Cingular vs. Verizon in Boston?

My wife and I were just about to switch from Verizon to Cingular for our
family plan. We tend to not use a lot of minutes, but ocassionally do
(on vacation, extended business travel...), and we get killed by the
Verizon bill roughly once a year; thus the Cingular rollover minutes
feature seems very useful.

HOWEVER, the recent Consumer Reports rated Verizon service as much
better in our home town (Boston), so we're having second thoughts - I'm
remembering the bad old days of being unable to keep a connection for
more than a minute or two while driving (with my headset, of course).

To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between
Verizon and Cingular in the Boston area.

Thanks in advance,

Al Cohen

---

› See More: Cingular vs. Verizon in Boston?

I live in Philly & Verizon is much better then Cingular, in my opinion. I
had Cingular & I had no service in my house.



"Alan Cohen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My wife and I were just about to switch from Verizon to Cingular for our
> family plan. We tend to not use a lot of minutes, but ocassionally do (on
> vacation, extended business travel...), and we get killed by the Verizon
> bill roughly once a year; thus the Cingular rollover minutes feature seems
> very useful.
>
> HOWEVER, the recent Consumer Reports rated Verizon service as much better
> in our home town (Boston), so we're having second thoughts - I'm
> remembering the bad old days of being unable to keep a connection for more
> than a minute or two while driving (with my headset, of course).
>
> To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
> experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between Verizon
> and Cingular in the Boston area.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Al Cohen

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:11:30 -0500,
Alan Cohen <[email protected]> wrote:

>My wife and I were just about to switch from Verizon to Cingular for our
> family plan. We tend to not use a lot of minutes, but ocassionally do
>(on vacation, extended business travel...), and we get killed by the
>Verizon bill roughly once a year; thus the Cingular rollover minutes
>feature seems very useful.

Another option is SprintPCS Fair & Flexible.

>HOWEVER, the recent Consumer Reports rated Verizon service as much
>better in our home town (Boston), so we're having second thoughts - I'm
>remembering the bad old days of being unable to keep a connection for
>more than a minute or two while driving (with my headset, of course).

Ratings in Consumer Reports are subjective, and largely a function of customer
service, an area in which Verizon is better than other carriers. As far as
coverage is concerned, Cingular+ATTWS is now arguably better than Verizon in
general, although not necessarily better in all locations.

>To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
>experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between
>Verizon and Cingular in the Boston area.

It's hard to generalize. You need to check the specific areas you care about
the most. For example, if cell service at home or at work is important to
you, then test it in those particular locations.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <7IgBd.13737$113.9755@trndny03> on Fri, 31 Dec 2004 18:16:35 GMT, "Ben
Skversky" <[email protected]> wrote:

>I live in Philly & Verizon is much better then Cingular, in my opinion. I
>had Cingular & I had no service in my house.

Ah, but which Cingular? TDMA? GSM? Before ATTWS merger? Or post ATTWS
merger (since Nov 15)? Now that Cingular has free roaming on ATTWS, coverage
is better than it was before.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 12:11:30 -0500, Alan Cohen
<[email protected]> wrote:

>My wife and I were just about to switch from Verizon to Cingular for our
> family plan. We tend to not use a lot of minutes, but ocassionally do
>(on vacation, extended business travel...), and we get killed by the
>Verizon bill roughly once a year; thus the Cingular rollover minutes
>feature seems very useful.
>
Sounds to me like Sprint's Fair and Flexible plans are what might suit
you best. Sprint's Boston coverage is very good.

Whatever you do, please don't base your decisions in wireless on a
Consumer Reports article. Their sampling procedures are bizarre and
sometimes skewed and sometimes they just don't know what they're
talking about.

In general I'm very satisfied with Cingular. I don't care what
consumer reports says.

Alan,

get a phone, and try it for a couple of days during the trial period.

If you can borrow a friends phone and take it on a test spin.
If not, Purchase a phone and take the phone a test run around the places
where
you go. Before you do this, find out the grace period. If it works,
then you are golden. If not, then take it back

I have cingular here in NC and have been very satisfied.

its the only way



Chip

Alan Cohen wrote:
> My wife and I were just about to switch from Verizon to Cingular for our
> family plan. We tend to not use a lot of minutes, but ocassionally do
> (on vacation, extended business travel...), and we get killed by the
> Verizon bill roughly once a year; thus the Cingular rollover minutes
> feature seems very useful.
>
> HOWEVER, the recent Consumer Reports rated Verizon service as much
> better in our home town (Boston), so we're having second thoughts - I'm
> remembering the bad old days of being unable to keep a connection for
> more than a minute or two while driving (with my headset, of course).
>
> To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
> experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between
> Verizon and Cingular in the Boston area.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Al Cohen

Alan Cohen wrote (12/31/2004 12:11 PM):

> To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
> experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between
> Verizon and Cingular in the Boston area.


"The Boston area" being rather large, I suspect your experiences are
going to vary depending upon one's precise physical location.

I have been suffering for months from poor Verizon service in the
western burbs and in the Blackstone Valley between Worcester and
Providence, especially on the back roads off of Rte. 146. This
afternoon I picked up a Cingular plan, using a Nokia phone, to try for a
couple of weeks. It is immediately obvious that Cingular has *vastly*
superior coverage in this area! In areas where I cannot make and call
and maintain a connection with Verizon (in either digital or analog
modes), Cingular has the phone displaying maximum signal strength.

--
Richard J. Wyble

>To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
>experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between
>Verizon and Cingular in the Boston area.

Keep in mind that Cingular (SBMS) was one of the origunal cellular companies.
Their 800MHz cellular system is very well established in Boston. Verizon is
(more or less) a Johnny-Come-Lately.

Also, as another person pointed out, Consumer Reports is notorious for not
knowing their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to things electronic.


--
John S.
e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net

John,

Verizon is hardly a Johnny Come Lately. They are the descendents of the
BAM, Bell Atlantic Mobile, system. As the company expanded outside of
the East Coast, it needed a new name.

Tom

On 1 Jan 2005 08:11:12 -0800, "Big Daddy" <[email protected]> wrote:

>John,
>
>Verizon is hardly a Johnny Come Lately. They are the descendents of the
>BAM, Bell Atlantic Mobile, system. As the company expanded outside of
>the East Coast, it needed a new name.

So if they needed a new name why didn't they choose xingular instead?!
It would have made more sense with their spokes object that jacks
thingamabob.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Alan Cohen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My wife and I were just about to switch from Verizon to Cingular for our
> family plan. We tend to not use a lot of minutes, but ocassionally do (on
> vacation, extended business travel...), and we get killed by the Verizon
> bill roughly once a year; thus the Cingular rollover minutes feature seems
> very useful.
>
> HOWEVER, the recent Consumer Reports rated Verizon service as much better
> in our home town (Boston), so we're having second thoughts - I'm
> remembering the bad old days of being unable to keep a connection for more
> than a minute or two while driving (with my headset, of course).
>
> To help push us one way or the other, I'd appreciate any
> experiences/insights into the relative quality of service between Verizon
> and Cingular in the Boston area.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Al Cohen

Hey, I live in the Boston area. Having used both services, I can tell you
that both are good, with Cingular having fewer "blind" spots. I had to dump
Verizon due to outrageous billing errors. I couldn't be happier. -Dave