Recommend a cheap MVNO for data that uses AT&T?

[fuzzybabybunny]

So.... T-Mobile is next to useless in many, many rural places in the west. I travel and road trip a lot in out of the way places and it always sucks getting Edge or no data on T-Mobile while knowing full well that AT&T has 3G in the same area as show by user-generated coverage maps.

I need a cheap MVNO sim card (I'd prefer not to have to buy a beater phone just to get the sim card) that gets me 3G data for cheap on AT&T's network.

Any recommendations?

 

[Roland00Address]

I do not know if these are literally the best mnvos but these charts should make it easier to do research

http://www.bestmvno.com/att-mvnos.html
http://www.bestmvno.com/t-mobile-mvnos.html

If anyone has personal experience please contribute.

 

[Strk]

Cricket is at&t, so I'd say that is the best one.

 

[Midwayman]

Straight talk has att mvno sims.

 

[magomago]

don't you use this for work? That would seem like something critical. IIRC, you were doing a bohemian lifestyle and working anywhere, so given that its your lifeline I'd figure you would ensure your connection is always legit.

I would pay and get Verizon as it still has the widest coverage (for now...). For the value you get out of it, it should be worthwhile for you.

 

[cronos]

So.... T-Mobile is next to useless in many, many rural places in the west. I travel and road trip a lot in out of the way places and it always sucks getting Edge or no data on T-Mobile while knowing full well that AT&T has 3G in the same area as show by user-generated coverage maps.

I need a cheap MVNO sim card (I'd prefer not to have to buy a beater phone just to get the sim card) that gets me 3G data for cheap on AT&T's network.

Any recommendations?

The problem with answering your question is that MVNOs don't roam on local carriers and if you're in a rural area, you will soon find out that it makes zero difference being on AT&T vs T-Mobile. The user-generated maps you saw are likely of postpaid accounts.

So, how are you not on postpaid already? It really isn't that much more expensive, especially if you only need a reasonable amount of data and use wifi when you can. Especially if you're using your phone for business and need solid connection at all times, $10-$15/month more on postpaid is well worth it.

 

[magomago]

The problem with answering your question is that MVNOs don't roam on local carriers and if you're in a rural area, you will soon find out that it makes zero difference being on AT&T vs T-Mobile. The user-generated maps you saw are likely of postpaid accounts.

So, how are you not on postpaid already? It really isn't that much more expensive, especially if you only need a reasonable amount of data and use wifi when you can. Especially if you're using your phone for business and need solid connection at all times, $10-$15/month more on postpaid is well worth it.

Well its still an issue; Tmobile does all free roaming for voice and text, but limits you to 50MB of free data.
For someone that uses a lot of data and is out in rural areas, its just not enough.

 

[cronos]

Well its still an issue; Tmobile does all free roaming for voice and text, but limits you to 50MB of free data.
For someone that uses a lot of data and is out in rural areas, its just not enough.

I was talking about postpaid on AT&T. There's no reason why he shouldn't have that already at this point.

 

[magomago]

I was talking about postpaid on AT&T.

got it, thanks.

 

[SAWYER]

I just moved my 4 lines to Cricket from Straight Talk and am happy, you can get 5 lines for 100 flat, no taxes with their group discount. I have 4 lines and each gets 2.5 gigs data and throttled after that plus unlimited talk n text

 

[Gooberlx2]

Cricket is at&t, so I'd say that is the best one.

Cricket is ATT native only, no roaming at all. Straight Talk has deals with more than just ATT and Tmo, and so has a chance of roaming on small regional GSM carriers in rural areas.

For example, Neither ATT nor Tmo have coverage at my in-laws in BFE Wyoming, which is serviced by some regional GSM outfit called Union Wireless. A number of the America Movil MVNOs (Straight Talk, Tracfone, Net10, etc...) at least have voice/sms service on those towers. No data though.

 

[podspi]

I have ST and VZW (two phones, of course).

In New England at least (last time I was in a rural area) - everywhere I had VZW service I had ST service. While there were a few times the Verizon phone had service and my ST phone didn't, it was very rare and the VZW service was usually 2g and marginal/no data.

Very anecdotal, but I've had excellent luck with ST. I didn't know they contracted with other regional cell networks, any source on that (I'm just curious, not challenging the assertion).

Edit: This was in VT, btw. Great place to go if you want to be unreachable and really mean it.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

The problem with answering your question is that MVNOs don't roam on local carriers and if you're in a rural area, you will soon find out that it makes zero difference being on AT&T vs T-Mobile. The user-generated maps you saw are likely of postpaid accounts.

So, how are you not on postpaid already? It really isn't that much more expensive, especially if you only need a reasonable amount of data and use wifi when you can. Especially if you're using your phone for business and need solid connection at all times, $10-$15/month more on postpaid is well worth it.

