RichMSN

Currently with US Cellular in Wisconsin.

Moving on. 400 MB roaming limit before throttling and almost everywhere outside of WI is roaming. I've reached my limit in more ways than one.

I travel mostly domestically. Csre most about data speed and reliability. I also want a phone that I can use overseas by simply popping a SIM in -- for example, I have a Three SIM I use in the UK.

New phone will be an iPhone and I'll likely wait for the 7+.

Tethering is important, so the AT&T Unlimited plan I could get with DirecTV is a non-starter.

I'm leaning towards Verizon, but I'm happy to hear alternatives. Live in the Madison area and data coverage in Wisconsin is quite important, too.

Dubai Stu

What about ProjectFi and either grabbing one of the discounts on the 6P or waiting for the Nexus 7? You don't have quite as good a deal on buckets of data as the other carriers, but you have no US roaming, US Cellular in Wisconsin (which has the best coverage), maintain their fallback roaming (on 4g only on Verizon), access to TMobile and Sprint, unthrottled 3 in Europe at the same data rate as in the US, 3mbps roaming data in most other countries, and global text messaging. The phone is unlocked so you could pop in a real 3 SIM as well. The only downside I see you could get better data packages from other carriers if you use a fair amount of data.

dtsm

If you buy sim free iPhone directly from Apple, it will work on Vz, ATT, TMO and all international sim card carriers. Test drive one of the local domestic carriers as Vz and TMO are now contract-free and see which one you prefer (you said ATT was non-starter, right?).

There are plus/minus for both carriers. I use both, Vz for business, TMO for personal. In Madison and Waukausa area recently and both worked fine.

TMO is slightly less money, more bang for the buck and my international carrier of choice for obvious reasons.

YMMV

RichMSN

Will not go back to Android.

RichMSN

We have 4 phones and they seem to be the best bang for the buck. We use about 22-24 GB of data monthly and their latest offering is $170 / month for 24GB and 4 smartphones. Also, tethering.

Dubai Stu

As an iOS guy thinking of going to Android for a dual SIM model (Axon 7 probably), I'd love to know why?

Dubai Stu

My understanding is that new Verizon iPhones may be factory unlocked.

IslesFan

All verizon iPhones since the 5 are factory unlocked. Supposed to be as terms of the LTE Band 13 purchase.

TWA884

All Verizon's 4G LTE devices are factory unlocked nowadays. The FCC made unlocking these devices a condition of Verizon's purchase of the 700 MHz spectrum that it uses for its LTE network.

gfunkdave

I've had Verizon and Tmo over the last 10 years while living in Chicago, NYC, and now Maine. Verizon has, generally speaking, the best "wall to wall" coverage. Tmo was great while I had it - in six years of it in Chicago I don't think I dropped one call.

If your travels take you more than a few miles from the nearest interstate in a rural area, then Tmo service will likely drop to almost nothing (or nothing). But if you're going to be in mostly urban/suburban/towns, you'll be fine.

Contrary to its commercials, Verizon has plenty of coverage holes. But in general you can expect them to work in places where others don't. Verizon's network in Portland, ME, for example, was horrendous last summer with the tourist hordes. I understand they built a new macro cell on the peninsula over the winter, which has made a big difference.

In the end, the only real answer is to try the carrier(s) you want to try. It's risk free for a couple weeks, or you can try a prepaid SIM. See how they work in the places you go.

WIRunner

I had USCC for a very long time (heck, I even worked for them in WI for a very long time.) The type of customer they were always after was the one that was roaming within their market, which is why the data roaming cap was introduced on smartphone plans. (It was 150 MB.) Coverage wise in WI they're hard to beat. Verizon is close -- unless you're in one of their 1900 MHz markets, which Madison and Milwaukee are (Alltel and Cingular were the B-Side carriers in Southern WI before all the consolidation took place.)

T-Mobile has been working great for me, I've used it in WI without issues, and where they have coverage it is on par, or slightly better, than what USCC or Verizon has. AT&T's coverage never much impressed me (I had one of their phones because, even as an employee, roaming was an issue.) That all being said, they're extremely spectrum constrained in Madison, which will result in slower download speeds and potentially blocked calls. They do roam on AT&T in WI where they don't have coverage, and AT&T does have the central and northern part of WI very well covered.

USCC is pretty good about unlocking phones, they just need to submit a billing ticket and it takes about 4-5 days for it to be completed.

In Madison (and most of Dane County) you're not going to notice too much of a difference between the carriers. You're just going to be trading one dead spot for another.

der_saeufer

I left Madison not that long ago (was a mistake, but oh well). USCC, Verizon and AT&T are the only carriers that aren't a joke if you travel much within Wisconsin. I was with AT&T for the most part there. I had Sprint for about two weeks; "useless" is the best description of their service once you get to exotic places like Mazomanie.

T-Mobile will roam onto AT&T, Bug Tussle, etc. but their roaming cap is 200MB/mo, so it's easy to blow through when you leave Dane/Rock counties or MKE. My big issue with T-Mobile was that it won't roam onto AT&T in areas T-Mo thinks they serve. So while T-Mobile worked fine (for 200MB) in the UP on AT&T's network, whenever I was near but not in T-Mo's footprint, I'd get the dreaded "Emergency Calls Only"

AT&T has that huge hole from Madison to Dubuque to about La Crosse, but that's about the only place you'll roam (and I don't know what their cap is other than I never hit it).

If you have to have tethering and an iPhone, you're stuck with a carrier that explicitly allows it, so you're basically looking at comparing AT&T and Verizon. There are lots of MVNOs out there on both AT&T and Verizon, but they generally don't allow tethering and there's no way around it in iOS.

Depending on your tethering and data usage needs, it could potentially be cheaper to have a wifi hotspot vs. the ability to tether.

HDQDD

Look into the MVNOs. They use the major's networks and generally charge a fraction of the amount. ATT now owns Cricket (i.e. same network). Cricket costs the wife $35/mo, but she brought her own device. She was paying ~$100/mo at VZW. For a difference of $65/mo you could buy a top of the line phone every year (or lease one).

bbtrvl

Sadly you will have to try out and see which network works in the places you frequent.

T-Mobile makes it easy to "try for a week" if you ask for it. That way you can try out the coverage. Though T-Mobile wouldn't be my first choice for someone who values reliability.

AT&T is decent and if you have a spare unlocked phone you can test the coverage with a GoPhone plan for a while. But they haven't updated their plans in a while even though Verizon has cut their prices.

Unlocked iPhone 6S or 7 is a good choice as that will let you switch between carriers easily and also use international SIM cards.

freecia

In case you are comparing Verizon post pay vs Verizon MVNOs, Verizon prepaid/MVNO and postpay "Extended network" coverage maps aren't identical. Of the MVNOs, only Selectel offers free Verizon post pay network roaming voice & sms.
http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2014...-selectel.html

Verizon Prepaid doesn't throttle LTE speed (MVNO's do) and offers hotspot/tether for free on the $45 and $60 plans.