Picking a mobile service provider is one decision that you really should be made only after quite a bit of thought. For years people have been getting hooked into long-term deals with service providers because of sketchy promises by those providers. The reality is a lot of folks really don’t put in the time to look into what can work best for them. Here though, we’re going to try and give you a quick and easy look into the Verizon or T-Mobile debate from many different angles. Hopefully, at the end of the article, you’ll be able to make a better decision that will benefit your wallet at the end of the month.
Where You’re Going To Be Using Your Phone Should Be The First Thing To Consider
Sure, the price tag on the service is certainly an important aspect to consider. These days though many people feel that they don’t have to worry about actually being able to get coverage. The fact is, with both companies, there are certain areas, mostly rural, where you can’t expect reliable coverage. Therefore, the first step that you should probably take is to check the coverage map for both Verizon or T-Mobile and make sure that you can get coverage in your area. This is something that is especially important if you travel to less urban areas on a consistent basis.
Verizon Coverage Map: What To Expect From Verizon’s Coverage Area
Source: Verizon
This map here shows Verizon’s coverage area. To be able to check your Zip code directly you can enter into the site, and you’ll get more detailed information. An important thing to point out though is that certain rural areas particularly in the west of the country don’t have great coverage. That can lead to roaming fees and other issues that could spike up the price of the service. Therefore, don’t be too confident that just because you bought the best plan from Verizon you won’t be paying any type of extra cash at the end of the month. You do get 5G coverage in all of the major cities in the country though.
T-Mobile’s Coverage Map: What To Expect From T-Mobile’s Coverage Area
When you look into both of the maps you’ll see that they seem pretty much the same. What a lot of people tend to worry about with T-Mobile is the coverage on some of the northern parts of California and a lot of the rural Nevada areas. Truth be told it can be a bit difficult to get coverage in those areas with virtually any service provider. One thing to point out about T-Mobile is that they have added Sprint coverage to their network. So that certainly expanded their range in certain areas. Again, if you want to quickly check for coverage in your area directly be sure to head to their site.
Who Has Better Prices Verizon or T-Mobile?
This is the part that pretty much everyone is dying to hear about, so there is no point in delaying it any further. When it comes to prices T-Mobile allows you to obtain coverage at a lower rate. You can start paying 30 dollars a line when you have 3 lines on your contract on the simplest plan that they offer. In the same situation with Verizon, you’d have to pay 45 dollars a line for 3 lines. Even if you add lines or reduce them you’ll still have that 10, 5, or even 15 dollar difference in most cases.
Why is Verizon More Expensive?
It seems that Verizon is trying to pack more benefits into their plans. They’re offering a 6-month subscription to Disney plus for example even with some of their basic plans. Whereas T-Mobile has the Netflix partnership that they don’t offer on their basic plan. At the end of the day though, you’re still paying a 15 dollar difference per line on Verizon to add some of these benefits. At times when you add things up, it still seems that T-Mobile is offering a better deal. It really comes down to what you’re looking for in a wireless service provider. T-Mobile is offering unlimited data even with its more basic plans.
As far as the original question goes as to why Verizon is more expensive the answer seems to be in the add-ons as mentioned. You’re getting the Disney+, Discovery+, and Apple Music subscriptions for 6 months at a 15 dollar charge. When you look at it that way it can sound like a decent deal if that’s something that you’re interested in. The problem is tying your basic plan to a bunch of these add-ons seems to put the plan out of reach for many people. Particularly when you take into account that for a family of 3 the bill would come in at around 140 dollars compared to around 100 with T-Mobile.
Verizon or T-Mobile For International Travel
This is certainly a topic that we have talked about all over the site on multiple occasions. So, we may not go into it so deeply here. What we can say is that T-Mobile seems to be opening up its international travel options much more than other companies particularly compared to Verizon. One of the things that you have to watch out for though is that you’ll end up paying not only for coverage but for speed. A lot of people get “tricked” into thinking that they are covered abroad at their regular rate. The problem is that a lot of these plans top the amount of data that you can get at decent speeds. To remove the speed traps there are a couple of options that you’re going to have.
