By Chuck Woodbury
EDITOR
RVers use a variety of cellular plans. I’ve used Verizon for at least 15 years. Along the way I have tested phones and air cards from AT&T and Sprint. My own experience is that Verizon has the best coverage, with AT&T second and Sprint third.
I recently switched to Verizon’s Unlimited Plan, which was misrepresented to me by a sales rep. So I am unhappy with Verizon. But I’ll stick with it because it works the best for me in rural areas where I spend a lot of time, primarily in the West.
What about you? Which service do you use? Please answer below. Once you click your choice, you’ll see the current tally of how those before you responded.
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We us e a tracphone with a one year contract. It uses Verizon towers.
Walmart has the best deal.
I’ve been an AT&T customer for many years, but when I don’t get service, I’ll be darned if there aren’t Verizon users around me who are getting good service still.
Do you Verizon users experience the same thing? Do you find yourselves without service and find AT&T users around who still get service?
I am suspecting that Verizon is the clear winner for better service coverage.
My experience with Verizon in the western U.S. is that if I’m not getting service then no one else is either. I live in a rural area and the local volunteer fire dept went through a couple of companies before hooking up with Verizon. We followed their lead in using Verizon and have been very satisfied. We travel a lot in the west and occasionally head east with no problems.
We use U.S. Cellular.
We use H2O Wireless. It’s a great deal. It uses AT&T towers.
StraightTalk. It can run on either AT&T or Verizon backbone, I understand. Best I can figure out, ours (DW and I) are on Verizon.
StraightTalk 8 GB of 4G data then unlimited 2G, Unlimited Talk and Txt and I am using my AT&T Samsung phone. It’s also using AT&T service/towers… Grand total $48.23 per month, tax included. Oh and no contract!
I use AT&T and my wife uses Verizon, that’s why no matter where we are we have coverage.
We use Consumer Cellular, and have been very happy with them for about TEN years. In the first few years…spotty service sometimes. Like way out in the middle of deserts, or back in high mountains. But very good the last eight years.
American customer service, low prices, and you can adjust your plan anytime you want, no fees, no contracts. Best phone company ever!
We use consumer cellular. very happy
Total Phone. Rides the reliable Verizon network at 2/3 the cost
I have been using page plus for four years,works off Verizon towers.Very happy.
AT&T coverage is poor in so many places where we’ve been: WY ID MT CO NM in previous years and this year in MO IL WI Mi – all very disappointing to encounter.
Yes, we don’t stay in sites ‘next to’ big city areas but we would expect the cell service to be better from att.
Unlocked phone can move to any service that is compatible with ATT network, including Canadian or Mexican companies by swapping SIM cards
Had Verizon, switched to AT&T very unhappy, we are stuck with them for 2 years. Will go back to Verizon as soon as possible.
StraightTalk, after abandoning Sprint, for less than half the price.
We use Consumer Cellular,which uses the ATT network. Hve been a CC customer for over 7 years, very satisfied with their plans & service.
I use Net 10 wireless, I’ve not had a problem with service because they piggyback on all the big carriers.
We are both on T Mobile. We used them through out Canada and remote areas of US. However when in northern Minnesota we were switched to Att roaming. We have used in Europe and Mexico also. The only place we had problems with coverage was at our sticks and bricks home and they sent us a booster which fixed the problem. However, we recently added our daughter to the plan and our bill is $60/month more than they said it would be. We have spent at least four hours on the phone with them and in the offices and even at corporate headquarters in Bellevue with no luck. Thank you for this survey and comments. You are helping me decide my next carrier.
Total wireless uses Verizon network.
We use Consumer cellular. Works well for us. Great service and prices.
When we traveled we used Verizon. Now that we are stuck in one place due to my husband’s illness I switched to Consumer Cellular.
We have been with Verizon for 19 years. I used to be an IT Director for a world wide company and found it to be the best. I was thinking about switching to the unlimited plan but after talking with an honest sales person I stayed with my grandfathered 30 gigabyte plan. We have been in all fifty states and all provinces of Canada. Newfoundland was the only place we had gaps. We used Onstar in our truck there.
We use StraightTalk after using AT&T for years.
I’m on my son’s Friends and Family plan with verizon; Bob is on tracfone. There are certain areas in Las Vegas where verizon doesn’t work but dil’s AT&T does.
We use Cricket, which is on the ATT network – 5 lines unlimited for $100 tax title and license included and no contract.
Over the years we have used AT&T and Sprint. But the more we traveled outside of heavily populated areas, the more we lost service and had Verizon users next to us still having great service. So about 8 years ago we switched to Verizon and have had service when others using AT&T and or Sprint did not. Any place we had no service, no one had service.
I’ve been using T-Mobile (actually family mobile) for the last couple years and spent a week without any cell service 2 weeks ago. I’ve been looking for better coverage since than. Family mobile may be cheaper but when you are stuck in the woods without service it sucks.
We use Consumer Cellular that uses ATT. No problems and VERY reasonable. Easy to change a plan and then change back. Have had them for 10 years.
Resident of BC so Telus is our pick. Aligned with AT&T south of the border.
We previously used T-Mobile, but switched to Consumer Cellular for better rates, We have had good connections everywhere we have gone.
We summer in the Bayfield, CO. area; Verizon is the only service that works. And that;s only by the river. The internet is a much different story.
AT&T has been the best coverage along Interstate highways but Verizon has provided good service in many places away from the Interstates that AT&T was never a blip on the phone. Or worse, the AT&T carrier signal was there to give bars without any actual service.
