I find ATT is the best for me. I like their overseas services. For $10/day I could use my plan overseas. I could have unlimited call, text and data. The coverage in the US is also very good, unlike T-mobile. I think I pay $150 for 3 phones with unlimited usage.
Had AT&T for 15 years due to their coverage in my area, I despised my dealings with them and am thrilled I switched to T-Mobile a year or two ago. It’s been great, easy billing, coverage is fine. The only issue was when I did a road trip through middle America, they she AT&T towers, but the data is considered roaming, so that was bad. I finally got them on FB to increase my data, the people on the phone lines did not have the power.
Coverage for the networks has improved, specifically T-Mobile. It used to be harder for us to get service in some locations. Now, pretty much anywhere anyone with any other cell company has service our T-Mobile does as well.
We have had all 4 carriers, and I’ve managed cell systems for a number of clients. We currently have T-mobile for phones & AT&T for hotspots. The Sprint ads are correct - the networks are essentially identical EXCEPT for Sprint, which is only good in a few areas, and mediocre in most. A lot of it has to do with how the networks are designed.
If you buy service from a carrier directly, roaming on another carrier’s network is usually included. T-Mobile and Sprint limit the amount on personal (not business) plans and/or cripple the data speed somewhat. Most prepaid plans, especially from 3rd party providers like Straight Talk and TracPhone limit you to a single network. A major exception is Google Project Fi, which works on Sprint, T-mobile & AT&T plus has full speed roaming overseas. It only works with a few Android phones and you are charged by the GB for data (but it is the same in every country)
What actually matters is how a given network works in the areas you frequent, and if there are alternative signals like wifi in buildings that you use. For example, at my local uni, AT&T has in-building repeaters so we get signal in the basements of most university buildings. Others use wifi calling which accomplishes the same thing, if you have wifi access and your phone supports it.
The carriers tend to use the same towers, rented from 3rd party tower companies. That is why, on most towers in urban, suburban, and near highways, you will see 4 sets of antennas at different heights.
Sprint over-promises and under-delivers but is cheapest. I would avoid unless you are on a very limited budget. Most plans work in Canada/Mexico too.
Verizon has the largest coverage area by a small margin, but is overpriced for what you get. They have rather expensive overseas roaming as well. Voice quality tends to be the worse of the group. Page Plus is a good prepaid option using the Verizon network.
AT&T aims their antennas to cover a wider area and cranks up the power to their antennas. This results in better coverage but also lower speeds because of interference between towers. Most plans work in Canada/Mexico, and they have unlimited data hotspots and iPad plans. Cricket wireless is owned by AT&T, it is identical except for 8Mb/sec download cap and overseas roaming limits. AT&T owns a network in Mexico, and also works in Canada (sometimes requires a free add-on).
T-Mobile uses a different, more conservative approach, and aims and powers their antennas for much higher speeds near the towers, but lower speeds further away. It also results in coverage gaps, especially if you have a phone with poor RF strength. T-mobile is currently building out their rural band 71 network - you need a brand new phone with the latest Qualcomm chipset (no current iPhones support it) - and that will be equivalent to the Verizon and AT&T network in a year or two. T-mobile also limits you to 5GB/mo in Canada & Mexico (full speed), but gives you free slow (128Kb/sec) overseas roaming, and free international text everywhere. T-mobile tends to roll out upgrades faster and works better with advanced Apple features than other carriers. The 55+ plan is the best deal by far of any of the carriers (2 unlimited North America lines for $60/mo)
Only T-mobile, prepaid, & US Cellular will quote your the price you actually pay. The other carriers add 10-30% extra in taxes & fees (varies by state).
All will cripple your video streaming to SD on their cheaper unlimited plans. T-mobile requires an add-on for HD streaming, Verizon & AT&T need a more expensive version of their plan. (you can bypass via a VPN, but that may have problems with Netflix, etc). Same applies to hotspots - T-Mobile gives you a slow version for free, and charges for full speed. Others have different variants. International calling is an add on for most too.
I’d get an unlocked phone and ‘audition’ the carriers by taking around the phone with you and trying it out where you usually go. That is usually the best way to choose service. Sometimes it is as simple as what works best at your office or where you go for a run. Poor signal can drain your battery rapidly. People’s tolerance for connectivity varies a lot too.
I don’t blame AT&T for the hack. I don’t know how that happened, whether it was the Equifax or anthem breach or something else. All they could tell me was that someone purchased phones online with my account. I don’t blame them for the hack. I blame them for the horrible customer service after the hack. My online account is still messed up. We also have TV and internet through them and have been unhappy with that due to intermittent outages.
I checked the T-Mobile coverage map yesterday and it is pretty bad here. There are lots of gaps in coverage in the Midwest. I stopped by the wireless desk at Costco last night. Right now Verizon has some pretty good deals for buy one get one free phones.
