What's the Best Cell Phone Carrier

[GrantMeThePower]

Hey all-

I'm so fed up with Verizon (which I've been with since it was called Airtouch) but i need to change. I'm wondering- is T-Mobile or Cingular better? A couple of my friends have Sprint, but they say that the service sucks, so I'm trying to decide between those two. My ex had Nextell and got horrible reception where I live so I'm also staying away from that.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[Ktulu]

Why are you fed up with Verizon

 

[Krk3561]

T-Mobile has better customer sevice imo and the plans are better deals

Tmo Plan:
Get More (Promo right now, non-promo difference isl 600 min instead of 1000)
$39.99
1000 Anytime Minutes
Unlimited nights and weekends
Unlimited mobile to mobile

Cingular Plan:
Nation 450 w/Rollover
$39.99
450 Anytime Minutes
5000 nights and weekends
Unlimited mobile to mobile

Cingular has better phones tho, but TMo just got the RAZR

 

[pack1]

Verizon reception is best in NYC for me. T-Mobile and Cingular is horrible, try dealing with dropped calls every 5 minutes if youre not beside the window. Outdoor reception is pretty much on par with all three.

 

[Leper Messiah]

I like my nextel. It randomly call people i don't know, the battery goes from full to empty to full in the space of 5 minutes, I get crappy quality when I have 5 bars and perfect quality when I have 0...

 

[Cheezeit]

tmobiles pretty good

 

[zerocool1]

I have friends that swear by nextel. They get signal everywhere.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: zerocool1
I have friends that swear by nextel. They get signal everywhere.

Apparently they haven't been in my basement, my boss' office or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan then.

 

[bmacd]

i love cingular. I've been with at&t for several years, and cingular made it that much better.

-=bmacd=-

 

[40Hands]

I have no problems with Verizon...

 

[MaverickBP]

Verizon is the best. Only recently has Cingular been able to compete...and sprint/tmobile? HA!

you gotta name what phone ur using..more than likely its ur phone/area. dont blame verizon if u got a sh!tty phone..or happen to live in the 1% non coverage area

 

[elektrolokomotive]

T-Mobile's customer service is good; no complaints there. But the coverage (for my purposes) is lacking. Since my wife lives in rural NW Illinois, and I live in Seattle, the family plan doesn't work for us because she's almost never in the T-mobile network. Usually she's roaming to Iowa Wireless. My T-mobile contract is up in August and, judging by the coverage maps I've seen, I'll have to go with Verizon (sigh).

 

[neutralizer]

Originally posted by: bmacd
i love cingular. I've been with at&t for several years, and cingular made it that much better.

-=bmacd=-

thats only bc att deals so much cheaper than cingular yet still having the same coverage.

 

[flyingboujanero]

Originally posted by: zerocool1
I have friends that swear by nextel. They get signal everywhere.

Myself and everyone i know swear at nextel.

You can watch the signal go from full to none to full non-stop.

Plus i have been told that with the Sprint-Nextel (Sprextel?) merger, they are currently merging the networks, in the past month i have had probably 5 days that i didn't get "System Busy, try again later"

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: elektrolokomotive
T-Mobile's customer service is good; no complaints there. But the coverage (for my purposes) is lacking. Since my wife lives in rural NW Illinois, and I live in Seattle, the family plan doesn't work for us because she's almost never in the T-mobile network. Usually she's roaming to Iowa Wireless. My T-mobile contract is up in August and, judging by the coverage maps I've seen, I'll have to go with Verizon (sigh).

No coverage problems here.

You can search your area with this
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/Compass2/

 

[merlocka]

Since I'm too lazy to look in your profile to see where you live, and you didn't think to include that info, It's hard to talk in specifics.

However, in NA right now, *generally speaking*, Verizon > Cingular > All else in terms of coverage.

If you happen to be sitting in a lightly trafficed cell from T-Mobile/Sprint/whatever, you may get better service. It's very dependent on where you do your calling from, what phone you use, etc...

Therefore, your best bet is to take advantage of the return policy that most carriers offer, go out and test a bunch of phone/carrier combos.

