Who Is Your Cellular Provider? [Archive]

Gvac

09-24-2006, 05:05 AM

I'm just curious to see which cell phone company everyone uses, and what the pros and cons are of your carrier.I'm a Cingular customer, and the pros are great coverage and the rollover minutes.  I've never had an overage charge in the 2 plus years I've been with them.The con - The absolute WORST customer service I've ever dealt with.  God forbid you ever have any kind of problem whatsoever; you'll be given the run-around to the point where you're bursting with rage.

Dan 'Hampton

09-24-2006, 05:12 AM

I think the Jamaican guy who I had to deal with at XM's customer service was much worse.  I just had to replace my phone after a workplace "accident" and it was a breaze with cingular.  Anyways my wife deals with all that stuff.

dereckfishboy

09-24-2006, 05:13 AM

Dude, Verizon sucks. I never roam unless I'm at my apartment, and that's just fucked up.

reeshy

09-24-2006, 05:14 AM

I have Cingular too....I like it along with customer service....I only had to call them twice but both times I was satisfied with the service.....maybe, GVAC, you're just ikmpossible to service!!!!

sr71blackbird

09-24-2006, 05:38 AM

I have been pretty satisfied with Cingular, but I think the coverage was better when I had Verison, but I absolutely loathed going into a Verizon store when I needed any help!  They had a line of people in front of you and youd see three people helping one customer and the other people just wouldnt even help anyone.  Ot pissed me off so much I wsited to AT&T and I was very satisfied.  Then, Cingular took over and it became the exact same way as Verizon.  Now, supposedly AT&T are coming back, but I doubt they will gwet any better.  I am thinking of going back to Verizon next time around, simply because they are union.

Tenbatsuzen

09-24-2006, 05:52 AM

I've never had a problem with Verizon in New Jersey.  Phone quality is great, hardly a dropped call.

cougarjake13

09-24-2006, 05:56 AM

i mainly had sprint for most of my time in new york, a few bad spots for service but otherwise goodbut service sucked down here so i switched to verizon, never lose a call, decent customer service, and plans are affordable

Bulldogcakes

09-24-2006, 06:00 AM

I had Nextel, and they were very good. Only a few dead spots in certain places that I could deal with. Now they've been bought out by Sprint, and its pot luck. Sometimes it works in some places and sometimes it doesn't.   

This message was edited by Bulldogcakes on 9-24-06 @ 6:24 PM

TooCute

09-24-2006, 06:02 AM

I have had Verizon since 1994 - before they were verizon.

Pros: Excellent coverage, excellent customer service (on the phone, and also
in the shop, so long as you don't mind waiting when you're in a store),
unlimited internet browsing for $5/month

Cons: Maybe a little bit pricier than others? Crippled Bluetooth on their
phones (you can hack some of them to enable bluetooth, but for the most
part it's useless except for headsets) And the big one: CDMA phones, not
GSM like the rest of the world. The only country I've travelled to where my
verizon phone worked was in NZ - but you can't just swap out for a local
SIM card when you're travelling in Europe etc. like you can with Cingular
etc.'s GSM phones which sucks if you travel. Generally speaking, verizon's
phone lineup is somewhat inferior to the other carriers'.

PaulF

09-24-2006, 06:30 AM

dschef wrote: I think the Jamaican guy who I had to deal with at XM's customer service was much worse.  I just had to replace my phone after a workplace "accident" and it was a breaze with cingular.  Anyways my wife deals with all that stuff. Was the Jamiacan guy's name Denver or something like that? He HUNG UP on me. I ended up emailing Eric Logan who got my issue reolved (for the time being).As far as cellphones go, I've been with Sprint for a long time, even though Verizon has better reception most places I go, because Verizon always screws up my account every time I try them out. Switched my home phone (w/ Verizon) to a cellphone because I was moving and had had that number for over 10 years. They set up my account with package I wanted, but the number of minutes I was allowed was wrong in the system, 200 instead of 1100. I spent months trying to get it straightened out, getting hit with overcharges. Each successive person I talked to, either on the phone or in person, told me that the previous person didn't have the authority to make the proper changes and credits, but it would be taken care of. They told me to pay only the normal plan fee, and I would see a credit for the overcharges on the next bill. I got the phone in October, and they shut it off in February, never having credited me for the overcharges, nor fixing my account to reflect the proper # of minutes I was supposed to have each month. I told them to fix the account or cancel it, they did neither and continue to bill me for monthly charges, even though the number has already been given to someone else, a residential customer no less. I'm still trying to straighten it out.

