Cell Phone Providers

02/07/2006 Nick D. says:

Anna-  I have Verizon and it's a bit on the expensive side although from what I hear they have the best national coverage.  I have friends who've had Sprint and hated it and Cingular has pretty poor coverage.  T-Mobile sounds cool, I have 4 friends with them and they all love T-Mobile.  1500 mins for $50 or so!  The coverage is better than average but not better than Verizon.  Here's my two cents:  if you plan to travel a lot: Verizon.  If you stay in urban areas 99% of the time-then go with T-Mobile.  Just my opinion.

02/07/2006 Brndn N. says:

Agreed, Verizon and T-Mobile are superior. If you happen to be a Costco member, you can get a rebate when you purchase a plan (T-Mobile) that pays for the cost of activiation (about $35). They have good "family" plans with shared minutes. You can also get a Motorola Razr for $149... but everyone and their mom has that phone - it's getting a little played out... Good luck. :)

02/07/2006 Laural "el-dawg" B. says:

There are certain spots in Seattle, specifically on Cap. Hill, where T-Mobile coverage is spotty. But other than that I like them alot.

02/08/2006 Sarah "I'm a Maverick" B. says:

I had service with Verizon for a year and was glad when it ended.  I was not impressed with their service at all and at the time, I traveled a lot.  I had many friends mention T-mobile but heard some bad stories.  I went with Cingular.  Nothing bad to report yet.

Cell phones just tend to be evil no matter what service you pick.  The only deal is that I got my phone through Amazon.com and got a great deal.

02/08/2006 Adrienne "I'll Have Another" H. says:

I agree with Sarah B. when she said "cell phones just tend to be evil no matter what service you pick."

I have Verizon - and though I do not ever drop calls, I think it can be a little pricey.

02/08/2006 Brndn N. says:

... yeah, cell phones are pretty evil in general. Maybe we should start an anti-cell-phone counter-culter?

Crap, I have to charge my phone.

02/08/2006 Anna S. says:

Believe you me, I am the most anti-cell phone person on the planet...but I need to update the phone, get a local number, and not pay an arm and a leg.  So please don't turn this into a cell phone bashing thread!  I promise never to use it in public in front of any of you.

02/08/2006 Shep G. says:

Cingular has (generally) been berry, berry good to me....If you travel at all check the maps on each providers web site...I travel to Montana a bunch and one of the providers didn't have ANY service there! So check the maps! If you are in Seattle 99% of the time...well then, listen to these fine folks above me! :)

02/10/2006 Aaron N. says:

I've been pretty happy with Cingular (formerly with AT&T Wireless).  Their service isn't any better, but I have noticed a big difference in coverage in the past few years.  I used to have difficulties getting reception at all in my house - Now I get full reception in the basement.  I've dropped my land line and now use one phone for everything.  Domestic long distance is cheap and even international calls aren't too bad (with their int'l calling program).

02/14/2006 Kimberley D. says:

rather than he said/she said, a good factual source of comparison of different plans is http://www.myrateplan....

02/15/2006 Brenna F. says:

Dear jeebus, don't go with Cingular.  I'm bond to a 2 year with them and I have to call them with every bill I get for something they messed up with in the billing.

03/05/2006 Stan W. says:

I love verizon... Only a few times have they messed up on my bill... Coverage is great! I went cross country from GA to WA and had very little service interuption. Especially love the LG "The V" phone! VCast is great!

03/20/2006 Maarten v. says:

I agree with Kim D. that you can't go by individual opinions if you want meaningful information. Call quality depends on provider, neighborhood, and the antenna in the phone, so very few people have enough different experiences to make comparisons. Consumer Reports gathers feedback from thousands of callers and publishes results on customer service and on call quality per major city.
http://www.consumerrep...

03/22/2006 Sky C. says:

Verizon's great, but the most pricey. You do get what you pay for, though, and they do offer unlimited IN calling to other Verizon customers -- which is something like 1 in 4 people up in this part of the world. They have a 15-day trial, so you can give them a shot and if you don't like the service, you can take the phones back and you're no worse off.

That said, I use T-mobile and like them a lot as well. Price-wise, they're the best I've seen, and their service, although spotty in a few areas, is decent enough for what I need. Their customer service is respectful as well.

