Best Cell phone service provider

[aggie]

Since polls seem to be the In thing on this forum, I figured I’d post one of my own. I’m getting rid of T-mobile and need a new cell phone provider. I live in Connecticut but travel a lot so national coverage network is important. Other important considerations are price, value, best service plans (I will require a lot of minutes as this will be my primary phone), customer service, other?

Your comments are also appreciated!

[IndieMatty]

I /images/graemlins/heart.gif Verizon. NYNEX baby!

[swede123]

I used to use Sprint, but got tired of the poor service in Colorado Springs/Denver. I went to Verizon and overall I'm happy with it. My phone is a bit ghetto (I can't justify upgrading the phone when you get one for free) but overall things are working out OK.

Swede

[scrub]

[ QUOTE ]
Since polls seem to be the In thing on this forum, I figured I’d post one of my own. I’m getting rid of T-mobile and need a new cell phone provider. I live in Connecticut but travel a lot so national coverage network is important. Other important considerations are price, value, best service plans (I will require a lot of minutes as this will be my primary phone), customer service, other?

Your comments are also appreciated!

[/ QUOTE ]

It's Verizon, and it's not close, especially if you're going to be in CT, NY, and NJ a lot.

scrub

[steelcmg]

The provider thats suppose to have the best sevrice from what i heard is T-mobile

[aggie]

Maybe, but their national wireless network sucks!

[jcolter]

In NYC them seem to all do a pretty poor job

[ttleistdci]

[ QUOTE ]
The provider thats suppose to have the best sevrice from what i heard is T-mobile

[/ QUOTE ]

Somebody obviously lied to you

[ThaSaltCracka]

I have Cingular. Seems to work well for me.

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
I have Cingular. Seems to work well for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Never had a problem with them in Metro Atl.

Plus, I get a 35% discount on my monthly bill, which is nice.

[chaas4747]

Verizon in KC never have any problems. I did have Sprint, but they suck.

[Wes ManTooth]

Verizon is the best... but their customer service both sucks and blows.

[NorCalJosh]

there are pros and cons to each service provider. i work for cingular on the west coast, so i'll try to keep the opinion as unbiased as possible.

with sprint, you WILL get the best deal on your plans. you'll get the most extra little junk included, so on and so forth. a friend of mine and i were comparing his sprint plan which he pays like 120 a month for with the equivalent cingular and verizon plans, and with cingular, he would have been paying about 250, and with verizon, over 300. however, sprint is a market to market cell phone provider. if you will be staying in major cities, or along major interstate routes, then go with them, because you wont be able to get a better deal anywhere else. if you plan on being in any rural areas, along the coastlines at all, anything like that, then you won't get service. period.

Verizon does have the largest voice coverage in the United States, but part of that is because they are still able to use parts of their old analog network when you go into remote service areas. you probably will have the fewest complaints about service area with verizon, but the selection of phones isn't the best, it is the most expensive, and customer service really does suck. they are on a CDMA network, which is used exclusively in America and some parts of asia, so if you plan on doing any traveling out of the country, your cell phone would be useless.

Cingular/ATT is in a bit of a turmoil right now, as it's difficult to merge two companies with 25+ million people and make them one seamless unit. on the positive side of things, the coverage area is getting better and better, with the merge, and the fact that new towers are constantly getting built. the phone selection is the largest, because they are on a GSM network, which most of europe and asia uses, so you can also use the phone/phone plan overseas. and there is the rollover feature, which is exclusive to us. however, you won't get as good of a deal on a plan as you would at sprint, and the voice coverage/reception area is currently worse than verizons, although much better than any other cell phone company.


and to the guy who said he heard that tmobile was supposed to be the best, thats just not true. tmobile is abysmal.

[aggie]

Dude, thanks a bunch! This is just the type of reply i was looking for. It looks like i've eliminated Sprint from the equation.

Maybe i'll have a round 2 or finals of this poll with just cingular and verizon? Or maybe i'm just getting carried away

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]
i'm just getting carried away

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Your Mom]

My cingular sucks. Lose about 1 call in 4 before the call can even start and most of these calls are to another cingular member.

[shadow29]

I've used Cingular all over the south and haven't had many problems.

[NorCalJosh]

cingular originated down there and the coverage is quite widespread through out most of the south. in the upper midwest, its a little shaky, the west coast has improved by leaps and bounds. cant remember what coverage is like in the north east off the top of my head.

as for cingular dropping coverage... there are 4 or 5 different generations of sim chips floating around in cingular phones currently, ranging from the old 32k pac bell c hip to the newest 64k cingular chip. that would be the first thing to go into a store and check if you're getting terrible coverage, because that solves 9/10 reception problems.

[Your Mom]

[ QUOTE ]
cingular originated down there and the coverage is quite widespread through out most of the south. in the upper midwest, its a little shaky, the west coast has improved by leaps and bounds. cant remember what coverage is like in the north east off the top of my head.

as for cingular dropping coverage... there are 4 or 5 different generations of sim chips floating around in cingular phones currently, ranging from the old 32k pac bell c hip to the newest 64k cingular chip. that would be the first thing to go into a store and check if you're getting terrible coverage, because that solves 9/10 reception problems.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know I got the crappy cheap phone from Cingular, but my crappy cheap phone from AT&T Wireless worked perfectly.

[icepick]

(disclaimer: I work for a cell phone company)

Your coverage is going to vary greatly from market to market, and carrier to carrier. Sprint may be kick ass in Houston, but be horeshit in Philly.

Now, if you were in Minnesota, you wouldn't be asking this question, because T-Mobile is far an away the best network in the state.

[ddubois]

This poll is fundamentally flawed. Say, for instance, 1000 people have Verizon and 30% of them like their service, and 300 people have Cingular and 70% of them like their service. Your poll is going to show Verizon winning. Not to mention the fact that you haven't narrowed the responding population down to people who have used multiple services and can legitimately compare two past expereinces with two different providers.

[The Dude]

I have been with all three listed sp's, and I definately like Verizon the best. Their phone selection is the biggest downside, IMO. I haven't experienced the bad customer service others claim they have. On the contrary, I've been quite pleased. They've always answered all my questios, solved my problems, and been reasonably time effecient in doing so. They were even kind enough to replace my brand new $200 phone for free, even though I hadn't purchased insurance on it.

The coverage areas up and down the west coast (and in HI and AK) is definately the best of any, and I frequently have service where ATT&T and Sprint customers don't. I can't say about anywhere else.

[Luv2DriveTT]

So we all know it's Verizon (and it's not even close), but now lets get down to the REAL questions.

Is there a way to get better phones than what Verizon provides as standard options to it's customers? How can we get a Motorolla Razor with Verizon for example?

TT /images/graemlins/club.gif

[mason55]

TMobile??????????

[d10]

I changed companies about a year ago because I needed something that was better for traveling. I wanted something that would work all over the eastern half of the US with no roaming or long distance charges. Verizon is the only company that offers a decent plan for this situation, and it's not even close.

[Wakko]

verizon = free 144kbit/sec data link pretty much anywhere

which makes it +EV for shitty hotel rooms without high speed internet.

[mason55]

[ QUOTE ]
I changed companies about a year ago because I needed something that was better for traveling. I wanted something that would work all over the eastern half of the US with no roaming or long distance charges. Verizon is the only company that offers a decent plan for this situation, and it's not even close.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have TMobile and have no trouble picking up a signal anywhere from Providence, Boston, DC, NYC, Jersey, all the way down 95. Not sure how far north I lose my signal but it's further than I've been on the east coast. No roaming charges, no long distance.

I don't get why I'm the first person to mention TMo in this thread as I also know tons of people that use it.