I have been on Verizon for about 4 years. I have never had problems
with coverage or dropped calls. I have only had to deal with customer
service about 4 times during that time. Each time of course I was lied
to that changing my plan would not extend my contract(But I personally
do not judge a carrier by customer service----every company will
employ some jerks who don't give a shit).
The reason I am considering switching is half my friends and family
are on Cingular, the other half on Sprint. So I have to get a hefty
plan for all those minutes. I would like to at least get M2M with half
of them.
My primary, or only concern I should say, is coverage. I very rarely
travel to "rural" areas. I live in Atlanta, but whenever I travel
outside it is usually to another major city. Occasionally I travel up
and down the PCH.
So am I looking for trouble wanting to switch to either Sprint or
Cingular? I was only Sprint many, many years ago when they only
offered "metro" coverage. I have no idea what they offer now. I was
ATT customer for a year, and a Cingular customer for a year as well.
It seems I remember Cingular having bad voice quality, but again this
was years ago.
On 25 Feb 2007 19:04:14 -0800, "planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote:
>I have been on Verizon for about 4 years. I have never had problems
>with coverage or dropped calls. I have only had to deal with customer
>service about 4 times during that time. Each time of course I was lied
>to that changing my plan would not extend my contract(But I personally
>do not judge a carrier by customer service----every company will
>employ some jerks who don't give a shit).
>
>The reason I am considering switching is half my friends and family
>are on Cingular, the other half on Sprint. So I have to get a hefty
>plan for all those minutes. I would like to at least get M2M with half
>of them.
>
>My primary, or only concern I should say, is coverage. I very rarely
>travel to "rural" areas. I live in Atlanta, but whenever I travel
>outside it is usually to another major city. Occasionally I travel up
>and down the PCH.
>
>So am I looking for trouble wanting to switch to either Sprint or
>Cingular? I was only Sprint many, many years ago when they only
>offered "metro" coverage. I have no idea what they offer now. I was
>ATT customer for a year, and a Cingular customer for a year as well.
>It seems I remember Cingular having bad voice quality, but again this
>was years ago.
>
>So I am fishing for any comments.
Have you considered Alltel? You could put 10 of those friends and/or
family in your "circle" and calls to and from those numbers would
always be free. That'll keep you on a CDMA network with the potential
to roam on Sprint or VZW in areas where there is no native Alltel
signal.
I only recently heard of Alltel via some commercials. Have they always
been around? Honestly I have never heard of them. How is their
reliability and coverage?
> Have you considered Alltel? You could put 10 of those friends and/or
> family in your "circle" and calls to and from those numbers would
> always be free. That'll keep you on a CDMA network with the potential
> to roam on Sprint or VZW in areas where there is no native Alltel
> signal.
"planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1172461166.743658.242840@z35g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
>I only recently heard of Alltel via some commercials. Have they always
> been around? Honestly I have never heard of them. How is their
> reliability and coverage?
>
>> Have you considered Alltel? You could put 10 of those friends and/or
>> family in your "circle" and calls to and from those numbers would
>> always be free. That'll keep you on a CDMA network with the potential
>> to roam on Sprint or VZW in areas where there is no native Alltel
>> signal.
>
>
On 25 Feb 2007 19:39:26 -0800, "planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote:
>I only recently heard of Alltel via some commercials. Have they always
>been around? Honestly I have never heard of them. How is their
>reliability and coverage?
I've been with them since 11/2005, after having been a VZW/BANM/BAM
customer for over 10 years. I left VZW due to their sorry selection
of phones. I've been completely happy with them thus far. I've found
their service to be on par with VZW in this area (upstate SC).
I'm thinking about dropping cellular completely.
It's relatively expensive, and somewhat unavailable
in remote areas where one might need it. I really
don't know if talking on cell phones causes more
automobile accidents, but I'm frequently saving my
life by being alert where females are driving with
an arm wrapped around the steering wheels of their
Escalades, one hand with a cigarette and clutching
their phone with the other and talking away. True,
some guys do too, but with less frequency.