 

[elektrolokomotive]

Originally posted by: Krk3561

Originally posted by: elektrolokomotive
T-Mobile's customer service is good; no complaints there. But the coverage (for my purposes) is lacking. Since my wife lives in rural NW Illinois, and I live in Seattle, the family plan doesn't work for us because she's almost never in the T-mobile network. Usually she's roaming to Iowa Wireless. My T-mobile contract is up in August and, judging by the coverage maps I've seen, I'll have to go with Verizon (sigh).

No coverage problems here.

You can search your area with this
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/Compass2/

Your link just confirms what I've already stated. The only coverage for her is roaming coverage. Sort of blows the whole unlimited t-mobile to t-mobile calling feature right out of the water. When we first discovered this, T-mobile was nice enough to add 600 extra minutes to our account for 3 months, but it's time to move onto a provider that works for us.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Verizon is good, but Cingular has NOT been able to compete. GSM's technology doesn't support high density users so you get JACKED. Being a user of AT&T (whose network Cingular solely uses in CA now, so I know what today's Cingular is), Sprint, Verizon AND T-Mobile (current), I will be continuing service with T-Mobile. Why? T-Mobile adds their own towers in addition to the Cingular network they acquired.

Anyways, Verizon I will admit is good. The only reason I'm not with them is because of SIM cards and the capability to go world-wide with them. Moreover, I know phone stores where I can get the latest stuff for free (i.e. SE K750i for free). I can still get BETTER deals than most people with Verizon phones, but it's not spectacular..

Sprint is pretty good too. In facy, my parents have been only able to get reception at their office with Sprint, and mind you it's not some isolated remote place. I like Sprint's reception except I can't get their phones at Asian stores, meaning no cool deals like I can get with Verizon.

T-Mobile I know I sacrifice lots of reception. I've seen network busy (something I've NEVER seen with CDMA carriers), but it's good. I get reception everywhere I go. I just know I can't make great calls on 0 - 1 bars of reception. However. I've been with this V600 phone which I got for free last year. I look to renew service (cancel because it was under my parents name) and resubscribe under my name (yes thats the trick to get new phone deals... well that and the store you go to =P).

AT&T just outright sucked. SUCKED. Considering Cingular went to AT&T's network in CA and wherever it sold the network to T-Mobile, you just get CRAP reception. Cingular's network was bad enough to begin with, and then they went to a smaller network... GOOD GAME.

So my choice with T-Mobile doesn't mean it's the best provider. I agree with you if you think Verizon and Sprint are good. If you think Cingular is good, then no offense but you're just... misplaced. T-Mobile = Cingular + better phone deals + 1 yr contract + better network.

 

[Dubb]

I've been really happy with verizon coverage is near perfect for me, and I get internet through my bluetooth cellphone that only uses minutes (free after 9 and on weekends)

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: Krk3561
You can search your area with this
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/Compass2/

The fact is, if you travel, T-Mobile has the least coverage of any national carrier. Cingular and Verizon are tied for most, though Sprint technically offers the most if you get their Fair & flexible "America" plans... which basically means you pay $5/month to roam on anyone else's network.

But the most important question of getting coverage where you live comes down to you going out, buying the phone, and trialing the service for the 14 days they give you. Within the first week, make sure you're talking to someone on the phone (not just looking at the "bars" of coverage) while moving around in all the places where you most want service (ie, house, work, common travel routes, etc.). That's the only way to be sure you'll like your service.

BTW, I have Sprint, and I have no complaints. They get me coverage where I expect to get coverage. If I want to get coverage when I'm camping (once or twice a year), I'd pay the extra $5 for roaming.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: Krk3561
You can search your area with this
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/Compass2/

The fact is, if you travel, T-Mobile has the least coverage of any national carrier. Cingular and Verizon are tied for most, though Sprint technically offers the most if you get their Fair & flexible "America" plans... which basically means you pay $5/month to roam on anyone else's network.

But the most important question of getting coverage where you live comes down to you going out, buying the phone, and trialing the service for the 14 days they give you. Within the first week, make sure you're talking to someone on the phone (not just looking at the "bars" of coverage) while moving around in all the places where you most want service (ie, house, work, common travel routes, etc.). That's the only way to be sure you'll like your service.

BTW, I have Sprint, and I have no complaints. They get me coverage where I expect to get coverage. If I want to get coverage when I'm camping (once or twice a year), I'd pay the extra $5 for roaming.

