Cell phones forum: T-Mobile vs. Verizon

Consumer Reports are not true consumer reports

they are just people who get paid to give their own
Opinion.......with anything you have to look at both sides of the picture

and if your bored you can find dead spots with any carrier

IT'S RELATIVE TO WHERE YOU ARE GOING TO USE THE PHONE.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

In MY post, I have tried to give my personal experience with both companies. I cite actual incidents regarding Tmobile in particular. I agree with you on these knee-jerk posts that just throw mud with no bases in fact. Since I've used both carriers to a large extent; VZW for three years, and Tmobile for two, I can say without a doubt that VZW, like it or not, has better phone service in both the Orlando and Chicago markets. Excuse me while I go to the window to make a call on my Tmobile Samsung Galaxy S3. My granddaughter on her Galaxy S2 is at the window next to me trying to make a call. Tmobile sucks in my area.

i had a problem like that for like 2 weeks in the middle of my first year with them. they actually told me that a tower was being constructed in my area!! butt after it was up and running IVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. so yeah they told the truth to me! and also gave me that month free even though i went over 189 minutes. that was free too. so yeah whatever.

I LOVE TMOBILE. I PROBABLY WILL NEVER SWITCH!!! verizon is so overrated its pathetic!

Whoa! People sure are passionate about their cell providers. Don't shoot me, I'm just a messanger:

JD Powers' extensive consumer surveys show that:

1) when asked about *specific* criteria (including call quality and customer service), customer satisfaction doesn't vary that much. Verizon and T-Mobile are both at the top:
http://www.wirefly.net/articles/805/805_2005jdpower.htm

2) Geography does matter. When broken up regionally, you can see that some carriers do much better than others in certain areas. http://www.wirefly.net/articles/1005/1005_wireless_ranking.htm

That might explain why both sides are so sure that they are right and the other side's wrong. But what's ''best'' really depends on the person's needs, location, and frankly how good their phone is.

I have both Verizon and T-Mobile service.

Verizon's coverage area is much wider and includes ex-urban and rural areas. We drove from Arizona through Utah to Portland, OR this summer through very unpopulated areas and the Verizon phone had reception a very high percentage of the time. If your employees travel in CA or out of state, I think that Verizon will be much better. They probably are somewhat more expensive, but since you get unlimited calls to other Verizon phones and on nights and weekends, this is not necessarily so.

T-Mobile is technically superior but the coverage area is relatively minimal - cities and some interstate highways. I'm figuring that they might improve by the time my Verizon contract expires. You can use the T-Mobile phone in Europe, however.

Some people think that just because most of the world uses GSM, it must be superior. As you said, just getting a GSM phone in the USA does not guaranty international coverage. Further, Verizon's 3G technology of EVDO is much more superior to Cingular's EDGE.
In the USA, right now, Verizon's CDMA technology is superior to any USA GSM carriers, preiod!

EDGE technology achieves broadband speeds of 2 to 3 times standard dial up speeds. EVDO is 7 times faster than EDGE.
This is a fact.

CDMA maybe an older technology, but it has advanced with the times. BTW, If you say that Verizon Wireless will be in trouble if they don't upgrade to GSM, then so would Sprint PCS, Alltel, & US Cellular to name a few carriers that use CDMA. When US Cellular upgraded their network from TDMA, they went the opposite route from all other carriers upgraded from TDMA to GSM. US Cellular upgraded from TDMA to CDMA. All carriers allow roaming onto other networks, depending on the plan you choose, but in the case of Sprint, Cingular, and T-Mobile, they have a disclaimer that they reserve the right to terminate your service if you make less than half of your call on their network in a 3 month period. T-Mobile's coverage area is a joke in Indiana and Wisconsin, where I do a lot of traveling, and according to their coverage area, I am off their network more than on the network, and that's why I won't go with T-Mobile. A T-Mobile reseller always tries to sell me T-Mobile service and I tell them I'm not interested, and they tell me how it's better than Verizon. I tell them I have no problems with T-Mobile, and T-Mobile doesn't cover most rural areas, and because of that I would roam more than be on the network, providing I can get the phone to roam. T-Mobile uses only the 1900 band, while Cingular uses the 850 band, and most T-Mobile phones don't have the 850 band, and Centennial Wireless (a Fort Wayne Indiana based rural service) only uses the 850 band, but has all of their phones with the 1900 as well to roam on T-Mobile's network where T-Mobile has coverage. Since Verizon Wireless covers all of Indiana that I travel, plus the Madison & Milwaukee areas, I have no need to switch to a service to a GSM service. If you have anyone to blame for most of the country being on CDMA, you can blame the FCC for not adopting a standard in the 90's, and allowed TDMA & CDMA to be used, and then Voicestream bringing GSM to the United States.

