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The College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE) sponsors an annual material handling student design competition for teams of students interested in the analysis and design of material handling systems. Since the first design competition was offered during the 1994-1995 academic year, student design teams have developed material handling system designs for a variety of manufacturing and warehousing operations. Design problems are drawn from the case files of designers and manufacturers of material handling equipment and their end users. See the links below regarding the current design competition and the summaries of the past design competitions. The 2014-2015 case was provided by St. Onge.
Cash Prizes.CICMHE is pleased to co-sponsor the 2014-2015 competition with the Order Fulfillment Solutions (OFS) council. In addition to CICMHE's existing cash prizes, OFS support has boosted the payouts to $2000, $1500, and $1000 to the First, Second, and Third place teams, plus $500 for each placing department. OFS co-sponsorship will also enable the top three finishing faculty advisors to attend MODEX 2016 show being held in Atlanta, GA.
The 2014-2015 design competition case overview and judging criteria files are now available in the links below. The full design case and data are now available. Note that again this year, faculty advisors will need to request the associated case information from CICMHE at cicmhe[at]mhi[dot]org. A link will then be provided to the faculty advisors that they can share with their teams to download the data and begin work on the case. Please carefully read the Case Rules and Procedures.
Fair Traders. This case study focuses on a facility project at Fair Traders, an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art and sculpture, textiles, serve ware, and personal accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Fair Traders distributes products from their distribution center which services their retail outlets throughout the United States, a consignment sales events business, and their emerging direct-to-customer (DTC) business. The DTC business volume is growing rapidly and is expected to continue its rapid growth over the next few years. The focus of this student design case is on the DTC business. Fair Trader is actively seeking assistance in identifying the opportunities for improving their processes, particularly in light of an expected volume growth in both the upcoming year and the following year.
The 2012-2013 case was developed by TranSystems.
This case study focuses on a facility retrofit project at CW Sports, a major sporting goods distributor. The sporting goods industry has been growing significantly for the last decade, thanks to a variety reasons including the ability to prosper even during poor economic conditions. The Engineering Team at CW Sports is challenged with retrofitting the current distribution center to meet the demands of growth and the new acquisition of an emerging athletic footwear brand. The information contained in this case study has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing a facility retrofit to improve throughput capacity, increase product storage, increase forward pick locations, and introduce distribution of an emerging footwear brand.
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of product flow, equipment selection, space utilization, operational plan, implementation plan, economic justification, overall integration, conclusions, and overall quality of report.
($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department)
Margaret Bates, Jessica Jeffrey, Alexandra Woodward, and Justine Nichols
Rochester Institute of Technology
Andres Carrano, Advisor
($1500 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department)
Joe Johnson, Molly Martin, Nate Powell, and Colter Schilling
Montana State
Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor
($1000 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department)
Abinaya Ulagappa, Shreyas Panambur, Cesar Solis, and John Curlin
Texas A&M
Andrew Johnson, Advisor
The 2011-2012 case was developed by West Monroe Partners.
MegaSteelTool's 600,000 square foot plant in Buffalo, NY, U.S.A., manufactures a variety of steel tools and distributes them to its clients across the world. The company is mainly recognized for the quality of its products. MegaSteelTool is proud to be certified for the ISO 9001-2008 quality standard.
In the last three years, MegaSteelTool has been penetrating the Asian and South-American markets. This recent success generated a total of 30% annual sales increase over the last three years. It has resulted in the current facility being running over capacity and the company having to recurrently rely on subcontractors in the last two years to meet its commitments toward its clients. The usage of subcontractors has been a costly operation, both in terms of quality and production costs.
After an extensive analysis, the company has determined that it would like to construct a new manufacturing plant to be located in Phoenix, (AZ, U.S.A.). This new plant will take a load of the actual plant. The operations at the plant of Buffalo will remain. The mission of the Buffalo plant will focus on the production of high volume - standardized products. The new plant will have to handle the production of high mix – low volume items. The exact location is not fixed yet and may change. The company desires to build a "state-of-the-art" new plant enabling it to sustain and improve its competitive advantage in the global market.
A mixture of academic and industry judges evaluated the entries according to the criteria of product flow, equipment selection, space utilization, operational plan, implementation plan, economic justification, overall integration, conclusions, and overall quality of report.
($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department)
Austin Chacosky, Bridget Eggers, Matthew Myers, and Leila Rozenman
Rochester Institute of Technology
Andres Carrano, Advisor
($1250 to each team to be split among the team members, plus $500 for each department)
Mohamed Adan, Tigist Desta, Kate Fisher, and Jesse Walters
Ohio State University
Jerald Brevick, Advisor
Gabriel Bertini, Teresa Creech, Alyssa DeYoung, and Megan Hinterberger
Penn State University
DJ Medeiros, Advisor
The 2010-2011 case was developed by St. Onge Company.
This year's case study, SCS Stores, has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing a functional and efficient distribution center facility that supports both retail store replenishment and internet order fulfillment in a high growth environment.
SCS Stores' engineering team has been challenged to develop plans for the construction and equipping of a new distribution center. SCS Stores operates 665 superstores all across the United States. The big-box outlets offer a variety o TVs, DVD players, and audio systems, as well as CDs and DVDs, personal computer and peripherals, mobile computing devices, telephones, movies and video games. SCS currently has two distribution centers, which are both currently running over capacity and there is insufficient opportunity to expand further in the existing buildings.
($2,000 split among the team plus $500 for the department)
Dan Mashack, Rachel Belyavsky, Matthew Strauss and Tomas Lima
Virginia Tech
Jeremy L. Rickli, Advisor
($1,500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department)
Adam Gereg, Owen Kelley, David Sitek and Cory Wolosyn
Montana State University
Durward K. Sobek II, Advisor
($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department)
Philip Gutierrez, Eric Kim, Estelle Sillari-Owen and Nihar Doshi
California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo
Lizabeth Schlemer, Advisor
The 2009-2010 case was developed by Keogh Consulting.
This year's case study, ToolFair Distributors, has been developed to provide a real world situation in regard to designing functional and efficient distribution center facilities.
ToolFair's engineering team has been challenged to develop plans for the construction and equipping of a new distribution center that will commence shipment to customers no later than June 2011. ToolFair is a nationwide company that distributes a full line of hardware, tools, and maintenance supplies to independent hardware retailers located in 39 states. Each customer store is serviced from the Regional Distribution Center (RDC) located within a 200 mile radius. Recently, the company projected sales through 2016, and it was determined that the existing distribution network would need to be expanded by 2012 to service the ever growing number of customer stores through the addition of a new southwestern RDC located in Phoenix, AZ.
A key to the rapid expansion of the company lies in the company's focus on Customer Service, streamlined Supply Chain Logistics processes, and integration of its information systems with its suppliers. Collaborative planning with key suppliers has resulted in a significant reduction in inventories and transportation services needed to provide fast replenishment to its customers who compete with the large national Do-It-Yourself retailers.
($1,500 split among the team plus $500 for the department)
Mattie Bookhout, Prabuddha Lohani, Elizabeth McCallion and Cameron Ramoly
University of Arkansas
Russell Meller, Advisor
($1,000 split among the teams plus $500 for the department)
Colby Allen, Philip Pecher, Tim Wilson and Yigong Zhang
Georgia Institute of Technology
Chen Zhou, Advisor
($500 split among the teams plus $500 for the department)
Mona Barjasteh, Kyle Gaunt, Jose Gonzalez and Jeffrey Yuan
California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo
Unny Menon, Advisor
Michael Wharff, Amy Fredrikson, Breton Bureau and Todd Murphy
Maine Maritime Academy
Navneet Jain, Advisor
Ashley Olander, Jarrod Kazda, Anthony Koleck and Anastasia Linuwih
Penn State University
D.J. Medeiros, Advisor


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Topped with Wheat Belly Onion Rings, this Green Bean Casserole yields a side dish that stands proudly alongside baked fish, poultry, beef, or pork, or it can even serve as a main dish itself. It's also great for leftovers, warmed briefly in the microwave prior to serving.
