Switching from Verizon to Cingular---some questions

My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.

I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on

1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
getting service on every interstate.

2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
has a crappy Nokia model.

3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.

4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.

5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.

The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.

Thanks!

---

› See More: Switching from Verizon to Cingular---some questions

I also need to add----a speakerphone is a must have. I use my phone
quite a bit for long conference calls.

Jeff Johnson wrote:
> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>
> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>
> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
> getting service on every interstate.
>
> 2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
> they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
> Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
> has a crappy Nokia model.
>
> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.
>
> 4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
> overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
> phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
> now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.
>
> 5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.
>
> The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.
>
> Thanks!

I'm moving in the opposite direction. I'm leaving Cingular (formerly
AT&T) GSM in Phoenix for Verizon. I was never particularly happy with
the quality. Fairly frequent dropouts and other garbling during calls.
This is with 3-4 bars signal, I'm not moving around and the other party
is on a landline. Different phones didn't help. The final straw came
when I took a new job and am lucky to get 1 bar of signal, even outside,
and that bar isn't good enough for a call. I surveyed the others at work
to see what works for them and Verizon and Alltel (both CDMA carriers)
are the most common.

Jeff Johnson wrote:
> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>
> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>
> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
> getting service on every interstate.

Major/minor cities are fine, except in a few cases. Where Cingular falls
short is when you're "in the boondocks." For example, last week I took
highway 88 from Stockton, CA to Lake Tahoe. This is one route through
the Sierra Nevada mountains, passing a major ski area. With Verizon, I
had roaming coverage most of the way, even though most of it was AMPS.
On a GSM phone that I had with me, there was no coverage most of the
way, aside from a little coverage as you passed the ski area. And even
though I was paying to roam, it proved useful, as there was a horrendous
traffic jam and I needed to contact someone in another vehicle somewhere
behind me. I was also surprised when my son's phone rang (TDMA/AMPS on
Beyond Wireless) and he had a nice conversation with someone that had a
wrong number.

As long as you don't expect coverage as good as Verizon, you should be okay.

> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.

I find that the best way to compare battery life claims is to look at
phones on PhoneScoop.com, and look at phones offered in both GSM and
CDMA versions. This will give you a baseline to evaluate the claims by
the carrier, which can often be inflated.

As to spite, it may make you feel good to drop Verizon, but the reality
is that the people that screwed you out of the refund will not ever know
why you dumped them.

If you call to cancel, and they ask what they can do to keep you, you
might mention that if they credit your account for the amount that you
were supposed to get for the 710 refund, you will stay. Once when I
called to cancel Earthlink DSL, they made it worthwhile to stay, more
than offsetting the amount of money that I was arguing with them about
on an old dial-up account.

1. Getting a signal and keeping a signal are 2 different things. With
the cingular/att integration far from complete you will need to get
used to "dropped calls" as the towers do not hand off properly.

2. Traditionally GSM sounds better then CDMA, but on Cingular just
being able to talk is the issue. Calls drop ..

Nokia and Motorola are popular in Cingular, they are cheap.

3. This one is easy.. if you can't talk you won't strain your battery.
you said it .."seems unreal". Also you are moving from a CDMA/Analog
system to a pure digital if you move so less coverage means better
battery life. Analog is a battery eater.. but.. you can talk.. so buy a
charger.

LG is rated number 1 by J.D.Power

4. I am really confused by this, I sell wireless and each Verizon price
point is at least $5.00 per plan cheaper then the orange?

I'll make this suggestion if price is your issue, buy t-mobile they are
the "cheapest"

If you want the best network stay with Verizon Wireless.

If you like billing issues, calls dropping and being brow beat by a
carrier take the “orange cingular”.

To clarify, I am an agent for Cingular/att, T-mobile, Sprint and
Verizon.

Verizon is the leader.. it sounds like you have great service with
them so unless you just love pain stay put.

If it is more expensive where you live, stay and pay it.
Remember the old saying of "greener on the other side". In this case
"orange on the other side..”
They “orange/cingular/att” are terrible.. but I've only sold for orange
for a few years and worked for them for a few years.. I've never seen a
worst carrier personally.

