Cell Phone Carriers

Sean150 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:49 am

Hi all, Im finally fed up with Alltel and the stuff they try to pull over on people. for about the last year iv had a phone with them that as of late is giving issues and I paid to have full insurance on it with them because I have a habit of breaking phones. so the other day I take it in to get replaced and the girl tells me I need to pay them $50 for a new one which begs the question, why am I paying for insurance? I understand the whole devaluation thing but come on. This is why they offer insurance rather than a warranty

I don't want to pay for their crummy service anymore as iv had connection problems trying to make calls with a constant click click click click sound before I get a ring tone which can last a good 2 minutes. I'm gonna throw the $200 cancellation fee in their face basically and go to another carrier. I'm looking at getting one of the new iPhones with ATT but iv never used them before and I was hoping people could share their experience with various providers to help me decide.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:53 am

My experience and location. I had AT&T when I first moved to the Denver Metro. Theydropped calls a lot. I switched to Sprint. No dropped calls and I was happy with them. A friend of mine was working for Verizon so I decided to help him out and all of my friends had gone to Verizon also (free minutes calling other Verizon users). They really stunk! Dropped calls, transmissions were gurgled, and messages cutting in and out. I was mad. As soon as my plan was up, I switched back to Sprint. Happy again.
I do live in an odd area. Everyone else I know have not had the issues I had with Verizon. It wasn't the phones because I upgraded after the first year (of a 2 yr plan). Same issues. No issues with Sprint.

As I said, this is my experience and due to my living location, Sprint works best for me.

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:11 pm

I ended up with Sprint about four years ago after using Verizon and they were terrible, have had friends with Alltell and others and Sprint seems to be the best of the worst in this area. Have traveled all over the place 20 or so different states and never have a problem with calls etc. Only place I have propblems is back down home, but NO ONE gets a signal down in the Hills so its just a time to turn it off and enjoy the sounds of nature :wink:

long_tall_texan · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:39 pm

I use Sprint and always have. Never have a problem. The thing I like about Sprint, is if you have a signal for your phone, the call is always clear. With the GSM carriers, it seems a weak signal gives you static filled calls. I got in on the Employee referral plan (SERO). It is open to anyone now as long as your open the account online. The plans have changed since I signed up, but they are still a better deal than anyone else out there that I have found.

Look at the Sprint SERO details here: www.sprint.com/sero
Read the details of how to log into the SERO site here: SlickDeals.net

daspes · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:55 pm

Sprint was our first carrier. Absolutely hated them. Mainly customer service, may have gotten better in the past decade, but I'm unwilling to go back to them. Then went to Cingular, and loved them, when they merged with AT&T, we switched over to Verizon. HORRIBLE too. Customer service is better, but every month for the past 18 months, my bill has been screwed up. I've already switched the wife back to AT&T, and I'll be joining her shortly.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:45 pm

I have Verizon and love it, I always have service, although they charge me like no other when I go over on minutes or texts messages :evil:

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:21 pm

I have Verizon,no problems besides being charged for texts(which are now blocked on my cell).Then again my home town you only had 2 choices for cell phones,1-cellular one(now alltell) or 2-verizon.I had cellular one but there nation wide plans sucked and I rejoined the military so I switched to verizon to keep a SD #.Though verizon wanted to charge me a $2000 deposit since I was in the military and could switch off my service at anytime with no charges,got around that with a lawyer.Won't do at&t,sprint,or cingular since there is no service(or it's roaming) in my hometown,then again I use my cell phone maybe 60mins a month at most.

CrossBones · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:56 pm

In my book, Sprint SUKS! I use AT&T. Your "book" may vary.

Blue KJ in PA · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:42 pm

A lot depends on where youlive and where you'll use the service. Each carrier has zones where they are the best as that is where they "began" and have the best infrastucture. I have had AT&Tback in the early 90's left them to go to Cingular they were OK but Verizon bought them and then Verizon sucked so I went to Cingular (the second coming of Cingular) and they wer good, AT&T bought Cingular and there have been issues my wife has had but I have had no issues. Considering going to Verizon when I make up my mind what new phone I want. Around here Sprint Nextel has horrible coverage and Alltel does not exist...Tmobile is reportedly marginally sos so around here.

chefdab · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:02 pm

To the OP, if you're worried about what the insurance will cover or not, don't get the i-phone from AT&T. I was just there the other day since my contract with them runs out in a little more than a month. I was asking about all the snazzy new phones and what happens if it breaks. The guy told me I could get insurance on all of them except the i-phone. He said Apple won't let them run insurance on them. We were thinking of changing carriers but we still have the same rate plan from when we originally signed up four years ago and nobody can beat that deal. The only thing is if we upgraded to a data phone we would either have to change our rate plan or add $30 a month for all that internet, text, pics etc. We may not have a choice soon since most of the newer phones are more like mini computers. Rarely do we get dropped calls in our area. The weird thing though is we get terrible reception in our house unless we're standing next to the window. But everywhere else it works great.

