Verizon or AT&T help

[braumeister]

DW and I each have an iPhone 4S, and we're coming to the end of our contract period.

Now the iPhone 5S beckons (we love the idea of the fingerprint sensor), and if the past is any guide we will start being unsatisfied with the battery life on our current phones before too long.

I've examined the plans online, and for our level of talk/text/data usage the cost of Verizon or AT&T would be exactly the same on a new contract. So money is not an issue.

So here's the question. We like to travel everywhere in the USA (Canada means a special plan for any time we spend up there). And I plan to buy an unlocked iPhone 5C just for European travel.

Which carrier, Verizon or AT&T do you recommend, and why?

My experience with AT&T over the last 8 or 9 years has been excellent. But I have no experience with Verizon. Both have good coverage in the area where we live, so I'm just asking about your experience while traveling. Any input would be most welcome.

 

[braumeister]

I just realized I should add one more point that seems significant. With AT&T, I can carry on a phone conversation while surfing the internet at the same time. That's a feature that has come in handy for me several times (looking things up, checking maps, etc.). AFAIK, you can't do that on Verizon.

Just one differentiator, but I wonder if any Verizon users have ever wanted that feature but felt frustrated at not having it?

 

[MichaelB]

We've driven up and down the east coast (Maine to Fl) and south from Chicago to Fl many times on Verizon and had good coverage the entire time. I tried to go with Sprint network earlier this year but had very bad coverage issues so we resigned with Verizon. I would expect similar levels of good coverage around the high population areas for both AT&T and V. The southwest and western states may be different, though.

 

[W2R]

I just realized I should add one more point that seems significant. With AT&T, I can carry on a phone conversation while surfing the internet at the same time. That's a feature that has come in handy for me several times (looking things up, checking maps, etc.). AFAIK, you can't do that on Verizon.

Just one differentiator, but I wonder if any Verizon users have ever wanted that feature but felt frustrated at not having it?

It sounds great on the commercials, but I have never wanted it and for me, I think it would be awfully confusing to try to do both at once. If you look up the definition of klutz in the dictionary you will see my photo.

I don't travel much any more, but when I was traveling to major cities from coast to coast for work, or driving through the rural south for pleasure, I had perfect connectivity with Verizon. Actually I do not recall ever encountering a "dead zone", except once, when I was going through a tunnel.

I never had AT&T so I can't really tell you about that.

 

[FIREd]

I tried both AT&T and Verizon and for me AT&T was a better choice (better signal in places that matter to me).

 

[braumeister]

It sounds great on the commercials, but I have never wanted it and for me, I think it would be awfully confusing to try to do both at once.

Actually, it's simplicity itself.
You're having a phone conversation and your friend asks you the address of some company.
You hit the speakerphone button to continue the conversation at arms length while you switch to the browser and look it up.
Later, you can switch back to the phone to end the call.
Nothing to it (this is quite common in Europe) and very handy on the occasional need for it.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I travel the lonely roads of the west - mostly far west/south west. Verizon has always had the best coverage for me.
I currently live on the edge of town in a hilly location. Verizon is the only service that works here.

 

[CoolChange]

Long time Verizon user here who wishes I could surf and talk at the same time...But, I do also have an AT&T MiFi; so, with a bit of twiddling, I can.

I have devices on both networks for the coverage: In some areas, Verizon is the best or only choice; in others, it is AT&T.

No slam dunk answer of one over the other for me yet.

 

[MRG]

Never been a Verizon customer, my experience is with AT&T. Good signal, worst customer care I've ever had. When this contract is up, goodby. YMMV.

MRG

 

[samclem]

Verizon customer here, and where I travel (mostly the US Midwest and Southeast) I can almost always get a signal, even in rural Mississippi and Alabama. You might take a look at coverage maps to see if there are any areas you frequent that are left uncovered by either one. Last time I checked Consumers Report, they also rated Verizon the best for coverage.

I don't know anything about talking and surfing the web. I am on track to become the last person in the US without a QWERTY keyboard on his phone (and happy using over-the-air broadcast television, too!)

 

[Katsmeow]

I've been a customer of both and really don't love either one, but would slightly prefer dealing with ATT. That said, overall I think Verizon has better coverage overall. Currently we are with Verizon. However, it is solely because our subdivision has very poor ATT coverage and average Verizon coverage. In fact, Verizon is the only service that is realistically usable in this subdivision (I would love to do T-Mobile otherwise).

