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

On 10/5/21 4:52 PM, badgolferman wrote:
> 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.
> 
Yup, just as long as you're downtown or along an interstate highway ;-)