STINGN · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:09 pm

I have had Verizon for 4 years now, you get reception EVERYWHERE! I had a AT&T iPhone for about 3 months cause it was the COOL thing to have, I got sick and tired of the connection that I had and the late delay of incoming text messages

jeepkj02 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:39 pm

Had T-mobile and AT&T. AT&T has better service (signal) than T-mobile. But T-mobile has better customer service than AT&T. Might try Verizon when my service contract ends.

RkyMtnKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:39 pm

As a Verizon employee i could rant on about the company, but it really depends on where you live and what you want exactly from your phone. If you're looking to go for the iPhone then AT&T is your calling, we do offer the rival to the iPhone which is the Blackberry Storm. But if you're going from a "standard" phone to a PDA it will cost you anywhere from 30-45 dollars more a month because they require a Data and Email package attached to the plan. Further more, if you've never used a phone that operated on a touch screen give yourself a set learning curve and be patient with the operation...it will take some time to getting used to.

I can tell you that Verizon invests nearly 6 Billion dollars a year into updating and bilding new cell towers and if you do find yourself having low reception in a particular part of your town...get enough people together to call in and Verizon will come out with a trouble shooting truck and even install a boosting cell tower in that area. We may be more expensive than some other companies, but recently its become a get what you pay for in the industry.

Lastly, the insurance is basically covering the RETAIL cost of the phone. Asurion covers the leading cell phone companys with insurance and the $50 is basically the deductible towards a new phone vs. paying 250 and upwards of 500 for some phones at retail.

My rant is over...sorry :wink:

long_tall_texan · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:19 am

RkyMtnKJ wrote:

...it really depends on where you live and what you want exactly from your phone...

Well stated. For me, Sprint has always been great. I live in a metro area and typically travel to other metro areas, or the areas that are already well-served by Sprint. Only one time in TX that I have had trouble getting a signal. But even the locals didn't get a signal there either. Check the coverage map for the cell companies that you are interested in. Check your home area, and check all of your common travel points and routes in between.

Good Luck...

CrossBones · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:17 am

Fwiw, you don't need insurance with the iPhone, just as you don't need to buy extended warranties from Best Buy or other third party stores who sell Apple products. Apple has the best factory warranty in the computer and music player market - bar none. So don't ever let some salesman tell you otherwise. I actually once confronted a salesman in a CompUSA store after overhearing him outright lie to a woman interested in buying a Mac that she needed their extended service plan.

jeepmedic46 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:18 pm

Use to have at and t. Never had any service. Went with Verizon and have been very happy with the service.

4x4fever · **Posted:** Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:04 pm

BEEN WITH VERIZON EVERY SINCE THEY CAME TO TOWN AND THEY SEEM TO HAVE THE BEST RECEPTION IN BACK COUNTRY OF AZ.

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:21 pm

on the subject of phone insurance...

I've got Verizon, and two phones ago, I got the insurance.
Sure enough, I needed it. Had the phone in my back pocket, and fell on my arse. broken phone.

$50 deductible, fair 'nuff...i've been paying $5/mo for the insurance for a year (60 bucks) on a phone I bought for $120. Hmm.

Anyway, the insurance company sends me this remanufactured phone. Are you KIDDING ME? $110 out, and I get a REMAN? not only that, a remanned version of a $120 phone?

Long story short, the phone sucked donkey parts. When it was time to upgrade, I dropped the insurance.

Then I got another phone.
Lost the Fing thing!

So now I have a new phone...still no insurance...I'd rather ebay a NEW or USED one than buy another freaking reman.

Albert · **Posted:** Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:20 am

Sprint ..........Service and coverage is good where I am in Upstate and all the way to Florida Keys.

But a few miles north of me no carrier has service through the mountains to Plattsburgh which is next to the Canadian Border. Enormous and vast dead spot up here where there is just mountains and no service from anyone. So whoever gets coverage in the mountains first might be my next carrier.

MNKK · **Posted:** Tue Jan 13, 2009 12:30 am

If you have a habit of breaking phones, Such as myself...
I just recently (3-4 months) bought the Sanyo Pro-700.
It is rubberized, and it is what they refer to as being "military spec"

It is kind of hard to find, but I could not be happier.

PS: It doesn't have a camera in it, so if you need one of those, then disreguard the previous.

Cell Phone Carriers

Who is online