Thinking about switching to T-Mo from VZW - But hesitant

[Garemlin]

First I will say I am not unhappy with VZW service. It is excellent. The issue is we have zero internet options where I live and going on three years it's getting old. So I was looking at switching to T-Mo unlimited and adding the $25 unlimited 4g hotspot upgrade.

Here is the problem. I live in Delaware. Out in the sticks. According to the T-Mo map we should be getting excellent coverage. But they gave me a sim card to try out the service and not getting stellar reception. In my house I'm getting one to two bars and barley 3mps down on speed test. Outside I get about 7 to 8mps. With VZW I'm getting around 50mps inside and over 100mps outside. Tried streaming some videos on YouTube on the T card and could barely stream at 480p without buffering. 1080p laughed at me. This will not do and would totally defeat the purpose of this switch. I was also going to bring my mom onto our plan to save her some money. She lives about 40 miles south of me. Inside her apartment, which is on the exterior of the building, I got barely 3mps. Could not easily load any web pages on my phone. Lots of lag.

So the guy at T-Mo suggested a signal booster and told me I could have it with the deposit waved. Has anyone tried one of these signal boosters offered by T-Mo?? And if so what were your results?? I hate to go through the effort of making this switch and be completely disappointed and frustrated.

 

[Bob61]

Not sure why you want to switch. If happy with current carrier stick with them. Find another carrier for your mom, Tmo has plan for older group that is reasonably priced, you can then stay with VZW and pay more.

I made change from VZW years ago, never looked back and happy.

 

[Almeuit]

The boosters can be okay. It really depends if it's an LTE booster or a booster that uses your home internet.

They definitely can help but I personally like having a good signal from the tower to my house. My house used a booster when I had T-Mobile and it was mostly okay.

First I will say I am not unhappy with VZW service. It is excellent. The issue is we have zero internet options where I live and going on three years it's getting old. So I was looking at switching to T-Mo unlimited and adding the $25 unlimited 4g hotspot upgrade.

Here is the problem. I live in Delaware. Out in the sticks. According to the T-Mo map we should be getting excellent coverage. But they gave me a sim card to try out the service and not getting stellar reception. In my house I'm getting one to two bars and barley 3mps down on speed test. Outside I get about 7 to 8mps. With VZW I'm getting around 50mps inside and over 100mps outside. Tried streaming some videos on YouTube on the T card and could barely stream at 480p without buffering. 1080p laughed at me. This will not do and would totally defeat the purpose of this switch. I was also going to bring my mom onto our plan to save her some money. She lives about 40 miles south of me. Inside her apartment, which is on the exterior of the building, I got barely 3mps. Could not easily load any web pages on my phone. Lots of lag.

So the guy at T-Mo suggested a signal booster and told me I could have it with the deposit waved. Has anyone tried one of these signal boosters offered by T-Mo?? And if so what were your results?? I hate to go through the effort of making this switch and be completely disappointed and frustrated.

 

[Garemlin]

Not sure why you want to switch. If happy with current carrier stick with them. Find another carrier for your mom, Tmo has plan for older group that is reasonably priced, you can then stay with VZW and pay more.

I made change from VZW years ago, never looked back and happy.

Because VZW unlimited is not really unlimited. So you constantly have to baby your data. They can, which pretty much means will, throttle you at 22gb I think it is. I have more data than that on my current plan and pay less.

Pretty much tired of living in the stone age. Not having internet. Not being able to stream any service. Listen to Pandora. Update my TVs firmware. Etc.....

 

[Garemlin]

The boosters can be okay. It really depends if it's an LTE booster or a booster that uses your home internet.

They definitely can help but I personally like having a good signal from the tower to my house. My house used a booster when I had T-Mobile and it was mostly okay.

It's an LTE booster. They have one that works with your existing broadband. But again I have no options for that.

 

[Almeuit]

It's been a few years since I've used them and I'm on another carrier. I'll tag @LeoRex and he can maybe chime in. He still actively uses one.

