscriber with T-Mobile and was recently in Charlotte. I was dismayed to see that I had no service in some areas whereas my friend's Sprint phone was fine. Since I will be relocating to Charlotte, I was wondering if I needed to switch service to Sprint for better coverage. I'm not interested in AT&T or Verizon as I really don't want to have a contract and I get a discount from work if I use Sprint.
Very simple. Around here, you get what you pay for.
Apparently, T Mobile uses Sprint towers but doesn't have the same level of service as Sprint does on those towers.
Related story.. We were with VZW for years and left for T-Mobile a few years ago. We had lots of "no service" areas in the greater Mooresville area and we couldn't stay in touch with our kid up in Boone unless they were on WiFi coverage. Nothing like not being able to contact your kid away from home and just having received their drivers license and car.
We barely lasted a year on TMB before we went back to VZW and their unparalleled service. Yeah, it cost us a few bucks more per month, but why bother even having a cell phone if it's nothing more than a paperweight?
after ATT for years, we moved to Verizon (much better) and would not consider anything else - most friends have terrible service with both Sprint and Tmobile in spots where both Att and Verizon have no issue.
Very simple. Around here, you get what you pay for.
Apparently, T Mobile uses Sprint towers but doesn't have the same level of service as Sprint does on those towers.
Related story.. We were with VZW for years and left for T-Mobile a few years ago. We had lots of "no service" areas in the greater Mooresville area and we couldn't stay in touch with our kid up in Boone unless they were on WiFi coverage. Nothing like not being able to contact your kid away from home and just having received their drivers license and car.
We barely lasted a year on TMB before we went back to VZW and their unparalleled service. Yeah, it cost us a few bucks more per month, but why bother even having a cell phone if it's nothing more than a paperweight?
Actually, T-Mobile can't use Sprint towers as they are a CDMA carrier (like Verizon) whereas T-Mobile is GSM. T-Mobile will leverage AT&T towers as they are GSM too.
I need to preface the below with the fact I'm glued to my phone all the time (it's a personal fallacy!) and if I experienced issues I would dump TMo in a heartbeat!
I overpaid for Verizon service for years and back in those days they really did have superior service and the only "high speed" network in my neck of the woods. However, I switched to a TMo pre-paid plan a few years ago and haven't looked back. For $32 a month I get unlimited text, unlimited data (first 5gb at LTE) and 100 minutes of talk (I never use 100 minutes). Compared to my $90/month Verizon plan I'm very happy.
In terms of coverage, the only two places that I've been in North Carolina where I do not have service at all is on my way to Ocean Isle beach. There is a stretch of road between Whiteville and OIB that I have zero service. The other place was on some back road in the Sparta area that I was on because of a rally race I was in. Everywhere else, and I really do mean everywhere else, I have service and nearly always LTE. I've been all over this region of the state and never have issues or loss of coverage. OP, not sure what you experienced in CLT with your phone and service but that is definitely an anomaly for TMo service in this area.
I will say though, inside some structures you might not have service either, which is just the spectrum that TMo is currently using. They did just purchase another frequency which will penetrate deeper into buildings so that'll help whenever it's rolled out.
TMo has made huge gains in recent years and the gap between them and the other "major" guys like AT&T and Verizon is next to nil at this point. Plus, they give you free stuff (movie tix, pizza discounts, $.25 off per gallon of Shell gas, magazines, etc.) every Tuesday via their app on T-Mobile Tuesday, what's not to love about that! lol
We have had Tmobile for almost 2 years now. There are very few spots that I don't get full LTE service. We travel frequently up and down the east coast (typically using 77 and 81) and almost always have service.
These days, many towers have co-located carriers. T-Mobile & AT&T use the same GSM technology and Sprint and VZW use the same CDMA technology. The only difference for either is the frequencies that they operate on. When on 4G LTE service, all the carriers use the same technology, but again it's a matter of the frequency, which way that carrier's antenna faces on the tower, and what the topology is between you and the tower.
In terms of coverage, the only two places that I've been in North Carolina where I do not have service at all is on my way to Ocean Isle beach. There is a stretch of road between Whiteville and OIB that I have zero service.
With Sprint, a very similar stretch is a dead zone. Zero, zip, nada access. Quite possibly, there is no there there!
In and around Charlotte and reasonably populated areas, Sprint meets our requirements. Unless a family member stops working with Sprint, the resulting employee family discounted price is right for our needs. Their regular or more standard fees and resulting services may or may not be right for other people. Good luck.
Thanks for all the comments guys! I will keep my T-Mobile service when I move and decide if I need to change based on what happens there. Maybe it was just a fluke that I temporarily did not have service . We will see.
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Since I will be relocating to Charlotte, I was wondering if I needed to switch service to Sprint for better coverage. I'm not interested in AT&T or Verizon as I really don't want to have a contract and I get a discount from work if I use Sprint.
