BoltedDown

I've got AT&T and am planning to switch to someone else... but i'm not too sure who yet. This thread has been helpful in my search. I called AT&T to find out when my contract ended, and the lady offered me new plans. This didn't suprise me, but I declined. She called back and left messages two or three times after this. Scarry...

BigGov

I have had US Cellular for as long as I've had a cell phone (Nokia 8265 I believe, recently switched to a LG VX6000), and the coverage in Wisconsin is about the best there is out there. I've never had a problem with dropped calls, poor reception, anything, where as my friends who have Alltel, Cingular, etc. have had numerous problems.

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One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!"

tellumFS

I was using Qwest for a few years (they used the Sprint network), but I've switched to AT&T's GSM service. No roaming and not getting locked into a new contract if I upgrade the phone is awesome. The coverage has been good here in Minnesota, and the plan I got on is very reasonable.

lpj8

I have Verizon. It seems to work very well in my service area. They sometimes screw up my bill though, but they are usually helpful when I call them. They always straighen it out. I have an LG vx6100, which is a pretty solid phone. Has a lot of features, and it gets good reception.

Jimellow

I recently signed up with Verizon and have no complaints so far.

I went for a hike in a state park, and was able to make a call with no trouble, despite the "bars" showing next, to no, reception.

The bars mean very little overall, but AT&T would have one thinking otherwise. For instance, I'll take 3 solid reliable bars, over full bars on an unreliable provider/phone.

OQwerty1

I've had Cingular for about 2 years now, and in New Jersey, their reception is seconded only to Sprint. But Sprint plans are usually more expensive, and Cingular is still just as good.

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Awu

I'm on a Cingular plan with 600 anytime and 5000 night/weekend for $40 a month

FngKestrel

This is a great thread. I'm looking to get a cell phone as well. The irony being that I work at a cell phone game company but I don't own a cell phone.

LIMilf

I have T-Mobile. I have 1000 minutes, free nights, weekends, roaming, long distance for 39.99. Best value I can find. The only drawback is that in very rural areas, it might be hard to get service.

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braisler

I am an outsider to the cell phone community. I have one, but I rarely use it. So rarely that it didn't make sense for me to get a monthly plan. I was waiting and waiting for someone to come up with a real, working pay-as-you-go plan. A few years ago, all that was being offered was basically month to month contract service at the same price as regular service or higher. They called it pay-as-you-go, but I referred to it as the cell phone plan for those with bad credit.

Fast forward to just over a year ago... Finally, Virgin Mobile offers a plan where you buy a phone, you buy some minutes for that phone and they don't go away from month to month. I bought the Audiovox 8500 which is a tiny little flip style phone. The only requirement to retain service is that you have to buy $20 worth of time every 3 months. The minutes "cost" $.25 for the first 10 minutes in any given day, then $.10 after that. No long distance, roaming, extra charges ever. Like I said, I rarely use the phone. It is just there for occasional convenience and emergencies. I basically pay $80/year for my cell phone package. I like that a lot better than some of my friends who are spending $600/year for their cell phone service. Yeah! Virgin Mobile finally gave me the solution I was wanting.

The service areas are just fine, though admittedly I don't try to use it all that much in outlying areas.

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You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
- Albert Einstein
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LoganSnake

Cingular here. I don't know if it is my phone (came free) or the providor, but my phone doesn't work very well in large buildings (stores, warehouse where I work). Other than that, it sometimes gets a better reception than my cousin's Verizon enabled phone.

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biznatch

im with cingular, on a *cough* Siemens A56 *cough*
the phone is a piece of crap with tape all over it or else if falls in pieces.
the service sucks.

Ishmal

well i'm in Australia and have neva heard of any of those providers... I'm with Telstra and my fone is a Moterola E365... pretty good coverage and i hav no complaints about the fone either.

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phyzix525

I work for Sprint, and I have heard of 5pm nights starting sometime. not sure what markets, but it should be an option soon. as for the customer service, yeah its not that great, but I am a data support tech. I like ATT personally. I have a nice plan that gives me everything I need and more and its less then what I can get anywhere else. I have been with them for 4 years. The only thing I would say that I don't like about them is the voice operated customer service answering system they have. Its such a pain in the ass.
If you are just looking for a company thats good at just phone calls then pick verison, if you want customer service you go with Tmobile, if you want the best of the data networks, then go with sprint, if you want the best deal then go with cingular/att cause all your calls to another C/A customer is free and there are like 47million of them.

good luck

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It's hard to remember we're alive for the last time
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It's hard to remember when it takes such a long time

dman2

I don't have a cellphone but my wife does. I had one with work that was being paid for. It was thru Verizon. I got good reception except for my house. I must live in a Verizon dead zone. My wife has T-mobile and she gets very good reception. I can now live without a cellphone as it gives me time away from people constantly calling me as they do at work. After I leave work, I don't want to have a constant leash on that people can call on me to do things for them. I am not selfish, just don't like to be bothered with nonsense calls that run out my minutes. Oh by the way, I no longer have my work provided cellphone because they were trying to cut back on expenses. Oh well, I still have a free laptop and now will ensure a bigger bonus due in part to the cellphone cutback.

