Cell phone recommendations

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That's kinda like having "RV" and "quality" in the same sentence. From reading here, most use Verizon, with AT&T coming in at a close second.
 
Howdy Summer,

You might want to read that article:
https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/resources/the-four-major-us-carriers-data-comparison/

--
  Vall.
 
Summer9192000 said:
Want efficiency and low cost.

You want your cake and to eat it too?

Verizon is good but expensive.  So if you want low cost your going to have to choose
a plan with little data or use a different company for service.

With that said I know first hand at my Fathers place Verizon DOES NOT WORK but Sprint works fine.
So there are going to be some places where some services don't work but others do.
I was recently camping and a friend had AT&T and had no service but Sprint and Verizon did work there.

Unfortunately there is no ONE service that is best in ALL areas - if there was, all the others would be out of business
or they would have to be dirt cheap to survive.

Getting a cell booster is probably your best bet if you have to have service most all the time. 
 
Depending on where you travel and your actual needs, Verizon offers the best ovetall coverage.  Tmobile, and the other cheap carriers generally loose out once you leave main population areas.
 
Verizon first, Sprint is the next choice. They are pouring big money into their infrastructure as I also carry a Sprint phone grandfathered plan when I worked there.
T mobile is the worst but best for phones financially, they just like to Exaggerate their service.
ATT is good if you want international roaming .
 
We find that Verizon has the best coverage nationwide, although there are a few places where other carriers might be better, and there are still a few places left in this big country where NONE work because there are no cell towers.  We RVers tend to go places that are out of the way so sometimes we have to drive down the road a bit to get a signal.  A temporary inconvenience but unexpected for newbies, especially those city-bred who expect coverage everywhere.  When you talk with various carriers ask to see their coverage map.

Back in the age of dinosaurs when we first got cell phones we both had AT&T, then one of us switched to Verizon, and now we both have Verizon.  In the early days of the RV Forum we all had Verizon because Verizon-to-Verizon calls were "free" and part of the plan.  I think that's when we started our transition.

We had Sprint many years ago when we had a stick & brick in Southern California.  It was pretty bad and we were glad to get away from it.  Hope it's improved!

ArdraF
 
We have two Tracfones, one with AT&T (where we have service at home) and Verizon.  Get the 365 day plans and add minutes and data as needed.  So far has worked for us.

Shelia
 
We also have Tracfone with our Android smart phones using Verizon. Our average cost is about $16/month using one-year service cards. We've only been in a couple of spots so far where the Verizon signals were marginal, but we also have AT&T as our primary Internet hotspot provider, so we simply used the VOIP app on our phones to make and receive calls then via the hotspot.
 
We've been very pleased with Consumer Cellular. They use the AT&T network, so there are few places that we don't have service (here in the Eagle Cliff campground near Lanesboro, MN, among hills and in a low area) is one of those few. CC is month to month (no contract) and has consistently increased our talk and data time, though we remain at the same "tier" of service. When we first started with them a few years ago we had 250 minutes of talk time. Our first data allotment was 400 MB/month. All this for $20 for the first line and $10/mo for each additional ($30/mo for us), and $20/mo for data. After the AARP discount, with all fees added, this leaves us at $57/mo.

We've had increased capacity added periodically by them such that, with the latest increase in the last month, we are now unlimited talk and text plus 3 GB/mo of data, still at that $57/mo. total cost.

So we're happy with CC.
 
If you travel nationwide, Verizon has the broadest geographical coverage. AT&T serves as many customers, but they are more concentrated in metro areas. Neither Verizon nor AT&T are the cheapest, but a cheap service that doesn't work where you need it is hardly a bargain, right?

Sprint and the other big but second tier providers provide good enough service but on a more localized basis. If you are where they are, they probably have a more cost effective deal than the Big Guys.

Bottom line is that it depends on where you travel.
 
Sometimes you can get good deals from the pay as you go service providers.  Tracfone's Straight Talk brand sold online and in Walmart stores use Verizon as their carrier for phones sold in many parts of the country, though not all.

I have a Straight Talk phone that uses T-Mobile as the carrier, and my coverage has been good so far.  I got a decent Alcatel smart phone in Walmart for $30 and unlimited calling with 3gb of high speed data is $35 per month
 
Hi Irover,
Irover said:
;D Buy two phones, a different carrier for each one! Problem solved!  :-\
This is *exactly* what we plan to do; will try to have a main line from either Verizon or AT&T (or one of the MVNOs associated with them like Straightalk, Cricket, etc) and a secondary line from T-Mobile. As the saying goes, "He who has two, has one", and a working phone/internet connection is critical enough to justify the extra expense for the redundancy.

Cheers,
--
  Vall.
 
VallAndMo said:
Hi Irover, This is *exactly* what we plan to do; will try to have a main line from either Verizon or AT&T (or one of the MVNOs associated with them like Straightalk, Cricket, etc) and a secondary line from T-Mobile. As the saying goes, "He who has two, has one", and a working phone/internet connection is critical enough to justify the extra expense for the redundancy.
I have had two smart phones with two different carriers for years. I haven LG G4 as my main phone on MetroPCS at $30 per month for two gigs. My backup phone is an LG Power L22 (which is identical to the G4 it just has a slightly smaller screen) that I use on Tracfone for $20 every 3 months. I keep the main phone in my pocket and the backup is charged up and turned off and sits in my glove box.
 
911 calls will be answered no matter what carrier you use.

Keep that in mind if there's an emergency and you don't have coverage from your carrier. It's a law. 

Discovered that when we were broke down in Elk California where four different major carriers weren't available. I dialed 911 and got help.
 
That's true, Arch, so long as SOME kind of service is available. My phone will even (in that case) say "Emergency Calls Only," but that doesn't help if there's nothing you can reach (true for me right now -- "No Service").
 
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