Cell service in Western U.S February 02, 2022, 08:32:24 pm Hi all, My wife and I are planning on heading out west next year and we are getting mixed messages regarding the best cell service to have. We presently have T-mobile, senior plan, and it does seem to work fairly well for us. Many have told us to go with Verizon which is more reliable in many areas in the west. I do admit I’m not to tech savvy but will a separate mobile hot work, how would a mobile booster work? Thanks for any help, much appreciated 👍
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #1 – February 02, 2022, 10:04:33 pm My wife and I just had the same discussion last week. We had Sprint (and were being asked to transition to T-mobile since they have merged and they’re now shutting down the Sprint towers)… but as we were planning a trip from CA to FL, I noticed a trend on the campsite reviews that seemed to indicate significantly better coverage with Verizon at the various SW (California, Arizona, NM, Texas, etc) campsites vs the other carriers. At least from the people that took the time to enter that info in their campsite reviews. Don’t know if that means anything for you or if that is helpful. We made the switch to Verizon last week and that info contained in campsite reviews, coupled with our upcoming trip in a new-to-us used RV, contributed to our decision. Having the best cell coverage in case of breakdown etc was critical. Maybe we would have switched anyway, calling T-mobile to inquire about switching from Sprint as required felt like walking in to a used car lot, both times I called. Lots of high pressure, “what can we do to get you in that Corolla today” kind of garbage. Plus I get a Verizon discount due to my job. Still more $$ than Sprint/T-mobile even with the discount. Years ago we had Verizon and they were slimy too back then. I gave them another shot. Seemed better this time. Jason 1 Likes
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #2 – February 02, 2022, 10:23:18 pm I traveled West Coast from Canada to Mexico and Verizon has the best signal / coverage comparing to competition.The more remote the place is the more profound is the difference in quality of service.YMMV 2 Likes
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #3 – February 03, 2022, 12:21:11 am Wife and I have traveled the West Coast from San Diego to Vancouver/Victoria, east to Banff, south to Chicago, Texas, then back around to Arizona. With a number of east/west crossings in between. Basically most places in the US and Canada west of the Mississippi.We still have split cell service providers, AT&T for myself and Verizon for her. Eventually we’ll merge as children get on their own plans, but until then, it’s a good pairing, as there are times just one of us has signal. Seems to average out, neither being obviously better than the other. It’s also been useful to have different providers on our European trips too.Switched just my cellular iPad TMobile out here in California for a good four months seven years ago, coverage was considerably poorer than AT&T, painful obvious since my cell phone was still on AT&T.As to remote coverage, I’ve had better luck with AT&T in Yellowstone and Yosemite, but both places have large areas of no signal.
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #4 – February 03, 2022, 12:29:05 am We have primarily used Verizon over the past 20 years we've been RVing. We generally have a usable signal. There are a few areas where our jetpack on a Verizon pre-paid unlimited plan won't roam while Barbara's phone on a Verizon post-paid account works. We then use her phone as a hotspot. We do carry an AT&T compatible phone we sometimes activate on an AT&T pre-paid plan, if we know there is no or poor Verizon service, but decent AT&T service.Interestingly, we sometimes have a strong Verizon signal but poor to fair data rates and other places a weaker signal but much faster data. I think it all depends on the towers and their level of usage.Art 2 Likes
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #5 – February 03, 2022, 08:48:06 am In our near full time days traveling all over western US, we had our RV equipped with both Verizon (mifi4620) and ATT (Mobley ZTE). We also had a cell phone with Sprint network. We found Sprint is pretty much useless except in the major metro areas. Verizon coverage is better than ATT but there are regional difference. ATT appears to be stronger in the southern states while Verizon covers more rural areas in the west. This was our limited experience based on our own travel routes. Other may found differently.