I will quit rambling now.

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RallyEX

I have AT&T/Cingular, and I do not get service at home due to a rural anomoly. I live behind a hill and am surrounded by trees... it is upsetting that the tower is far enough away that I cannot get service, however I cannot complain about their service everywhere else as it has been most excellent. I have GSM service, by the way.

I have been thinking about switching to verizon, sprint, or alltel as they have a tower closer to my home that I know receives service inside my house as I've had visitors with their service that get perfect reception in my home. However, I am a bit hesitant as I have a contract with AT&T still and am not sure about coverage with other companies.

heccubusiv

verizon, there customer services is rated the best, and my plan is only 49.99 for 400 minutes and unlimited nights and weekends, and i have all in so all verizon calls are free

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Fuck Ohio

MiSo

ATT only because i liked the plan. $35 a month, free long distance, free nights and weekends, 400 day minutes.
i dont use my phone much so it works for me.

angeltek

what is the point of using your cell phone at hoime when you have a land line phone though?

ARTelevision

The girls and I are on Cingular. I have a Samsung something or other flip-phone and they have LG flip-phones. I don't like mine because it's complicated and does 100 things and I only need 3 or 4. The girls' LGs are simpler and better IMO.

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create evolution

dylanmarsh

I have T-Mobile. Things were really cool with us until last week. I had racked up some overage charges and only paid half the bill which was due November 22nd. On November 29th, I got a suspension notice if I didn't pay the account in full within three days and then I was getting customer service calls everyday until I paid it in full. I'll be leaving them as soon as the contract is up. I could see them flipping out over $300 or if I hadn't made any payment prior, but this harassment crap is just that, crap.

alpo

I'm with Cingular in the Washington, D.C. area. I'm not thilled with the coverage area as there are a lot of areas where I drop signal for about 1 block and can't reconnect unless I hang up, and re-call the person I was talking to. I really like that I can roll-over my unused minutes from month to month. Because of that, I haven't ever come close to going over my monthly minutes.

Jeff

You're such an old man, Art.

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--Charles Bukowski

flat5

Dixie cup and string.

I'm in Holland. Nokia 3310 and Vodaphone. Buy time cards, no monthly cost.

Phone is great for what it does.

shadowalker

Been using Nextel for about a week now and i cannot see how i did not switch a long time ago. Direct connect is the best thing to come out in the cell phone market sence the hand held phone.

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I'll make ya famous!

robertjtucker

I use Verizon, I love the service as far as being able to get calls or make calls about anywhere, don't like how they cripple the phones.

frankx

Cingular. I have been using them for the last 2 years since being screwed over royally by Sprint. I am currently using the Samsung x427m and am very happy with both phone and provider.

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MageB420666

I'm with Sprint on a Samsung SPH-A500 phone. Sprint has some pretty good coverage where I'm at, but my phone does some fucked up shit every once in a while. It will say I've got a pretty good signal, but it won't connect when I try to make a call, plus when someone calls me, they'll hear the little ringing sound on their end and eventually get my voice mail, but my phone won't ring at all and won't acknowledge any new voicemails until I restart it.

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macmanmike6100

Verizon has been pretty good to me customer service-wise, but their coverage is still far from perfect (even though it's been quoted to be the most reliable) and they love to get you on $1.25 for 4-1-1 and $.75 per minute of out-of-plan minutes.

BabySealClubber

I'm with US Cellular, I like their service, but I am looking into a national plan. Only problem is, national with them still has roaming in a lot of areas, anyone have a national plan that they can reccomend?

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cyrnel

Verizon, for 3 years. Currently using an LG VX4400. The coverage is very good but you have to watch their billing. We've had numerous mistakes on a multi-phone contract.

Changing plans or features can also be a nightmare. (probably made worse by the shared plan) Every time we've added or changed something on one phone they've updated plans on phones that shouldn't have changed, morphing to a new, less desirable or more expensive set of features. Their shared billing isn't what I'd call elegant. The mistakes can be very tough to unwind without extended escalations through their support structure.

