Verizon, T-Mobile or something else?

[Hawk_4shur]

Verizon user here, pretty much since I had my first cell phone.

Signal is fine - no complaints except in southern Iowa and northern MO, but it's no big deal. I have a family plan with 7 lines on it and it seems to work for everyone.

BUT, I'm tired of their "customer service". Different deals on the internet vs in the store, lots of double talk about their "deals", impossible to pin down the cost of anything.

I thought it was time to check with the sages on HROT and find out what life is like outside of Verizon. I really don't mind paying extra, if I'm getting extra. I'm not sure I am.

Comments?

 

[CLUB215]

Kick your deadbeat adult kids off your plan, that should help save money. It's amazing to me how many 35 year old MARRIED people are still in their parents phone plan.

 

[UNIowaHawk]

Had Verizon for about 15 years and switched to T-Mobile this past summer and haven't noticed anything different except I no longer have to pay for Netflix, AppleTV (never paid for it before), the Athletic (never paid for it before), or MLB.TV.

 

[Carolina Hawk]

Had Verizon for about 15 years and switched to T-Mobile this past summer and haven't noticed anything different except I no longer have to pay for Netflix, AppleTV (never paid for it before), the Athletic (never paid for it before), or MLB.TV.

why dont you have to pay for netflix? What plan do you have? I also have T Mobile.

 

[UNIowaHawk]

why dont you have to pay for netflix? What plan do you have? I also have T Mobile.

Magenta Max with three lines Is $120. Comes with Netflix then they always have those Tuesday things and get AppleTV, Athletic, AppleNews+, and MLBTV Season through that.

 

[bunsen82]

Verizon user here, pretty much since I had my first cell phone.

Signal is fine - no complaints except in southern Iowa and northern MO, but it's no big deal. I have a family plan with 7 lines on it and it seems to work for everyone.

BUT, I'm tired of their "customer service". Different deals on the internet vs in the store, lots of double talk about their "deals", impossible to pin down the cost of anything.

I thought it was time to check with the sages on HROT and find out what life is like outside of Verizon. I really don't mind paying extra, if I'm getting extra. I'm not sure I am.

Comments?

US Cellular, but Im in the bottom tier of Iowa counties near the Missouri border. Had to get rid of Verizon after 1 month. It is better now, but was horrible 15 years ago.

 

[The Tradition]

OP's Mom's network. Everybody's doing it.

 

[Carolina Hawk]

Magenta Max with three lines Is $120. Comes with Netflix then they always have those Tuesday things and get AppleTV, Athletic, AppleNews+, and MLBTV Season through that.

gotcha, we are getting the free year of paramount TV and 10 bucks a month off of Youtube TV. We were Sprint for years but I am happy with the move to T Mobile,

 

[Hawk_4shur]

Kick your deadbeat adult kids off your plan, that should help save money. It's amazing to me how many 35 year old MARRIED people are still in their parents phone plan.

They pay for their own lines.

 

[CLUB215]

They pay for their own lines.

As soon as my wife and I moved in together we got our own phone plan. I have cousins with kids where each spouse is on their parents plan. wtf

 

[Hawk_4shur]

As soon as my wife and I moved in together we got our own phone plan. I have cousins with kids where each spouse is on their parents plan. wtf

Yeah, I don't have the "Unlimited Money Plan".

I pay for the "plan" then everyone pays for their own lines and whatever they choose to do with their own phones is totally on them.

It's a great deal for them, but I don't think it's costing me much.

 

[Moral]

I have a Verizon phone for work and recently got a Tmobile phone for personal use. iWireless was leasing TMobiles towers in Iowa so the coverage in Iowa is pretty solid. It outperforms Verizon in the middle of nowhere fishing areas for me and they seem to be getting 5g up quicker than Verizon in the QC.

 

[BlIIlken2]

So consensus is T-Mobile is finally worth a damn in Iowa? Would love to switch. ATT for 2 lines including a work discount is costing me $180 a month. Woof

 

[Joes Place]

Verizon user here, pretty much since I had my first cell phone.