My experience is there is always someone that loves the carrier and
swears by them, I’ve sold wireless for a while, and “cingular/att look
good on paper. I have worked for the “orange legacy Cingular” and sold
for them directly and indirectly by owning my own company. If you ask
for “cingular” I could sell it to you, after I told you of the
problems.

For a business I don’t even quote cingular anymore. They they are the
biggest since they bought ATT. Becoming the “largest” by merging the
number 2 and number 3 carriers together had the potential to be good.
What cingular has done in the past year is undo the business practices
of ATT and turned them into “retail” thinking consumer products.

Now that SBC is changing their name back to “att” lowercase and they
own 60% of “orange cingular” the industry may see a “new att wireless”
formally ATT, now cingular, and back to new “att wireless” ? the local
reps are being told not to order new business cards? What does that
mean? Well it could mean they are being fired, which cingular does on a
regular basis.. here today gone tomorrow. Or you are in for another
“branding issue”. “nothing up my sleeve <grin>. And by the way what
ever happened to the ATT reselling Sprint that was signed during the
acquisition ?

Being able to offer different carriers and compare rates which is what
I do daily, the only carrier that cannot “beat” cingular pricing is
alltel a regional carrier that roams on Verizon to “look” larger.
As of March 2006 all “blue formally ATT” hardware is no longer
available. Again this is a “forced migration” from Blue to Orange..
making companies sign new contracts and all new hardware. All Cingular
contracts are 2 years, all cingular plans make you pay activations fees
if you are less then 1000 lines or less then 1 billion in revenue , and
shipping fees. Hell wirefly even gives free shipping.

I’m not sure if I can post a link but I’ll try if you want a free
blackberry on t-mobile.
www.3gcinc.com/thank

I suggest going t-mobile if you really want “cheap”.. and free after
rebate is good. They use GSM and have recently signed up a large 850mhz
roaming agreement across the country. T-mobile is rated number 1 by
J.D.Power for business customer service in 2004 and 2005.

I like J.D.Power it is unbiased, check them out. I can save you the
time, Verizon and t-mobile are rated highest across the country for
service, and Verizon leads the pack on all other categories.


--
eatoranges

"Jeff Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>
> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>
> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
> getting service on every interstate.
>
> 2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
> they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
> Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
> has a crappy Nokia model.
>
> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.
>
> 4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
> overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
> phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
> now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.
>
> 5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.
>
> The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.
>
> Thanks!
>
If things are that good with Verizon, then STAY. There is no screwing like
the screwing you can get from Cingular.

I was with Cingular and left only for the PTT of Nextel and the
dependability of it. Thats it and the only reason. The wife and I
love it and the bill for two phones (i760) which includes 800 celluar
minutes a piece and unlimited direct connect. As far as Cingular goes
In Upstate NY and surrounding areas, I can honestly say that I have NO
complaints, we go ATV'ing in the mountains and have at the minimum 4
bars and have NEVER ever had dropped calls. With the nextel phones
and either celluar or direct connect its always crystal clear and no
echo's or dropped calls or static, except in certain areas where there
just is not a good signal.

With Cingular you have 30 days of trial, so WHAT I would recceomend is
that you keep your verizon line and open a cingular line and try it for
30 days and go to all these locations where your having problems.

As far as phones, The motorola V551 is what we had and I had NO
problems with it. Nokia and Samsung are fantastic phones and hold
charges for ever. My son has a Nokia and he gets reception in the
basement of our house with 3 bars showing.

I would switch back in a heart beat for the PTT with cingular but they
have many bugs to work out, and what you see on line as far as there
demo is NOT happening in my area, When I push the button to connect to
someone it takes over 10 to 20 seconds, that is NOT worth it for me ,
and thats what the wife and i wanted. There using Kodiak networks
which is a very superior network and celluar hardware / software They
just dont have all the bugs worked out.

So far Nextel has corrrected there billing errors and say that my bill
will be no more than 85 a month, the way I calculate it, it should be
74.00 including taxes and such. But if they continue to screw it up I
will leave. Because if I have to be on the phone every month argueing
about the bill as I did when I haver VERIZON. I will just port back
to Cingular and say F____ the push too talk

Regarding reviews, hit phonescoop.com or Amazon. ONE THING
Take reiviews and opinions with a grain of salt, what I may think is
great you may not.

