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Old 04-18-2015, 02:13 AM   #1
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Best Mobile Carrier

G'day,
Which carrier gives the best service out on the road in AZ, UT, CA & CO way from cities, please?
Doug.

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Old 04-18-2015, 06:12 AM   #2
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

We did a cross-country trip two years ago, and had very good luck with Verizon. My wife had T-mobile on her phone and it was nowhere near as good. You may want to invest in a booster like those sold by Wilson Electronics for really remote areas.
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Old 04-18-2015, 06:54 AM   #3
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

I do not have Verizon, but from traveling to a lot of remote areas throughout California, Utah, Arizona, and Oregon, it seems to be very consistent that when I do not have a signal, someone with Verizon does have coverage.

A cell phone signal booster is not a bad idea either. It doesn't help if you have 'no bars' of signal strength, but it can help if you have a weak signal.


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Old 04-18-2015, 07:02 AM   #4
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

Another vote for the Wilson signal booster. We have the 4g version with stock antenna and can attest that it truly works as advertised. Has taken us from signal with zero bars to 3 bars. Read where others have installed the larger RV antenna to further improve capabilities.
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Old 04-18-2015, 08:10 AM   #5
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

We have Verizon, and our observations are similar to the above.....Verizon seems to have the best coverage. Doug, you can probably do a pre-paid Verizon plan for cheap when you are stateside.

We have a couple of Verizon flip phones that we just turned off (within the last 2 months) when we went to smartphones; you can have both of them if you want; they are rough looking, but fully functional with chargers and would certainly work for your trip.

Your hardware may or my not work over here, depending on what it is......my Verizon phone was useless when I was in Melbourne.
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Old 04-18-2015, 09:13 AM   #6
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

Verizon runs on CDMA, not GSM, so most overseas phones will not work on it. My Verizon iPhone has a GSM slot in it for use overseas, but won't work through GSM here in the states. If you want to use Verizon you'll need to get s phone here most likely. They do have pay as you go service with cheaper phones for purchase.

When are you coming to the USA, Doug?
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Old 04-18-2015, 11:25 AM   #7
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

One possible "thing" pertaining to prepaid Verizon plans. At least when I looked into it around three years ago, Verizon's prepaid coverage map was not as extensive as their post-paid coverage map. (Found out because a friend had prepaid and was not getting signal where we thought there should be signal... then looked into it and found that oh, there are two different coverage maps).

I now have Verizon postpaid, and it does seem to have the best overall service for US traveling. I think AT&T is catching up quickly though, and there are some areas (of course) where it's better and Verizon is worse.

I started with a Virgin prepaid phone (Sprint network) and it was useless unless in a city or on an Interstate highway. Friend had a similar experience with T-Mobile.

I think if connectivity were super important to me, I'd have a Verizon postpaid phone/data plan, and then something like an iPad with a prepaid 5gig AT&T plan (with hotspot ability) for those times when AT&T trumps Verizon (for example, San Juan Islands of WA - at least when I was there a couple of years ago).

Some RV-ers (technomadia.com) put out a nice app called "Coverage?" that allows you to see coverage maps of all the carriers overlaid on a base map of the US. Very handy and you can zoom in. Change provider layers (or have multiple ones at once) etc.
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Old 04-18-2015, 06:51 PM   #8
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

..I imagine that SheriffDoug is going to be over here for a few weeks picking up his van and touring around a bit before heading back to Australia.........

So a Verizon "plan" may or may not work for Doug.....I'm sure he'll let us know his needs......

I work for an Australian Company, and I've noticed that in Australia the business model is that you buy your phone then pay for a plan....whereas stateside the phones are typically subsidized by a two year contract......

FWIW I buy my phones on Ebay and use Verizon without a contract. The monthly rates are cheaper when you own the hardware.
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Old 04-19-2015, 06:48 AM   #9
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW
Verizon runs on CDMA, not GSM, so most overseas phones will not work on it. My Verizon iPhone has a GSM slot in it for use overseas, but won't work through GSM here in the states. If you want to use Verizon you'll need to get s phone here most likely. They do have pay as you go service with cheaper phones for purchase.

When are you coming to the USA, Doug?
Plans for US trip are about to change as there is a wedding on 13th June, for my brother-in-laws eldest daughter, that my wife says I must attend and give a speech!

Brian,
What your saying is that Verizon is Analogue & AT&T is Digital/GSM?
We used to have Analogue 4-5 years ago, closed down and now Digital/GSM only here.

BoyWonder,
Will do more research about the flip phones, major advantage is they aren't roaming,
Just calls & text.

If I brought my WiFi Ipad, then could use with free WiFi Spots.

Spot Messenger, is another option.

Everyone, your comments are all very welcome. Thank You, Cheers, Doug
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Old 04-19-2015, 06:55 AM   #10
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Re: Best Mobile Carrier

I used to have ATT. But while I was camping in Zion, the Grand Canyon, Bryce, and other places I had no reception. I also had no reception out in the desert in central Nevada. Then I switched to Verizon. Now there are very few places where I do not have cell phone coverage. And in places where I have no coverage, I turn on my cell phone extender than I installed in my SMB and I usually can get great coverage.
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