Best Cell Provider?

[Lonin]

So I'm in the market for a new cellphone and provider, and I really have no clue as to what providers are considered good and bad. I'm sure it differs depending on where you live (I'm in the northwest), but is there a general consensus along the lines of "X sucks because it drops calls all the time, Y is good because of the rates, Z is nice for whatever reason."

I mainly want a provider that doesn't try and screw me over at every turn, doesn't have ridiculous rates, and has a decent selection of phones. Any help?

[Burkex]

I like Verizon. Granted it is the only cell phone provider I have had, I have never had a problem with them in 10 years I have had a cell phone. If they sucked I would have switched to another carrier by now but I have been very happy with their service. I have lived in Boston, St Louis, Cali, and Florida and never had any issues with their service. When I was in the Bahammas a friend had to use my cell phone to make calls because his Cingular phone did not work. I almost always have service (Not roaming) in the United States, even when I was driving cross country in the boonies in Arizona and Texas. I never really get dropped calls with Verizon and if I do it is ususlly the person on the other line that drops. Their rates are very reasonable and once in a blue moon I might get a charge on my bill that is questionable and I just them and they fix it right away. As for cell phone selection they do not have the iphone but I have a nice LG phone and my brother who also has Verizon has the razor phone. What I also like and I am not sure if all cell phone companies do this but: All my calls to my family/friends are always free and all text messages to anyone who uses a verizon phone are also free. Most of my friends/family use Verizon so it is pretty nice. ALso I do not use the internet on my phone so I am not sure how that is.


BTW, I am not sure about Verizon in the NW because I have never lived there but it is probably the same.

I hope that answers your questions.

[Lonin]

Originally Posted by Burkex

I like Verizon. Granted it is the only cell phone provider I have had, I have never had a problem with them in 10 years I have had a cell phone. If they sucked I would have switched to another carrier by now but I have been very happy with their service. I have lived in Boston, St Louis, Cali, and Florida and never had any issues with their service. When I was in the Bahammas a friend had to use my cell phone to make calls because his Cingular phone did not work. I almost always have service (Not roaming) in the United States, even when I was driving cross country in the boonies in Arizona and Texas. I never really get dropped calls with Verizon and if I do it is ususlly the person on the other line that drops. Their rates are very reasonable and once in a blue moon I might get a charge on my bill that is questionable and I just them and they fix it right away. As for cell phone selection they do not have the iphone but I have a nice LG phone and my brother who also has Verizon has the razor phone. What I also like and I am not sure if all cell phone companies do this but: All my calls to my family/friends are always free and all text messages to anyone who uses a verizon phone are also free. Most of my friends/family use Verizon so it is pretty nice. ALso I do not use the internet on my phone so I am not sure how that is.


I am not sure about Verizon in the NW because I have never lived there.

I hope that answers your questions.

Thansk for the info, I'm actually looking at Verizon right now.

[Burkex]

np. good luck

[Iadien]

Depends on the service in your area. Verizon's service sucks in my area so I use Sprint.

[hamrlik]

A couple years ago i lived in Whidbey Island, and had sprint. It wasnt the best, but it was okay. Moved to Oxnard, CA and switched to Cingular because sprint sucked there. Cingular wasnt much better, and after them screwing with us a bit (double charging months and it taking forever to get refunds...constant dropped calls and poor customer service among other things) we switched back to sprint.

Sprint service improved some but not much. My friend had verizon and his phone worked just about everywhere, and never dropped calls. My phone would get maybe 2 bars standing outside my house...inside you would have to find a bar or 2 and not move the phone from that spot while talking or it would drop out.

My friend moved to Illinois and went out to visit him and his phone would get service out in the middle of nowhere while mine constantly searched for service.

So to summarize: Get Verizon

(I would switch but my phone plan is on the same one as my wife and since she upgraded her phone and service we are both stuck in another 2 year contract. To switch we would both have to pay the 250 or so disconnect fee, plus whatever fees to get new phones and contract with verizon.)

[Morbeas]

<--- Happy Verizon customer. Just wish they had a better phone selection.

[Tavik]

I've been a Cingular/ATT customer for years and it's great here in the Portland area because I get good coverage and nearly all my friends have ATT so I get unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes to the people I talk to the most often. I'd go with the carrier who gets the best coverage in your area, and whoever most of your friends have.