And also bad phones do get shipped, along with users not reading the
freaking manual on how to use the phone so they say its a piece of
crap, cause there too lazy to read.

I am a firm believer in RTFM or on a computer push the F1 button

Hope all this helps some. I can say that the Samsung D357 has
outstanding battery life and the speaker phone was the best I have
heard on a cell phone in a long time. Try them out, it doesnt hurt

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> Major/minor cities are fine, except in a few cases. Where Cingular falls
> short is when you're "in the boondocks." For example, last week I took
> highway 88 from Stockton, CA to Lake Tahoe. This is one route through
> the Sierra Nevada mountains, passing a major ski area. With Verizon, I
> had roaming coverage most of the way, even though most of it was AMPS.
> On a GSM phone that I had with me, there was no coverage most of the
> way, aside from a little coverage as you passed the ski area. And even

Of course you would have been in the same boat if you'd had a CDMA-only
phone instead of a CDMA/AMPS model. It's too bad Cingular hasn't
demanded some GSM/AMPS models be made--they certainly have enough clout
to get some even if the rest of the world doesn't need them. The only
reason Verizon now has the "most" coverage (but no more than the few of
us with GAIT phones) is because they DO have models that can roam on
analog.

> behind me. I was also surprised when my son's phone rang (TDMA/AMPS on
> Beyond Wireless) and he had a nice conversation with someone that had a
> wrong number.

Why surprised if you were roaming on AMPS he could too. But he probably
was on TDMA--there's always been more small carriers supporting
TDMA/AMPS than GSM or CDMA (and probably will be for at least another
year).
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

"Jerry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Jeff Johnson wrote:
>> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
>> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
>> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>>
>> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>>
>> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
>> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
>> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
>> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
>> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
>> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
>> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
>> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
>> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
>> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
>> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
>> getting service on every interstate.
>>
>> 2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
>> they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
>> Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
>> has a crappy Nokia model.
>>
>> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
>> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
>> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
>> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.
>>
>> 4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
>> overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
>> phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
>> now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.
>>
>> 5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.
>>
>> The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> I'm moving in the opposite direction. I'm leaving Cingular (formerly AT&T)
> GSM in Phoenix for Verizon. I was never particularly happy with the
> quality. Fairly frequent dropouts and other garbling during calls. This is
> with 3-4 bars signal, I'm not moving around and the other party is on a
> landline. Different phones didn't help. The final straw came when I took a
> new job and am lucky to get 1 bar of signal, even outside, and that bar
> isn't good enough for a call. I surveyed the others at work to see what
> works for them and Verizon and Alltel (both CDMA carriers) are the most
> common.

I guess you didn't try a Razr, mine does not drop calls and if I have one
bar of signal, it talks as well as with full signal.

I get about 3 days battery life with moderate talking.

No complaints about Cingular CS.

...
bamp

bamp wrote:
> "Jerry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Jeff Johnson wrote:
>>> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
>>> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
>>> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>>>
>>> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>>>
>>> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
>>> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
>>> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
>>> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
>>> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
>>> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
>>> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
>>> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
>>> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
>>> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
>>> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
>>> getting service on every interstate.
>>>
>>> 2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
>>> they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
>>> Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
>>> has a crappy Nokia model.
>>>
>>> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
>>> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
>>> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
>>> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.
>>>
>>> 4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
>>> overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
>>> phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
>>> now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.
>>>
>>> 5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.
>>>
>>> The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>> I'm moving in the opposite direction. I'm leaving Cingular (formerly AT&T)
>> GSM in Phoenix for Verizon. I was never particularly happy with the
>> quality. Fairly frequent dropouts and other garbling during calls. This is
>> with 3-4 bars signal, I'm not moving around and the other party is on a
>> landline. Different phones didn't help. The final straw came when I took a
>> new job and am lucky to get 1 bar of signal, even outside, and that bar
>> isn't good enough for a call. I surveyed the others at work to see what
>> works for them and Verizon and Alltel (both CDMA carriers) are the most
>> common.
>
> I guess you didn't try a Razr, mine does not drop calls and if I have one
> bar of signal, it talks as well as with full signal.
>
> I get about 3 days battery life with moderate talking.
>
> No complaints about Cingular CS.
>
> ..
> bamp
>
>
You're right, I didn't try a Razr. It wouldn't work for me as I can't
have a camera phone at work.