Huh? Where ever I tend to go I would NOT be roaming on AT&T. I don't want to get postpaid AT&T because it's so expensive compared to T-Mobile postpaid. I'd rather just go for a cheap MVNO that uses AT&T towers natively for those few times when I need AT&T. I can look at a coverage map and predict when I'll need AT&T and when I'll be fine with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile is fine for 90% of everything. It's those times when I'm in tiny ski towns or driving through Nevada or really going off the beaten path that I need AT&T.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Cricket is ATT native only, no roaming at all. Straight Talk has deals with more than just ATT and Tmo, and so has a chance of roaming on small regional GSM carriers in rural areas.

For example, Neither ATT nor Tmo have coverage at my in-laws in BFE Wyoming, which is serviced by some regional GSM outfit called Union Wireless. A number of the America Movil MVNOs (Straight Talk, Tracfone, Net10, etc...) at least have voice/sms service on those towers. No data though.

Are ST, Net10, and Tracfone all basically from the same company using the same mix of TMo and ATT towers?

Would AT&T roam without limits to data on TMO towers? TMO only gives you 50MB of roaming.

 

[cronos]

Huh? Where ever I tend to go I would NOT be roaming on AT&T. I don't want to get postpaid AT&T because it's so expensive compared to T-Mobile postpaid. I'd rather just go for a cheap MVNO that uses AT&T towers natively for those few times when I need AT&T. I can look at a coverage map and predict when I'll need AT&T and when I'll be fine with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile is fine for 90% of everything. It's those times when I'm in tiny ski towns or driving through Nevada or really going off the beaten path that I need AT&T.

You didn't read what I said. I wasn't talking about AT&T roaming to T-Mobile, I was talking about AT&T roaming to its local/regional partners.

1. Prepaid AT&T MVNO carriers do *NOT* roam on local/regional carriers, so they won't work on those 'tiny ski towns' or 'off the beaten path' either (where you see that AT&T have coverage, they're really roaming to regional carriers). Whatever advantage you think you're going to get with an MVNO compared to what you get right now with T-Mobile, it would be minimal, if there's anything at all.

2. Have you looked at the current AT&T postpaid plans? Postpaid plans have changed a lot in the past year and they're getting much better. Especially if you need a lot of data and you need AT&T coverage, you need to be on postpaid. MVNOs data are expensive, and again, they don't roam.

3. If you rely your decision solely on those coverage maps (without actually testing the coverage with an actual MVNO SIM card), you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

To be absolutely clear: you seem to want an additional SIM card from an AT&T MVNO that you can switch to when you have no T-Mobile coverage. The idea sounds pretty good, but it won't work because the likelihood is when you don't have T-Mobile coverage (especially because you said these are rural area, off the beaten path, etc.), AT&T MVNOs won't have coverage either. You might as well ditch the two-SIM-card plan and go with postpaid AT&T (which will give you coverage in these cases, and you only have to pay for one line).

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

You didn't read what I said. I wasn't talking about AT&T roaming to T-Mobile, I was talking about AT&T roaming to its local/regional partners.

1. Prepaid AT&T MVNO carriers do *NOT* roam on local/regional carriers, so they won't work on those 'tiny ski towns' or 'off the beaten path' either (where you see that AT&T have coverage, they're really roaming to regional carriers). Whatever advantage you think you're going to get with an MVNO compared to what you get right now with T-Mobile, it would be minimal, if there's anything at all.

2. Have you looked at the current AT&T postpaid plans? Postpaid plans have changed a lot in the past year and they're getting much better. Especially if you need a lot of data and you need AT&T coverage, you need to be on postpaid. MVNOs data are expensive, and again, they don't roam.

3. If you rely your decision solely on those coverage maps (without actually testing the coverage with an actual MVNO SIM card), you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

To be absolutely clear: you seem to want an additional SIM card from an AT&T MVNO that you can switch to when you have no T-Mobile coverage. The idea sounds pretty good, but it won't work because the likelihood is when you don't have T-Mobile coverage (especially because you said these are rural area, off the beaten path, etc.), AT&T MVNOs won't have coverage either. You might as well ditch the two-SIM-card plan and go with postpaid AT&T (which will give you coverage in these cases, and you only have to pay for one line).

So AT&T's "network" that postpaid users get to use is essentially the native network plus unlimited roaming on regional carriers? Is there a way for me to view only the native AT&T network and see where the gaps are being filled by regional carriers? I didn't think that there were that many regional carriers in the US.

 

[cronos]

So AT&T's "network" that postpaid users get to use is essentially the native network plus unlimited roaming on regional carriers?

Yes. Although I can't say I know for sure that it's 'unlimited'. As far as I remember there is no limit, as long as you don't clearly abuse it (e.g. subscribe to AT&T while you know you would be 90% roaming to other carriers).

Is there a way for me to view only the native AT&T network and see where the gaps are being filled by regional carriers? I didn't think that there were that many regional carriers in the US.

There are quite a few. Here around the Midwest they are everywhere, so I imagine it's about the same around the Rockies. Even driving on the Interstate on GoPhone/MVNO I could lost signal an hour at a time (where postpaid accounts get full bars).