T-mobile has roaming agreements too.... a crapload too. The compass map there shows NATIVE coverage. How else do I get reception in the mountains... Plus you're going to be in city 90% of the time so T-Mobile works fine.

 

[JoeKing]

I went with t-mobile just because I thought CZJ was hot

 

[GrantMeThePower]

Sorry, i should have explained more about what I didn't like with Verizon. First off, it is NOT the reception. The reception with Verizon really has left me with no complaints at all. I've never had a network busy and dropped calls have always been minimal. Overall, pretty pleased with that part of the equation.

What I hate about Verizon are the following:
1. Customer Service. Terrible. They are very slow both in store and on the phone.
2. Pricing- much higher than Tmobile/Cingular
3. Phones- They always have the worst phones. They are either too large and bulky, or very outdated. Furthermore, if you don't accept the fact that you can only get a new phone every two years because of their contract deals and pricing, you pay way too much for lesser phones
4. Destroyed features/Forced extras- They will release a phone with Bluetooth, but not let you use it for anything but a wireless headset. The phones that are supposed to play mp3's can only do so if you hack the phone or buy songs from them and you can't set them as ringers. They make you pay over and over again for things that the phones should do for free.
5. Contracts- You really have to get into a two year contract to make the prices of the phones make sense. (i.e. the new 8100 from LG. WIth a new contract and being out of my last two year contract it was 50 bucks with rebate. If i just wanted to buy it, it would have been 380 after rebate)

It is, however, the qualtiy of reception that is making me hesitate switching, but I don't like the money pit and poor service that is Verizon.

EDIT- I live in CA- Pasadena area (just north east of Downtown)

 

[Krk3561]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: Ilmater

Originally posted by: Krk3561
You can search your area with this
http://coverage.t-mobile.com/Compass2/

The fact is, if you travel, T-Mobile has the least coverage of any national carrier. Cingular and Verizon are tied for most, though Sprint technically offers the most if you get their Fair & flexible "America" plans... which basically means you pay $5/month to roam on anyone else's network.

But the most important question of getting coverage where you live comes down to you going out, buying the phone, and trialing the service for the 14 days they give you. Within the first week, make sure you're talking to someone on the phone (not just looking at the "bars" of coverage) while moving around in all the places where you most want service (ie, house, work, common travel routes, etc.). That's the only way to be sure you'll like your service.

BTW, I have Sprint, and I have no complaints. They get me coverage where I expect to get coverage. If I want to get coverage when I'm camping (once or twice a year), I'd pay the extra $5 for roaming.

T-mobile has roaming agreements too.... a crapload too. The compass map there shows NATIVE coverage. How else do I get reception in the mountains... Plus you're going to be in city 90% of the time so T-Mobile works fine.

Plus if you live in CA, T-Mobile owns the network out here so if you're on Cingular in CA, you're really using TMo's towers

 

[JoeKing]

Originally posted by: GrantMeThePower
Sorry, i should have explained more about what I didn't like with Verizon. First off, it is NOT the reception. The reception with Verizon really has left me with no complaints at all. I've never had a network busy and dropped calls have always been minimal. Overall, pretty pleased with that part of the equation.

What I hate about Verizon are the following:
1. Customer Service. Terrible. They are very slow both in store and on the phone.
2. Pricing- much higher than Tmobile/Cingular
3. Phones- They always have the worst phones. They are either too large and bulky, or very outdated. Furthermore, if you don't accept the fact that you can only get a new phone every two years because of their contract deals and pricing, you pay way too much for lesser phones
4. Destroyed features/Forced extras- They will release a phone with Bluetooth, but not let you use it for anything but a wireless headset. The phones that are supposed to play mp3's can only do so if you hack the phone or buy songs from them and you can't set them as ringers. They make you pay over and over again for things that the phones should do for free.
5. Contracts- You really have to get into a two year contract to make the prices of the phones make sense. (i.e. the new 8100 from LG. WIth a new contract and being out of my last two year contract it was 50 bucks with rebate. If i just wanted to buy it, it would have been 380 after rebate)

It is, however, the qualtiy of reception that is making me hesitate switching, but I don't like the money pit and poor service that is Verizon.

Just a little FYI I can get a signal with Verizon in buildings where t-mobile can't.