Cellular service and rv travels

[busterbrown]

My wife and I are looking to upgrade phones and possibly cellular service providers as our phones are 3+ years old and out of contract. We have been AT&T customers for over 9 years now and have been on a grandfathered unlimited data plan for that duration. Service has been good but data speeds on AT&Ts network are half of what Tmobile is now in the Detroit area. Because we have a busy RV season ahead as well as many years to come, we want cellular coverage and speeds during our intra/out-of-state travels. We've eliminated Sprint as a possible provider as service and data speeds are horrible in my home area.

Tmobile is at the top of list. Coverage map looks good, data speeds are excellent, and they have a "free phones" promo now that that upgrades our current android devices to Samsung GS7s.

Anyone have opinions on Tmobile as their provider and how well they stack up to ATT and Vzn when on the road? Their all-in promotion will lower our monthly costs on 2 phones by $30. Anyone have issues with them throttling back data speeds during peek times or when soft data limits are exceeded? My current ATT plan is truly unlimited but we pay more for it. No way of getting it back if we don't like the Tmobile switch.

[the sodfather]

I don't really have input as to other cell service other than ATT. I've had them for ever (back when it was Cingular). You've got to look at how much data you use. We likely have the same plan as you. There is no way I would leave unlimited even if it's a little faster. But that's just me...

[Firewall]

Switched from AT&T to T-Mobile about two weeks ago. Still early to tell coverage wise, in our normal spots, work, home around town etc. there is no difference in coverage. It's a family plan and the kids like it because T-Mobile's plan is unlimited, only one phone was unlimited before (out of 4). They bought our contract out and upgraded our phones, all seemed to be seamless.

BTW most new phones are capable of wi-fi calling, many people are not aware that you just have to turn it on. It makes calls from within buildings (that have open wi-fi) much better.

It will be interesting to see if the coverage is good in fringe areas but I'm not too worried, if you look at most cell towers just about every carrier is on each one, the big guys probably have the top of the towers but it seems coverage maps are very similar these days.

Oh and T-Mobiles fee schedule is really nice, the bill has the cost of the plan, no extra fees or taxes, just the plan cost.

[PARAPTOR]

Selection gets harder when you are traveling across the county in an RV. My experience has been service that was great in last place is mediocre at the next. Depends on who has tower closer to where you are. Interesting watching campers walking around the campsites looking for service. Some campsites only thing that worked was satellite phone service.

In regard to ATT unlimited data plan cost has increased $15-20 a month on those gradfather plans, seems like in the last year. Do not think they will drop us ,but forcing us out by increasing costs may be in the near future.

[busterbrown]

Originally Posted by PARAPTOR

In regard to ATT unlimited data plan cost has increased $15-20 a month on those gradfather plans, seems like in the last year. Do not think they will drop us ,but forcing us out by increasing costs may be in the near future.

Yeah, I hear ya. That's one of the reasons my wife and I are considering Tmobile. At $50 per line (all fees/taxes included) with unlimited video streaming and 10gb of mobile hotpot (ATT charges extra for mobile hotspot), the savings are worth it if data coverage and speed are insync with what I have now. Our grandfathered plan only includes 400 texts (albeit we use WiFi texting more often) so switching would give us unlimited SMS. I'm very curious to how other Tmobile customers like their service camping throughout the US. Remote boondocking isn't something that we will be experiencing frequently. We do have trips planned up the east coast into Canada, throughout Yellowstone NP, and even down to the Carolinas in the next few years. We just want to be ensured some connectivity along the way.

[CrazyCain]

MY DW and I use Straighttalk. $45.00 a month for 5GB LTE High speed unlimited talk and text. The phones we have, Samsung Galaxy S5 use Verizon towers. We travel all over Michigan , upper and lower and have excellent service. A bit spotty in the U.P, but do find areas that have service. Make sure the phone you are looking at uses either Verizon of AT&T.. Verizon is the best of the bunch! Been with them for many years, no complaints what so ever..

[Desert185]

We've been ATT for a long time. They all suck, but for us ATT sucks the least, all things considered. Your suck may be different than ours, so good luck with your decision.

[PARAPTOR]

Originally Posted by Desert185

We've been ATT for a long time. They all suck, but for us ATT sucks the least, all things considered. Your suck may be different than ours, so good luck with your decision.