We have 4 lines (used to be 5) on Vzw and one on Cing now AT&T. I am
personally quite happy with Cing. COverage is about the same (except a
little weak at my house), call quality is as good to way better, they don't
drop (REALLY) every 5 minutes like VZW does (with ALL my phones BTW), and
customer service is outstanding (at least so far almost a year) although I
have not needed them for much. The only complaint is not with Cingular but
Motorola. The Razor is not a very friendly phone especially for a girl (like
my kid) who has small hands and a small roundish face. Otherwise very good.
And it's pretty much world wide compatible. Rates are quite good also.
Especially International LD which is almost as cheap as my Vonage VOIP
calls. We are soon going to be all Cingular
"planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1172459054.752143.179290@z35g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
>I have been on Verizon for about 4 years. I have never had problems
> with coverage or dropped calls. I have only had to deal with customer
> service about 4 times during that time. Each time of course I was lied
> to that changing my plan would not extend my contract(But I personally
> do not judge a carrier by customer service----every company will
> employ some jerks who don't give a shit).
>
> The reason I am considering switching is half my friends and family
> are on Cingular, the other half on Sprint. So I have to get a hefty
> plan for all those minutes. I would like to at least get M2M with half
> of them.
>
> My primary, or only concern I should say, is coverage. I very rarely
> travel to "rural" areas. I live in Atlanta, but whenever I travel
> outside it is usually to another major city. Occasionally I travel up
> and down the PCH.
>
> So am I looking for trouble wanting to switch to either Sprint or
> Cingular? I was only Sprint many, many years ago when they only
> offered "metro" coverage. I have no idea what they offer now. I was
> ATT customer for a year, and a Cingular customer for a year as well.
> It seems I remember Cingular having bad voice quality, but again this
> was years ago.
>
> So I am fishing for any comments.
>
"planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote in news:1172459054.752143.179290
@z35g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:
> The reason I am considering switching is half my friends and family
> are on Cingular, the other half on Sprint. So I have to get a hefty
> plan for all those minutes. I would like to at least get M2M with half
> of them.
>
>
Too bad Alltel doesn't cover Atlanta. You could get a My Circle that
covers 10 number on ANY system, phone or cellular, 24/7 with no funny
business. That would allow you to cover them all with no airtime charges.
Verizon can't buy Alltel in SC. Verizon is on A-800, Alltel is the B-800
carrier. FCC won't permit it. I can see Verizon would be hot to buy
Alltel for its western Florida 800 spectrum where VZW only has some little
1900 Mhz PCS carriers, not to mention in the Southwest.
> Verizon can't buy Alltel in SC. Verizon is on A-800, Alltel is the B-
800
> carrier. FCC won't permit it.
Sadly, while true years ago, that probably wouldn't stop the dal today!
IIRC, when Cingular consumed AT&T Wireless, they were able to retain both
A&B licenses in a few markets.
Besides, even if they couldn't have both, the FCC could allow a "buy first,
divest later" merger giving them a reasonable amount of time to sell the
duplicate licenses.
Barring other options, you would be almost equally satisfied with Sprint or
Cingular. Since Sprint roams mostly on Alltel and Verizon, your experience
w/Sprint would be very much like using Verizon in that they roam on each
other.
With Cingular you will be dealing with a whole new set of cell sites and
roaming partners. It could be better or worse, but what could be "better"
than never dropping a call? So, the odds are in your favor if you try
Sprint. Alltel does not serve Atlanta.
Of course, the Sprint site nearest your home may be weak, so could you
invite over one of your Sprint relatives to try it?
Another alternative is T-mobile. Their Atlanta (and roaming) coverage is
good and they allow 5 callers from any network in their "Favs" plan for free
calling. If I were to leave Verizon today it would be to go to T-mobile.
All of these carriers serve the PCH adequately. You get a 2-week tryout
with any of these carriers. Do it right and you'll be satisfied for a long
time.
My Verizon phone works in locations that my previous Cingular PCS phone
would not.