Wheat Belly Onion Rings
Makes 4 servings
3/4 cup coconut flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 egg
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil or olive oil
1 cup ground golden flaxseeds
1/2 cup almond meal
2 large sweet onions, cut into 1/2"-thick slices and separated into rings
PREHEAT the oven to 450°F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.
COMBINE 1/4 cup of the coconut flour and the paprika in a shallow bowl. In another shallow bowl, beat the egg and oil until blended. On a large plate, combine the flaxseeds, the remaining 1/2 cup coconut flour, and the almond meal.
DREDGE the onion rings in the coconut flour-paprika mixture, gently shaking off the excess. Dip in the egg mixture, letting the excess drip off. Dredge in the flax-seed mixture to coat. Place on the baking sheets and lightly coat with cooking spray.
BAKE for 12 minutes, turning once, or until lightly browned.
NUTRITION (per serving): 400 calories, 15 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 24 g total fat, 5 g saturated fat, 21 g fiber, 36 mg sodium
Green Bean Casserole
Makes 6 servings
4 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, cut into rings
1/4 cup ground golden flaxseeds
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
1 bag (16 ounces) French-cut green beans, thawed
1 cup chicken broth
8 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Grease a 1 1/2-to 2-quart shallow baking dish.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, HEAT 2 tablespoons of the butter or oil. Add the onion rings and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
PLACE the flaxseeds on a large plate. Add the browned onion rings and toss with the flaxseeds to coat. Set aside.
In the same skillet over medium-high heat, HEAT the remaining 2 tablespoons butter or oil. Cook the chopped onion and mushrooms for 8 minutes, or until most of the liquid has absorbed. Add the green beans and broth and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cream cheese until melted. Stir in the Parmesan and red pepper. Pour into the baking dish. Arrange the onion rings over the top.
BAKE for 25 minutes, or until hot and bubbling.
NUTRITION (per serving): 276 calories, 7 g protein, 13 g carbohydrates, 23 g total fat, 13 g saturated fat, 4 g fiber, 315 mg sodium
More from Prevention: 8 Slow-Cooker Comfort Foods
Published December 2012, Prevention

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to Veep Club!
The first rule of Veep Club: You don't talk about Veep Club.
Put another way: Those who know who is (and isn't) on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's vice presidential short list aren't talking. And that means that when it comes Romney's running mate, your guess is as good as mine. Literally.
The past week has proven that fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. The news that Marco Rubio was in fact not being seriously vetted to serve as Romney's second-in-command rocked the political world for 12 hours — up until Romney himself told reporters traveling with him that the Florida Senator was in fact being vetted.
So, that happened.
In conversations over the past 24 hours with a variety of Republicans strategists — both those close to Romney and those viewing his candidacy from the outside looking in — it became abundantly clear that only two people know where the VP search stands and who is on either the long or short list: Romney and Beth Myers, who managed Romney's 2008 race and is now the head of the vetting process.
And yet, every one of the people we talked to also had an opinion on who should be moved up and who should be dropped down in our monthly rankings of the ten people considered most likely to be the pick.
Welcome to the odd process that is the vice presidential sweepstakes. (We wrote earlier this week on how incredibly difficult it is to balance the desire for ever more information about the veepstakes with the paucity of people who actually have genuine insight into what's going on.)
Below we offer what is, admittedly, some combination of educated guess and straight-out guess of how the VP candidates stack up at this moment in time.
Agree? Or (more likely) disagree? The comments section is open for business.
To the Line!
10. Luis Fortuno: The governor of Puerto Rico isn't one anyone's list but consider this: He and Romney get along well, he would send a signal to Hispanics that Romney (and Republicans) are serious about courting them, and Fortuno spent time serving in the U.S House from Puerto Rico. It would also be a huge national story if Romney went that route. No, we don't think it's at all likely — but it's damn interesting. (Previous ranking: N/A)
9. Bob McDonnell: The governor of Virginia started the veepstakes far higher on the Line but the air seems to have gone out of the McDonnell balloon to some extent. McDonnell is still a steady (and largely safe) messenger in a swing — and maybe the swing — state in the race. But some of his past controversies (masters thesis, transvaginal ultrasounds) could well violate the "above all, do no harm" rule of the veepstakes. (Previous ranking: 8)
8. Chris Christie: Where you think the New Jersey governor belongs on this Line is entirely dependent on what kind of pick you think Romney wants to make. If he wants a safe pick with a long resume in office, there is simply no way that Christie will be seriously considered. If Romney is looking for an outside-the box choice who would immediately become a story in his own right, then Christie is the guy. We tend to think Romney plays it safe — and that means no Christie. (Previous ranking: 5)
7. John Thune: No one — and we mean no one — talks about the possibility of the South Dakota Senator being Romney's final pick. But, remember the point we made above: Almost no one knows what is going on in the VP search either so there's no reason to think Thune isn't under consideration. On paper, he has the goods: Charismatic, handsome, conservative and from the Plains. What's less clear is whether Thune and Romney have any personal chemistry. (Previous ranking: 6)
6. Kelly Ayotte: It seems impossible that no woman would be on the Romney long list given the emphasis that President Obama and his campaign team are putting on the idea of a Republican "war on women". Ayotte seems to make the most sense as she is a) from a swing state b) a natural talent and c) liked by moderate and conservative Republicans alike. Her problems? She is from New Hampshire (does Romney really want a ticketmate who, like him, is also from the Northeast) and she was only elected to the Senate in 2010. (Previous ranking: 9)
5. Bobby Jindal: The Louisiana governor is something of a forgotten man in the veepstakes chatter — but he shouldn't be. Jindal may well have the best combination of star power and proven capability of anyone under consideration. He spent time in the U.S. House prior to being elected governor and has wracked up an impressive record on education and ethics reform during his four-plus years in office. Jindal did endorse Gov. Rick Perry during the Republican primary fight — will that matter to Romney? (Previous ranking: 4)
4. Marco Rubio: Whether or not Rubio was being vetted at the start of the week, he sure as heck is now. (In fact, he's the only candidate that we know — beyond any doubt — is being vetted by Myers and Romney.) Rubio would clearly be a different sort of pick than the three men ranked above him on the Line; he is far less experienced on the national stage but has a star quality that the other men lack. Everything we keep hearing is that Romney's biggest priority is picking someone who could step in and do the job. Does he believe Rubio is ready for that responsibility? (Previous ranking: 2)
3. Paul Ryan: Chatter about the Wisconsin House member has died down considerably of late although he was at Romney's side when the nominee toured through the Badger State on his recent bus tour. By choosing Ryan, Romney would be embracing the big solutions mantra that Ryan symbolizes within the GOP. But, does Romney want to throw his arms around a plan he didn't write and make it easier for President Obama to link him to the unpopularity of Congressional Republicans? (Previous ranking: 3)
2. Tim Pawlenty: Tpaw is nothing if not resilient as a political player. When he dropped from the presidential race late last summer, almost no one thought he would be in the mix to be Romney's vice presidential pick. (Pawlenty was the originator of "Obamneycare"!) And yet here he is — decidedly in that mix thanks to his solid surrogacy for Romney on the campaign trail over the past months, his credentials as a two-term governor of a blue state and his rapport with the nominee. The one thing that keeps us from putting Pawlenty in the pole position? He was passed over by John McCain in 2008. Does Romney want to pick someone who has already been a bridesmaid? (Previous ranking: 7)
1. Rob Portman: The Ohio Senator has dropped from "it boy" status in the last month but still makes the most sense as a pick. He's a proven commodity about whom there is little to no doubt as to whether he could serve as president. Picking Portman would allow Romney to double down on the economy/debt/spending messaging as Portman served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Bush Administration. Plus, Portman is from Ohio, which is a must-have state for Romney. (Previous ranking: 1)


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9th Nursing Caption Contest - Win $100 - page 15
New Caption Contest - All you have to do is create a winning caption. You may submit as many captions as you wish. You have 1 week to achieve your objective. Follow the easy rules below. Winner will WIN $100! ... Read More
- 0Aug 26, '12 by Joe V AdminUPDATE: We have chosen the top 8 captions.