My current Cingular phone is a V180. I also tried my old AT&T Nokia 3595
and my son's LG 1300C. They all worked as poorly. So I'm pretty well
convinced that the network and/or the GSM technology (at least as it is
where I go in Phoenix) just doesn't work all that well for me.

I also go camping up in the mountains and the GSM coverage out there is
not very good. It was much better when I had a TDMA/AMPS phone as I
ofter could get AMPS coverage. To that end I made sure to get a tri-mode
phone from Verizon so I get that AMPS coverage. We'll see how it works.

The other thing that I'm hoping will help

Jud Hardcastle wrote:

> Of course you would have been in the same boat if you'd had a CDMA-only
> phone instead of a CDMA/AMPS model. It's too bad Cingular hasn't
> demanded some GSM/AMPS models be made--they certainly have enough clout
> to get some even if the rest of the world doesn't need them. The only
> reason Verizon now has the "most" coverage (but no more than the few of
> us with GAIT phones) is because they DO have models that can roam on
> analog.

Well that isn't the only reason. CDMA does have a greater range for each
tower, but AMPS effectively negates that advantage.

I did manage to get a bunch of people in California GAIT phones which
were never sold by Cingular on-line or in stores, in California. I
managed to obtain the e-mail address and phone number of the person at
Cingular's Western Regional HQ who could sell them direct to the subscriber.

And yes, had I been naive enough to buy a digital-only phone, I'd have
been in the same boat. Unfortunately, many people don't have the
slightest idea of why they should get a tri-mode phone on Verizon or Sprint.

I am recenty moved from Sprint to Cingular, Seeems to me GSM phones sound
much better than CDMA. Sprint uses CDMA too.
So far i have no problem with Cingular Servic, I live on W.Michigan, Signal
of Cingular is better than Sprint.

"Jeff Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>
> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>
> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
> getting service on every interstate.
>
> 2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
> they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
> Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
> has a crappy Nokia model.
>
> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.
>
> 4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
> overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
> phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
> now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.
>
> 5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.
>
> The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.
>
> Thanks!
>

Be VERY careful when switching from a CDMA world to a GSM world!

Wayne


"Jeff Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> My Verizon contract is up this month. I am considering switching to
> Cingular mainly due to spite and how I was screwed out of a 710 refund
> due to the bluetooth issues---they would not honor it.
>
> I have some simple questions hopefully some people can comment on
>
> 1) Coverage. I have never been anywhere that Verizon has not covered
> me---though I do not travel extensively and when I do I generally stay
> within "city limits". I have read that Verizon has superior coverage. I
> am also not stupid enough to believe that there is a single carrier
> that covers every square inch of the US. With that in mind I checked
> the Cingular coverage on the places I always visit: Salt Lake City, Los
> Angeles, Savannah(GA), Charleston(NC), and others. Cingular says they
> have coverage so I have to believe them. Is it fair to assume that
> Cingular coverage is in just about every major/minor city? Are the
> interstates covered well? Years ago on Sprint I liked the fact that
> although you roamed outside of every city,,,,I knew I could count on
> getting service on every interstate.
>
> 2) Clarity. My calls are crystal clear on Verizon. I have people say
> they hear echos on Cingular. Is this a GSM issue? A co-worker has
> Cingular and I admit my calls sounded much better on my phone. Maybe he
> has a crappy Nokia model.
>
> 3) Battery life. Some of the battery times advertised by Cingular seem
> unreal. 7 hours talk time on some models!? Do GSM phones get that much
> better battery life? I admit I am a battery whore ever since I got
> stuck in an elevator at midnight for 4 hours once.
>
> 4) Overseas coverage really does not concern me. I do not travel
> overseas as I once did. If I do in the future and don't have a capable
> phone--oh well. But I don't want to really want to think about that
> now---so the GSM overseas argument is not needed.
>
> 5) Any recommendations on good phones? Strong RF. Good battery.
>
> The Cingular plans seem much cheaper so that does entice me a bit.
>
> Thanks!
>