It's an LTE booster. They have one that works with your existing broadband. But again I have no options for that.

 

[jroyjohnson]

I had Tmo a few years back. the main issue I had with it was their signal strength. I live in Missouri and when I would go into large building (grocery store, mall, bestbuy, etc), I would loose signal completely. I also lost it in my basement where I work which forced me to use wifi-calling. I'm looking to go back only because I'm so fed up with AT&T. does anyone know if their signal strength has gotten better in recent years? I was hoping once the sprint merger takes place it would help know that's still a ways off.

 

[Bob61]

Because VZW unlimited is not really unlimited. So you constantly have to baby your data. They can, which pretty much means will, throttle you at 22gb I think it is. I have more data than that on my current plan and pay less.

Pretty much tired of living in the stone age. Not having internet. Not being able to stream any service. Listen to Pandora. Update my TVs firmware. Etc.....

Then also pay attention to when TMobile throttles. Higher than VZW, but they can throttle if above a cap. I thought it was now 50gb.

 

[raino]

Because VZW unlimited is not really unlimited.

Neither is TMO's. You've experienced it yourself by seeing your video data throttled to 480p. You'll have to pay an extra $10-25 to be able to watch at full 1080p, and there's still that "de-prioritization" cap, and the possibility of a signal drop should you wander into a part of town that TMO signal doesn't reach, or "too deep into the sticks."

If you can do without unlimited data (doesn't sound like it...but just throwing this out there...) and need Verizon's coverage, look at prepaid options. Verizon has their own prepaid and there are others like Straight Talk, Page Plus, etc. You should get native Verizon coverage on these for cheaper than Verizon postpaid. You'll need to research their BYOD policies, though. Verizon's aren't as bad as Sprint's, but they aren't a GSM carrier either.

I'm not sure TMO will even qualify you for a signal booster. Sounds like you have signal but speeds aren't to your liking.

 

[tube517]

As soon as I read your post and got to "Out in the sticks", I didn't have to read any further.

 

[LeoRex]

It's an LTE booster. They have one that works with your existing broadband. But again I have no options for that.

I have the new internet LTE booster... Works quite well. 85/35 speeds. But I use it mostly have a strong signal in my house, saves battery (my internet is fast).

 

[Garemlin]

Neither is TMO's. You've experienced it yourself by seeing your video data throttled to 480p. You'll have to pay an extra $10-25 to be able to watch at full 1080p, and there's still that "de-prioritization" cap, and the possibility of a signal drop should you wander into a part of town that TMO signal doesn't reach, or "too deep into the sticks."

If you can do without unlimited data (doesn't sound like it...but just throwing this out there...) and need Verizon's coverage, look at prepaid options. Verizon has their own prepaid and there are others like Straight Talk, Page Plus, etc. You should get native Verizon coverage on these for cheaper than Verizon postpaid. You'll need to research their BYOD policies, though. Verizon's aren't as bad as Sprint's, but they aren't a GSM carrier either.

I'm not sure TMO will even qualify you for a signal booster. Sounds like you have signal but speeds aren't to your liking.

Yes I'm aware of the $25 up charge for unlimited 4g tethering with prioritization. I was already opting for that.

And they are already willing to give me two signal boosters with the deposit waived. One for me and one for my mom's apartment if we decide to switch. They are even throwing in the $10 4g tethering option on my girlfriends line for free.

I drove around the area yesterday with the T-Mo sim card in my 7+. Had decent signal everywhere I went. I was streaming Pandora on high quality the whole time. Yeah not super data intensive. But it worked. Being at home is the only time I am really worried about getting a strong and consistent data signal. When I'm out and about it is basic stuff like email, or social media. Not really worried if I can stream while I'm out to dinner or sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office. Not a big fan of watching anything on a small screen.

So what this boils down to is if the signal booster will actually help. That's why I was hoping to get feedback from people who are in a similar situation and gave one a try.

