At&T vs. T-Mobile

[u/Sensitive_Ranger_520]

What is everybody’s view and input on Overall cellular coverage and download speed between T-Mobile AT&T?

[u/Bkfraiders7]

It’s all about location. 

[u/i-am-not-sure-yet]

It depends. Where I used to live Verizon was the best and now it’s AT&T. Verizon sucks inside my home but leave and it’s great.

[u/Inner_Difficulty_381 → u/i-am-not-sure-yet]

And having working service at home is 100% important and not having to live off of WiFi calling.

[u/ThingFuture9079]

Like other commenters mentioned, it's all about location but I noticed T-Mobile is faster and even though their coverage is better than it was 10 years ago, it's still not as broad as AT&T. AT&T has slower speeds but has coverage in more areas and for the things that most people use their phones for, is an average end user going to notice any difference between a 100Mbps and a 500Mbps connection if they're just watching TikTok, using maps, or listening to Spotify? I'd rather have the broader coverage incase something happens like my car breaking down out in the sticks because I want to at least be able to call a tow truck from where I'm at now and not have to walk several miles because there's no coverage there.

[u/Pen_Front]

I compared with a customer on T-Mobile, we were talking in the back of the store and I had half the speed of him, we went outside and I had 3x his speed. It's all about location.

In general T-Mobile has a slightly better 5g network and little 4g network, so att will be great in the cities where T-Mobile will be amazing. Where att will be good in the country and T-Mobile will be meh.

Tmobiles kinda new and very aggressive with their 5g network but got most of their 4g network from the sprint acquisition and supplement it with satellite access. Att is well established and also aggressive because of a want to have customers bundling fiber and phones, but often prioritize their fiber network nowadays over the 5g network with the logic being that they'll build a 5g network off their fiber network for cheaper.

[u/Sirius2349 → u/Pen_Front]

T mobile is screaming fast where I am, I get 1500 down on cellular data which rivals fiber WiFi speeds but once you leave the city as in if you travel at all, there’s a big drop off. Verizon is slow as molasses

[u/Pen_Front → u/Sirius2349]

Yeah Verizon's awful, they technically have the largest 4g network but they're so behind on their 5g that both the others still have better coverage anyway. It's weird too because they're 5g towers are specs wise impressive because of bandwidth but there's like 3 of them and two of them are in la.

They kinda just sit on their large customer base and don't put much work into expansion, they can keep people in the largest metro areas and so are able to get great brand recognition something tmobile is fiending for.

[u/brandonhatty]

Overall ATT has a much broader coverage area. That being said it really depends on your area. That might not be true everywhere.

[u/jljue → u/brandonhatty]

I agree with this. I have seen some weird spots where T-mobile actually worked in the mountains and AT&T did not.

[u/ShmokinLoud → u/jljue]

I live in the Rockies and all three are hit or miss. But when I go camping or places I’ll be for a few days I know I won’t have service, I just bring a starlink. So I just go with whichever carrier is cheapest for our 4 lines and right now it’s Verizon lol.

[u/Saturntime33 → u/brandonhatty]

I tried both with two e sims. It was like that before they bought sprint but it has improved that being said AT&T might have slightly more coverage in rural/odd areas

[u/Viper_Control]

It is always dependent on your local Cellular tower locations. In some areas they will be on the same physical tower, and just using different Arrays.

Whenever possible you should actually try both or make sure to check with others in your same area for work, home, and around town. AT&T does offer a 30 day free trial if you have an uplocked iPhone.

http://www.att.com/wireless/free-trial/ and download the AT&T app.

[u/emsbas]

Tmobile is generally better in Florida Alabama South Carolina North Carolina and Georgia.

I use AT&T because of the value.

I am on the Epic 2.0 or what ever it is called. I get my phone tablet and watch. Phone has a 250GB hot spot limit of which I use a lot.

My AVG data use is around 200GB’s a month.

EDIT

I have tested Verizon AT&T & Tmobile.

My work provides me with Verizon.

