<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I'm getting a smartphone <em>finally</em> when I go to Cornell this fall. My family is currently on T-Mobile. I heard, however, that T Mobile's internet/phone coverage is horrible on campus. Is that true? Should I go with Verizon or AT&T then?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Oh man, T-Mobile on North. I went through that lovely experience last year. Service is relatively mediocre most of the time, but you’ll often lose service when you’re indoors. For example, you generally don’t get service in RPCC except sometimes when you’re in the dining hall. Anywhere else but North will usually give you more bars. Pretty good service off-campus for some reason. </p>
<p>I switched to AT&T early this year. I get approximately full bars, 4G LTE, basically everywhere on campus. Service gets much worse off-campus though. ):</p>
<p>I think T-Mobile has wifi-calling though, so I guess that could make up for some of it. I’m really not sure how that works though.</p>
<p>My son had Verizon. Absolutely no problems with it – either from North Campus dorm or walking across campus between classes.</p>
<p>Verizon was great a couple years ago when I graduated all across campus/Ithaca. I had switched from AT&T due to spotty reception, but that was ~5 years ago. I believe since then, AT&T has added tower(s) on campus and the reception is much better. That said, I don’t think there are any cost differences between AT&T and Verizon and in general, Verizon has a better reputation across the country for better reception.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. hmmm. I was also wondering, how is campus wide wifi at Cornell? Would I even need a data plan then? If the wifi is good, then I could just buy an unlocked phone and get a talk+text only plan. Then I could just use campus wifi for my internet needs.</p>
<p>Hey rising sophmore here. Had T-Mobile last year and got no service in my dorm for the majority of the year. Definitely was a huge annoyance and I would definitely go with a different carrier. Living off campus this year so hopefully won’t be a problem.</p>
<p>I don’t have T-Mobile so I can’t vouch for this feature, but T-Mobile supposedly has “Wi-Fi calling.” I think that means you should be able to use the wifi in your dorm to be able to call/text with your smartphone. </p>
<p>See here: [Free</a> Wi-Fi Calling | Phone Calls Over Wireless Broadband | T-Mobile](<a href=“http://t-mobile-coverage.t-mobile.com/4g-wireless-broadband-service]Free”>http://t-mobile-coverage.t-mobile.com/4g-wireless-broadband-service)</p>
<p>What do you guys think of Straight Talk? It supposedly uses AT&T towers?</p>