Any reason to ditch VZW for AT&T?

DirtMcGirt

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My contract is up in 2 weeks on my Thunderbolt & I'm getting the Note 2 on either AT&T or VZW. Question is: is there a reason to leave VZW for AT&T other than personal preference? I'm in a major metropolitan area so signal strength is of little concern however I do prefer the faster upload speeds since I upload a lot of stuff for my job. Does AT&T allow features that VZW may not... or vice versa? Are some options available on one carrier, but not the other? Those are the questions I'm asking myself.
 

anon(94115)

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The only one I know of is the fact that ATT is GSM where VZW is CDMA. That is a pretty big one but otherwise I think they are close....
 

DirtMcGirt

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The only one I know of is the fact that ATT is GSM where VZW is CDMA. That is a pretty big one but otherwise I think they are close....

Not really important to me... but is that it? Because if I walk into an AT&T store and find that the download/upload speeds are similar to VZW's speeds... I'll just make the switch.
 

anon(94115)

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That really varies by area. Att is really crappy around me and the routes I need to travel. Vzw is rock solid. What I would do is check to see how many days you have to get out of the contract with no eft, then use one of their phones and see what happens. My question to you is why the switch h?

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MittenSportsFan

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Not really important to me... but is that it? Because if I walk into an AT&T store and find that the download/upload speeds are similar to VZW's speeds... I'll just make the switch.

I travel a lot in the US so VZW has by far the better network.
AT&T has just started to launch LTE so that doesn't compare but there 3g is much better than VZW's.
Also the AT&T GSM is much easier to use in other countries than Vzw if you travel internationally.
If you don't travel much coverage and reception are really personal and local issues. It comes down to who has towers close by where you live work and play.
NOT THE DOWNLOAD SPEED IN THE STORE. All phone stores should have smokin' speeds if their manager has any since. They can have repeaters and extenders turned all the way up and a tower near or on store property.
In my subdivision Sprint is poor & AT&T is just ok, while Vzw is great. Just down the road a mile AT&T smokes at a friends house because you can look out the window and see an AT&T tower (Vzw is still good there, while Sprint was still poor). Personally, I couldn't use a carrier that wasn't strong at my home or where I spent most of my time working.
I'm a fellow T-Bolt owner, so I would think for you like me, the biggest reason to stay with Big Red over AT&T is Unlimited Data.
New T-Bolt owners were the last to be given Unlimited Data (unless you bought yours later).
Starting a new contract on AT&T will give that up. There are ways to maintain it on VZW.

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DirtMcGirt

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I travel a lot in the US so VZW has by far the better network.
AT&T has just started to launch LTE so that doesn't compare but there 3g is much better than VZW's.
Also the AT&T GSM is much easier to use in other countries than Vzw if you travel internationally.
If you don't travel much coverage and reception are really personal and local issues. It comes down to who has towers close by where you live work and play.
NOT THE DOWNLOAD SPEED IN THE STORE. All phone stores should have smokin' speeds if their manager has any since. They can have repeaters and extenders turned all the way up and a tower near or on store property.
In my subdivision Sprint is poor & AT&T is just ok, while Vzw is great. Just down the road a mile AT&T smokes at a friends house because you can look out the window and see an AT&T tower (Vzw is still good there, while Sprint was still poor). Personally, I couldn't use a carrier that wasn't strong at my home or where I spent most of my time working.
I'm a fellow T-Bolt owner, so I would think for you like me, the biggest reason to stay with Big Red over AT&T is Unlimited Data.
New T-Bolt owners were the last to be given Unlimited Data (unless you bought yours later).
Starting a new contract on AT&T will give that up. There are ways to maintain it on VZW.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Android Central Forums

Thanks for the reply. I'm not a heavy traveler so typically where I'm at in my life... I've got a good cell signal (at&t or vzw). Secondly, I am not buying the Note at full price to keep unlimited data because I don't want to dump all that money when all I need to spend is 200 bucks. I use anywhere (according to vzw data usage on my account page) 3-4gb \month so I being WiFi conscious this time around, I shouldn't have to worry about overages.
 

MrMLK

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ATT gives you voice plus data at the same time. If you have ever tried to get your mail while on a phone call, or calculate a route, you will be glad to be on ATT.

My office switched from ATT to Verizon last year and that's the only thing I miss.
 

blaze5

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My contract is up in 2 weeks on my Thunderbolt & I'm getting the Note 2 on either AT&T or VZW. Question is: is there a reason to leave VZW for AT&T other than personal preference? I'm in a major metropolitan area so signal strength is of little concern however I do prefer the faster upload speeds since I upload a lot of stuff for my job. Does AT&T allow features that VZW may not... or vice versa? Are some options available on one carrier, but not the other? Those are the questions I'm asking myself.

Well being on a gsm carrier you would be able to buy unlocked phones which is good because that eliminates carriers from the update scenario and its easier to switch phones

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anon(94115)

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ATT gives you voice plus data at the same time. If you have ever tried to get your mail while on a phone call, or calculate a route, you will be glad to be on ATT.

My office switched from ATT to Verizon last year and that's the only thing I miss.

you can do that on verizon
 

Blaksmyth

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Check At&T's plans, there share everything plan would be more expensive for me if I switched so I'll stay on Verizon.
 

anon(94115)

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Check At&T's plans, there share everything plan would be more expensive for me if I switched so I'll stay on Verizon.

Yeah those thing are tricky. I am glad I have an accountant for a wife. Now that I have lte knocking on my door, literally, I am off to sprint and an extra 1000 in my pocket next year

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natehoy

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Another option is at&t on an unlocked phone with no contract, or a prepaid plan like Straight Talk with no contracts and a lot cheaper.

The Nexus 4 is coming soon, pay a little more for the phone now and you can have no contract freedom and use at&ts network for $45/month

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
 

fwhomeboy

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My contract is up in 2 weeks on my Thunderbolt & I'm getting the Note 2 on either AT&T or VZW. Question is: is there a reason to leave VZW for AT&T other than personal preference? I'm in a major metropolitan area so signal strength is of little concern however I do prefer the faster upload speeds since I upload a lot of stuff for my job. Does AT&T allow features that VZW may not... or vice versa? Are some options available on one carrier, but not the other? Those are the questions I'm asking myself.

Beware--- Your Thunderbolt contract isn't over next week. You can upgrade on the 17th but the contract isn't over until March. So, like me, you have an ETF of about 120 bucks to end the contract early.
 

wooddale

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It all depends on how much data you use and where you are at and or where you travel. If you stay with Vzw and want to keep your unlimited data your gonna pay full price for the phone to keep unlimited. You can probably get the same plan for about $80 I think but only 2 gigs data. Im not sure what at&t offers but I imagine its pretty close. The big thing is where your gonna use it. I travel a lot hunting and fishing Im retired no matter where I go I almost always have service with Vzw. A lot of my friends have AT&T and they do not. So if your in a major city and AT&T's download speeds are fast enough for you its a toss up. Beware AT&T's (LTE) isnt near as fast as Vzw I dont care what they say.
 

volsfan0911

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VZW for me, no questions. I travel extensively for work (domestically) and they blow away ATT coverage wise coast to coast outside of the major metro areas IMHO. I've been on both and had much better results with VZW. Customer service for both has been acceptable. They've both pissed me off at times also :p If ATT is really strong in your area and you're happy with that, go for it. I'm drooling over finally getting on LTE (iPhone 4 currently). Although where I live (Baltimore/DC metro area) we're covered by everyone. I get a bigger discount from work on VZW and they try to keep me happy with the quad pass tv/internet/wireless/voip package so that's another plus for me.
 

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