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I searched the threads for any info on the best cell phone coverage in the Boise area and found that it was Verizon.
The post was 5 years old. Any new input on best coverage? Which companies do you use?
Thank you in advance!
Yeah, Verizon is the best in the area. My brother tried FreedomPop cell service and was miserable. My husband uses Ting (off the Sprint network) and has issues. But at $25/month it's worth putting up with those issues. I think t-mobile works ok here.
I have ATT as well and have zero issues. I drive from Boise to Idaho Falls often and don't lose service.
I am curious what Sprint users have to say though as their plan prices are hard to beat.
Neither of us has any issues in/around the Boise area.
We travel to areas around Spokane and Seattle, plus through central Oregon and on into Northern California. Some of those trips go through some very barren parts of the country where cell service is a sometimes thing (the road signs saying "Next gas 100 miles is a clue), and invariably my Verizon has greater coverage than her AT&T service.
That said, with the 5G systems being installed, that may change. 5G has slightly less range, but much higher speeds. The major cell service companies are planning to expand coverage as they upgrade to the new standard.
FWIW.... I work in the cellular industry and expect rural coverage expansion to not get much priority at all with 5G. The money is going to be focused on expanding capacity in the higher use areas; that is where 5G helps and where the cellular companies are getting slammed for usage. They are going to have a lot of expense in rolling out 5G, because they are going to need to add a lot of added backhaul lines from the higher numbers of smaller cells. Those lines and cells involve not only construction expense but continuing operating costs each month. They are still grappling with that big deployment and operating expense and how to make it work and that is going to make the roll-out slooow in the US, with its wide open spaces and non-government subsidized business model.
BTW, 5G is a a 'mixed technology' setup. The newer higher speed technology is intended for the suburban/urban settings but the 4G LTE technology is still part and parcel of the whole 5G standard. The 4G is intended to continue in the more rural areas; it might be labeled under the 5G umbrella, but is not changing (for now).
Stick with Verizon or AT&T or one of the prepaid carriers that use one of those networks. I had Verizon for years but switched to Cricket several years ago and it works about equally well in my experience (Cricket is owned by AT&T).
In the city of Boise, T-Mobile and Verizon are probably the best. I'd say they trade blows. AT&T was not that great when I had them a couple years ago, but I've heard they have improved.
I have Sprint now and it's fine, but not as good as T-Mobile or Verizon. But I'm paying $25 for unlimited, with roaming allowed (unlike most prepaid plans). In a few places, like in Walmart, it will roam on T-Mobile LTE so it fills in some of the dead zones. Some areas Sprint is very good and fast, like around downtown I can pull speeds above 80 Mbps. Some dead spots for LTE indoors (I can almost always still get enough signal to make a call), but it works well everywhere I need it to.
Rural coverage, Verizon is probably best. AT&T probably has an edge over T-Mobile, but T-Mobile has significantly expanded rural coverage over the past few years and it's pretty good in a lot of places now. Including covering some places no other carrier does like Idaho City. So depending on where you go, it may be a coin toss. Sprint does not have much native rural coverage in comparison, but with roaming allowed in many places on T-Mobile and US Cellular (no limits and LTE), and Verizon (for calls and texts, limited data), it is still competitive.
As for prepaid, besides the normal options (Cricket, Metro, AT&T/Verizon Prepaid, etc), Project Fi is pretty nice. You get T-Mobile and Sprint in Boise, which combined means almost no dead zones around town. And same with rural areas, chances are one or the other will work. And once you get to rural Oregon you can pick up US Cellular too which fills in a lot of rural areas. The network switching only works on some phones though (like Pixels).
FWIW.... I work in the cellular industry and expect rural coverage expansion to not get much priority at all with 5G. The money is going to be focused on expanding capacity in the higher use areas; that is where 5G helps and where the cellular companies are getting slammed for usage. They are going to have a lot of expense in rolling out 5G, because they are going to need to add a lot of added backhaul lines from the higher numbers of smaller cells. Those lines and cells involve not only construction expense but continuing operating costs each month. They are still grappling with that big deployment and operating expense and how to make it work and that is going to make the roll-out slooow in the US, with its wide open spaces and non-government subsidized business model.
BTW, 5G is a a 'mixed technology' setup. The newer higher speed technology is intended for the suburban/urban settings but the 4G LTE technology is still part and parcel of the whole 5G standard. The 4G is intended to continue in the more rural areas; it might be labeled under the 5G umbrella, but is not changing (for now).
Thank you very much for an excellent explanation. I had no idea about the mixed technology part....very good to know.
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