OT: Wireless service: AT&T vs CSpire

[Duke Humphrey]

I know its been discussed, but I am currently with ATT and have little issues as far as reception, etc. However, CSpire is offering a special to switch, and the monthly plan is a little less. Is there that big of a difference not to make the switch?

 

[dawgstudent]

How often do you travel outside of Mississippi? CSpire has improved his it's out of state coverage but that would be my one worry. If you leave the state a lot - I would stick with ATT.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

This is the correct answer. In MS mostly/only - CSpire. Otherwise, ATT.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

Thank you both. I stay in MS most of the time, but when I do leave, I would like for it to work. Is it that bad when you do leave no matter where or is just certain locations?

 

[Shmuley]

I go out west every year. My C Spire works just fine when I'm out there.

 

[dawgstudent]

It's really hit or miss and they have improved their out of state coverage tremendously over the past few years. I'm just uncertain of where it is hit or miss.

https://www.cspire.com/cms/wireless/coverage/#data

 

[patdog]

Yeah. C-Spire's out of state coverage has gotten MUCH better than it used to be. I generally don't notice any issues out of state. I'm not streaming a lot of stuff, so that might be an issue, but for basic cell & data service, it's no problem to leave the state these days.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I'm still convinced, based on my experience, that CSpire works great inside their network, but if needed these partner carriers throttle connections for people who aren't direct customers, or at a minimum, CSpire has a very low bandwidth SLA with them. I tether a lot when travelling and CSpire was often unusable. I'm on Verizon now and it is much better. I had ATT in a past life and it worked well also.

 

[Hugh's Burner Phone]

Thank you both. I stay in MS most of the time, but when I do leave, I would like for it to work. Is it that bad when you do leave no matter where or is just certain locations?

When I'm storm chasing I can map the state line with my cell phone signal from CSpire. Once you get in towns I almost always have a signal, but if I'm out of state in a rural area it doesn't surprise me when I see no service.

 

[The Peeper]

I left CSpire after 13 years for AT&T because of the out of state problem and AT&T offering a good discount for us "guvment" workers. My out of state problem instantly went away and I've not regretted the switch other than I typically like to support the local guys when I can but not when they suck though. The straw that broke the camels back was the 2011 Gator Bowl, I didn't have service hardly at all when I was in Jacksonville for that and punted CSpire right afterwards

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

It's really hit or miss and they have improved their out of state coverage tremendously over the past few years. I'm just uncertain of where it is hit or miss.

https://www.cspire.com/cms/wireless/coverage/#data

Cspire network uses T mobile towers outside of MS. But didn’t Sprint and T-Mobile recently combine? Anyone know if this increased the out of state coverage?

I have CSpire and it worked fine every time I’ve been out of state, the data was sometimes hit or miss though when out of state.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Cspire network uses T mobile towers outside of MS. But didn’t Sprint and T-Mobile recently combine? Anyone know if this increased the out of state coverage?

I have CSpire and it worked fine every time I’ve been out of state, the data was sometimes hit or miss though when out of state.

For me it was never a "coverage" issue, it would always roam fine all over the country. It just wasn't actually usable for data.

 

[GloryDawg]

I drove from Miss to Arizona to Utah to Colorado to Kansas to OK and back to Miss with CSpire. The only time I lost cell connection with CSpire was in the Navajo Nation.


Edited to say I have the only Samsung phone in my house. My wife and kids have Iphones. They lost signal a bunch. I did not. Read into what you want.

 

[WrapItDog]

If your alternator goes out on Hwy 45 in Fruitdale, AL on the way home from Gulf Shores, Cspire works and AT&T does not.

 

[johnson86-1]

Thank you both. I stay in MS most of the time, but when I do leave, I would like for it to work. Is it that bad when you do leave no matter where or is just certain locations?

