The short answer? Selectel's about the only Verizon MVNO worth its salt that I'd be willing to recommend currently that does LTE.
There's also Total Wireless/Page Plus/Tracfone (as pointed out), but they're all owned by Carlos Slim, which means their parent company is known for
monopolistic practices,
ignoring consumer protection mandates and breaking promises,
false advertising,
defrauding the Lifeline program, draconian terms of service (just read the ToS from
any of the brands),
lobbying for telecom tax practices that
hide price increases, and
their outsourced customer support isn't great. With a track record like that, what's
not to love about handing over your entire mobile phone budget to a corporation that helped make the world's second richest man?
When you vote with your wallet, try to do good with the money spent instead of helping perpetuate bad behaviors.
The long answer? You're coming from Verizon, and you're complaining about AT&T reception coverage in NW Indiana. This is not a part of the world that
any of
the major carriers have neglected.
AT&T coverage should be perfectly serviceable in all but a couple of the remotest parts of the area, which leaves me asking only one question:
What model phone are you using?I suspect your reception issues are far more the fault of the handset you're using than Airvoice. I'm guessing you're using your old Verizon LTE smartphone? Probably a good couple years old, at least? Probably only supports 2G GSM on the 850/1900MHz bands, or if it does support 3G HSPA on 850/1900MHz, it was a phone known for its terrible fractal antenna design and you just didn't notice because of Verizon's tower saturation and abundant 700MHz LTE coverage?
These are important things to know and point out. Some phones, even if they can theoretically be used on multiple carriers, aren't going to do as well on some carriers than others... and it all comes down to what bands are supported and how well the antenna is designed and placed. I can check specifics on your handset, but I think we both already know the answer - your reception problems probably aren't with AT&T/Airvoice,
they're probably with your phone.
I won't die on this hill because stranger things have happened, but I still gotta go with my experience.
This means one of two things:
1) You either stay on the network that your phone works best on, which means a switch over to Selectel; or
2) You replace your handset with a model that works well on the AT&T network.
I'm all for not generating needless electronic junk and replacing perfectly functional devices, so I'm going to steer you toward Selectel, but you're simply not going to get the deals you can get on the GSM end of the MVNO spectrum. If you want to stick with Airvoice, I'm pretty certain you're gonna need a different phone. Might I recommend either a used and carrier unlocked Nokia/Microsoft Lumia 435 ($40) or 640 ($70) - ignore the Windows Mobile haters, they're solid devices in general and amazing for the money. If you want Android and new, Blu can make a decent phone.