FUNKMAN

09-24-2006, 06:32 AM

i've only had Verizon, approx 6 years and never had to call them for a problem...

silas

09-24-2006, 06:34 AM

FWIW, in Canada, mobile tech quality is almost always excellent (coverage, dropped calls, roaming, hardware etc...)But the service/support is almost invariably a nightmare.....if you want to question a charge, contract details, ....and the catch-22: try to end a specific company connection.Like XM (who i otherwise suggest to friends), they are deliberately set up to make it difficult to get away from; contracts automatically roll-over unless you jump thru all the hoops...including extremely long on-hold waiting times (unless of course you want to sign up, then, a rep is on the line immediately......and they don't go for the "well, why can't YOU enter this change for me?).The bit of good news for consumer power is that the very worst offender of our big 4 (after 10 years) lost enough business that it had to be bought out by another.

PhishHead

09-24-2006, 06:46 AM

Bulldogcakes wrote: I had Verizon, and they were very good. Only a few dead spots in certain places that I could deal with. Now they've been bought out by Sprint, and its pot luck. Sometimes it works in some places and sometimes it doesn't.   when was verizon bought by sprint???? I am sure you mean NexTel.

Reephdweller

09-24-2006, 06:49 AM

I had Verizon years ago and was not never satisfied with the service or customer service. Plus Verizon never worked out of my home.I switched to AT&T Wireless who were much better. Their service was spotty at points and also didn't work out of my home...on occaision it would work though barely. When Cingular merged with AT&T I was worried that the quality of service would go downhill. It hasn't at all, if anything it's much better now plus the service works decently out of the house. Their customer service isn't that great but I rarely need them for anything really. I like their website which I use for paying bills and I'm pretty satisfied.

PhishHead

09-24-2006, 06:57 AM

Reefdweller wrote: I had Verizon years ago and was not never satisfied with the service or customer service. Plus Verizon never worked out of my home.  So you were satisfied with verizon even though it didnt work out of your house?Have to love double negatives.

SatCam

09-24-2006, 07:21 AM

I have had Verizon since 1994 - before they were verizon.

http://www.americanvision.org/images/old_cellphone.jpg

"It's not a payphone!!! It's a cellular phone!!!!!"

Reephdweller

09-24-2006, 07:49 AM

PhishHead wrote:  Reefdweller wrote: I had Verizon years ago and was not never satisfied with the service or customer service. Plus Verizon never worked out of my home.  So you were satisfied with verizon even though it didnt work out of your house?Have to love double negatives.  You might want to go back and read that quote again.

mikeyboy

09-24-2006, 07:58 AM

Reefdweller wrote: PhishHead wrote:  Reefdweller wrote: I had Verizon years ago and was not never satisfied with the service or customer service. Plus Verizon never worked out of my home.  So you were satisfied with verizon even though it didnt work out of your house?Have to love double negatives.  You might want to go back and read that quote again.Emphasis added

Gaia

09-24-2006, 08:04 AM

ok, I have had verizon for a while now, and my boyfriend lives in an area with alot of trees, so I NEVER f'n get service when Im at his place, why? I dont fucking know, but it makes me crazy. I have been seriously thinking about switching to cingular, but Im worried it wont work on the north shore of the island....anyone know if it does? I have been working without a contract with verizon for about a year now and I cant bring mysefl to get another one......u suck verizon!!!

Reephdweller

09-24-2006, 08:36 AM

mikeyboy wrote: Reefdweller wrote: PhishHead wrote:  Reefdweller wrote: I had Verizon years ago and was not never satisfied with the service or customer service. Plus Verizon never worked out of my home.  So you were satisfied with verizon even though it didnt work out of your house?Have to love double negatives.  You might want to go back and read that quote again.Emphasis addedi suck

PhishHead

09-24-2006, 08:38 AM

mikeyboy wrote: Reefdweller wrote: PhishHead wrote: Reefdweller wrote: I had Verizon years ago and was not never satisfied with the service or customer service. Plus Verizon never worked out of my home. So you were satisfied with verizon even though it didnt work out of your house?Have to love double negatives. You might want to go back and read that quote again.Emphasis added EDIT - REEF posted while I was typing this out. 

