Hello all, recently I just came back from a around-the-country road trip visiting every state, and as many National Parks as we possibly could. We went from my home state of New Jersey, through the west coast to Helena, Montana (Where I lived for the summer), then made our way back the long way--going west to Washington, down the coast to LA, over through Las Vegas, to NM, up to Denver, down again to Louisiana and New Orleans, to Florida Everglades, then back up the east coast.

I've been a longtime Sprint customer, but I've been VERY unhappy with their service throughout the trip (and also just in general). My fiancé, who has Verizon, had decent LTE service through much of the country, where I would either be roaming, or had no service at all. Granted, I would generally have excellent service within the cities, but out on the road, where we would want to listen to Amazon music and use data for maps, I'd have nothing to work with. We would've used her phone, but I'm the one with unlimited data, and she didn't want to eat up her shared data.

Anyway, my contract is closing, and I'd REALLY like to switch to another carrier. I've been really looking at T-mobile, but I want a carrier that will be strong in more rural areas, and I'm a little worried that their rural service might be lacking.

What do you guys use? What do you recommend? If you have T-Mobile, how does it fare out in more rural areas? My only real qualifier is that I need unlimited data--otherwise I'd be switching to Verizon yesterday.

Thanks,
Max

Oh for sure. When we blew out a tire in the middle of a horrifyingly desolate highway in Arizona, we called AAA using my fiancé's phone. Saved our skins for sure, since my paltry Sprint network was stuck on "No Service" for at least an hour before we stopped.

Granted, I'm not looking for absolute wall-to-wall coverage, I just want a network better than Sprint in more rural areas with unlimited data. (Unlimited data is not something I can give up).

I've done this so many times, but from my experience (and I'm sure many others), I've noticed that coverage maps aren't exactly as accurate as they claim.

For example, as a sprint customer, my zip code has access to their LTE plus network with strong signal, but realistically, I get relatively poor service with the occasional dropped call. But I appreciate your input, Mr. Flow!

I'm leaning towards this option, honestly. They have competitive rates with universal roaming (which is nice for travelers). Does anyone with T-mobile have any thoughts or comments about their overall service?