On Sun, 07 Jan 2007 12:22:06 -0800, Malathan <malathan@comcast.net>
wrote:

>Wanting feedback from those who switched from Cingular to Verizon and
>your experiences regarding the two companies.

I left Cingular in 2002 for VZW. I married my wife in 2004. She and
her daughter were on Cingular until this summer (they were on a long
term contract).

They hated "Stinkular" so much that they paid the $300 ETF just to
join VZW. I had an individual account (my contract had run out) and
now all three are under my account on a family plan.

Getting them switched over, including porting their numbers, was a
quick and painless process. (I was lucky - I went to a corporate store
and the assistant manager happend to wait on us).

Overall we are impressed with them. The step daughter's phone went
dead and they exchanged it for a reconditioned one at the store. If we
were to do that with Stinkular, they would have told us to call some
800 number, wait on hold for an hour, and then get one sent in the
mail, and to send the old one back (my wife did this twice with
Stinkular). With VZW, it again was painless.

Some have complained about customer service with VZW. I have only good
things to say about them, and only bad things to say about Stinkular.

Heck - VZW's corporate store in my town has had Sunday hours for
several years. Only recently did Stinkular get a clue and decide to
get Sunday hours at their store.

>I am a cingular customer who is tired of their cr@p and am looking at
>switching to Verizon. Unfortunately in switching (either to Verizon
>or renewing contract with Cingular), I will lose my 7pm evenings and
>lose 200 minutes (family plan). I am an AT&T grandfathed customer.

That is a disadvantage, but well worth losing the 7 PM evenings.
Hopefully your friends have VZW and you can use IN minutes (in
network, cell to cell), which is free.

>If I renew with Cingular, I will get rollover minutes, which will
>offset the lost minutes and calling time. Verizon doesn't have that.

Cingular uses rollover because its a gimick to keep you as a customer
on a crappy network.

>Currently I have a Sony Ericson 637 phone (both family lines) and have
>notices over past 6 months to get increasingly dropped calls and
>static when calling between them. The phones, while over 2 years old,
>support blue tooth. I recently got a headset and find I get static on
>it quite a bit. I suspect the phone is the primary culprit, but also
>believe a lot of the dropped calls, voice echos, and static are due to
>Cingular as well.

Its the network causing the dropped calls. I RARELY have dropped calls
on VZW. My friends on Stinkular regularly drop their calls, even when
they're at home, the phone is on the table and they're using a
Bluetooth earpiece.

>So for those who have switched from Cingular to Verizon, what is your
>experience? Better/worse call quality? Areas of service that are not
>as strong as Cingular (I am in Portland OR)? Should I bite the bullet
>and stay with Cingular given the lack of promotional offers with
>regards to rollover minutes or early call times with Verizon?

I find that I get better service with VZW. I can use it in more places
than any other service. Where VZW doesn't have native coverage, they
have "Extended Network" partners where you roam for free (though not
all features may work, such as high speed data). But overall you'll be
impressed where you have cell coverage where you didn't before, and
the quality is much better.

Of course, you should ask your friends and co-workers who they think
is the best in your area. I asked about VZW before I switched, and
soooooo glad that I switched.

Of yourse, your mileage may vary.

Dave