cell phones

[supercheesegirl]

I need a new cell phone carrier. I currently have T-Mobile, but I don't get any reception at all in my living room. All calls must be made and/or received in the bedroom or while hanging out the kitchen window. Unacceptable. Lauren and Bessie have Verizon, and that worked; my dad has Cingular and that worked. Cingular has the added bonus of having a good sale on the cute pink RAZR phones right now. (I think that because I'm going to be canceling my T-Mobile service midway through a two-year contract, that they're going to make me give my current phone back--but I'm not sure because I've never done this before--but anyway, I will theoretically need a new phone.) Verizon doesn't seem to have a good sale on anything cute at the moment. Not that I need something cute, but still. Does anyone have any recommendations for cell phone carriers?

Comments

[bulleteyes.livejournal.com]

Have you asked T-Mobile about their fee for cancelling mid-way through your two year contract? It can be very expensive to cancel.

I know. My husband did it without asking about their fee and we got hit with a very large cancellation fee. It would have been easier to keep the rotten phone for another year that be hit with the huge fee.

That may not be the case with you but I sure would ask them about it first.

[dragonbetween.livejournal.com]

We have Cingular and have pretty much the same problem that you do; the reception is crap at home though it works well elsewhere. Sadly it just comes down to the coverage the company in your area has, it's not always that one company is better than the other as a whole. I would see if anyone would be willing to offer you a trial period (like pay for a month before you sign the contract) to make sure that whatever company you choose will work in your home.

[pocketwitch.livejournal.com]

W00t. Something I know a thing or two about.

If it comes down to a choice between Verizon and Cingular, I'd go with Verizon. I trust a CDMA network over a GSM one any day. Also, from experience, Verizon's technical staff is far more competant than Cingular's. In my various cell-phone-industry jobs I've never had any problems with dealing with anyone from Verizon.

[pocketwitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, and yes, you will have to pay a fee. It's very unlikely that you'll have to give your phone back, but your T-Mobile phone is unlikely to work with any other carrier anyway, so if it's in good shape you might want to sell it to another T-Mobile customer, maybe on eBay.

[amazonsun.livejournal.com]

I'm not an expert on cell plans. I've had Sprint service since cell phones came out! I like the coverage. I did almost change over to Verizon - looked really good. I hear good things about Cingular too. But T-mobile doesn't work at our house either.

On a separate note - what's your new address? Email me. :)

[minkrose]

I had Cingular for a long time and I'm not a huge fan of it. They claim that they have the fewest dropped calls, which I guess is true - in the sense that the call isn't DROPPED, it just stops working and you dont know why. Verizon does drop my calls occassionally but it beeps at me and lets me know that I've lost contact and I can call the person back much more quickly.
Additionally, I find I have better reception with Verizon than my family members who are still on Cingular. Obviously this varies by location - there was ONE place in Arkansas where I didn't have signal but my Cingular-using mother did. However, my phone works everywhere in the building where she works (in MA) and hers doesn't work anywhere in the building.

I have the Nokia 6215i and I love it, but mostly because it doesn't have a lot of fancy tricks. So, it's not cute. Verizon does have some crazy chocolate phone thing: http://estore.vzwshop.com/chocolate/ (warning: site plays ridiculous music.)

Also, you'll likely have a hefty fee for leaving your contract but I can't imagine they'd take your phone. I dont think any company sells used phones.

one last bit of advice: free in-network calling is GREAT. Honestly, I partly went with Verizon over Sprint (which was my next choice) because almost everyone I know and love uses Verizon and I can call and text them for free.

good luck!

[piscosubito.livejournal.com]

Steev and I use Verizon, and we just got those new chocolate phones a couple weeks ago - so far, no complaints. We've used Verizon for about 4 years or so now - switched from Sprint because Verizon covered more areas.

I don't really know anything about Cingular besides what the ads tell you, though, and now AT&T owns them so if you have any issues with AT&T that might sway you one way or another.

What I would suggest is checking both of their coverage maps - you shouldn't run into too much trouble since I'm sure they cover a major place like Philly , but like you said, your current phone won't work in your apartment. Check other places you might use your phone - like at work, maybe ask other peple at work what service they use. I don't know how much you'd use your cell phone at work, but I know at Comcast, there have been some times where certain providers won't work at all.

Any idea if your company has a corporate discount plan with any cell providers? Might be something to look into.

[igorxa.livejournal.com]

d00d, get cingular, then we can call each other all the time for FREE.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Would we actually call each other if I had Cingular? :)