Good cell phone service for the road

[Flywithmike]

Go Verizon or AT&T/Cingular. I have heard nothing but bad things about sprint's service. (West Coast)

 

[FlyChicaga]

I switched from Cingular to Sprint, and have been more than pleased. There are some spots where coverage is weak, like way out in the country, some cities in Mexico, and deep in buildings like most elevators and basements.

My girlfriend and I both have the same phones, and both of our phones had issues with them. Mine just started shutting off (it may have been dropped) while I was on reserve. I took it in to the Sprint store, told them what was going on, and two hours later after they ran a check on it I had a brand new phone. My girlfriend had a phone where the antenna wouldn't stay up and had terrible reception at her house (which is bad enough since it's a farm out in the country). They gave her a new phone as well.

I'll definitely stick with Sprint. Now only if I had the $$ for one of those palm pilot phones...

 

[TrapAv8r]

Im sure this has been hit on before but I am fed up with Nextel. Drops calls left an right, peeps can't get through to my voicemail. Not to mention expensive as sh!t and the phones are a ripoff. Anyways, looking for a service that will get decent reception around the country and not break the bank. any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

From Consumer Reports.org:
​

Cellular service: Best carriers


STEP ONE Start the quest for service by choosing a carrier that earned high marks in our reader survey.




Every national wireless carrier has chronic major problems with service, billing, and complaint-handling, according to our third annual subscriber survey, our most expansive to date.

Conducted in September 2004, it shows how major carriers compare in 17 major metropolitan areas, based on the experiences of some 39,000 subscribers to ConsumerReports.org. Here’s what we found:

• Overall levels of satisfaction are lower than for most other services we measure, such as hotels, retail outlets, and insurance. The overall satisfaction index has changed by only one point in the past three years, from 65 to 66.

• Only 45 percent of respondents said they were completely satisfied or very satisfied with their cell-phone service, a very low showing for any service.

• Nearly 70 percent of those who use a cell phone frequently had at least one dropped call in the week before the survey. Nearly 60 percent said they had a bad connection.

• Only 31 percent said the company’s response to a service inquiry was very helpful; 40 percent said responses to billing inquiries were very helpful.

• Verizon topped the Ratings in each city, as it did in the previous two surveys. In 10 cities, it wasn’t ahead of the pack in a statistically meaningful way, however. And Verizon wasn’t problem-free. It simply had fewer problems than other carriers.

Given such results, it’s little wonder that 35 percent of our respondents were seriously considering a switch of carrier. Most of those who had already switched said they were after better service.

State officials across the country have begun forcing providers to do better. In Ma 2004, against prolonged industry opposition, California’s Public Utilities Commission adopted a Telecommunications Consumer Bill of Rights. It mandates a 30-day trial period and online disclosure of rates and terms, among other provisions.

Commissioner Carl Wood said he expects the measure to reduce the number of consumer complaints. “The biggest single thing is accurate representation of service, so that consumers are told what they’re getting,” he said.

In July 2004, Verizon Wireless, Cingular, and Sprint PCS settled with attorneys general in 32 states, which were investigating deceptive practices in the wireless industry. The carriers agreed to provide accurate coverage maps and to have their ads describe service more clearly and concisely.

However, the Federal Communications Commission remains focused on competition in the industry rather than quality. In an annual report published in late September 2004, the agency said “the poor showing of cellular service” in one study of customer satisfaction “does not seem to have any bearing on the assessment of effective competition.” The FCC does collect consumer complaints, which can indicate how well wireless companies handle customer service. But it does little to publicize that information. In fact, it requires a Freedom of Information Act request before it will disclose complaint data about specific companies.


HOW TO CHOOSE

The carriers have become very competitive with calling plans. Service and satisfaction are more important factors.

Consider our survey findings. Verizon consistently tops the Ratings and is the obvious first choice for many people. However, Verizon isn’t the only choice. In most of the 17 cities in our survey, T-Mobile came in a close second.

Check coverage, based on your own experience and that of your friends. Ask people who travel the same streets that you do whether the cell-phone company they use delivers consistent service. You may find that another company has better coverage where you need it.

Weigh each company’s networks and phones against your needs. Differences between carriers lists the digital network each carrier uses (CDMA, GSM, or TDMA) and summarizes its ability to roam, or hand off calls to another carrier when you’re outside your own calling area. The network may make a difference if, for example, you need good service in rural areas.

We have also found that GSM and CDMA phones have distinct differences, which may also help you settle on a carrier. See "CDMA or GSM?" in our February 2005 report on cell phones.

Weigh each company’s rates and plans against your needs. In areas where carriers are closely matched in major respects, you may want to base your choice on factors specific to the carriers. For example, if your usage varies from month to month, you may want to consider Sprint or Cingular, which have plans that allow for monthly fluctuations.

