Thoughts 2 Weeks on T-Mobile- Life after Verizon

[SugarMouth]

How did you manage that? Grandfathered into an older plan?

I had two lines on TMO which ended up at $135 including taxes and the Verizon plan with the same two lines end up at $145 including taxes. Both plans gave me a small company discount.

 

[Saucz]

I'm curious does the signal switch between 3G and H? I get it a lot but every time I run a speedtest it switches to H so I'm not worried.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

I haven't had it go to 3G much. It's always been H or nothing. What I'm not sure of is whether they consider HSPA the same as HSPA+. Also what's a little odd is that sometimes ill have full bars H but still not be getting data as if I was in a dead spot.

 

[Small_law]

I too just left my 6 years at VZW for T-Mobile. I am very impressed. I've been getting great speeds everywhere I've been, even during work where I drive all over Georgia. I use groove IP and the quality is better than expected. Sometimes the other line says I have an echo but can still understand me. All in all, for almost a $60 per month savings, I am more than pleased. T-Mobile is awesome!

I have had a similar experience. I was a Verizon customer for 6 years but gave up a grandfathered unlimited plan to go with T Mobile for the Nexus 4. I'm shocked at how good the service is in my area, arguably better than Verizon. Although I was able to get LTE, there were spots where the phone would have to switch to 3g and the handoff was incredibly irritating. The phone would brain fart for a few minutes at times.

I thought the common belief was that T Mobile sucked. It might be a magic patch of the universe where I am right now, but damn if T Mobile isn't the better service. I won't carry a banner for any carrier, but I almost feel like I have been lied to for a long time.

 

[dan1431]

While I have not taken the plunge yet, I know 5 people with T-Mobile and all worried that giving up VZW or at&t was going to be a huge mistake.

All 5 seem happy enough with T-Mobile, I have heard that coverage in certain areas is less than stellar but overall it has not been the terrible experience that they had imagined.

If Google goes the MVNO route with T-Mobile, I am going to be faced with a tough decision.

Dan

 

[trivor]

Listen to Mickey (the Cell Phone Junkie and frequent guest on A.C.). Find the carrier that provides coverage for 90% of your time. For those of you able to go with T-Mo there is no doubt that it will be cheaper BUT there are MANY of us outside of big cities (T-Mo only covers about 220 million Pops (as Mickey calls them) of the total US population). Verizon has 450 markets covering almost 300 million pops with the stated goal of covering their current 3G areas by the end of 2013. Although not traveling as much lately (I used to be on the road 150 - 180 days a year) Verizon does have a better network - if someone else is better and cheaper, good for you, otherwise you need to check out the other carriers (whether it be T-Mo, Straight Talk (ATT or T-Mo), Sprint, or even one of the regional carriers. I would have to KNOW that another carrier provides better coverage everywhere I travel (mostly US, mostly urban) before I could justify switching from Verizon because I can't stand surprises and I need to be able to be reached and call home when I'm on the road. While there may be a FEW places where another carrier is better than Verizon, there aren't many and while I would love to have an alternative to Verizon, right now there isn't one. By the way, one place where Verizon shines is at high density events like sports stadiums and CES.

 

[Saucz]

Listen to Mickey (the Cell Phone Junkie and frequent guest on A.C.). Find the carrier that provides coverage for 90% of your time. For those of you able to go with T-Mo there is no doubt that it will be cheaper BUT there are MANY of us outside of big cities (T-Mo only covers about 220 million Pops (as Mickey calls them) of the total US population). Verizon has 450 markets covering almost 300 million pops with the stated goal of covering their current 3G areas by the end of 2013. Although not traveling as much lately (I used to be on the road 150 - 180 days a year) Verizon does have a better network - if someone else is better and cheaper, good for you, otherwise you need to check out the other carriers (whether it be T-Mo, Straight Talk (ATT or T-Mo), Sprint, or even one of the regional carriers. I would have to KNOW that another carrier provides better coverage everywhere I travel (mostly US, mostly urban) before I could justify switching from Verizon because I can't stand surprises and I need to be able to be reached and call home when I'm on the road. While there may be a FEW places where another carrier is better than Verizon, there aren't many and while I would love to have an alternative to Verizon, right now there isn't one. By the way, one place where Verizon shines is at high density events like sports stadiums and CES.

