CellMapper

The final leg of my triangular approach to improving the quality and reliability of our internet was moving off Verizon into Google Fi.

We were on Verizon because an important part of the extended family was on it and calling within the network was free.  I mean, like 10 years ago.  And 10 years ago Verizon probably worked a bit better in our neighborhood (2G?).  But over time it got worse and worse until it would take minutes to get a text message.  Luckily with Wi-Fi calling it was not so much of a problem - except then Comcast went bonkers and we couldn't depend on Wi-Fi calling either!

Ok.  So big deal - switch providers - how hard can it be?  Well, since I also had the T-Mobile hotspot (later replaced with Starlink) I knew that T-Mobile coverage worked, albeit poorly.  But more research was required!

Enter:  CellMapper.

T-Mobile (which is what Google Fi uses in our state) had way more cell towers than Verizon.  They are also 5G towers - that's why there are so many.  So even though we are in a cell-shadow even with T-Mobile, it's not as bad.

I couldn't really test T-Mobile without getting a T-Mobile phone (because had locked Verizon phones) so it was a risk to switch carriers, but when bad is bad (our Verizon coverage), how much worse could it get?

(My wife says:  "Never challenge worse.")

Google Fi is also 50% of the cost of Verizon!  That's nice.

Anyway, moral of the story is:  Check out CellMapper!  It's awesome.

Also, speaking of legs and triangles:

BTW - if you switch cell providers for you and your family, move your phone LAST.  I thought I would be a helpful guinea pig and move my line first - but my line is the billing line!  Once I moved it, it was much harder to login to the Verizon site!  So do yourself a favor and move your line last.