Ditched VZW over the latest front in their war against unlimited data plan users. Was going to go UDP on T-Mo, but I'm actually trying out their 6GB plan; with Music Freedom, Binge On, and Data Stash I think it will work nicely for me. $65 vs. $110 on VZW. With 15% Government employee discount I'm looking at about $62 out the door with taxes and fees. Can't remember the last time I paid that for a cell phone, even pre-smartphone in 2008 Verizon soaked me for more than that. I think I'd have go back to my 2006 flirtation with T-Mo to find bills that low.
So far I'm impressed. Speeds are significantly better than VZW. 20-30MBit/s peak hours vs. 10-15MBit/s in most of the areas I frequent. Mind you, VZW is certainly fast enough, but still the extra speed is nice. T-Mo seems to have a denser network here than VZW -- perhaps a legacy of their PCS heritage -- and that's obviously paying dividends for them.
Haven't found any dead zones yet. Did find one weak zone where I missed a few words in a call but it did not drop. There's another area where signals are weak enough that going indoors will kill LTE in favor of HSDA+, but the service remains functional.
They have a Band 12 license here but it's not live yet; allegedly that happens in October. I suspect that will negate any lingering coverage issues and I'm looking forward to playing with it when it's lighted up.
Exciting times for T-Mo, here and elsewhere.
