US - which provider has best coverage?

Forums › Mobile handsets › US - which provider has best coverage?

mdav056

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#299061 7-Aug-2022 13:52

Daughter visiting the US with SO at the end of the year, and in view of the recent discussion of NZ-US roaming, I'm going to get her a US phone from Amazon to use while there - probably a Samsung S10.

My question is -- which is the mobile company that has the best geographic coverage in the US? Then I'll buy one locked to that provider.

Anything else I should consider?

Thanks for any help

gml

nztim

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#2951695 7-Aug-2022 14:46

T-Mobile is my pick, they brought out sprint so they have their coverage footprint too, and roaming (for now anyway) still works on my Vodafone mobile (just had to force it away from AT&T)

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

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unowho08

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#2951726 7-Aug-2022 17:04

That's a rather broad question. What cities will they be visiting?

Also, what handset(s) do they currently have? eSIM is more widely available in the US if you have a phone that supports it which could negate the need to buy a new US handset (assuming they have current handsets that cover enough bands).

mdav056

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#2951731 7-Aug-2022 17:15

unowho08:

That's a rather broad question. What cities will they be visiting?

Also, what handset(s) do they currently have? eSIM is more widely available in the US if you have a phone that supports it which could negate the need to buy a new US handset (assuming they have current handsets that cover enough bands).

An S9 is all so no eSIM. SanFran, Washtown, Orlando, Yosemite, but still very much under development. Just wanted as much coverage as possible.

gml

mdav056

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#2951732 7-Aug-2022 17:18

nztim: T-Mobile is my pick, they brought out sprint so they have their coverage footprint too, and roaming (for now anyway) still works on my Vodafone mobile (just had to force it away from AT&T)

Thanks, yes, I've always used T-Mobile because they seem to have very helpful people in their shops. I didn't remember they bought Sprint.

gml

Linux

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#2951791 7-Aug-2022 17:57

T-Mobile was great when I have visited the US

nztim

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#2951810 7-Aug-2022 19:48

Linux: T-Mobile was great when I have visited the US

And still have GSM for voice calls when roaming (until at least the end of the year)

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

unowho08

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#2953226 10-Aug-2022 22:15

mdav056:

unowho08:

That's a rather broad question. What cities will they be visiting?

Also, what handset(s) do they currently have? eSIM is more widely available in the US if you have a phone that supports it which could negate the need to buy a new US handset (assuming they have current handsets that cover enough bands).

An S9 is all so no eSIM. SanFran, Washtown, Orlando, Yosemite, but still very much under development. Just wanted as much coverage as possible.

Okay, so the existing S9 handsets are a non-starter if you're leaning towards using T-Mobile because they're likely the Global version (SM-G960F) that doesn't support Band 71 (low band using 600 MHz spectrum). Without this you'd be stuck with the coverage limitations of their mid-band spectrum.

Even going with an S10 is not going to give you an optimal experience on T-Mobile because it doesn't support 5G. T-Mobile has rolled out 5G the most out of all US carriers (so far) and has been refarming capacity from older technologies (2G/3G/LTE) to 5G as they go so speeds on 4G/LTE generally aren't as good as using the significant bandwidth/spectrum allocated to 5G. Don't underestimate the importance of this given the number of users connected to each cell site if you're in a high density area.

The old chestnut that Verizon is the best network in the USA no longer holds true. While they may still have coverage in very remote areas where AT&T or T-Mobile don't cover, you are more likely to suffer congestion and/or deprioritization that turns your phone into a paperweight unless you pony up for their most expensive postpaid plans.

AT&T is generally considered "good" since their rollout of the First Responder spectrum (Band 14) significantly filled in gaps in their coverage.

If you can find a 5G phone at a reasonable price point that is unlocked, go with that. Then you have options if you start getting complaints about lack of coverage. Just note that AT&T now appears to be the most restrictive in terms of devices they allow on their network.

mdav056

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#2953299 11-Aug-2022 09:27

Thanks, that was really helpful :)

gml