markonline1

This. Once you leave the cities, you will see coverage change dramatically. I took advantage of a t-mobile test drive where I could have the phone for a few days. I guess my area would be classed as fairly rural. As soon as I left any built up town, I completely lost coverage. Verizon seem pretty good in my area of keeping coverage even in the less built up areas.
As well as the quality of coverage, the other big difference you'll notice about cell phones out here is the price. They are expensive!

sarasota chic

Does that also apply to iPads I have an iPad Air will that work on just wifi or a sim?

sherbert

My unlocked iPhone 5 works perfectly with T-mobile LTE so not quite sure where you got your info from. T-mobile global is very handy if you travel a lot (free roaming worldwide, unlimited calls in US and unlimited texts when in the US and abroad). $120/month for two phones.

Coverage is patchy outside of the main cities though and in some areas you won't have a choice of providers for this reason.

Olly_

I didn't say it won't work full stop, it's not ideal though. T-Mobile uses Band 2, 4 and 12 LTE and the iPhone 5S sold in the UK only supports one of those, band 2.

Olly_

What model is your iPad exactly?

If you go in to Settings > General > About > Legal > Regulatory the model number (begins with an A and has 4 numbers) should be listed at the top.

Pulaski

There used to be a couple of places where calls would drop on AT&T service if I was on the phone while driving home. The service eventually improved, but it was only a year or so back when service improved at Pulaski Manor enough for us to have fairly reliable service at home. We got quite used to getting voice mails for calls that never rang or hanging over the banister trying to find enough of a signal to make a call. There wasn't much of a signal even if we went outside and wandered around the yard looking for a signal.

petitefrancaise

we had this and t-mobile gave us a free booster thing for the house. works great.

like others have said, t-mobile works fine in the cities/towns. Not so great outside of them. Mind you, my experience of losing signal is limited to west texas and new mexico where there is sweet FA anyway.

Just a smallish thing that I noticed -
t-mobile phones bought here in the USA will make calls using wifi abroad. A non-t-mobile phone even with a t-mobile sim won't.

mrken30

I'm not sure what 4G options are on the iphone, but T-mobile uses channel 12 I believe , which is not available on all models of phone.

Also what do you call best? Best service or best value?

Also do you require tethering?

petitefrancaise

yes. you will need credit history to do this.
without credit history or at the very least a ssn you will also need to get a pre-paid cellphone plan.

t-mobile do one which is pretty good and compares favourably to their regular post paid one and I think verizon)?) also does a pre-paid one. All this means is that you pay in advance for the next month of usage instead of paying at the end of the month. It's all organised the same way so you don't really notice any difference.,

Olly_

That's an Android quirk - a compatible iPhone will get Wi-Fi calling on any of the US networks no matter where it came from.

Some networks restrict it to certain models though, T-Mobile has Wi-Fi calling from the 5c/5S up but AT&T and Verizon only allow Wi-Fi calling on the iPhone 6 and up.

sarasota chic

It's an iPad Air 1 the model number is:A1474.

Olly_

A1474 is a Wi-Fi only iPad so it has no cellular radio.

sarasota chic

Okay so I shouldn't have any problems using it in the USA as its only wifi.

aless02

I was under the impression that all 'modern' phones worked in both countries with a new SIM! :-O is there a place or website to check capability? Husband and I both have relatively new Androids!

tom169

There may be a form on the network's website that will check using the phone's IMEI number.