when you get right down to it.. coverage issues have to do with which company is willing to grease the palms of the FCC to allow more towers to be errected. I've said it once and I'll say it again.. The technology and infrastructure has been paid for years ago. America should have one standard like Europe does with GSM. Verizon uses CDMA and AT&T/Cingular/T-Mobile all use GSM. I switched to Cingular because they have the towers in the boonies to give me the signal I need. Verizon didn't have jackcrap. I ended up paying $400 for a Motorola V710 from Verizon which is a tri-band phone and was told by Verizon that it would fix the problem with spotty coverage in certain areas where I traveled. It did NOT fix the problem and they wouldn't refund my money after I bought the V710 and argued with them that it didn't solve the problem. I switched to Cingular and ported my number and haven't had problems since. Cingular claims to have around 55 million customers... Verizon likely has 45 million. I wish Cingular would buy out Verizon and then convert all their towers to GSM. Problem solved!!! I'm sick of all these varying technologies from different companies.. Stick to one standard like GSM and stop charging outrageous fees for service.. Again I will say, the cellular technology and infrastructure has been paid for years ago... Most of all the money now being made which is in the billions is used to fill the pockets of the useless wastes of space CEOs and the board of directors..

This is funny....

http://rantmachine.wordp.../04/17/cell-phone-drama/

Speaking of cell phones, I just read on my SunCom contract that I am now going to get charged 5 cents for every text message that I receive even if I don't open them. I think that this is crazy, what happens if I get spammed? Seems a little greedy to me...

yeah that's another thing.. TXT messaging is the new fad that Cellular companies like to charge you for.. whether it's 5 cents or 10 cents per message over your alloted messages per month. It's BS!! TXT messaging has been free over the Internet, and these greedy a$$hole CEOs and various other higher ups in these companies just love to charge for things that should be free.. M2M TXT messaging should be free just like the calls are... If messages have to go outside the assigned network, charge 1 cent per message and that's all you can charge..

woopie doo!! you can do what I did and just never pay the damn fee. I will never pay that fee either.. Verizon Wireless sucks!!! They lie in their commericals about their network. I switched to Cingular and never looked back. The termination fee is flatout extortion. It should be illegal for any provider to charge that cancelation fee.. Verizon Wireless has over 40 million customers.. You add that up with an average cellular bill being $40 a month and you can see that Verizon Wireless is banking in the billions each month. The technology and infrastructure has been paid for.. Yet these companies still rip off the customers with high bills and spotty service... So screw Verizon Wireless and their attempt to candy coat the issue...

Try to be objective--you know, look at both sides of the issue--and then post. Sure, you don't have to, it's a free country/comments section, and I certainly can't/don't want to make you, but it would make your point more valid.

Generalising Verizon's service and Cingular's service is not smart, particularly since they seem to be ever-changing. Another thing is that your information is not 100% correct: Cingular has been rated as the worst cell phone service by most publicised consumer reports/reviews, especially regarding their tech support.

In my geographical area, Verizon and T-Mobile have the best coverage; however, there is an area around "the lake" quite a ways north of here that the entire 100 sq. mile area has only 10,000 people living there, and yet in that area, Cingular has a much better reception than other providers have.

See? My point looks more valid because it sounds more intelligent. I could have just told a bunch of BS that Cingular "sux" or "they can't even use their own phone system, much less create one" type of thing, but I didn't. It also would not be true, either.

FYI: I am using Verizon currently, and was planning to switch to T-Mobile except for that steep termination fee. Now, I will re-evaluate, and I'll even study up on Cingular plans too, just in case they have an unbeatable price-per-plan.

You also have to think about the reason for the termination fee. The phone that Verizon provides you at little or no cost isn't exactly free for them. They lose money on virtually every phone they sell, knowing they'll make it back on their service fees. Without a termination fee, Verizon would have no guarantee that they would get this cost back. Also, most carriers have a termination fee for this exact reason, it's not just Verizon.

The termination fee is flatout extortion. It should be illegal for any provider to charge that cancelation fee..
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I supposed you're going to also tell us that
Cingular doesn't have the same kind of termination fee or that they're not banking in the billions every month either.

Now, maybe Cingular rules where you have service with them but it doesn't where I have service. Verizon is still the best game in town just about anywhere in the country. Report after report after report substantiates that assessment as well.

And lying in commercials? Give me a break. Cingular says they have the fewest dropped calls and that's an out and out lie based on industry reports of dropped calls. Verizon has the fewest.

Exactly right ... I know for a fact that in my area, Cingular blows chunks and Verizon and Alltel have awesome networks. If you go to Kentucky, that's much changed. It's all about where they have service, and you have to find out what service provider has the best service overall.

The best thing for a person to do is inquire about what the company policy is on returning a phone/plan. Some places allow you to return your phone/plan with no extreme charge after a certain number of days (15 for some, 30 for others, some allow just a few days). If you really want to get serious about finding something that'll work for you, go to the place you want to try first and dedicate 2 days to roaming around a town. I mean once you find a nice place for cell phones, you'll never have to worry about switching for the near future. I can't imagine being with Cingular because from what I hear their customer service is lacking (not just from bourgeoisdude, but from various other sources). Verizon will bend over backwards for you if you have a problem paying for something. They'll also work with you on things such as late fees. Cingular, on the other hand, will not work with you and aren't as pliable as Verizon ... refusing to reverse late fees, refusing to let you be three days late in payment, or even just being nice enough to answer a simple question. The nicest thing about Verizon that I've found is that the norm is that the people know their sh*t. They know what they're talking about, and they know what you mean as soon as you ask your question. ... something very hard to say about other companies.