Vote for your favorite - Top 8 Captions - Help select winner in 9th Nursing Caption Contest
- 0Aug 27, '12 by kiki69"Did you get the memo? All nurses have to drink a protein shake and punch the bag for 20 minutes instead of eating lunch. They think it will promote stress relief and better overall health so we don't lose it on the patients."
"Yeah, I got it. But I keep wondering, where did they put the break room furniture?"
- 0Aug 30, '12 by irisheyesRsmilinI think this would be more effective if we put the administrators face on the bag dont you?
Quote from Joe VNew Caption Contest - All you have to do is create a winning caption.
You may submit as many captions as you wish. You have 1 week to achieve your objective. Follow the easy rules below.
Winner will WIN $100!
Caption Contest Rules
To qualify for the prize money and fame, your caption must be posted here in this thread on allnurses.com.
A poll will appear next week so you can help us select the winner from the top 8 captions.
We welcome everyone to participate! Join allnurses.com! It's Free!
Share and tell your friends, family, and co-workers to join the fun!
Don't forget to click LIKE.
- 0Sep 15, '12 by Joe V AdminUpdate:
and the winner is zorro_wrangler ... the cartoon may be viewed at Having effective communication skills is important
- 4Sep 17, '12 by zorro_wranglerThankyou to everyone who voted....and allnurses....the prize is just in time to spend on the fall semester @ nursing school The nursing process lives..
- 0Sep 18, '12 by brian, ADN AdminCongrats zorro_wrangler! Great Job!
- 0Sep 19, '12 by sirI, MSN, APRN, NP AdminCONGRATULATIONS, zorro_wrangler!!!!!!!!!!!
- 0Sep 19, '12 by aknottedyarnZorro, congrats. I like how you think.
- 0Sep 21, '12 by AlliNeedisAMiracle"Eddie from supplies called, we're low on restraints until Monday"


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Gear Review
Warm, does what it's intended to do
Member since
Not as durable as I would've liked, I've already had 3 holes after 2 days of riding with it. However, it works like how it should, so I really can't complain. I guess I've just come to accept that gloves/mittens aren't going to last you more than one season (if you go 15+ days a season).
Runs true to size. Roomy fit in the mitten
View More Details on Burton Baker Mitten - Men's


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Metamoris founder Ralek Gracie Talks about the upcoming Metamoris 5, a chance to win $10,000, and much more on Monday's The MMA Hour. Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com /subscription_center?add_user=mmafightingonsbn Check out our full video catalog: http://www.youtube.com/mmafightingonsbn/videos Visit our playlists: http://www.youtube.com/mmafightingonsbn/playlists Like MMAF on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mmafighting Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mmafighting Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com watch video >>
BJ Penn UFC 137 Pre-Fight Interview - 5thRound watch video >>
In this MMA interview, Marcos Villegas speaks to Tito Ortiz about his Nov 15th bout with Stephan Bonnar as he calls him a phony and a rat and touches on Bonnar's failed drug test. For more Boxing and MMA videos log onto http://www.fighthubtv.com Like us:http://on.fb.me/xWRC1f follow us:http://bit.ly/wACkIv Boxing videos! MMA videos! uploaded daily! Subscribe:http://goo.gl/vnzIb watch video >>
BJ Flores talks to Kenny Rice about boxing vs MMA, as well as Pawel Wolak and Roy Jones Jr. AXS TV is Your Home for MMA every Friday Night! Find AXS TV HERE: http://bit.ly/WtTUDr watch video >>
Chris Hugh v. BJ VanBeuskom Impact Fighting Championship Saturday September 14, 2013 Bismarck Civic Center watch video >>
Yesterday our very own, BJ Penn accepted and completed his ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Today, one of his nominees, Pedro Carraso did his part. Pedro is the News Director of BJPENN.COM. watch video >>
About ALS: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. watch video >>
MMAPLUS spoke to UFC star's and personalities who shared their favourite BJ Penn moment during UFC Dublin fight week. Checkout our YouTube channel MMAPLUS TV channel for all our latest videos - http://www.youtube.com/MMAP... Subscribe - http://www.youtube.com/subs...... Tweet Us - http://twitter.com/mmaplus Instagram - http://instagram.com/mmaplus Facebook - http://facebook.com/mmaplusuk Website - http://mmaplus.co.uk watch video >>
http://www.MMAWeekly.com/ -- BJ Penn's family is a tight knit unit. When the future UFC Hall of Famer retired, his family was on hand to support him. After the fight was over, after BJ made his retirement official, his brother, Jay Dee Penn, spoke with MMAWeekly.com about his brother's career and his future. watch video >>
http://www.MMAWeekly.com/ -- Frankie Edgar has gotten the best of BJ Penn in each of the three times they've fought, but don't think that Edgar doesn't hold any gratitude to Penn. After Edgar defeated Penn for the third time, the Hawaiian determined he'd run his course in the sport and retired. Edgar had nothing but respectful comments for the former two-division champion, going as far as to say that the victory was bittersweet and he felt indebted to Penn. watch video >>
http://www.MMAWeekly.com/ -- See BJ Penn as he answers questions about his retirement. Also see Frankie Edgar, Eddie Gordon, Corey Anderson, Derrick Lewis and Dana White field questions from the press at the The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale press conference (TUF 19 Finale). watch video >>
Para a matéria completa, acesse http://sextoround.com.br watch video >>
http://www.MMAWeekly.com/ -- An emotional BJ Penn addressed the press at the post-fight press conference receiving a rare standing ovation from the press. BJ talks about his decision to retire and the fight against Frankie Edgar after their TUF 19 Finale bout at the Mandalay Bay. watch video >>
MMA H.E.A.T.'s Karyn Bryant talks with BJ Penn's boxing coach Jason Parillo immediately after The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale and gets his thoughts on BJ's retirement, which "The Prodigy" announced at the post-fight press conference. Jason fills us in on the game plan they had heading into the fight, how he feels about the way the fight played out and whether or not he believes BJ is really retiring. Jason also discusses Michael Bisping's upcoming fight with Cung Le. Be sure to visit http://www.MMAHEAT.com for more interviews and Boxing and MMA content. Nós falamos Português! * We're on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MMAHEAT * Follow MMAHEAT on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MMAHEAT * Follow Karyn on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/KarynBryant watch video >>


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The Best Wireless Carriers
After a good 70 hours of crunching numbers, poring over the fine print of plans, consulting experts, then---courtesy of wireless plans and features changing as this project moved along over months—crunching numbers again, we recommend Verizon Wireless for most people looking for a carrier for domestic use. In most single-line scenarios, it's the cheapest or second-cheapest carrier, and multiple third-party tests rank it the fastest and most reliable nationwide. All of Verizon's phones come GSM unlocked as well, which can be a great perk compared to the competition if you're traveling internationally.
When shopping for a wireless carrier, remember two things: coverage where you need it trumps all else, and once you find carriers that provide effective service in your usual places, you should pick whoever offers the lowest total cost of ownership for your typical usage. That's how we came to this particular recommendation, but numerous other factors might affect what's best for your individual needs; more on them later.
Verizon's advantage has shifted as this guide has evolved. In its first release, the company excelled with "Single Line Smartphone" plans that undercut even T-Mobile's prices across the board. A recent, unannounced price hike has eroded much of that advantage, but at the same time other pricing shifts have made Verizon more competitive in low-usage one-line situations.
