A few years ago, my parents made the unfortunate decision to finally kick me off of the family plan. No, it’s not because I was no longer “part of the family,” but rather because it was time for me to “grow up” (their words, not mine).
The timing of that decision couldn’t have been better though because it happened right as T-Mobile introduced the T-Mobile One phone plan. It’s insane to think back to that time as back then, the T-Mobile One Unlimited plan was vastly superior than anything else available. All other carriers charged insane rates for unlimited plans and no carries included international coverage for free.
So, while getting kicked off our family plan hurt, it was a great excuse to switch to T-Mobile One. I made that switch a few years ago and honestly, never really looked back. While I realized that T-Mobile didn’t offer the best coverage in the United States, I also knew that the price was the best around. Over the years however and I’ve grown tired of T-Mobile. So much so that earlier this year I started looking around to find a new cell service provider. Eventually, as you can deduce from the title of this post, I left T-Mobile for greener pastures.
My Time With T-Mobile
The first few months with T-Mobile were excellent. Just take a look at this glowing review I wrote back in early 2017. I really loved my decision to join #TeamMagenta and for a while, never looked back.
Over time however, my love of T-Mobile faded. One of the reasons for this is the free GoGo WiFi. See, when I first signed up for T-Mobile I was still flying American Airlines mostly and American primarily used GoGo WiFi on their domestic flights. However, over time, American has moved away for GoGo in favor of other WiFi providers. Therefore, I no longer receive free WiFi when flying with American (or United).
Another reason my love of T-Mobile faded is the poor international service. T-Mobile One includes free international data and texting when abroad in something like 170 countries. However, only 2G service is included. This means that it’s nearly impossible to send or receive photos and video calls are impossible. The service was so bad in fact, that earlier this year I signed up for Google Fi and picked up a Pixel 3 which I now use my primary mobile device when traveling internationally.
Finally, the real reason I left T-Mobile was the poor cell reception domestically. T-Mobile has fantastic “coverage” in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean they have great reception. What I’m trying to say is that usually I have very poor cell reception. When I’m on an airplane I can’t send texts or open the internet. When I’m at my office I can hardly use my phone. Basically, everywhere I go, my phone struggles for reception. All of this means that my phone has to work extremely hard all day long to stay connected. As a result, the battery life on my phone is terrible.
Switching To Verizon
For the past several months I’ve considered switching carriers cell phone providers. Originally I tried to switch to Google Fi as my primary carrier, but didn’t want to leave the Apple Ecosystem. I love my Google Pixel 3, but I love the iPhone a little bit more. I can use an iPhone on Google Fi, but that basically means I’m stuck to T-Mobile cell towers, which defeats the purpose. So, I then turned to AT&T and Verizon. Not surprisingly the prices and plans of both were nearly identical. I was leaning toward Verizon because my work phone is with Verizon and the service is consistently excellent.
Ultimately, I went with Verizon because my sister and her fiancee recently switched to Verizon as well. This meant that I could join their family plan and pay just $55/month since I’m their 3rd line. This dropped all 3 of our monthly phone bills so it was a true win win situation.
My Short Lived Experience With Verizon
I’ve had Verizon for a few weeks now as my primary mobile service provider and I couldn’t be happier with the decision to switch. For starters, I now get great service everywhere. No matter where I am, in a building, in a plane, in an elevator, I get service. I even get great cell reception in the center of my office building.
Since switching, I haven’t run into a single area where I haven’t had at least decent coverage. The few times where I did lose service were in areas that are known dead zones which I pass through fairly quickly. During my time with Verizon, I haven’t had issues loading web pages, texting, or browsing social media. Overall, Verizon just works the way you would expect. Verizon works the way all cell service providers should in 2019 (almost 2020).
An added benefit of the switch is that my phone’s battery life is improved. I’m not saying that I now go days without charging it, but overall I’ve notice that the phone holds a charge a bit longer that it has before. This is especially true when watching Netflix or YouTube over cellular. There is a good chance that this battery life observation is in my head as I have no data to back up this claim. Still, I rarely need to charge mid-day, which is what I expect from a phone.
Final Thoughts
Now I realize that this post isn’t all that informative. I don’t outline all of the plan details and pricing. I also don’t have speed tests or coverage maps to back up my claims, nor do I have battery life metrics. However, I think this post is important for the sake of transparency. I’ve long shared with readers and friends that I use T-Mobile and have for a while, highly recommended the service. Now though, I just can’t recommend T-Mobile given how competitive other carriers have become. Sure the price is great it’s a good cell phone plan, but other carriers have caught up and are now just as competitively priced while providing better coverage.
I’m sad to lose my free international coverage, but I’m now saving $15/month which means I don’t feel as bad about keeping my Google Fi account active for just $20/month. When I was traveling internationally I was taking both phones with me anyway so that will continue going forward. The one thing I need to remember to do though is to turn off my cell service when abroad. Lord knows that the last thing I need is for my sister to see international roaming charges on our bill! I imagine that will not be a fun conversation…
Overall, I’m happy with my decision to go with Verizon. If I were a single line paying $80/month I think I would still make the switch and pay $10/month more for better service. That being said, paying $55/month for our family plan made switching a no-brainer.
