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BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Hahaha

They have to do something to try and prod their low-quality customers into paying their bills on time! AT&T and especially Verizon's customers are higher quality than T-Mobile's by a pretty significant margin.

Verizon's LTE network is a premium experience over T-Mo- they have way more coverage. Their competitor is AT&T, not Sprint or T-Mo.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Here in Springfield, MA I've seen a lot of shops popping up that sell tier 2 prepaid phones. What I mean by tier 2 is the stuff that caters to the same population that shops at rent to own stores.

Tier 1 is the prepaid sold by the carriers.

Makes me glad I pay my bills on time and I have a Verizon iPhone in my pocket.

hamburglar
join:2002-04-29
united state

hamburglar

Member

Throwing money away...

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

If I were to buy prepaid it would be prepaid offered by the carriers, not some tier 2 provider like Net 10 or Straight Talk. It would be Verizon Branded or AT&T GoPhone.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

said by IowaCowboy:

If I were to buy prepaid it would be prepaid offered by the carriers, not some tier 2 provider like Net 10 or Straight Talk. It would be Verizon Branded or AT&T GoPhone.

Why?
I use Republic Wireless (aka Bandwidth) mvno off of Sprint and it is just fine for me. Carlos Slim may send someone after you if he hears you are putting down those other tier 2 (Tracfone, Straight Talk , Net 10, etc. ) .

cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL

cb14 to BiggA

Member

to BiggA
I enjoy to be a low quality customer in a metro area where TMO has at least as good coverage as Verizon. And if I need once in a blue moon to travel into ma remote area where TMO has no/spotty coverage- then i use my Verizon pay as you go prepaid and can feel for a day as a part of the sophisticated crowd.

Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia to BiggA

Premium Member

to BiggA
Hahaha that depends what you mean by "premium". Verizon, you pay through the nose for coverage in places you may or may not need. But for most places I frequent, T-Mobile is the premium experience for less. I get unlimited data, no signs of congestion at peak times, good customer service, excellent voice quality, and data speeds that give Verizon a tongue lashing. Not to mention free tethering when I need it.

hamburglar
join:2002-04-29
united state

hamburglar to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
said by IowaCowboy:

If I were to buy prepaid it would be prepaid offered by the carriers, not some tier 2 provider like Net 10 or Straight Talk. It would be Verizon Branded or AT&T GoPhone.

I've never looked at prepaid as a negative, or less "premium" service. Sure, if you need customer service with a "tier 2" prepaid provider, it may be a struggle. I see it as a trade-off for the huge cost savings I reap. I was with Verizon for a year because Sprint sucked and I thought I had to go with them to get usable service. After shopping around, Cricket (AIO at the time) was by far the cheapest unlimited(read no data overages) service running on a major provider (ATT).

5 lines, each with their own data allotment and throttled after, for $100 is a hard bargain to pass up. The switch credits paid my ETF for the two lines I had at Verizon and I used the phones we already had. I live near a metro area, but coverage was still a concern at first and so far no issue.

Sure, Cricket had some slow data issues for a couple weeks back in Oct/Nov, but everyone I know that has switched has been ecstatic with the service/value balance. The latest GoPhone plans are great for individuals, but if you can round up 5 lines, Cricket is a great "Tier 2" option IMO.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to Selenia

Premium Member

to Selenia
You don't know where you will need coverage. Anyone who travels WILL go out of the range of AT&T or Verizon or both at one point or another, but it's not likely to happen often. It will happen often with T-Mo or Sprint.
BiggA

BiggA to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
ST and Net10 are pretty good these days. The main drawback is no international roaming, and prices that aren't competitive with 2 lines or more. They are really only for individual plans.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned) to BiggA

Member

to BiggA
I do lose data on Sprint but still have voice and text most of the places others have Verizon.
Then again used to no cell as camp and take back roads where there is no cell reception period.

Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia to BiggA

Premium Member

to BiggA
I will say that if you travel interstates, T-Mobile has those pretty well covered. A trip between Arkansas and Massachusetts had me less than an hour(not oven that much) of no service. But this was largely interstate travel. Rural routes can be a different beast, but they do have rural coverage popping up where you'd least expect it, especially from a carrier with the rep of urban carrier.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

And T-Mobile doesn't have native coverage in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA. There it's Iowa Wireless.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

said by IowaCowboy:

And T-Mobile doesn't have native coverage in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA. There it's Iowa Wireless.

T-Mobile doesn't have native coverage in a lot of places. I do a lot of traveling for work and for $70 unlimited in the cities and with them finally lighting up some of the T roaming in a bunch of rural areas, I find that the cost/value ratio favors T-Mo over Verizon if it works for you.

KennyWest
@sbcglobal.net

KennyWest to IowaCowboy

Anon

to IowaCowboy
Carlos Sim and his company's generally use the same back-end equipment that AT&T and Verizon Wireless own and maintain. How do you think they're able to do so much so quickly? Plus it's cheaper to have access to their equipment and network than to try and recreate everything. Also Carlos has the largest MVNO network in the world. if it wasn't for him and his money cell phones would not be practical for most people that choose to pay for their services.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT

BiggA to Selenia

Premium Member

to Selenia
And how much of that was useless EDGE? Verizon and AT&T have almost completely LTE coverage now. AT&T has a few areas of 3G, although they are so far out there that 3G can handle things just fine with a few T1's as backhaul.
BiggA

BiggA to nonymous

Premium Member

to nonymous
Sprint will roam with 1xRTT on Verizon, but it's slow as molassses.

Selenia
Gentoo Convert
Premium Member
join:2006-09-22
Fort Smith, AR

Selenia to BiggA

Premium Member

to BiggA
EDGE is usually in the sticks. T-Mo's was good enough to keep my music going. Small cities and surrounding areas usually have at least HSPA+, some(like Pittsfield, MA where I have family) surprisingly have LTE. Most larger cities have LTE. Most places I frequent have HSPA+, LTE, or WiFi. Having EDGE on the road does not bother me. I pay attention to the road, so all I do on the internet is either GPS or streaming music to my car. In those cases, EDGE works fine. I have high speed data where I need it, so why pay for a less consumer friendly plan?

supernac3
join:2003-03-26
Springfield, MO

supernac3 to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
Ting was just rated #1 provider by consumer reports, sprint is in last place. Guess I'll stick with "tier 2".
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA to Selenia

Premium Member

to Selenia
Not really. Much of Connecticut is EDGE on T-Mobile. That is just pathetic. Meanwhile, AT&T has LTE and HSPA+ blanketed across the entire state. EDGE should work, in theory, the problem is, in practice it actually doesn't work very well, and often doesn't work at all. 3G or 4G is a must at this point. MA is also nearly 100% LTE on AT&T, and home of their first LTE build-out in metro Boston.