In our primary scenario, the total cost to keep an iPhone 6 with 2 GB of data a month for two years, Verizon would cost $120 less than AT&T, the carrier with the next-best network. T-Mobile would be $270 cheaper than Verizon but offers inferior coverage—particularly in non-urban areas. Meanwhile Sprint and its fourth-place network would save $320, but that's really not money worth saving. Overall, if your data appetites fall into that range and you don't need tethering (that's confined to Verizon's "More Everything" plans), this still provides a surprisingly affordable solo-use option among the four major carriers.
What's more, Verizon has overtaken AT&T as the nation's fastest network by huge margins in just about every market, according to the most recent PC Mag network speed tests. You will need a newer smartphone to take advantage of its upgraded "XLTE" network, but this shouldn't be a huge issue; chances are if you're switching carriers, you're getting a new phone as well. And as a bonus, all of Verizon's LTE phones come GSM unlocked (thanks to a condition Verizon agreed to when buying a swath of spectrum in 2008). Since almost all its smartphones are "world phones" that work on the near-worldwide GSM standard, you get unusual flexibility—a swap of a SIM card puts your phone on any compatible carrier overseas. But keep in mind that this GSM freedom doesn't generally apply in the US (you can't take a Verizon phone and use it on AT&T).
The largest downside of going with Verizon is that you pretty much have to buy a phone from that carrier: Verizon's "Edge" option only offers a $15 discount to most subscribers, making it almost impossible to save money by bringing your own phone. This means Android users have to wait for Google's software updates to finish Verizon's tedious testing before getting the latest Android firmware. (iOS patches have no such holdup.)
And Verizon may not be the "best carrier" for every single person. Factors like your location, your travel habits, and your taste in phones can make Verizon a poor choice. What do Verizon's major competitors have going for them? We discuss these alternatives in-depth later on in the piece, but here are the important points:
• T-Mobile deserves credit for ditching two-year contracts, pricing phones separately from phone service, providing more generous plans, and slashing the cost of international roaming. Bring your own phone to this service, and you'll have both low costs and a painless exit if things don't work out—for instance, if the continued weakness of its rural and in-building coverage holds you back.
• AT&T has greatly advanced from the bad old days of its network crumpling under a horde of iPhone users: the carrier has lit up 4G LTE broadband across most of its extensive network and finally started giving discounts to customers who bring their own phones. But its pricing still favors taking the traditional handset subsidy, which here includes a stingy unlocking policy that doesn't liberate your phone until you conclude the contract.
• Sprint is a different story. Even with its recent, aggressive price cuts, there's not a great reason to get it (or stay on it) unless you need unlimited data and can deal with it often topping out at 3G speeds and charging extra for tethering. Its rollout of higher-quality "HD Voice" calling is noteworthy, but voice calls are a lesser function on a smartphone for many people. And its multi-level iPhone 6 pricing inflicts the industry's most Kafkaesque cost calculations on shoppers.
Table of contents
- How to use this guide
- What do I know about cell phone carriers?
- How we picked
- Our (single-line) pick for most people
- Who shouldn't get our pick?
- T-Mobile: cheaper, with better international roaming
- AT&T: coverage and compatibility, at a price
- Family plan(ning)
- How can I optimize my plan with my existing carrier?
- What about prepaid options?
- What to look forward to
- Breaking it down
- Coverage and performance
- Pricing and phones
- Extended service: tethering, roaming, and other extras
How to use this guide
This guide parts company with some others on the Wirecutter because carriers don't represent a one-time purchase like, say, a wireless router. Beyond the phone, you're buying into a network of varying coverage, reliability, and speed, and you're buying into a set of policies governing unlocking, international roaming, handset subsidies, and even software updates.
Factoring all that into our analysis, with coverage and price foremost, we start with one single-line pick that we feel will fit most people. The cheapest option there in many cases turned out to be a subsidized phone on a two-year contract. We know that's not necessarily compatible with situations like frequent international travel or Nexus/Google Play edition phones, so we follow up with advice for those cases and anyone in various family-plan scenarios.
But we didn't just write this for people on the market for a new service; in What about my carrier, we discuss the finer points of each company, including tips about how to cut your existing bill slightly.
Finally, in Breaking it down we get into the weeds about network speed, phone and data pricing, and secondary features like tethering. You can see the results for yourself and figure out if what you're looking for is covered by our criteria or if you'd be better served by weighing certain aspects differently.
Nowadays, prices shift seemingly on a monthly basis. We will do our best to keep this guide up to date, but there will be lapses of a week or two while we run numbers and update copy.
What do I know about cell phone carriers?
I've been covering the wireless industry in one way or another since the late 1990s. (My first guide to wireless service, back in 1998, devoted much ink to comparing analog and digital cellular.)
I've tested smartphones and wireless service from all four major carriers for the Washington Post, Discovery News, PCMag.com, Boing Boing, CNN Money, and others, and I now cover telecom-policy issues that shape this industry for Yahoo Tech. I've subscribed to Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile; the last is my current carrier, and as you'll see, I'm not always crazy about it.
How we picked
This isn't a typical Wirecutter guide, where we hunker down with a set of gadgets to test them exhaustively. Here, the product in question varies by location (sometimes even from building to building) and time (try using your phone during batting practice and then the fourth inning at a sold-out baseball game).
To try to work around that variability, we compared coverage maps and computed the cost of a few typical bundles of smartphone service: light use, at 500 megabytes of data; 2 GB of heavy use; and 4 GB of extreme use. (As none of the four carriers advertise plans with talk or texting quotas, we didn't need to calculate varying levels of voice or messaging use.)
We estimated costs of those scenarios with an expensive phone (the Wirecutter-endorsed iPhone 5s, though the Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 cost about as much) and a cheaper model (we initially chose the Moto X, another longtime favorite here; although not all carriers offer that model, all offer smartphones at that price level, so it's a decent proxy for a mid-range phone). Then we did the math for two and four phones on the same plan and crunched the numbers yet again to account for bring-your-own-device scenarios.
Finally, we inspected prior research—Consumer Reports' guide, the last two editions of PCMag.com's annual "Fastest Mobile Networks" report, automated drive testing from RootMetrics, crowdsourced network metrics from OpenSignal, cost estimates at the new plan-comparison site WhistleOut, and consumer surveys from J.D. Power and the American Customer Satisfaction Index—and consulted experts from around the industry.
Our (single-line) pick for most people
We knew that going into this project, but what we didn't expect was that Verizon would retreat from the expensive "Share Everything" plans it launched in 2012 to offer cheaper options for individual customers.
With the new plans, an iPhone 6 with 2 GB of data a month will cost you $2,000 over two years at Verizon versus $1,680 on Sprint's "iPhone for Life" lease (or $1,850 unsubsidized–$2,090 for non-Apple high-end phones that don't get a discounted $50 rate–or $2,120 subsidized), $1,730 at T-Mobile (after a change to its Simple Starter plan effective Sept. 3), and $2,120 at AT&T ($2,210 unsubsidized). With a Moto X, you'd spend $1,800 at Verizon, $1,480 at T-Mobile, $1,970 at Sprint ($1,840 unsubsidized), and $1,920 at AT&T's subsidized pricing ($1,960 unsubsidized).
Notice how we left out Verizon's bring your own device Edge plans? You should too. They represent a horrible deal, offering only $15 a month off unless you pay for 10 GB of data or more a month.
Then let's talk about speed. Verizon's deployment of "XLTE" LTE service led it to leap ahead of AT&T in PCMag.com's latest tests, which last year had given the nod to AT&T nationwide and in most markets. On a nationwide basis, the site's automated tests found that Verizon's LTE downloads across the country averaged 19.6 megabits per second (Mbps), with uploads averaging 9.3 Mbps (that's about twice as fast as its 2013 results). Meanwhile, AT&T's downloads failed to improve significantly. It still averages about 11.9 Mbps, which was the fastest in 2013, but is now slow enough to push it to third place behind T-Mobile and its 16.8 Mbps average.
RootMetrics's tests over the first half of 2014 also favored Verizon in overall performance and speed.
