best wireless carrier (USA)

[the_music_man]

hey you guys im thinkin of switchin to verizon or alltell because their coverage seems good ( i have ATT now). someone once told me that verizon is the only carrier that can work in subways and elevators because their reception is so good. i think its due to their CDMA freq, right? and does anyone know if altel is good? it seems like a less popular wireless carrier but their coverage map looks amazing.

 

[Tuffgong4]

well first of all where are you at?
I'm in chicago and Cingular works the best, I have friends that have sprint, Nextel and ATT and so far it goes
Cingular, Nextel, SPrint, then att in quality...that's just for chicago but there are even towns outside chicago where sprint doesn't work or one of the other doesn't work...you'll have to check around first with people around you before you can make a decision

 

[NetRyder]

Here in LA, it's generally accepted to be (from best to worst):
Verizon > T-Mobile/Cingular > AT&T > Sprint
Hardly anyone I know uses Nextel.

Verizon is CDMA, T-Mobile/Cingular are GSM. I chose to go with T-Mobile since I liked their phone selection much better than Verizon's, and because I can use the same tri-band phone anywhere in the world.

 

[Codasmd]

Yeah...had a thread like this a few months ago.

Went with Verison....something like 800 minutes per month for $50, plus free useage when talking to other verizon "in network" users. My g/f has the same plan so it's free when we talk to each other.

Really have not had many problems with service coverage. Maybe lost a call twice in the last 200-300 calls.

(los angeles)

 

[Temperal]

Keep in mind that AT&T and Cingular will be merging shortly. Both have GSM networks so coverage should improve quite a bit.

 

[the_music_man]

Keep in mind that AT&T and Cingular will be merging shortly. Both have GSM networks so coverage should improve quite a bit.

i think they already have merged??? and do u think they will improve noticeably?

 

[vern]

Depends where you are. I live in northeastern Minnesota, and when I had T-Mobile and I drove west, I wouldn't get signal for hours until I reached Fargo, ND ... so I switched to AT&T and haven't had the same problems so far.

 

[the_music_man]

has anyone used alltel? its such an unknown carrier but it looks really good.....

 

[Kush]

All my friends in the states use t-moble i heard its a bit more expensive but its the best, my friend changed from at&t cuz h couldnt call Lebanon i guess for political reasons and some other country in africa, and most of out friends are lebanese so thats a problem, he had to pay the termination bill $150 ouch

 

[vern]

All my friends in the states use t-moble i heard its a bit more expensive but its the best, my friend changed from at&t cuz h couldnt call Lebanon i guess for political reasons and some other country in africa, and most of out friends are lebanese so thats a problem, he had to pay the termination bill $150 ouch

T-Mobile makes it easy to call and text to phones outside the US. There are no restrictions on where you can call with AT&T though, they just don't have direct-dialing international very accessable.

 

[Kush]

yeah there are, in the contract on at&t with my friend and his dads phones it said they couldnt call lebanon and another african country or send msgs to them

 

[the_music_man]

All my friends in the states use t-moble i heard its a bit more expensive but its the best, my friend changed from at&t cuz h couldnt call Lebanon i guess for political reasons and some other country in africa, and most of out friends are lebanese so thats a problem, he had to pay the termination bill $150 ouch

t-mobile is cheap btw

 

[Kush]

cell phones is somthing the us is behind on though, i dont know why they decided to go on their own and use the 1900mhz system, but over here most countries have the same system and thats why we get the latest phone always, in the states the only way to get the latest phone is to wait like 2 years until its officially released or if its released especially for the states or realesed at the same time over here (rare) nokia 3650 (my phone) p800. or to buy it on ebay. thing is carriers here dont give you a phone u have to get ur own phone, people here change their phone every time a new one comes out (spoiled).

the thing i find really funny about the states though is that if someone calls you from a house phone, you pay! or from cell to cell you both pay! thats physco. here no matter who calls you they pay, u only pay when you make a call, and in some cases u pay for recieving msgs from msn messneger, but not from just normal cells. but we dont even have that service in saudi, saudi telecom is gay about stuff like that (We dont even have mms, cuz they are worried about porn pics floating around, but theres bluetooth for that, they are soo stupid imo), in kuwait they have it, and i think egypt too.

 

[Tuffgong4]

we are so far behind...I was reading an article that in Korea and other tech countries like SIngapore they have very good quality live video streaming to their phones... us in the states can't even get a phone call to sound good the whole way through

 

[Kush]

i know i watched a cell phone thing on the ananda lewis show, but those phone we have here too almost all the ones that they have in korea, jsut some that we dont have like the physco crazy ones that can do ur hw and stuff jk