Verizon has the worst customer service of ANY mobile phone company. If Verizon is winning JD Power & Associates awards (like they were a few years ago) then that has to tell you that customer service in the wireless phone industry is in a very sorry state. You can't get any worse than Verizon. On the other hand, T-Mobile has the best customer service of any phone company in the entire USA.

As for network quality, Cingular has the best coverage available and T-Mobile is in a very close second place now that they are starting to make more use of the 850 MHz GSM band. I've used my Cingular service so far in Portland, Oregon; Vancouver, Washington; Dallas, Texas; Rockport, Texas and Corpus Christi, Texas and I've had full bars and crystal clear reception throughout all of these cities. It doesn't matter if I'm inside a commercial or residential building or outside.

Firstly, not paying that "Termination Fee" can hurt your credit. Secondly, the contract states that is you cancel your service before your contract is over they will charge you. Now, I sincerly doubt your read the contract.

Now as per "The termination fee is flatout extortion. It should be illegal for any provider to charge that cancelation fee."
Wait, so you are saying that by signing the contract and getting a 200 dollar wireless phone for free, that you can just cancel your service the next day and not pay anything at all? Yeah, not letting you do that is extortion....... Idiot.

You can always try to say something is better. Which happens quite often with wireless phone providers. This is because different companies own different cell towers. So one company might have better coverage in one location than another, and vise-versa in another location.

I used to sell these POS phones and when working with radioshack I learned the best phone is a pay by month phone, you can't use more than you spend that way. Plus you're never obligated to stick with one company or contract.

Last but not least, I think you might be a planted Cingular advertiser. I know many companies are hirering people to post all day long in forums to downplay their competition.

Just my thoughts,
Later,

Marticus

I think the issue is, cingular has far less customers than verizon, therefore less calls, hence less OVERALL dropped calls.

What I really want to know is: Which company has the lowest pecentage of lost calls?

When did you last use verizon? And can I ask how the service was and where?

Verizon does stink!! I bought a phone thru Radio Shack, note bought did not get a free phone. I had nothing but headaches with the service so in the first week took it back to Radio Shack who told me to take it to a Verizon Service Center. At the service center there were 4 or 5 employees there and 1 long line for the 1 person working. After about an hour in line I got my turn. The guy did his thing and said he found nothing wrong and when I told him about my problems he told me they had limited service in that area. So I told him I wanted to cancel it, but he said I had to call a number to cancel and could not cancel in there own store! So I call the number and they tell me I have to return it to Radio Shack. So I take it back to Radio Shack and return the phone but still have to call Verizon back again! Fianllay got it done but with all the running back and forth and phone calls I had the service just under 3 weeks. After which I recieved a $250 bill from Verizon. So I called them again and asked how did I get a bill for $250 when for 1 month I should only get a bill for $100 and did not even have it for 1 month and that if they do not have sevice in an area the customer resides in should make that point known. I refused to pay the fee, and will continue to refuse to pay it forever and if VERIZON ever becomes the only provider I will not have a phone period EVER! I have discussed this with an attorney, the problem is in this country it costs you too much to protect your own rights and big companies abuse that.

"Last but not least, I think you might be a planted Cingular advertiser. I know many companies are hirering people to post all day long in forums to downplay their competition."

I use sprint, and LOVE it. Heeee, heeee.

Everytime I've called Verizon, the customer service has been great. I've never had to wait more than a few minutes to talk to someone and they have always been friendly and courteous.

If I had to sum up Verizon's overall quality of service and product offerings in one word, I'd say "inconsistent". You roll the dice every time you have an issue with them - you can get a great rep who actually knows something, or you can get a hostile redneck that tells you that the problem is "your lack of knowledge about your phone". Cingular is more black-and-white about it, although thats not always a good thing. If you're within the LETTER of your contract with them, they'll do what they have to do, and not an iota more. AT&T, I have to say, has given me the best service by far of any provider, be it terristrial or wireless. This is rather sad because their support is nearly 100% outsourced to "Caroline" the obvious Indian. They also seem to have spotty coverage in my area and their prices are always a little higher.

Cell phones do NOT cost $200. That's another retarded assumption. Everything is made in China or Taiwan at slave labor camps. The phones don't cost but a few dollars to produce. And as far as my credit. I don't give a flying F!!! Credit is a joke as well. The credit system is a slave system to make the dumbed down masses believe they have buying power. I won't abide any contract by a fraudulent corporation that bilks it's customers out of billions of dollars each month for a technology that's been paid for and it relatively cheap to maintain and operate. Cell phones are 2-way radios with a special processor and code programmed into them.. When it comes time for me to can Cingular, I won't pay a fee to them either...

who gives a crap if you can call customer service and talk to a customer service rep in a few minutes.. most of those service reps are no more smarter than a bunch of chimps reading off a script. service reps can't get any field engineers out to a area to tweak any towers.. it takes months if not a year or more to get engineers to even look at a problem with coverage. they can't do anything unless the useless FCC grants the provider more tower licenses... It's all BS!!! Remember this people!! Cellphone networks were born out of the 2-way radio (HAM) technology. The more repeater towers the better the coverage.. Same goes with cellular networks..

If you consider customer service reps who sound like they're reading a script courteous then yeah, I guess the customer service is great. Personally I'd rather have someone who actually sounds like they give a crap about the customer if you need to call.

Besides, compared to TDMA/GSM networks, Verizon's CDMA network sacrifices call quality to get reception in more areas. But then so does every other CDMA network in the USA.

Stuff costs what the market will bear, not how much it costs to produce.

I think you work for Verizon.

Why? Do you work for Verizon customer service?