Which is the best wireless service for you? If you are considering making a change in your wireless carrier, you may be wondering what the difference is between providers. Let me share an industry secret with you. First, answer this question. What is your goal? Are you looking for the best connectivity, quality and speed or the lowest price per month?
You must make a choice because you can’t have both. How you answer this question dictates which wireless providers to consider and which to avoid, either a network or a reseller.
Verizon Wireless, Xfinity Mobile, Visible all use same network
To illustrate, let’s take a closer look at Verizon Wireless, Visible and Xfinity Mobile. As you know, Xfinity Mobile resells Verizon Wireless in an MVNO relationship.
Visible also uses the Verizon Wireless network but it is owned by Verizon.
There is a big difference between these three. Most people expect since they all use the same network that the quality is also the same.
Not true.
AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless top wireless carriers
One key difference is Verizon Wireless owns and operates their own mobile network. Xfinity Mobile and Visible do not.
Xfinity Mobile must resell one of the big three wireless networks, either Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile or AT&T Mobility.
Visible is owned by Verizon, so that is the network they use.
When you are talking to sales reps from Verizon Wireless, Xfinity Mobile or Visible, they all sound like they will offer great service. What else would they say?
There is no warning that if you go with Xfinity Mobile, which is the least expensive version, your experience may be less than adequate.
Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, Optimum Mobile are MVNO resellers
You get to know the truth when you talk with users of different wireless services.
They will tell you that Verizon Wireless offers a top-quality network. They will also tell you this comes at a price. Verizon is the most expensive wireless network o the market.
If you like the quality of the Verizon service, but want to save money, you may think switching to Xfinity Mobile or Spectrum Mobile would be a good choice. Altice Mobile is a reseller of T-Mobile.
However, many users are not happy after making the switch.
Remember, you can switch your wireless carrier and keep your number, but the process can be a little un-nerving, especially when something goes wrong, and you lose the number you want or need to keep.
Altice Mobile changed its brand name to Optimum Mobile
By the way, to make matters even more confusing, Altice Mobile just changed their name to Optimum Mobile.
Dish has not really entered the wireless world in a big way yet. We expected them to enter as a hybrid, both reseller and network as they built their network.
However, after T-Mobile changed the rules on them, Dish just announced they are switching to AT&T Mobility. This announcement was recently made.
This was a curious switch.
That leaves us to wonder if Optimum Mobile will also switch? Stay tuned.
Problems after switching to Xfinity Mobile from Verizon Wireless
Users have shared with me that they had problems after switching from Verizon to Xfinity Mobile.
They say their service was adequate in their hometown. However, when travelling they were very confused and disappointed when their phone didn’t work.
Example: one told me when taking his family on vacation, he had zero signal on the highway, the entire way to the beach. And after arriving, they had little or no signal in the beach town.
Xfinity Mobile is supposed to start by looking for wi-fi in order to help control costs to Comcast. If it cannot connect to wi-fi, next it is supposed to link to the Verizon Wireless network.
However, if the user gets no connectivity, something is wrong.
That is simply unacceptable for any wireless user. Remember, wireless is only useful when it is connected. Otherwise, the smartphone is only a paperweight.
When switching from Verizon Wireless to Xfinity Mobile, they expected the same quality and connectivity.
They didn’t get it. And that made them angry.
When users switch to Visible, the connectivity is the same as on Verizon. However, if the tower is full, the preference always goes to Verizon Wireless customers.
They are the primary user in the mix. Visible and Xfinity Mobile are considered secondary.
Verizon Wireless vs. Xfinity Mobile choice; reliability or savings
So, this is apparently the choice you have to make. Do you want to pay as little as possible and give up reliability, or is an always-on connection more important to you?
Users expect resellers to offer the same service at a lower cost. However, reseller users take a secondary or worse position to the primary customers of the wireless carrier.
Example, when a cell site reaches its capacity, primary users of Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T get preference. Reseller users suffer.
Some wireless carriers are better than others
Some wireless carriers are better than others at preparing their network for the right connectivity levels.
So, when using a reseller, you may experience some of these annoying problems like no service.
You see, every MVNO reseller uses one of the big three networks, either Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile or AT&T. Some locations are better than others. Some cities are better than others. Some towers are better than others.
Visible uses Verizon, Cricket Wireless uses AT&T
Companies like the top performing Cricket Wireless is owned by AT&T and Visible which is owned by Verizon. They use their parent company’s wireless network.
The real question is this… do they suffer the same secondary position in priority access to the network?
That’s what customers really want to know.
Let’s put it this way. While services like Cricket and Visible may sometimes have priority over Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile, and over other MVNO resellers, they are all second to the AT&T and Verizon primary customers.
Multiple levels of wireless service quality
Bottom line is this: customers of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have best access, but also pay the highest amount.
The next level of user who gets a lower cost, and next level connectivity are providers like Cricket and Visible.
There are also companies like Xfinity Mobile, Spectrum Mobile and even Altice Mobile or Optimum Mobile, who may leave their users without service when they travel as I described above.
Last are smaller MVNO resellers like Pure Talk, TracFone and dozens of others.
MVNO wireless resellers save money but have more problems
Note, all resellers save money over full-service providers.
However, there is a measurable difference in quality and reliability of service speed and connection. And there seems to be a step ladder in comparing the strengths and weaknesses of competitors.
Even wireless carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have problems from time to time. When they own and operate their own network, they must do a balancing act.
They don’t want to have too much access in any particular tower. That is too expensive.
On the other hand, they don’t want to have too little access at any tower. That creates an angry and unsatisfied customer who is looking to switch away to a competitor.
An occasional or unusual overage in demand on any particular tower can be expected and forgiven.
However, an ongoing problem that is not corrected cannot be. That’s a choice the user has to make.
Wireless service providers should not be considered equal
As you can see, there are different reasons between wireless carriers and the different levels of MVNO resellers. The bottom line is all wireless carriers are not the same.
Some are stronger and some are weaker. Some are stronger in certain areas than others. Some are attentive to their user needs and quickly increase capacity.
So, remember, the choice is yours. Primary users pay more, but get preferential treatment and better connectivity, speed and service.
MVNO reseller users pay less but get a secondary user experience and often more trouble than primary users.
So, that’s it in a nutshell. Now decide… which customer are you?