 

[braumeister]

Sounds like a tossup for most.
FWIW, in over eight years and several phone changes, I've never had anything but outstanding AT&T service, so that seems to be different from many people.

We'll probably stick with them. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know ...

 

[MRG]

Actually, it's simplicity itself.
You're having a phone conversation and your friend asks you the address of some company.
You hit the speakerphone button to continue the conversation at arms length while you switch to the browser and look it up.
Later, you can switch back to the phone to end the call.
Nothing to it (this is quite common in Europe) and very handy on the occasional need for it.

Thanks for explaining that, didn't know the details on how. That's something I can see value in. Now gotta figure out how to steer with my knees. No no.

MRG

 

[siamond]

So here's the question. We like to travel everywhere in the USA (Canada means a special plan for any time we spend up there). And I plan to buy an unlocked iPhone 5C just for European travel.

Which carrier, Verizon or AT&T do you recommend, and why?

My experience with AT&T over the last 8 or 9 years has been excellent. But I have no experience with Verizon. Both have good coverage in the area where we live, so I'm just asking about your experience while traveling. Any input would be most welcome.

The international travel is what makes the difference. AT&T has been on the GSM bandwagon (same radio technology as Europe), while Verizon has been on the CDMA bandwagon (same as Japan). Oh, and Canada has been all over over the place. Now they are all converging on LTE, which is really good, but LTE coverage is still sketchy in many areas of the world.

So... stick with AT&T, and this should minimize your troubles in Europe (it's more than the SIM card, the phone itself is different, i.e. its inner radio components).

(speaking of experience as I travel a lot for business)

===
PS. I was trying to avoid all the crazy acronyms, but 'GSM bandwagon' means GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSPA, etc. While 'CDMA bandwagon' also means 1x and EV-DO... Oh, and '3G' or '4G' are rather generic terms across all those wonderful technologies...

 

[yakers]

I just ordered my IP5S from AT&T, its a bit cheaper for me than Verizon as we already have an AT&T family plan. AT&T has better overall coverage than Verizon in our area but MIL is in an area much better covered by Verizon (so I chose AT&T?) There are more vagaries with cell phones, I was in Black Rock Desert NV in Sept and a friends Verizon has very limited reception, DW's iphone 5 had good reception, and my iphone4 had zip, previously my old Sony phone had good reception.

 

[smurray5991]

I chose, and keep, ATT because it covers more countries internationally for their data plan (for Europe this shouldn't be an issue - I assume Verizon has similar coverage for those countries -- outside of industrialized countries, ATT comes out better).

I have had Verizon previously for US cell phone service, and overall think their coverage is better than ATT around the country (including where I live near Washington DC). That being said, I just did a 10,000 mi US road trip hitting 30 states or so, in both very rural and very urban areas. A bit surprising to me, the only time I didn't have cell service with ATT was near Little Bighorn in Montana. If I were choosing a new plan, I guess I would take a close look at both coverage maps with an eye to those actual places you care about having cell access. "Best" coverage is very place- and individual-specific, and depends on where you are and where you are going.

 

[braumeister]

The international travel is what makes the difference. AT&T has been on the GSM bandwagon (same radio technology as Europe), while Verizon has been on the CDMA bandwagon (same as Japan). Oh, and Canada has been all over over the place. Now they are all converging on LTE, which is really good, but LTE coverage is still sketchy in many areas of the world.

So... stick with AT&T, and this should minimize your troubles in Europe (it's more than the SIM card, the phone itself is different, i.e. its inner radio components).

Thanks! That's a very useful point.
I know the earlier iPhone models were like that (one of the main reasons I started with AT&T for my first iPhone (the original model) instead of Verizon.

But I am under the impression that all iPhone models now have the same innards. Not true?

 

[martyb]

This may not apply to you, but there are places in east Texas that I have no coverage with Verizon. I went from ATT to Verizon in 2008 when I moved to Wisconsin. Seemed to be the best up there, but since I've been back down south in TX & LA, not so much. I'm 99% sure I'll be leaving Verizon fairly soon...but not sure whether I'll go back with ATT or try one of the pay as you go services. I don't want to pay for phone-internet.