"Bill Radio" <wireless@mountainwirelessNOOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:45e30d26$0$16286$88260bb3@free.teranews.com.. .
> Barring other options, you would be almost equally satisfied with Sprint
> or Cingular. Since Sprint roams mostly on Alltel and Verizon, your
> experience w/Sprint would be very much like using Verizon in that they
> roam on each other.
>
> With Cingular you will be dealing with a whole new set of cell sites and
> roaming partners. It could be better or worse, but what could be "better"
> than never dropping a call? So, the odds are in your favor if you try
> Sprint. Alltel does not serve Atlanta.
>
> Of course, the Sprint site nearest your home may be weak, so could you
> invite over one of your Sprint relatives to try it?
>
> Another alternative is T-mobile. Their Atlanta (and roaming) coverage is
> good and they allow 5 callers from any network in their "Favs" plan for
> free calling. If I were to leave Verizon today it would be to go to
> T-mobile.
>
> All of these carriers serve the PCH adequately. You get a 2-week tryout
> with any of these carriers. Do it right and you'll be satisfied for a
> long time.
>
>
> -Bill Radio
> -U.S. Cellular Reviews and News at:
> http://www.mountainwireless.com
>
>
>
>
>
> "planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1172459054.752143.179290@z35g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
>
>>
>> So I am fishing for any comments.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
>
In article <Xns98E358E08965Anoonehomecom@208.49.80.253>, Larry wrote:
> Too bad Alltel doesn't cover Atlanta. You could get a My Circle that
> covers 10 number on ANY system, phone or cellular, 24/7 with no funny
> business. That would allow you to cover them all with no airtime charges.
T-Mo is in Atlanta. My Faves only allows five "faves" but other than
that it's the same concept as My Circle. You may want to check their
website for coverage... their maps are actually supposed to be pretty
accurate.
--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows
Victorville, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED
It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room.
On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:50:57 -0500, Larry <noone@home.com> wrote:
>Verizon can't buy Alltel in SC. Verizon is on A-800, Alltel is the B-800
>carrier. FCC won't permit it. I can see Verizon would be hot to buy
>Alltel for its western Florida 800 spectrum where VZW only has some little
>1900 Mhz PCS carriers, not to mention in the Southwest.
Doesn't matter anymore.
In Florida, AT&T Wireless and Cingular were on the A and B bands. Now
its just Cingular.
On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:20:59 +0000 (UTC), "Steven J. Sobol"
<sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:
>T-Mo is in Atlanta. My Faves only allows five "faves" but other than
>that it's the same concept as My Circle. You may want to check their
>website for coverage... their maps are actually supposed to be pretty
>accurate.
"planetx" <planetx@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1172459054.752143.179290@z35g2000cwz.googlegr oups.com...
>I have been on Verizon for about 4 years. I have never had problems
> with coverage or dropped calls. I have only had to deal with customer
> service about 4 times during that time. Each time of course I was lied
> to that changing my plan would not extend my contract(But I personally
> do not judge a carrier by customer service----every company will
> employ some jerks who don't give a shit).
>
> The reason I am considering switching is half my friends and family
> are on Cingular, the other half on Sprint. So I have to get a hefty
> plan for all those minutes. I would like to at least get M2M with half
> of them.
>
> My primary, or only concern I should say, is coverage. I very rarely
> travel to "rural" areas. I live in Atlanta, but whenever I travel
> outside it is usually to another major city. Occasionally I travel up
> and down the PCH.
>
> So am I looking for trouble wanting to switch to either Sprint or
> Cingular? I was only Sprint many, many years ago when they only
> offered "metro" coverage. I have no idea what they offer now. I was
> ATT customer for a year, and a Cingular customer for a year as well.
> It seems I remember Cingular having bad voice quality, but again this
> was years ago.
>
> So I am fishing for any comments.
>
John McDonald wrote:
> As far as dropped calls, if you are on the Sprint CDMA network, you may be
> surprised. Here is some research on drop call rates...