What the Cingular/AT&T merger means for you

When Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004, it created the largest wireless carrier and a host of questions and problems for the new company’s 46 million customers. Cingular says the merger will give customers access to its large digital network and expanded mobile-to-mobile calling. How well Cingular delivers on those promises won’t be known for months. But based on the problems our survey found with AT&T Wireless, we suggest that AT&T customers exercise caution.

• Both Cingular and AT&T had problems with overloaded circuits in our survey. We don’t see how the merger would improve that.

• Watch your bills for mistakes. Be sure you’re being properly billed for roaming, long-distance, and night and weekend minutes.

• As of now, if you are an AT&T customer and want to update your plan with Cingular, you’ll need a new phone. Current AT&T and Cingular customers who are satisfied with their service don’t need new phones.




____________________________________
I couldn't copy the ratings page, but Verizon topped each market location. We have Sprint, and have been happy with it. If I had to swap in the future, I would choose Verizon.

We make most of our decisions with the help of Consumer Reports. It has helped out many times.

 

[avbug]

I had several different cell services, including AT&T and Sprint, but found that nothing compared to Verizon. I was unhappy with cell service and has posted on this site for recommendations. Virtually everybody recommended Verizon, and they were right.

AT&T can burn in cellular hell for all I care. One of their customer service representatives once told me over the phone that the company is legally enpowered and entitled to lie to their clients, and there's nothing I could do about it. That particular case involved changes made to my account by phone. I was told by a particular customer service representative that the changes had been made. My next phone bill was eight hundred dollars; a massive overcharge of long distance, roaming and other garbage that wouldn't have been there if the changes had been made to my account as promised. No record existed of my talk with the former customer service rep.

I paid the bill. I was pissed, but I paid it. This continued, and I finally simply dropped the service. I still get collection notices wanting an early termination fee, and I won't pay it. AT&T told me that no agreements they make are binding, that they can and will lie to clients over the phone, that they will fall back to the contract that was signed, and they'll use that against a client. Dishonesty, lies, overcharging, and poor service that often dropped in large cities. Even on the one-rate plan with their largest possible coverage.

Verizon has given me no grief at all...night and day. And I've been able to secure service in some fairly remote locations. A few places the service has been bad, but mostly it's good. Can you hear me now?

 

[Flyeys]

Thank you for the input

I have it narrowed down to cingular or verizon. It sounds like either one will be good. Once again thanks for all the help.

 

[flint4xx]

STAY AWAY FROM SPRINT!


Worst customer service in the world. Worst experience I've ever had dealing with a service issue. IT HAS BEEN MONTHS, AND IT STILL ISN'T RESOLVED. Run away.

 

[rvsm410]

I love my cingular service, been with them for over 10 years, most of my travel in east of the Miss, but service is always great even down in the islands.....mobile to moble service is wonderful and has cut my minutes in half, allowed me to lower my plan rate...nights and weekends works great for us night flyers...

Get a good phone and go Cingular has my vote.....by the way Customer service is alway available and usually handles any problem I might have...

 

[hydroflyer]

I switched from Nextel to Verizon. Nextel was good for a while, but late last year the number of dropped calls skyrocketed, and the most annoying thing was having someone call and not being able to answer. Over half the time I would pick up the phone and get dead air, same thing for the person on the other end. We could do that 2-3 times in a row and the only way we could get a connection was if I called them from my phone.

I decided on Verizon mainly because most of my friends and family have it so calling them is free within the network, which means I can get away with a cheaper plan that has less minutes. I was also looking for a phone with a better battery. All of the Nextel phones had bad battery life between charges. The Verizon phones blew the Nextel away in terms of talk and standby minutes. I've been very happy with the service and coverage across the country.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

We have been using Verizon for quite a few years (before it was even Verizon). Overall, we are happy with the service.

Their customer service is excellent. We have had some billing problems, and customer service errors regarding changing our phone service, and when I've called about the errors they have all been corrected in a timely fashion.

My best pilot friend has Sprint, and he's happy with them.

When I was first looking at national coverage, only ATT, Verizon and Sprint had coverage for us here in GRB, so I didn't look closely at the others.

My company has a large account with Verizon, which gives us 12% off of their basic service. We have 3 phones tied into one account, using a pool of minutes.

Good luck!

Cliff
GRB

 

[91100 100 set]

I've had great luck with Verizon for over 3 years now. Never had a problem with coverage, except early on in the city of Ithica, NY. I understand that the locals were resistant to towers in their area. I can remember one overnight, wandering around the hotel parking lot, trying to get a signal long enough to complete a quick call back in '02. But eventually a tower was installed and the problem was gone. Another time, the battery on my phone freaked out and wouldn't last more than 45 minutes on a full charge. They replaced the battery no questions asked for free. I've never had any surprises on my bill, save for the one time when I didn't read the fine print regarding roaming in Canada (not free), but that was my mistake, and the Verizon people were very nice about it. Overall, no problems, and I'll renew with them next year for my 3rd contract.