Should I switch from Verizon to ATT?

[MoTiger]

Hello friends,

The general wisdom among full-timers on YouTube seems to be that Verizon is king when it comes to reception/overall service, especially out west, but so far my experiences with Verizon have left much to be desired.

I've been with Verizon for a couple years now, and been on the road full-time for a few months. I increased my plan from 2 GB data to 5 GB a while back. I use wireless hotspot a LOT for my laptop, since I'm mostly boondocking. I don't expect to have service everywhere, because that's not realistic when boondocking. But I do expect to have service if other people do, and I DEFINTIELY expect to be able to use my wireless hotspot whenever I do have service.

Recently, I found that my data is gone before the month is half over, maybe because I have a YouTube channel now and upload videos. So, this week I upgraded again, to an unlimited data plan. And now, after paying more money for my service, they have disabled my wireless hotspot. I never heard of this. I didn't even know it was possible for a phone company to control my phone and make it impossible to turn on the hotspot. What's up with this? After I have upgraded my service twice? And of course, when I call them, they will want even more money to turn it back on.

Why am I considering switching to ATT? Aside from being very angry?

1. In 3 months, nearly every place I've camped across 6 states, I have had no service with Verizon. 

2. In several places across 3 states, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado, people with ATT have had excellent service, and I've had zero, zip, nothing. And no, they didn't have boosters. Just their phone. (In the other places I've camped, there was nobody else around, so I don't know how good ATT's service was there.)

3. ATT is advertising lower prices for unlimited plans.

I'm asking for feedback from others to help me make a decision. I don't want to pay through the nose if I don't have to. I wish I could tell you which states I'll be traveling in the most, but all I can say is that I plan to travel everyplace except the northeast. I know the cell coverage maps on the web show Verizon having better coverage than ATT, but graphics on the internet aren't necessarily reality.

I will be grateful for anything you have to share,

-Stymie

 

[bullfrog]

If you must have service to make money then get both and write it off as a business expense maybe? Check Jimindenver site he used to use several different plans. I had to go from AT&T to Verizon because there was no service and just a little Verizon which beats none where I was long term camping.

 

[MoTiger]

I hadn't thought of this until now, but is it common for people to switch whenever they relocate, to get whatever service is available in that area?

 

[bullfrog]

For us it was a no brainer as we spend several months in the area and the other areas we go to both work fairly well.

 

[MrNoodly]

If I were doing it all over again, I'd get from each carrier the cheapest prepaid phone that can act as a hotspot, then use whichever works best where I am.

 

[wayne49]

2-5GB is very little data for a month for someone spending much time on a computer.

I don't watch HD videos and don't regularly download large files, and I can burn 15GB in around 15 days.

YT videos are really bad with data bandwidth. If you don't change the data rate for a video (lower right corner, the gear icon), videos usually start at 720. I switch that down to 360 or 240.

How long have you had your current Verizon plan? That sounds like an older plan or perhaps a reseller plan, not a direct VZ plan.

 

[JennyJ]

I agree... 2-3 G is impossibly low with any kind of video watching.

I have both a Verizon MIFI with unlimited10 G (on one brother's plan for $20/month) and a Verizon phone package (with internal hotspot) with unlimited15 G (on another brother's plan for $45/month).  Piggybacking on another person's plan is much cheaper than having your own... I just pay the brothers instead of Verizon.

Also, unlimited 10G means high quality data transmission for the first 10G only, then transmission gets slowed radically, but not cut off .... the unlimited part. If I'm wayyyyy over, I sometimes get slowed to dial-up speeds, so I keep an eye on usage.

When I first got the MIFI last year, I used it to watch Roku TV and was shocked to discover that all the data was used up in 2-3 days, slowing videos to jerky movements, even when resolution was set to lowest level.  They did cut off my MIFI if I went significantly over 10 G.

However, hooking up the Verizon phone's hotspot to TV Roku, my data limit lasts the entire month watching the same stuff. Verizon might slow it down some, but never cuts off, even if I go over the limit a LOT. Last month I used 25 G watching videos on Roku TV with my phone hotspot, with fairly good resolution.  BTW, I must keep the phone on a charging tether or the battery heats up and runs down very quickly.

I use the MIFI mostly for laptop internet and save the phone hotspot for TV watching and as backup if the MIFI runs out. Not sure what I'll do, once I'm on the road in two weeks, probably just use the phone hotspot since I won't have a TV.

Hope that helps.  Sorry if I was too wordy... I live alone and talk much too much when my mouth is set free, lol.

 

[shadowmoss]

Get a Visible phone and plan which gives unlimited talk/text/data for $25/mo (a minor hoop to jump through, we can help you). Use it as a backup phone and primary data. It is on the Verizon network. Put your main phone on another network such as AT&T. And/or grab a pay as you go phone from walmart or target on the T-Mobile network. For the AT&T plan you can use Consumer Cellular if it isn't your primary data plan.