I had bad luck with CSpire inside and outside of the state. Had a free work phone that I finally had to give up because I got tired of not having access to email or being able to get the map to work. Even getting texts was hit or miss. Final straw was having basically zero service on I-10 in the florida panhandle and not even being able to send texts out. I figured if I'm not even going to have service on major interstates, it was basically like having no phone.

The plus side is that if you do have a CSPIRE through work, any time you get a text, phone call, or email that you want to ignore, you can just claim it didn't come through and all your coworkers will believe you. But if you choose to use CSPIRE, I assume people are less understanding of that.

 

[vhdawg]

I left CSpire after 13 years for AT&T because of the out of state problem and AT&T offering a good discount for us "guvment" workers. My out of state problem instantly went away and I've not regretted the switch other than I typically like to support the local guys when I can but not when they suck though. The straw that broke the camels back was the 2011 Gator Bowl, I didn't have service hardly at all when I was in Jacksonville for that and punted CSpire right afterwards

Just as a point of order....there's an awful lot of "local guys" at AT&T also. Lot of MSU people maintaining that network.

 

[catvet]

I had CSpire for several years, but there were and still are so many gaps in their instate coverage, I switched to AT&T. I've never had any issues with AT&T either instate or out. I'd love to support a Mississippi company but not when they can't even cover the entire state they are headquartered in. Take a look at their coverage map and you will still see gaps. To add to that, they have no active 5G program, if that means anything to you. I know Verizon has great coverage as well, but I'll stick with AT&T.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

For me it was never a "coverage" issue,

Would you say it was a "blocking" issue?*

 

[Nicephorus]

If you qualify for it, FirstNet is the best option. They’ve broadened their definition of “first responder” considerably to include a large amount of professions at this point. It’s cheaper, uses att towers, gives access to band 14, and prioritizes your traffic over the rest of att for when you want service at a football game

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I'm also a former CSpire customer who switched to at&t for the same reasons.

 

[VegasDawg13]

I know its been discussed, but I am currently with ATT and have little issues as far as reception, etc. However, CSpire is offering a special to switch, and the monthly plan is a little less. Is there that big of a difference not to make the switch?

I have C Spire. In Starkville, I can pretty much tell when a big game crowd shows up because my data slows down to the point of not being able to use certain apps. Data pretty much doesn't work at all inside the stadium. I think this got better when they allegedly added towers a year or two ago, but it certainly didn't solve it completely like they acted like it would. When travelling out of state, the only real issue I have is that I often lose the ability to stream audio when between cities.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Well, it was actually offensive...

 

[msstatelp1]

I'd stick with ATT if you travel in the NW part of the state and want data.

Here's a cellmapper map with 4G LTE coverage around here:

https://www.cellmapper.net/map?MCC=...COnly=false&showBand=0&showSectorColours=true

 

[kakiDawg]

ATT’s GSM network is far superior than CSpire’s CDMA network in the category of being able to use the Internet and texting while on a call. If you’re on a long conf call with CSpire, your phone is useless. Might not happen much for you, but I like to be able to get updates and such while on a long call.

 

[dawgstudent]

Cspire has fixed that issue. You can now do both data and phone at the same time.

 

[Requiem For A Dawg]

I was about to ask the same question as the OP.

It seems like C-Spire’s coverage has gotten worse for me on the MS Gulf Coast over the past year.

I routinely travel up and down I-10 and between Hancock County and Hwy 49 in Gulfport and the service with C-spire is terrible. It is impossible to make a call without it dropping. I get dropped down to 3G or 1x in Biloxi, Ocean Springs and Gulfport a decent amount of time. There is no reason to have terrible service in one of the biggest cities in the state.

It has not always been like this, but it has gotten really bad over the past year. I’m very close to switching AT&T or Verizon.

 

[The Peeper]

CSpire added a mobile tower on a trailer and put it in the Hump parking lot during baseball/basketball season in late '18 or early '19 I believe and left it there for about a year. It's since been taken away, that may have been why it got better then tanked again when they took the trailer away.