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looking for a new carrier
- Thread starter frtl97
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I just switched from AT&T to Sprint a few months ago and you couldn't pay me to go back. The service itself was fine, tho customer service was always horrible (particularly at the stores, they screwed up my plan/account more than once). AT&T's recent policies are just wrecking the ecosystem for power users tho... First of all, they're the only carrier with a hard data cap that charges you for any overage; and it's a tiny 2GB cap w/no other options (besides the ridiculous 200MB plan).
Verizon/T-Mobile implement speed throttling, if you're in the top 5% of bandwidth users or you go over 5GB respectively... Which makes far more sense. Sprint decided not to limit data usage at all, instead they've just added a $10 data charge for everyone using a smartphone (EVO/Epic users were already paying for it so no change for them). Plenty of Sprint customers have pulled in 10GB+ on a given month w/o any complaints...
On top of the ridiculous data plan, AT&T is ALSO capping upload speeds arbitrarily. They iPhone and a couple other 3G phones can actually employ HSUPA (HSPA+ upload) and they get pretty peppy upload speeds, yet the most recent Android devices which they're purposely advertising as "4G" because they're HSPA+ capable have HSUPA disabled in firmware so that upload speeds are ironically capped at 3G rates (400Kbps or under).
How the heck does that make any sense?! I can understand advertising HSPA+ as 4G, T-Mo started it and the speeds are somewhat comparable to WiMAX/LTE for now (depending on the market), but not if your device is only HSPA+ in ONE direction! You can get around this but only if you're able to root your device to flash a different radio firmware. Add to all this the fact that AT&T is still the only carrier preventing you from side-loading apps... Again, not hard to circumvent but why are they going out of their way to pull all this crap when no one else is?
Anyway, Verizon has better coverage (and arguably, phone selection) than Sprint or T-Mob but you pay for it on your bill. Sprint customers can actually roam on Verizon's network tho, the only time that doesn't work out well is if you're constantly in an area w/borderline Sprint coverage and the phone keeps trying to hold on to the weak signal rather than opting to roam. Like I said, I switched to Sprint not too long ago... I'm a little annoyed at the changes to the Premier program but I'm still pretty happy w/Sprint.
Part of that may be the fact that I get a 23% student discount on my monthly bill thru StudentRate... But they'd still be cheaper than anyone else w/o the discount, 'cept maybe T-Mob. The difference just wouldn't be as great tho... AnyMobile AnyTime is awesome if you use up a lot of minutes tho. Phone selection varies all the time, Sprint tends to have less phones overall but they've had quality high-end and mid-range options lately imo. The EVO still stands up well to the latest and it was a big coup to get it so early imo,.
Verizon/T-Mobile implement speed throttling, if you're in the top 5% of bandwidth users or you go over 5GB respectively... Which makes far more sense. Sprint decided not to limit data usage at all, instead they've just added a $10 data charge for everyone using a smartphone (EVO/Epic users were already paying for it so no change for them). Plenty of Sprint customers have pulled in 10GB+ on a given month w/o any complaints...
On top of the ridiculous data plan, AT&T is ALSO capping upload speeds arbitrarily. They iPhone and a couple other 3G phones can actually employ HSUPA (HSPA+ upload) and they get pretty peppy upload speeds, yet the most recent Android devices which they're purposely advertising as "4G" because they're HSPA+ capable have HSUPA disabled in firmware so that upload speeds are ironically capped at 3G rates (400Kbps or under).
How the heck does that make any sense?! I can understand advertising HSPA+ as 4G, T-Mo started it and the speeds are somewhat comparable to WiMAX/LTE for now (depending on the market), but not if your device is only HSPA+ in ONE direction! You can get around this but only if you're able to root your device to flash a different radio firmware. Add to all this the fact that AT&T is still the only carrier preventing you from side-loading apps... Again, not hard to circumvent but why are they going out of their way to pull all this crap when no one else is?
Anyway, Verizon has better coverage (and arguably, phone selection) than Sprint or T-Mob but you pay for it on your bill. Sprint customers can actually roam on Verizon's network tho, the only time that doesn't work out well is if you're constantly in an area w/borderline Sprint coverage and the phone keeps trying to hold on to the weak signal rather than opting to roam. Like I said, I switched to Sprint not too long ago... I'm a little annoyed at the changes to the Premier program but I'm still pretty happy w/Sprint.