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #6 – February 03, 2022, 12:07:15 pm Verizon has been our carrier for years, so we have no experience with the other providers. The Verizon 5G network is so much faster than our old iPhone 6 we had running 3G. The industry stopped supporting 3G and its Apps - it was the only reason we upgraded to the 5G. But having said that - after experiencing the 5G functions we could never go back. We have traveled from Vegas to Western Illinois - south to New Orleans and returning with no problems whatsoever. Your experience may be different, but we are well satisfied with Verizon. Wish their stock price was better but guess that's asking too much.Cheers!Tony R. (aka codefour) 3 Likes
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #7 – February 03, 2022, 07:23:42 pm We live in northern NV and have found Verizon to be the best over-all service. AT&T is fine in the cities but becomes spotty the further out you go. And, there are still spots that have NO cell service regardless of the company. You will still find working pay phones in the mountains and east of the Sierra. AT&T service has gotten better over the years but it still doesn't have the coverage of Verizon. We live east and south of Lake Tahoe. With all the fires last summer, there was serious disruption when the towers were lost. Even at our home, we sometimes have to "chase a signal". We traveled for many years with one each: AT&T and Verizon. Once you are in the Western states, service will drop off due to mountains, steep valleys, sheer cliffs, and distances. (We tend to measure distance by the time it takes to travel rather than by measured miles.) You're planning ahead and that's always a good plan.Happy Trails,Juli WMinden, NV 1 Likes
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #8 – February 05, 2022, 10:22:43 pm We just spent eight months traveling the country after selling our DC area home. We kept the Verizon plan for our celll phones. But we also subscribed to the FMCA internet plan. By doing that we could do voice over IP (FaceTime audio or other like plan) when Verizon was not available or the towers were overloaded. I would suggest splitting the service between the two of you, or get a third device on a different system. We were fortunate with the Sprint, now T-mobil service. It was almost always available where we camped. When it was not available, Verizon was not available either and those were generally very nice places to camp. Not to crowded. Or there were other barriers in the way of signal like mountain oe we were in a low lying area.
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #9 – February 06, 2022, 04:06:15 pm The general internet consensus is Verizon is suppose to offer better service than other cell services in rural areas. Margee has T-Mobile and I switched to Verizon months months ago. Since then, we’ve travel throughout eastern Texas and western Arkansas. We’ve not found any significant difference just as described by John Dacrema who has traveled extensively across the Country. After an upcoming 2 month trip, I’m switching back to T-Mobile which offers unlimited data for Margee and I for $70 a month. It may be different in other parts of the country.
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #10 – February 06, 2022, 05:26:37 pm On our recent trip from California to Northwest Arkansas and back (I-40 on the trip out and I-10 on the return trip), my wife and I had the same model iPhone, hers on Consumer Cellular and mine on Verizon. The Verizon service was consistently better. Rarely did CC outperform Verizon. In the western states, having multiple companies available would probably be preferred but if the choice is to go with a single service, I would choose Verizon based on our unscientific test.
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #11 – February 06, 2022, 07:59:36 pm We've had T-Mobile since around 2005. It was nearly useless in half the places we traveled at the time, seemed to improve by leaps and bounds over the years, then stagnated for the last few years.Verizon was added in mid-2019, It was a huge improvement around most of California and in urban areas overall, but in seasonal areas such as Quartzsite we have a strong signal yet almost no data due apparently to overloaded towers. On a trip including Colorado and New Mexico we found many places where Verizon signal was non-existent or close, so we added an AT&T plan to the fleet. So far, AT&T has been the best in almost every marginal area, whether due to weak signals or overloaded towers. I expect we'll hang on to the Verizon, but I can't remember the last time T-Mobile was of any use to us, time to drop that service.Steve 2 Likes
Re: Cell service in Western U.S Reply #12 – February 07, 2022, 10:46:22 am This question is always a problem is answer. Frankly there are too many variables to get a solid answer. As with many things the right answer is 'it depends'. Most of the variables the user has no control over. Cell service providers don't make it very easy to make compensations. The advertising is musty lies. (There is no other way to say it sadly). Cell phone manufactures are not very forth coming also. They also misled in major and minor ways. Frankly the larger the company the larger the misleading. Bottom line for best cell service buy a top end cell phone (one of the most expensive) and the cheapest cell service you can live with. glen 2 Likes
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