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Talk to me about cell phone carriers

I stream Pandora when driving, riding, and sometimes in labs. Currently I'm at 1.8gb of data for this month, ~1500 texts, 94 min of talk used (of 3068 available daytime + 4761 night/weekend, all from rollover, from the 450/month plan....). This month I feel has been relatively light on the data, and very light on the text usage. I've been in the low 5 digits for texting during a month, and with that usually comes MMS - which, if I recall correctly, does count as data usage. IIRC my highest for one month was around 17,000. I've been pretty much ignoring everyone the last month or so though due to school starting up again and sports taking up a large portion of my spare time.
 
NorCalAthlete said:
I stream Pandora when driving, riding, and sometimes in labs. Currently I'm at 1.8gb of data for this month, ~1500 texts, 94 min of talk used (of 3068 available daytime + 4761 night/weekend, all from rollover, from the 450/month plan....). This month I feel has been relatively light on the data, and very light on the text usage. I've been in the low 5 digits for texting during a month, and with that usually comes MMS - which, if I recall correctly, does count as data usage. IIRC my highest for one month was around 17,000.
Click to expand...

Holy 17000 text messages in one month :wow

That's like a full time occupation.
 
I'm 100% positive there are people on this board who would laugh at that and have racked up at least double that many. At any rate, that's partly why I need unlimited text...data I'm not as sure about, but I like having a higher ceiling than I need rather than worrying about going over it. Minutes I'm not really too concerned with.
 
I moved from T-mobile, to ATT, now with Straight Talk $45/month unlimited everything,except they don't allow video streaming.
This is the best I can find for my iPhone with unlimited everything.
 
Stick with AT&T. Your usage sounds a lot like mine, and mine data usage more than doubled when I switched to my iPhone 5 with 4G data coverage. All of a sudden, data on my phone was almost as fast (if not faster) than my wifi at home. I found myself streaming more youtube vids than before just because I could.

Here's my history:

1. Started with Verizon
2. Switched to AT&T because my brother works there, and was pissed at the coverage.
3. My company switched me to SPRINT, and every day, I wished that I was back with AT&T. There were a number of times when it took 3 days for texts to arrive. It's bad when Fed Ex is faster than a phone carrier's text service.

I'm now back with Verizon. Other than the cost, I'm very happy with their service and coverage.


edit: Anyone I ever met who was happy with their SPRINT service never had service with anyone else, so that crap was all they knew. Since you have experience with AT&T, definitely do not downgrade and switch to SPRINT.
 
FACT:

THERE IS NO TRUE "4G" is the USA. Only 3GPP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

LTE is NOT 4G. Period.


That said, AT&T over sold, and under developed. As AT&T customers are getting pissed and bailing out towards other providers, it's getting better.

T-Mobile, is a late bloomer in CA. They started out weak, and are now all at once upgrading to 3G and 3GPP networks. Matter of factly, the areas I have no service (which I am currently a T-Mobile user, and have been for 8 years). Are growing smaller and smaller.

The only fucking frustrating thing..... The newer "4G" phones (which remember are 3GPP) fucking SUCK for radio network switchover. aka, TONS of dropped calls / No Service.

In all honesty, I think my T-Mobile service is no better or worse then what my Cingular / AT&T service was 8 years ago. The difference, PLAN BUNDLES. I have 2 phones, sharing 1000 minutes, unlimited txt, unlimited mobile (in tmo net), and 2gb of data. For $72.xx a month for BOTH, not per line! Can't be beat!!!
 
I had a client with multiple 20+ Sprint phones. Their customer service sucked ass when I had to a add/delete on an account or activate a phone. Verizon send some texts via carrier pigeon. ATT is too expensive. So I use Straight Talk aka Simple Mobile aka TracFone with an ATT SIM (runs on ATT network with lower priority).
 
Dopesick said:
FACT:

THERE IS NO TRUE "4G" is the USA. Only 3GPP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution

LTE is NOT 4G. Period.


That said, AT&T over sold, and under developed. As AT&T customers are getting pissed and bailing out towards other providers, it's getting better.

