Carrier Comparison site?

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:

> Thanks. I have had issues in several locations where Sprint PCS is one or no
> bars (on my Sanyo MM-7400) and I need the antenna up to make calls. The
> problem is that I miss incoming calls and they go to voicemail. These same
> areas are seeing nearly maximum bars with Verizon. Granted the reception
> indicator on phones is simply relative for that particular phone, but you get
> the idea. Verizon didn't used to cover my home at all, so I had to give the
> phones back after one week. They eventually fixed the issue by putting up
> antennas on the nearby tower that has been T-Mobile and Sprint PCS only for
> years.

What was amusing about my last visit to the Twin Cities, was that my
friends out in Hamburg (near rebate-ville (Young America)), didn't have
cellular phones because they didn't realize that they could get coverage
out there. Actually even the analog coverage wasn't terrific, but it was
sufficient when outside the house. I think that if I lived there, I'd
get a cradle with an external antenna.

---

› See More: Carrier Comparison site?

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Is there a website or other resource that I can go to for detailed
comparison
> information between the different wireless phone carriers? In particular,
I
> am interested in local (Minneapolis) comparisons as well as regional and
> national comparisons.
>
> Sprint PCS
> Verizon Wireless
> Cingular Wireless
> T-Mobile

Don't know about Cingular or T-Mobile. I had Verizon at one time a few
years ago and gave it up because it kept hitting dead spots along 694 where
it would drop calls during the rush hours. I think they've added towers
since then. I have Sprint PCS right now, and my only problem with them is
that I spend a lot of time in Wayzata, and that's roaming territory. I
don't want to pay the 50cents a minute for roaming, so I don't answer it, I
just let it go to voicemail -- but then with the roaming, sometimes it can
take a couple of hours before the voicemails hit my voicemailbox. I've
missed more than a few calls because of this.

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
> Is there a website or other resource that I can go to for detailed comparison
> information between the different wireless phone carriers? In particular, I
> am interested in local (Minneapolis) comparisons as well as regional and
> national comparisons.

Don't consider T-Mobile. T-Mobile, as a carrier, kicks ass, but the T-Mo
newsgroup doesn't have any interesting trolls. Verizon does, Cingular
probably still has "Jack Zwick" after he defected from Sprint, but T-Mo
doesn't have any good trolls at all.

OBTW... Whazzup, Tom! I don't read the Sprint newsgroup much anymore. I fled
Sprint when they replaced their CSRs with morons who can't even ***** PCS.

**SJS (closing in on a year as a T-Mo customer; no major problems yet!)

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows
Apple Valley, CA ** 888.480.4NET (4638) ** [email protected]

Resident of Southern California -
the home of beautiful people and butt-ugly traffic jams

Steve Sobol wrote:
> CSRs with morons who can't even
> ***** PCS.

Nah...they just ran outta alphabet soup.

Karen in MN <ask.me.for.my.email.address> wrote:
> Don't know about Cingular or T-Mobile. I had Verizon at one time a few
> years ago and gave it up because it kept hitting dead spots along 694 where
> it would drop calls during the rush hours. I think they've added towers
> since then. I have Sprint PCS right now, and my only problem with them is
> that I spend a lot of time in Wayzata, and that's roaming territory. I
> don't want to pay the 50cents a minute for roaming, so I don't answer it, I
> just let it go to voicemail -- but then with the roaming, sometimes it can
> take a couple of hours before the voicemails hit my voicemailbox. I've
> missed more than a few calls because of this.
>

You can change your plan to America's Free & Clear or America's Fair &
Flexible. For an additional $5 / month you get unlimitted roaming ...
assuming that you don't roam for more than 50% of your usage.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

