After years of in the case of mobile phone contracts that allow you to get a certain provider, many people are used to treating this relationship as a marriage. But just because a certain carrier worked ten years ago doesn’t mean it’s the best for you today. Different operators are great at different things as new technologies like 5G emerge, and if you move to a new city, the operator with the “best” signal could be completely different from what you lived before. If you’re tired of getting a terrible signal in your home or getting slow speeds constantly when you’re out, it’s time to look at other cell phone carriers; there are more great options than you might realize.
Don’t just look at coverage maps – delve deeper
Carriers like to promote their coverage maps, battered with red, blue, or purple dots to show you how many cities they serve. But the operators themselves are not reliable and impartial sources and coverage is not a binary thing, just because your city has a red or blue dot doesn’t mean the service is optimal.
Therefore, if you are looking for a new operator, get as much independent information as you can. Opensignal, for example, is an app that allows users to send speed and signal tests across the country, so you can see on a map how any of the big four operators are doing. (You can also do a quick speed test to see how your connection compares and help feed the data group to others).
Remember that coverage is only part of the equation. Signal strength, speed and latency also matter a ton. Opensignal covers these bases by tapping Network statistics and dragging the results to a specific location, but you can also see things like PCMagannual coverage of the fastest mobile networks to get an idea of how speeds can vary from one city to another.
Although, if you want to dig deeper, you will have to ask some old questions. Check which company your friends use, ask your neighborhood Facebook groups, and see if your city or town has a dedicated subreddit with experiences you could get. I’ve been to major U.S. cities where my wife’s phone on one cell phone company would have all the signal strength, where my identical phone on another cell phone company would fluctuate incredibly around the city: the coverage maps and resource tools won’t always be able to tell you things like that.
And remember, a carrier’s coverage can change over time, so if someone tells you it’s terrible in that area, ask them when they last used it. (My family is still married to Verizon, based on AT & T’s poor rural coverage a decade ago, though AT&T’s Northern Michigan signal has improved dramatically since then.) It may also be affected by the phone they use. , so try to look for bigger trends than focusing too much on any opinion.
Look beyond the three big carriers
If you haven’t boarded the MVNO train, it’s time to look beyond Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile and try all the other big carriers out there. While most cell phone coverage in the United States uses these three networks, there are dozens of mobile virtual network operators (or MVNOs) that use the same towers while offering plans with cheaper or more affordable structures. unique. You’ve already heard their names: Cricket Wireless, Republic Wireless, Ting, Straight Talk and others that have been around for a few years. But if you canceled them as a discount carrier with poor service, you might be missing out.