Don't forget about that last point. Here, PCMag's data reveal some less obvious advantages: nationwide, it found that 97 percent of Web pages downloaded in full over LTE within 30 seconds, compared to 90 percent completion at AT&T or T-Mobile and a grim 64 percent at Sprint. (Over 3G, T-Mo did best: 93 percent. Meanwhile, Verizon's 72-percent 3G rate was worse than everybody else's, but this isn't a big deal since you get LTE coverage in most places.)
So all of that is why we like Verizon for most people, but remember: "most" is not a synonym for "everyone" and could possibly exclude "you."
Who shouldn't get our pick?
We ground this recommendation in an assumption that may not apply to your specific needs: most people, in general, need rural coverage more than they need tethering or a "pure" Android experience. But if you do need those things, read on.
For one, you can't get tethering capabilities on your Single Line Smartphone plan. Verizon's site doesn't say so upfront, and we had one sales rep say otherwise in a webchat, but you can no longer add this to one of these plans. If you pick one of Verizon's More Everything plans, you'd then pay a substantial premium over AT&T or T-Mobile. At the Wirecutter, we use our phones as mobile hotspots fairly often, so this would be a non-trivial obstacle for us.
If you want the widest possible choice of phones, in particular Android models, Verizon isn't the carrier for you either. It's been shut out of Google's Nexus line of phones since the Galaxy Nexus and its VZW-delayed software updates, although the upcoming, enormous Nexus 6 will end that exile. And none of the "Google Play editions" of popular Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 have come in a Verizon-compatible form.
Verizon sells plenty of Android phones of its own, but it can't seem to resist bloating them with its own bundleware and then taking longer than its three rivals to ship updates, as Ars Technica's Ron Amadeo documented in August. And bringing your own phone to Verizon makes little sense on economic terms alone.
Verizon iPhone users have a separate hangup: you can't use voice and data at the same time unless you have an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus and are on its "Voice over LTE" coverage. While this isn't a dealbreaker for us—you can use voice and Wi-Fi at the same time—it may be an annoying pain point if you find yourself using cellular data while talking on the phone often. (This trick is possible on VZW with some Android models that employ an extra antenna to segregate LTE Internet access and CDMA voice calling.)
If all that bothers you and rural coverage isn't a priority, consider T-Mobile's open-arms-welcome to users who buy their own phones.
And don't let the overall excellence of Verizon's network lead you to think that it will necessarily serve you well. San Franciscans, for example, will get much faster and more reliable service with T-Mobile (assuming they don't leave the city very often). You will need to spend some quality time poring over its coverage maps to ensure that its service should match up with your usual locations, and you should also try to borrow a friend's phone to verify that you'll have coverage in your home or office.
It's also important to note what kind of coverage you get. If you can't get Verizon LTE, you get bumped down to 3G; at AT&T and T-Mobile, the fallback option is the considerably faster HSPA+. Even PCMag's latest (and generally unflattering) data points about AT&T show it maintains faster average speeds in non-LTE service.
If you're going to use more than 2 GB of data, Verizon's Single Line plans no longer apply and your costs increase disproportionately. AT&T is no cheapie, but with Sprint or T-Mobile you'd save over $500 during those two years. And if you're not sure how your usage might vary over the next two years, having Verizon's intersecting discounts, promotions, and policies make your costs jump up or down may remind you too much of dealing with the tax code.
T-Mobile: cheaper, with better international roaming
The usage tiers in T-Mobile's data caps may match up with those of other carriers, but its move to exempt some popular music services from them could make them notably more generous. NPD found that T-Mo subscribers average almost 2.75 GB of data a month—an unusually high figure, well above that of any competitor. That's something to consider too.
T-Mobile's also an easy company to like if you're fed up with the wireless industry as you've known it. Its recent history (for instance, doubling the level of data provided on some entry-level plans) suggest your value proposition could get better over time. And as its rapid LTE expansion continues and it deploys far-reaching spectrum it picked up in a $3 billion deal with Verizon this January, its coverage should improve as well.
AT&T: coverage and compatibility, at a price
Family plan(ning)
There's no clear favorite here. Sprint and T-Mobile trade places for lowest two-year costs across most of the board, depending on data usage and phone model, and either can save over a thousand dollars in four-line scenarios. But the coverage of each can be a deal-breaker, and Sprint's irritating inability to offer its new, cheaper "Family Share Pack" prices on its Web site can lead online shoppers to pick its older, uncompetitive multiple-line offerings. AT&T, however, is cheapest in a two-line, light-use situation. Verizon's subsidized-phone prices are okay, but most of its unsubsidized-phone offerings are terrible.
For example, two iPhones with 500 MB over two years each added up to $2,780 at AT&T and Sprint over a two-year contract with subsidized phone prices, versus $3,220 at T-Mobile and $3,280 (with subsidized phones) at Verizon.
With 4 GB each, Sprint offers the lowest total expenses ($3,360 if you pair two iPhone for Life leases, $4,000 with two subsidized non-Apple phones) followed by T-Mobile ($4,180) and AT&T and Verizon's unsubsidized-phones cost of $4,420. Again, while Sprint is the cheapest here, you really have to make sure you get the coverage you need and the LTE coverage you want. Otherwise you're saving money, but getting an inferior product.
Remember that the AT&T costs we cite here involve locked phones. If you can't stomach that, add another $180 to the costs of the first two two-iPhone scenarios–or subtract $300 from the 4 GB scenario, because who said this industry had to price things logically?
With four-line estimates, Verizon and Sprint offer the trickiest pricing around: Because VzW gives $25 off each line if you subscribe to 10 GB or more of data and Sprint gives you an extra $10 off, it's often worthwhile to take that deal even if you think you'll only need much less data per line.
How can I optimize my plan with my existing carrier?
Here, we offer some background about service: its history, its frequencies, its quirks, and ways you might chisel down your bill.
The service that for a few years went by the unlovable moniker Cingular is the second-largest carrier in the U.S., with 117 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2014, per Strategy Analytics data. It runs on the GSM standard, with an increasing expanse of its network offering fast LTE.
AT&T's GSM foundation, also in use at T-Mobile, permits simultaneous voice and data use and lets you bring any compatible phone to the service without asking the carrier for anything more than a SIM card in the correct size. Most of this carrier's network uses the same GSM frequencies as most of the Americas, 850 and 1900 MHz, with most LTE on 700-MHz spectrum that should reach well into buildings.
But because AT&T won't unlock subscribers' phones until they conclude a contract (a retreat from an earlier and even more iron-fisted policy under which it would never unlock an iPhone), you lose half of GSM's core advantage over the CDMA technology at Sprint and Verizon.
AT&T's insistence on treating your phone as its property is its least appealing aspect. But that can be unavoidable when it secures exclusive rights to a phone, as it did with the iPhone from 2007 through 2011 and as it has with Amazon's Fire phone.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about AT&T right now, though, is its retrograde motion. Last year, PCMag found its LTE downloads averaged 16.65 Mbps nationwide; this year, it clocked them at 11.9 Mbps while T-Mobile and Verizon both pulled far ahead—although in a select few individual markets like Charlotte AT&T still did best.
Users of AT&T's Android phones have also had to cope with unhealthy loads of bloatware. Android updates, however, no longer lag as badly as they did in 2012, when Ars Technica found it the second slowest carrier of the big four in rolling out updates. Its Next prices let you bring your own phone to the service and, if it's sufficiently cheap (think a Moto X/G or a Nexus 5), the additional two-year expenses prove minimal.
AT&T offers work and academic discounts (plug in your e-mail address at its site to see if you qualify), and it also offers a unique 15 percent discount to union members. That's a great discount—and at AT&T, unlike other carriers, opting into it doesn't reset your contract duration back to two years.
The U.S.'s third-largest carrier, with 54 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2014, has spent much of the last decade treating two self-inflicted wounds. First it bought its smaller competitor Nextel and then managed to vaporize that acquisition's value (the Nextel service staggered on until 2013). Then it tried to leap ahead of competitors by launching "4G" service on WiMax technology; that bid busted after it took too long to deploy WiMax and everybody else ran with LTE.