And I guess one other question would be could any of this be dependent on the phone om using. VZW phones are supposed to be fully unlocked. But are they really? Might I get better results with a phone that came from T-Mo?

 

[Garemlin]

I have the new internet LTE booster... Works quite well. 85/35 speeds. But I use it mostly have a strong signal in my house, saves battery (my internet is fast).

Are you using the one that works in conjunction with your broadband internet? Or the stand alone duo unit? How much of a boost does it give to your signal? I know you already having good reception makes a difference. But I'm trying to see if it would benefit me at all.

 

[Garemlin]

T-Mo speed test results

Inside in the living room

Inside in the bedroom

Front yard

 

[LeoRex]

Are you using the one that works in conjunction with your broadband internet? Or the stand alone duo unit? How much of a boost does it give to your signal? I know you already having good reception makes a difference. But I'm trying to see if it would benefit me at all.

Uses my internet. I had a poor signal at my house and used the booster for a bit, but boosting a poor signal was meh. My signal strength in my house is pretty much max with the new one... You couldn't get higher even if you stood under a tower.

 

[LeoRex]

Here's a speedtest through the internet based LTE cellspot. It's in my basement, I'm on the second floor. I get a full signal, about 50dbm better than the tower signal I would get, and 10 times the throughout. Like I said, I use that booster solely for signal strength, but I could easily live with those speeds of I didn't.

Keep in mind that this will only be as fast as your internet... I have FiOS, so my upload isn't capped at all, it's 150/150. But other than that, it's got the job done.

 

[Garemlin]

Here's a speedtest through the internet based LTE cellspot. It's in my basement, I'm on the second floor. I get a full signal, about 50dbm better than the tower signal I would get, and 10 times the throughout. Like I said, I use that booster solely for signal strength, but I could easily live with those speeds of I didn't.

Keep in mind that this will only be as fast as your internet... I have FiOS, so my upload isn't capped at all, it's 150/150. But other than that, it's got the job done. //uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180728/b687029acdfb7bb68dfd75bf2bbdfb7b.jpg

LOL I have no internet. There are no options where we are. Going on three years without and it's getting old. That's why I was looking to make the change. It would give me plenty more data to use.

 

[raino]

Yes I'm aware of the $25 up charge for unlimited 4g tethering with prioritization. I was already opting for that.

I believe they have a '50% usage must be on the phone' rule, in addition the "de-prioritization" cap for hotspot.

And they are already willing to give me two signal boosters with the deposit waived. One for me and one for my mom's apartment if we decide to switch. They are even throwing in the $10 4g tethering option on my girlfriends line for free.

Who's "they?" Who told you all this, a salesperson? Sounds too good to be true. AFAIK, you get one booster per account, but I could be wrong.

And I guess one other question would be could any of this be dependent on the phone om using. VZW phones are supposed to be fully unlocked. But are they really? Might I get better results with a phone that came from T-Mo?

Well if you're using a VZW 7+ with a TMO SIM in it and it's working, you're fine. It's just as good as any iPhone TMO sells.

 

[LeoRex]

LOL I have no internet. There are no options where we are. Going on three years without and it's getting old. That's why I was looking to make the change. It would give me plenty more data to use.

Then you'd have the booster... Those work well, provided you can get a signal somewhere in your house. You put a base station where it can get a signal, then place the transmitter in a central location... The base station takes the tower signal and sends it to the xmitter, which then provides service to your house.

The only key thing is that while the signal you'll get will be strong, it'll only be as good, speed wise, as what that base station can get. I think I got like 10-20 mbps when I had the booster. And you'll get that though your house reliably, without a weak signal.

 

[Garemlin]

Who's "they?" Who told you all this, a salesperson? Sounds too good to be true. AFAIK, you get one booster per account, but I could be wrong.

The manager at my local T-Mo store. He already told me I could get two since they will be in two different locations.