Which phone carrier is better?

thehourman

Hey guys,

I currently have Verizon and need to upgrade my phone to a better one because it is not functioning that way it should. I currently have unlimited data, but when I spoke to one of the sales in one of the local Verizon store here in MD, she said that once I upgraded my phone, I won't get my unlimited data instead I will get unlimited text, and call and have to choice data from 2GB to 10GB.
I am paying $82/month for my phone now. And if I upgraded my phone, I would have to pay for $100 with 2GB of data.

Now, I am thinking to switch to ATT because it seems like they still offer a tier and shared plan unlike Verizon who has shared and prepaid only.

Has anyone have problem with ATT like signal, 3G and 4G LTE wise?
How ATT throttles the data part?
I know Verizon throttles the data for the top 5%, but if you roam to a less crowded tower you got your speed back (I read this somewhere).

Roguetadhg

I thought that it wouldn't be grandfathered if you changed plans... not if you upgrade.

Around where I work - ATT has the better bata bandwidth. Atleast, when I had my mifi, I was more than happy to play Diablo 3. Verizon's... meh. But we also have a access point near by.

Honestly, I'd go back to Sprint. They were the last carrier I went to, for 24 hours. Nothing wrong with the phone, or plan. Just figured I'll suck it up and use my tracfone. Saved me a lot of money.

the_Grinch

Ok, here's the low down on keeping unlimited dated. If you pay full retail price for your phone, you go month to month and keep your currently plan. If you accept the phone at the reduced upgrade price, you would be switched to the new plan. AT&T is doing the same thing so you would have no unlimited data with them. Work currently pays my cell phone bill, but I'd be hard pressed to justify submitting a request for my bill when it jumps by $40 a month. I literally used 9 minutes of talk time last month. Texts, I used about 1500 and about 2 gigs of data. I text and use data that is it.

This whole scheme on the carriers end is to screw the individual customer. If you are on a family plan, you make out like a bandit. Just you? Here's a nice increase you'd rather not have. As far as quality, I've been a Verizon customer for eight years and have no complaints.

tpatt100

Yeah pay full price for the phone to keep unlimited or pay full price and go to a prepaid plan. I paid full price for my wife's phone upgrade and Verizon's iPhone 5 is unlocked for different carriers from what I have read online. There are some prepaid plans that offer "unlimited" plans where you get 2-4?gb then get down ranked to 3G after that, not a big deal imo.

SteveLord

I hear more people complain about ATT than any other carrier. And as I predicted when people got excited about being grandfathered into VZW's unlimited plans, we would screwed eventually...one way or another.

mackdieselx27

I used to have Verizon for over a decade and recently dumped them for Virgin Mobile. If Sprint is good where you are, then you can't really beat Virgin's pricing for what you get. The only catch is that it's all Sprint or nothing - no roaming privileges like you get on the postpaid side.

Blackout

Personally I use sprint, the network coverage in our house wasn't great but they immeadiatly sent me an Airave which gave us 5 bar coverage in our house. Honestly im shocked as their customer service has been outstanding. Plus the unlimited data is great especially when I have to do work related crap from my phone.

thehourman

@the_Grinch
Wait... I am eligible for an upgrade next month, so if I paid the phone at full price, Verizon would let me keep the unlimited data. Is that right? If that is the case, then might as well pay the phone at full price.
I am paying $82 every month for my DriodX. Would I be still paying the same amount if I got an iPhone at full price?

That shared plan is pretty mess up. It is only good for family plan or if you talk and text a lot.

@tpatt100
As far as I know, Verizon phones don't use sim. Does the Verizon iPhone5 uses sim cards?
I have been a Verizon customer for 6-7 years now and all the phone I got from them didn't have sim.

tpatt100

My Verizon Razr has a sim card in it.

SteveLord

Actually, I really hope they release a shared plan for business. I have a particular user base that would never cap a shared dataplan across iPads. And we would save a lot of money.