T-Mobile, is a late bloomer in CA. They started out weak, and are now all at once upgrading to 3G and 3GPP networks. Matter of factly, the areas I have no service (which I am currently a T-Mobile user, and have been for 8 years). Are growing smaller and smaller.

The only fucking frustrating thing..... The newer "4G" phones (which remember are 3GPP) fucking SUCK for radio network switchover. aka, TONS of dropped calls / No Service.

In all honesty, I think my T-Mobile service is no better or worse then what my Cingular / AT&T service was 8 years ago. The difference, PLAN BUNDLES. I have 2 phones, sharing 1000 minutes, unlimited txt, unlimited mobile (in tmo net), and 2gb of data. For $72.xx a month for BOTH, not per line! Can't be beat!!!
Click to expand...
LTE, 3G, 4G are all marketing terms. They sure do get tossed around a lot like they actually mean something though.
 
I am rocking a $40/month Simple Mobile plan, which uses T-Mobile towers. Unlimited Talk/Text and 1gb of data. Works for me.

Work phone is a Verizon, don't know how much it costs. :dunno
 
/dev/null said:
LTE, 3G, 4G are all marketing terms. They sure do get tossed around a lot like they actually mean something though.
Click to expand...

Nah 3G, is legit in terms of "3rd generation" of wireless telephony. 4G, yeah we don't have that shit here in the US. Clsoest we have is what the ITU is claiming 3.8/3.9G which the ITU has said "yeah ok, call it 4G". Fuckers.
 
BTW, almost everyone gives unlimited talk on every plan these days because the majority of people have switched over to texting for their primary communication.
 
Dopesick said:
Nah 3G, is legit in terms of "3rd generation" of wireless telephony. 4G, yeah we don't have that shit here in the US. Clsoest we have is what the ITU is claiming 3.8/3.9G which the ITU has said "yeah ok, call it 4G". Fuckers.
Click to expand...
3G as an example simply means that a device that's being marketed as 3G
is compliant with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) standards. 3G flows off the tongue better than IMT-2000.
 
jh2586 said:
You don't need unlimited data for this. Unless you are streaming full HD movies or are watching videos on youtube for hours on end, it's pretty hard to exhaust 2gb.

I'm always on web/email/text/FB/Instagram/BARF on my phone and I barely use up 1gb out of the whole month.

I have Verizon but wish I had ATT.. maybe I'll switch once my contract is up next year. Unless you plan on using your phone on the top of a mountain or in the middle of nowhere, ATT gets just as much coverage as Verizon.. but faster. Tmobile is alright for the price although I'm not sure about their coverage and speeds. Sprint SUCKS... very slow internet. It will just piss you off.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I watch the fuck out of my Netflix app, so that kills my data use. I'm often over 6GB with my access.
 
stick with ATT. The LTE in the bay area is superior. In most cases, it's much much faster than my home broadband. I am getting 46mbit/sec downloads!
 
At the fastest i've logged with LTE in Suisun City (Suisun of all places has LTE) was just shy of 38mbps.

I dont know the specific numbers that you are looking for....but i think it comes down to this: You have one of the two major carriers. ATT and then there is Verizon.

For work I have a iPhone 4s on the sprint network and its crap...but i've never liked Sprint. Sprint has a monopoly on all of the Air Force bases...lucky for me i had a cell phone back when i joined so I didnt get sucked into the first thing i saw.

I think what you need to do is really see how much data you use, if its way under the 2gb....then, sure, look into the other providers.

Go to your ATT page and pull a data report to see your monthly and average usage.

My ATT --> Billing & Usage --> Reports --> Web Usage --> Selet the starting and ending billing cycles --> Then generate the report.

My average usage is 6GB with a peak at 7.93 in July. My current billing cycle i've only used 520mb with 17 days left (but i've taken the month off).

When i'm working I stream a podcast during my commute (an hour each way just about) and i stream Pandora regularly. For me....I dont care if i never use my cell "phone" again...ATT has me until the screw up and go away with the Unlimited Data.

You really should stick with ATT just for the fact that you have the data perk....your overall service outside of the data aspect couldnt be THAT bad. Even if you price out a comparable service outside of ATT...you would be hard pressed to find a good enough deal that would justify going elsewhere.
 
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