Best Cell Phone Coverage

[Chris]

Opinions please, I'm looking to change my carrier and wonder what you all consider good. I'm using T-Mobile which is awful.

TIA!

[Jimmy]

Good coverage with Verizon. The only other service I tried was Qwest and it didn't have the range of Verizon - if I went to the mountains, it was roaming with Qwest. Qwest has done away with their mobile service, which is good. :)

[WINKY]

Well seeing that i work for att mobility and have been a cellular communications tech for 15 years, coverage is a broad term. you can be in one area and get crap on one carrier whilst getting good coverage on another carrier same location. Depends on the specifics of what "coverage" your trying to describe.

1. do you get good or bad signal?
2. do you drop allot of calls?
3. are your calls consistantly crappy?

What are the problems you are experiencing? I can help as i am somewhat of an expert in the field.

[Tee Hee]

Verizon, but I work for them so I would consider my opinion bias.

[WINKY]

Verizon, but I work for them so I would consider my opinion bias.



i agree, im not going to sell you att stuff cause Tee Hee and i both know that it is relatively even playing field for all carriers to a degree. What i look for in a cell company is customer service, price, plan availability device selection.

You can have the best "coverage" in the world but if the network isnt maintained or optimized your connection could be total crap. I do know we run a very tight ship where i work and in the 3 years i have worked there all the outages on the network were caused by external sources. All the companies are growing the network, cleaning up crap spots etc.

Just to give an idea as well why jimbob cell phone company doesnt put a cell tower in a no coverage area with 30 people wanting coverage is it runs appx $300,000 to initially put a site on the air. that includes the land lease, tower, radio equipment etc.. and if the revenue generated off that tower doesnt pay for itself in i think it is 5 years they dont put one up. To run the site it is about $10,000 a month.

I will say this though verizon and att have the better networks, better customer service, better equipment (cell phones etc) so i would really choose between the two. When sprint bought out nextel (i was a nextel employee for a while as well) they bought a crappy network that was not suited for high capacity nor high data. t-mobile is behind the times in certain areas plus they are fairly new to the states as a mobile company compared to the others. I hear cricket is a good prepay service but you get hammered on roaming out of state.

If it were up to me i would weigh the options between verizon and att and make my choice.

[Chris]

i work for att mobility


Verizon, but I work for them

Cool, dueling insiders! :D

How much of a service is the quality of the phone itself, how much the provider? In other words, if I got a better phone would my service improve?

Most people seem happy with Verizon though I wouldn't mind having ATT and an iPhone but just because it's a cool gadget. Really I'd just like a phone that works when I want it to, no texting, no camera, no email, no web access, etc. though I think it's cool to be able to. :lol:

I hate contracts and prepaid so if I make a change and have to get suckered into one I want to be able to live with it for a couple years. It's no easy for me to get a new contract because I have my credit locked so it can't be checked. Most, if not all, companies assume that makes me a dead-beat and won't even talk to me because of that. :erm:

So tell me what makes a good company and service. :thunb:

[Chris]

My wife had AT&T when she had a corporate cell phone and she had great service now that I'm thinking back. It didn't matter where she was, it worked and that included her trips to Europe, sounded as good as when she was local. Problems was that it probably was $100+ month.

Jimmy,

Just a mention of Qwest and my blood pressure rises. That company has no idea what customer service is about. I despise them with very good reason. I won't even start because I'll end up with the longest rant this board has even seen. :rant:

[Pathrat]

Chris, Qwest sucks. I use Liberty Bell Telecom for my house phone.

As for cell, I find that we got service if we stood on some high rocks in the middle of the Maze in the middle of Utah. Plus, we get coverage in many of the mountain locations and all through I-70 from here to Moab.

Their customer service can be kind of retarded and you can get a new phone before your contract expires, IF you sign up for another two years.

[Chris]

Isn't Liberty Bell a Qwest reseller?

[Haku]

My wife had AT&T when she had a corporate cell phone and she had great service now that I'm thinking back. It didn't matter where she was, it worked and that included her trips to Europe, sounded as good as when she was local. Problems was that it probably was $100+ month.

Jimmy,

Just a mention of Qwest and my blood pressure rises. That company has no idea what customer service is about. I despise them with very good reason. I won't even start because I'll end up with the longest rant this board has even seen. :rant:

Oooohh.......if you guys are insiders that means you can hook us up with deals right? I'm waiting for the new Nvidia Tegra phones to come out, but when they do.......

I have ATT right now and am reasonably happy with their coverage. If I was gonna switch carriers, I'd have a look at Sprint. They have the best deals on Data plans and "all inclusive" plans, and also have decent 3g data covereage nation wide. If I didn't want Data, I'd probably go with Verizon as they seem to have the best coverage for voice stuff. I do like being able to surf the web and check email on my phone, but thats not the case for everyone.

From what I hear, T-mobile, while the most inventive and innovative, lacks coverage in a big way. I got to design the lighting for one of the rooms for the big sales meeting they had here in 2007 and they really have some cool ideas about combining voice with data with VOIP. Also cool that they were the first to use the open source Google Android operating system on one of their phones. That said, it still doesn't make up for the fact that they have the crappiest coverage in the business.

