Phone Service

[waroland]

We switched to Sprint in Dec. 2019. Marginal service at home in TN. Came to South Georgia in Dec. 2020 to volunteer and no service at all. Switched back to Verizion and have great service. Will never switch again!

[DRM901]

We had AT&T with good service, but expensive and throttling of data. Verizon was good service, but even more expensive than AT&T and extra to have them turn on the hotspot.

We switched to T-mobile about 18 months now, and love it. $55/month. Great coverage wherever we've been (TX to MI, TX to CO, USVI, HI) and no throttling of data. Love the free Netflix. Occasionally, we have hit a dead spot, but we've run into that with AT&T & Verizon - in the same spots - so I don't hold that against them.

T-mobile is combining the Sprint network, so that will help as well.

The whole covid, "work" from home, situation is taxing all networks. I've heard the same issues on all networks right now.

[hclarkx]

We have both, and boondock largely in remote areas of the eleven western states. For us Verizon works far more often than AT&T. AT&T is via OnStar in the truck with roof-top antenna and Verizon phone is with a cellular amp and directional antenna 8 feet above the roof. That adds to the Verizon advantage, but the Verizon advantage was significant before we got the cellular amp.

BTW, if you look at the coverage maps, they look good until you zoom in. When you do the solid red gets very sparse. And most maps don't identify location very well.

[RoadEyePie]

Originally Posted by Ed Soares

Switched to T Mobile last Sept. We had Verizon for years, two IPhones.
We’re currently traveling from NY to Az. In NM now and have had great service all the way.
Two phones, unlimited data, $55.00 a month. Less than half compared to Verizon.

Ed

Ed, I'm just curious. How does one join IRV2 in 2017 and make their first post in 2021. I've seen others who appear the same. Is this accurate or am I not understanding something?

[Persistent]

We have been camping since 1965. Pay phones in campgrounds was the only service. Then major carriers sold them and price went up to $60 for one three minute call.

Flip phones were next. Coverage only in populated areas.

Verizon took the lead in remote areas inside the US. Verizon had no coverage in Canada. We had to switch to Roberts? and switch back when we returned.
ATT had international for extra charge.

Now Verizon, ATT, TMobile and Consumer Cellular are neck and neck for remote coverage. We have multiple cellular devices. We compare them at each campground we visit.

Occasionally one has less coverage, but the places we visit tend to all be covered. That boils down to the lowest cost. Plans change constantly. Promotional plans can be cheap in the short run and expensive in the long run.

Consumer Cellular is the cheapest in the long run. Two phones cost $37 per month including talk, text, and 3 Gig data. When I travel I use a lot more data. There is no penalty for going over. Service does not get throttled. CC just raises the price for the next month to a higher data plan. Mine usually goes up to $55 for two phones when I travel. I reset it to 3Gig when I return.

There is an "Unlimited" plan for $25 more. Like most unlimited plans, it is actually 40 Gig with possible throttling above that. Actually all the plans are unlimited since the plans just raise to meet the need.

Consumer Cellular offers either the ATT network or the TMobile network. We found no difference between CC with ATT and ATT. Theoretically there are places where ATT has a special contract with a local tower the CC with ATT will not connect to.

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!

[propchef]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

Ed, I'm just curious. How does one join IRV2 in 2017 and make their first post in 2021. I've seen others who appear the same. Is this accurate or am I not understanding something?

Over the years I've joined a number of forums while trying to research one thing to another. Too many forums give limited access unless you sign up. There have been a few times when I didn't find what I wanted, but went back years later only to discover/remember that I already signed up. I did this when I was researching older 911s and ended up buying another brand. Almost ten years later I did buy that 911 and went back to the forum, making my first post many years after joining. I'm a longtime member of two cycling forums where I've never posted.

[Persistent]

Originally Posted by doc

... For some reason I cannot get my phone (or computer??) to become a hot spot like it did when I first got it.
Of course back in those days we had a Wilson to grab the signal.

I have an Iphone. I use it as a hotspot for two or more computers. It is tricky to get the computer to connect because the iPhone stops looking for things trying to connect. I tried several different ways to trick it to connect.

Using the phone, run "Settings".
Navigate to the setup to turn the hotspot "on" or "off". Often it will then connect.
If not, turn it "off" for a moment and back "on".
Open "networking" in Windows 10. (Icon on tool bar for connecting.) Windows will search again for available WiFI and then connect.
Different Windows optional choices behave slightly different. "Connect Automatically" requires less attention.

It is annoying to have to perform tricks like this, but it saves battery power to turn WiFi radios off.

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!

[txcpl]

We were with ATT for many years. We found T-Mobile for $90/month all fees and taxes included along with lots of gb data(I don't know how many). We switched. Found service good in cities and not so good outside city limits or major highways. We purchased a ATT SIM card for our extra phone and use it when we lose service with T-mobile. Still pay less per year than with ATT. Works well for us.

[Ed Soares]

Originally Posted by RoadEyePie

Ed, I'm just curious. How does one join IRV2 in 2017 and make their first post in 2021. I've seen others who appear the same. Is this accurate or am I not understanding something?

It’s accurate. I guess I’m just a lurker at heart.

[HighDesert]

Basically, provider rankings are Verizon, AT&T, and then T-Mobile / Sprint. Without a doubt, Verizon provides the best coverage, nations wide, especially in the west where the others are weak, as they focus primarily on the metropolitan areas. My experience, over the years in both travel and recreational events is that. Verizon has been, hands down, the better carrier. But, it is also the more expensive option. AT&Tis really narrowing the gap on coverage, but I still defer to Verizon. I also look at it from the viewpoint of, if something was to happen in a remote area, would the $20 a month I saved be worth not being able to get help in an emergency? I have been using cell phones since the mid 90’s and Verizon (GTE at that time) has always had superior service.

[beenthere]

we have verizon with my daughter n GR... our share is $93 after i got $20 off for showing myDD214 . i have the highest plan my wife one step down. so mine is 30g hotspot. i use about 150 to 200+ gig on data. we dont have cable or dish ect. but i cast movies n tv from my phone to my tv ..cheap tv's you cant cast to but can usually use wifi. the better ones you can cast or mirror phone screen . i can also use hot spot wifi to do it but that uses the s30 gig. verizon may say 75 gig premium but i go over evey month and no speed issue...we own our phones so no chatges

[ArtJoyce]

Originally Posted by TampaDave

We have two accounts, one with AT&T and one with Verizon. Sometimes one works better than the other but I feel verizon still has a slight edge. I hear tmob has been building out but still leery of coverage in an RV and while I could kind of see it as a backup, I dunno about primary. That said, I don't like depending on Verizon alone because data is so terribly limited. Visible sounds interesting.

When we travel in the middle of nowhere. The small towns of a few hundred people that had cell phone service. The service was either ATT or Verizon. I always figured it was who was first to put up a tower owned the business, and it was not worth it to the other to put up a tower.

[twogypsies]

If you and your wife have phones and travel I would get two different plans..... Verizon and T-Mobile. Where one doesn't work the other one usually will.