If you want good reception and customer service, then Verizon Wireless is the way to go. I don't know if any of the workers travel around the country, but if they do, Verizon Wireless is the way to go because CDMA has been around so long that it covers most of the United States than GSM service does. Verizon Wireless does cost more than T-Mobile, but Verizon Wireless spends a lot of money to keep their network from being congested, which is something T-Mobile doesn't do as good of a good job in some markets. I don't know how T-Mobile is in northern California, but in the midwest, people I know have complained about static in the Chicago suburbs, and in the city of Chicago itself, can't make calls because of overloaded circuits. In August, T-Mobile had a network outage on a sunny day because T-Mobile hasn't spent enough money to keep the Chicago area from having problems with the network. But if T-Mobile isn't a problem (network wise) in your area and workers stay local, then go with T-Mobile because the plans are better than Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile has a much better phone selection too. But I would recommend if you look at Verizon Wireless, get phones from Kyocera, Nokia, and Samsung for better reception. I don't know what is considered good with T-Mobile, but most people I talk to don't like Motorola, regardless if it's made for T-Mobile, Cingular, US Cellular, or Verizon Wireless.

when you leave Verizon, the phone become useless, unless they go to SPRINT. Because they use CDMA Newtowrk. While TMOBILE or Cingulare use GSM Network.. Where all part of the world us GSM. GSM use sim card, which when you get the phone unlock, you can use affordable other country sim card. This save the company money. Plus TMOBILE price plan is better. If you get NOKIA or MOTOROLAm the signal in this 2 phone are strong! TMOBILE store people and customer service are very friendly, and handle with professional attitude!

Hope this help!

You should go to the T-mobile website and use their coverage check feature. It shows the quality of the signals anywhere in the US. It will also show you where new towers are going to be built as well as a few other features. Verizon i do not believe has this capability. Another thing to keep in mind is when comparing verizon with t-mobile, you are comparing two entirely different technologies. T-mobile runs of a GSM network, which is the most advanced network available in the United States. Verizon runs off the old system which is CDMA. The main difference between the two is that on a GSM frequency, eight calls per second will be sent out on one wave. This is to ensure that the user has a strong call quality, while ensuring the call wont be dropped because there are two many calls being made on the network. With CDMA technology, Verizon crams as many possible wireless users together per second, this lowers call quality and increases the chance that your call will be dropped. As for coverage, verizon cannot really expand more than it already has. T-mobile has two perks, first, they have plenty of their own towers, giving them service where other GSM companies such as cingular cannot. Second, is that t-mobile has agreements with plenty of other GSM companies, including cingular. So if you get service with cingular or any other gsm company in a neighborhood, you are going to get reception from T-mobile as well. T-mobile also has some awesome business plans, and their customer service has been awarded the JD Powers and Associates. The last perk to t-mobile is the one year service agreements with the ability to upgrade your handsets once a year. Also in California you'll have 30 days to test the service and make sure it is up to par with your expectations. If it is not, you'll recieve a full refund. The choice is yours, but i think you know what i would recommend!

Research it very carefully. I had better luck in Northern California but if your business involves travel I'd think again. Verizon is working beautifully and my new phone with Vcast, camera, and MP player is really great.
Good Luck