> http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...8/1008/allnews
>
>
But their methodology might actually make a bad network look better:
" The company defined a dropped or “duplicate” call as “a call from a
cellular device to another wireless device or landline placed within two
minutes of a prior call to the same destination, with no call between.” "
The carriers log actual call drops. Wouldn't it make more sense to look
at those numbers?
The research was done the same with all carriers. What ever margin of error
there is, it is across the board.
"George" <george@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:d5ednY9_3MRetXnYnZ2dnUVZ_u2mnZ2d@adelphia.com ...
> John McDonald wrote:
>> As far as dropped calls, if you are on the Sprint CDMA network, you may
>> be surprised. Here is some research on drop call rates...
>> http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...8/1008/allnews
>>
>>
>
> But their methodology might actually make a bad network look better:
>
> " The company defined a dropped or “duplicate” call as “a call from a
> cellular device to another wireless device or landline placed within two
> minutes of a prior call to the same destination, with no call between.” "
>
>
> The carriers log actual call drops. Wouldn't it make more sense to look at
> those numbers?
Diamond Dave <dmine45.NOSPAM@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:h4u6u2tmp507m973l9medl5h9oppua3upj@4ax.com:
> In Florida, AT&T Wireless and Cingular were on the A and B bands. Now
> its just Cingular.
>
>
I've sent an email to the FCC to ask about this problem and its current
regulatory status. Thanks for the information. If any of them can control
an area, we are all DOOMED to be enslaved if we want service....Verizon or
otherwise. That's not what the original A/B plan was all
about.....monopolies.
Larry
--
I have a new strategy to protect the Mexican border. From the border
to inside the USA, 1 mile, we turn it into our OPEN PIT nuclear
waste dump, turning it into a no-mans-land for tens of thousands
of years. Anyone attempting to cross will simply be eaten alive
by neutrons! Problem solved!
> I've sent an email to the FCC to ask about this problem and its current
> regulatory status. Thanks for the information. If any of them can
control
> an area, we are all DOOMED to be enslaved if we want service....Verizon
or
> otherwise. That's not what the original A/B plan was all
> about.....monopolies.
While I agree to a point, that was back when there was only 800MHz service,
and only two cellular licenses available- A&B. Today there are the two
800MHz licenses and six 1900MHz licenses available. (Plus an 800MHz iDen
if you want to count that as "cellular", but I don't!)
The FCC's current position is that owning two of eight licenses doesn't
harm competition, even if the two are both available 800MHz licenses.
IIRC, the current per-market spectrum limit is 60MHz regardless of bands
used. (While the 800 licenses are 25MHz each, the five at 1900 come in
two sizes- IIRC, three are 30MHz, and three are 10MHz- it's been quite
awhile since my "PCS training" back when I used to be a Cingular dealer
in the late 90s!)
> Does the FCC know you by first name?
>
> -Frank
>
>
No, they don't. I know many people who work for the FCC, and have for many
years. They really do want to hear from the customers, believe it or not.
From these contacts, a consensus of what the public wants and needs from
FCC assembles to feed to the regulators. If noone tells them what they
think, then they think everything is fine to do it the way the Cable and
cellular lobbies want to do it. The address is even easy: info@fcc.gov
You'll always get a reply, even if it may not be to your liking....
"Larry" <noone@home.com> wrote in message
news:Xns98E6CD45C63DEnoonehomecom@208.49.80.253...
> "Frankster" <Frank@SPAM2TRASH.com> wrote in news:
> _OGdnXAop_tc7XrYnZ2dnUVZ_rSjnZ2d@giganews.com:
>
>> Does the FCC know you by first name?
>>
>> -Frank
>>
>>
>
> No, they don't. I know many people who work for the FCC, and have for
> many
> years. They really do want to hear from the customers, believe it or not.
> From these contacts, a consensus of what the public wants and needs from
> FCC assembles to feed to the regulators. If noone tells them what they
> think, then they think everything is fine to do it the way the Cable and
> cellular lobbies want to do it. The address is even easy:
> info@fcc.gov
>
> You'll always get a reply, even if it may not be to your liking....
>
> Larry
> --