Cell phone providers

[Dreed917]

For the longest time my understanding was that Verizon was the best for traveling. Now my wife is getting a new phone and is encouraging me to look into T Mobile. So my question is T Mobile better then Verizon for some place like Quartzsite? 

Dave 04 P/W Excel

[fpmtngal]

T-Mobile works fine in Quartzsite.  There are times when T-Mobile is the better choice if Verizon is overloaded (I’ve had that happen once in a while) and it allowed use in Canada when some people I was traveling with had to pay extra for Verizon.

As long as you are on the main roads, T-Mobile works well and they are constantly expanding service.  There could be (but not always ) issues when you get in the boonies.  T-Mobile is often cheaper than Verizon.

I have often been in places where Verizon was strong and T-Mobile was non-existent, too.  When I stayed in Rainbows End in Livingston, I had little T-Mobile at my site, but if I were standing on the road I had service.  So it all depends.  I ended up solving the issue by having a phone with T-Mobile and a cellular tablet with Verizon.  An expensive solution but it works for me.

[sandsys]

26 minutes ago, fpmtngal said:

I ended up solving the issue by having a phone with T-Mobile and a cellular tablet with Verizon.  An expensive solution but it works for me.

When we started full timing back in 2008 I had a T-Mobil phone, Dave had Sprint and our modem was Verizon. Something always worked.

Linda

[Kirk W]

6 hours ago, Dreed917 said:

For the longest time my understanding was that Verizon was the best for traveling.

That is a question much like which truck is best, Ford, Chevy, or Ram? Some of us have had excellent service from AT&T, and now there are advocates of Visible, Mint and of Cricket. There are a lot of factors to be considered when you choose a plan since no two of them are the same in every area of the country. If you look at the reviews you will find different opinions as well. Digital Trends has one opinion and Consumer Reports another. We have been very seriously looking at changing our cellular carrier for a while now and in that research I did a Google search for reviews and that really wasn't much help, but does provide a lot of reading. 

[TXiceman]

Depending on where you are located and the towers in your area, the coverage will vary.  We have been in a number of places that we had Verizon service and T-Mobile and Sprint users had no service.  With T-Mobile and Sprint adding towers and merging, their coverage should be getting better.  But over all, it appears that Verizon and AT&T generally have the best coverage.

Ken

[Pappy Yokum]

Visible is a subsidiary of Verizon.

Recently had a "glitch" with my Visible (cheap!) phone.  When I couldn't solve it, went to a Verizon store.  One of the salespersons eventually solved it (after about  of 1/2 hour of frustration on his part).

FYI - worth learning about SIM swapping!  I was receiving text messages TO someone else.  Did a reverse phone search on *MY* number......surprise - didn't come back to me!  And - NO social media, etc. by me with that phone -or- the number.  Never out of my possession.

Don't know for sure how he did that - but Visible did the same and was equally shocked.  Issued (me) a new number.

.

[Bill Joyce]

For a while I had to be available by phone due to family issues.  I had a Verizon phone, but there were places it did not work.  I ended up carrying a T-Mobile phone as backup and that solved my problem in most places even though there were places T-Mobile did not have service or the service was flaky.  One place Verizon did not work reliably was the Escapees Co-op in Chimacum WA, a couple more are the Thousand Trails in La Conner WA and South Beach OR.   Since then we have both an AT&T and Sprint mobile hotspot and our Verizon phones will do WiFi calling, so we just put the phones on WiFi using the mobile hotspot that works were we are camped.  We have done this multiple times. 

[folivier]

We had the same need to be available as you Bill.  We chose to buy a SpotX text messenger.  The service plans are reasonable and it allowed us to stay in touch while on our Alaska trip.  

[Bill Joyce]

21 hours ago, folivier said:

We had the same need to be available as you Bill.  We chose to buy a SpotX text messenger.  The service plans are reasonable and it allowed us to stay in touch while on our Alaska trip.  

Texting would not have worked in our situation due to the main communication was a land line phone.  But that is a great solution for many and would work for my wife's family if it came to that.