T-Mobile In The West

[Eagle]

Anybody on here with T-Mobile that frequents the Rockies off the beaten path? I'm looking at switching over from Verizon, but ask because I've had great service in some very unexpected places in Colorado and Wyoming while hunting with Verizon. How's the service with T-Mobile out that way?

 

[bbrown]

Stick with Verizon or maybe AT&T - T-Mobile was terrible for me.

I had Sprint for a work phone for years but when I changed jobs for a short time I went with T-Mobile and constantly fought dropped phone calls and no service all up and down the front range and it only got worse when you got away from civilization. Back with the old company now with a Sprint phone again and couldn't cancel my service with T-Mobile quick enough. Service around towns is pretty good with Sprint but not so great anywhere else. My buddies with Verizon and even AT&T have much better service when we are hunting and guiding.

 

[jmez]

For the west Verizon is the only good option.

 

[CorbLand]

For the west Verizon is the only good option.

What he said.

 

[Trogon]

Do not get T-Mobile. I get better service in Brazil than I do in CO, MT, and WY.

 

[COlineman78]

If you are okay with only voice/text then T-Mobile will work, but they have no data for a lot of the west including the entire state of Wyoming. Prices are close enough right now that it's worth the extra little bit to stick with Verizon. T-Mobile service is great for the front range of Colorado and along the I=70 corridor, but as soon as you get out of those 2 areas you only have roaming voice on other networks.

 

[ColoradoBackpackHunter]

I switched to Verizon 2 years ago and couldn't believe some of a places I was able to call out of this past season while hunting.

 

[fngTony]

If you are okay with only voice/text then T-Mobile will work, but they have no data for a lot of the west including the entire state of Wyoming. Prices are close enough right now that it's worth the extra little bit to stick with Verizon. T-Mobile service is great for the front range of Colorado and along the I=70 corridor, but as soon as you get out of those 2 areas you only have roaming voice on other networks.

This is what peeves people with TMobile. They advertise great coverage. Their map is hard to read. As you zoom way in you'll notice coverage yes but roaming which has limitations. For example they roam alot on Att in rural Colorado and Att it self is behind Verizon here.

I have Att, only reason I don't go Verizon is someone in the group has Verizon. I just need to carry an iPhone cable so they can use my power bank.

A bit off topic but one thing I noticed is iphone on Verizon has terrible battery in bad coverage areas. Iphone on att doesn't, neither does Android on Verizon or Att.

 

[The John]

What others have said is about spot on. I have an AT&T work phone and its useless anywhere where your driving on gravel and half the time on pavement. If there is cell service to be had its on Verizon.

 

[GFY]

I would stick with Verizon for sure, especially now that they have a new "unlimited plan" 22 gigs per line per month and only slightly slower when you go over from what I understand. I just switched our companies plan to that as we only had 20 gigs for the whole plan before and would always go over limit within 3 weeks and would generally cost us about $135 a month extra. Saved a little money over all on the monthly bill but will now not go over in data usage.

 

[Flashmo]

Verizon or AT&T, T-Mobile sucks away from the main human corridors.

 

[ben h]

For years I had Verizon and the coverage was excellent all over Utah (where I went at least), then one day up at our cabin in eastern Utah, Verizon simply quit serving the area period. We were working on a multi-year project in eastern Utah and were forced to switch carriers. Oddly enough T-Mobile worked the best for us at the time. I live near downtown Salt Lake City, which has about 1M people and I can sometimes not get reception at my house! Seriously I get better service in a remote 900 person county in rural Utah, than I do in some places around SLC and I live within 1/2 mile of a T-mobile store! I'm pretty tempted to switch back to Verizon.

 

[Scottiem]

I guess I'm the opposite of everyone else. I've had verizon for a few years. No real complaints except virtually no service at home (2 bars/3G that produces nothing). I live in Hartsel, CO so didn't expect to have service with anyone. My neighbor told me T-mobile put in a new tower so I decided to give them a try. Full service with LTE now in the middle of nowhere. Now I can cancel my $160 a month satellite internet.

 

[bobhunts]

If you hunt most places in Colorado Verizon and ATT work best from my experiences other than the Trinidad area. I had a Verizon phone and a Sprint phone in the Wall Mart parking lot and my buddies T mobile phone had full service and I never got a bar on either cell carrier. I guess it depends on where you are.

 

[fngTony]

If you hunt most places in Colorado Verizon and ATT work best from my experiences other than the Trinidad area. I had a Verizon phone and a Sprint phone in the Wall Mart parking lot and my buddies T mobile phone had full service and I never got a bar on either cell carrier. I guess it depends on where you are.

Couldn't agree more. I have att and often had to toggle airplane mode to get signal at that Walmart. In contrast twenty miles west at camp att and Verizon where the only two that worked, worked well.

 

[Murdy]

A bit off topic but one thing I noticed is iphone on Verizon has terrible battery in bad coverage areas. Iphone on att doesn't, neither does Android on Verizon or Att.

Switch it to airplane mode if your not using it, something to do with checking the local towers.


I had excellent service with Verizon east of the Bighorns.

 

[Eagle]

Thanks for all the input. I can save over $750 a year switching to T-Mobile and then put that savings towards a delorme inreach or something similar, so that's likely the direction I'll be going.

 

[blackpowderhunter]

If you dont mind me asking, how many lines are on your account and what are you paying?
From the looks of the new Verizon plans, they have become much much more affordable again.
1 line with unlimited data for 80 a month up to 4 lines of unlimited data for 45 a month.
I've been thinking about leaving ATT for this just due to the fact that verizon gets service in most of the places we base camp out of for elk.