User Panel
Posted: 8/8/2005 6:51:48 AM EDT
In terms of coverage and reliable signal/reception, who has the best "servcie?
Not as much worried about plans, because they all have some kind of gimmick to make each one look like the best when most of them are about the same. poll coming. Cingular Nextel Sprint Verizon Wireless T-Mobile Virgin Mobile (not on the poll) |
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I have Stink-ular, but they all suck in one way or another.
Want good cellular service, latest technology and seamless coverage? Move out of the US. |
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Why do people insist on selecting the poll option to allow multiple choices?
I see this so often. It can be a fricking yes/no poll and the multiple answer box is checked so you can select both yes and no! Not slamming the maker of this poll, just a general observation, and I have sand in my mangina. If my selection is Verizon, why should I also be able to select every other provider too. It allows me to screw with the poll results? It is un-checked by default....so it has to be checked on purpose before the poll is started. |
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I have had Nextel, sprint,and cingular.
I would have to go with Cingular |
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LOL. Asking which carrier is the best is really like asking which piece of dog shit smells the least! None of them... Cell phones suck. If I didn't need to carry one because of work, I wouldn't. Sorry, I'm not much help to ya.
~Dg84 |
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We've had Verizon and Cingular so far. IMHO neither has been very impressive in terms of coverage. I figured with Cingular buying out AT&T they'd nearly double the amout of owers and therefore increase their coverage bigtime. I've since been told that GSM is the way to go because Cingular is cutting down a lot of the "regular" towers.
My wife has been travelling a lot and she has not been impressed with the fact that she gets "extended" coverage in places like Seattle, Norfolk, San Francisco, and we either get extended or we don't get squat up north in NH. I got a decent signal at Bulletfest though, which was surprising considering that's out in the boonies. We're considering swtiching to T-Mobile. |
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Currently I use Verizon with no problems so far (2 years with them). I had Sprint, but their customer service was horrible so I fired the bastards.
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T-Mobile is fairly lenient with their contracts - will charge you per diem after your contract expires instead of forcing you to pay a full billing cycle, and is pretty good about unlocking their phones. Good rates, in my area, too, compared to the competition and offers the biggest rebates.
I switch between T-Mobile and Cingular to take advantage of the introductory offers but was not happy on Cingular last time and am not looking forward to another year with them. |
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I have verizon and it seems to have good coverage however all their phones suck.
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I have Sprint and they have pretty good coverage over most of the highways. I also pay $5 a month for "free" roaming for when I travel and go off the Sprint network. So if there is cellphone service anywhere I can pretty much get a signal and don't have to worry about who's network I'm on or additional charges. That said my house is located in a Sprint dead zone, 1 block away and I've got a full signal. If I hold my cellphone the wrong way it will drop the call because it lost the signal. So the bottom line is all the companies have problems. Also Sprint's customer service department must hire people who have failed their GED because that is the level of competency you will get from them.
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So that's what roaming is? Using another carrier's tower signal when your phne isn't picking up one for your carrier? |
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I've only used Verizon and Sprint so I can't speak about the others. In terms of coverage area and a reliable non-roaming digital signal, Verizon kicks Sprint's ass BIGTIME.
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I used to have Verizon...didn't like them. Their choice in phones sucks and the coverage was horrible. |
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In New England Verizon is the best. I get a full signal in the middle of a lake surrounded by moutains in NH and my friends Cingular doesn't even work when in view of a cell tower up there.
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Sprint sets the standard for crappy customer service. If you call with a problem, a felon answers the phone and mocks you as he tries to get you to change your service, then, no one fixes your problem (which is usually that they are over billing you $20 per month).
That said, their coverage isn't bad. |
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I had sprint for close to 4 years, and always had several problems with one thing or another. after 4 years of it i canceled my service switched to Verizon, and have been very pleased.
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I've probably used around 10 carriers since my first cell (a Radio Shack bag phone) back in the early 90's.
