Re: Maps to Compare AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, & Verizon Mobile Coverage and US State of the Mobile Union 1H 2021

sms <[email protected]> wrote:
> There are now three (at least) maps that let you quickly compare 
> coverage between networks.
> 
> FCC Map: 
> <https://fcc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6c1b2e73d9d749cdb7bc88a0d1bdd25b>
> 
> RootMetrics Map: <https://webcoveragemap.rootmetrics.com/en-US>
> 
> WhistleOut Map: <https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/Coverage>
> 
> US State of the Mobile Union 1H 2021; Carrier performance at national, 
> state, and metro levels: 
> <https://assets.ctfassets.net/ob7bbcsqy5m2/5RH6DcqWKrNjbfGDPkfWkb/677aec385a91e8f1859703242aff739e/RootMetrics_US_State-of-Mobile-Union-1H_2021-FINAL.pdf>
> 
> The coverage maps and analysis confirm my own experiences. Over the 
> years I've had cellular service from many different carriers: GTE 
> Mobilnet, Cellular One, AT&T (old), Pac Bell Wireless, Cingular, AT&T 
> (new), T-Mobile, Verizon, and several MVNOs or carrier-owned prepaid 
> services: Page Plus (Verizon), Consumer Cellular (AT&T), Cricket (AT&T), 
> and Total Wireless (Verizon).
> 
> Pac Bell Wireless was by far the worst. It was the first GSM network in 
> my area, and operated at 1900 MHz so in-building coverage was worse than 
> networks using 850 MHz bands. They offered very attractive pricing when 
> they launched, but were over-subscribed and unable to provide sufficient 
> capacity. Pac Bell Wireless was acquired by Cingular when SBC acquired 
> Pacific Bell, then sold to T-Mobile when Cingular bought AT&T.
> 
> T-Mobile was not good because of coverage issues in the western U.S., 
> and the maps and the Rootmetrics report confirm that these coverage 
> issues still exist outside of urban areas.
> 
> Consumer Cellular and Cricket, both on AT&T worked fine but Consumer 
> Cellular, at the time, had no data plans with a sufficient amount of 
> data for family plans. Now Consumer Cellular is very expensive for plans 
> with sufficient quantities of data, plus they now limit the number of 
> lines on an account to only three.
> 
> Cricket worked fine but at the time did not offer hotspot, and also they 
> throttled data to 8Mb/s. Cricket now offers unlimited, unthrottled, 
> data, and includes 15GB of hotspot data per line, but the price has gone 
> up to $33 per line on a four line plan (they originally offered 5 lines 
> for $100, ($20 per line)).
> 
> I’m currently using Total Wireless with 100GB of shared data per month 
> on four lines, with 10GB of hotspot data per line, for a little under 
> $100 per month including taxes and fees. Downsides of Total Wireless are 
> a) no international roaming, not even to Canada and Mexico, b) no eSIM 
> support (most MVNOs lack eSIM support), and c) no Apple Watch support 
> (which requires eSIM support). Verizon is in the process of trying to 
> buy all the América Móvil brands in the U.S., including Total Wireless 
> <https://www.lightreading.com/ossbsscx/verizon-to-broaden-out-prepaid-offerings/d/d-id/772053>.
> 

My phone is 5G capable. I don’t care about LTE. T-Mobile is ahead of the
game with 5G coverage which is what matters now.