Signal is fine - no complaints except in southern Iowa and northern MO, but it's no big deal. I have a family plan with 7 lines on it and it seems to work for everyone.

BUT, I'm tired of their "customer service". Different deals on the internet vs in the store, lots of double talk about their "deals", impossible to pin down the cost of anything.

I thought it was time to check with the sages on HROT and find out what life is like outside of Verizon. I really don't mind paying extra, if I'm getting extra. I'm not sure I am.

Comments?

What do you need for data or 5G bandwidth?

I get 8GB Verizon signal for $20 a month thru an MVNO. Annual plan, including all fees/taxes.

You can get 50GB for $50 a month on other monthly plans w/ 5G service. All talk/text unlimited.

EDIT: You can get plans on any of ATT, Verizon or TMobile thru MVNOs; for a fraction of what the carriers want to charge you.

 

[nextinlineatOPsmoms]

I recently switched to Tmobile from Straight Talk. Their actual service is good. Customer service sucks. I will be about 4-5 months in and am atill waiting for their “hometown discount” to be reflected on my bill.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

What do you need for data or 5G bandwidth?

I get 8GB Verizon signal for $20 a month thru an MVNO. Annual plan, including all fees/taxes.

You can get 50GB for $50 a month on other monthly plans w/ 5G service. All talk/text unlimited.

EDIT: You can get plans on any of ATT, Verizon or TMobile thru MVNOs; for a fraction of what the carriers want to charge you.

Do you know if they offer things like a Family Plan? My family is paying about $275 for 7 lines, all unlimited.

I'm not really trying to save money - I'm trying to improve customer service. If somebody has great service AND I can save money - all the better.

 

[nextinlineatOPsmoms]

I'm not really trying to save money - I'm trying to improve customer service.

Also when i transferred my line and another line two months later, there was issues with porting them over.

customer service either on phone or chat was at least a 45 minute wait. If the discount is not reflected on my next bill, my next email will be tothe CEO’s email

 

[JMSBFD]

Also when i transferred my line and another line two months later, there was issues with porting them over.

customer service either on phone or chat was at least a 45 minute wait. If the discount is not reflected on my next bill, my next email will be tothe CEO’s email

That will show them.

 

[nextinlineatOPsmoms]

That will show them.

I have contacted a CEOs email on five other occasions when traditional customer service methods have failed to provide any resolution over the course of a few months. Each time, a resolution was provided within days of initial contact to the CEO’s email

 

[JMSBFD]

I have contacted a CEOs email on five other occasions when traditional customer service methods have failed to provide any resolution over the course of a few months. Each time, a resolution was provided within days of initial contact to the CEO’s email

Sure Jan.

 

[nextinlineatOPsmoms]

Sure Jan.

Believe me or not, i don’t get a shit.

 

[Joes Place]

Do you know if they offer things like a Family Plan? My family is paying about $275 for 7 lines, all unlimited.

I'm not really trying to save money - I'm trying to improve customer service. If somebody has great service AND I can save money - all the better.

What do you need for "customer service"? I rarely have to deal with anything aside from setting up an account.

My connections work; I did have some voicemail issues in the past, but they (RedPocket) have a Chat function that has been pretty good for addressing questions and problems. RP does cost an additional $1/month for visual voicemail for Verizon, but I think that is included with the other plans.

I bought an annual plan from Redpocket, so I only need to go sign up a new one every year; they do have monthly (30 day) plans that auto-renew. Not sure on Family Plan details, but they may limit the number of phones per account. Last I checked it was about $30 for first plan and $20 each additional at 10GB each line, and you could mix/match carriers.

Here is a list of MVNOs I looked into last time I was renewing - porting over can be a pain, so unless there's a much better deal I usually stick with who I'm having acceptable service from.

RedPocket
TotalWireless
PagePlus
Yahoo Mobile
Net10Wireless
Boom Mobile
TracPhone
US Mobile


US Mobile was one that caught my eye on ease of setup and being able to a la carte what you want.

