Are there differences in the ethics of various cell phone companies?

[Anonymous]

We have T-Mobile, which seems to have become the slimiest. We've had it for a long time, and I liked the customer service, but that seems to be slipping, too.

I'm not looking for a company that buys capacity from the big boys and touts its morality, just wondering if between T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon there's much of a difference.

[Anonymous]

By "cell phone companies," I mean carriers, not manufacturers of cell phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have T-Mobile, which seems to have become the slimiest. We've had it for a long time, and I liked the customer service, but that seems to be slipping, too.

I'm not looking for a company that buys capacity from the big boys and touts its morality, just wondering if between T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon there's much of a difference.

We left a different large carrier for T-Mobile and find T-Mobile to be much better. So I disagree with your premise.

That said, all "big 3" are publicly-traded stocks that are under profit and profit margin pressure. Not an excuse, just an observation about reality.

Any other player either is very small/local (e.g., some rural telecom), is reselling mobile phone service, or both.

[Anonymous]

They are all slimy. They promise things that they cannot possibly deliver. We can start with the fact that all sell "unlimited" service that is not actually unlimited, and proceed downward from there.

[Anonymous]

We have Google Fi and absolutely love it. We travel internationally a lot and it seamlessly switches to that country's service once we arrive. We pay $135 a month for the 3 of us and we have an unlimited data plan, which I think is the highest plan. And it really is unlimited. The bill is always the same no matter how much data we use or how many times we are out of the country.

I'm sure there may be cheaper options, we've been on Fi pretty much since it came out so I haven't looked into them for years. But we are happy with it because we just don't have to think about anything. Don't have to worry about international travel, don't have to worry about data.

[Anonymous]

I have Mint. I had Tracfone. I just don't have enough usage for a traditional cell phone plan with support at local stores for phone issues.

Currently on an iPhone 12 bought refurbished. It's still supported by Apple, so I don't need to replace it yet.

[Anonymous]

And it really is unlimited.

I guarantee that it is not unlimited. Try transferring multiple terabytes per month, every month, and see how long it takes before your account is cancelled.

[Anonymous]

Verizon and AT&T are bottom of the barrel. Tmob is a hair better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are all slimy. They promise things that they cannot possibly deliver. We can start with the fact that all sell "unlimited" service that is not actually unlimited, and proceed downward from there.

OP here -- I'm not concerned about my experience as an individual consumer, which has been fine with T-Mobile. I'm curious about cellular providers as corporate citizens, an area where T-Mobile does not excel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- I'm not concerned about my experience as an individual consumer, which has been fine with T-Mobile. I'm curious about cellular providers as corporate citizens, an area where T-Mobile does not excel.

I have no idea what that even means.

[Anonymous]

Tmobile has the fewest unionized employees, Verizon and AT&T have larger numbers in the CWA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tmobile has the fewest unionized employees, Verizon and AT&T have larger numbers in the CWA.

OP here, and thanks! That's really helpful. And AT&T is the clear winner:
https://cwa-union.org/pages/att_mobility_comparison

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all slimy. They promise things that they cannot possibly deliver. We can start with the fact that all sell "unlimited" service that is not actually unlimited, and proceed downward from there.

OP here -- I'm not concerned about my experience as an individual consumer, which has been fine with T-Mobile. I'm curious about cellular providers as corporate citizens, an area where T-Mobile does not excel.

Everything is relative. AT&T and Verizon are worse.

[Anonymous]

I have worked with all three in the telecom policy arena. AT&T is the most principled in that arena, I would say.

[Anonymous]

Just about any MVNO is better than the big guys.