Verizon or sprint?

[Walkerman]

We have Verizon but can save money with sprint.  Any opinions.  We are not unhappy with Verizon, it is just expensive.

[247hoopsfan]

I had Sprint for almost 20 years from the very beginning of cell phones.  A few years ago their coverage got so bad in the eBay Area I left for Verizon.   I get a corporate discount and my company pays for my plan but I pay for my wife.  VZW still has the best coverage, but Sprint has gotten better from what I hear.  But if you want to save some $$ you should check out Boost or Virgin.  My adult daughter had Sprint and just left for Boost.  Same service as Sprint, but only $35 per month for unlimited everything.
She has noticed no difference between Sprint and Boost coverage and data speed.

[Walkerman]

How about t mobile
.

[George]

I had similar experiences as 247Hoopsfan and have tried several different carriers over the years, and we just have had the best service all around with Verizon so we just stick it out...  I think it depends a lot on where you are and where you go that somewhat determines who will provide the best service for You.  I have learned not to trust any of them's coverage maps, most are way too optimistic.

[Paraclete]

Definitely depends on your area and what your needs are.  Verizon has the best coverage into remote rural parts in my area.  I'm all over the county (and we are hilly here) because of my job, so reliable coverage is important.  However, if you don't stray much outside a particular area and coverage is reasonable with other carriers, you can probably save money with other carriers.  Might be worth posting to a local forum (such as community Facebook groups) to get an idea of what's best.

[Riverbend]

Quite a few variables involved as others have mentioned. I had Sprint for years but their coverage where I live now was horrible, so when someone came over with a Verizon phone, and they had a great signal, we switched. This was several years ago, and nowadays Verizon decided they didn't need a tower in our rural area and that once great signal is now a very poor and unreliable one. $400 dollars later and a booster antennae, we now have a fair signal, and no other options. Have friends with different providers come visit to admire your beautiful Larrivee guitars and see what kind of signal they have at your house. Try before you buy. 

[broKen]

I need a booster antennae also. Wilson signal boosters are good.

[eded]

It's area sensitive...  different providers have different coverage maps.

I have had Tracfone for as long as I've had cell phones...  here in my area they use the Verizon network.  Per phone in the house (there are 5), we average around $160 dollars a year plus the price of the phone (less than latest iPhones, mostly 6 and SE these days).  There is a little extra geek time setting up phones and such, but they work great and are relatively inexpensive.

Fwiw, my wife is the heaviest user and she is more like $200 a year...  still pretty affordable.  Tracfone has recently started carrying iPhone SE 32G for about $160.

Ed

[George]

I need a booster antennae also. Wilson signal boosters are good.

Ditto, I use the same brand with a high gain yagi antenna mounted on top of my tower.  Without it we would have no service at all at home...

[unclrob]

After 17 years with Sprint my wife ha settled on T-Mobile mostly for price.I do get to keep my flip phone I know its the idiot brother of the smart phone but I'm an idiot with tec stuff.

[Riverbend]

I need a booster antennae also. Wilson signal boosters are good.

Yep, Wilson here. I built a PVC mast to mount the antennae way up at the roof peak and aimed the thing at the nearest tower, which is about 7 miles away.

[broKen]

Yep, Wilson here. I built a PVC mast to mount the antennae way up at the roof peak and aimed the thing at the nearest tower, which is about 7 miles away.

That's exactly what I did. Roof peak is 20' off ground plus 25' of mast. I get 2-3 bars of signal.

[flatlander]

I agree that it's a better question for local people using service in the same areas you are.  I think in general it's like this. Verizon and AT&T took quality speed and coverage very seriously and battled for years for the best ratings by companies that drive test markets. Verizon usually won out overall, country wide. While those 2 were always on top the other guys weren't THAT far behind. So T-Mobile and Sprint start marketing, hey why pay so much more for 1 or 2 better % points over coverage and speed. They cut prices down and put pressure on the big boys who had to start offering unlimited at lower prices. Big boys still like their money. I know Verizon first cut back on deals offered to employees and now this fall had a 10% RIF/layoffs. Weather they cut back on adding infrastructure type stuff since price drops I don't know. Out of loop since retired. Also you have merger possiblities between the smaller guys. So things could be in flux for a while. With that as background, know what's important to you. Do you need the best possible speed and coverage available? And then ask local people. Maybe it's possible to get the results of 3rd party driving tests for area?  Here's a link to "Root Metrics"  It's probably the main independent drive testing data collector out there and what Verizon watched like a hawk to stay on top. You can select the data numbers or coverage maps for your area. And zoom in. Ventura was a spot to click on I noticed.  Also in a very quick glance I noticed Verizon was NOT on top there.  http://www.rootmetrics.com/en-US/home    So put that against price desires.