T-Mobile +Dish

[navychop]

T-Mobile coverage has gone up quite a bit the last couple of years. Agreed, they still have a ways to go, especially for rural areas.

Before I went with T-Mobile, I got a 30 day SIM and tried it out with my phone. Everywhere my wife and I go, we had service. And this includes a rural spot in WV, near where I-70 and I-81 meet. That surprised me.

I now pay less than half what I paid the accursed AT&T. I have their 55+ plan for my wife and I, and a pay as you go plan for my MiL. When we drove to MN from VA, we almost never lost signal. And I was tracking it.

With them expanding with 600 MHz coverage, and more spectrum from the merger, things are looking good.

Obviously, YMMV.


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[ncted]

I'm not sure if the others are even "trying!" In the past 10 years, Verizon has deployed towers in several unserved areas near me. The other 3 are nowhere to be found.

Well, at least I know where Verizon has been spending all their money to improve their network now, because it isn't around here. It is unusable most of the time because so many people have bought into the hype and signed up that it is impossible to pass a packet. They have slightly better coverage than AT&T, but it doesn't matter if you have signal that you cannot use. I had to switch back to AT&T just to have something usable. I wouldn't mind trying T-Mobile, but I go too many places with no signal.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Well, at least I know where Verizon has been spending all their money to improve their network now, because it isn't around here. It is unusable most of the time because so many people have bought into the hype and signed up that it is impossible to pass a packet. They have slightly better coverage than AT&T, but it doesn't matter if you have signal that you cannot use. I had to switch back to AT&T just to have something usable. I wouldn't mind trying T-Mobile, but I go too many places with no signal.

In response to complaints just like this, Verizon has yanked their prepaid unlimited hotspot plan. They hope that will reduce the load on the network. I heard this from my brother, who works at Best Buy and that is what their Verizon vendor told them.

 

[ncted]

In response to complaints just like this, Verizon has yanked their prepaid unlimited hotspot plan. They hope that will reduce the load on the network. I heard this from my brother, who works at Best Buy and that is what their Verizon vendor told them.

Hopefully that will help, but it has been this way for years around here. The people in the stores, who have actually gotten nicer finally, keep telling us it will get better once they free up the 850Mhz bands (they have both A&B side cellular here), but my friend who works in their engineering department tells me the former GTE and Alltel CDMA towers that don't currently have LTE radios only have a copper DS3 for backhaul. It will help some, but they really need to run a lot of fiber first to take advantage of that spectrum.

 

[glynnp]

In response to complaints just like this, Verizon has yanked their prepaid unlimited hotspot plan. They hope that will reduce the load on the network. I heard this from my brother, who works at Best Buy and that is what their Verizon vendor told them.

Did you get on that plan ? I had read the jetpack has constant disconnects so I didn't sign up.

 

[NYDutch]

In response to complaints just like this, Verizon has yanked their prepaid unlimited hotspot plan. They hope that will reduce the load on the network. I heard this from my brother, who works at Best Buy and that is what their Verizon vendor told them.

Thankfully, those of us that have VZW's prepaid hotspot UDP have been grandfathered in so far. We travel to lots of areas where it's a toss up whether AT&T or Verizon will have the stronger signal. Having UDP hotspots with both works well for us...

 

[nelson61]

Dish deal approved by justice with 7 year rights to use tm-sprint network



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[navychop]

Odd. Whistleout says T-Mobile has the second best nationwide coverage, after Verizon. I guess due to the rollout of the 600MHz band. As more TV stations vacate those frequencies, that coverage will grow.

But not that many people have phones that support 600MHz.


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[NYDutch]

Did you get on that plan ? I had read the jetpack has constant disconnects so I didn't sign up.

We have the plan on our 6620L hotspot and haven't had any problem with disconnects. It's on 24/7 most of the time. I do recall hearing about disconnect problems with one newer hotspot model, but I don't recall which one or if the problem was resolved.

 

[TheKrell]

Well, at least I know where Verizon has been spending all their money to improve their network now, because it isn't around here. It is unusable most of the time because so many people have bought into the hype and signed up that it is impossible to pass a packet.

I can verify that for the Washington D.C. area. My daughter got some money and switched to Verizon to get an iPhone. For years her voice was so choppy, I could barely make out what she was saying. That never happened when we were on AT&T or T-Mobile. She later came back to T-Mobile and I can understand her again.

Through that all, Verizon kept running the stupid ad saying, "Can you hear me now?" I wanted to shout at the TV, "Yes, I can hear you; I just can't understand you!"

 

[comfortably_numb]

Thankfully, those of us that have VZW's prepaid hotspot UDP have been grandfathered in so far. We travel to lots of areas where it's a toss up whether AT&T or Verizon will have the stronger signal. Having UDP hotspots with both works well for us...

Only the prepaid unlimited hotspot plan is being discontinued.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Odd. Whistleout says T-Mobile has the second best nationwide coverage, after Verizon. I guess due to the rollout of the 600MHz band. As more TV stations vacate those frequencies, that coverage will grow.

But not that many people have phones that support 600MHz.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys App. For now.

600 MHz travels farther without the need to add actual cells, which I consider sort of a gimmick.

 

[ncted]

Odd. Whistleout says T-Mobile has the second best nationwide coverage, after Verizon. I guess due to the rollout of the 600MHz band. As more TV stations vacate those frequencies, that coverage will grow.

But not that many people have phones that support 600MHz.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys App. For now.

"This map shows AT&T closely trailing T-Mobile's 3G/4G coverage—amounting to a mere 1% difference. The carriers seem to have similar blank spots west of the Mississippi; AT&T's coverage is generally superior to T-Mobile's in the midwest and along the eastern seaboard. Again, without T-Mobile's 600 MHz spectrum—which is not universally accessible by today's devices (like the iPhone X, or anything older)—AT&T beats them."

Guide to Finding the Best Cell Phone Coverage

 

[ncted]

600 MHz travels farther without the need to add actual cells, which I consider sort of a gimmick.

According to T-Mobile's own maps, the 600Mhz band (71) doesn't improve coverage at all in my area. Makes me wonder why my OTA stations are bothering to repack.

 

[navychop]

Yep. 1%.

For 4G coverage:
Verizon 70%
T-Mobile 59%
ATT 58%
Sprint 27%


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[Claude Greiner]

I know a former retailer for DISH who could.

There are lots of those around.

But to be honest, after dealing with Dish and being a former retailer you never want to go back to working with then. I don’t care how good the money is.

 

[navychop]

600 MHz travels farther without the need to add actual cells, which I consider sort of a gimmick.

Why a gimmick? It works. It expands coverage area at less cost.


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[NYDutch]

Only the prepaid unlimited hotspot plan is being discontinued.

Yes... That's plan we have that's no longer being offered.

 

[ekilgus]

So, this all seems to be a done deal. Dish is now in the cell phone business.

 

[comfortably_numb]

Why a gimmick? It works. It expands coverage area at less cost.


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Because it isn't actually adding cell sites, which Verizon is doing.