Part of that may be the fact that I get a 23% student discount on my monthly bill thru StudentRate... But they'd still be cheaper than anyone else w/o the discount, 'cept maybe T-Mob. The difference just wouldn't be as great tho... AnyMobile AnyTime is awesome if you use up a lot of minutes tho. Phone selection varies all the time, Sprint tends to have less phones overall but they've had quality high-end and mid-range options lately imo. The EVO still stands up well to the latest and it was a big coup to get it so early imo,.
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Is T-Mobile still doing the no-contract plans? I know they don't advertise them anymore but I think they were keeping them around if you asked for them, tho I think you had to do it by phone or online only... Not sure, that's the only way I'd consider switching to T-Mobile. They have less coverage than Sprint down here in PR but better speeds where HSPA+ is available (very nice speeds actually, 3Mbps up and 1Mbps down even on phones w/o HSPA+), and they're pretty committed to Android (the G2 was a strong statement imo, and they keep getting all the Nexii).
You may balk at paying $400-500 for the phone but you end up saving in the long run w/their lower priced no-contract plans, if they're still around anyway. If you're angry at Sprint over the Premier changes well... There might be some loopholes around that. Unless the rebate terms prevent it you could probably upgrade your plans for three months to get new account pricing on a phone (every 12 months) then switch it back, it's an extra $60 for the maneuver but it might be worth it.
It's not like anyone else is offering 12-month upgrades anymore anyway. Altho apparently there's still ways to sign 1-year contracts on VZW and Sprint (renewals anyway), not sure how that works out for phone pricing.
You may balk at paying $400-500 for the phone but you end up saving in the long run w/their lower priced no-contract plans, if they're still around anyway. If you're angry at Sprint over the Premier changes well... There might be some loopholes around that. Unless the rebate terms prevent it you could probably upgrade your plans for three months to get new account pricing on a phone (every 12 months) then switch it back, it's an extra $60 for the maneuver but it might be worth it.
It's not like anyone else is offering 12-month upgrades anymore anyway. Altho apparently there's still ways to sign 1-year contracts on VZW and Sprint (renewals anyway), not sure how that works out for phone pricing.
YeuEmMaiMai
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before you switch you need to talk to people in youir area that use the phone in a similar fason as you do because you may find that the GSM coverage in your particular area may not be as good. My parents for example live in the countryside and when I go to visit it's edge only but they use verizon and they get an average of 200Ksec download speed via their hotspot.....vs my 5k/sec
YeuEmMaiMai
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Yes T-mobile offers no contract plans but you have to pay for the hardware outright and smart phones are NOT cheap....
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That Verizon throttling policy has been in effect for a while now (it was just discovered in the policy recently though) and I have seen several users on other Android forums still go 10+ GBs without any noticeable throttling. I think that's there just as a "worst case scenario" bandwidth clause to keep bandwidth in check. I actually haven't heard of anyone being throttled on Verizon on all the phone forums I frequent, even after heavy tethering usage. Also, just FYI, Sprint phones only roam on Verizons network for voice and 1x data, not 3G.
Not trying to promote Verizon or put Sprint down, just throwing in what I've observed and know. I have been on Verizon for 6 years now though and have never had an issue with cell or customer service.. at all. They're definitely more expensive, but I believe, as with most things, you get what you pay for. At least with Verizon you do, doesn't sound like it with AT&T, lol.
Do the math tho, I did... Compared to Sprint's $70 (+$10) plan you basically broke about even if you bought a $500 phone every 12 months (maybe $100 under), and you came out ahead if you waited 24 months before upgrading (by $200 or so)... And that was before Sprint killed the 12 month Premier upgrade for most people (on the cheaper plans). Probably slants even more in favor of the no-contract plans now.
People think $500 for a phone is expensive but they don't realize they're paying a couple thousand per the life of the contract, so the cost of the phone is really a drop in the bucket... You actually save money w/those plans, and you gain the freedom of upgrading whenever the heck you want. Phone resale values for smartphones are usually pretty good, maybe more so for CDMA carriers (smaller market to import phones, unlock, etc.).
Obviously coverage comes before anything else... But the only way to research that is to talk to people near you, no amount of maps is gonna show you true coverage.
This is true, I should've mentioned that (about data roaming), tho 1x is still better than EDGE in many cases. I do think there's people who do benefit from Verizon/AT&T's wider coverage, definitely in rural areas or if you travel a lot... Other people that never leave the city or their neighborhood would be foolish to overpay for their mobile service. Only way to determine what camp you fall in is to ask around locally tho (or if you travel, well, that's obvious).