 

[siamond]

Thanks! That's a very useful point.
I know the earlier iPhone models were like that (one of the main reasons I started with AT&T for my first iPhone (the original model) instead of Verizon.

But I am under the impression that all iPhone models now have the same innards. Not true?

I would be surprised. It would be very expensive (cost of inner components) for Apple to do it like that. Anyhoo, no point taking a chance since the (US) pricing is roughly the same as you pointed out.

 

[RetiringAt55]

DW and I each have an iPhone 4S, and we're coming to the end of our contract period.

Now the iPhone 5S beckons (we love the idea of the fingerprint sensor), and if the past is any guide we will start being unsatisfied with the battery life on our current phones before too long.

I would make sure you and your wife try out IOS7 before getting the new phones. DH and I also planned to get new iPhones. My DH upgraded his existing iPhone 4S to the new OS so we could try it out. Within minutes I realized that the new OS would not work for me. I suffer from extreme motion sickness and cannot watch 3D movies or play FPS games. Within minutes of trying the new OS I realized that I would not be able to us the interface because of the new way it does zooming, which CANNOT be turned off. So we are now waiting to see if Apple addresses the issue (doubtful). If they do not, we will wait and switch to something else when our current phones give out. Its pretty sad since we have been loyal iPhone users for over 5 years.

 

[scrinch]

But I am under the impression that all iPhone models now have the same innards. Not true?

All of the iphone 4S's had identical innards. They had both the GSM and CDMA radios. But Apple has abandoned that approach with the iphone 5, probably because they have had to add the LTE radio. So if you kept your iphone 4S and got it unlocked, you could use it both in the US and while abroad. But not so if you upgrade to the iphone 5/c/s. There are also a lot of Verizon Android phones that work using all three technologies CDMA, GSM, and LTE....most of the Motorola Droid phones over the past couple of years, for example. Once unlocked (which Verizon will do for you) you can use it pretty much anywhere in the world. I wouldn't recommend using either Verizon's or AT&T's international plans, though. They are much more expensive than purchasing a local sim card when you travel to a new country. Using a local sim here in Indonesia, I pay a few cents/minute to call the US, while on AT&T's plan it would cost a couple dollars/minute. And for that matter, if you don't need LTE, you can use either the Verizon or AT&T domestic networks for about half price using StraightTalk, PagePlus, or one of the other MVNO's.
[Edit: You can get AT&T's LTE service through StraightTalk now...unlimited minutes and data for $45/mo. No affiliation...]

 

[NanoSour]

If you are an original iPhone user, you may want to check if you still have the unlimited data package. If so, switching to Verizon will cost you if you are active user of data. Also, if you stay with ATT, I'd suggest purchasing through an ATT store so you can keep the unlimited data plan. My understanding is if you don't, you will be switched to one of the current data plans and lose your unlimited plan.

Since data is where the real cost is, I'm "tethered" to ATT until they take that away.

 

[FIREd]

If you are an original iPhone user, you may want to check if you still have the unlimited data package. If so, switching to Verizon will cost you if you are active user of data. Also, if you stay with ATT, I'd suggest purchasing through an ATT store so you can keep the unlimited data plan. My understanding is if you don't, you will be switched to one of the current data plans and lose your unlimited plan.

Since data is where the real cost is, I'm "tethered" to ATT until they take that away.

Good point. That original unlimited data package is precious commodity. I just got a new iPhone through Apple's website and was able to keep that unlimited data package.

 

[meekie]

Verizon customer here. I've sometimes wanted to look something up on the internet while on my phone, but it can usually wait until I can get to my computer or ipad. Or I'll just call the person back.

I was able to use my iPhone 5 in europe with just getting a sim card for it. Verizon unlocked all the iPhone 5's by default. Might be something to look into before deciding. I believe all the iPhone chips support multiple technologies, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Hubby has an iPhone on AT&T though his work, and he does sometimes get better reception than I do, but I think sometimes it's actually load - in big crowds my phone slows down and is unusable, but his tends to still work.

 

[CoolChange]

I don't know if T-Mobile is an option for you; but, their new international support may be enough to move me from Verizon: T-Mobile Rolls Out Free Unlimited International Data and Text Messaging - ABC News

I make multiple trips spending multiple weeks at a time outside the USA some years. Verizon's pricing is insane in most other countries; and, changing SIM's every time I change countries can become quite a hassle.