Airway

I'm posting this in regional because we fly to a lot more variety of small towns. T Mobile has some great features and rates but I'm wondering how the coverage is, especially for LTE, on your layovers overall. My Verizon plan is soon to expire and I'm looking at options.

coorsFlight

I did their test drive and found the speed to be great, but lost coverage in some small towns. That, combined with the fact that I would lose signal inside large buildings like a grocery store meant they weren't a viable option for me. Didn't want to miss a call from scheduling because of that, as I'm on reserve. Ultimately stuck with Sprint.

AdiosMikeFox

What he said. Great features, good pricing, but there are holes in the coverage when in rural areas. I went with them anyway, there's only a couple gaps where I normally am. What sold me was the free tethering and international data/text. We do a lot of Canada stuff, so it's worth it for me.

rickair7777

Ditto. No go in small towns off the beaten path. I got rid of them after I moved and couldn't get signal in my house...downtown in a major metro area.

Tried ATT, still had coverage issues and poor (ie essentially none) data performance at large airports, switched to verizon, all good so far.

TalkTurkey

one fish, two fish... black fish, blue fish.

Airway

Really ATT too? They've got free international texting and rollover data which was a draw for me. Maybe I'll stick with Verizon.

Thanks for the input.

AdiosMikeFox

I left ATT for T-Mo. Bad speeds, expensive. Limiting plans for family, ridiculous prices for international, adding devices and tethering.

It's like Comcast. Service everywhere, but they charge you for every little feature you want.

Bob Loblaw

I switched from ATT to T-Mobile. I live in Dallas and have no problems. The only places I find lacking service is middle of the country **** holes (think GCK). You do get domestic roaming, but it is limited (depends on what data plan, but 50-100mb). Once the domestic roaming data is gone, it can only be reset with the next billing cycle. You do still get unlimited voice and text when roaming domestically. As long as you turn roaming data off and use hotel WiFi it won't eat all your data.

What really sold me (besides being cheaper) is the international aspects of their plan. I spend a lot of time outside the country and don't want to be disconnected or charged a fortune for using my phone. You get unlimited data (at 3g speeds) in about 130 different countries (including Canada and Mexico) as well as unlimited texting. Cellular voice calls are only $0.20/min or you can make unlimited free calls with WiFi calling. WiFi calling is clear and uses your phone and phone number exactly like a normal cell call, only over WiFi instead of cell towers, so you must be on WiFi to use it.

Overall I've been pretty happy with the switch. I haven't noticed an increase in dropped calls over ATT. Data speed is plenty fast. I think they are still expanding their network and filling in some holes so coverage should get better, but I rarely run into a problem as is.

Oh yeah, and the tethering is really nice if you have an ipad or other device.

Celeste

I had the same issue with service in my apartment in the downtown of a major metro area with tmobile, some rooms I couldn't even talk or text... ever. lots of dropped calls too.

Tmo had Bad coverage in smaller towns too. Often times no 4g data, sometimes no data at all, and issues with talk and text reception (usually at most class c and d airports I had at least talk and text, and usually 3g data, but a lot of the nontowered airports I'd take the beechjet into had little to no service). I've switched to ATT, and haven't personally noticed any coverage issues... possibly because tmo coverage was so bad that ATT seems good.

Also beware of tmobiles 'no contract' plans. About 10 months ago my bill went from $105 for two lines to $130. They claimed they changed their price structure and no longer gave corporate discounts. I was told I could switch to a lower priced plans but would lose my hot spot. About 2-3 months later a $15 charge appeared on my bill for use of a hotspot (bringing my bill to $145/month for 1000 minutes, unlimited text, and 2gb high speed data on only ONE line). I went into a tmo store to get rid of this new charge, and supposedly they did away with mobile hotspots... if I switched to a 'new' plan with unlimited minutes I would save a little money but lose the hotspot capability completely. So I immediately went over to ATT and now have unlimited talk/text 15gb shared data with hotspots for two lines for $115/month after taxes fees and a corporate discount. The real kicker: tmo will bill you for the remainder of your current month PLUS an additional two months... I refused to pay additional 2 months of charges, and they took me to collections where I was forced to pay to save my credit score. Leaving tmo cost almost $500 altogether and I was NOT on a contract, and my phones were unlocked phones bought on amazon at retail price, not through tmo... I might as well have had to pay an early termination fee and had subsidized phones to keep.

Apparently there's a way to get a hotspot (or at least tethering) because a few people on here say they have it... I don't know if It was something not offered on plans in my area or if it was just $hitty customer service, either way I was told that the hotspot was only available on 'legacy' plans with a $15 fee.

puggle

I would highly recommend them. They are upgrading entire network to LTE by mid year, so any no data issues should be solved. Nothing beats being able to watch Netflix on a layover, without worrying about data!