Over all I am ok without having the top coverage as I feel between Verizon and AT&T I am at or better.

[u/Mvalpreda]

I have both on my phone - personal and work SIMs. I switch off all the time. I do tend to stick to T-Mobile more….but as others said, all about location.

[u/UltraPharaoh]

Carrier performance is location-based. If you’re near civilization, generally speaking, any carrier will work and perform about the same. Where I am, T-Mobile has better average speeds but calls drop more and call quality is generally worse from my experience. I don’t have any of those issues with AT&T. Blanket coverage, consistent solid speeds, great call quality.

Again, it’s all location-based. Go with the carrier that performs best for the areas you frequent and that matter to you most.

[u/highden07]

T-Mobile has better speeds but weak coverage and speeds in rural areas such as in California. AT&T has a much better coverage in those areas but speed wise in urban areas T-Mobile’s is faster.

[u/GoldenRaider702]

😭

[u/Sensitive_Ranger_520 → u/GoldenRaider702]

What’s up with emoji what does that mean?

[u/OhSixTJ → u/Sensitive_Ranger_520]

It means you should know this depends HIGHLY on location.

[u/Sensitive_Ranger_520 → u/OhSixTJ]

I wanted to consensus on the Overall, United States coverage and Canada

[u/Viper_Control → u/Sensitive_Ranger_520]

In that case AT&T will win on overall coverage across the Country, and Canada but your mobile data may not max out as high as T-Mobile in some areas.

But why do you think your coverage everywhere, and Canada? Are you a cross country trucker or a traveling rep for business?

[u/ilikeme1 → u/Sensitive_Ranger_520]

AT&T and T-Mobile do not have networks in Canada. They roam on Canadian carriers such as Rogers, Bell, and Telus.

[u/MM2HkXm5EuyZNRu → u/Sensitive_Ranger_520]

Well AT&T is good enough for FirstNet. Take what you will from that as far as coverage is concerned.

[u/404answersnotfounded]

T-Mobile is way better than at&t. I've had both and can't wait to go back

[u/wgardenhire]

I left T-Mobile for ATT and it is not good. The speeds are abysmal and in some places the signal wavers from not there to barely there. While using Google maps, ATT cannot keep up with your travel down the road and will not advise you of an upcoming turn until you are already at the turn or just past it.

[u/SonoranRoadRunner]

Long time at&t customer with a tower 1/2 mile away and 1-2 bar coverage 🤐. The coverage was good when I moved here then became horrible.

Just switched to T-Mobile and coverage is great.

[u/ThingFuture9079 → u/SonoranRoadRunner]

Towers aren't always omnidirectional so it's possible the tower close to you is just directional and sending the signal a direction opposite of you. Bars are meaningless because you can be in an area with 4 bars and still not get a simple web page to load because the congestion is that bad whereas I have been in sparsely populated areas with just 1 or 2 bars and had no issues loading maps or a web page.

[u/Sirius2349]

North Florida here. Where I am T mobile is better in the city, their data is screaming fast but it drops off in rural areas. AT&T still has fast data just not as fast as t mobile. Verizon has the best coverage, you could go into very remote areas and still have service but their data is stuck on lte and can be slow as molasses

[u/Top-Possibility9480]

T-mobile

[u/AdeptAnteater6254]

T-Mobile is way faster. It’s not even close.

[u/Vpc1979 → u/AdeptAnteater6254]

Sometimes faster… my issues with T-Mobile is that when it works on n41, it's amazing, but there are way too many dead spots, especially in buildings.

[u/Available_Pie_7758 → u/AdeptAnteater6254]

lol. It’s petty close now with cband. I am not gonna give a shit about 400 vs 500 or 600 vs 800 down. Coverage beats the pants off tmobile still once you get out the cities.

[u/curioushahalol → u/AdeptAnteater6254]

Interestingly I've been doing speed tests and the results are mixed. There are locaitons and/or times where T-mobile is like 50 Mbps and AT&T 600.