I switched our cell phone service from Verizon to T-Mobile a couple of weeks ago. This was a big move because we have been loyal Verizon customers from the day we first got our cell phones many years ago. Verizon was the obvious choice for a wireless carrier when we first went “on the road” in 2012 as it offered, without question, the best coast-to-coast coverage. That was a very important factor when we were traveling a lot.
Our coast-to-coast traveling days may be over. Now we are more concerned about cost than coverage. Verizon was expensive: for our 2 cell phones with unlimited minutes and data, a hotspot router for the laptop and a “Hum” device to plug into the truck to monitor for engine problems the monthly bill was over $240.
Coupled with the high cost was poor cellular service in central Massachusetts. Making a call from our site in Phillipston MA was always an adventure, often resulting in a dropped call or an interrupted voice stream. Cell phone service at Jett brother’s cabin in New Salem MA was non-existent. Cell service north and west of Phillipston was very spotty.
High cost and poor signal. Seemed like a good time to investigate options. We also needed new phones, so we either had to jump to another carrier now or commit to Verizon for 2 more years.
Ray and Kim, Jett’s brother and sister-in-law, have very good T-Mobile service in New Salem, so I decided to consider T-Mobile. A little investigation revealed a “Try our Signal” offer from T-Mobile: they would send a hotspot, with a 30-day 20GB limit, to try, free of charge. I took them up on the offer. What I found was that the T-Mobile signal in Phillipston was perhaps slightly better than Verizon’s. There were a handful of times during the 2 weeks that I used the hotspot when the internet connection was dropped. That concerned me a bit, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker. It seemed that the T-Mobile signal would likely be no worse than Verizon’s and perhaps a bit better.
The quote I got from T-Mobile was $170 – a savings of about $70 per month. However, this is a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison because the pricing is structured a bit differently. Most of the savings results from Jett and I both being over 55 (well over). The new phones, at $600 each, were amortized over 3 years, not 2.
Still, a savings of $70 per month, coupled with the promise of a better signal, sold me. I jumped.
So after a couple of weeks in the T-Mobile world, what do I think?
- The signal improvement is less than I hoped. The voice signal in Phillipston is worse than Verizon’s. I find that, most times, I can’t make a phone call unless I link to the hotspot. This means that I am chewing up data just to talk.
- The internet connection continues to drop at random times. This is going to be very annoying for the few weeks we have left in Massachusetts.
- The voicemail system is a dinosaur. I now have to do a “speed dial 1” to access voicemail, then use 7 to delete and 9 to keep. This is the same system I had over 10 years ago when I had my first flip phone. I am very disappointed in this. I had gotten very used to Verizon’s very simple and intuitive management of voicemail.
- Uploading photos to the laptop is also more difficult now. I had gotten used to simply attaching the phone to the laptop via USB and transferring photo files. With the new phone I had to install drivers and use a pretty clunky photo viewer app to upload photos to a month file (e.g., “2020-09”), then cut-and-paste the photos to where I want them to be. Very painful. And I haven’t yet figured out how to bulk delete photos from the phone.
That all sounds pretty negative and I guess it is, except for the $70 per month savings. But there are some things about the new OnePlus phones that I like very much:
- The camera is outstanding. It is actually 3 cameras designed for various distances from the target. I am able to take very clear close-up photos and am able to zoom in on very distant targets. I took a photo of a hovering hummingbird and the camera captured the beating wings very nicely. I have barely scratched the surface on all of the features. I think I will love this camera. I am already wondering why I bothered to buy the Canon.
- The battery life is a big improvement over our old phones. We were used to waking up and finding that our phones were dead in the morning. With these new phones they can go all night and still be over 90% when we wake. I haven’t tested the full battery life yet, but I am guessing it will be over 4 hours.
So… a mixed bag. I definitely like the phone but am somewhat disappointed in the T-Mobile service. Hopefully I will be happier with the service when we get to Florida.
