does tmobile straight talk sim card give the same coverage as a tmobile sim card?

[Sento]

Was wondering because I have really poor service at home with straight talk tmobile card and was wondering if a T-Mobile Sim would give better coverage.

Thanks

 

[pontiac005]

It probably is the same.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[heading4tomorrow]

Pontiac, why would you think that? I think you would be wrong. At least, that's what I think, because with Straight Talk, you get only one of the top tier carrier's base coverage, but with T-Mobile's own service using T-Mobile SIM with a T-Mobile number, you get free roaming. I believe in certain areas where T-Mo has no service, they let you use other carrier's towers but with Straight Talk, this is not possible. You get only one of the carrier's services.

Santo, did you try this? What was the result?
I worry about the same thing because I am sick and tired of paying +$12/month on my wife's $30/mo plan. The only reason I have been keeping it is because I still have T-Mobile's Mobile to Mobile unlimited calling for $30 on top of 500 minutes.

 

[N4Newbie]

--snip--
... but with T-Mobile's own service using T-Mobile SIM with a T-Mobile number, you get free roaming. I believe in certain areas where T-Mo has no service, they let you use other carrier's towers but with Straight Talk, this is not possible. You get only one of the carrier's services.

For T-Mobile, the above is true but don't be mislead. This (roaming) applies only in areas where T-Mobile doesn't have any towers at all; if T-Mobile had nothing in Oshkosh, for example, then they would cut a roaming deal with another carrier until such time as they are able to install (or justify) their own tower.

Where roaming DOES NOT apply is in the case of you have T-Mobile in your general area but the signal within your home, office, grocery store, whatever is weak to non-existent. For example, I have great T-Mobile signal in my office parking lot but zero within my office. Even though there is passable AT&T signal in my office, I cannot roam on AT&T while inside. I called T-Mobile about this and was told what I described above.

 

[Bob Coxner]

If you mean inside your home then it doesn't matter - TMo or Sprint is not your best choice. Their frequencies simply don't penetrate walls like those of AT&T and Verizon do. Straight Talk is once again offering AT&T sim cards. I would go with that.

 

[N4Newbie]

Actually, I would look into AIOWireless Aio Wireless which Is AT&T's new pay-as-you-go service Aio Wireless(TM) Available Soon for All U.S. Customers.

I just switched from T-Mobile to AIOWireless, partly due to TMo's poor coverage in my area. The good part is greatly improved coverage; the bad part is greatly reduced internet speed. AIOWireless maxes out at 8mbps for LTE devices (which, of course, the Nexus 4 is not) and 4mbps for 3G/HSPA devices. This is way slower than I had with TMo but, honestly, I do most of my internet over Wi-Fi anyway so it doesn't impact me much. I also went from 5GB data included with TMo to 2GB with AIO but, again, I dont use much cellular data anyway so I am okay with the change.

 

[heading4tomorrow]

For T-Mobile, the above is true but don't be mislead. This (roaming) applies only in areas where T-Mobile doesn't have any towers at all; if T-Mobile had nothing in Oshkosh, for example, then they would cut a roaming deal with another carrier until such time as they are able to install (or justify) their own tower.

Where roaming DOES NOT apply is in the case of you have T-Mobile in your general area but the signal within your home, office, grocery store, whatever is weak to non-existent. For example, I have great T-Mobile signal in my office parking lot but zero within my office. Even though there is passable AT&T signal in my office, I cannot roam on AT&T while inside. I called T-Mobile about this and was told what I described above.

Yes but I don't see which part of my message is misleading.
Basically you do not get service in "Oshkosh" if you are with Straight Talk. That's pretty much what I indicated when I said "Where T-Mo has no service". I did not say "where signal is weak".

Isn't that correct? If you go with StraightTalk and if you happen to stay at your Aunt's house for a week in Vadito, NM, or countryside of Pecos, TX, you will get 0 bars/service. But if you go with T-Mobile, you will get "Partner Service" due to free roaming feature of their own prepaid/postpaid plans.