<p>I know this has been covered before, but cell phone service is something that seems to be constantly changing and I'd like to get the most up to date info that I can.</p>
<p>We currently have AT&T, which works okay at Swarthmore. My D. does have some dead spots and dropped calls and minimal service in the science center, but for the most part she is happy enough.</p>
<p>But...it is time for us to upgrade our phones and we are looking at our options. T-Mobile is much less expensive than AT&T and we know that it works well here in our hometown. But what about at Swat? And what about the other carriers? Virgin offers a good deal too, but will it work on campus? </p>
<p>Verizon. But texting does seem to be the back up plan when calls don’t get through. I have a current student at Swat and he was walking out to the Pike the other day when he called me, and the further he got away from the Ville, the better the connection was. We also did give him a landline phone for his room-the college does provide each student with a landline number-and we do call the landline sometimes when we are on the “free minutes” portion of our plan. That does seem to be a much clearer connection.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend Verizon. Terrible reception (ie, no reception at all) in the New Dorms. AT&T works great for me–dead spots in basements on occasion, but nowhere else.</p>
<p>Yes, Mertz is fine–I’m not sure, might be something about the way the walls are built in DK and AP? There is service right outside the dorm, but not in it (in fact, when I lived in DK, people would stick their phones out the window to send text messages).</p>
<p>I have friends with Verizon and T-Mobile, and neither seems to have better service than my own (AT&T). For example, Verizon often doesn’t even get text messages in McCabe basement.</p>
<p>I agree that AT&T is considered to have the best service on campus. Switching may still be worthwhile given cost differential, but there’s definitely a price paid in coverage.</p>
<p>We don’t have AT&T in our state so had to go with a family plan with Verizon to get the unlimited talk with our daughter. The shuttle drivers know our family better than their own at this point because our daughter calls us on the shuttle in the evenings with great reception. Reception in her dorm (PPR) is OK if she is half out her window. Same with Hallowell last year. Parrish was OK with Verizon. Classroom buildings and Sharples are always poor. She has never had problems with texting though, which is what she uses with her friends on campus.</p>
<p>I’m one of the only people I know here who has T-Mobile. It’s been great in every dorm I’ve lived in (Mertz, Wharton, Roberts) and, as far as I’ve noticed, fine in most dorms other than ML and some parts of the new dorms (although that’s a universal problem).</p>
<p>I don’t get reception in McCabe unless I’m standing next to a window, and it’s spotty in most academic buildings, but honestly, it’s probably not that much better or worse than for most of my friends. Maybe my phone has just gotten better, but it also seems like reception has gotten much better over my 4 years here. It always works in Sharples. If being able to have T-Mobile after graduation is a serious consideration, I can assure you that it works reasonably well on most of our campus, and you quickly learn where the dead spots are.</p>
<p>T-mobile was terrible for my son when he lived in Parrish; also bad elsewhere. This was 2 years ago though. Since then we’ve used AT&T and both sons are happy - one in Parrish and one in ML. My own Verizon service isn’t quite as good, but better than T-Mobile was.</p>
But texting does seem to be the back up plan when calls don’t get through. I have a current student at Swat 
and he was walking out to the Pike the other day when he called me, and the further he got away from the Ville, the better the connection was. We also did give him a landline phone for his room-the college does provide each student with a landline number-and we do call the landline sometimes when we are on the “free minutes” portion of our plan. That does seem to be a much clearer connection.</p>