My portion of the contract time is up next month up so I'm just starting to shop for the best Treo option. I will consider Verizon, not because they're stellar but because their coverage is good and none of the other providers I've used were much better.

thriolith

I'm wth Bell Mobility here.

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- Thriolith

NeoSparky

I'm currently with both T-Mobile and Verizon. I've had serivce with just about every provider tho.

I used to sell voicestream phones in alburquerque and had one of the old nokia ones. I never had a problem with voicestream other than the only area the phone worked was in albuquerque.



I switched to MCIWorldCom when I moved here, that was a mistake. I had free weekend minutes, someone had forgot to put that in the billing (tho it was on my reciept) and I used my phone exclusivly on the weekends for an entire month and got a 900 dollar phone bill. It took them close to 6 months to remove the charge, for 6 months I had to deduct manually what I owed and send only that much in. I didn't have 900 bucks in liquid assets at the time.

Sprint I had for about 5 years. The first 4 years or so were awesome, never had a problem. I started with a motorola star-tac phone. The customer service was always there to help, setting up the auto-pay was quick and painless. Then I upgraded my phone to a samsung N400. I was attracted by the new LCD Screen and a speakerphone. I didn't have to many problems, but on occasion the phone would lock up (wonder if Microsoft programed it).. They ended up replaceing that phone with an A400 or A350 or something. It was a decent phone but not quite what I wanted. Customer service at the store wouldn't let me exchange for any other phone even if I paid the diffrence. When I called them up they said sure we can upgrade your phone, just go down to the store. Then I started having problems with the auto-pay. For some reason their system couldn't pull the money out and they never notified me. instead they shut my phone off and charged me late fee's upon late fee's. after 6 months of "yes it's setup correctly this time and it wont happen again" every month i got tired of it and got out of the contract and went to t-mobile.

t-mobile has been the worst company i've dealt with. I've had my phone for a little over 6 months (motorola V300) I get close to 30 dropps calls a month with it. When I call t-mobile on it they gave me a 10 dollar credit the first time. Every time after that I called they tell me that the dropped call credit is a once per lifetime credit and as such i'm not allowed to have any more credits. Now, had I been asking for credits that might be a big deal, all I wanted was to not have so many dropped calls. I had my phone replaced 3 times, and now they want to charge me 70 bucks to have another refrebished one sent out to see if maybe my phone is damanged. (the phone is brand new) so now I'm riding the rest of the contract out (since they wont release me from it due to horrible CS and an unexceptable amount of droppped calls) until june. I've since switched to verizon.

I've had verizon for a little over a month and love the service so far. no dropped calls. The plan i'm on is a little confusing (I'm used to sprint.. nation-wide no roaming, no long distance) but I got a killer deal on the phone. I have an LG7000 that I got for 50 bucks.

Hardknock

I just dumped AT&T/Cingular for Tmobile. I travel all the time for work and I gained coverage in a few cities where AT&T/CIngular had little or none. Happy with Tmibole so far and you do get more minutes with their plans that you do with most others.

punx1325

I have Cingular, and I am absolutely thrilled with my service and customer support. As long as I don't run into an ex-AT&T rep I don't have any problems (no offense to those that are ex-AT&T reps) but any negitive cell phone experience I have had was from an AT&T rep.

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Crisis

I'm with Telus. Best provider in Ontario. I just got a LG3200 Pay As You Go plan because I don't want to be stuck in a contract with a student budget.

FngKestrel

I finally went with T-mobile and get signal in lots of places...but not at home. Go figure.

Main reason for T-mobile: 3 of my good friends are on T-mobile and I got the unlimited mobile to mobile calling. 3-day weekend plan is pimp too.

DHS

Sprint for work and Nextel for personal...

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Delirious

I dumped Sprint which I had for 5 years for Cingular and I'm loving it.. The signal is alot better... It all boils down to what region you are in though.. I live on Long Island and it seems Cingular has the best coverage for the island, but if you go into Manhattan Verizon has better coverage.. The phone I'm using is a Nokia 6230 which is amazing IMO.. You can get it for -$25 from buy.com...

Charlatan

I am on Rogers wireless (GSM) with a Treo 600...

I have the $40 plan that gives me 150 daytime minutes and unlimited weekends and evenings... I'm also on the family plan where my wife and I share these hours over our two phones and have 2500 minutes between our two phones...

I also have a data plan on my phone that gives me 50 MB of transfer plus a pile of text messages...

It is a pretty good plan but I have to say roaming in Europe and Asia can get expensive... thankfully my office pays for that... If they weren't I'd just unlock the phone and buy a local chip...

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