Prepaid vs. Contract Wireless Quality & Coverage

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Prepaid vs. Contract Wireless Quality & Coverage

by John
(Tampa, FL)

I've had T-Mobile for 5 yrs & when inquiring to customer service I was told that there is a definite difference in the coverage & quality & service of prepaid vs contract. Do you know what they are referring to or have you heard anything to that effect to assist in making a decision. I'm a sales person who relies on a good coverage & good quality reception, but saving money is also very important.

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Prepaid vs. Contract Wireless Quality & Coverage

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Jul 06, 2011

Prepaid Wireless Coverage
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

Hmm...that's interesting. Do you have any friends who work in your building that have Sprint that you can test? You may be on the Cricket network in that area, or perhaps roaming on Sprint. You may in fact be roaming on MetroPCS. As these are roaming partners, you wouldn't see a roaming indication on your phone.

If it works outside just near your building, I'm thinking that you're either very unlucky and your building happens to be in a dead spot, or your floor is in a dead spot (despite no building obstructions). It may actually me your phone. Particularly if you're in a fringe coverage area, some phones are better at holding onto a signal than others. Having to wait 5-10 minutes to reconnect outside sounds really odd. If you turn your phone off then on, does it connect quickly?

Sometimes when a phone determines it's out of coverage it will power down to save battery, and only retry occasionally (ex. 5-10 min). That might explain what's happening to you.

Anyway, if you do end up trying another prepaid wireless carrier, testing it in advance is definitely a great idea!

Jul 06, 2011

Criket w/Sprint network
by: JACK

I had left my carrier (Sprint) to go with Cricket to save some money. At home and outdoors the phone worked fine and i was able to make calls. The only problem that I had was at work. I work in an office building and while inside i had no service whatsoever. No phone calls, no texting, no web!! Mind you i sit on the first floor near windows, and no thick walls to possibly block my signal. In order to use the phone, i had to go outside and wait anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes for my phone to find and connect to a tower. It was the reason i left Cricket after 3 days. I dont understand why this issue was since I have friends who have cricket and have no complaints over it. I currently have T-mobile but am considering going to Boost mobile for the same reasons (saving money). But before porting over my number I will get a line with whatever number to try out the phone at work.

Oct 14, 2010

Prepaid Wireless vs. Postpaid Wireless - Part 1
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

As more and more people are starting to consider prepaid wireless as a real viable option (even though they may qualify for postpaid), this question is being asked more and more. There ARE differences that people need to consider.

Before I address the differences, I will say, however, that with respect to call quality, there shouldn't be a difference. While I have heard of carriers in the past talking about using different compression rates for prepaid, which would effectively reduce the call quality (ex. make it sound more tinny or distant), I'm not aware of any carriers that are doing this. If anyone has first-hand knowledge to the contrary, definitely please share it with us.

In terms of the differences, here are some things to consider:

1. Coverage is typically different. Postpaid carriers, no matter how large they are (ex. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint) still do use other carrier networks in areas where they don't have great (or any!) coverage. While they're constantly building out their networks, setting up roaming agreements is often more profitable for them in certain regions where population density tends to be lower.

Currently every postpaid carrier that I know of that also offers prepaid, precludes prepaid customers to only using their own network. i.e. Prepaid wireless customers are not allowed to roam on these third party networks. Some used to charge extra for it, however, most these days don't even allow it.

Not only is this a cost management strategy, but is also enables them to draw a distinction between prepaid service versus the so-called more valuable postpaid service.

Prepaid carriers that aren't in the postpaid business at all (ex. MetroPCS, Cricket, etc.) should in theory be able to offer nationwide coverage as widespread as "the big boys," however, as they are trying to keep costs down in order to provide lower plan pricing, they often don't have as good coverage. Of course, they're also continually building out their networks.

An interesting example is Cricket, who earlier this year signed a roaming agreement with Sprint (they use the same technology). They may have better coverage than Boost or Virgin customers on the Sprint network by virtue of now having Sprint coverage along with their own native coverage; however, they too are NOT allowed to roam on Sprint third party networks.

So, the bottom line is that coverage is different for prepaid vs. postpaid, and you should definitely check their coverage maps to see if you're covered in areas where you work, live, play, and frequently travel. That's true even for postpaid, b/c you could be on an excellent network like Verizon or Sprint, and live in an area that has crappy (for lack of a better word ;-) coverage.

Oct 14, 2010

Prepaid Wireless vs. Postpaid Wireless - Part 2
by: PrepaidWirelessGuy

2. Handset selection is also another difference you'll find. Although Verizon recently announced the availability of many of its high end smartphones on prepaid, not all handsets are allowed on prepaid, and the cost is considerably higher. This gap will continue to close over time.

3. Features. Some providers will offer more features on their postpaid plans than on their prepaid plans. Back in the day things like call waiting, voicemail, and call display used to not be offered on prepaid! Now, of course, all basic features are typically the same, but there are still some differences. Again, these differences are rapidly evaporating. Particularly with the advent of prepaid Android smartphones and the like, features are tied more and more to the phone and operating system rather than the carrier itself. For example, turn by turn navigation used to be a carrier-only provided services, however, Android or BlackBerry users can download free apps like Google Navigation on their prepaid phones. That said, many prepaid carriers offered carrier hosted navigation anyway; i.e. there are sometimes differences to consider, but these differences are quickly disappearing.

I know you only asked about quality and coverage, but I thought I'd elaborate a bit for others who may be considering prepaid wireless.

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