 

[JuanKnucklehead]

I dont want to be a "Downer" so I'll try and make it funny.
Last Dec my Mom called me, "Hey Knucklehead, How would you like free talk/text/internet for the rest of mine and your dads lives?"
"Hell's Yes"
"Well Merry Christmas, Your Dad signed us up through Verizon on a 4 person plan & you can be #4, Use it all you want, Dad will pay the bill, You just have to change to a (***) area code"
"HELL THE **** YEAH!!!! THANX MOM!!!!"
"Your welcome son, Merry Christmas, Go buy a phone and Dad will send the Sim Chip"
Actually, my Mom isnt that nice (but she is wicked smart) Daddy was gonna pay the bill regardless, She seen a AWESOME Christmas gift that didn't cost her anything, but makes her the hero, But that is my Mom & she will straight tell you thats ONLY why you got it,,i love my mom
.
BUT OK
'
I get a phone, I get the chip, I get to playing around with my new fangled phone and free internet, WORKS GREAT THE LAST 10mo OR SO, I get to reading how VERIZON is the most awesome for the "Dweller"
.
Hell yes, getting better and better
,
Then I look at Verizons coverage map
,
I am based in Okla City, There isnt a lot of "Free/Dispersed" here, Its mostly private property and state parks,,,,,But we do have Black Kettle Grasslands and a few other places out in the panhandle 
.
but get this
,
in all of Verizons GREAT COVERAGE
.
Where I need to go and practice & get my sh*t together, There is 0 coverage
.
But AT&T gets 4 bars
<
Well, I hope Yall got a laugh,,,,I dont think its very funny 
.
SH*T
.
:huh: :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh: :huh:

 

[shadowmoss]

That's why it is good to have something on all three networks.

 

[JuanKnucklehead]

Look at the 2 dead zones in W.Okla. Thats right where dispersed camping is allowed,,,,Pfffft

 

[MoTiger]

I will gladly piggyback on someone else's plan. Please let me know where to mail my $20. Lol!

Thanks to all of you experienced members who replied and made me realize I had unreasonable expectations (though I still think telecom prices are unreasonably high). I went ahead and paid $10 more bucks and I get 15 GB high-speed data on my mobile hotspot.

I REALLY appreciate the advice to lower the quality of YouTube vids. That had not crossed my mind. The rest of the suggestions will have to slowly percolate in my cranial coffee pot...

Thanks again,

Stymie

 

[MrNoodly]

I stop to visit friends in northern New Mexico. The only decent signal at their property is T-Mobile, with a tower about a half mile away. I'm on Verizon and whatever StraightTalk/TracPhone uses. If the planets align properly and the temperature is just so, and I stand on one leg, I can sometimes get a weak, slow Verizon signal there for a few minutes a week—even with my big directional antenna and booster. Otherwise I have to drive about 30 miles to the closest major town, and then the bandwidth is crowded. I was SO tempted to get a prepaid T-Mobile phone just to use at my friend's place. It was easier and cheaper to just bid farewell and go elsewhere.

 

[MoTiger]

Has anybody seen this? Yahoo Mobile? Unlimited for $40/month. That's less than half of what I'm paying now (YAHOO!). Traveling Robert mentioned it in his latest video. I never heard of this before.

Does anybody have anything to share about this? I wonder what might be the downside to this?

https://www.yahoomobile.com/

And here's a link to the video that mentions it:

-Stymie

 

[Camper]

A quick Google search on Yahoo Mobile:

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/ve...le-based-on-visible-unlimited-data-for-39-99/

 

[wayne49]

"Verizon Launches Yahoo!Mobile – Based on Visible"

"$39.99/month, taxes and fees included"

Might as well get Visible and join a group and pay $25.

Here's the good/bad news:
"with unlimited mobile hotspot data for a single device at a time, throttled to 5mbps"

Unlimited data (yippee!) throttled to 5mbps (whoa!).

The Yahoo! brand is not as great as Verizon thinks it is.

 

[MoTiger]

So, 5 Mbps. The Yahoo advertising doesn't say that. It says 4G, and this:

"In times of traffic, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic."

I guess "times of traffic" means always? I knew there must be a catch & you can't expect a telecom company to be honest & upfront with the facts.

I'm in a state park just outside Sioux Falls, and I just tested my internet speed: 21 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up. I imagine that's as good as it will ever get while camping.

-Stymie

 

[wayne49]

"throttled to 5mbps" was a direct copy and paste quote from the Yahoo!Mobile official website at the time of my post.
I see that it's gone now.

 

[MoTiger]

I still would like to hear the experience of people who have actually used Yahoo Mobile. Traveling Robert is satisfied with the service and he's a major YouTube RVer. I believe he mentioned in his video that it isn't real fast, but that out in the field he usually doesn't get much faster connections anyway, so he doesn't notice any difference.

 

[Camper]

I prefer Visible for the same plan at $25.