ATT vs T-Mobile in the Boston area
September 21, 2013 6:57 AM   Subscribe

We are currently on an (expensive, $180 / month) ATT family plan with out iPhone 4Ses. We want to upgrade to the 5Ses and are wondering if t-mobile's coverage in the Boston area is good enough. Also, what plan would you recommend for the following parameters? Thanks for your help!

- 2 phones
- I use about 2 - 3 GB of data a month
- my wife uses 500 - 1000MB of data
- I text about 100 non-iMessages a month; she's about 150
- I talk about 1000 minutes and she's about 1750
- tethering: my wife has started to need mobile data for her laptop for work. Probably 1GB minimum. (We have freedompop but it really seems to suck. I'm troubleshooting this weekend...) I don't really need a hotspot feature, but if it's included, I won't complain!

We would really prefer GSM, since you can use data while on a voice call. My understanding is that you can't do that on a CDMA carrier like verizon or sprint.

Also, I really despise ATT and would prefer to switch away from them, but don't want to sign up for super crappy service. The non-contract nature of t-mobile is also attractive.

We would consider buying the phones for full price if the cost over several years is break even or there are savings. We typically keep our phones for at least 2 years.

I've looked at various online sources for plans and cell coverage quality but feel that some anecdotes would be really helpful in making this decision.
posted by reddot to Technology (10 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
We moved to the Boston area last year with existing AT&T contracts (for iPhone 4 phones), and ended up paying to get out of our contract within four months. We had zero reception at home in Quincy and poor reception at each of our downtown Boston workplaces. So I think service is really variable in this area depending on where you are, and other people's experiences may no help unless they're specifically in your neighborhood. I don't know about T-mobile; we switched to Verizon for about the same monthly bill as we'd had from AT&T, and have been happy with our reception (only thing that's worse is that AT&T was better at some spots on the T). Personally, I'm not bothered by the voice vs data thing, because I'm in areas where I can use wireless a lot of the time.
posted by Kriesa at 7:16 AM on September 21, 2013


I'm in a similar boat; I'm kind of fed up with Verizon and would love to be able to use T-Mo because they're awesome for customer service (and Android love), but am unsure about coverage. I'm out of contract, and considering my options.
(I'm also in the Boston area, although just moved out into the suburbs where cell coverage is worse for everybody)

I've always wanted to start a business that rented out smartphones on each network, with unlimited data/voice plans, for a weekend. You can take it out to your usual places and compare for yourself, without anecdotal evidence. Who's with me?!
posted by jozxyqk at 7:25 AM on September 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


If you are out-of-contract on AT&T, you should be able to have them unlock your iPhones so you can use them on any GSM carrier, then try T-Moblie out for a month or two on the old phones before choosing whether to change. You'll probably want to get your 4Ses unlocked anyway so you can resell them after you upgrade (or you could just keep them until they break).

T-Mobile now sells phones unbundled from the cost of wireless service, so you are essentially buying the phone on a zero-interest loan; it might be easier/cheaper to buy unlocked phones, so shop around.

My general experience with T-Moblie is that their service is excellent in cities, but not particularly thorough in the countryside, often with slow data. In brief visits to the Boston area it's been fine. They also offer wi-fi calling integration, though apparently not on the iPhone.
posted by akgerber at 7:38 AM on September 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I have an iPhone 4 on T-Mobile in Boston. (I love, love, love the $30/month unlimited data + 100 minutes talk, which I learned about here, but obviously that is not for everyone.)

This may be the relevant bit of data for you:
iPhones in most markets operate at 2G (EDGE) speeds on the T-Mobile network because of issues with the device design.

We’re upgrading our network to make our 4G network compatible with a more devices, including the iPhone, in 2013.

(http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/phone-sim-card)
Anecdotally, I have 3G service most of the places I go around Boston (downtown, Cambridge, Somerville), but I not infrequently find myself on EDGE. I don't care because it's my first smartphone, but, yeah, everyone who gets 4G laughs at me.

I mostly notice that the T-Mobile coverage/speed is unusably terrible when traveling (Brattleboro, VT; Asheville, NC).
posted by teditrix at 7:46 AM on September 21, 2013


My family has T-Mobile in the Boston area (Cambridge mainly). I almost always get 4G when out and about. We've had fantastic experience with T-Mobiles customer service, and we definitely get one of the best prices around (I think around $100/month for 4 lines, 500mB each, unlimited calling, no tethering, with a discount from my workplace). We've never had any problems with adding/removing services from our plan whenever our needs change. None of us have iPhones.

Our only issue has been in some mid-20th century buildings. For instance, in the 1960s era building in which I work, I get very spotty reception on the lower floors, but perfect reception higher up. I just connect to the internal wifi networks, and use wi-fi calling.
posted by troytroy at 8:10 AM on September 21, 2013


Response by poster: Anyone have experience w/ t-mobile's 4G LTE coverage vs ATT's? There seems to be a various flavors of 4G, "4G" and "4G LTE".

Thanks.
posted by reddot at 8:34 AM on September 21, 2013


Best answer: I have a galaxy 2 on t mobile, I live in Allston, work in Quincy, and I hang out downtown, in Somerville, Cambridge and sometimes JP. I have ATT for my work phone and the only one place in the city where my work phone gets slightly better reception is on the green line between Kenmore and park st. Sometimes I can use the work phone there, but not always. Everywhere else my reception is the same.

My boyfriend has ATT as well, and he tells me that 4g and 4g lte are the same wavelength, but that ATT has a copyright on the term 4g, and that's the only difference.

Tl;Dr, go get yer t mobile. It will be fine. :)
posted by pazazygeek at 11:28 AM on September 21, 2013


Best answer: For what it's worth, I just switched from Verizon to t-mobile and never have any coverage issues. I've had it about a month, and gone basically all the places I go.

What's more, I find that t-mobile service on the T, under Boston, is generally FAR more available than Verizon's. On Verizon I could reliably expect service at Back Bay Station and Downtown Crossing, but it was variable to none anywhere else. On T-mobile I almost never notice I'm underground.

Plus, t-mobile gives me basically unlimited everything and is hella cheap.
posted by kythuen at 3:08 PM on September 21, 2013


T-Mobile's "4G" is a juiced-up version of 3G, and other carriers call it 3G, I believe. It's actually pretty fast, and is a little more widespread than LTE. AT&T iPhones didn't used to be able to pick it up, but I believe they now can because T-Mobile has been shifting around what frequencies they use.

LTE a/k/a "4G LTE" is "real" 4G-- it's a bit faster. You need a phone that supports it, such as the iPhone 5/5S. LTE works on different 'bands' (kinda like radio stations) for different carriers, so probably buy your iPhone from your carrier unless you understand this stuff:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

Is the terminology confusing? Yes, because T-Mobile wanted to confuse people into thinking they had 4G when other carriers were deploying LTE a couple years before them. It's one of the few bad things they've done.
posted by akgerber at 10:28 AM on September 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: Just a followup. We stayed with ATT for now. And on the plus side, they recently released larger plans for cheaper.
posted by reddot at 2:18 PM on April 12, 2014


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