JH

[Pathrat]

Isn't Liberty Bell a Qwest reseller?

Not that I am aware of. You get to talk to a real person and their techs know their stuff. Therefore it must have NOTHING to do with Qwest. :lol:

[Chris]

IIRC when I checked out Liberty I found they use Qwest techs for service. Scared me away!

[WINKY]

Oooohh.......if you guys are insiders that means you can hook us up with deals right? I'm waiting for the new Nvidia Tegra phones to come out, but when they do.......

I have ATT right now and am reasonably happy with their coverage. If I was gonna switch carriers, I'd have a look at Sprint. They have the best deals on Data plans and "all inclusive" plans, and also have decent 3g data covereage nation wide. If I didn't want Data, I'd probably go with Verizon as they seem to have the best coverage for voice stuff. I do like being able to surf the web and check email on my phone, but thats not the case for everyone.

From what I hear, T-mobile, while the most inventive and innovative, lacks coverage in a big way. I got to design the lighting for one of the rooms for the big sales meeting they had here in 2007 and they really have some cool ideas about combining voice with data with VOIP. Also cool that they were the first to use the open source Google Android operating system on one of their phones. That said, it still doesn't make up for the fact that they have the crappiest coverage in the business.

JH


data or voice it all rides on the same equipment. and no i cant get perks for anyone not even myself.. :(

[Chris]

data or voice it all rides on the same equipment. and no i cant get perks for anyone not even myself.. :(

Hijack over?

How much difference is the phone itself?

What's the best overall company for coverage?

[Funrover]

Verizon works great.... however cricket has great coverage on China Wall hahahaha

[1freaky1]

Ive used all the major carriers here in Colorado except T mobile and so far The best ones I have had was Verizon and Cricket.

[Haku]

Hijack over?

How much difference is the phone itself?

What's the best overall company for coverage?

I do know that some phones get better reception then others, and price doesn't always figure into it. Heck, even a firmware upgrade can really make a difference alot of the time. Not sure what phone you have, but there is a website at www.xda-developers.com (http://www.xda-developers.com) that is all for enthusiast who use the HTC phones (largely smart phones or the like). For the phone I have, the ATT Fuze, someone hacked the radio firmware and made it much much better then it came from the factory, both reception and battery usage wise. So its not always the hardware even.

That said, no coverage is no coverage, and I still think even with the best phone you can find for reception that you'll find T-mobile is lacking. All of the carriers have coverage maps of where they cover, and so far the best I have seen is Verizon, especially for voice/edge (edge is their slower data coverage). ATT is a close second I think, with the rest somewhere behind. Despite it not being quite as high a coverage, Sprint has some really good deals if you want an all inclusive Voice/Data/Text plans, but if you don't use those then going with the bigger name stuff is good. I found it funny during that sales meeting I worked to find that T-mobile put the "big red monster" aka Verizon in a totally different class from everyone else as far as hardware coverage and sheer customer volume went. Guess it says something when a competitor considers you too big to compete with.

I'm getting a bit long winded here so I'll finish up. I do find that the mid range phones without the "smart" stuff often have very good reception and are better at its primary purpose, being a phone. They'll have very decent battery life and reading some reviews should see which ones get the best reception. I had a little LG flip phone before my current one, and the call quality, battery life, and reception seemed better, and it was free with the plan.

JH

[billsbar]

verizon great

Nextel sucks

and I have both so there has been plenty of side by side comparisons over the last 10 years.

[itsjustdan23]

Stay away from Sprint. They are fawkered up. Damn them lil buggers! There customer service sucks and they cant bill correctly.

Is it normal for a cell company to bill a month in advance?

[4Runninfun]

i have verizon. and i seam to get pretty decent coverage. i haven't noticed anyone having reception when i don't.

[WINKY]

Hijack over?

How much difference is the phone itself?

What's the best overall company for coverage?


Hijack? thought i was answering questions.....:confused:

[Chris]

I was referring to someone else who brought in home phone/land line service. ;)

[Brody]

Hijack? thought i was answering questions.....:confused:

I didn't see the hijack! I wouldn't worry about it anyway...people hijack threads here all the time...and I am really bad about it.....shame on me...

[Tee Hee]

Hijack over?

How much difference is the phone itself?

What's the best overall company for coverage?

The phone does make a big difference, some just have better call quality and reception then others. I have a Blackberry storm for personal use and a Palm Centro for work. I have even turned my home phone off and just use cells now.

cnet.com is a good place to see reviews on cell phones, they have good independent reviews of pretty much every cell phone out there.
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/?tag=TOCleftColumn.0

For coverage even though I work for Verizon, you will get pretty good coverage from any of the major vendors. I think its more about finding a phone you like and a plan that fits your budget.

