Recommended Posts

Verizon Wireless was the highest-rated major carrier in Consumer Reports? annual cell-phone service ratings, based on a survey of 63,253 subscribers by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

The full report can be found online at ConsumerReports.org and in the January 2013 issue of Consumer Reports, which is on newsstands now.

Of the four major U.S. national cell-phone standard service providers, Verizon Wireless led the pack, receiving favorable scores for voice and data service quality, and also for support attributes like staff knowledge and resolution of issues. Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T each received mostly middling to low marks, particularly for voice and text service quality.

more

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1123034-and-the-best-cell-phone-carrier-is/
Share on other sites

I've had the big 3 carriers in my area - all get great reception, but when I travel, I've had best luck with Verizon. I'm now grandfathered into Verizon's unlimited data plan, and their 4G LTE service is excellent in my area. It bests my home internet connection (Road Runner is absolute garbage of an ISP). I get speeds of 25Mbps to 40 Mbps down, 10-20 Mbps up. I just wish they had better cell phone choices :\

The only thing I don't like about Verizon is that they plaster their name over everything. Having the name of the network printed on the phone itself cheapens it a lot in my view.

But hey, that's not very high up on the dislike scale really. :p

The only thing I don't like about Verizon is that they plaster their name over everything. Having the name of the network printed on the phone itself cheapens it a lot in my view.

But hey, that's not very high up on the dislike scale really. :p

Which is one thing I like about the Verizon Galaxy Nexus - the Verizon logo is on the back, unlike other Verizon android phones where there is a huge Verizon logo on the front of the phone!

To be honest, I call their support every day (as part of my job) and they are always quick and willing to help. I have decent signal strength everywhere I go. and the prices are not all that bad. However, their update support and time tables are horrible for Android phones.

I can attest that Sprint has the crappiest data service of anybody. Reception isn't bad, but it's pretty much a waste to pay for data service that's unusable. Counting down the days until July when I can bail and move to Verizon. :)

The only thing I don't like about Verizon is that they plaster their name over everything. Having the name of the network printed on the phone itself cheapens it a lot in my view.

But hey, that's not very high up on the dislike scale really. :p

Not to mention $150 a month for 2 phones... that's insane..

I can attest that Sprint has the crappiest data service of anybody. Reception isn't bad, but it's pretty much a waste to pay for data service that's unusable. Counting down the days until July when I can bail and move to Verizon. :)

By July their LTE service should be 75% rolled out and once it is complete, they will likely have the largest LTE service in the country with consistent data speeds. Keep an eye on it before you leave.

By July their LTE service should be 75% rolled out and once it is complete, they will likely have the largest LTE service in the country with consistent data speeds. Keep an eye on it before you leave.

Hmm, interesting. I will definitively have to keep an eye on that.

Though overall why their service sucks is because of every plan having unlimited data. Everybody just buys a cheap Android phone and tethers everything in their house to it. It's a huge problem that Sprint refuses to acknowledge. If they would be like everybody else and put limits on data, I bet their service would be right up their with Verizon. The guy that invested in Sprint not too long ago plans to make a huge overhaul to their service, but I don't think that will take effect for a few years.

Haha man I feel like the minority who loves T-mobile. I'm travel within major metropolitan areas, and I never have any problem with reception, call quality, or data speeds.

I know T-mobile doesn't have LTE, but HSPA+42 is pretty close, and is supported by the new Nexus 4 (which I'm waiting another month to arrive). Meantime, 4G on my HTC One S is more than adequate. Plus T-mobile's plans are generally cheaper than the other major carriers. Being GSM over CDMA is also a nice plus in my book

  • Like 1

Haha man I feel like the minority who loves T-mobile. I'm travel within major metropolitan areas, and I never have any problem with reception, call quality, or data speeds.