 

[ATLNole1]

I recently switched to ATT Prepaid and pay $25/mo for 8GB, it is an annual plan so have to prepay for the entire year.
MVNOs are also decent options as long as the network they are using is good in your area. I considered Mint Mobile but they use TMO towers and I can't get decent reception at my house on that network. Mint offers a free trial so you can indirectly test out the TMobile coverage in your area with their trial.

 

[Joes Place]

I recently switched to ATT Prepaid and pay $25/mo for 8GB, it is an annual plan so have to prepay for the entire year.
MVNOs are also decent options as long as the network they are using is good in your area. I considered Mint Mobile but they use TMO towers and I can't get decent reception at my house on that network. Mint offers a free trial so you can indirectly test out the TMobile coverage in your area with their trial.

Definitely verify who's towers they use before you sign up (and you can go to ATT/Verizon/TMobile to see what coverage SHOULD be in your area).

A few MVNOs let you pick who's towers you run off of.

Nearly all of them will save you a ton of $$; no idea on customer service, but most have online service and chat, which has been fine for me. Not really sure what customer service you need from a carrier, unless you have billing issues.

My guess is people get pissy when you go over your high-speed limit and get data throttled and then cannot get someone to "fix" it for you. Know your data limits and needs; you can track those for any carrier, or reset stats on an iPhone and track yourself to figure out what you use per month.

 

[Tom Paris]

So consensus is T-Mobile is finally worth a damn in Iowa? Would love to switch. ATT for 2 lines including a work discount is costing me $180 a month. Woof

When T-Mobile took over for Sprint, and we got the T-Mobile chip our cell service was immediately better. We used to get dropped calls in our house in the middle of the city, consistently. Maybe once or twice since the took over.

 

[West Duval Nole]

I have Verizon and have had them for over 10 years now. But I will switch soon because they give the best deals for new phones if you add a line or switch carriers. This isn't a problem for my teens as they don't really care if their phone # changes, so I play this game of adding a line and cancelling a line. But my wife (no pics) and I need to keep our phone number so getting the best deal doesn't include upgrading. You get a deal just not as good if you add a line or are switching from another carrier. Seems stupid to me as I would think adding a line and cancelling another line seems to be more expensive to them than just allowing the upgrade to an existing line, since they spread the credits out over 24 months or more.

ISPs/cable companies do the same thing giving best deals to customers that switch so every couple years I switch back and forth from Comcast to AT&T Uverse. Looks like I will do the same with cell phone providers.

 

[Joes Place]

I have Verizon and have had them for over 10 years now. But I will switch soon because they give the best deals for new phones if you add a line or switch carriers. This isn't a problem for my teens as they don't really care if their phone # changes, so I play this game of adding a line and cancelling a line. But my wife (no pics) and I need to keep our phone number so getting the best deal doesn't include upgrading. You get a deal just not as good if you add a line or are switching from another carrier. Seems stupid to me as I would think adding a line and cancelling another line seems to be more expensive to them than just allowing the upgrade to an existing line, since they spread the credits out over 24 months or more.

ISPs/cable companies do the same thing giving best deals to customers that switch so every couple years I switch back and forth from Comcast to AT&T Uverse. Looks like I will do the same with cell phone providers.

If you talk to their customer retention specialists, you'll get the same deal if you threaten to switch to another carrier. If they won't let you have it, then switch and if you go back you'll never deal with it again, because their retention folks understand you're serious and they'll do what it takes to keep a customer.

 

[West Duval Nole]

If you talk to their customer retention specialists, you'll get the same deal if you threaten to switch to another carrier. If they won't let you have it, then switch and if you go back you'll never deal with it again, because their retention folks understand you're serious and they'll do what it takes to keep a customer.

Yeah. I hate playing those games with a company. I will give them a chance to keep my business when I just explain the situation. If they choose to keep it, great. If not, I will switch and keep going back and forth if need be.