One unflattering result in Strategy Analytics' numbers: a 2.9 percent "churn rate," highest among the big four, and a lowest-among-the-big-four score of 68 in the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index. (Sprint's site offers a big-picture take on that by bragging about how much its score has improved over the last six years.) At least it avoided a third own goal by giving up on a doomed purchase of T-Mobile that would have become a drawn-out merger had it somehow gone through.
(Trivia-contest answer: Sprint's moniker dates to the mid-1970s, when it stood for "Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony.")
Sprint's CDMA network and most of its LTE uses 1900 MHz spectrum that has trouble getting inside structures and, in LTE's case, makes Sprint unique among U.S. carriers. It's now building out faster LTE on 800 Mhz and 2.5 GHz under the "Spark" brand, but that only constitutes a small part of its 4G coverage. As with Verizon, you can't talk and surf simultaneously while on 3G, and its iPhones can't do that even on LTE.
(If you use a prepaid service, these limits may apply to you as well: Sprint has been exceptionally welcoming of "MVNO" resellers, including such notable options as Ting and Republic Wireless.)
Sprint was an early adopter of Android and has historically been faster than AT&T or Verizon at shipping updates. But it doesn't go easy on the bloatware; I wound up rooting my first Android phone to nuke Sprint apps I never used. Most of its smartphones have GSM radios to make them world-compatible, but you have to wait until 90 days into a contract to get that SIM card slot unlocked. That's not as convenient as Verizon's unlocked by default policy, but still better than AT&T's conclude-your-contract-first rule.
Your job, school, or organizational affiliation may make you eligible for a discount (at the cost of resetting the clock on your contract), but Sprint also gives subscribers a break just for having an account at a credit union.
Sprint recently followed T-Mobile's example of paying off the early-termination fees of switching customers, but its offer is only good on family plans and ends Sept. 30.
The smallest of the big four (51 million subscribers in the first quarter, though that represented an second-best increase of 1.5 million), T-Mobile is arguably the most interesting of the bunch. This GSM carrier can also be considered the oldest digital service: trace back a series of divestitures and deals, and you find the Sprint Spectrum GSM network that launched in Washington and Baltimore in 1995.
T-Mobile's 3G, HSPA+, and LTE services mostly run on building-unfriendly 1700 and 2100 MHz bands, with more moving to a 1900 MHz band. Indoor reception should improve as T-Mo lights up service on the 700 MHz spectrum it bought from Verizon in January. As with AT&T, you can use voice and data simultaneously as long as you've got a 3G-or-faster connection.
T-Mobile stands alone in charging the same for service whether you buy a phone from somebody else or from the carrier itself. It's not too bad with bloatware and was slightly faster than the other three with Android updates in Ars Technica's 2014 survey, but it now won't unlock phones until you hand over their full price–either all at once or in monthly payments on its no-interest installment plans.
Considering that its last notable hardware exclusive may have been the G1 phone that introduced Android to U.S. customers, you'll do better buying elsewhere unless you desperately need the Wi-Fi calling mode it offers on its own Android and Windows Phone models.
T-Mobile recently announced that it would exempt some popular music services from its data caps. We didn't factor that in, but you may want to if you rely on Spotify, Pandora, or iTunes Radio to provide the soundtrack for a long commute (check here to see if your service of choice is supported). But keep in mind that streaming video, not music, can put a bigger dent in a data cap—for instance, Pandora has run 30-40 MB an hour in our research versus 180 MB an hour for Netflix.
If you're calling somebody who may not pick up, you'll be happier if they're on T-Mobile: alone among the big four, it doesn't follow up a subscriber's voicemail greeting by automatically playing generic recorded instructions about what comes next. (Spoiler alert: say what you were calling about.)
T-Mobile once offered a range of work and school discounts comparable to those at other carriers, but now only new government and military subscribers can sign up for those cheaper deals.
The carrier has the most aggressive sales pitch of all four for people currently with another carrier: It will pay up their early-termination fees on individual or family plans.
With 124 million U.S. subscribers, Verizon Wireless has a healthy lead over second-place AT&T. It's also been first at deploying faster broadband, from "EVDO" 3G service a decade ago to its late-2010 introduction of LTE—sadly, well before smartphone batteries could keep up. It had the lowest "churn rate" in the second quarter (1.27% of its subscribers exited in that time, per Strategy Analytics) yet makes the most money per user ($55.42 average revenue a month) and has the most customers paying more than $100 a month on average.
VZW's CDMA-based network runs on 750, 800, 1900 and 1700/2100 MHz bands. That both provides good indoor reception and a surprising level of compatibility: not only do those bands overlap some used at AT&T and T-Mobile, the fact that Verizon sells LTE devices unlocked allowed CNET's Maggie Reardon to take take a Verizon-sold Moto X, swap SIM cards, and use it on on LTE at those carriers.
Simultaneous voice and data at Verizon is limited to some Android devices in LTE coverage areas, plus the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in Voice over LTE ("VoLTE") territory. As at Sprint, the CDMA technology Verizon uses can't split a signal into both uses at the same time. AT&T and T-Mobile, which each use the GSM standard, don't face that hangup.
Until Verizon broke AT&T's U.S. monopoly on the iPhone, it heavily pushed Android. But its history of taking its time with software updates (going back to Palm OS updates) has undermined its support for Google's operating system. In 2012, Ars Technica ranked it fourth of four and gave it the same last-place slot in 2014. It's been quicker at shipping patches for such Motorola phones as the VZW-exclusive, higher-battery-capacity Droid MAXX models, but this year it was the last of the big four to deliver Android 4.4 for Samsung's Galaxy S4.
Verizon offers discounts to employees and members of designated companies and organizations; posts on its customer forums suggest plugging in a .edu e-mail address may work, but don't count on it.
Late last year, this company added an unexpected feather in its cap; along with AT&T, it said it would publish "transparency reports" about government queries they field. It's since gone beyond its competitor (not to mention Sprint and T-Mobile, which have yet to offer any such details) by posting in-depth numbers about the curiosity of both police and intelligence agencies.
What about prepaid options?
This is a tough area to provide recommendations that apply to the majority of people. Some prepaid services only sell in particular regions, some limit your choice of phones to an unusual degree, and many enforce such restrictions as complete bans on tethering that rule them out for many users.
And you may not save as much money as you'd expect. Among the prepaid carriers that PCMag and Consumer Reports readers smiled on in their surveys, Straight Talk and Republic Wireless stand out: The former charges $45 a month for unlimited talk and text plus 3 GB of broadband, while the latter asks $25 for unlimited talk, text, and 3G data or $40 to add 4G support.
But mind the caveats with each: both ban tethering and offer zero international roaming, and Republic limits you to one of two phones customized to route calls and texts over WiFi instead of Sprint's network: the Moto X and the Moto G.
If you don't talk much or don't mind placing your calls through a VoIP app, T-Mobile's site hides a fantastic deal: $30 a month for 5 GB of data, unlimited texting and 100 minutes of voice calling a month. The catch is you either have to buy the SIM card in a Walmart store or activate it at T-Mobile's site.
What to look forward to
Sprint and T-Mobile's coverage should improve over the coming year as both build out their LTE networks. (In March of 2014, OpenSignal reported that Sprint's LTE coverage had improved most over the last six months.) Those two should also be deploying additional lower-frequency spectrum that was either purchased or "refarmed" from older services that ought to improve their in-building reach.
Voice-calling quality should step up as the carriers build out voice over LTE ("VoLTE") service; at the end of July, T-Mobile was first among them to claim nationwide VoLTE coverage.
One big unknown is what T-Mobile will do next. It's already blown up its old business model, but recent moves like its exempting some music services from its data limits suggest it's not out of surprises yet. AT&T has shown it's willing to follow suit to some degree, and Sprint's "EasyPay" pricing represents a surprising move away from subsidized prices.
