While preparing this month’s phone buyer’s guide, I thought I should address a question I got during an office meeting this week: Which carrier should I choose?
It’s a good question, and the first you should answer before picking your phone.
Here’s my recommendations on choosing a carrier:
- Coverage
Plain and simple, you need to choose the carrier that gives you the best coverage in the places you use your phone the most.Places that you want to make sure your phone works is in your house, at your office, and any places where you spend a lot of time – including relatives’ & friends’ homes, coffee shops you frequent, and/or a vacation house. Nothing is more frustrating than having a phone that doesn’t work in the places you’re at the most.When selecting your carrier, check the coverage maps to make sure coverage is good in all the places listed above. More importantly, take advantage of the phone return period (30 days in California, 14 days most other places) and try your phone in all the places you frequent and make sure it works well. If it doesn’t, take it back and try another carrier.
Coverage is by far the most important consideration. These next three points are secondary in comparison.
- Equipment
Since a contract is a two-year commitment, you want to make sure that you get the phone that you want. Manufacturers create phones for each carrier, so the phone selection differs between carriers. if the coverage is equivalent between two carriers in your area, choose the one with the phone that you like the best and that you feel will make you the most productive. - Plans
It seems counter-intuitive since we’re all conditioned to shop on price, but plans should be your last consideration. Sure, there are price differences between all the carriers, but paying an extra $10 or $20 per month to have a phone that works where you need to use it is worth it.Trust me on this one. You’ll regret that you saved that $10 per month when you don’t close a deal because you missed a call or email. - Speed
This is another point that seems counter-intuitive, but think about it. If your phone can’t access the network where you use it most, it doesn’t matter how fast the network is – it’s still useless.Bear in mind that carriers are always upgrading their networks, so any speed differences are likely only temporary anyway.
As for how the carriers stack up, here is my quick analysis:
- Verzion – It is the fastest network with the best coverage. Sure you pay a little more, but it’s because it’s worth it.
- AT&T – It’s network isn’t as good as Verizon, but there are areas where AT&T’s coverage is stronger than Verizon, so choosing between AT&T and Verizon is a very personal decision.
- Sprint - Sprint is more aggressive on pricing than Verizon, but coverage is not as good and phone selection is poor. However, if you can find the phone you like and the coverage works for you, choosing Sprint could save you a few dollars.
- T-mobile - T-mobile’s Achilles heel is its network. It has a great selection of equipment and great plan pricing, but outside of population centers, coverage can get pretty spotty. Again, if the coverage works for you, T-mobile is a good choice to save a few dollars, and they have a better phone selection than Sprint.
Good luck shopping!
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