Required legal disclosure: I have connections with employees at Verizon and US Mobile, but none had any input over this blog post in any way.
My family and I have been paying (and so far, incredibly happy/loyal) US Mobile customers for almost a year now. We chose the Verizon (“Warp 5G”) network — as the only other option was T-Mobile (“GSM 5G”) and they kind of suck here. We were leaving AT&T behind after two and a half years due to their poor customer service, and the constant disabling of my SIM specifically. I even wrote a blog post about it back in November!
And for anyone who was curious: we have four lines for cheaper than what three costed on AT&T. I’m convinced they were ripping us off. US Mobile is better than AT&T ever was.
There’s a reason I’m not a fan of T-Mobile
Both T-Mobile and Sprint were (and still are) the smallest networks here in the Capital Region (and Bennington, especially). I had Sprint back in middle school, so I’m very familiar with their network coverage, and I can assure you — it did not expand that much before merging with T-Mobile. They basically expanded in the cities, but not the rural areas. AT&T and Verizon were miles ahead, literally, on that.
T-Mobile, thankfully, does have some roaming agreements if you’re with them directly (aka not through Metro or another MVNO). I know a local company here, VTel Wireless (“VTW” as it’s known on phones), has a contract with them. As for a more recognizable name to random people reading this, well, US Cellular also lets T-Mobile customers roam onto their network. All automatically, and with no additional charges in most cases (as far as I know).
Let me put it this way: there’s a reason T-Mobile is rated the least reliable, and smallest network, where I live. Even acquiring Sprint, they can’t keep up with the other Big Two.
But Verizon’s not great, either
Verizon’s coverage map may seem okay, but it’s really optimistic for rural areas. My house, for example, is shown as being capable of getting 5G (non-UW), but I can assure you, we only get two bars of LTE in our front yard. And it’s incredibly slow, too.
In the next town over, Verizon coverage doesn’t exist unless you go downtown. Insult to injury, our Verizon store is in the dead zone, and has to use a cell booster hooked into their internet service just to do phone activations. I was told by a former Verizon rep who worked at that store that they used to have to drive down the road to do them at one point, too.
Moral of the story is… Verizon coverage is acceptable, but it’s not going to work for everyone. Especially in rural areas.
Enter AT&T, which I think US Mobile *needs*
Recently, the CEO of US Mobile published a poll to the company’s official subreddit asking folks if it should AT&T as an additional network. I’m sure you can guess that I immediately sided with AT&T, and it seems most of everyone else agreed.
Thankfully, as I was writing the blog post, the CEO came forward to state that AT&T’s “wholesale team is incredible and we are trying to make this work,” when referring to US Mobile potentially being a network choice for the MVNO’s customers.
I know it’s not exactly apples-to-apples, but my dad has FirstNet (which is owned and operated by AT&T) for work and he has coverage basically everywhere we don’t, and then some, with Verizon. Although, as far as we can tell, 5G coverage is about the same in our area with either carrier (and non-existent with T-Mobile), so take that as you will.
AT&T’s the largest mobile network here in the States. It has the best network footprint in both rural areas and cities. None of this is an ad, or an endorsement, I’m speaking from experience (and echoing the thoughts and findings of many people, too).
My offer to US Mobile
When or if US Mobile gets AT&T coverage internally, I’m publicly offering to be an external beta tester. I think it’d be very beneficial to hear from a customer who would benefit significantly from the use of AT&T’s network instead of Verizon’s on US Mobile. Especially a customer who lives somewhere where AT&T’s infrastructure has actually been rapidly expanding, unlike Verizon’s.
To US Mobile: If that interests you, have somebody reach out. I’d love to work with you! My email is [email protected].
But why offer at all?
Because I believe in the company and its mission. I believe the CEO knows how to properly listen to their customers, and implement their feedback. I believe in affordable, flexible mobile phone services.
After all, there’s a reason I chose them when I switched from AT&T following their egregious behaviour with my account. It wasn’t just because I wanted to get away from AT&T’s random shut downs of my mobile line, or random SIM card issues.
There other benefits, too, of course — like helping iron out any issues in a rural area, testing while traveling around (including passing through some major cities), etc.
US Mobile has already shaken up the MVNO market. And I want to help them keep doing more of the same. This sort of thing is desperately needed, in my opinion!
The post US Mobile needs AT&T as an option appeared first on Slade Watkins.