I had Sprint before T-mobile, and I hated them. However, I'm missing those 6:00 nights; I could really use those now, since I call the East Coast all the time and it's not free for me until 9:00 here -- which is midnight there. :(

11/14/2006 Shan C. says:

Ah boy...Verizon..It has been an oppressive relationship.  Service at the tech center at Westfield Mall is immeasurably poor.  Employee turnover is huge..Thus no one knows a damn thing their talking about....it is all gibberish.  The customer is always wrong and you'll get a different answer to the same question from different employees.  Coverage in my area is 2 bar...need three to have a decent conversation....learned that too late.  You wouldn't believe the explanations I've had for that.  Verizon is great for some, but if you live in an area that doesn't have good coverage you are out of luck and pay a hefty bill for it.

11/14/2006 Craig "Independent Speculative Investigator" H. says:

We had Sprint when we moved out here -- we were already pretty unhappy with them because of their constant billing errors and piss-poor customer service, then we found the coverage in Seattle to be downright shitty (among other things, we go almost no reception at our house). We were glad to be rid of them, picking up T-Mobile instead. The Seattle coverage is pretty good, and so far no other significant complaints.

11/15/2006 C W. says:

I like them in this order...
Verizon
Cingular
T-mobile
Sprint

I unfortunately have sprint... go figure. At least my bill is cheap since I've been with them for 3 years. You win some and loose some.

11/15/2006 John H. says:

I agree on Sprint - Had them when I moved out here, and coverage was so horrible I had no choice but to cancel.  After saying it was done, they continued to bill me for 2 months.  After cancelling in writing with a certified letter (pretty ironic you have to do that with phone companies), they double-billed me the cancellation fee and service I hadn't been using for 2 months.  I contested it in writing, they responded by sending me to a collections company in Florida.  After 3 years, I eventually had to pay $150 for their mistake, and lost all of my $125 deposit.  I still gag a bit when I drive by their store.

I also agree on Verizon - solid coverage, but on the pricey side.  My GF had them for a while and they seemed ok until I looked at her bill and found out she was paying $100/mo for using about 250 minutes with all types of outrageous roaming and text messaging fees.  Bleech.

I also agree on Cingular - they are well known for all kinds of billing errors.  I signed up for prepaid with them, then changed my number from a 425 to a 206.  They then "lost" all my minutes and said there was no way to get them back because "the computer won't let me".  Ummm yeah..buh bye.  At least they said they were sorry though.

Also agree on T-mobile - good service for metro areas and best overall value, but in rural once you get a mile off the interstate it's like flipping a coin.  Had a great experience with them, until I ported my number to my employer, then got fired a few months later.  In addition to losing my number, T-Mobile said I was already an existing customer and inelligible for any rebates or promotions.  Considering my experience with the above options, I had to suck it up, pretend they didn't just call me a liar, buy my own phone off eBay, then sit in the store for 45 minutes until a 19 year old kid finally realized they just never bothered to delete the account after I ported the number to my former employer, and it was entirely their fault.  

So, yeah T-Mobile is the best, I suppose...

11/15/2006 Sky C. says:

I got so tired of terrible customer service and endless contract periods that I finally gave up on all of them and switched to prepaid with Net10 until I've had a break for a while. I don't use my cell phone that much anyway, and at 10 cents a minute -- or five cents per text -- the price is reasonable enough that I'm likely to save money using prepaid instead of a monthly service that would likely end up costing $70 a month after taxes, options and fees. I got a phone and 300 minutes from Net10 for $45 after shipping, and so far, everything seems to work okay -- although the phone itself is a bit frustrating after being spoiled by better phones for so long. It's worth it to me not to be stuck in a contract for two years, though.

11/15/2006 Brian S. says:

Forget about what phone is cool, go with a GSM provider and you can get any phone you want, unlocked, on eBay and just get the SIM card from your provider.  Plus, the phone doesn't determine how good your signal quality is and what the customer service is like.  Another reason to go w/GSM is if you ever travel, get a worldband phone and you can always buy a prepaid SIM wherever you are for affordable calls in another country.

What will impact your use of the phone most is signal quality, so find out where you are going to use the phone most and go with the best provider for that area.

Anecdotal evidence:
Verizon - best national coverage, but this isn't a big issue if you don't travel outside the city much. Parents use them and are happy.

Cingular/AT&T - notorious for bad customer service, I have heard from friends & acquaintances several bad stories.

Sprint - not GSM so I've never really considered them, but I would dread having to go to Radio Shack to deal w/cell phone support

T-mobile - I have used them for over 6 years and never had a problem.  Customer service is great and signal is as good as any other provider in the city... only spots where I have low signal, so does everybody else.

