Best Cell Service for Traveling

[SilverRhino]

Now that we are both going to be retired, our travel destinations will be expanding. When going out for two week vacations or long weekends, we have been visiting the same areas each year. Now that work will no longer be an issue are we are planning on traveling much further away from home and to many new areas. Locally we have been happy with our AT&T service, but are wondering if it is the best choice for travel. We will also finally be upgrading to smart phones..... giving up our flip phones.

I have been comparing AT&T to Verizon......Just wondering what experience others have had using either one of these while traveling across the country, and does one provide better coverage than the other?

Thanks for any advice you an offer!

 

[pegmikef]

Don't know about AT&T, but I have had excellent results with Verizon. No problems. I also use Verizon for my MIFI internet connection.

 

[danemayer]

My advice would be to look at your planned or likely travel stops on both the AT&T and Verizon coverage maps. Check out both voice and data coverage. Zoom all the way in to the street level view. For any given location, the wide view might show excellent coverage but the zoomed in view will show the gaps. That applies for all carriers. Being in an excellent coverage area doesn't help if your campground is in a gap area.

You'll also want to watch out for partner/roaming support, which is never as good as the company's owned and operated support. I used to run into that all the time with AT&T. When they provide coverage through a partner, the partner may provide a lower level of service than they might give their direct customers.

Careful with discount offers. VirginMobileUSA for example uses the Sprint network. They've historically charged less than Sprint. But in many areas (Montana, Idaho, and many more), Sprint doesn't own any equipment; they depend on roaming agreements with local partners. When we had it a few years ago, VirginMobileUSA's plan didn't provide any roaming coverage, so we had no service in many locations.

 

[MikeR]

We had AT&T service ffor many years. Once we started traveling to many different parts of the country, we became very dissatified with AT&T. We switched to Verizon and have been very pleased with their service. We use it for both cell phone service and data with our Verizon MiFi.

 

[buddyboy]

We use Verizon and have had no issues in our travels. We've been coast to coast (and back) twice, visiting 38 states so far. There were a couple of dead spots in Montana and South Dakota, but no big deal.

 

[wdk450]

I have gone to remote campouts with my NorLows camping club in Northern California. I have a Jitterbug phone that uses Verizon Cell towers. I have been the only member at group campouts with cell service. I recently did buy a Wilson booster cradle for about $80 from Amazon. At Thousand Trails Lake of the Springs I got very intermittent service in my Bighorn (although my Verizon internet hotspot worked O.K.). With the booster cradle my cell signal went from "No Signal" to "Fair" (2 steps up).

 

[Brazos]

This last week I switched back to Verizon from AT&T. I switched to AT&T from Verizon a little over two years ago. AT&T worked well in big cities and along the interstates. However I did get dropped with minimal service many times during my travels. The problem was the data for the smart phone. If you take a look at the coverage maps for all the different carriers you will notice if you on the East side of the country there is better coverage than the West side. This is probably so. I switched back to Verizon because I felt I had better service and coverage with Verizon.

 

[MTPockets]

Verizon. We've travelled from FL to Alaska, CAN, CA, IN, WA, ME and everywhere n between. Overall Verizon.

 

[Gaffer]

Hands down Verizon. We use the MIFI for internet and have been without a land line for years now.

 

[DocFather]

This last week I switched back to Verizon from AT&T. I switched to AT&T from Verizon a little over two years ago. AT&T worked well in big cities and along the interstates. However I did get dropped with minimal service many times during my travels. The problem was the data for the smart phone. If you take a look at the coverage maps for all the different carriers you will notice if you on the East side of the country there is better coverage than the West side. This is probably so. I switched back to Verizon because I felt I had better service and coverage with Verizon.

My exact experience. I had Cingular/ATT from 2000-2013. In 2013, I traveled with a Biker Brother for 3 months that summer, mostly in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana. Most of the time, in urban areas, we both had great signals for duplex talking. When I had a signal, out in rural areas, he did too. But when I didn't have any signal, or maybe just a data signal for texting, he ALWAYS seemed to have an adequate duplex talk signal. When he had no signal at all, neither did I. He has Verizon and now, so do I, since 2 weeks after that trip. LOL

As for here on my farm, I was able to get rid of my land line after switching to Verizon.

