5 Carriers! Which one to choose ...

[Fraydog]

http://www.rootmetrics.com/compare-carriers/san-francisco/

Looks like AT&T is doing better, but in SF, VZW is still the top choice.

 

[RG129]

Verizon is light years ahead of the rest. The fact that people are even talking about tmobile is a complete joke. Speaking of a joke, can we discuss everyone's 4g coverage compared to Verizon? Verizon has over 230 markets and will have Double that by the end of this year. I'm sorry, but im a strong believer when it comes to you pay for what you get. At some point all carriers will be getting rid of unlimited data plans.

Coverage, speeds, phones and customer service is best under big red.

Verizon is the best as a whole throughout the country, but in a dense, urban city like San Francisco, coverage is pretty much the same amongst all the carriers. Where the difference is, is in capacity. AT&T is having a hard time handling the congestion with all the iPhones in this small city. Also, during massive city events (Bay to Breakers, LoveParade, Pride, Outside Lands), AT&T and Verizon have a hard time having all their subscribers trying to use a few cell towers within the area. T-Mobile and Sprint have always handled those events fine.

 

[truthteller10]

I just put my order in at Tmobile..Too me its a no brainer to go with Tmobile and not verizon or ATT..You'll pay 50 bucks more per month and get less in terms of data amounts. The contract termination is only 200 bucks if you decide later that it isn't for you and you get 20 days to try it out. Too me Tmobile has the best deal around and at 5mbps who actually needs more on a smartphone?! All you need to stream high quality video is 2mbps without buffering.

 

[jdm4u]

I was with T-Mobile and switched to Sprint when my contract was up. When the GS3 releases, I am switching back to T-Mobile. Sprint is good, if you can connect to 4G. If not, the 3G is so slow that it's not even worth it. I have tested both GS2 phones, in my area, T-mobiles GS2 gets 8mbps download speeds, Sprints GS2 gets 10mbps on 4G wimax.. Similar speeds, but I prefer GSM phones over CDMA. I don't like being limited to only purchasing Sprint phones. Also, T-mobile would be cheaper too.

 

[danfinger]

Thanks everyone- I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and go with VZW. It just seems like they're the most future-proofed. I don't mind paying a little extra. I also get a 26% discount through my job so that will help.

TMO contract expires 7/8. Supposing I pre-order from VZW now and have my number ported, will I be able to use the phone I have now until I get the new one? Or does the porting process take time? thanks again,
~DF

 

[brewzer]

Thanks everyone- I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and go with VZW. It just seems like they're the most future-proofed. I don't mind paying a little extra. I also get a 26% discount through my job so that will help.

TMO contract expires 7/8. Supposing I pre-order from VZW now and have my number ported, will I be able to use the phone I have now until I get the new one? Or does the porting process take time? thanks again,
~DF

You can't do what you want do, I already asked and tried. I was going to switch to VZW from Sprint but VZW wouldn't let me preorder. Thus, I lost the double your data special and told them to GTFO. I am going to AT&T instead.

The porting process doesn't take time, when you sign up with your new carrier the number is ported over pretty much immediately from what I have been told.