I know, I know. Cell phones don’t have cords – hence the whole “wireless” descriptor. But, sometimes my brain settles on a title and there’s no changing it. Such is the case with this post.
I may have mentioned in previous posts that Kenn is not a fan of change. When decisions need to be made, I do my research, make my decision, and am ready to act. Kenn, on the other hand needs days/weeks/months to come to terms with the pending change. Admittedly, life doesn’t always allow a lot of time for decisions – some need to be made right. now. But, when a decision can be postponed without major consequences for us, they can drag out seemingly forever. Seriously. It took years for me to convince Kenn we no longer needed a landline.
Another potential change that has been dragging out for years is changing cell service providers.We have been with Verizon Wireless for twenty years and have been paying through the nose for that honor. We have discussed changing providers ad nauseum. One of the biggest hindrances to making a change was our concern about coverage when we travel. However, as the years have passed, the difference in coverage between the various providers has become minimal. And, no matter the coverage, this is a big country and there are still plenty of areas where there is no cell service.
During our trip to Saint Augustine, we had yet another discussion about changing providers. I finally put my foot down. I didn’t want to talk about this any more. We either needed to pick another provider and change or just admit that we were going to stay with Verizon regardless of the cost. Kenn then took it upon himself to do some research. (Yay!) I’m always glad when he does this. I can give him all of the information in the world, but doing some of the research himself helps him be more willing to move forward with the change.
I am pleased to announce that, after years (and years) of discussion, we are no longer with Verizon. We are now Mint Mobile customers. Kenn changed over about a month and a half before I did so we could compare his Mint coverage to my Verizon coverage in the areas we visit most often. We were both surprised that in some areas of South Carolina near our kids, he had a stronger signal than I did. I made the change approximately a month ago and have had no problems. The best part is that I can pre-pay for 3 months of Mint for both of us for roughly what I was paying for one month of service from Verizon; this makes both me and our bank account very happy.
Just to be nosy – what cell provider do you use? How long have you been with that provider?
Linda Lou's Life 
We use AT&T. My son works for them, and we get a discount. I usually refer to Clark Howard’s website for advice.
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A discount is always nice! Do you have decent coverage during your travels?
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Yes, we don’t have any issues.
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And then there is Randy, who changes his coverage like he changes his shirt…okay, not that often, but still…We had AT&T in Texas but when we moved here, we could not get a good signal with them. We went through C-Spire for a while because it gave him the best coverage at the University where he needed his phone often but it wasn’t as good for travel. We switched back to AT&T and have good coverage everywhere we travel now. I don’t think there is as much difference as it used be but there are still areas around here with poor coverage. Might be the trees!
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Little things (or not so little things) such as trees can make such a difference! Prior to retirement, I got excellent reception with Verizon, while coworkers with AT&T had to go outside to get a signal.
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We have Verizon currently, though I do like the Ryan Reynolds Mint Mobile ads.
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One of my coworkers switched to Mint last year. She said they got a Christmas card from Ryan Reynolds. I hope the trend continues; Kenn would definitely get a kick out of that.
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We switched to Verizon because it was the only way to get cell phone coverage in rural New Hampshire, but that was years ago.
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It used to be that there were a lot of random T-Mobile “dead zones” in this area, but they seem to be gone now. Oddly enough, our Verzon signal strength seemed to have gotten weaker over the last year or so.
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I have AT&T but never use my cellphone – I just keep it for emergencies. I still have my landline but I am the only one on the street with a landline – others use their cellphone or have it through their ISP. AT&T wants me to get rid of it and so they raise my rate every two or three months, so when I called to complain, they said “copper is expensive, one day you won’t have it so be glad you have it now.” Very rude customer service. Truly, I don’t need it since I retired (I worked from home for 11 years), but I like the comfort of having it for an emergency. They want me to change to digital, but every time the internet goes down, the phone would go down. My boss changed our phone from AT&T landlines to Comcast phone service since we had internet with Comcast – the internet was always going out, so the phone would as well.
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Wow. That is terrible customer service. Instead of raising your rates, if they don’t want to offer the service, they should discontinue it.
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I agree with you – I’m willing to keep it for as long as it is available. But it is very rude of them to have such an attitude and as much as say “well one day it will be gone and you’ll see.” SMH
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