"eatoranges" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> 1. Getting a signal and keeping a signal are 2 different things. With
> the cingular/att integration far from complete you will need to get
> used to "dropped calls" as the towers do not hand off properly.
>
> 2. Traditionally GSM sounds better then CDMA, but on Cingular just
> being able to talk is the issue. Calls drop ..
>
> Nokia and Motorola are popular in Cingular, they are cheap.
>
> 3. This one is easy.. if you can't talk you won't strain your battery.
> you said it .."seems unreal". Also you are moving from a CDMA/Analog
> system to a pure digital if you move so less coverage means better
> battery life. Analog is a battery eater.. but.. you can talk.. so buy a
> charger.
>
> LG is rated number 1 by J.D.Power
>
> 4. I am really confused by this, I sell wireless and each Verizon price
> point is at least $5.00 per plan cheaper then the orange?
>
> I'll make this suggestion if price is your issue, buy t-mobile they are
> the "cheapest"
>
> If you want the best network stay with Verizon Wireless.
>
> If you like billing issues, calls dropping and being brow beat by a
> carrier take the "orange cingular".
>
> To clarify, I am an agent for Cingular/att, T-mobile, Sprint and
> Verizon.
>
> Verizon is the leader.. it sounds like you have great service with
> them so unless you just love pain stay put.
>
> If it is more expensive where you live, stay and pay it.
> Remember the old saying of "greener on the other side". In this case
> "orange on the other side.."
> They "orange/cingular/att" are terrible.. but I've only sold for orange
> for a few years and worked for them for a few years.. I've never seen a
> worst carrier personally.
>
> My experience is there is always someone that loves the carrier and
> swears by them, I've sold wireless for a while, and "cingular/att look
> good on paper. I have worked for the "orange legacy Cingular" and sold
> for them directly and indirectly by owning my own company. If you ask
> for "cingular" I could sell it to you, after I told you of the
> problems.
>
> For a business I don't even quote cingular anymore. They they are the
> biggest since they bought ATT. Becoming the "largest" by merging the
> number 2 and number 3 carriers together had the potential to be good.
> What cingular has done in the past year is undo the business practices
> of ATT and turned them into "retail" thinking consumer products.
>
> Now that SBC is changing their name back to "att" lowercase and they
> own 60% of "orange cingular" the industry may see a "new att wireless"
> formally ATT, now cingular, and back to new "att wireless" ? the local
> reps are being told not to order new business cards? What does that
> mean? Well it could mean they are being fired, which cingular does on a
> regular basis.. here today gone tomorrow. Or you are in for another
> "branding issue". "nothing up my sleeve <grin>. And by the way what
> ever happened to the ATT reselling Sprint that was signed during the
> acquisition ?
>
> Being able to offer different carriers and compare rates which is what
> I do daily, the only carrier that cannot "beat" cingular pricing is
> alltel a regional carrier that roams on Verizon to "look" larger.
> As of March 2006 all "blue formally ATT" hardware is no longer
> available. Again this is a "forced migration" from Blue to Orange..
> making companies sign new contracts and all new hardware. All Cingular
> contracts are 2 years, all cingular plans make you pay activations fees
> if you are less then 1000 lines or less then 1 billion in revenue , and
> shipping fees. Hell wirefly even gives free shipping.
>
> I'm not sure if I can post a link but I'll try if you want a free
> blackberry on t-mobile.
> www.3gcinc.com/thank
>
> I suggest going t-mobile if you really want "cheap".. and free after
> rebate is good. They use GSM and have recently signed up a large 850mhz
> roaming agreement across the country. T-mobile is rated number 1 by
> J.D.Power for business customer service in 2004 and 2005.
>
> I like J.D.Power it is unbiased, check them out. I can save you the
> time, Verizon and t-mobile are rated highest across the country for
> service, and Verizon leads the pack on all other categories.
>
>
> --
> eatoranges

If JD Powers rates LG # 1 then I just lost EVERY bit of respect for them
that I ever had.

And with all due respect, as you sell all of the companies, who pays you the
highest commissions per activation?