Any reason to stick with Verizon?

[Algus]

One issue you face, is your selection of a phone with a slide out keyboard.
It is very likely that the physical keyboard requires special consideration in the OS compared to all other phones with virtual keyboards in common.
My son still has his Strat 1 with Gingerbread on it. Likely he will never see an update.
My Strat 1 was "accidentally" smashed a couple weeks back, and I did the upgrade to the Strat 2.

The Strat 2 came from Verizon with the ICS Ice Cream Sandwich OS 2 weeks ago, but just this Saturday, Verizon pushed Jelly Bean 4.1.2 to my new phone.

I am not sure how long, Verizon and Samsung will keep the OS updates coming for the Stratosphere 2, but it is a "good" start if you want the latest OS and prefer a physical keyboard.

Note:
I put "good" in quotes, since the upgrade to Jelly Bean this weekend crashed my home network router when the Strat 2 tried to connect to my Wifi.
Seems some much older routers have a problem with Jelly Bean, so I'll be updating my gear, but that is a topic for a different thread.
Be prepared for this Wifi issue if your router is old and you get any number of phones that include Jelly Bean including the Strat 2.

The Verizon rep originally sold me on the Strat because of the physical keyboard. I still really like it...especially for SMS but after a few months of owning a Nexus 7, I'm getting used to touch screen typing. I think I will look for a phone with a larger screen (maybe even the Note) unless someone decides to put out a high end phone with a physical keypad.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[VetteDude]

The Verizon rep originally sold me on the Strat because of the physical keyboard. I still really like it...especially for SMS but after a few months of owning a Nexus 7, I'm getting used to touch screen typing. I think I will look for a phone with a larger screen (maybe even the Note) unless someone decides to put out a high end phone with a physical keypad.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

You would not be disappointed with the Note 2

Once Sprint builds their 4G LTE network more, I would recommend Ting. They get Sprint's phones but you pay only for how much you use. Basically you pick the amount you get billed each month (in buckets) and if you are above you get charged more next month and if you are below you get credited. It can save a light-medium user with only a few lines a lot of money.

 

[jneusch]

That's cool. I was not trying to give you a difficult time. I would switch if there was a distinguishable price difference for me. As it is I would pay around $10 more to go to AT&T.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

No worries. I didn't take it that way at all. I did miss the extra $10 ATT charges on the 6GB of data. It still saves money, but not as much. While testing an ATT GS3 I ran into data speed problems in some of the places I travel. It drops to edge and is so slow it was unusable. I need data for work emails, etc. Voice coverage was excellent, but data was a deal breaker. It's a shame, because ATT had awesome 4G at home.

I am now trying a Sprint phone, but it is not looking promising. VZ has the best and fastest overall data network in the areas I travel to on a weekly basis.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Android Central Forums

 

[VetteDude]

On Sprint, you just gotta hold out for Network Vision to roll out across the whole country. They are pulling building permits all over right now (including in my area). I've actually been very disappointed with Verizon's LTE. Around me, it seems like they either have too few towers with too many customers attached for the spectrum to handle or too weak backhaul (I'm in a decently heavily populated area of NE Ohio, not a rural area, so I'm guessing its the former, especially since almost everyone I know has Verizon). At home I've pulled over 20 Mb/s once, and am usually around 4-6 Mb/s. It's better than Verizon's 3g (which sometimes can't even refresh Twitter without timing out) or 1x (ugh I hated when my Fascinate would get stuck on 1x after sending text messages sometimes). At home it doesn't bother me since I'm always just on Wifi, but when traveling around it never has the blistering speed that some people report.

I like the unlimited 4G though, so I don't mind Verizon. T-Mobile only has EDGE over my house, Sprint has WiMax, and I have no idea what kind of coverage AT&T has since I refuse to switch to Ma Bell and have never looked up the coverage lol