The trade off between what I am experiencing now with tmobile vs the bloat ware / slow updates/ price gouging/ Isis forcing etc etc is seeming like it will pay off in the long run. At least I'm hoping it will. In a couple days I will be putting my Verizon account on hold for 90 days. Fingers crossed.

 

[anon62607]

I have read that CDMA (Verizion, Sprint) has better building penetration than does GSM (AT&T, T-Mobile).

I don't know if this is proven fact, but it does generally seem to be the case for me, having come off many years of Sprint and on to T-Mobile.

Technologically, it shouldn't. Both gsm and CDMA use code division when on 3G. Which particular frequency band should matter more though I imagine if one system uses a more conservative coding rate (FEC) mapping it could appear to have better building penitration.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[hodan]

I did just the opposite and moved to Verizon from T-Mobile. I was on T-Mobile since '02 and like you have traveled all over the place using their service. What I liked about T-Mobile was the ability to move my SIM card from phone to phone. Now with Verizon and LTE I can now to the same thing. I prefer Verizon's service to T-Mobile's. T-Mobile is pretty spotty in Vegas with data. I would get roughly what your getting on data speeds with T-Mobile and with Verizon's LTE I get 15mbps, to 30mbps with one hero 46mbps! Verizon runs me $10 more per month than T-Mobile.

Curious what plan you're on...

 

[SuperJonCA]

I had two lines on TMO which ended up at $135 including taxes and the Verizon plan with the same two lines end up at $145 including taxes. Both plans gave me a small company discount.

Curious what plan you're on...

Shoulda read a lil farther.

 

[XChrisX]

This phone is really good, but I don't know that I'd consider leaving VZW, or AT&T's good coverage for TMO's spotty coverage. Snapdragon S4 Pro with vanilla Android is nice, but if you can't get service it's sort of useless. Almost like having a highly specced PMP at times.

 

[minnemike]

I did just the opposite and moved to Verizon from T-Mobile. I was on T-Mobile since '02 and like you have traveled all over the place using their service. What I liked about T-Mobile was the ability to move my SIM card from phone to phone. Now with Verizon and LTE I can now to the same thing. I prefer Verizon's service to T-Mobile's. T-Mobile is pretty spotty in Vegas with data. I would get roughly what your getting on data speeds with T-Mobile and with Verizon's LTE I get 15mbps, to 30mbps with one hero 46mbps! Verizon runs me $10 more per month than T-Mobile.

Deal breaker for me was no option for unlimited data.

 

[hodan]

I hate people that comment before reading the comments...Lol, I should have kept reading.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[Jnorton2724]

Personal preference. In just giving my own experience...cousin is regional manager for Verizon retail so we have the same debate constantly. Verizon definitely has more LTE coverage but AT&T is catching up fast...AT&T has the largest HSPA+ coverage vs. Verizon 3G coverage. It's the same old Miller Lite vs Budweiser debate...great taste vs Less Filling

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

Both of those beers taste like sh*t.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Verizon is good if you need coverage in far-flung places or have multiple lines/people on your plan. It's pricey (as are almost all the big carriers) for individuals on the all-you-can-eat plans (data caps notwithstanding). I moved from Sprint to T-Mo (after 13 years on Sprint) because my wife switched to Verizon and I did not want to get trapped in Verizon's cycle of delayed updates. I had suffered through that enough with Sprint, and I wanted a phone that would get guaranteed and prompt updates. Keeping us on both carriers was ridiculously expensive, so I also switched to save money and ditch contracts. I accept that my coverage is not as good as it was under Sprint (and definitely not as good as my wife's on Verizon), but I can live with that for the above reasons.