[Lonin]

Originally Posted by Tavik

I've been a Cingular/ATT customer for years and it's great here in the Portland area because I get good coverage and nearly all my friends have ATT so I get unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes to the people I talk to the most often. I'd go with the carrier who gets the best coverage in your area, and whoever most of your friends have.

You in Vancouver as well?

Anyway, looks like I'm gonna go with Verizon. Their coverage area around here doesn't look real great out in the boonies, but I don't go out there, so I don't care. Plus, this ridiculously hot chick I met has Verizon, so free calls/text to her.

P.S. Why the fuck are cell plans so god damned expensive? I can understand paying hundreds of dollars on a phone, they are cool little gadgets, but $40+ a month for basically the cheapest packages, WTF? You can almost lease a Hyundai for that.

[kegkilla]

verizon has good coverage at least in my area however what i despise about them is how they do everything they can to fuck you for more cash. they have just about made it impossible for anyone to put a ringtone on their cell phone without buying it through their piece of shit vzwtunes service which pisses me off beyond belief. i used to be able to make custom ring tones and shit but no more, fucking bastards.

[Ravvenn]

Originally Posted by Lonin

P.S. Why the fuck are cell plans so god damned expensive? I can understand paying hundreds of dollars on a phone, they are cool little gadgets, but $40+ a month for basically the cheapest packages, WTF? You can almost lease a Hyundai for that.

I love T-Mobile. The plan I currently have is 1,500 anytime minutes and free nights and weekends for 50 bucks. Their internet and data plans are great, you can get 1,500 minutes and unlimited data and internet Blackberry plan for 80 bucks. Depending on how much you talk, the 5 faves thing is pretty sweet.

My phone finally kicked shit yesterday so I'm going to get a Blackberry today (Pearl, the others are too fancy for me) which is why I have the best plans fresh in my head.

You save a lot on their phones after you're an established customer. Like if I wanted the 8700g, it's marked at 400 and then I get 150 off, plus a 50 mail-in. But that's with a 2yr contract renew. I like them enough I'd gladly renew forever. You can go to their website and it will show you a coverage map of your entire area along with signal strength in surrounding areas.

I had Cingular prior to using T-Mobile and talked my way out of the contract due to not being able to call anyone anywhere unless I was at work.

[Vorph]

I've used all the majors in various parts of the country and Verizon is where I ended up. They get my glowing review of 'pretty good, for the third-world-like cellular conditions in the USA.' Based on my experiences with the others I don't see myself ever switching again either. It would take one hell of an amazing phone only available on another carrier to even consider it. You know, like an iPhone, except not a piece of shit.

[Faltigoth]

I've been with Sprint for years, and I'm finally getting sick of their asses. I think most of the reason I am still with them is because I am too damn lazy to switch. Plenty of dropped calls, spotty service, lots of billing problems...I've put up with more from Sprint than any person should ever have to put up with, haha, with really nobody to blame but myself for not giving enough of a shit to do something about it.

I've been thinking Verizon or Cingular myself, I'll have to look at Verizon more closely.

[Angerz]

Originally Posted by kegkilla

verizon has good coverage at least in my area however what i despise about them is how they do everything they can to fuck you for more cash. they have just about made it impossible for anyone to put a ringtone on their cell phone without buying it through their piece of shit vzwtunes service which pisses me off beyond belief. i used to be able to make custom ring tones and shit but no more, fucking bastards.

use mobile17.com

free service (can pay to skip ahead in line). takes advantage of the fact that you can make audio messages into ring tones.

You upload an MP3 and pick the range of time you want to play and it sends it to you via audio message. save the audio message as a ringtone.

Takes about 3 hours from upload to sending on a busy day, usually faster. May not work with all phones, but it has a list you can pick from to see if your phone works. Also, if you have newer model of a phone listed on there, it usually works to just pick the previous generation of your model.

And I really like Verizon, as I get very good signal and coverage everywhere I go.

[AtwaKom]

Happy Sprint customer here. I switched over to Verizon for the Motorola Q when it first came out. Spotty coverage and gigantic billing errors. My first bill was $900.00. After that I went back to Sprint and will likely gut it out unless I'm lulled away by some spectacular phone since my only complaint is the lack of decent phones.