 

[BLHFUN]

Verizon for both MIFI and cells. We traveled 14 states last year. Zero problems except for remote West Virginia mountains which was expected.. Verizon data coverage is unbeatable in my opinion.

 

[jnbhobe]

We have used Cell-one and AT&T but Verizon has been the best we have had.

 

[iowaone]

We have been to many states. Verizon for us. We nearly always have phone and most of the time excellent data service

 

[VKTalley]

We have had good coverage with AT&T with minimal issues but as others have stated, it comes down to personal choice. Also, as we have discovered, the coverage maps are not accurate.

 

[JohnD]

We have had Verizon for years . . . and so far only one place close to civilization where we didn't have service!

At one of our favorite campgrounds (near the Royal Gorge) everyone was walking around the campground talking on their cell phones . . . yet we had no service!

When I asked the owner of the park about it, he said: "Oh, you must have Verizon!"

For whatever reason, there is no Verizon coverage in that one mile stretch of road along Hwy 50 at the top of the hill in the Royal Gorge area.

That was about five years ago . . . might have to go there soon to see if Verizon has picked up the top of that hill!



Took this shot from our campsite there . . .

 

[8amps]

We are full timing and at the moment we have 1 ATT phone, 1 TMobile Phone and 1 Verizon MIFI. Verizon MIFI signal has been good everywhere but the national parks we've been to. (I know we should be enjoying nature, etc. but sometimes ya gotta make your next set of travel plans!) On the road everywhere else have been able to get signal. I am using it right now at Goose Island State Park in Texas. Had to bump it up to 10G @ $80/mo, 5 just wasn't enough. If you want to stream movies, etc. you will need more than 10.
We went to the Escapade Rally in Tucson in February and the Technomadia tech classes suggested having an overlap (different carriers) if connectivity is imperative as it is for them (and us). I am planning to switch over to Verizon phone, just haven't done it yet, haven't decided on a Galaxy note 4 (is it too big?) or a S5 (or I think the S6 might be out now too). And no, I don't want an Iphone. Phil has one and I have an iPad and I don't like either. Anyhooo, the overlapping coverage has worked for us, one of us usually has a signal. FWIW. But you don't get a family plan discount.

 

[DocFather]

We are full timing and at the moment we have 1 ATT phone, 1 TMobile Phone and 1 Verizon MIFI. Verizon MIFI signal has been good everywhere but the national parks we've been to. (I know we should be enjoying nature, etc. but sometimes ya gotta make your next set of travel plans!) On the road everywhere else have been able to get signal. I am using it right now at Goose Island State Park in Texas. Had to bump it up to 10G @ $80/mo, 5 just wasn't enough. If you want to stream movies, etc. you will need more than 10.
We went to the Escapade Rally in Tucson in February and the Technomadia tech classes suggested having an overlap (different carriers) if connectivity is imperative as it is for them (and us). I am planning to switch over to Verizon phone, just haven't done it yet, haven't decided on a Galaxy note 4 (is it too big?) or a S5 (or I think the S6 might be out now too). And no, I don't want an Iphone. Phil has one and I have an iPad and I don't like either. Anyhooo, the overlapping coverage has worked for us, one of us usually has a signal. FWIW. But you don't get a family plan discount.

I have had the Note 2 for almost 2 years and really like it, especially the size. When I am eligible for an upgrade in 2 months, Dana is inheriting my Note 2 and I am going for the Note 4.

 

[Jim Posz]

We went to western Canada and Alaska last summer. When trip planning we learned that US Cellular, our previous carrier, did not have a partnership with a Canadian company and would have had ridiculous roaming fees in Canada. Verizon, however, let us add Canadian text and talk to two lines for $15 per month. The Verizon Jetpack worked pretty well in remote areas of the lower 48 and much of Alaska (some data services only cover the lower 48); however at that time Verizon did not have a partnership for data service in Canada and data would have been very costly. Hope this helps.
Jim

 

[jmgratz]

I have an I-Phone with ATT and the wife has a Motorola Droid with Verizon. We travel alot and have found places where ATT works and places where Verizon works. Go to the Texas Hill country and there are places where Verizon is non-existent. We also have an I-Pad using Verizon and a Verizon Mi-Fi and an ATT Mi-Fi. It really depends on where you go. I would recommend one get ATT and the other (spouse) get Verizon. Then you are covered. Don't waste your money on Sprint. Our son has Sprint and it drops the call almost every time we talk.