What Is the Best Cell Phone Company?

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
363
After years of being bugged my friends and people at work, I've finally decided to break down and get a cell phone. There's no denying that this is a useful tool, in everyday use as well as emergency situations. But, the thought of paying $50x12 month= $600 a year! I mean that's the price of a nice gun, or a few Surefires, or some nice Benchmades!

Anyway, I play to use this mainly for "emergencies." In Los Angeles, that mainly means I'm stuck in traffic, and I have to call work to tell them I'm gonna be an hour late. However, I'm sure I'll be using the phone to call directory information from my car, help me meet friends in crowded places, etc., once I get it.

I do not plan on walking around with the phone glued to my ear like a teenaged girl!

What are my priorities? Number one is price! I want the most bang for my buck! I also want accurate billing! My sister signed up with a certain company that constantly overbilled her!

Number two is good coverage/reception. It seems to me my friends with Sprint PCS are constantly losing their cell phone signal - at least they were, I think all of them have switched companies now!

"Free" long distance minutes are nice, but they really aren't free, are they? Plus I have a calling card where I only end up paying about 3 1/2 cents a minute for long distance, anyway.

Total airtime minutes can't hurt, but I think I will be pretty good about using my phone sparingly. If I'm going to chat idly away for an hour with my friends, I'd rather do it at the office on company time, anyway. ;)

Anyone use a "pay-as-you-go" type cell phone? I know only two people who use that kind of plan. They both said it was very expensive, and switched to regular service.

Another option which actually might make sense for me is to totally dump my land line, and just go pure cellular and DSL for my internet. The only bad thing about this is I do a fair amount of faxing to and from my home.

Bruise
 
be careful with Verizon... although they seem to have the best coverage in the Northeast, their salesmen will lie to your face about certain hidden charges...

The foremost lie is that they don't tell you about data minute charges...
 
Sprint customer service does not think you are dirt like most cell phone company's customer service; sprint thinks that you are several levels lower than dirt. When I had Sprint, it was not unusual to spend 40 minutes waiting for my "call to be answered in the order received" when calling customer service... and that was not my perception but actual stopwatch measurements. The other thing that constantly irked me about Sprint is that when you call the first thing you're faced with is "Enter your account number followed by the pound sign." Your account number is not your cell phone number. I have enough numbers in my life. I'm not going to memorize my cellular account number. There is no way around this block. You must enter an account number. Waiting doesn't work. Pressing zero just brings an angry repeat of the demand for your account number. Then, when you finally get through 40 minutes later, the first thing the agent asks for is your account number. "It's the one I entered fourty minutes ago!" "I'm sorry, but we don't get that." "Then why do I have to enter it!?!" "I don't know. May I have your account number please?"



T Mobile, my current carrier, thinks you are dirt (but, unlike Sprint, they won't tell that to you to your face), but at least they answer within about three minutes.

Today, I have made about three hours worth of free long-distance phone calls to my brothers and other friends all over the country. You get free airtime and free long-distance (domestic) on T Mobile on weekends. So, I put off social calls until the weekends as much as possible and make them on my cell. The saving here just about pays for my cellular bill.
 
I have to vouch for verizon. I do think their coverage is great, and their customer service is pretty good. I travel during the summer by car and I rarely lose signal.
 
I use T-Mobile and I have had exceptional service with them since I started with them in 2000. No dropped calls, no hidden fees, everything right up front and in your face. They have a great selection of phones and service plans. My current phone is a Nokia 6600 with Bluetooth. I have full coverage with it and compared to the Motorola V300 I was using itblows it out of the water. My current costs $$39.99 + $2.99 for T-Zone access with 600 Whenever minutes, free nights, free weekends, free long distance, and no roaming charges. I have never gone over my minutes and I use my phone more than my home phone.
 
Ah, they're all evil. Gollnick's right about Sprint, though. What he neglected to mention is that their service area sucks, once you get out of urban areas or off of major highways.
I use Cingular because their coverage seems to be the best in the rural areas that I frequent, and their coverage doesn't cost too much. Relatively speaking, at least. One thing that Cingular does that I do like is the rollover minutes. I never use all of my anytime minutes, and by the end of last year I had over a thousand anytime minutes saved up.

James
 
The question of pay as you go or a set plan becomes one of usage.

I currently pay for the lowest plan there is through sasktel(canuckia)... 100 anytime minutes for 30cad a month after all taxes and fees... and I get call display. I usually use 40min a month on it, and maybe 20 a month on the land line. No roaming fees, and thier coverage is 85% of the "populated section" of the province.

My sister uses pay as you go, puts around $50cad a month into it, but she uses it for long distance on the highway a lot.

