Cell carriers questions please.

[Joel S]

My current phone company is att and they have a huge coverage hole where we like to go. My wife and I are kicking around new phones and are considering going with Verizon. Does it make sense to change companies because of reception issues down there?  Has anyone else done this or considered it??
My current plan from the way days of the past is about $50 per month better, both with smart phones. It would cost $500 or so per year more to switch. It sure seems like the V guys always have good reception, sprint seems decent, att isn’t terrible but I sure have gaps down there. Att sees a new nelson tower towards the end of the year, sweet; I can text inside with ice cream.

Question is Sprint, Verizon, or stay with what I have?  Watching weather was great a few weeks back, helped stay dry. My other thought would be mechanical issues, including a crash. No coverage to me = no help if needed.

Thanks much for the time,
Joel

[Elk]

I have had Verizon for years.  I have traveled a lot throughout the country and have rarely had reception issues.  I have never had a phone, billing or other issue necessitating contacting customer service.  It is rare to have a call drop.

There are areas however where there isn't coverage when down in steep valleys where we like to ride.  This is likely to always be the case. 

From my experience and everything I have heard about ATT I would switch. 

[DaleB]

I've been with Verizon forever. I'm happy with them and their service but they are not perfect. There are some pretty big holes in their coverage area in WI between  Prescott and LaCrosse but on the whole, I think that their coverage is better than AT&T. My worst reception is at my house in southwest Minneapolis. It's better just about everywhere else.

There are a couple down sides to Verizon.

- If you have a smart phone (I do) you have to buy the unlimited data plan for $30/month. I only use 30-60MB of data a month and it would be nice if they had a tiered set of data plans by usage just like they do for talk time. I've heard rumors that this is in the works but nothing official.

- Verizon tends to lag the other carriers in support for the latest and greatest phones. They are a bit better than a few years ago but they are still slower to introduce new phones than the other carriers. OTOH, the reason that they are so slow and picky is that their hardware qualification process takes longer and is more thorough than the other carriers.

[Ray916MN]

That's allot of money to switch.

I've had Verizon and currently have Sprint. For coverage in Southwestern WI, Sprint is the best in my experience. They have the widest roaming coverage. AT&T seems to be the worst in this area. I seem to loan my phone to allot of people on AT&T in this area to make calls.

In major cities, Verizon was a little bit better than Sprint, but it was very close.

[vince]

I have had two phones both are company phone paid for by them. The Sprint phone worked 100% of the time and I could be in the middle of the Arrowhead Minnesota and it always worked. I have Verizon now and it works 95% of the time. There was a time we Had AT&T but the company drop them like all the dropped calls we were getting in just a couple of months.

[Joel S]

well, guess its not my hardware. 
thanks for the info guys,  will be helpful in making a decision.