I know T-mobile doesn't have LTE, but HSPA+42 is pretty close, and is supported by the new Nexus 4 (which I'm waiting another month to arrive). Meantime, 4G on my HTC One S is more than adequate. Plus T-mobile's plans are generally cheaper than the other major carriers. Being GSM over CDMA is also a nice plus in my book

Same here, you can't make me leave T-Mobile, as far as I'm concerned they are the best, and truly unlimited data is nice too

I've had them all (that is, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint), and did some consulting with in IT for AT&T in its Cingular Cellular days. What I saw inside Cingular sent me running to Verizon- at least, I didn't know what Verizon was doing to screw the customers. I'll NEVER have AT&T again. For all the grumbling I've heard from people about Verizon, I got great service from them. I left because their devices were old and updated late, and their data prices were high (I use a lot of data.) I've been with Sprint for several years (on my third handset with them) and really have been satisfied. I stay with Sprint because of the data costs. Being with Verizon would kill me at this point with their high data costs. I'm satisfied with Sprint- not excited by, but have received sufficiently good service that I am not considering a change. Their tech support (at the initial levels) isn't as good but it is usually adequate. I'll give Sprint a B- which is good enough to keep me next time I have the desire to update, which will be a while since I did so in July.

I can attest that Sprint has the crappiest data service of anybody. Reception isn't bad, but it's pretty much a waste to pay for data service that's unusable. Counting down the days until July when I can bail and move to Verizon. :)

3G speeds on Sprint are around 400-500Kbps in my area.

Verizon's are 1.2-2.1Mbps in my area.

Verizon has the best coverage in my neck of the woods followed by Sprint, then ATT... I see people cussing out thier ATT phones all the time... LOL