The only advantage I have is that I don't have to worry about being down to 5min on that card.
 
I've been with Verizon for years - never a problem. They also came out on top in Consumer Reports, for what thats worth.
 
My son has Verizon and loves it. It probably has the best coverage area of all the service providers. I HAD AT&T and it sucked but since it has combined with Cingular it may not be too bad.
 
Service depends a lot on the area your calling from-so ask local friends how they like Sprint-Cingular-T-mobile whatever.
Another consideration is the numbers that you'll be calling-many of the carriers give free carrier to carrier calls so if 1/2 your friends use Sprint then Sprint might be a good choice for you.
Amazon.com offers deals on selected phones/plans that enable you to actually make money by selecting a certain phone. Sometimes this can be as much as $200. :)
 
Hi Bruise Lee-

Cellular telephone service, you ask? No matter whom you choose, you're seeking the BEST of the WORST!

As suggested by Gollnick above, Sprint has a unique technology, but their customer service is beyond abysmally horrible. Same goes for AT&T/Cingular who also offers more advanced technology, but their network isn't robust enough to support calls without very frequent dropped calls. They once claimed this only happens in very remote sections of the United States...they didn't know what to say when I told them I was (truthfully) encountering difficulty on the corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan during a non-peak calling time....

Verizon offers old-school technology, but calls can be sustained fairly reliably. Their hardware leaves much to be desired...it sure ain't cutting-edge (to use a knife term) compared to the others.

If I was in the market and not tied to a crappy Verizon contract, I would check into crappy T-Mobile. I've heard less complaints about their crappy service compared to the exceptionally crappy service of the other crappy cellular providers.

Good luck! :cool:

~ Blue Jays ~
 
I've been with Verizon for the past 8 years with the exception of a 1 year perid with AT&T. Customer service for both sucks and if you have a problem it takes a while to resolve. However, the Verizon service itself has been excellet. I am a frequent traveler including both coasts and Canada. The Verizon network has not let me down. I couldn't say that for AT&T. Signal strength 3 miles out of town was terrible and I would always drop calls in the five miles to my house due to a tower change.
 
i agree that they are all evil. but that being said, verizon. very very rarely do i have problems with service and customer service has always been excellent. they also have technicians at the stores that can repair your phone or do software updates if you have any problems. they are very knowledgable.

Pete
 
IF you REALLY are going to use your phone sparingly, then Virgin moblie is my vote. Good customer service. You don't have to register your real name and info. Relatively good service, relatively inexpensive. However, if you are like most of us you will start using your cell phone more and more. So you will need a plan and the discounted rate it offers. I like AT&T/Cingular, I have had them for some tim enow and have not had any big problems. I just wish I would have gotten a different plan when I signed up, as I use less than my current plan but more than the new next plan down.
 
I've had T-Mobile for 4 years and have never had an issue. They've always been helpful and friendly on the phone and have actually fixed the problems I called with even if it wasn't their fault.

Good coverage around here too.

Oh, and I use the high speed internet they offer too (on my cell phone/pda) and it works great.

N2
 
I am forced through my job to use Sprint. I'm in New Jersey and I get dropped calls all the time, signal strength just disappears, voice mail doesn't show up. It sucks.

The other side of this is that at my home/office in Utah the sprint works great! I call my boss cell to cell and he can't believe how much better the reception is from 2500 miles away. Go figure.


Win
 
I've been happy with Nextel, including phones, quality, service and coverage.

One tip I'd give, is that regardless of who you use, when your contract is up, call customer service and ask to be put through to their cancellation department. Tell them you're a happy customer but you think you're overpaying, and you'll be VERY happy. I did this last year and I went from paying $56/month to $33+change. Well worth it.
 
US CELLULAR SUCKS had them for a few years and finallt switched to AT&T which isnt too bad. Maybe it will get better now that they are with Cingular. I have nationwide plan (I work construction so i may not be in the area i got the phone so regional plans kinda suck for me) with free nights and weekends starting at 7PM ESTand free mobile to mobile (which means me and my GF can talk all we want to each other during the day for no fee). Thats a nice feature that i have and I got both my phone and my GF's phone free with a contract. MY bill is around a hundred a month for both phones kinda steep but for nationwide coverage and no roaming not bad
 
I was with Verizon with many, many years and switched to Nextel because of business. I despised having to switch and hated the changeover. Verizon gave me outstanding customer service, superior coverage, and respectable rates. And yes, Verizon gets the highest marks when sized up against their competition.

I can’t wait to go back! Soon… :)

Regarding the “lying,” there are bound to be bad apples in every barrel.
 
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