[bnall]

I am looking for suggestions for new cell phone coverage. I am a "dinosaur" and use a pre paid flip phone. We currently have T-Mobile which is the least expensive (10 cents a minute) but the coverage in The Villages is awful and seems to be getting worse! Verizon and Sprint have been recommended. Any suggestions to which is better. Sprint appears to be a little less expensive.

[ureout]

i changed from verizon flip phone 1 year ago I was paying about $40 a month plus taxes....I switched to Cricket owned bt AT&T and now have a smart phone with unlimited talk, text and 2 gig fo 4.0 data then speed slows down but never a charge for over usage.....I now pay $35 thats tax included on a auto-pay plan....i only dropped a couple calls in the years time...

[Avista]

Originally Posted by ureout

i changed from verizon flip phone 1 year ago I was paying about $40 a month plus taxes....I switched to Cricket owned bt AT&T and now have a smart phone with unlimited talk, text and 2 gig fo 4.0 data then speed slows down but never a charge for over usage.....I now pay $35 thats tax included on a auto-pay plan....i only dropped a couple calls in the years time...

We too use Cricket and are very pleased. Note, like you said taxes included. Can't beat it.

[rp001]

Get an I phone. Mine is through Sprint. Unlimited minutes and dump the landline. If you are " bundled" they will raise your rates. I unbundled them and went to satellite. There are many new options available and you will be amazed by the technology. Enjoy

[SouthOfTheBorder]

Originally Posted by bnall

I am looking for suggestions for new cell phone coverage. I am a "dinosaur" and use a pre paid flip phone. We currently have T-Mobile which is the least expensive (10 cents a minute) but the coverage in The Villages is awful and seems to be getting worse! Verizon and Sprint have been recommended. Any suggestions to which is better. Sprint appears to be a little less expensive.

The biggest issue with any wireless service in The Villages is the quality of the signal. It depends on where you are located at the time of using your device. Unfortunately, at this time, NONE of the primary carriers have dependable coverage throughout ALL of TV, especially for voice calls.

So it depends on where you are located when conducting most of your voice usage. For smartphone texting and data usage the poor signal areas are not as troubling. We don't have to listen to all the dropped and re-sent data packets.

Generally speaking the farther south you are in TV the more you will experience lower quality for voice calls. Until more antennas are put online that will remain true for all the major carriers.

One of the most reliable sources for real time experience in your area would be friends/neighbors.

Good luck, hope you find the best phone/service that fits your needs.



Don

[Fourpar]

We have been using PureTalk for a few years now: $10 a Month for 130 min and they carry over. Carrier is ATT and coverage has been pretty good. Phones are cheap too - simple flips to more sophisticated phones. Check them out.

[jnieman]

We have AT&T. We have coverage everywhere we have traveled in the past year which is 21 states so far. We also have great coverage in The Villages. At home we had trouble with dropped calls. We bought a Microcell signal booster from AT&T and now it's been 2 years and no dropped calls. Very happy.

[Lovey2]

Believe it or not, we actually got the Consumer Cellular flip phones last year. NO ISSUES whatsoever. This works well for us, because we mostly use our phone to keep in touch with each other...no charge. Our bill is $35 @month for both of us. We don't text or any of that other stuff...just talk. Also, the few times I've had to travel for family emergencies, I knew I'd be using the phone more, I just upped my minutes, then dropped them back down. No hassle.
We had Verizon before that and no problems with dropped calls or poor service, and we are "down south". We switched only because our rate skyrocketed since we no longer got our employee discount with our previous employer after we retired. We mostly use our phone to just keep in touch with each other throughout our days. Don't need to text, get on the internet, facetime, do Facebook...you get it...when we're out and about.

[Lovey2]

OH...they will use some phones you may already have...our weren't compatible, and we got their least expensive flip. Think they were about $30 each.

[Monkei]

I have the walmart Straight Talk. I can use an iPhone or an android phone and I have unlimited text, internet and voice minutes. I have had it for about 3 years and travel all over in an RV and I have never not had a signal. The costs with tax and all is about 53.00

[boblink]

Verizon is the best here As well As everywhere else on the country. We have traveled a lot in an rv. It is the best. If you want verizon without a contract I have a couple of verizon phones for sale. One is an iPhone 5 which I am selling for $175. The other is a flip phone.

My number is 352-350-6825
Bob