Due to bad karma or something, I ended up for a while with accounts on AT&T AND T-Mobile AND Verizon. Made it easy to compare. First two pretty much identical in coverage; Verizon way better. The company is right up there with Comcast in the slime-bag category, but I need the coverage.
As all too often happens with corporate America , when they get too big they really don’t care about you.
We have Cricket Wireless that uses AT&T’S network. -Half the cost of what we were paying Verizon with three times as much data. Better coverage where we live, too.
I use tracphone thru Walmart. I was told by service that they use any available service, but usually verizon. When I used AT&T I often lost coverage in Nebraska. Not so with Tracphone.
Tracphone works Where others won’t. T-mobile also
We use Consumer Cellular, they use the AT&T system. Love them, great service and even greater price. Yea for the old folks cellular service!
When in the USA we use Roam mobility. They use one of the major carriers we usually have good coverage
We have consumer cellular through AARP. We get as good coverage as we do from Verizon for our tablet. we don’t have smart phones, flip phones.
Dear Chuck – Why am I never able to see a place to click for my response or to see the results of the poll? All I can see is the comments section.
Diane, just click on the line with the answer that best applies to you. The results will show after that.
Consumer Cellular for years which is using AT&T. For anyone going through Texas, AT&T is the only reliable one in the state.
Tracfone on my iPhone. Best kept secret on the planet. Best phone service there is and no monthly bill.
I use AT&T! No problems getting service no matter where I am!
Consumer Cellular. We now pay less for two smart phones than we did for one “flip phone”.
I use Tracfone. About $150 for 2 years of service. I have a Straighttalk hotspot. $40 for 4 gig and 60 days service.
Straight talk – on the Verizon network. When camping for a week or more I have a Verizon Jet Pack. Only put time on it when I need it.
Verizon. They all have drawbacks but generally Verizon is better. Verizon has better coverage in rural areas. ATT good in large metro areas. Also I’m pretty picky about my iPhone so Verizon generally works best for me. Agree with another poster, have been many places where my phone works, ATT doesn’t.
I use Verizon because of the coverage (most of the state of Maine only has Verizon signals…but Verizon has the world’s worst customer service…their help is just rude.
If you need an equipment service handled they are trained to sell you an upgrade and ignore the service request.
If you can do without Verizon then pick anybody else and you will be a Happy Camper!
Consumer Cellular. We have two Iphones at half the price that we were paying AT&T, plus the customer service is great.
I guess I have to be different. I use http://www.Ting.com, a WiFi-based service similar to http://www.RepublicWireless.com. Both use WiFi as the primary carrier, but also are capable of switching to Sprint, Verizon or AT&T’s cellular backbone. My user fees are less than $15 a month.
I use Tracfone using ATT towers. My husband has StraightTalk using Verizon towers. This way at least one of us has phone access.
Chuck we’ve been with Verizon for over 20 years and have been mostly happy. Service is good in most areas of the country. Our only issue is the same issue you had. Sales reps misrepresenting a service or feature and Verizon not willing to correct an issue. Now that Verizon has a chat service I try to use it all the time and get an emailed copy of the text so I have proof of what I was told. This has helped me twice in dealing with misrepresentation by their reps and in both cases Verizon removed charges on my bill because I was able to show them proof of what their rep told me.
We do the same. Utilize chat, keep a copy and have successfully used to correct bill later.
I am with Total Wireless which is a prepaid plan that uses the Verizon network. There are Verizon towers where I camp, but no towers for ATT, Sprint or T-Mobile.. Total Wireless gives me the quality of the Verizon network for a lot less money than going with Verizon directly.
Have been Verizon customer for probably 20 years. In 2015 we motor home traveled to Alaska. We knew when we went through Canada we would have roaming charges if we didn’t add Canada/Mexico coverage for $30 a month. We were gone for 2 months, when we returned we took the extended coverage off. Over the past couple of years I have called and chatted with Verizon trying to find out why my bill was higher than normal. I have the payment auto deducted and get the bill online. When I finally checked the bill myself I noticed the Canada charge was back on my bill. Verizon added it back 1 month after we took it off. When I called I was told “well we must have added it back”. I said why would we add coverage if we weren’t traveling back there. The rep told me she could give me 3 months credit. This charge was from August 2015 to May of 2017. I have 5 phones and my bill runs between $340 and $380 a month. My contract is up in August of this year and I am moving to AT&T. I paid $30 a month for a year and a half and they refunded me for 3 months. This is wrong and I couldn’t get anyone to do anything about it, even though they could see how many times I had called about the price.
BELL CANADA NOT LISTED AS AN OPTION!!!!!!!!!! J
I use TracFone prepaid and am very pleased with it.
I bought an “unlocked”Verizon phone 3 yrs ago and use Straight Talk through Walmart. Love no contracts, and very seldom do I have a problem not connecting to towers. No more $100+ phone bills for this girl!
My wife and I use Tracfone as our phone service. Works well most states we have been in and the cost is really reasonable. For our Ipads and Ipad Pros we use ATT and have been well pleased. I have an HP tablet w/Tmobile, which doesn’t work very well, but works really well in the Gulf Shores area which is one of our favorite areas. I had a problem with Verizon Wireless several years ago and would not use their service even if it were free.
Tracfone, keeps us in contact at home and on the road. Seven years and no major issues.
Other = Consumer Cellular.
Both Verizon and AT&T
Straight Talk has served us well for the last 8 years. We have two phones, one on Verizon networks and one on AT&T networks.
I use Tracfone. too with the one year contract. I pay for a whole year what most of you pay in a month.. Coverage isn’t always great in rural areas, but can’t beat the price. I only use it while on vacation and don’t care if I “receive” any calls or not.
Republicwireless, best deal