Cellular Service Poll

Who has the best coverage, and network under all conditions?

  • Cingular

    Votes: 10 20.4%
  • Alltel

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Verizon

    Votes: 27 55.1%
  • Sprint/Nextel

    Votes: 10 20.4%
  • T-Mobile

    Votes: 2 4.1%

  • Total voters
    49

Bravo25

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 17, 2003
Messages
1,129
Location
Kansas, USA
I am ending a current contract, and rather than bash the provider by name, I will say that, frankly, my service sucks. I can't go 300 feet in the air inside a building, or stand next to the window in my house, and hold a conversation. Either I don't get enough signal in an area that is reported as "saturated with signal", or the conversation is so choppy it can't be understood. To many dropped calls.

I have recently moved into a position where I am the director of security in a building where there are several "alphabet soup" companies, GSA offices, and some of the highest paid attorneys in the area. When I get called, I had better be reachable.

So I am asking based on personal experience who you think provides the best coverage, and the most reliable network. If everything works well, then customer service is secondary. Thanks for the input.

Also any help on the type of phone would be a plus.
 

lwsii

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 9, 2001
Messages
10
Location
Jackson, MS USA
I have Cingular & like it, but recommend you check out howardforums.com or phonescoop.com, I'd say they are the cpf of the cell phone world.
 

Jumpmaster

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 14, 2001
Messages
1,640
Location
Friggin' MORE COWBELL!!!
Bravo25 said:
If everything works well, then customer service is secondary. Thanks for the input.

If you're not concerned much with customer service, Sprint seems to have the best coverage.

I have T-Mobile and the coverage is decent...but not as good as Sprint in my experience. I hate Sprint's customer service, so won't use them. I have friends that swear by their coverage...but they don't like calling customer service.

JM-99
 

Radio

Modulated Moderator
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
2,220
Location
The Land of Baked Beans and Red Sox
Bravo, If you have Cingular/ATT or Verizon and are having this problem then you need to find the regional carrier with the best coverage, Verizon always had the most cell sites but when cingular and ATT merged they became bigger so you can't go wrong with either one, ANY carrier that is worth signing with will give at least 14 day money back trial, no question asked cancellation on contract and equipment, my recommendation is to activate with the other carrier and if service is better then port the number and cancel the old carrier if service not as good just cancel and try one of the others, best of luck
 

Unicorn

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 19, 2000
Messages
1,339
Location
Near Seattle, WA
It's going to be area specific. Overall Verizon seems to have the most coverage, but in some areas it has little or none, while other carriers have great coverage. Cingular/ATT have decent coverage as does T-Mobile in many areas.
 

geepondy

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 15, 2001
Messages
4,896
Location
Massachusetts
From Consumer Reports polls, Verizon consistantly scores near or at the top in most metropolitan areas followed by T-Mobile. I'm happy with Verizon, here in MA greater Boston metropolitan area. From personal experience, my friend girl's Sprint calls seem to get dropped a lot and when calling another Cingular friend, often times get the all circuits busy message. However from what I gather out of Consumer Reports, cell phone service is overwhelmingly regional dependent so one carrier may suck in one metropolitan area and yet get good reviews in another. Consumer Reports also indicated that cellular service in general is not improving over time.
 

freeze12

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 31, 2002
Messages
224
Location
Buffalo,NY
I have Nextel Partners (not Sprint/Nextel..only nextel Communications merged w Sprint) & have had terrific service from them...unlike Sprint.
 

Arkayne

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
629
Location
San Diego, CA
I've been with Cingular since 98 (used to be PacBell PCS then) and have never had problems with dropped calls or dead zones. But that's because I pretty much stayed within a well populated rural area.
 

TorchMan

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Messages
805
Location
Texas
Verizon service and network have been excellent. Cingular was not so good. Nextel is horrible for dropped calls and loss of signal.

I use Verizon and Nextel almost every day, and it's amazing how bad Nextel is for all of us at work, different phones and all. What's baffling is that it's not just certain areas. It's almost like rolling blackouts. The signal just dies at times, even in "good" areas (because some areas are worse than others, as is the case with any company). Not to mention numerous "all systems busy" type messages.

