What cellular phone service do you have & do you like th

icknay · Post by **icknay** » August 20, 2004, 11:37 pm

I'm thinking about changing and wanted to get some opinions of the different services available. I currently have Nextel and I've been generally happy but there's certain areas that I pass through daily where I just don't get a signal.

Suggestions?

Anuin · Post by **Anuin** » August 21, 2004, 12:16 am

Where do you live? If you're comfortable letting everyone know where you live....

icknay · Post by **icknay** » August 21, 2004, 12:19 am

orlando area. yes we're still here

Talac · Post by **Talac** » August 21, 2004, 12:53 am

yea yea Jackass n stuff

I have AT&T atm and am not happy with the signal at all. Have to go outside of my apt to talk on the phone. My girlfriend and both roomies use Verizon and I hear no complaints from them. They hardly ever lose signal.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 21, 2004, 2:50 am

ROGERS AT&T EXCELLENT PRICE WILL USE AGAIN A+++

the quality of your wireless carrier has very little to do with what kind of reception you get in your area. if you live in a building where you don't get a signal very well then you probably never will, because most carriers in the states have agreements where they can roam on each other's towers. if you aren't getting a signal then turn your fucking phone off and turn it back on again to re-establish the connection to the closest tower, or leave it off and use your home phone. don't buy shit ass motorola phones either. if you buy a motorola phone and claim your carrier is shit then you are a moron.

verizon doesnt let other companies use their towers though, but then you have to pay for an absolutely fucking god awful verizon rate plan.

Anuin · Post by **Anuin** » August 21, 2004, 4:22 am

Towers arent universal, there are different types of cellphone networks, you can only shared roam on towers of the same network type. Its entirely possible you're in a shitty area, or its also possible that you've got a shitty provider. If you have shitty reception, turning the phone on and off to reestablish the network does absolutely nothing, it only seems to make the signal stronger because it takes time for the phone to establish a signal strength with the tower and reports a not so accurate signal reading to start, the strength will last a couple seconds and then become shitty again. Also cellphone companies over estimate their coverage area's by a ton, so be weary.

I've had good experiences with T-Mobile as a provider. Im not sure how its reception is in your area, but I know they do roam with verizon towers. They also have a wide selection of phones so if you want to avoid motorola phones then do so, I did have a screwed up motorola V300 phone, but the handset exchange was painless, and took about 2 days.

Lynnsie · Post by **Lynnsie** » August 21, 2004, 8:14 am

I use Cingular but make sure that no matter what cell company you go with you are prepared to get it in the ass without a reach around...I have been with AT&T, Suncom before they were AT&T, Cellular One and Nextel... and basically they all fuck you. Maybe its cause I use mine too much...but just make sure that you know your coverage area, where your going to travel if any, and if that area is covered. Also would be a good idea to make sure you take a lawyer with you at the time you sign the contract, salespeople lie, so make sure u know what your getting into.
(joking on the lawyer thing, but dont want ya to get stuck with a shitty plan)

Talac · Post by **Talac** » August 21, 2004, 8:32 am

I can sit here at my desk with my lovely at&t and call every number stored in my phone without getting through to a single one... then pick up my gf's and call anyone I want to. at&t sucks~

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » August 21, 2004, 9:39 am

Anuin wrote:If you have shitty reception, turning the phone on and off to reestablish the network does absolutely nothing, it only seems to make the signal stronger because it takes time for the phone to establish a signal strength with the tower and reports a not so accurate signal reading to start, the strength will last a couple seconds and then become shitty again.

don't be a retard. power cycling your phone forces it to pick the closest and best signal in the area you're in. pretty much every wireless phone on the market is incredibly stubborn about handing off to the best available tower and will happily stick to one 5 miles away when there is another one right across the street.

t-mobile lol. you must live right under one of their four cell towers.

Vaemas · Post by **Vaemas** » August 21, 2004, 12:12 pm

Atlanta. SprintPCS. Had them in Chicago too. 4+ years now. I'm stuck with them for another 2 years, but they gave me their firstborn for me to do so.