11/15/2006 Sam "black sheep who follows the shepherd" H. says:

I'm quite happy TMobile.
Also, if you're a business user(?) I LOVE the windows mobile 5 phones. Major hearting going on there. I have a crush on the TMobile Dash phone:
http://www.t-mobile.co...
It's nice and small.

Tmobile has a coverage map that can show you all the way down to your neighborhood what the coverage is like:
http://www.t-mobile.co...

Also, they have the best family plan for sharing minutes if you really feel like taking the plunge.

I had cingular for a couple years and was not very happy with them at all. They are always trying to lock you in with 2 year commitments and fees and on and on.

The one advantage cingular had was significantly better rural coverage. Tmobile has been considerably better in the city for me, but out in the sticks, the coverage is spotty.

11/15/2006 Sky C. says:

"Another reason to go w/GSM is if you ever travel, get a worldband phone and you can always buy a prepaid SIM wherever you are for affordable calls in another country."

True. But you can also just pick up that cheap unlocked phone on eBay and just use it with your prepaid SIM overseas, even if you're on Sprint or Verizon in the states.

Re Cingular: "They are always trying to lock you in with 2 year commitments and fees and on and on."

T-Mobile wanted two years out of me in order for me to make any sort of a plan change or get a new phone at all. This was after I completed my one year original contract with them. They said that one year contracts are not an option anymore with any of their plans except prepaid. They wouldn't budge, even when I ultimately canceled my service over it.

Eventually, I will probably switch back to a "real" phone, but for now, prepaid's working okay for me. Net10's customer service is terrible, but I've yet to experience a single phone company who's customer service *wasn't* terrible, so that's nothing new.

11/15/2006 Bounce "strong like ox, but sensitive like squirrel" B. says:

When we switched off of Sprint (thank god!) about a year ago, I did a ton of research. If I remember right, none of the services came off looking great  -- plenty of horror stories for all of 'em. But Verizon and TMobile tended to rank better than the others, in terms of price, customer satisfaction, and coverage in Seattle proper .

Beyond that, I have two pieces of advice. First, be careful researching. In my experience, that whole process made me feel about 80 percent Kaczynski. How can an entire industry get away with continually defrauding and insulting customers? You'd think there'd be at least one company that didn't regularly make customers cry.

Second, whichever snake you end up letting in the boat -- even if it seems harmless -- remember it's a snake. Buy and use your phone plan knowing that phone companies, like credit card companies, literally bank on customer failure. Failure = fees, and your provider will do what it can to maximize that profit center.

Finally, can anyone tell me what's with all the cool phone designs being available only in Europe? That's just injury to insult.

11/15/2006 terrell "sass mouth" m. says:

my vote is for Verizon. that is all.

11/15/2006 Sky C. says:

It's a pity we don't have Cricket here. In Denver, $30 gets you unlimited calls anytime from Colorado Springs clear up to Fort Collins. $50 gets you unlimited US long distance, unlimited minutes any time, unlimited free texts and web browsing and even picture messaging -- ALL WITHOUT A CONTRACT. I'd grab that in a heartbeat if it was offered here.

Same goes for Alltel. Reportedly decent customer service, one-year contracts, good plans and great service -- but not offered here.

I don't get it.

11/15/2006 Stephen "Future Cranky Recluse" J. says:

trish and i share a t-mobile plan and have had no complaints.

11/15/2006 Michelle B. says:

I've been with T-mobile from back in the day when my phone was bulkier than a paperback and I've been happy with them the whole time.

11/15/2006 mel "miffy von busty t*ts" r. says:

ok, there's good and bad with any service. verizon is great if everyone u know is with them. if that's the case, you get to talk and message them  for free. However, I was a customer of theirs awhile ago, and thought their coverage sucked. It's probably changed since. I have Cingular, to which I've been pretty damn happy with. It's rare I get a dropped call with them. People will complain about lack of service in an area, I'll check my phone, and yep full service. I get to upgrade my phone every year, they have great plans. I have a roll over plan, basically whatever minutes you don't use gets stored in case you need them. The text messaging plans are as expansive as Verizon though. Plus they're nation to nation, no roaming. I've found that their customer service is very helpful. The only complaint I have with them, is...if you're just a little bit late on the bill, they shut the phone off. but that's really my error, not theirs.
i work for T-Mobile and without going into boring drab detail as to why their service is not the best, I'll tell you this. They are a fairly young company and are currently expanding so their service will improve in the future, I just don't know how long. My boyfriend is constantly dropping calls or getting poor service. Also because they are still new and trying to get your business, their rates are very cheap. They have a really cool thing out right now though. My fav 5. if your top five calls are in other networks, it doesn't matter. You basically get a special phone, and register your 5. From there, any of those 5 will be free to talk to(on your end) they won't use your minutes or your texts up. It's almost like they're on the T-Mobile plan with you. Very cool feature.

