Which company has the best cell phone service?

[Fuster_Cluck]

I'm more concerned with phone service as in: COVERAGE, dropped calls, signal. Once I figure out the provider I will look for a phone with the features I listed below. Sorry, I was vague with what I am looking for.


I searched with no results. I would of thought this has been discussed before. If so, please post the link.

My contract with Nextel is up in April. From the dropped calls, charges for spam text messages, frequent "NO SERVICE" , battery life on the I830.... Nextel is seeing the last of me

My girl wants me to go with Sprint, but I don't want to since they merged with Nextel. She says the service is fine out in Texas where she is at this time.

I was thinking Cingular or Verizon.

Features I would like on my next phone:
--camera
--good battery life
--speakerphone
--video would be nice
--memory card slot
--capable to view pics and video uploaded from a pc
--listen to mp3's through headphones I upload from my pc

I'm not cool enough for Bluetooh ....IMO, it has become a fashion statement and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing one!!

[2.0civic]

sprint and verizon are nice...if you want to stick with sprint, check out the LG fusic...it has an FM transceiver in it to play mp3's through your radio but it really depends i guess on what youre looking for

[2.0civic]

nextel sucks and if it wasnt for my free phone, i wouldnt have it but on the other hand, when we went to blue ridge, i dropped signal about 30 minutes from there and my cingular buddies had 1 bar but sprint had 3-4 the whole time

[candy2082002]

I like Cingular, they have good coverage and alot of phones to choose from. The only prob is they really get you with the contracts, the best deals on phones are with two year contracts and you can't upgrade for a certain amount of time. My phone sucks and I can't get a new one til sometime in 2008.

[2.0civic]

I like Cingular, they have good coverage and alot of phones to choose from. The only prob is they really get you with the contracts, the best deals on phones are with two year contracts and you can't upgrade for a certain amount of time. My phone sucks and I can't get a new one til sometime in 2008.

Thats EVERY company minus nextel and you can upgrade every year but it stupid

[candy2082002]

Chris has this phone, its really cool the light for the camera is really bright http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_Ericsso...-31661177.html

[candy2082002]

Thats EVERY company minus nextel and you can upgrade every year but it stupid

oh well I have only had Cingular, but alot of my friends have had other carriers....now everyone I know is with Cingular

[2.0civic]

Chris has this phone, its really cool the light for the camera is really bright http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_Ericsso...-31661177.html

thats actually my favorite non PDA/smartphone cingular phone

[candy2082002]

Yeah its super cool wish I had it he he

[Jaimecbr900]

You are actually asking two separate questions.

1. All the features you seek are strictly phone/equipment related. The phone carrier gives you only a couple of different options when it comes to your "service" itself.....i.e. VM, text options, plan options, etc. From your question, you are looking for phone features which are going to be strictly dependent on the PHONE you choose not so much the provider.

2. Service providers are as different as night and day. The biggest differences I've noticed are customer service/contracts and service range. NOONE can beat MetroPCS strictly on $ because they have a plan for $30/mo unlimited LOCAL calls. If that works for you, then that by far is the best plan from ANY other carrier. Noone comes remotely close to that. Problem comes in the next part of the equation, range. If you travel outside your local area OFTEN, then MetroPCS is NOT for you. They have travel talk, but it's basically roaming and roaming costs a ton of money.

I've had several different carriers. I had Nextel for eons....I started when they had the HUGE rubber duckied antenna and weighed 10 lbs. I had Cingular for a long time as well. Their contracts are, as someone else already pointed out, LOOOONNNNGG. They tie you in that way. I just had a big dispute with them and left because of contract issues. I also had Bellsouth, when they were really Bellsouth. Again, the problem there was simply contract. You get tired of being tied down and NOT able to upgrade phones or change programs or they nickel and dime you to death. It gets aggravating.



All that to tell you that it sounds like you're more interested in phone features than carriers. Just be careful not to get sucked into long contracts just to get a free phone.

[Fuster_Cluck]

2. Service providers are as different as night and day. The biggest differences I've noticed are customer service/contracts and service range. NOONE can beat MetroPCS strictly on $ because they have a plan for $30/mo unlimited LOCAL calls. If that works for you, then that by far is the best plan from ANY other carrier. Noone comes remotely close to that. Problem comes in the next part of the equation, range. If you travel outside your local area OFTEN, then MetroPCS is NOT for you. They have travel talk, but it's basically roaming and roaming costs a ton of money.