So far Verizon has been the best in terms of coverage. I've done a LOT of traveling around the country and I've always been able to get a signal and a connection (even if it's roaming analog). Most of the other providers are long gone (absorbed into other networks). Sprint PCS stood out as the most suck-ass one of the bunch. Go 10 feet beyond a major city and you'd get zip. Verizon may have a great network but their crippled phones (esp. when it comes to bluetooth) me off. |
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Cigular is the single worst company I have ever delt with. My two reasons for saying this:
- My phone died. Stopped working completely. Customer service tells me to go to the Cingular store. A half hour drive to the store, they spend less than a minute looking at it and tell me to go home and call the warranty folks. They tell me they don't to loaners and I am plain out of luck as for spending an hour of my time, and the gas to have them look at it. I get upset, say some unpleasant things to the guy behind the counter. He get's pissed of, but finally agrees to loan me a phone, then pulls out the logbook they have for loaning out phones. We quickly go from "we don't give out loaners" to it happens often enough they have a logbook for it. - The minute we switched from an AT&T account to a cingular one our coverage dropped like a rock. There were two places in our house where we could hope to complete a call. After months of working with Cingular I finally get a rep to tell me that she'll let me out of the contract. She says that she wrote up in my account that the termination fees would be waved. Along comes our last statement and the termination fees are there. Turns out that this little darling wrote in the account that she advised me not to leave, as I would be charged the termination fee. And she never had the power to authorize waving the fees anyways. Cingular stole $300 from me. If there's any justice in the world Cingular will go broke, and their CEO will die from herpes. |
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I have had Sprint for 8 years now, I spend $170.00 a month for their service. Comparable plans from different carriers could save me $40-50 amonth, but I won't switch.
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Switched to Mid-West Wireless after Cingulair bought out AT&T.
Mid-West Wireless gives you a FREE PHONE yearly as you renew their contract! |
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That's the second time I've heard this. Would someone care to elaborate? Bluetooth is important to me, because I want to be able to use my phone in conjuction with my Dell notebook. I'm considering getting a Motorola E815 and changing carriers from Alltel to Verizon. |
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Phones are not GSM, AFAIK. Cingular has it. Ggo check out there phones. Compare to Verizons. Cingulars phones have more features & gadget. I.e. internet, etc. Verizons phones are old school, like the original nokia that started it all. ;) |
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Nextel is the single worst shittiest company I have ever dealt with.
Coverage sucks, cust service sucks, |
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The wife and I have had Verizon for about 3 years now and while they dont have the new toy filled phones that Cingular has there Coverage is second to none where I live. I work construction over a pretty good sized part of Ohio and Ive had a good signal everywhere Ive been. The guys that have Sprint, Cingular and T-Moble always seem to be wanting to use my phone on brake and lunch periods because they have no signal. I DO wish Verizon had roll over like Cingular has but I dont see it happeining. Also I spend a lot of time in WV since both our familys live there. For some reason you cant get a Verizon account in Charleston and Morgantown WV because its not considerd a home area or some dumbass reason but my Verizon phone gets better coverage then my parents Cingular and the wifes parents Intelos plans.
BKVic |
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When you are roaming you are on an analog network not the digital network that the provider has. Meaning the quality of the connection is going to suck and be full of static, you probably won't get voice mail notices, probably no caller ID, and you can definately forget about any type of uploading or downloading from your phone. |
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update: fwiw we renewed our Cingular contract and upgraded to gsm phones.
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It all depends on your area. Check out each of them individualy and research the coverage in your area. If you find that all are pretty much the same, choose based on which has the best plan that fits you. If you find 2 or more companies that fit you, choose based on which company has the phone you want.
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cingular sucks the big boar tittie....
I signed up for them in Oct of 2004, big mistake. Most of the time I had no signal, then when I did, I may not be able to complete the call, I would be dropped, UNLESS I was in OKC, then I had great coverage, no problems using the phone, BUT I am about 90 miles away form OKC. I was told it would not be problem as I am in a "high coverage area" HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, ya right. Last week I called and canceld my service, I was asked Why I wanted to leave, so I told the lady on phone, the service sucks I only get signal about 50% of the time, she said this " Well that means that you GET coverage 50% of the time and we find that acceptable" I said NO let me talk to a supervisor, I then laid into them. Yes I have to pay a termination fee, I told them I would gladly pay it to be done with them. Stay away, very evil people they are. |
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Alltel and Motorola phones. I have had Alltel for four years and no real problems to speak of.