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • First exciting thing to come to Windows in a long time ! This is the kind of things they should focus on, instead of cramming as much AI as they can in everything.
    • New AMD graphics driver fixes install issues and FSR 4.1 crashes on RX 7000 GPUs by Taras Buria AMD is rolling out yet another graphics driver. Version 26.6.4 is now available for download, bringing two important fixes. One is for those still using Windows 10 and having trouble installing driver 26.6.2. In fact, this patch is coming from the recently released hotfix, so it is not new if you are already running version 26.6.3. The second fix is for RX 7000 owners. AMD recently brought FSR 4.1 support to the previous-gen graphics cards, but there was a bug with certain games crashing when using FSR 4.1. I experienced this issue with Forza Horizon 6, so today's driver should take care of that. Here is the official changelog: Intermittent install issue seen when installing AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.6.2 on Windows® 10 systems for Radeon™ RX 7000 series and above graphics products. Intermittent application crash may be observed in some games with AMD FSR Upscaling 4.1 enabled on Radeon™ RX 7000 series graphics products. Known issues include the following: Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Battlefield™ 6 on AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. AMD is actively working on a resolution with the developer to be released as soon as possible. Texture flickering or corruption may appear while playing Battlefield™ 6 with AMD Record and Stream on some AMD graphics products. AMD FSR Upscaling and AMD FSR Frame Generation may show as inactive in AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition while playing Battlefield™ 6 when enabled on Radeon™ RX 9000 series graphics products. Failure to install may be observed while installing AI Bundle components in some regions with limited access to HuggingFace and GitHub. Model flickering or rendering failure may be observed in Maxon Cinema 4D and Blender on Radeon™ RX 7000 series and above graphics products. Users experiencing this issue are recommended to install AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.3.1. Intermittent application crash may be observed on some models while running Blender on Radeon™ RX 7000 series and above graphics products. Users experiencing this issue are recommended to install AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition 26.3.1. You can download the AMD Radeon driver 26.6.4 from the official website here. Full release notes are available on the same page.
    • Amazon may use OpenAI and Nova models after Anthropic reportedly raises costs by Karthik Mudaliar Amazon is reportedly considering to use OpenAI models and even its own Nova family of AI models after Anthropic raised the cost of using Claude inside Amazon services. According to a report from The Information, Amazon is weighing its options to reduce costs under a new arrangement with Anthropic. But back in April, Amazon said it would invest $5 billion more in Anthropic, with the possibility of adding up to another $20 billion if certain commercial milestones are met. That investment actually came on top of another $8 billion Amazon had already put into the Claude maker. Anthropic, meanwhile, committed to spend more than $100 billion over 10 years on AWS technologies, including Amazon’s Trainium chips. Amazon isn't just a customer of Anthropic but also one of the most important backers and cloud partners. This is why it makes it interesting that Amazon is considering other alternatives to handle its internal workloads. Although Amazon has been building its own options for a while now. Its Nova family of AI models was announced in late 2024 for Amazon Bedrock, with models aimed at text, image, and video tasks. Amazon pitched the model around cost and latency at that time. With that said, OpenAI has also become a more realistic option recently for AWS customers as well as for Amazon itself. Earlier this year, OpenAI brought its latest models and Codex coding agent to Amazon Bedrock, after changes to its previously more restrictive Microsoft cloud arrangement. This allowed AWS to serve even those customers who wanted other alternatives from Claude, without having to move workloads out of Amazon's cloud. Evaluating alternatives could also be due to commercial pressure and not necessarily a sign of a damaged partnership between Amazon and Anthropic. Whether or not Amazon is actually considering switching entirely to OpenAI's models or its own Nova models remains unknown at this moment.
    • Samsung introduces new AI classroom tools and interactive displays at ISTELive 2026 by Fiza Ali Samsung has announced several new education-focused software features and interactive displays for schools during ISTELive 2026, taking place in Orlando, Florida, from 28 June to 1 July. The focus of these updates is on making shared classroom displays easier to use for teachers while giving IT administrators more control over managing devices. One of the key additions is the Samsung Account Management Solution (AMS). In many schools, multiple teachers share the same interactive display throughout the day, which means signing in and setting everything up can become repetitive. With AMS, teachers can log in by scanning a QR code or tapping an NFC-enabled ID card. Once signed in, their personalised workspace, including wallpapers, bookmarks, app shortcuts, and files, can be instantly accessed through Home Personalisation. Samsung has also included a screen lock feature, allowing teachers to lock the display if they need to step away briefly. Furthermore, the company is also updating its Education Portal with new tools designed for school IT administrators. The portal will allow IT administrators to register teachers, enrol devices, and manage user access from a central dashboard. Administrators can also link NFC cards to teacher accounts, making sign-ins quicker across shared displays. Another addition is a Tags feature that lets schools organise displays by building or classroom. Those tags can also be used to send emergency notifications to selected Samsung Interactive Displays through compatible platforms such as InformaCast and Raptor. Moreover, the tech giant's AI Assistant is gaining several new features aimed at supporting everyday classroom tasks such as lesson planning and classroom engagement. One of the features is Circle to Search, which lets teachers circle text or images on the display to quickly find related information, videos, or web results without interrupting the lesson. The content can then be brought into Samsung Whiteboard. Another feature, Live Transcript, converts spoken lessons into real-time captions, which could be useful for students with hearing impairments or those in multilingual classrooms. The AI Assistant also introduces AI Summary and AI Quiz. The summary tool creates summaries of recorded lessons, while AI Quiz generates questions based on lesson content so teachers can quickly check how well students are following along. Teachers signed in through Samsung AMS can also return to their previous AI-generated lesson materials without logging in again. Alongside the software updates, Samsung has expanded its Android-based Interactive Display range with three new models: the WAF-S, WAFX-PS, and WAHX-M. The WAF-S and WAFX-PS ship with Android 16, bringing updates to security, accessibility, and overall usability while maintaining compatibility with Google's education services including Google Classroom and Google Drive through EDLA certification. Meanwhile, the new WAHX-M is the biggest addition to the lineup, introducing a 98-inch display for larger spaces such as lecture halls and conference rooms. It will also be available in 65-inch, 75-inch and 86-inch sizes. Samsung says the WAHX-M further includes on-device AI features such as voice commands, text-to-speech, and an AI calculator, alongside support for Samsung AMS and AI Assistant. Samsung AI Assistant has been available since April, while Samsung AMS and the updated Education Portal will begin rolling out in July.
    • It's been $24 (single) or $89 (4-pack) for many days on both Amazon and Walmart as far as I know. That isn't a big discount. If these end up like the 1st gen, the 4-pack will routinely get down around $80, give or take a dollar. I think they have even hit $69 at times.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Year In
      BA the Curmudgeon earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Conversation Starter
      rosiecharles earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      KMilenkoski1202 earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      536
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      269
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      150
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      97
    5. 5
      macoman
      62
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!