danielonn

I was able to get our family on the North America Simple Choice plan for $120 with 10 GB per line on the Family Share 4 line plan. It includes Mobile Without Borders where we can use our LTE data, make calls to and from Mexico and Canada as well as text without roaming.

In addition it comes with Binge On with select video streaming. Music Freedom with select free streaming of music services like Pandora without using our data.

Also we can use the Simple Global in 140 countries whereby internet data and text are included and it cost 20 cents per minute

T Mobile has been expanding their coverage and while the 10 GB promo expired we got the promo due to some confusion at the time which required a bit more searching but the agent worked with us to get the expired promo.

Overall T Mobile is a great network and they have some of the best deals around.

danielonn

While Verizon claims to have the best coverage they have the most expensive plans. When one signs up for Verizon you are paying a line access fee which to me adds up. Then you share your data between the family and boom any overages get charged. Our family had Verizon for years and we were charged almost a years worth of what TMobile does in one month.

Then Verizon took away the unlimited data plan and then you pay an arm and a leg for international roaming.

Our family went to MetroPCs and then to TMobile which we love. When there was a discrepancy in the bill TMobile took care of it right away unlike Verizon which would take awhile for them to give us credit. How could a family of 4 get away with just 700 minutes or even 100 minutes a month? We had no data except for my brother's phone and our bill was $90+ . Having to dial #MIN was such a stupid thing to do.

While TMobile may not have as much coverage as Verzion they are expanding. I would much rather be slowed down using the internet than paying an overage. I love how on TMobile you can purchase more data should you need it for the month as well as when abroad you can purchase a higher speed as an option. With TMobile you know exactly what you are going to pay. Families can breathe easy knowing Tommy can use his data or call his girlfriend without worrying or having a meeting about overages.

Too many people are being sucked in by Verizon's tactics. I can't get my Grandmother to switch to TMobile. What is Verizon doing to my Grandmother that would keep her loyal to Verizon? When she told me she was paying over $100 I told her that for the same cost or less she can have TMobile and have more features.

John Legere is his last Uncarrier reveal spoke about line access charges. Add that up times 4 and that is not even service. It should be illegal to charge these line access fees. With our current home phone VOIP service there are no such access fees. Then your Data costs you more as does overages.

Verzion charged us $1.99 a minute for international roaming and then their phones were limited. TMobile being GSM gives you access to more carriers.

Overall TMobile is the way to go unless you feel the reception of Verizon is better and you are willing to pay the overages.

Please feel free to weigh in on the debate I would love to hear from TMobile and Verizon subscribers about why you would stay with your current provider or switch between carriers.

javabytes

I'm confused... you start off by complaining about sharing data and getting charged for overages... then in the next paragraph you say they took away your unlimited data...? How did you get charged for overages if you were on unlimited data?

If you spent a year's worth of T-Mobile fees in one month at Verizon, it sounds like you were clearly on the wrong plan.

Why are line access fees "not even service"? For the devices where you are paying the highest access fees (phones), you are getting service that is separate from the data allotment: voice service, SMS, etc. pretty much all of which are unlimited now - plans with 700 minutes/month are a thing of the past.

I wanted to like T-Mobile for their efforts to disrupt the AT&T/Verizon duopoly, but the service just wasn't good enough. It's fine if you're mostly in major metropolitan areas and don't travel all that much. I took the T-Mobile phone on the road with me for work for a week or two and it was useless more often than not. Poor reception away from cities, poor reception inside buildings... people kept telling me they couldn't hear me. Had to dump it for AT&T.

Doc Savage

"You pays yer money, you makes yer choices."

TWA884

I don't understand why you paid as much as you did for your Verizon service.

With the Verizon One Plan, we pay $20 monthly access fee for each smart phone; that includes unlimited minutes and texts. We share 6 GB of data which costs $48 ($60 - 20% corporate discount) a month. The total cost of the service for three lines is $108 plus $12.47 in taxes, surcharges and fees for a monthly total of $120.47.

Verizon's coverage is second to none. All of Verizon's 4G phones are global (read GSM enabled), so international roaming is not an issue.