I have done this a few times with Comcast and Uverse. And both companies I tell them this happens every couple years. I explain that I can't go without service so if they are unable to extend, then I will be calling the other company to do a new install and when I call back it will be to cancel once the other service is working. And that then they will offer to extend and I will decline. And sure enough the first call the rep doesn't extend. I call back to cancel and they offer to extend and I tell them they have a broken model as this just continues to happen but no worries the company I am switching to is broken to, so I will probably be switching back in 2 years or so. I have a couple times got a rep on the first call that extended my offer. It's just crazy, it depends what rep I get when I call if they want to extend or not.

 

[CLUB215]

Yeah. I hate playing those games with a company. I will give them a chance to keep my business when I just explain the situation. If they choose to keep it, great. If not, I will switch and keep going back and forth if need be.

I have done this a few times with Comcast and Uverse. And both companies I tell them this happens every couple years. I explain that I can't go without service so if they are unable to extend, then I will be calling the other company to do a new install and when I call back it will be to cancel once the other service is working. And that then they will offer to extend and I will decline. And sure enough the first call the rep doesn't extend. I call back to cancel and they offer to extend and I tell them they have a broken model as this just continues to happen but no worries the company I am switching to is broken to, so I will probably be switching back in 2 years or so. I have a couple times got a rep on the first call that extended my offer. It's just crazy, it depends what rep I get when I call if they want to extend or not.

I had a similar conversation with mediacom business. Eventually said "your management doesnt enpower anyone to actually sell their product." "No sir, they dont."

 

[COSHawk]

Agree on the mvno's. We are using USMobile, used to have redpocket. We have 5 unlimited lines at $25 each. If you have at lest 3 lines you get reimbursed for one streaming service back to your bill, 2 if you have 4+ lines. They are limited to T-mobile and Verizon though.

 

[Rifler]

I use Verizon, it works fine, no free stuff, I pay my bill...

 

[Finance85]

I'm a verizon user. I've signed up for T-Mobile 5G home internet when it's available. T-Mobile is currently dealing with 2 recent data breaches.

 

[Joes Place]

Agree on the mvno's. We are using USMobile, used to have redpocket. We have 5 unlimited lines at $25 each. If you have at lest 3 lines you get reimbursed for one streaming service back to your bill, 2 if you have 4+ lines. They are limited to T-mobile and Verizon though.

Those USMobile plans look tough to beat.

Good customer service? Any throttling issues/congestion issues for high-bandwidth users?
I do just fine with 8-10GB/month (never really come close as I'm normally on Wifi somewhere).

 

[Hawk_4shur]

What do you need for "customer service"? I rarely have to deal with anything aside from setting up an account.

My connections work; I did have some voicemail issues in the past, but they (RedPocket) have a Chat function that has been pretty good for addressing questions and problems. RP does cost an additional $1/month for visual voicemail for Verizon, but I think that is included with the other plans.

I bought an annual plan from Redpocket, so I only need to go sign up a new one every year; they do have monthly (30 day) plans that auto-renew. Not sure on Family Plan details, but they may limit the number of phones per account. Last I checked it was about $30 for first plan and $20 each additional at 10GB each line, and you could mix/match carriers.

Here is a list of MVNOs I looked into last time I was renewing - porting over can be a pain, so unless there's a much better deal I usually stick with who I'm having acceptable service from.

RedPocket
TotalWireless
PagePlus
Yahoo Mobile
Net10Wireless
Boom Mobile
TracPhone
US Mobile


US Mobile was one that caught my eye on ease of setup and being able to a la carte what you want.

Awesome post - thanks!

So, we have 7 lines, and someone is always looking to do something - trade-in or upgrades mostly. But every once in a while there is a problem with something, and I'd like to know it will be taken care of.

 

[Joes Place]

Awesome post - thanks!

So, we have 7 lines, and someone is always looking to do something - trade-in or upgrades mostly. But every once in a while there is a problem with something, and I'd like to know it will be taken care of.

There are no "trade ins" on MVNOs

You bring your own phone; but you CAN buy one thru them on contract as well, for some.
Just understand that ANY carrier offering "deals" on free or low-cost phones are subsidizing the phone costs through over-priced service costs.