We used to have T-Mobile, but it stopped working all together where we go in Vermont and didn’t work much better in southern New Hampshire where family also lives. (Interestingly it got much worse.) So we looked at the maps and switched to Verizon. We still only get phone coverage in Vermont if we drive down the road a ways, but honestly I kind of consider that a plus! Perhaps not good in an emergency, but it keeps everyone off the grid.
@mathmom You would like where I live. I have to keep a landline.
@TooOld4School – Very helpful post – but I think that TMobile 55+ plan is ONLY for 2 lines – so anyone wanting a family plan with more would need to choose a different option. So maybe good for an older couple… but not a particularly good deal for a single user, and it doesn’t allow for adding more lines-- so not good for anyone who wants more than 2 lines.
H has 2 lines (him and S), and I have 2 lines, me and D, so it’s a total of $120 for all 4 lines–no EXTRA fees or taxes added on. We are very happy with the TMobile 55+ plan, no throttling of data & S is a HUGE user of data, so he’s pleased. If you’re a single user 55+, get an account with a friend or relative.
@HImom, so both of the users need not be 55, only one? That might be something to look into. Sounds like one could pair a grandparent with a child if one wanted to. It sounds like T Mobile might be very good internationally in terms of free texting, something that might come in handy when doing study abroad.
Yes, only one of the users on the TMobile plan needs to be over 55 … the problem is simply that it is only cost effective for 2 users-- so it only works well in a family or shared situation with an even number of users-- and of course half of all users being old enough to anchor the paired plans with the other users.
@nomorelurker, yes, we specifically asked about this when we got the new 55+ plan because we had a plan that was SUPPOSED to be $100 for 4 lines but there was a limit of data and S wanted more so paid extra for more data PLUS they added on taxes and fees so the price was considerably above the $100 for 4 lines we had wanted. The $120 for 4 lines we now had (2 accounts with 2 lines each) is much more reasonable and won’t had ever increasing fees and taxes, plus they said no throttling data speed (which matters a lot to S & D).
Very helpful thread. We’ve had Verizon for quite a number of years and have been very happy. Family plan with 6 lines and we pay about $300 so about $50/line. It’s quite rare that we need to add a gig to our 14 (might be 16) gig data plan. It too costs $10/day for unlimited data, etc. when overseas. When we’ve had to call Verizon, I’ve never had to wait on hold very long and you can do lots of things online.
We’re in 5 different locations, one of which is somewhat rural. Once my youngest graduates in May and is settled somewhere, I’m going to check out T-Mobile. Sounds like they have some good deals.
Don’t mean to hack the thread but an electrician told us that he thinks one of the cables running from our house to the street is an old, unused ATT line. Told me to call ATT to confirm and get them to remove it. When I call the ATT 800#, there’s no way to get a person without putting in your account number. I don’t have an account number! If anyone knows what # I can call to reach someone to follow up on this, I’d love to hear.
We pay nothing for international texts and data with TMobile as well, so that’s an added benefit. We need to travel more to take advantage of that benefit. 
Correction: Google Fi uses Sprint, Tmobile, and US Cellular. Project Fi now has a cost cap and a family plan too. Xfinity wifi is another good option for low data volume personal users who have Comcast internet- no charge for the first 5 lines, $12/Gb on Verizon for data, free data on Xfinity hotspots, $50 unlimited Verizon data. They have the usual array of Comcast fees (ouch!). Bring your own iPhone.
@calmom I believe I read that the T-Mobile 55+ plan is available for single users for $50 flat including all taxes and fees. Still not a bad deal for unlimited data, no throttling, international text and data, etc.
Here are the FAQs for the Tmobile 55+ plan. Indeed it is $50 auto pay for just 1 line or $60 for 2 lines.
Yes it is available for single users - I didn’t mean to say that it wasn’t – it’s just that it is not necessarily such a good value in that context-- in terms of comparing with other plans. The unlimited data is nice… but only for people who use it. Otherwise you can find yourself paying a premium for something you don’t need or use.
We’ve always been with Verizon. Five lines with 10 gig data/month with one month unused data rollover. There’s a ‘safety mode’ where once you’ve hit your data allotment you get throttled down to a very slow speed but don’t get overage charges. Monthly total $200.
But Verizon is horribly expensive for any international usage. We move over to T-Mobile when H and I travel. Two lines, 6 gig high speed then throttled to slower speed, unlimited messaging in 140+ countries and very reasonable voice call rates. The two T-Mobile lines run about $90 when I activate them. T-Mobile has been great about suspending those lines for a $10/month fee. I haven’t found anyway to make Verizon pencil out for international usage. At $10/day per line (with limited data) we’d hit the T-Moble cost in 5 days.
As I mentioned earlier, we had AT&T for many years. In December we switched to T-Mobile’s One plan (4 lines for $160 including all taxes and fees plus free Netflix). One nice benefit is that you can sign up for “kickbacks.” Any line that uses less than 2 GB of data for the month will receive a $10 credit the following month. We parents rarely use that much data so we both got a “kickback” and $20 off of this month’s bill. Kickbacks are not available for the over 55 plan.