Is service any different between AT&T and T-Mobile?

[gotsmack]

I'm thinking about switching from Verizon to either T-mobile or AT&T because I've been traveling abroad a bit lately and I'm sick of the BS from Verizon where their data line goes down every few weeks.

So is AT&T coverage and T-Mobile coverage any different?

Thanks in advance.

 

[JohnAn2112]

I signed up for T-Mobile and the reception in the south Bay Area was horrible. I've since switched to Cingular and the reception is outstanding.

 

[intogamer]

Not everywhere roams or else T-Mobile and Cingular would be the same and get the same coverage

 

[Azndude51]

IIRC, they each have their own towers, which is why I can get excellent reception in some areas w/T-mobile whereas my sister will get crappy reception with AT&T or vice versa. Their GSM frequencies vary a bit too. T-Mobile used to be exclusively 1900MHz GSM, but I think they leased some 850MHz towers in different more rural areas for roaming. Because of various merges, AT&T has a lot of both 850MHz towers and 1900MHz towers.

 

[DarkManX]

same thing with sprint/verizon same network but they dont share.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

Originally posted by: DarkManX
same thing with sprint/verizon same network but they dont share.

actually, sprint does roam on verizons network without issues (for voice, and maybe 1xRTT data def not 3G in my area.

So I pay much less on Sprint but still get Verizons coverage...win win!

I think the reason T-Mo and ATT coverage isnt consistant is because T-Mo uses 800/1900MHz while ATT uses 850/1900. Quad band phones have 800/850/1800/1900MHz.

My att razr gave me the option to roam on t-mo when I didn't have att coverage (this was actually before cingular when it was att wireless). I had to manually select that network though, it wouldn't seamlessly transfer like Sprint to Verizon.

 

[Rottie]

T-Mobile coverage and reception are fairly well in some areas I get data goes down often as well.