I edited the post because SERVICE is my main concern with the providers. I call family who live in Savannah and Florida and I travel often.

Thanks for pointing that out

Thanks to you and everyone else for the input so far

[ShooterMcGavin]

i would avoid sprint/nextel like the plague, i think tmobile, cingular and verizon should all be able to provide u the service u want as well as a phone w/the functions u need.

[ShooterMcGavin]

oh for the record, i'm w/tmobile and have been for a while (2 yrs). i work here in atl but i also travel some for work and for vacations. i also have family in savannah and for the most part, i get signal just about everywhere and have had VERY few dropped calls.

[CRXDX]

SPRINT FTW

[Jaimecbr900]

I edited the post because SERVICE is my main concern with the providers. I call family who live in Savannah and Florida and I travel often.

Thanks for pointing that out

Thanks to you and everyone else for the input so far

If you travel outside the area often, MetroPCS is probably not cost effective anymore.

Personally, I won't ever refer anyone to Cingular. I had them for over 5 yrs and still have 1 phone with them. Won't ever use them again. Why? Not because the coverage was lousy, it actually is very good from my experience...it's their customer NO service that did it for me. If someone pays their bill religiously ON TIME EVERY DAMN MONTH for 5 freaking years, never disconnected, never late, never anything.....don't piss them off over something stupid......they showed me they could care less about MY business when I asked them to make a change on an account I didn't even have a contract on but was telling them I'd STILL STAY IF they made the change. They didn't want to, eventhough their brochure said they were supposed to. So they lost a $150/mo customer who always paid on time over a $10/mo change. How's that smart? Its not, so I left. Don't miss it a bit right now.

So their coverage is good, but their customer NO service is the pits.

My

[fire7882]

If you travel outside the area often, MetroPCS is probably not cost effective anymore.

Personally, I won't ever refer anyone to Cingular. I had them for over 5 yrs and still have 1 phone with them. Won't ever use them again. Why? Not because the coverage was lousy, it actually is very good from my experience...it's their customer NO service that did it for me. If someone pays their bill religiously ON TIME EVERY DAMN MONTH for 5 freaking years, never disconnected, never late, never anything.....don't piss them off over something stupid......they showed me they could care less about MY business when I asked them to make a change on an account I didn't even have a contract on but was telling them I'd STILL STAY IF they made the change. They didn't want to, eventhough their brochure said they were supposed to. So they lost a $150/mo customer who always paid on time over a $10/mo change. How's that smart? Its not, so I left. Don't miss it a bit right now.

So their coverage is good, but their customer NO service is the pits.

My

+1

I had cingular for 2 years and hated the customer service. They also kept charging me roaming when I went to my parents house in south GA that was covered by my plan. I had to call them every billing cycle to get the charges removed. I have verizon now and have been with them for 2+ years and have never had a problem.

[candy2082002]

I have NEVER gotten charged for roaming and I have been in south GA and out of state....thats odd

[quickdodge®]

I've used Metro PCS for the last 6 years, lolol. Couldn't be happier. Later, QD.

[PawnShopCEO]

i think i would have the perfect opinion for what you are looking for.. I worked for Verizon Corporate for 5 years and Cingular Corporate for 6 months. As far as price.. Cingular.. the roll over minutes wills ave your ass unreal if you like to talk alot.. but as far as clarity and coverage.. Verizon hands down.... Cingular isnt bad at all.. but verizon picks up EVERYWHERE crystal clear

[CSquared]

aren't at&t and cingular merged at this point?

[Jaimecbr900]

aren't at&t and cingular merged at this point?

Yes.

[Jaimecbr900]

\. As far as price.. Cingular.. the roll over minutes wills ave your ass unreal if you like to talk alot..

True, but if you do talk a lot.....you won't have many rollover minutes to carry over....

I liked my rollover minutes when I had them, but they are pretty tricky about them too. You save a whole bunch of rollover minutes, right? So many that you figure you'll drop down to a lower pricing plan to pay less per month and just use up all your rollover minutes too, right? WRONG! If you have 3000 rollover minutes and you drop down to a plan where you get 1000 package minutes......you can't carry over or bring with you but 1000 rollover minutes of those 3000 you had. I guess you could use them up by yapping a lot, but the point is that even if you stay with Cingular you can't always take the minutes with you.