I don't know what sort of comparison you're look for, but I don't
think there is a real easy way to compare. Coverage differs for
each carrier from area to area, so you should decide if the coverage
for all those companies meets your needs first. After that, the plans
change on a continual basis. I think you're just going to have to go
to each website and figure out what plan best suits you for each
carrier and write down prices. If data or SMS is something you want
as well as voice, take the pricing for that into consideration too.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Is there a website or other resource that I can go to for detailed
> comparison
> information between the different wireless phone carriers? In particular,
> I
> am interested in local (Minneapolis) comparisons as well as regional and
> national comparisons.
>
> I am willing to consider:
>
> Sprint PCS
> Verizon Wireless
> Cingular Wireless
> T-Mobile
>
> I have been a Sprint PCS customer in MN for several years now and my
> contract
> is up in November, so I am just doing some research. I have had a decent
> experience with Verizon (Airtouch) and T-Mobile (Aerial/Voicestream) in
> the
> past, but it was many years back.
>
> --
> Thomas T. Veldhouse
> Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
>

Steve Sobol <[email protected]> wrote:
> Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>
> OBTW... Whazzup, Tom! I don't read the Sprint newsgroup much anymore. I fled
> Sprint when they replaced their CSRs with morons who can't even ***** PCS.
>

Hey ... I remember Jack Zwik ... aka Phillip .. or just "The Troll".

I thought you went to Verizon? So the move to T-Mobile is working out for
you. I have eliminated Cingular as an option due to the bad service I have
read about. To me, it is down to sticking with Sprint, or moving to Verizon
or T-Mobile. I am dismayed that Verizon sells virtually no tri-mode phones
now. If you look at digital coverage in MN, it doesn't compete very well with
Sprint and T-Mobile (or Cingular). So, unless I can find a decent tri-mode,
Verizon may not be an option. I see a large map for T-Mobile, but I wonder
how saturated the coverage is in the areas described.

> **SJS (closing in on a year as a T-Mo customer; no major problems yet!)
>

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

RobR <[email protected]> wrote:
> I don't know what sort of comparison you're look for, but I don't
> think there is a real easy way to compare. Coverage differs for
> each carrier from area to area, so you should decide if the coverage
> for all those companies meets your needs first. After that, the plans
> change on a continual basis. I think you're just going to have to go
> to each website and figure out what plan best suits you for each
> carrier and write down prices. If data or SMS is something you want
> as well as voice, take the pricing for that into consideration too.
>

The plans are the last of my concern. I can usually negotiate a plan that
fits my needs. The problem is getting a phone that works and works well
everywhere I go, and to get the proper support if that doesn't happen.

I am looking to find a way to compare at the local, regional and national
level. I would like to compare coverage, call quality and reliability at
these levels. Customer service is at the global level these days.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
> I am dismayed that Verizon sells virtually no tri-mode phones
> now.

That's not quite true, they still have several. The Motorola V325 or
V276 are good. We (wife and I) got the V276 and it's been fine, but it's
only been a short time. I didn't really want a camera, but you don't
have much of a choice anymore.

SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
> Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>> I am dismayed that Verizon sells virtually no tri-mode phones
>> now.
>
> That's not quite true, they still have several. The Motorola V325 or
> V276 are good. We (wife and I) got the V276 and it's been fine, but it's
> only been a short time. I didn't really want a camera, but you don't
> have much of a choice anymore.

Perhaps in the stores they offer different phone models than the websites? It
seems that on the website they have, perhaps, two models that are tri-mode and
all the rest are digital only.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
> SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>>> I am dismayed that Verizon sells virtually no tri-mode phones
>>> now.
>> That's not quite true, they still have several. The Motorola V325 or
>> V276 are good. We (wife and I) got the V276 and it's been fine, but it's
>> only been a short time. I didn't really want a camera, but you don't
>> have much of a choice anymore.
>
> Perhaps in the stores they offer different phone models than the websites? It
> seems that on the website they have, perhaps, two models that are tri-mode and
> all the rest are digital only.

Yes, the stores do have at least one other tri-mode (not a Motorola).
Someone mentioned that even phones not on the web site are actually
available if you call, i.e. the Motorola V710.