 

[cbreze]

I went from T-Mobile after several years to Verizon for the past two and now enjoy coverage everywhere. Tmo is fine if it works for you in the city but I go off the main highways of life and Verizon rules the air out in the boonies. No better coverage.

 

[AndyChicago]

Can you elaborate on the issue regarding no google voice on TMobile? I have ordered the N4 and am planning on going with TMobile but google voice is my main phone number/system. Thanks!

 

[SugarMouth]

Deal breaker for me was no option for unlimited data.

Ya I spend most of my time either at home or in the office, both places have WiFi. Heck even when I travel I have WiFi at the hotel. I use my phone for productivity (email, calendar, documents etc) which use very little data. I have never exceeded 2GB in a month. My current plan shares 4GB and my wife uses maybe 500mb a month. For those who stream music or watch videos I can see why unlimited data would be important.

 

[yfan]

(T-Mo only covers about 220 million Pops (as Mickey calls them) of the total US population).

Not true. 220 million is the number of people covered by T-Mobile's 4G coverage (hspa+), with total coverage, I.e. 3g, 2g and voice coverage, being larger.

Can you elaborate on the issue regarding no google voice on TMobile? I have ordered the N4 and am planning on going with TMobile but google voice is my main phone number/system. Thanks!

There is no issue. I'm using Google voice with my nexus 4 on T-Mobile now. Just make sure to have them turn off your T-Mobile voicemail so the ignored calls don't go to T-Mobile's voicemail.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[nickacs]

Another jumper here from VZW to TMobile with my Nexus4. My 30day pre-paid plan is just about up on TMobile and I've been very pleased.
I'm located just north of Atlanta,GA and have definitely noticed some more impressive data speeds with SpeedTester lately because of the upgraded TMo network in my area.

Here's some of my "highlights":
- I think saving about $88/month for my wife and my 2 lines on VZW is the biggest "justifier" for me personally. I was on VZW for about 7+ years with unlimited data, but paying around $147/month isn't worth the coverage and grandfathered data for me. If we're only averaging 1.5-2GB/month each, unlimited data on VZW doesn't do squat for me that TMo's 5GB doesn't suffice.

- On the Mon 11/19 I received my N4, the next day we left from GA to MD driving trip for Thanksgiving holiday. We drove all the way on I-85 and then I-95 from Richmond to DC. I constantly checked my call/data coverage every hour or so/stops and only 1 rest stop in VA did I have no signal. But I still had my VZW Bionic at the time and also had 0 signal, so I call it even. Like the other poster said, you have to think about the 90% of the day/year your at. Sure, I might not have signal in BF Kansas, but doesn't matter if I'm never going there?

- At work, I even great signal inside my building while most of my buddies AT&T do not and they have to go outside to make calls.. LMAO

- Another thing that I absolutely HATED with VZW with the 3G/4G handoff. UGGG.. I hated this so friggin much. I'd be driving, out at dinner, at home playing a game, etc. and poof, there goes my data connection to nothing. With the TMo, I've had only 1 time while at my home where signal went blank for about 2secs. With VZW, I'd be out anywhere from 20-30secs to literally 3mins.. Ridiculous

- With Speedtest, I'm usually in the 13-17kbps range and love it. And this isn't on Wifi, regular 'ol signal from TMo..

All in all, I am very pleased I made the switch for 90% of the day/year I'm at home/work/around Atlanta and will have none of the issues I had with VZW. Win-win for me

 

[DC Damien]

Glad to hear T-Mobile is working for folks. I got a SIM from them but haven't been able to order a N4!!! Ha. So I picked up a S3 and a Galaxy Nexus on Craig's List instead. Both rooted. Having fun and trying to decide which to use as my daily.