[TheLibertarian]

Couple questions here, guys.

I'm out in school here in Iowa City. When I check T-Mobile's HSPA+ coverage maps, it seems as though T-Mobile doesn't cover me out here. So (using Straight Talk), I figured I was stuck using Straight Talk AT&T sim.

Fast forward to today and I find out that "i wireless" offers "4G" HSPA+ (42mbps) throughtout most of Iowa, my location included. I looked into i wireless and see that they're using T-Mobile's towers.

So my first question: Since i wireless uses T-Mobile's towers, does that mean Straight Talk will have access to the same towers and offer the same 4G coverage?

And my second question: If I went the option of T-Mobile's prepaid plans, will I also have access to those same towers? I just didn't see those towers on T-Mobile's website, so I'm a bit confused here.

I assume yes, but I'm a novice here when it comes to how all this works.

[pete1118]

I do not actually know anything about "i wireless" other than what is on their web site, but it sounds like they may be local provider that happens to maybe have a roaming agreement with T-Mobile (TM). Straight Talk (ST) uses both TM and ATT for providing service depending mostly on which provides the best coverage in your home area. ST does not have real good coverage maps but you can get a very good idea by going to either the TM coverage and choosing the map for pre-paid service and do the same for ATT looking for "Go Phone" coverage. The very important thing to keep in mind is when using a pre-pay plan they generally do NOT provide roaming coverage for data. What this means is using the TM or ATT maps, if your area is not covered by either a ATT or TM prepay plan, ST is not going to provide service either since they are reselling the pre-paid plans from TM and/or ATT depending on which one you choose or are assigned. I think you have been mislead that i wireless is using TM towers, based on the TM maps, TM does not have many if any towers in Iowa, rather TM is using i wireless towers and roaming on them. But remember, prepaid plans do not roam, only post paid contract TM customers will be able to use the i wireless towers and they will likely be capped as to how much they can use per month. Hope this makes sense!

Based on the ATT Gophone map it looks to me like ST using an ATT sim is the way to go for Iowa City but you need to study these more to be sure.

[TheLibertarian]

I think you have been mislead that i wireless is using TM towers, based on the TM maps, TM does not have many if any towers in Iowa, rather TM is using i wireless towers and roaming on them.

I hadn't thought of it that way, very interesting. And I'm with you, I hadn't heard of "i wireless" either haha, I'm from Chicago and just finished up school out here.

Maybe I'm stuck with AT&T after all.

Thanks for the response!