Thoughts 2 Weeks on T-Mobile- Life after Verizon

[Saucz]

So I've had Verizon Wireless for almost almost 12 years before I decided to move to the Nexus 4 and concurrently, T-Mobile.
I've always been a Verizon promoter, as I've always enjoyed their quality of service. I'd go to some of the most remote areas and still get service.
Leaving Verizon was a month long decision for me. I went back and forth between the DNA and the Nexus 4 for my decision. Then I made the plunge.

After 2 weeks, I have to say, it's actually been a pretty decent experience.
A little background: I live in Bergen county, NJ. For the most part, I've had HSPA+ service to everywhere I've gone which is to include many parts of NYC, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hawthorne, Paramus, and all the towns around my area. There have been several spots where I know I would normally get flawless 4G service with Verizon that I didn't get with T-Mobile. A couple dead spots in the Garden State Mall, a spot at my friends condo in Jersey City and a pizzaria in Brooklyn.

Further, because I'm in sales, I travel. I've been through Denver, St Louis, Albuquerque, and Los Angeles. All cities had HSPA+ service.
I've done Speedtests (using the speedtest.net app) and although the results have been all over the place, for the most part, I get 5+mbps down and 1mbps up.
The range is from 13mbps to 390kbps down and 3mbps to 23kbps.

All in all, I've been pretty satisfied. There are times when I miss Verizon though. For example, I was sitting in Los Angeles Airport and the place I was sitting had 1-2 bars of service and sometimes no service so it would go in and out. I had to move to a different section of the airport to get a solid 4 bar connection.

If you were on the fence, I hope this helps in making your decision. If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer.

Edited:
Here is a screenshot of some recent speedtests done. as you can see, not Verizon LTE speeds but not terrible either.

I think the key for me is that during general day to day use, I haven't been too inconvenienced by the speeds. Granted, I do some light Slacker music streaming and general RSS reading and don't stream video 24/7 but still, I'm on my phone constantly. I haven't yet thought, I can't stand this service. I will be continuing to travel for the next couple weeks so I may do an update then.

 

[6tr6tr]

thanks for posting that. have you tried any VoIP apps over a data connection? can you post a screenshot of the speed tests?

 

[dan1431]

Funny enough, my colleague has T-Mobile on his personal line and the one dead spot (he has discovered) @ LAX is the tunnel between T-5 and T-6, but as it is underground it is a dead spot for everybody.

However I tend to agree that VZW does have better reach than T-Mobile but overall it is a usable experience.

I am on the fence of switching (my personal line) from at&t and my Grandfathered Unlimited DATA plan to T-Mobile myself, but I am very worried about the lack of coverage especially in some of the remote areas I travel too (where at&t shockingly has service) .

Dan

 

[brkaras]

I know everyone hates on AT&T and being a customer I'd say their customer service can be lack luster. But as far as overall service I'm as happy as can be with their LTE and HSPA+. Coverage is bar none to Verizon and T Mobile and I find myself getting blazing fast speeds in more areas than both carriers as well as in large sporting events when others phones are useless. My girlfriend has T Mobile and hates em! Was at the Bulls game at United Center and my buddy's T Mobile S3 was a large paper weight while my S3 was flying! Verizon's network is constantly down while AT&T had done multi billion dollar upgrades in Milwaukee. Just some food for thought.

Good read though

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[N4Newbie]

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.

 

[TheLibertarian]

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.

I believe that is the case as well.

Coverage is bar none to Verizon and T Mobile and I find myself getting blazing fast speeds in more areas than both carriers as well as in large sporting events when others phones are useless.

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Verizon's LTE network is second to none, and I constantly poke fun at my friends when they lose service even in an elevator. Heck, going in basements my buddies lose service, and it seems when AT&T phones find areas with only 1 or 2 bars of service constantly.

Didn't even think it was debatable that Verizon has the best network in the country.

 

[HTCTundaBow]

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!

 

[dan1431]

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.

My understanding is that CDMA/GSM is type of cellular communication and has very little bearing on penetration of the radio waves.

Frequency type determines building penetration and as I understand it 850Mhz (Cellular Spectrum) has better building penetration than 1900Mhz (PCS Spectrum).

That is to say VZW/at&t the major holders of 850Mhz spectrum have the ability to penetrate buildings than Sprint/T-Mobile which operate almost exclusively on 1900Mhz.

Dan

 

[corance]

Where in Georgia? I'm in savannah. Have you been here and how are the speeds/signal with TMobile?

 

[HTCTundaBow]

Where in Georgia? I'm in savannah. Have you been here and how are the speeds/signal with TMobile?

That's the only job I haven't been to yet haha. I've been to Taccoa, West GA, Peachtree City, and the SC line.

 

[brkaras]

I believe that is the case as well.



Verizon's LTE network is second to none, and I constantly poke fun at my friends when they lose service even in an elevator. Heck, going in basements my buddies lose service, and it seems when AT&T phones find areas with only 1 or 2 bars of service constantly.

Didn't even think it was debatable that Verizon has the best network in the country.

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

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[HTCTundaBow]

Budweiser is obv the winner...

 

[brkaras]

Budweiser is obv the winner...

I'm not gonna argue...I hate em both! And I'm from Milwaukee!

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[SugarMouth]

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.

 

[Saucz]

thanks for posting that. have you tried any VoIP apps over a data connection? can you post a screenshot of the speed tests?

I haven't been able to do any VoIP calling yet as I haven't yet had the need to (i may pretty soon though)
However, one thing that really bugs me is that on my Monthly 4G plan with T-mo, I can't use Google Voice. I heard that you can call them to have this fixed by turning off the voicemail provided by them but I've been lazy with that.

 

[gone down south]

Verizon runs me $10 more per month than T-Mobile.

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

 

[GopherDroid]

I haven't been able to do any VoIP calling yet as I haven't yet had the need to (i may pretty soon though)
However, one thing that really bugs me is that on my Monthly 4G plan with T-mo, I can't use Google Voice. I heard that you can call them to have this fixed by turning off the voicemail provided by them but I've been lazy with that.

Or you could just use your Google Voice number as your primary number instead of your T-Mobile number

 

[danielcj]

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.

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[Brandon Green]

My nexus 4 does the same thing switches a lot between 3g And h And whenever I Do a speed test It goes to h. I was curious If This was common or a problem.

 

[danielcj]

I wonder if it is a batt saving feature but I thought it was the same radio. The rep at the Tmobile store said it would do that for the next 2 hrs while provisioning but that was a week ago.

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