AT&T's current policies are terrible tho, imo they're even worse than what Verizon was a few years ago w/regards to dumbphone firmware crippling, etc. It's almost like they pulled a role reversal over the last two years... Seriously, I've gone over 2GB a month on my EVO while doing no streaming, no video chat, and no tethering; how can anyone that does any of that constantly not go over 2GB often? Are they happy paying an extra $10-20 or w/e it is every time it happens? I don't get it... And the $15/200mb plan is just an insult.
I am in the same conundrum OP. 
I just hit my 2 year mark last month, and my Moment is feeling long in the tooth. Don't get me wrong, I have it rooted and it is awesome. Like the little brother of the Epic. haha.
I keep thinking that sprint will come out with another awesome phone around the corner, so I keep holding off. grr. Maybe its time to change.
Sprint has been nothing short of excellent to me. My g/f has T-mobile, her family has been on it forever, so they get very nice rates. From what I have seen, nothing but good things over there.
I just hit my 2 year mark last month, and my Moment is feeling long in the tooth. Don't get me wrong, I have it rooted and it is awesome. Like the little brother of the Epic. haha.
I keep thinking that sprint will come out with another awesome phone around the corner, so I keep holding off. grr. Maybe its time to change.
Sprint has been nothing short of excellent to me. My g/f has T-mobile, her family has been on it forever, so they get very nice rates. From what I have seen, nothing but good things over there.
I love AT&T's $15 plan. I rarely go over 200MB since I have Wifi just about everywhere I want to do anything remotely bandwidth intensive. Between my girlfriend and I's plan we save $30/month over the typical data plans on other networks.
Do you just never use Wifi?
Zorachus
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I love Sprint and my rooted EVO w/ custom ROM Fav carrier and phone ever. Rarely a dropped call, and super fast 3G network, and 4G too. The best carrier for me so far.
- Previous to this I had T-Mobile, and they are the fucking worst, dropped calls, in and out data connection. Oh, and forget about your phone working deep inside buildings, T-Mobile drops dead inside, and Basements, lol, forget about it. That was on a few different phones too. Nexus-One was awesome, just on a shitty network, and a couple of Blackberries. All had same crap service.
- I had ATT w/ the iPhone3G, good phone, but dropped calls or just no connection in certain areas. They were expensive too.
- Verizon, never had them, but hear good things, supposed to have awesome service with never a dropped call, but you pay for it.
In my opinion the best carriers are Sprint for price and good connection in Chicago, and Verizon for the best service everywhere but most expensive. T-Mobile and ATT blow, the GSM networks sucks balls for inside skyscrapers and basements, or at least here in the Windy city with tall buildings, both those networks are not too reliable here.
Fav carrier and phone ever. Rarely a dropped call, and super fast 3G network, and 4G too. The best carrier for me so far.- Previous to this I had T-Mobile, and they are the fucking worst, dropped calls, in and out data connection. Oh, and forget about your phone working deep inside buildings, T-Mobile drops dead inside, and Basements, lol, forget about it. That was on a few different phones too. Nexus-One was awesome, just on a shitty network, and a couple of Blackberries. All had same crap service.
- I had ATT w/ the iPhone3G, good phone, but dropped calls or just no connection in certain areas. They were expensive too.
- Verizon, never had them, but hear good things, supposed to have awesome service with never a dropped call, but you pay for it.
In my opinion the best carriers are Sprint for price and good connection in Chicago, and Verizon for the best service everywhere but most expensive. T-Mobile and ATT blow, the GSM networks sucks balls for inside skyscrapers and basements, or at least here in the Windy city with tall buildings, both those networks are not too reliable here.
I believe I still have it on my plan with the Evo. I have a bunch of notifiers that I am now a premier member.
Im not a big fan of the evo. The coverage of sprint is good, but the Evo isn't so good. Texting issues galore.
Zorachus
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The EVO 4G is the best smart phone of 2010, and still hard to beat. And the EVO2 this Summer will be THE phone of 2011 trust me.
I am rooted with Myn's Warm-Z ROM, this phone is crazy fast and smooth as butter, plus I get 50% more life out of my battery than stock with this ROM. What kind of "texting" issues did you have ? My phone has been rock solid stable with zero issues.
