Hey CC,
I got accepted to UGA EA and I’m definitely going there next fall. I have a question though—what carrier do you have and how is the service? On campus, in the dorms, in the apartments, in the city of Athens, etc. I have Verizon now which is good, but my family is considering switching to Sprint because it is cheaper. Is it still good all over UGA?
Thank you!
Bump…anyone, please!
Congrats on being accepting into UGA! You’ll have a wonderful time here over the next four (or more) years.
Let me preface this by saying it is impossible for anyone to determine carrier coverage precisely without firsthand experience in said areas.
However, from what I’ve seen of the four largest carriers, AT&T and Verizon have you covered well. T-Mobile is also adequate (and have come very far in coverage nationwide; they are not the company they were a few years ago and have actually usurped Sprint’s place as the 3rd largest carrier), but may lack in coverage indoors if you are not using a Band 12 LTE compatible device (you can search for your phone model online and see which LTE bands it supports).
As for Sprint, I’m not as sure. I can say that they’re still notorious for having poor coverage, and if there is coverage, lackluster speeds. I wouldn’t recommend Sprint personally, especially since T-Mobile offers just as good (if not better) deals for families along with better (and rapidly improving!) coverage nationwide.
Have you asked your family to consider T-Mobile? I switched recently from AT&T, and it’s been nothing but fantastic in Athens. You will lose signal indoors (especially underground) at times, but this occurs with all the carriers, and you can remedy this by using WiFi Calling, which lets you connect to your carrier via WiFi instead of cellular (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint also have this feature).
Keep in mind that carrier coverage maps are estimates, and may not represent actual coverage in real life. And simply because they offer coverage does not mean they offer the best speeds in the areas.
@Interdimension Thank you for your comment! No, we have not considered T-Mobile yet, but I will definitely look into it for my family. I know someone else who goes there who also said Sprint was not very good at UGA, so maybe I should rule it out. Unfortunately, Verizon and AT&T are too expensive for the plans we want, so we have to rule them out.
Understand that you will have WiFi throughout the campus. So long as you have WiFi, you shouldn’t have much of a problem getting service (via WiFi Calling).
But regardless, I still wouldn’t recommend Sprint. T-Mobile would be the way to go if you’re looking for a budget plan. I was, and I have no regrets so far.
@Interdimension I heard the campus Wi-Fi is bad. What’s your opinion?
Okay, I’ll talk to my family about it! Thank you.
My kids always have used Verizon on campus and in Athens. Maybe look into a prepaid plan if your family plans are getting too expensive.
Campus WiFi is fine in terms of speed and reliability if you have good signal. I believe the main issue most students have with PAWS Secure (the name of UGA’s network) is signal strength. For example, some dorm rooms have one bar of WiFi, while others get full bars. It varies, and it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. I’ve had nothing but positive experiences on it.