Cingular also has some kind of clause that says "the customer is always right/happy" or something like that. Too bad they don't do that at all.

[Hektik]

i voted verizon simply for there actual service not customer service but phone service. ive been with them for 2 years now and there service is great. never dropped calls, almost always have signal unless ur way out in the boonies but ive travelled from virginia beach to ga and never once lost signal. now there customer service isnt all that great and there prices are a little more expensive but u get what u pay for.

[PawnShopCEO]

i will e-bitch slap you if you go with anyone other than cingular/verizon. you will be happy with either.. if i were you, i would take a quick servey of the people you call the most and see who they have.. since mobile to mobile minutes are KEY

[Julio]

Been with At&T/Bellsouth/Cingular and now again AT&T.. ( they need to make up there mind)

Never had any issues in 10+ years with them. Never had an issue with a bill. Never had an issue with there customer service.. but then again, I never really had to call about any bad issues.. Only call them asking questions about upgrades or features.. but with there website, you can almost do anything from there.

I Got 3 phone lines with them.

[2.0civic]

i would avoid sprint/nextel like the plague, i think tmobile, cingular and verizon should all be able to provide u the service u want as well as a phone w/the functions u need.

sprint roams off verizon therefore we have the same coverage

[nunyadamnbiz]

WTF....no love for the Ghetto POS (Metro Pcs)

[BuBBa DRiFT]

Cingular is terrible with their text plans and internet plans, $10 bucks a month for 400 incoming and outgoing messages... and the customer service is really cheesy,

according to a source who seems to know what they are talking about, "MOBILE TO MOBILE" still takes away your minutes, it just doesnt charge you for them.. which doesnt make any sense..basically if you go over mobile to mobile they dont charge, but if you mobile to mobile for 999 and then regular for 10 you are charged 9 minutes over... tell me how the hell that works.

[cactusEG]

cingular is a rip off!!!!

[ALVIN]

I've had cingular for quite some time and never had any bad experiences. Yes the text messaging services suck because you cannot get unlimited, but hey it doesn't bother me too much. I did have a problem with losing service, bit come to find out it was the phone that I had that made me lose service. Now I have service pretty much anywhere I go lol

[ueyedgr8tness]

Personally, I won't ever refer anyone to Cingular. I had them for over 5 yrs and still have 1 phone with them. Won't ever use them again. Why? Not because the coverage was lousy, it actually is very good from my experience...it's their customer NO service that did it for me. If someone pays their bill religiously ON TIME EVERY DAMN MONTH for 5 freaking years, never disconnected, never late, never anything.....don't piss them off over something stupid......they showed me they could care less about MY business when I asked them to make a change on an account I didn't even have a contract on but was telling them I'd STILL STAY IF they made the change. They didn't want to, eventhough their brochure said they were supposed to. So they lost a $150/mo customer who always paid on time over a $10/mo change. How's that smart? Its not, so I left. Don't miss it a bit right now.

So their coverage is good, but their customer NO service is the pits.

My [/QUOTE]

aGREE AND THEN I DONT AGREE I got them now i had tmobile every since they were powertel customer service was the best but no signal like cingular I have had 3 1k bills and they have reduced them all to around 300$ and changed my plan to help me out so I starting to really like cingular

[Fuster_Cluck]

Well, I ended up giving Sprint a try and happy so far. No dropped calls from work to the house. I have the Fusic phone which I absolutely love!!!

My plan is $36 and with the 15% it will be pretty cheap each month

[BKgen®]

lirl @ REDNEXtel on the list.

[idriveasloweclipse]

I used to have cingular about three years ago, then got nextel for a year and hated it, then went back to cingular and it is a lot better now than it used to be. I haven't had any problems.

[carbon_crash]

sprint and verizon are nice...if you want to stick with sprint, check out the LG fusic...it has an FM transceiver in it to play mp3's through your radio but it really depends i guess on what youre looking for

Hey man, definitely give Sprint a try. They have invested over 100 million dollars alone in GA expanding cell service. And for the features you are looking for, check out the Upstage by Samsung. It will be out very soon, its very similiar to the i-phone!!

[sleepys4]

Stay with a carrier that has sim cars. ie not sprint