Cell Phone Carriers <Again> (Bradenton, North Port: cost, area, companies)

[FloydTech]

I put again in brackets as i am sure this topic is visited frequently. However when I searched the forum most of the threads were older. So I am just curious what the basic consensus is of which carrier has the most consistent service with fewer dead zones. I have heard both Verizon and US Cellular? I know no one carrier is perfect or has perfect coverage. Just curious what your experience as been.

[bbronston]

What is your primary area of coverage? It makes a difference. For me in Lakewood Ranch, I think it's AT&T but I still have to use wifi calling in my own home.

[Restrain]

Sprint has huge outages in North Port, Venice, etc. they admit a lack of coverage.

[swainsellsflorida]

I don't know if US Cellular is in this area, where are you located?
I have verizon and I have never had any issues with the service, my phone itself is a whole other story...., my husband has AT&T, he also never has service issues unless he is way out east in Bradenton, Duette, etc. Most companies nowadays are pretty comparable!

[beach43ofus]

I have not had any other carriers except ATT, so I cannot compare and contrast for you. I have used ATT all over this area w/o any issues at all. However, you should know that I use a mobil phone almost exclusively as a phone only...to talk to people using my voice, and listen to them with my ear.

My phone cost $39.99 and is about 2 years old. I'm sure it has an inferior antenna inside, and yet, no issues at all talking or listening using ATT's network. I rarely text, but find it unavoidable at times.

Our Son is on our plan, but he has "unlimited" data for his iphone5, and the only issue he has is ATT slows him down after he reaches a certain data ceiling which he typically runs in to mid-month because he does the video streaming stuff constantly....I think its called snapchat. So, its not really unlimited at all it seems, but more of a marketing ploy.

If I need to talk to our Son, I call him later in the billing cycle because I know he's out of data, and can't snapchat his pals for a couple of weeks, so is more likely to accept a phone call from his Dad...who he refers to as Alexander Graham Bell, or Fred Flintstone (he saw the old reruns). So, all in all, ATT's just perfect for me. If he had real unlimited data, I supposed I'd have to try to communicate with him via; email, US Mail, Telegram, short wave radio, or the Pony Express....maybe smoke signals, or messenger Pidgeon.

[MattMN]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

If I need to talk to our Son, I call him later in the billing cycle because I know he's out of data, and can't snapchat his pals for a couple of weeks, so is more likely to accept a phone call from his Dad...

This is just genius.

...who he refers to as Alexander Graham Bell, or Fred Flintstone (he saw the old reruns). So, all in all, ATT's just perfect for me.

This is funny.

[MattMN]

We've had Verizon for the 2 years we've been here. My wife drives all over from Bradenton to North Port for work, and I've never heard her complain about connection issues. (And I probably would if there were.)

I'm sure there are cheaper plans/carriers than we have ($250/mo for 5 lines), but it works so we stick with it.

[Mas15]

I think AT&T pretty much covers almost all the states. I think it is good.