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I've had Verizon for about a year. No complaints.
I believe they have the biggest infrastructure of any co. on the East Coast |
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I've found Verizon to have great coverage and signal strength, and relentlessly appalling customer service. They're also consistently more expensive than any other providers. Given the coverage, unfortunately, I'm still with them, but I'd really like to see someone else develop comparable coverage.
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Verizon uses "older" CDMA technology, which does limit features and data speeds, but they have by far the most coverage area. If your primary concern is MAKING CALLS, then you can't beat Verizon.
Cingular's GSM network allows it to provide all the advanced features and high data speeds, but they still have significant coverage problems in many areas. Check with folks in your area before subscribing. T-Mobile is 100% GSM, and has the fastest data rates and lowest data prices, but they have only a TINY amount of coverage, so unless you live in a major Metro area, you're likely to be SOL as far as signal goes. The guy who works with me has signal loss problems all over the Bay Area, and the Bay Area is a "high coverage" area for T-Mobile. Nextel is total crap. Sprint is worse, and has the worst customer service in the industry. No one else is worth mentioning. -Troy |
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I've had Sprint PCS, Verizon, and Nextel.
Sprint PCS- The old joke goes PCS stands for Poor Customer Service. That was my experience. Coverage was poor. I lived in three different states with PCS and only one are had really good coverage. Verizon-Great coverage. Poor plans. I had an absolutely shitty plan. I ended up dropping it at the first opprotunity. Nextel-Love the phone. I have in i530 and I've literally thrown it across the room and it keeps on ticking. The plan is OK. I thought I would use the direct connect feature more than I do. Reception in buildings is pretty good, but the area is very limited. I've been told that Nextel was bought by Sprint. It seems the adopted their CS department. I used to get monthly calls asking my opinion of their service. Now I no longer get them AND I can't seem to get a number in my new area code. I've only heard things about Cingular second hand. TO A PERSON it was bad. Mostly complaints about coverage. The plans were good, but the coverage sucked according to everyone I've talked to. Kinda the polar opposite of Verizon. I've head good things about T-Mobile. The people I have talked to liked their CS and plans, but their coverage area is limited. When my Nextel contract expires I have no idea who I'm going to go with. I'll go with Verizon if they get some better plans, but other than that I'm hoping the market place demands better between now and next year. |
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My family has 4 cell phones all on Sprint because I get a great corporate discount. I would say there cell coverage is so so, But there customers service sucks bigtime! There rep's in there call centers are dumb as rocks! I wish there was a easy way to see the poll without voting because I really hate to vote for Sprint... I could care less about all the wizbang crap on the phones. All I want is a simple working phone thats cheap..... If it wasn't for work I would not have one. I hate talking on the phone!
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I ended up with cingular and have not regretted it. The only problems I have are then I try to call folks with nextel or sprint. I will never use them. I have not used VErizon or Tmobile.
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Sprint is in the process of buying Nextel, so I would stay away until the merger dust settles. I have Verizon because I'm in PA and I asked all the sales and tech reps that visit my company who travel NYC, NJ, PA, and MD and with a few exceptions they use Verizon for the better coverage and fewer dropped calls when they are on the road.
Bluetooth...yeah they have the v710 dumbed down. Verizon has learned where the money is....messaging, sending pictures, and that crap so they cripple the phone so you can't get into it except for handsfree stuff. I can get my Yahoo email, various news and weather and that is all I need on a phone. |
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Cingular:
The thing that really bites is if you want to upgrade your crappy phone graphics or games they really rape you on that. I think I might even have ot sign up for an additional service if I want to do this. The LG c1300i phone I got from them has the lamest wallpaper and only one game. I like haing the games for when I'm sitting in the shitter. I generally don't use the wallpaper graphics, but I'd like to try uploading a few pictures of my son as wallpaper. |
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