This message was edited by PhishHead on 9-24-06 @ 12:39 PM

wonderwoman

09-24-2006, 09:21 AM

Gvac wrote: I'm just curious to see which cell phone company everyone uses, and what the pros and cons are of your carrier.I'm a Cingular customer, and the pros are great coverage and the rollover minutes.  I've never had an overage charge in the 2 plus years I've been with them.The con - The absolute WORST customer service I've ever dealt with.  God forbid you ever have any kind of problem whatsoever; you'll be given the run-around to the point where you're bursting with rage.    I'm afraid Gvac is not alone. I also have some friends of mine that have told me the same thing. Their customer service sucks.  I on the other hand have Verizon and pretty much my only and biggest complaint is the damn dropped calls. that alone just burns the hell out of me. other than that theyre ok.

lleeder

09-24-2006, 09:32 AM

I have t-mobile. I dont like the service all that much but I keep renewing the contract. I guess Im just a fan of bad relationships.

Clutch

09-24-2006, 11:50 AM

Ive had AT&T, T-Mobile and now Verizon and Verizon, to me, is the best. I have had 0 problems, where AT&T and T-Mobile never had service at my moms place in Passaic Co ....  Ive been able to use it up and down the Jersey shore line without the service dropping at all ...

LordJezo

09-24-2006, 12:10 PM

I have Verizon now but will soon be switching to Sprint.  Girlfiend has it and it's a whole lot cheaper if you get in on their SERO plan (Google it).  She has no complaints with it here in NJ and I want to save money.

Bulldogcakes

09-24-2006, 02:26 PM

PhishHead wrote: Bulldogcakes wrote: I had Verizon, and they were very good. Only a few dead spots in certain places that I could deal with. Now they've been bought out by Sprint, and its pot luck. Sometimes it works in some places and sometimes it doesn't. when was verizon bought by sprint???? I am sure you mean NexTel.  Yeah, I changed it. I had just woke up and must've had Verizon on the brain from reading everyone's posts <blockquote />

alwat

09-24-2006, 02:28 PM

I see not alot TMobile fans out there.

sr71blackbird

09-24-2006, 04:52 PM

Gaia, my Cingular seems to work very well on the North shore..  It drops out on Jericho Tpke in Syosset and on Woodbury Rd in Woodbury, but aside from there, its good.  I use the Nokia flip phone.Id say their coverage is better than Verison.  Its weird, my brother has Cingular and uses the Razor phone, and my friend has the same phone but uses Verizon, and they phones do not seem to be at all alike, program wise.  Its weird!

PapaBear

09-24-2006, 08:34 PM

I had Suncom/AT&T for about 4 years before Cingular bought them out. The customer service for Suncom was incredible. The coverage is better now that Cingular has it (though it wasn't too bad before), but as time passed since the merger, my phone barely worked at all.Customer service at Cingular was terrible as I tried to get a new phone that would work with their system. After several calls, they ended up telling me I'd have to buy a new one that would be free after a rebate. That pissed me off. Anyway... I went to their website and it gave me a better deal. I got a nice phone free (no rebate involved). Cingular customer service.... bad. Cingular website... good.

WhistlePig

09-25-2006, 01:06 AM

I have T-Mobile and have no complaints. Switched to them from Cellular
One, which sucked. Calls always got dropped, had poor coverage and my bill
was double what it is now with T-Mobile.

bobrobot

09-25-2006, 02:56 AM

I just recently left both Verizon companies because of their unbelievable screw-ups and awful customer service. Last summer, Verizon Wireless tried to bill me $400 for 1 months service, and it was a month that I barely used the phone cuz I was on vacation for 2 weeks of it, & then, when I had direct withdrawl, they "accidentally" withdrew $2000 dollars from my checking account for 1 months service, which usually cost me $140 at the time. Then the greasy fuckin assholes took 2 months to pay me back. Checks bounced, it was a nightmare, and not an apology to be heard, even AFTER I told them they really owed me a major apology. They don't give a fuck about anything but money and there's always some other sucker for them to rip off. Now I have Sprint PCS & I see (& hear) no diff between them & Verizon, except I'm paying much less!