Breaking it down
Here we walk you through how we compared the carriers and ended up ranking them in every category.
Coverage and performance
Go to the coverage page of any of the four big carriers, punch in a city's name, and the service's reach will probably look awesome. (The map UI may not. Sprint and Verizon, must your cartography evoke vintage 1998 MapQuest?) But zoom out until you're looking at suburbs within an hour's drive, and gaps will emerge. Keep zooming out until you see destinations in day-trip range, and they won't seem equal at all.
Looking strictly at this, Verizon outranks everybody else, followed by AT&T and then Sprint and T-Mobile. But experts disagree about the exact order—especially if you factor in what sort of speed you'll get across the map.
"From a network-quality perspective, it's pretty much Verizon across the board," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power. "AT&T comes in next in line." But Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw, took performance into account when concluding that "AT&T and Verizon can be considered very similar at this point."
That is, while Verizon's LTE network is wider, AT&T's fallback solution is "HSPA+" mobile broadband that approaches LTE speeds (it and T-Mobile marketed HSPA+ as simply "4G" when neither had LTE up and running), while VZW dumps you back to 3G. T-Mobile has a similar advantage over Sprint.
The automated tests conducted by the research firm RootMetrics over 217,758 miles of driving in the first half of 2014 offer another portrait of these networks. That firm's nationwide coverage maps show little difference between AT&T and Verizon in voice or data; Sprint and T-Mobile are both behind, but T-Mo has more highway miles covered in the West.
PCMag.com's own drive tests this spring and summer ranked Verizon LTE as the fastest network nationwide and in every regional market except for the northwest, where T-Mobile tied it. And not only did Verizon offer the quickest average download and upload speeds—19.6 Mbps and 9.3 Mbps—its "webpage completion" rate of 97 percent bested everybody else's.
That site's data does, however, speak to how good HSPA+ can be as an LTE alternative. Outside of LTE coverage, T-Mobile and AT&T's average download speeds of 8.6 Mbps and 3.8 Mbps shut down Verizon and Sprint's pitiful tie of .7 Mbps.
Consumer Reports' city-by-city 0-100 ratings provided by its subscribers in a Sept. 2013 survey (which can factor in overall satisfaction, not just perceptions of call and data quality), meanwhile, showed Verizon on top in 20 of 23 metropolitan areas, with T-Mobile first in San Diego and its hometown of Seattle and the regional carrier U.S. Cellular leading in Milwaukee. In most of those 20 markets, AT&T and T-Mobile were close behind in most cases, with the only statistically meaningful gap being between those three and Sprint. But in L.A. and San Francisco, CR's subscribers had both AT&T and Sprint in the doghouse, relatively speaking.
Note that nationwide, CR readers' favorite option was Consumer Cellular, a prepaid service that resells AT&T (whose 64-out-of-100 score fell far below its reseller's 88), followed by U.S. Cellular (75), politically-progressive Sprint reseller Credo Mobile (73), Verizon (71), T-Mobile (65), AT&T and then Sprint (59). PCMag.com's readers, in turn, put Verizon in first place, AT&T and T-Mobile not far behind, and Sprint well below—but resellers Consumer Cellular, Republic Wireless and Straight Talk outranked all of the big four. We'll get back to that option in a minute.
We hate to throw the work back at you, but you're going to have to check each carrier's coverage maps—preferably cross-referenced against RootMetrics's and Open Signal's independent research—to see how it matches your own whereabouts. You'll also have to decide what level of sluggish data service you'll tolerate. Can you deal with a slow 2G EDGE or 1XRTT signal in the countryside that suffices for fetching your e-mail but doesn't allow navigation at highway speeds? As a T-Mobile user, that's my experience more often than I'd like.
In cities, meanwhile, one last wrinkle awaits Sprint and T-Mobile subscribers: in-building coverage, where the higher-frequency bands both rely on can't get into structures as well as AT&T and Verizon's. Warned PCMag's Segan: "T-Mobile and Sprint suffer from being mostly on AWS (1700/2100 [MHz]) and PCS (1900) while AT&T and Verizon have significant 700 and 850 holdings."
Whoever you pick, you will almost certainly eventually find yourself staring at your phone's screen in frustration as it reports that it can't find a signal. When this happens, please try to remember that people spent millions of years getting around without the help of mobile phones.
Pricing and phones
The industry has traditionally pushed its customers to avoid the bring-your-own-phone strategy, instead, touting subsidized prices that were recouped in the form of higher monthly rates that stayed higher even after the carrier had recouped its subsidy. We suggest you reconsider that practice, especially if that phone is a GSM model for AT&T or T-Mo or a GSM/CDMA "world phone" for Sprint, since buying it outside the carrier means it's unlocked out of the box for use on any other GSM carrier, at home or abroad.
(Verizon's phones, as noted before, come internationally unlocked.)
And if the Android phone you buy happens to be a Nexus model or a Google Play edition that comes with only the stock version of Android, you'll get software updates months earlier than you might otherwise see them—and you won't get any carrier bloatware bolted onboard.
All of T-Mobile's plans, AT&T's new Mobile Share Value Plans, and Sprint's "EasyPay" option (let's all be thankful that it killed off the awful "Framily" moniker) each offer a sizable discount for buyers who bring their own phones. T-Mobile offers bigger savings; at AT&T, Sprint and especially Verizon, you'll need to keep a device for more than two years to save money over their subsidized rates.
Further, buying direct from a manufacturer can save money upfront. A Moto X or a Nexus 5 sells for $349.99 direct, as much as $50 less than what you'd pay to buy it from a carrier, and we've seen each offered for substantially less. Motorola's new Moto G LTE and (non-LTE) Moto E are cheaper, still, at $219 and $129.
Here's how the math breaks down for the three usage scenarios outlined above–excluding taxes, activation fees, and the rest of the nickel-and-dime stuff:
• For 500 MB of data, T-Mobile is cheapest, followed by Verizon. Two years with an unsubsidized iPhone 6 will run you $1,610 at T-Mo–but you have to sign up for that $40 Simple Starter plan over the phone, not online–while Verizon's subsidized-phone deal would cost you $1,640. A Moto X or other lower-priced phone over the same period could cost $1,360 at T-Mobile and $1,440 at Verizon. Sprint's "iPhone for Life" lease costs $1,680, its unsubsidized-iPhone deal adds up to $1,850 and its unsubsidized-iPhone option totals $1,880; a Moto X or equivalent costs $1,730 subsidized or $1,840 unsubsidized. AT&T is not far behind, at $1,760 for two years on an iPhone 6 and $1,560 for a Moto X; buying unlocked adds $90 to the iPhone scenario and $40 for a Moto X estimate, an expense we see as an upgrade over paying for international roaming. In a two-line scenario, Sprint's subsidized plan is cheapest for two iPhones, while its unsubsidized deal is best for two Moto Xes, the cheapest option (if you buy a phone subsidized), while T-Mobile offers the lowest cost for four phones of either kind.
•At 2 GB of data, Verizon's costs stay the same: $1,640 for an iPhone 6, $1,440 for a Moto X, both subsidized. For an iPhone 6, Sprint's iPhone-for-Life lease follows at $1,680 and then T-Mobile at $1,730 (courtesy of a 2 GB, $45 version of its Simple Starter plan that debuted Sept. 3). A Moto X is cheaper after VzW at T-Mobile ($1,480) and Sprint ($1,840). Sprint's subsidized plans and all of AT&T's offerings bring up the rear. Need two phones? For the iPhone 6, Sprint's subsidized plan is cheapest; for the Moto X, its unsubsidized plan has the lowest cost; at four, T-Mobile is cheapest across the board.
