Verizon or AT&T in the West

[Superslif]

Is one better than the other in rural areas?

Verizon much better.

We do a lot of RVing to more rural state parks in OH. PA. VT. KY. and AK.. Before I venture into a new area to camp, I look up the coverage map to see what I can expect, and where coverage will be best once I'm there. Usually the coverage map is spot on.

One thing I can fault Verizon on is their "Coverage Maps" on their website "SUCKS.....and they have been using the same web page for 10 years...very antiquated, very un-user friendly...

[ghaynes754]

Verizon. Get the app Coverage? From the folks at Technomadia. IOS and I think also available on Android. Very easy to compare coverage between carriers. Easy to see why Verizon seems to be better out West once you are outside metro areas.

[TonyDi]

Verizon may have a slight edge in coverage. But not worth changing to. It's very rare not to have signal unless you're in a desolate area.

[Hike2mts]

I have Verizon, tried phone calls for help but better luck with live chat. Works pretty good out west some issues up North but we also hve ATT.

[Chuck1957]

Thanks all
Looking like the wife’s going to get an AT&T while I get to stay with Verizon
Just wish they would be more accommodating when issues arise
Sometimes the top dog gets attitude

[Waiter21]

Coverage can get spotty with either carrier in the western rural areas.

We are currently in White Tank Regional park (west of phoenix). Verizon service is up and down throughout the park. In our current parking spot, coverage is ok, but drops out on busy weekends... We now where the coverage areas are, so if we need to make an important call, we walk over to the correct spot. (The trash dumpster area is golden. :-)

I have an ATT Mobley for wifi. Speed has been acceptable. I noticed over the weekend when the park was full, I'd get a few "loading" while watching a video.

[BigSkyBob]

Originally Posted by Cooperhawk

We tried several carriers and eventually settled on Verizon. Maybe not the cheapest, but they definitely have better coverage.

This has been my experience as well. My only dead spot was in Lake Havesu but that was several years ago. It might have improved since then.

[BarryG20]

We are Verizon users as well and feel it is the best for us. However out in the west you will find plenty of dead zones where none work regardless of carrier at least once off the main highways and even on the main highways it can be very spotty do to topography in areas.

[YC1]

I was a Sprint dealer for many years. I carried a Verizon phone for better coverage when traveling.

If you need phone coverage just buy a cheap phone with a data card. At&T in certain areas but overall Verizon is the best.

Forty years in the two way business. Had phones in my vehicles before cellular was invented. We were a Verizon dealer before the Nextel/Sprint folks came along and stole our spectrum via an FCC auction. Different and long story. We had to become a Nextel dealer to feed our families.

[Honwing]

AT&T is worthless in Forest City Iowa and pretty much Iowa as a whole. Currently at Renegades on the River RV Park in Crescent City , Florida where again AT&T does not have service. My DW and I both had AT&T until last month when I changed to Verizon. Working here at the park with two bars. Have travelled between Seattle and the Florida Panhandle three times in the last 24 months and have found AT&T lacking in coverage outside of many cities.

[Honwing]

Mean’t to include spotty coverage for AT&T coverage in both eastern Washington and Oregon.

[Smitty77]

> 10-15 years ago, the gap of coverage areas between ATT & Verizon was much greater.

> When we started traveling in the RV, mostly in the Western states, we both had to remain available to support our work places. We started with Verizon for me (Still Grandfathered Unlimited Data Plan, and pay the extra to use the phone as a Hotspot.), DW has ATT (Until last year, we maintained her Grandfathered Unlimited Data plan too. For years we could use PDANET to share the data on our laptops. That door was shut.)

>Today, after a recent ~six month trip thru many Western states, we find that the number of times that we only one carrier had coverage, continues to drop. Still enough, that for those that have reasons where having connectivity and coverage is important, I still feel the combo of Verizon and ATT plans to provide the highest probability of coverage. (And note. While many times both carriers had coverage, only one would have enough to provide useable 'Download Streaming' speeds capability. 10 or so years ago, that was not a factor, today it is.

Our current arsenal include:
>ATT
-DW's iPhone 7 with Hotspot activated, 20GB shared with her Mov via Family Plan
-Stand alone Unite Explore 22GB
-Mobley 1 Car Connect
-Mobley 2 Car Connect
(We'll use the Unite Explore as the key Data provider until it gets to the range where it is subject to de-prioritzation, we'll bump to the Mobley 1, then to the Mobley 2 if needed.)

>Verizon
-Samsung S6 (Dang thing keeps on ticking.), via Hotspot and or Tethered

>Millenicom (Activated for a month or two when needed. Works very well in Canada, where is where we primarily use it.)
-ZTE Z-917 Hotspot 20GB

These are amplified via Maximum Signal Cellular Amp, when needed. Or, WeBoost Sleek sometimes. The coach also has a rooftop Mobile Mark MIMO antenna, which feeds the two antenna ports on the Unite Explore. (This combo is hour Download Speed Champ, when in area of medium or strong signals. The Maximum Signal, has made a difference in providing useable download speeds (Maybe not for streaming, but enough for surfing and emails and stock trading, etc.), when on the edge of fringe coverage.)

We usually feed whatever the Data Source (Park WiFi, or any of the above.) into our WiFiRanger GOac, which is used to broadcast a signal in and around the coach, or hardwire CAT6 connect to a device (Our Roku is one example of a CAT6 connection to the GOac router, which eliminates one more 'wifi' handshake.)

For sure, different needs and or perspectives and approaches, when it comes to Cellular coverage! No right or wrong answer, just options, and different price points to obtain coverage...

Best to all,
Smitty

[Isaac-1]

I keep reading the Verizon is better than AT&T in the western states, however I had good experience with AT&T on my 4200+ mile loop from Louisiana to Wyoming (Yellowstone) and back last summer. I have Sirius satellite radio in my car, but not in my motorhome, so I used their app on my AT&T phone to stream music onto my bluetooth dash stereo on the drive, much of it on secondary highways across north Texas, then across the Oklahoma panhandle, up eastern Colorado to Sidney Nebraska, over into Laramie Wyoming, then a loop up to Yellowstone, back to Laramie, back across most of southern Nebraska, down through central Kansas, across to Joplin, Missouri, and down the west side of Arkansas back into Louisiana. Along this entire trip I rarely had a signal drop out with AT&T (excluding in National Parks) and when I did have one it would only be for maybe 10-15 miles.