With the new TravelPass international plan, for a flat daily fee, we can use our domestic minutes, texts and data allotment when traveling abroad (or use a foreign SIM card on long trips when the daily fee does not make economic sense).

bchandler02

I agree. I've really wanted to switch to Tmo (primarily due to cost/global service) but the place where I spend much of my time happens to be a dead spot to them. A carrier can have the best network in the world but they all have dead spots, and if it happens to be where you live/work/play, that carrier is useless to you. For me, the VzW network has been solid.

Thanks to Tmo, Verizon prices have come down. If you're on an older plan, you need to call and get swapped over.

For me, Tmobile would be around $80 (now $95 as of last weekend) for unlimited data, plus taxes. On Verizon, I have 10GB which is virtually unlimited for me since my highest usage ever in a month was 5.6GB. With my corp discount and everything, I pay $84.xx monthly, including taxes.
Tmobile would be nice for truly unlimited, but the reality is that I don't really need it. As TWA884 said, Verizon finally removed their heads from their anal cavity and got somewhat competitive with global service. The TravelPass is great for shorter trips, and I'll continue buying local SIMs for longer trips. I'd do that anyway, even if it was free on Tmo, to get the higher speeds.

I can see where Tmo is better if you are an extremely high data user, but for the average user Verizon can be reasonably competitive if you get on the right/current plan.

TWA884

Verizon is currently offering a free extra 1GB on top of the current data allowance for use during the next billing cycle.

Enroll here by midnight (ET), Nov 24.

Doc Savage

PagePlusCellular works on the Verizon network and has pretty good prices, e.g., $55 for unlimited calls/texts + 5gig of 4GLTE data then unlimited at 2G and some other stuff. Might be worth it to some people.

CPRich

I also thought I'd end up with TMo, but they cancelled their discounts (22% w/Vz, iirc), and I test drove their phone and had terrible coverage. I have 9GB data, unlimited phone/text, on 3 lines for about $90/month.

Tmo comes with a lot of "features" - streaming video (but only 480), audio, etc. - none of which I use to any extent. If you spend hours a day streaming video over cellular, and 480 is fine, then TMo may be better for you. Every user probably has different needs. (But I'm convinced no one needs Sprint...)

(btw, how did a "Verizon vs. other carriers" thread start with a description of TMo? I got the the end of the first post, thinking it was about Verizon. Did this split from somewhere?)

gfunkdave

I renamed the thread, which was initially called "Verizon and its fees" or something to that effect. Open to suggestions if others think of a better title.

TWA884

I don't recall the first post being in this thread when I first posted here last night replying to the rant against Verizon's costs. It looks like there was a thread merger as opposed to a split.

CatJo

TMo has made massive improvements this year, and one's experience from even just a few months ago could be quite different than right now. Just as important, though, is the fact that a large percentage of people are not utilizing the latest phones that support 700 MHz Band 12, which is where a lot of the expansion has been (and this includes the Test Drive iPhone 5S, which is a shame).

For one to really see how well TMo would work, it really behooves them to use a iPhone 6s/6s Plus, Nexus 6, or one of the latest LG/Samsung phones. Huge difference in coverage, building penetration, etc. in areas where Band 12 has been rolled out. It has really made TMo almost equivalent to Verizon and AT&T in a significant part of the US.

pseudoswede

I don't stream a lot of video, but I do stream music while driving long distances. That is free, too.

gfunkdave

Ah yes - I merged that first post into the thread as well, as it seemed to overlap (and was by the same OP).

robroy90

I had been a loyal VZW customer with a family of 4 lines grandfathered on unlimited data, and I was generally very happy with them.

Then, a little more than a year ago or so, the stance they took on throttling (but have since backed off of since) was enough for me to leave.

I kept one line of unlimited data and stuck that SIM in my iPad. I pay about $60 a month for it after my corp discount. Makes for a delicious WiFi Hotspot with more than a day's worth of battery life from the iPad when needed.

I moved the family to T-Mo and I have been fairly happy. They truly have made big strides in the breadth and depth of their coverage. Unfortunately, I don't live in a service area where their extended LTE (band 12) is available, but it hasn't been much of an issue as I don't travel a great deal at this stage in my life.

The other thing that always annoyed me with VZW was their stance on devices. It may not matter to most, but if you like to tinker with your Android phones, VZW will make your life tough with locked bootloaders on most of their devices. T-Mobile doesn't do this and is more of a "pure" GSM carrier in that regard.

I still find places where T-Mo's coverage lacks compared to VZW, but those spots and instances are diminishing.