We lose calls and signals with Nextel (both phone and walkie talkie mode) on freeways in all areas. My house is a "good" area, and at times the phone will lose signal for up to twenty minutes, when it had full bars before that. This happens in all weather conditions, and while the phone is stationary, say on the couch. Moving it around is no help. Verizon does not do this. Go figure...
 

senecaripple

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
1,262
Location
Winden/Sinaloa
i have t-mobile for the last 3yrs. hated at&t, so cingular is out of the equation for me! verizon's 2yr committment is too much for my taste. not too crazy abt sprint either!
 

metalhed

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 29, 2004
Messages
671
Location
Washington State
My wife and I have used Verizon for several years now. No complaints on coverage or accessibility.

I have had to deal with customer service once or twice...best customer service I've ever received from a major corporation. Really pleasant company to work with.
 

yuandrew

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 12, 2003
Messages
1,323
Location
Chino Hills, CA
For a long time, Sprint was the only provider in my area (They were the first to install cell sites.) Many of their sites were intresting because of the hilly terrain. I know of four in my area but none of them are close enough to my house for coverage.

Cingular/T-Mobil has very good coverage in my area now. I personally use Cingular myself as the only site near my home is a Cingular site located on a water tank on a hill about 1/2 a mile away. There are many in my area; most of them disguised as water-towers, flag poles, and on buildings and power lines.

Verizon is also ok as well but they don't have as good coverage as Cingular and T-mobil. I only found 2 Verizon antennas in my area but they are working on expanding the coverage.

Nextel is now Sprint but up until then, they had only one site located on the southmost side of my town in the Butterfield Ranch area. Anyone of you heading north or south on the 71 freeway to or from the 91 will easily see it. It looks like a water tower and has "Welcome to Chino Hills" painted on it.

I picked my service considering where I would want to use my phone. Even though Cingular is the sole carrier in my neighborhood, I live in a dead spot at the corner of a street. Sometimes I get signal but other times, I have to walk a block up the street to get one bar. I once stood right next to the cell site (it's low enough that you can get within 6 feet of the antennas). Had the best connection but I don't recommend doing that.
 
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bucken

Enlightened
Joined
Aug 6, 2001
Messages
476
Location
Indiana
Been through most all of them over the years. Finally linked up with Virgin Mobile (Pre-Paid Service), and for the past several years, have had no reason to continue searching anymore. Virgin uses the Sprint network. I travel extensively and have no problems, anywhere. Saved a TON of money, too, by getting away from the normal contract.
 

MScottz

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
175
Location
Littleton, CO
I think a lot of the bad rap wireless companies get for dropped calls and bad signals is due to poor or faulty cell phones. Ditto the comment about phonescoop dot com. A great place to read phone reviews. I just got the Nokia 2128i from Verizon. It's a very simple, easy to use phone. Just what I wanted. It does have and led flashlight built in though! Great battery life on it (4 hrs talk) and so far, great signal strength, and the spealerphone works good too. It's also sealed up pretty good. It fell out of my pocket and into my dog's water bowl, totally submerged for about 3 seconds but there was barely a trace of moisture inside when I took it apart.
 

dano

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 11, 2000
Messages
3,882
Location
East Bay, Cali.
I think actual service (not customer service) varies greatly by area.

I'm in th Bay ARea, and use a Cingular phone at work, and a Nextel/Sprint at home. The Cingular services SUCKS. I mean, it is really bad, and I'm dropping it when my contract expires. Cingular's C.S. is the worst I've ever encountered: rude, blatant hang-ups, etc etc.

Nextel's coverage has been excellent in all areas. I haven't needed the C.S., but when I picked the phone, the lady at the store was helpful and not pushy.

I was thinking about T-Mobile, adn called their C.S., which was a pleasure. I got a real human who actually answered questions. Not sure about T-M's coverage in The Bay ARea, though.

--dan
 

smokinbasser

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Messages
1,193
Location
East Texas
On the verizon website you can pull up the service areas and the no service areas also. I have great service in Tn but I live on the plateau so my elevation is part of the signal strength.
 
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zespectre

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
May 21, 2005
Messages
2,197
Location
Lost in NY
I voted Verizon because in the Metro DC area it rocks. Verizon is the ONLY company with license to put repeaters in the metrorail tunnels so my phone works there too. Also I travel a lot between DC and upstate NY with excellent coverage the entire trip. The only places I have issues are my parents house (rural, deep valley, no repeaters nearby) and the inlaw's house in VA (right near a 50k watt radio tower).

Nobody's perfect and I surely have dropped calls, but I'm satisfied with what I get.

If you go with Verizon's phones BE CAREFUL. They disable a lot of functions on most of their "bluetooth" phones to force you to buy extra data services from them. Know what you are ACTUALLY getting (which is probably NOT what the phone manufacturer says the phone can do).
 
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