Best cellular provider for East coast

[tedowens]

What experience have folks had with various cell phone providers on the US East coast? Who has the widest coverage and best high speed data availability? I currently use T-mobile and have had trouble with lack of coverage on the ICW. I also find that they have LTE coverage but not 3G in many locations. I have a Wirie Pro cellular antenna that doesn't play well with LTE (they tell me that I can upgrade it but I haven't bitten that bullet yet). Who has experience with AT&T, Verizon?

[zboss]

We got fine AT&T connectivity from Key West to about the outer banks area then regained connectivity through southern Virginia/Hampton and then have had bad service in the southern Chesapeake.

I'm thinking of buying a Verizon phone for emergencies.

BTW - there is an application on the iphone (and I'm sure a similar one that other phone) called opensignal that records real world connection quality and builds a real world map of connection quality. If everyone driving up and down the ICW installed this, it would really help everyone as a whole.

[tedowens]

Thanks zboss, opensignal is a great resource. I installed it and was able to get clear data on cellular availability in various regions. I enabled it to collect data in the background to help build the dB.

[Captaink73]

I have Verizon, great signal all over the US. A little spendy but it seems that you get what you pay for.

[SoonerSailor]

At&t is poor in Maine. Verizon is better.


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[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by tedowens

What experience have folks had with various cell phone providers on the US East coast? Who has the widest coverage and best high speed data availability? I currently use T-mobile and have had trouble with lack of coverage on the ICW. I also find that they have LTE coverage but not 3G in many locations. I have a Wirie Pro cellular antenna that doesn't play well with LTE (they tell me that I can upgrade it but I haven't bitten that bullet yet). Who has experience with AT&T, Verizon?

===

After using Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, I'd have to cast my vote for Verizon. Their coverage seems the best and data rates are generally good. They also make a nice "hotspot" device called a Jetpack 6600 which gives you a private wifi network all over the boat. I'm using mine with an external antenna/amplifier made by Wilson Electronics.

https://www.weboost.com/

[hogHunter]

I have Verizon and I've never had any trouble with signal in the ICW. I also travel all over the US for work and Verizon's signal is much better than any other provider (I've tried several).

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Captaink73

I have Verizon, great signal all over the US. A little spendy but it seems that you get what you pay for.

This is it in a nutshell.


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[CaptTom]

We've actually had good luck with AT&T in most of Maine and the East Coast.

One exception; in far Downeast Maine (like, Eastport) only US Cellular works, no Verizon or AT&T signal at all. I was thinking of getting a burner phone with pre-pay US Cellular as a backup.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

We've actually had good luck with AT&T in most of Maine and the East Coast.

One exception; in far Downeast Maine (like, Eastport) only US Cellular works, no Verizon or AT&T signal at all. I was thinking of getting a burner phone with pre-pay US Cellular as a backup.

GoogleFi is a good option as well. They use t-mobile, us cellular, and another set of towers.


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