If you have issues with the stock messenger just install feature-rich alternatives like handcent or chomp. Plenty of choices in the marketplace
I use WiFi religiously when I'm at home, since it saves battery life, and very often when I'm at school tho WiFi range is spotty there, sometimes during lunch depending where I am... I still use at 'least 1GB every single month doing nothing but web browsing. If I spend any time streaming or video chatting or tethering I go way over 1GB and damn near 2GB that month. Perhaps I simply use my phone more? /shrug Can't imagine I'm the only one, I still think a 200MB is pathetic (and even 2GB is low, particularly when no one else is doing it).
It depends... Regardless of whatever notification you've gotten,if you're on the 450 plan or the cheapest share plan you're now a Premier Silver member and you don't get 12-month upgrades... If you're on an individual plan of $80 or more (before taxes or the data add-on or any other options) you retain Premier Gold. They split off Premier into two tiers, effective in April, retro-active for everyone even if you previously qualified for Premier Gold (previously the only Premier status).
Look it up, if you're on a higher priced plan ($80+ for individual or $170 for a shared plan IIRC) then nothing changes, but if you're on the cheaper plans you're getting bumped down. I got my letter informing me I'd qualified for Premier status about a month ago and about a week ago I got the letter notifying me of the changes to the Premier program, tho I'd already read about it online.
What texting issues are you having with the EVO? I haven't had any issues whatsoever besides the occasional timestamp error (sometimes when sending messages from PR to the US the replies come timestamped an hour earlier or w/e), and the fact that you have to be careful if you text in Spanish with auto correction... Accents aren't handled well across carriers, w/T-Mobile I have no issues but if I send a text message with an accented word to anyone in AT&T it jumbles it and fills the message with question marks between every letter/space.
I've added most common accented words in Spanish to my dictionary now from correcting them w/o the accent whenever I text so it's no longer an issue. I'm using Swype and the stock text app btw, depending on what your issues are you could try Handcent, it adds lots of advanced features. I didn't need any of it so I stuck w/the stock one but my ROM has a tweak that enables me to send larger file size MMS (up to 5MB) so pics aren't compressed as much.
/dev/null
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I just switched to puretalkusa. They have some nice plans. I was paying $130/mo for 4 phones on a family plan with T-mobile. My bill is now $25-$55/mo.
Downside: They don't have data.
Downside: They don't have data.
My bill is $85 before taxes.
The texting might be related to swype. I would select one contact, and another would open up. I might open my best friend's text message stream, and get my girlfriend.
I am using the normal texting on there, not the swype. Seems to be working ok.
Zorachus
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lol, if your texting your friend but thinking it is your girlfriend, things could get interesting. "hey baby, what's up for tonight, lets go out for dinner, and sloppy desert at my place" And then your buddy shows up all excited
It's not your total monthly bill that qualifies you for Premier Gold or Silver tho, if your base plan is $70 + $10 data fee +4 insurance or something like that then you won't qualify for Gold as the base plan is under $80. If you have an EVO then at 'least $10 of that bill is the premium data fee which puts you at under $80 for the base plan, come April you'll be a Premier Silver member, no yearly upgrades. Unless you're actually on a higher base plan with some sort of employee discount that brings it down to that...
Discounts aren't taken into account for the purpose of Premier status. For instance I'm on the $70 plan, with the obligatory $10 data fee, but I have a 23% student discount so my monthly bill is like $64 before taxes. I actually qualified for Premier previous to these changes even tho the cutoff was at $70 IIRC, because it's looked at before any discounts/add-ons.
Are you using the stock texting appfrom HTC? That's weird, it actually sounds like a known bug w/the stock txt app on Android, but 3rd party txt clients (whether it be from HTC/Moto or from the market) were unaffected by it AFAIK. It's never happened to me or anyone I know, I figured the only people affected were those using stock Android (i.e. Nexus owners, or maybe people running the stock texting client on Cyanogen). Not sure what to tell ya... Have you installed all the latest OTA updates?
YeuEmMaiMai
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IMHO i would love to have a cheaper plan and once I am out of my upgrade period I will go that route with T-mobile as it will save me $15 a month.
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I switched off Sprint recently and am on the $60/month Everything More Plus plan with T-Mobile (the no-contract plan). The only catch is that you can only get that plan at an actual T-Mobile store (forget Best Buy mobile and whatnot). My Nexus S will pay itself off in time and I'm another that prefers lower monthly bills.
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