Personally, I have one other requirement besides tri-mode, the phone
must work in the Motorola Professional Hands Free Car Kit. This made the
V276 the only choice for me.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Karen in MN <ask.me.for.my.email.address> wrote:
> > Don't know about Cingular or T-Mobile. I had Verizon at one time a few
> > years ago and gave it up because it kept hitting dead spots along 694
where
> > it would drop calls during the rush hours. I think they've added towers
> > since then. I have Sprint PCS right now, and my only problem with them
is
> > that I spend a lot of time in Wayzata, and that's roaming territory. I
> > don't want to pay the 50cents a minute for roaming, so I don't answer
it, I
> > just let it go to voicemail -- but then with the roaming, sometimes it
can
> > take a couple of hours before the voicemails hit my voicemailbox. I've
> > missed more than a few calls because of this.
> >
>
> You can change your plan to America's Free & Clear or America's Fair &
> Flexible. For an additional $5 / month you get unlimitted roaming ...
> assuming that you don't roam for more than 50% of your usage.
>
> --
> Thomas T. Veldhouse
> Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1


Thanks!!! I didn't know that.

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
> Steve Sobol <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
>>
>> OBTW... Whazzup, Tom! I don't read the Sprint newsgroup much anymore. I fled
>> Sprint when they replaced their CSRs with morons who can't even ***** PCS.
>>
>
> Hey ... I remember Jack Zwik ... aka Phillip .. or just "The Troll".
>
> I thought you went to Verizon?

No.

My complete history: Started GTE Mobilnet/Wireless, which got sold to Alltel;
from there, jumped ship to Verizon. During my stint with Verizon, when I
still lived in Ohio, a buddy gave me a Sprint PCS phone which I activated for
my wife. I also carried a flat-rate Revol (Northcoast PCS) phone for part of
that time. Then we moved here. I dumped Verizon when they refused to fix
their network for six month, and went to Sprint, then when Sprint went to
hell my wife and I both dumped Sprint in favor of a family plan on T-Mobile.

That's my entire cellular usage history dating all the way back to 1993.

> So the move to T-Mobile is working out for
> you.

Indeed. I have some dropped call issues, but my wife doesn't, in the same
places that I do, with the same phone. Dammit - We should have bought the
Nokia model she liked. I think I must just have a bum phone...

T-Mobile customer service rocks.

The only thing I don't like is the expensive data plans, and they're just
rolling out fast data services now - only GPRS is available everywhere.

On the other hand, we jumped all over the $9.99/month messaging promotion.
For that price, we now have unlimited text, multimedia/picture, and instant
messaging. Even at the regular price (which goes $20/month at the end of the
promotion) that's still a good deal, considering that most other unlimited
messaging plans only cover text. And AOL Instant Messenger is built into all
T-Mobile cell phones, AFAIK - some also have Yahoo and MSN.

I have not roamed on T-Mobile yet, so I can't speak to how good their roaming
agreements are.

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows
Apple Valley, CA ** 888.480.4NET (4638) ** [email protected]

Resident of Southern California -
the home of beautiful people and butt-ugly traffic jams

Steve Sobol wrote:

> The only thing I don't like is the expensive data plans, and they're
> just rolling out fast data services now - only GPRS is available
> everywhere.

Heh... one other thing I don't like: up until they released the Motorola
PEBL, they had *no* phones with VoiceSignal's speaker-independent voice
recognition software. I love VS. Both of my Sprint phones had it. Sprint,
Cingular and Verizon sell a bunch of VS-equipped models.

If the PEBL is still the only VS-equipped T-Mobile phone available when I'm
ready to upgrade, I'm going to get one, even though I'm not fond of Motorola
handsets (like the V188 I'm stuck with now).

--
Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows
Apple Valley, CA ** 888.480.4NET (4638) ** [email protected]

Resident of Southern California -
the home of beautiful people and butt-ugly traffic jams

Thomas,
Visit:

http://www.mountainwireless.com

We'll add MN if you want...

-Bill Radio

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Is there a website or other resource that I can go to for detailed
> comparison
> information between the different wireless phone carriers? In particular,
> I
> am interested in local (Minneapolis) comparisons as well as regional and
> national comparisons.
>
> I am willing to consider:
>
> Sprint PCS
> Verizon Wireless
> Cingular Wireless
> T-Mobile
>
> I have been a Sprint PCS customer in MN for several years now and my
> contract
> is up in November, so I am just doing some research. I have had a decent
> experience with Verizon (Airtouch) and T-Mobile (Aerial/Voicestream) in
> the
> past, but it was many years back.
>
> --
> Thomas T. Veldhouse
> Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1
>