Those are my 2 cents

11/16/2006 Tori "Jonsey" J. says:

Used Sprint for business for about six months and they had us on a ridiculous plan that we'd inherited with the business and like every other cell phone provider in the known universe they didn't upgrade us when they were making 74 cents a minute for every minute we went over the whopping five hundred minutes a month to share between THREE employee phones. We had direct connect walky talkies  for phones with a  shared amoutn between them I don't remember the exact amount btu it was under 500 minutes and  every call was rounded up to a minute.

So whenever I buzzed in to say " you there?" for about fifteen seconds it was a minute. The first bill we got was heart-stopping.  My boss talked on the phone with them for three hours. After our plan changed it took them two months for it to "process" and they didn't specify a time for the change so next month we were in pain all over again.

We quit Sprint. Still looking for something else. But those other links should be helpful. It WAS a pain going to a little mall store to pay the bill though. Half of the places we went to didn't know how until they called the main office.

Please stay away from Sprint.

11/16/2006 Rachel B. says:

so interesting! thanks for the shares! i am an avid non cell phone user but i know some day my gf will insist i get one so i appreciate ALL of the information.

03/18/2007 Jake P. says:

Verizon- hands down. It may have a dead spot here and there, but overall the connection and call quality are great. If you plan to roam the country, go to rural areas, or hang in other metroploitan areas, they are the way to go. T-Mobile isn't bad, but if you leave the city you'll likely have little or no service. Sprint and Cingular have horrible customer service, call quality, and plenty of dropped calls. Steer clear of them for the next few years. Plus with Verizon you can qualify for employee discounts--15% off your monthly bill and waived activation fee--employer pending of course. good luck.

03/18/2007 Ian S. says:

I've had just about every wireless provider at one time or another.  They all suck in an interesting and varied amount of ways.

If you can, invite people over who have different service plans.  Ask people in places that you frequent what service they have and if it works there.

It's really fantastic if a wireless provider will work on the surface of the moon, but they blow for you if it doesn't work in your kitchen.

03/18/2007 Derek "bia" B. says:

Anna, when I first read your post, I knew exactly what I was going to say. Then I read everyone else's, and wondered why Cingular gets such a bad rap -- I've had them since before the switch from AT&T and the only complaint I have is about the two-year contracts. My service usually works when my friends' (largely Verizon and especially T-Mobile) doesn't, and I've never had any customer service problems with them; anytime I've needed to call them, always for minor issues, they've been courteous and helpful.

I saw Montana mentioned in an earlier response, so I'll say now that if you plan on spending any significant amount of time in Alaska and want your phone to work in various areas around the state, Cingular is the way to go, hands down.

03/19/2007 Julia "I like food" Z. says:

I've been with T-mobile since they were VoiceStream (so about 6.5 years now) and I've been pretty happy with them overall, though sometimes *I've* made crappy phone choices for myself. I should note that I've been without a landline for at least five years now, with my cell as my only phone, and that's worked out really well for me expense-wise and practically.

The coverage map is super-helpful http://www.t-mobile.co... and it is pretty accurate in my experience.

I had Cingular before T-mobile/VoiceStream and it blew in every direction, but that experience is so old now (1999-2000) that I'm not sure it counts for much. Well, except I hear that their customer service is still generally poor; T-mobile has always been pretty good about being helpful when I've needed something fixed/adjusted/looked into, which hasn't happened very often (maybe four times in the seven years, and two of those times were my fault).

T-mobile does have poorish coverage in NC, but I roam to whoever's out there, and that worked fine for me, and it's free so I don't really care. :-)

03/19/2007 Raymond "Thinks He's Coming Back" W. says:

I use Verizon.  I like them.  They have the Renew Every 2 plan where you get a $100 credit towards a new phone every 2 years (with a two-year plan, of course).  I live on the Hill and in a bunker of an apartment building, so my coverage is spotty at home, but it's sounding like it would be that way with any carrier.

03/22/2007 Julia "I like food" Z. says:

If you ever travel internationally and want to use your phone on your trip, that could be a real consideration for provider and phone selection. This is a basic article about the issues. http://www.nytimes.com...