cupcakelove

09-25-2006, 03:35 AM

I've had Cingular for a few years now, and I am very happy with the service.  I've only had to call customer service once, and my problem was taken care of immediatley.  Most of my friends have Verizon, and I've noticed that I often have a signal in when they do not.  And rollover rocks.  I went about 100 minutes over last month and my bill stayed the same!

TooCute

09-25-2006, 04:10 AM

How ironic, last night around midnight I started getting spam text messages
, maybe 5 every hour or so. I've never gotten any before! I tried going to
the website to block the email address they were coming from but that
didn't work, so this morning I just called verizon. I spoke to someone (didn't
wait on hold at all) immediately, and she seems to have fixed the problem.
She also left me her direct number.

Last night I called beause my aunt's phone wasn't working (she'd somehow
set it so that it only worked in her home area, in Florida), and again,
someone was on the phone with me quickly (I was on hold for about a
minute, tops) and fixed the problem super fast.

They always hook me up with stuff like getting my $100 phone credit a few
months early, resigning contracts early, etc. etc. when I call and ask. I'm
very satisfied.

Gvac

10-01-2006, 06:48 PM

T-Mobile just announced their "My Faves" plan which allows you to choose the 5 numbers you call most frequently, whether they're landlines or cell numbers of another provider.  Calls to and from these numbers are not deducted from your whenever minutes.  You can change the 5 favorites monthly.<a href="http://t-mobile.com/promotions/onlineoffer2.aspx?PAsset=Pro_Pro_myFavesSingleLine" target="_self">Details.  </a>

tele7

10-01-2006, 07:03 PM

I have T-Mobile.  1500 anytime plus free nights and weekends for $59.99.  I burn through those minutes mostly due to work.  Overall I'm satisfied with them.  The only complaint is the lack of a signal in some places. 

Gaia

10-14-2006, 05:32 PM

I figured I would bring this back up because I need some help here. I have had no contract with verizon for about a year now, and I would love a new, more modern sort of stylish phone. My problem is the current phone I have is constantly dropping calls, or I have no service at all. Everyone says its my actual phone (LG) So I was looking tonight at all these websites (nokia, samsung) to find a new phone (from verizon), problem is sites like C-net and E-pinions are saying no matter how cool the phone is, Verizon blocks alot of service features, and alot of the time they will reserve memory for "get it now" purchases .Heres the review for one phone from a consumer on c-net: "Full user opinion * class="uo_sing_main">The phone is cool, nice interface, nice stereo sound, though I have an interesting qualm: Of the 128MB in this Verizon phone: * 55.43MB is allocated for Applications (Get it now purchases) {I am using 10% or 5.55MB} * 55.94MB is allocated for Content Memory. {I am using 15% or 9.03MB} TOTALS Tones: 0/200 (purchased from Get it Now) FLIX: 2/100 PIX: 45/200 AND IT SAYS the MEMORY is FULL! --- <div />----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <div />  This sux, I know for a fact you also have to buy all games and ringtones for your verizon phone. So what about the other companies? I was thinking either T-mobile, or Cingular.  Do most cellular companies block alot of cool features that may come with let's say a $600 phone because they are money hungry corporate nazi's? Or is that just Verizon?<div />Any help you guys can give me would be great. <div /> I dont want to see any comments about it being Saturday night at 9:30 and Im home looking up reviews for cell phones on c-net. 

This message was edited by Gaia on 10-14-06 @ 9:32 PM

HeyGuy

10-15-2006, 03:27 AM

I had sprint for 6-7 years but switched to T-mobile because I wanted the sidekick. I got rid of the sidekick aftera month but kept t-mobile. Its been 2 years now and I love the service, customer service is great, plans are so cheap. I have 1500 minutes, free nights and weekend minutes and text for $55 a month. Their phones are great and if you find another phone you like just pop your sim card in. You dont need to call them or pay a fee you can change phones everyday if you want.