I quit buying "new" phones years ago, because A+ quality used ones are half what a new model runs, and do everything I need to do.

In terms of "upgrades", the only thing you may need to do for some is buy extra data minutes. Although I'd take a serious look at the US Mobile plan the other poster has for $25/line and unlimited data, because unless they throttle/slow data above some "cap", you're not going to find anything lower cost than that. Just depends on coverage areas for which towers they have.

 

[Hawk_4shur]

There are no "trade ins" on MVNOs

You bring your own phone; but you CAN buy one thru them on contract as well, for some.
Just understand that ANY carrier offering "deals" on free or low-cost phones are subsidizing the phone costs through over-priced service costs.

I quit buying "new" phones years ago, because A+ quality used ones are half what a new model runs, and do everything I need to do.

In terms of "upgrades", the only thing you may need to do for some is buy extra data minutes. Although I'd take a serious look at the US Mobile plan the other poster has for $25/line and unlimited data, because unless they throttle/slow data above some "cap", you're not going to find anything lower cost than that. Just depends on coverage areas for which towers they have.

Are you saying there's no free lunch??

If it was just me and the Mrs (no pics), I'd switch to one of those in a heartbeat. Maybe I should anyway.

 

[CLUB215]

Are you saying there's no free lunch??

If it was just me and the Mrs (no pics), I'd switch to one of those in a heartbeat. Maybe I should anyway.

Srsly kick off the adult kids. Theyll survive

 

[GOHOX69]

I switched from Verizon to T-mobile. Verizon was getting too expensive. I have 3 lines with unlimited and pay 127.50 including taxes. Comes with hotspot etc. I bought my own phones. And on tuesdays, you get coupons for knick knacks. Also discount on netflix and apple tv. Verizon gave me a discount on the middle finger.

 

[COSHawk]

Those USMobile plans look tough to beat.

Good customer service? Any throttling issues/congestion issues for high-bandwidth users?
I do just fine with 8-10GB/month (never really come close as I'm normally on Wifi somewhere).

Customer service has been pretty good, no long wait times and they now have the esims, so you may not need to wait for sim card, I think this is only for apple though. I don't use enough data to notice any throttling, but unlimited is worth it for us to not worry about data caps. For now, they only have "5g" on verizon, t-mobile is supposed to be coming. I always just buy unlocked phones so I don't have to deal with the carrier deals, it gives me the flexibility to change whenever I want. As you said, the "deals" through carriers are not worth it, it is just them trying to keep you without a service contract like in the past. A $60 unlimited carrier plan with a "free" phone for 24 months is more than just buying a new phone and being on a $25/mo plan. And you never own the phone, they are leases.

 

[Joes Place]

Customer service has been pretty good, no long wait times and they now have the esims, so you may not need to wait for sim card, I think this is only for apple though. I don't use enough data to notice any throttling, but unlimited is worth it for us to not worry about data caps. For now, they only have "5g" on verizon, t-mobile is supposed to be coming. I always just buy unlocked phones so I don't have to deal with the carrier deals, it gives me the flexibility to change whenever I want. As you said, the "deals" through carriers are not worth it, it is just them trying to keep you without a service contract like in the past. A $60 unlimited carrier plan with a "free" phone for 24 months is more than just buying a new phone and being on a $25/mo plan. And you never own the phone, they are leases.

Yeah...I used to pay $65-70 + fees on a "company sponsored deal" with AT&T.

Switched to an annual plan at RP that cost me about $16 a month, all fees inclusive, years ago. They dress everything up with "add ons" with the Big Carriers, which you can buy yourself, for less money, if you go with an MVNO.

The ONLY concern I'd point out is that the Big Carriers will prioritize their data over contracted MVNOs at busy venues (concerts, stadium games, etc). I've never noticed any problems, but I don't use much data, anyway.

Verizon is far far better out West here in the boonies, as you can still get service in the National Park areas; AT&T always crapped out barely outside of Estes Park here. Verizon coverage was through much of Trail Ridge Rd.