• Only when you get to 4 GB does Sprint take a consistent lead: $1,680 for an iPhone 6 lease, $2,090 for an unsubsidized non-Apple phone and $1,840 for an unsubsidized Moto X or equivalent. T-Mobile comes in second at $2,330 (iPhone 6) and $2,080 (Moto X). Need multiple phones? Sprint's lease deal is the cheapest way to keep two iPhone 6 devices for two years ($3,360) and its subsidized offering is the cheapest option for a non-Apple high-end phone ($4,000) while it and T-Mo tie for the best deal on two Moto Xs ($3,680). For four devices, Sprint's no-subsidy deals yield the lowest cost: $6,440 for four iPhones, $5,440 for four Moto Xs.
Extended service: tethering, roaming, and other extras
Tethering, the ability to share your phone's mobile broadband with nearby devices via Wi-Fi, can be incredibly handy. AT&T and T-Mobile include some level of tethering on all of their plans, but Verizon only includes it on its pricier "More Everything" plans. Sprint continues to charge extra for it on single-device plans: $10 buys a gigabyte of tethering use a month.
Although almost all of Sprint and Verizon's smartphones are now "world phones" with GSM support (the few others become Wi-Fi-only devices in much of the world), they offer inferior international roaming. At Verizon, an overseas data pack on a compatible world phone costs $25 for 100 MB, voice calls run from 99 cents to $1.99 a minute, an outbound text costs 50 cents and an inbound one runs 5 cents. As for Sprint, you pay an extortion-level $40 for 40 MB, calls are $1.99 a minute, and texts cost 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive.
But at least you can use a prepaid service overseas with these phones, thanks to Verizon selling phones with internationally-unlocked SIM slots and Sprint allowing an international unlock once you're 90 days into a contract. At AT&T, that's not an option until you escape a contract or bring your own phone; otherwise, you have no choice but to pay for a roaming add-on. Those options go from $30 for 120 MB of roaming data to $60 for 300 MB and $120 for 800 MB. Or you get wiped out by its a la carte rates, $1 to $2.50 a minute for voice calls unless you buy a discount plan at $30 and up, and 50 cents each for texts.
Cell phone & service buying guide, Consumer Reports, May 2014
Heady Days For T-Mobile's Data Use, NPD Group, December 24, 2013,
U.S. Mobile Internet Traffic Nearly Doubled This Year, New York Times, December 23, 2013,
Fastest Mobile Networks 2014, PCMag.com, June 11, 2014,
Fastest Mobile Networks 2013, PCMag.com, June 17, 2013,
The State of US LTE, OpenSignal, March 2014
1st Half 2014 Report, RootMetrics, August 19, 2014
The state of Android updates: Who's fast, who's slow, and why, Ars Technica, August 20, 2014,
Wireless Telephone Service, American Customer Satisfaction Index, May 20, 2014
Check Coverage in Your Area, OpenSignal
How to Buy Happy, WhistleOut
Originally published: August 29, 2014


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"This was the best stew I've ever made. I did however tweaked it up a bit. I used a chuck roast, used the suggested Brandy with water and added one 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes. The gravy was thck and tasty! This willbe a part of my recipe repetoir FOREVER! my husband has asked me to make it again!"
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St. Louis Personal Injury Attorneys
Since 1993
The experienced personal injury attorneys at Brown & Brown are known for their long-established dedication to serving their clients and communities. Their aim is to preserve and promote the best possible resolution of their clients as they seek redress for the injuries they have experienced. The firm takes pride in professionally and capably representing clients and their cases before the court system.
From its primary office located in St. Louis, Missouri, the firm serves clients in Missouri as well as in Southern Illinois. In pursuit of that representation, the firm is known to thoroughly research and prepare each case it handles. Experience has taught the attorneys how to work efficiently and properly within the justice system, using the system's rules and procedures to the best advantage of their clients.
Areas of practice and expertise offered by the attorneys at Brown & Brown include personal injury, Transvaginal Mesh cases, workers' compensation, auto and car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, traffic claims, DWI and DUI, wrongful death, brain injury, birth injury, spinal cord injury, dangerous drugs, nursing home abuse, and defective products.
There is no up-front fee charged for consulting about your case with Brown & Brown. Additionally, our personal injury and workers' compensation clients never pay any money to us for legal services unless we collect a recovery for them. The qualified personal injury attorneys St. Louis at Brown and Brown look forward to working with you should you ever need legal advice.
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In both Illinois and Missouri (as with every other states in the U.S. except for New Hampshire), having auto insurance coverage is compulsory. This means that all motorists are required to carry some minimum amount of liability insurance in order to register their vehicles and legally drive within the state. […] Read More
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Continuing from How Safe Are Crash Avoidance Systems? (Pt. 1), here we will continue to discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of crash avoidance technologies in modern vehicles. Specifically, while the first part of this blog focused on the advantages of these systems (by pointing out some […] Read More
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One of the more prominent technological advancements that car manufacturers are advertising and that consumers are particularly interested in these days are crash avoidance systems, which are (as their name implies) systems intended to help reduce the incidence/severity of traffic collisions. These systems, which tend to cost extra, can come […] Read More
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Concluding SSI Benefit Denials: 6 Reasons Your Claim May Be Denied, here is a look at some final common reasons that the Social Security Administration (SSA) often denies benefits claims. For help appealing a denial, don't hesitate to contact Brown & Brown Attorneys at Law. Additional reasons that the SSA […] Read More
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Picking up from SSI Benefit Denials: 6 Reasons Your Claim May Be Denied (Pt. 1), below is a continued discussion of common reasons that SSI disability claims are commonly denied by the Social Security Administration (SSA). If you are getting ready to submit a disability claim or you need help […] Read More


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The Lubicon Lake Nation: Indigenous Knowledge and Power (Paperback)
|Paperback 208 pages
Not in stock
Usually despatched in 7-10 days
Delivered FREE
in the UK
Many argue that the Lubicon, a small Cree nation in northern Alberta, have been denied their unalienable right to self-determination by the Canadian government. In a country such as Canada, some see the plight of the Lubicon people as an enduring reminder that certain democratic principles and basic freedoms are still kept from minorities, indigenous groups in particular.The Lubicon Lake Nation strives, through a critique of historically-constructed colonial images, to analyze the Canadian government's actions vis-a-vis the rights of the Lubicon people. Dawn Martin-Hill illustrates the power of indigenous knowledge by contrasting the words, ideas, and self-conceptualizations of the Lubicon with official versions of Lubicon history as documented by the state. In doing so, she offers a genuine sense of the gravity of their lived experiences. By giving voice to the Lubicon, this study seeks to develop an exclusively indigenist framework in which the circumstances facing the people can be described and analyzed more accurately than they can using popular conceptions of native rights as put forth by the government. The Lubicon Lake Nation is a story of one culture and the pursuit of indigenous rights in Canada as told from the perspective of those who know the situation best, the Lubicon themselves.
Book details
University of Toronto Press
This book can be found in...
Society, Education & Politics > Society & culture > Social groups > Ethnic studies
Society, Education & Politics > Sociology & anthropology > Anthropology > Social & cultural anthropology & ethnography
Society, Education & Politics > Society & culture > Social issues & processes > Social discrimination & inequality
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Touchkailash Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd.
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: +977 1 4700357, 4700249
Mobile: +977-9851092632 (Basu Kumar Adhikari)
Email: email@example.com Website: www.touchkailash.com
Gangajamuna Adventure Treks Pvt. Ltd.
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal
Office: +977 1 4700357, 4700249
Mobile: +977 9851092632 (Basu Kumar Adhikari)
Email: email@example.com
website: www.gangajamunatreks.com
Lhasa - Everest Base Camp Tour
12 Days Fly In/ Drive Out
Lhasa Namtso Lake Tour
05 Days – Fly In / Fly Out
Everest Base Camp Trek,
We had been on Holy Kailash Trip organized by Touch Kailash Travels & Tours from Kathmandu, Nepal. We were a Group of 15 people from Kerela, India and Our trip started on 29th May and ended on 14th June 2009. - Continue