If you want to keep your unlimited plan when you’re abroad virtually with any mobile service provider whether it is Verizon or T-Mobile or any other you’ll most likely fall to their international day pass option. Most of these will offer unlimited coverage for 10 dollars a day while you’re abroad. Without being able to guarantee speed in many cases. In Canada and Mexico, you could be paying 5 dollars a day for the travel pass option. T-Mobile offers much better speeds in these neighboring countries compared to Verizon.
Why Would You Go With Verizon?
To this point when it comes to rates and coverage, it can be said that T-Mobile is winning the battle. Why would you even consider Verizon at this point? We actually still feel that there are valid points in Verizon’s favor. The company is going big on the different add-ons that it’s trying to bring to the table. If you are someone who is trying to gain access to different streaming services Verizon can offer good rates. In these cases, you could consider the extra cost not necessarily a part of your phone bill, but your full entertainment budget. Since you would have to pay for those subscriptions on the side if you wanted to have access to them anyway.
The other basic point that we could make as to why Verizon would make sense for you would be if Verizon offered better coverage in your hometown. As we mentioned before some people who mainly live in the big cities could overlook this fact. Let’s face it, most of the larger cities in the country will have 5G coverage with virtually any service provider these days. If you live in or near a rural area coverage is something that you should actively be looking into. Other than the coverage and some of the add-ons another reason to consider Verizon would be if you like their rates on mobile devices. While throughout the site we typically don’t recommend buying devices directly from service providers because that can tie you down to a lengthy contract, we understand why certain people still consider this a viable option.
Why Would You Go With T-Mobile?
T-Mobile gives clients the option to really slim down their costs, without having to sacrifice speed or coverage. In a lot of ways though it’s a company that is going to offer better deals for people who are purely interested in pure phone and data services. As we mentioned before, the focus of Verizon is to try and get customers to book streaming service subscriptions from them and get you into a whole bunch of add-ons. If it’s pure phone coverage that you’re looking for at seemingly better rates T-Mobile is probably the company that you’re going to want to go with.
As far as add-ons go T-Mobile has the Netflix partnership that you can get from their Magenta Plan starting at 40 dollars a line for 3 lines. That’s just about it though. You’re not going to be able to essentially link as many subscription services to your phone bill as you would with Verizon. Having said this, that’s why comparing prices seems even unfair at times. Yes, T-Mobile has the ability to offer much lower rates. That’s mainly because they are not trying to sell you so many different things on the side.
Things To Watch Out For With Verizon
We’ve already established that Verizon is trying to get you to sign up for different streaming services through their plans. The thing that you really need to watch out for with them is, making sure that you continue to get access to all of the things you pay for. They very clearly state that their subscriptions to Apple Music, and Disney + amongst other services are only for the first 6 months of the plan. That usually means that you can see an uptick in your bills after the first six months. You certainly have to keep track of the different things that you’re paying for with them to make sure that you continue to be afforded the same service.
Things To Watch Out For With T-Mobile
Since you’re going to have fewer add-ons in your plan with T-Mobile pretty much the only thing that we would say you need to keep tabs on is any sudden price change. If you buy your phone from them make sure that you keep track of how many months you have to pay for it. For the most part, though, there are really not that many things that you would have to worry about. This though pretty much brings us to the final thoughts on this topic.
Verizon or T-Mobile? Which Fits You Best?
For years mobile service providers have competed with each other by trying to offer better coverage and faster speeds to their clients. This is still certainly going on. Both Verizon and T-Mobile are going to push hard into 6G speeds pretty soon. It does seem though that speed and coverage are not the focus of some companies selling points. Verizon has moved towards wanting to offer a platform that allows you to have different phone lines, subscription services, and even cable TV through the same company. As we’ve been saying many of these add-ons are what can drive up the price of your bill with Verizon at the end of the month. Again though, if you’re going to be paying for these services anyway it could make sense.
If you’re thinking that all that you want from your wireless service provider is phone coverage then T-Mobile is certainly going to be a better option. Particularly because it’s going to be less complicated to keep track of the different things that you may be paying for. All you have to really do is pick a plan that gives you the amount of data, speed, and minutes that you need. Preferably match that to a price that you feel comfortable with and you’re done. There are other things to consider like the type of coverage that you’ll get in your hometown. If we had to boil everything down to a one-liner it would probably sound something like this. If you’re looking for something simple go with T-Mobile, if you want to link all of your entertainment payments look into Verizon!