Cell Phone providers...

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Texas
#1
ight - i am off to college in texas in audust, and a cell phone is a nice handy device. i'd like one now, but i dont have to get one. Verizon has the best coverage, but everyone that i talkt to that has it says they hate their service and will cancel at the end of the contract. Att is not an option, its obvious there management has been sleeping the last decade. Nextel, T-mobile, Sprint...???? anyone else thats any good? i'd like the best coverage, since i will be flying a lot, out of state (aeronautical major). and it will be a national plan. i know basically every company sucks to a point, but how do you guys like your providers? also, i dont hate flip phones, but they bug me a little...and thats basically all verizon offers, besides a few kyocera crap phones.
 

epj3

Senior Member
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Lancaster, PA
#2
do NOT go with sprint!!!! AT&T just got bought out by cingular (NO it's not the other way around!! do a google news search and you'll see), and cingular sucks (they have the best plans but the worse service).

You DEFINITELY sound like you should get nextel. They are more oriented towards business. I have to sign people up for nextel at work and it's a bitch, that takes 30 minutes to sign up for, but everyone who owns one says they love it. Plus their newer plans are awesome.

Tmobile is kind of good i guess? I know people with it but i'd still go with nextel.
 

Big Daddy

Senior Member
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PNW (Left) Coast
#3
I have had two At&t phones now for over five years and have had no porblems with service any where. I have traveled from California, to Alasksa, Idaho, Nevada. Washington, Flordia and Nebraska. Yes Cingular purchased them, but I have checked and nothing is changing. When I have had to contact customer service they have resolved my problem quickly and to my satisfaction.

I preferred Nextal, but outside major cities they have poor or no service.
 
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Location
Dallas TX, Kennesaw, GA
#4
I liked Bell Atlantic a lot when I was in the East. I think they are now Verizon along with a number of others.

I have also had AT&T for about 6 years and just changed to Verizon only because Verizon has a slight edge in the LOCAL MARKET for coverage area. Other than the fact than my wife can now call from her office in a new area, I have noticed no other differences between Verizon and AT&T in terms of the wider regions.

My mother-in-law has Nextel here in the same local area and would never change. I guess there are so many factors unique to each user and area that an overall best may be difficult to determine.
 
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Location
Wayzata, MN
#5
I am on ATT GSM national plan, and its ok..... but their national plan is for major cities only, so sometimes when i get far away from MSP, it switches to a roaming network (actually T-Mobiles network) so i had to adjust my phone so it selects a network manually, and not automatically.
 

Big Daddy

Senior Member
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#7
Hey Dan, I have the ATT Regional Advantage plan, no roaming, no long distance anywhere. I get free nights & weekends as well. I have had very little "dead areas" even while driving in rural Idaho.
 
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Wayzata, MN
#8
regional advantage?!?!? that sounds sweet. i have 500anytime and free nights and weekends, my dead areas are low, but like i said if i am x-miles away from a major city, i go into roaming.
 
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Location
Texas
#9
well....i just went for it...nextel. the guy gave me a free car charger..and he screwed up big too. he sold everything to me a two year agreement prices, but when i had to confirm with nextel on the phone my information....she told me one year!!! so i got a phone for $50 off, a free charger....and i am only comitted for a year, plus my activation was cheaper too i think. lol, i was sooooo happy.
 
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Location
Texas
#10
epj3 - so you can like...give me EXTRA's??? cuz i MIGHT have a complaint, and of course you dont want to lose my business right??? lol, jk.

i do have a question though...i should have thought of this while i was buying the thing...my sister lives in upsate new york, where nextel doesnt provide service, and she has verizon, if i call her...do i get charged long distance or any other fee? also, how much is text messaging? thx man.
 
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Location
Winston Salem, NC
#11
Well, I see that you got the Nextel, but I have Verizon and love it. I've never had any problems, and I've never not had service no matter where I've gone. I've got the America's Choice national plan with 400 anytime minutes, unlimited in network call time to another verizon phone (my girlfriend also has verizon), and unlimited nights and weekends for $40 a month. It's been great, and provided things don't change, I will definitely keep the service after my contract runs out.
 
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Location
Houston, Texas
#13
Verizon all the way in Texas..........I have had them for 10 years now (yes, previously GTE)........always good, when I was having problems a couple of years ago I got a techie in North Carolina and now I have his private number to take care of any problems..........my price is 3000 minutes weekday and 3000 minute weekends for $240.00 nationwide coverage........I think that is pretty good........where are you staying in Texas when you start college??
 
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Location
Reading,PA
#14
Our company provides cell phones for employees who travel regularly. Most of our engineers travel 8 - 20 weeks a year. We started with AT&T 4 or 5 years ago on the Nationwide One Rate plan. Coverage (TDMA) has been very good, including in remote areas in Arizona and New Mexico. I got a GSM phone a year ago because I do some international travel. AT&T GSM is not as wide coverage in the US BUT if you get a TRIBAND phone (i.e. Siemens S46) you get it all - TDMA, US and International GSM. This has worked very well for me. I can't really say anything bad at all about AT&T.

Recently, a couple of guys jumped to Cingular, mainly because they wanted a specific phone not provided by AT&T. They are bitching about the coverage.... [rofl]
 
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Location
Lincoln, CA
#15
I'm going with Verizon next. Nextel is still under consideration tho. My experience with Sprint was ok, but nothing special enough to avoid the first two.

AT&T, Cingular, and T-Mobile are all the same around here. Basically, they all suck in terms of service. That's for pretty much all of California. I stayed for extended periods of time in SoCal, all of the Bay Area, Sacramento/San Joaquin Valley, and visited San Diego occasionally. I think the only spots I missed were Fresno/Central Cali and the extreme northern parts of CA. All 3 sucked. It's just that they suck in different areas. On street will be dead for one company and another street will be dead for another company. Very retarded.

I must say, T-Mobile has the best customer service BY FAR tho. But their service still sucks. Cingular and T-Mobile plans are pretty good. AT&T is easily the worst company far and away. They have crappy service like the other two, but their plans and cell phones are more expensive/older AND their customer service is easily the worst out of all cell phone companies. Waste of money for Cingular to have bought them. SHoulda just let AT&T go bankrupt and trial and steal customers that way.
 


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