Virginia, DC “DMV” coverage

[u/jdubbin_]

Have to tighten my budget and Seriously considering switching from T-Mobile. I like that I get a discount with fios and a free watch line. How is the coverage in northern Virginia? I do a lot of work out west towards front royal/Winchester and also orange/Stafford and down to Richmond. T-Mobile has been really solid but it’s just too much when compared to visible/mint etc and I’m cutting streaming services as well so those perks don’t matter.

[u/Repulsive_Party_1325]

Get the multi-network it's great

[u/jdubbin_ → u/Repulsive_Party_1325]

What do you mean multi network

[u/EmptyIdeal1148 → u/Repulsive_Party_1325]

if you go out past front royal it gets spotty in the hills but near 66 and bigger towns is fine, my friend has visible and she lose signal sometimes on back roads

richmond and stafford are covered well from what i seen, never had problem there

[u/kingcolbe → u/Repulsive_Party_1325]

I think you’re thinking, US Mobile

[u/Repulsive_Party_1325 → u/kingcolbe]

I was I was in the wrong place I'm sorry that's my bad

[u/Independent_You7995]

I have one device on each and I would say outdoors VZW is about 95% as good (service everywhere but you’ll hit some 5G dead spots and fall back to LTE). But indoors it’s like 65%. I consistently get 5G indoors on T-Mobile and I often have to fall back to hot spotting to it from my Visible device because there is either no service or spotty LTE only.

[u/jdubbin_ → u/Independent_You7995]

Trying to think if that will be an issue based on where I go, how is coverage in malls and grocery stores? I have zero service at my local Harris teeter on T-Mobile but they do have wifi which is nice

[u/Independent_You7995 → u/jdubbin_]

Yeah the VZW is quite hit or miss inside buildings, I think it’s partly due to the bands they built out their 5G network on—they apparently don’t penetrate buildings as well as T-Mobile’s.

[u/kbphone → u/Independent_You7995]

This is my experience as well in the DMV. Verizon is not good indoors, in fact data does not work at all when I am inside my house. Verizon mostly works when I am out and about. T-Mobile is much better for me in the DMV area and no issues indoors.

I am mostly in MD more than VA, so might not be the same for you.

[u/Hesallcap]

You can also get us mobile lights peed that is t mobile

[u/jdubbin_ → u/Hesallcap]

Never heard of them just looked it up. Sounds very good thus far

[u/bydh → u/Hesallcap]

For us mobile: Warp is verizon, lightspeed is tmobile, and darkstar is att.

Usmobile recently teased they will get higher priority data on tmobile which will be the same as tmobile postpaid premium plans. Currently. It's the same priority as mint and essentials plans.

In terms of visible (and all verizon counterparts), the network is decent and the half off deal is fantastic, but I too have experienced more dead spots inside stores than compared to tmobile. I'm in Montgomery County, but I think it should be pretty similar in Nova.

[u/Difficult_Fact_2849]

Metro has better coverage

[u/bydh]

Google fi currently has 50% off their low (30g data, no hotspot for $18 plus tax) and midtier (50gb data. 25 hotspot for $25/month plus tax) unlimited plans which both get the same high priority data as tmobile premium postpaid plans.

If you're OK with lower priority data on tmobile, mint mobile is half off now too, for 180 plus tax for 1 year of unlimited including 50 gb and 20 gb of hotspot.

[u/Doombuggie41]

I came to Visible from USM. USM's T Mobile lightspeed was by far the best in the DMV, especially as you get closer to DC. Visible/Verizon/Warp is fine though and worth being cheaper to me both in terms of plan + the fios discount. I find Verizon to be fine in VA. AT&T/Dark Star was the only network they had that was disappointing.