[Gecko Cycles]

I have had most of them all too. Most for just a short time. I have found that it is a toss up between ATT and Verizon. It really depends on where you are. I found that ATT has more coverage in the mountains that Verizon but Verizon had better coverage at my house and the boys house in Lincoln. ATT was none existant in Lincoln house.

I have the Verizon PCMCIA unlimited for my internet access and it is OK and is handy for sure. I would pick the one that you have more friends and family on. It will save you a ton in minutes the more members you have on one network.

So go Verizon so we can have more 4 hr chats! LOL

[1freaky1]

Sprint seems to be the worst with drop calls and service in general not to mention they are a rip off lying group. AT&T will turn your phone service off to your phone on your end but leave it active on theirs so they can continue to bill you after you switch companies thus running up more bills for you.

[gm4x4lover]

We had att for a long because i felt they had the best coverage on the front range. At the time we lived in greenland and it was the only carrier that had service at our house. when they merged with cingular their customer service fell flat on their face. it was so bad that i actually changer carriers in the middle of my contract. I have been with sprint ever since. The coverage isnt as good and i see it change with the different phones i get, but their customer service and their plans more than make up for the differance. I honestly have been with them for 5 years and i dont see myself changing carriers any time soon.

[Gecko Cycles]

Sounds like Chris needs a pole thread created.

[gragravar]

Chris - wait a little while and get my new palm pre on sprint.

that or wait even longer and go with it on a different carrier...


FWIW, I have had good luck with T-mobile's coverage up here on the north end of town and have found it to be pretty good downtown too. that said, most of my friends use either verizon or AT&T and I rarely hear coverage complaints about either of those. My wife's sprint coverage is good too.

[Pathrat]

I was referring to someone else who brought in home phone/land line service. ;)

that was so relevant! Evil Qwest was brought up! :D

[Gecko Cycles]

Verizon will let you add 5 people to the unlimited call list out side of the Verizon network.

[Patrolman]

Since I don't spend much time on the phone, I have the T-mobile pre-paid. Great for within the 470 region or along I-70 in most areas. It has cost me less than $100 for 18 months. Can't go wrong if you only need it occasionally. Happy to share info with anyone who wants more details on the plans.

[gragravar]

Since I don't spend much time on the phone, I have the T-mobile pre-paid. Great for within the 470 region or along I-70 in most areas. It has cost me less than $100 for 18 months. Can't go wrong if you only need it occasionally. Happy to share info with anyone who wants more details on the plans.

Ouch! I spend that much in one month... (worst month ever was $1200 luckily paid by work, way to much time roaming around networks in europe on calls back to the office here.)

Unlimited voice, unlimited data. I am probably on my phone more than 6 hours a day though and probably send/recieve more than 100 emails a day via phone, and use it for internet and google maps/navigation...

FWIW, I agree about T-mobile's coverage, in Denver they bought the old voice-stream network which was pretty well built within the reaches of denver at that time. I just dont think it has expanded much since then. T-mobile is doing their 3g roll out around the country, just not here yet. That should improve coverage when it gets here.

[Warrlord]

No complaints with AT&T here. Had them continuous since March of '96. I wondered what was gonna happen when I had to do the switchover thing to Cingular (because I heard stories about the Cingular c/s) but it worked the same way & never had a need to call customer service. I'm glad it's back to AT&T now just because. I do looooooove their rollover minutes though. It saved us a bunch back when my mom passed away, we were on the phone constantly used more than our 2100 minutes by almost 2000 minutes. I was dreading that phone bill but I forgot about the rollover minutes at the time so our bill was the same............what a relief.

Anyway, the coverage has always seemed decent to me, getting a signal in Chinamans Gulch, China Wall, Holy Cross, etc. My only gripe about the coverage is when I'm fishing, two places I can't get a signal is 11 Mile Canyon & Deckers.

We got rid of the Qwest home phone in July '05 & my wife had Qwest wireless for her phone since '01 & it was in roaming every time we got west of the Springs & they charged for long distance. So we got a family plan then & told Qwest they won't get any more money from us for anything.

If I was gonna switch companies, I'd go to Verizon, my friends have good coverage with them & decent price plans. But since Qwest carries Verizon now, I'd go straight to Verizon just because I wouldn't want Qwest getting any money from me with their cut they'd take. But the plus side is..............If you have Qwest wireless now............It's finally a good cell phone service.

[Roostercruiser]

verizon by far. im in no mans land all the time and used to have sprint, nextel, tmobile, and all there coverages were very spotty. ive really never had a dead spot with verizon.

[Chris]

Thanks for everyone's input. Turned out to be a no brainer and we went with Verizon. My daughter added us to their Friends & Family plan, upped their minutes, bought new phones and I'll save $20/month and so will they because I'll be paying them instead of T-Mobile.

I didn't keep my old number so anyone that has it should PM me for my new number.

[WINKY]

Glad to be of assistance chris and i hope you enjoy your new carrier :)

[Chris]

Thanks Randy, nothing against you employer ;)

[WINKY]

i never looked at it that way, you chose what works best for you and yours. No hard feelings brutha! I dont take anything personal. I just work to get paid to have fun! :)