Interesting concept, levels of suck. Come to think of it never seems to be evaluated as level of satisfaction. It's like study these phone offers and then

[notanlines]

By far the best reception across the country is AT&T and Verizon. That being said, do NOT think lightly about giving up your unlimited data program. Remember, once the toothpaste is "squozed" out it can never be put back in the tube. And that sucks bad!

[chuckster57]

We held on tight to our unlimited plan with ATT. When they bought DIRECTV we were able to upgrade and since we've had DIRECTV service get unlimited data and text. Used to be limited to 100 text/mo.

[BirchyBoy]

We had AT&T and DirecTV but never jumped on the unlimited data plan because we use the hotspot service a lot. We recently switched to T-Mobile because of the unlimited data and the service has been "OK". We had to get a T-Mobile cell booster for our house because we live right on the fringe of the service area. Our Wi-Fi calling doesn't work great (iPhone 6 & 6s) and no one can tell us why. Service around the city (Wilmington, NC) is good but not in our suburb, Leland.

Had we waited 6 weeks, we would have simply changed plans to the new "unlimited" service being offered by AT&T. But, oh well.

[FlowerChild]

Check out the expert's Website. https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

They have saved me a ton of money and I now have data running out of my ears.

[BirchyBoy]

I forgot to mention that a few times, campgrounds have used Comcast internet services. One in particular said they charged for "per-site" access but it was free in the club house. I was able to use my Comcast ID and then could access the "public" WiFi that Comcast uses. You aren't always limited to your cell phones

[instymp]

We have never had a problem with VZN & know some that have connectivity issues with ATT in certain areas that we don't.
WIFI works great on our Iphone 6S.

[NealBlue]

Originally Posted by FlowerChild

Check out the expert's Website. https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/

They have saved me a ton of money and I now have data running out of my ears.

x2 for me too!

[Dave W]

I bought the Mobile Internet book and it give you a wealth of information that you can wander through at your leisure. Well worth the bucks if you feel the need to stay connected.

With that said, we haven't had the need to jump into the 'smart phone' pit but are making the leap soon. We did try Sprint, but that became an expensive mistake with locally crummy to no availability. For good connectivity, we have been using Verizon and a 'burner' Trac-Phone, both with unlimited texting. We can usually get connected with one or the other anywhere in the US. A forinstance, Verizon at our 'home' CG in way Upstate NY is virtually useless with the closest towers several miles across Lake Champlain in Vermont. The Trac-Phone connects to a local tower without a Verizon antenna connection, and always works.

[TravlinOn]

I've used both AT&T and Verizon but AT&T was a few years back and I hope that it has improved (a lot). Perhaps West Coasters do better with one or the other than do East Coasters; it seems that those posters who like AT&T are mostly on the West Coast (so far).

Currently, my Verizon cell and "mobile hot spot" 4G service has worked almost everywhere for us for cellphone and for computer. When it did not, the worst cases were in the north Georgia mountains and central Florida's "lake and swamps" areas. All I had to do, though, in those cases was to drive to the nearest town. I have had no problems in my choice of camp spots in the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains, others might have had some though.

As far as T-Mobile, I live in a highly urbanized area of South Florida, and my neighbors who use T-Mobile all seem to have to go outside their house in order to use their phones. Seems kind of weak to me.

[sourdough]

Having had ATT, Sprint and Verizon I have to say that Verizon is hands down the better provider for us. I have not had any experience with TMobile but my son in Dallas tried it and was not happy. I talked to him about Verizon so he switched and has been pleased.

Seems to me most of the major carriers have somewhat similar plans depending on where you are in the cellular spectrum (new customer, renewing, switching). We upgraded to smartphones quite some time ago and got new plans that saved us about $30 mo. and have unlimited talk, text and data.

[Mikey]

I just upgraded to the unlimited plan on Verizon. Unlimited data on my phone. 10GB mobile hotspot at 4G then it slows to 3G.

Happy Trails and Safe Travels!
2017 Chevrolet 2500HD
2015 Bullet 308BHS

[BrentB]

T-mobile is causing big problems in Dallas right now: http://www.fox4news.com/news/240346270-story