Which has the best wireless?

Thread Starter

nanobyte

Joined May 26, 2004
120
If I was interested in obtaining wireless internet....In your opinion who provides the best wireless internet service? Verizon, AT&T...Clear?
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
What are your full choices? In my area of SW Lorain County, OH, ATT is not even an option -- no coverage. A private service with repeaters on silos, etc. provides the best and least expensive service.

John
 

maxpower097

Joined Feb 20, 2009
816
ATT by far. Speeds great, coverage is even better. I've also hear good things about verizon but haven't use it. I know its supposed to be a touch slower though.
 

retched

Joined Dec 5, 2009
5,207
AT&T is probably the worst rated wireless internet. The IPHONE traffic has sucked bandwidth dry. AT&T is talking about limiting IPhone owners bandwidth or charging for it, just to help with congestion.
Sprint is alright in my area
Verizon is alright in my area, too.
TMobile is horrible.
We have Cricket which is pretty good too.

I would go to the websites of the various providers and look at the coverage maps in your area. If you see a big gaping hole over your house, or where you plan to spend most of your time online, I would keep looking.

via New York Times:
More than 20 million other smartphone users are on the AT&T network, but other phones do not drain the network the way the nine million iPhones users do. Indeed, that is why the howls of protest are more numerous in the dense urban areas with higher concentrations of iPhone owners.

“It’s almost worthless to try and get on 3G during peak times in those cities,” Mr. Munster said, referring to the 3G network. “When too many users get in the area, the call drops.” The problems seem particularly pronounced in New York and San Francisco, where Mr. Munster estimates AT&T’s network shoulders as much as 20 percent of all the iPhone users in the United States.

Owners of the iPhone 3GS, the newest model, “have probably increased their usage by about 100 percent,” said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst. “It’s faster so they are using it more on a daily basis.”

Mr. Sharma compares the problem to water flowing through a pipe. “It can only funnel so much at a given time,” he said. “It comes down to peak capacity loads, or spikes in data usage. That’s why you see these problems at conferences or in large cities with high concentration of iPhone users.”

When thousands of iPhone owners descended on Austin, Tex., in March during South by Southwest, an annual technology and music conference, attendees were unable to send text messages, check their e-mail or make calls until AT&T installed temporary cell sites to amplify the service.
 

ELECTRONERD

Joined May 26, 2009
1,147
Verizon has excellent coverage for me. I previously had Quest and wasn't able to communicate outside of the two mountains that I live in between of, but now Verizon will let me communicate outside those mountains.

Austin
 
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