Drasta · Post by **Drasta** » August 21, 2004, 12:19 pm

Sprint PCS mine works great i have good signal except in my friends apartment .. she must have like lead walls or something ... and in my basement i can drop people other then that its fine except the internet doesn't like me and my phone much

Spankes · Post by **Spankes** » August 21, 2004, 1:07 pm

I have AT&T and it works great. A lot of your signal has to do with your phone I have found. I had a motorola V60 and I dropped calls like crazy. Got a nokia 3560 and drop maybe one call every 3 months.

ooloof · Post by **ooloof** » August 21, 2004, 2:41 pm

Here is the best cell phone forum

http://www.howardforums.com/

post the same question ya asked here the the appropriate carrier forum, location youre in and where you ferquently visit. You will get OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS more responses.

Couple things to remember, cellular coverage and quality differs greatly from area to area, that is the same with all carriers - also, phone RF (reception/antennae) does vary - some are better than others). It seems like that is the only issue youre concerned about by your post. There are other things that you might also want to consider (besides price)
like:
customer service - Tmoble (2 min waits for CSR) has the best and ATT (up to 40 min waits for CSR) has worst, while nextel has no 24/7 CS (limited weekend hours)
MMS services -
WAP connectivity - [/b]

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » August 21, 2004, 3:57 pm

"who is the best" greatly depends on your geographical area. In Houston Sprint PCS blows goats (dropped calls, bad/disappearing voice mail, poor coverage) while in other areas it's the best provider. Me and my gf just switched to T-Mobile and have no complaints, good value in plans, reasonable mobile-to-mobile add-ons and great coverage make it the big W for us.

edit -- with regard to customer service, both of us had to wait over an hour to get through to customer service at Sprint and offers of reduced termination charges were not reflected on our final bills. Meanwhile T-Mobile customer service calls get right through with either no delay or hold time < 1 minute, and plan updates/changes done through customer service are immediately reflected online.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » August 21, 2004, 4:25 pm

Location: Fort Myers, Florida.
Provider: SprintPCS

I am happy with my service. I had service straight through the hurricane without dropping to analogue roaming. CDMA technology is much better than the antiquated GSM standard, but it does depend upon the local coverage a great deal.

Post by **Xouqoa** » August 21, 2004, 4:47 pm

I've had Tmobile for a few years now and have never had a problem with the service in Orlando.

Anuin · Post by **Anuin** » August 21, 2004, 8:03 pm

kyoukan wrote: don't be a retard. power cycling your phone forces it to pick the closest and best signal in the area you're in. pretty much every wireless phone on the market is incredibly stubborn about handing off to the best available tower and will happily stick to one 5 miles away when there is another one right across the street.

Then you must have the most retarded cellphone in the world. If you drive across town you'll notice that your signal changes, that's because your cellphone redesignates towers. If you have shitty reception because of the building you live in, then turning your cellphone on and off wont do anything.

kyoukan wrote:
t-mobile lol. you must live right under one of their four cell towers.

Uh, I travelled across country with my cellphone without losing connection. From New Hampshire to California, and never lost connection except for brief periods in the mountains, and last I checked Orlando doesnt have mountains.

Xouqoa wrote:I've had Tmobile for a few years now and have never had a problem with the service in Orlando.

So those must be the most powerful "four cell towers" in the world.

icknay · Post by **icknay** » August 21, 2004, 10:30 pm

Thanks for all the replies. And yes Orlando has mountains...SPACE mountain, SPLASH mountain...both pretty cool cept for the long line in the hot sun hehe.

Ooloof I'll check those forums, thanks for positng that.

I use my phone a lot...1k+ min per month. I travel the southeast but not continually...only 2-3 trips per year. I'm not picky but since I tend to use the phone to and from work I need service in my part of town. I've been with them for about 5 years and I've had my phone changed out (no charge, hassle free exchange program) 3 or 4 times for other problems but the signal thing has been a constant pain. The local Nextel store has such great service that I'm genuinely reluctant to change...and it ain't like me to praise someones customer service unless it really rocks.

I'll do some local research, I suppose.

Thanks again, all