Cingular vs. Sprint?

My contract with Cingular expires soon. I've been with them for three years now, and am considering a change. Here are my requirements:

1. I travel, often to remote parts of the CONUS, and need great coverage and no roaming. Three years ago I had a GAIT phone and I could get coverage in some unbelieveably remote areas. Now, with my V551, coverage doesn't begin to compare. Within the past year I've actually been to places (SE Wyoming) where I lost Cingular coverage for 100+ miles but other providers were fine. That was not the case four years ago: if anyone on my team had coverage I had it too. Will a switch to Sprint get me better overall CONUS coverage?

2. I do not text message.

3. I am interested in the Sprint TV feature. I know that it costs extra, but I can't find any info on Sprint's site about the cost of just a channel or two. Besides cost, how available is it within Sprint's coverage? Can I test drive it?

4. I really don't need multi-media or camera phones: a simple phone that has a bright display, first-rate signal reception, bluetooth, and a good, easy-to-use speakerphone (I once had a Motorolla that wouldn't allow switching to speakerphone untill a call actually connected)

5. I'm not too worried about price: I'm paying perhaps $50-60 now and usually have plenty of minutes left at the end of the month.

6. Are there incentives (besides free/cheap phones) to entice customers to stay/move?

7. I'm not worried about the cost of a new phone: I'd rather avoid a lengthy (year+) contract. I know nothing of Cell phone use outside of long-term contracts: Can I get my own phone on Ebay or elsewhere and then sign up with Sprint for a month or so? Or, if I decide to stick with Cingular, can I keep using my 551 and go month-to-month?

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When I traveled with Nickelodeon, HBO, and MTV as there Electronics Technician(set up all there crap) I used US Cellular! You might not have heard of them or maybe you have! Anyway I had a nationwide plan through them and NO matter where I was at I had service when all the others on our crews/shows wouldn't Sprint, AT&T, Cingular, Nextel, and Verizon. I'm from the Midwest and US Cellular actually still blows away these big name corporate companies. If your wanting unmatched reception and service I highly recommend US Cellular. I made the mistake of switching to Cingular so now if I wander off a main Hwy/Interstate or out of a largly poplulated area I've got nothing but a camera, mp3 player, and a game! If you happen to get into Illinois, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, or Minnosota grab a US Cellular phone you will not be disapointed ever again about service.

Originally Posted by gporter68

If you happen to get into Illinois, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, or Minnesota grab a US Cellular phone you will not be disapointed ever again about service.

What about other states? I know in a recent issue of Consumer Reports that US Cellular rated very high in the Chicago area, even higher then Verizon. If you travel or just want that kind of coverage can US Cellular fit the bill?

all the people i know in rural wisconsin swear by us cellular. i've actually heard them say (quoted): 'using sprint or even verizon is like trying to use a phone under a wet tarp'

quoted directly from a guy who's used 3 different carriers.

and of course us cellular is good in chicagoland. no coincidence when the white sox play at us cellular field, aka 'the cell.'

edit: i just remembered that my friend was getting reception with us cellular in areas like deadwood and wall drug when his brother on sprint had nothing.

First of all, when Sprint service is unavailable they are usually able to roam anywhere Verizon or Alltel is available, which is a plus for me when I travel in rural parts of Florida and Georgia. Now, I don't know about Wyoming, but I do know that CDMA service usually has better coverage in rural areas than GSM.

SprintTV is a part of the PowerVision service, which is usually available only in major metropolitan areas or at least in most of the Int'l airports. Therefore, it would most likely be of no use to you in rural areas. You can try Sprint for 14 days and as long as you cancel service within 14 days you will only be responsible for the minutes and services you have used during that time.

Most Sprint phones now have a speakerphone button that makes it easy to turn the feature on and off, but you mentioned your old phone "wouldn't allow switching to speakerphone until a call actually connected" and I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but with my Sprint phone, you can't turn on speakerphone until the line at least starts to ring.

You will need a phone capable of PowerVision service if you intend to use it, which means the multi-media phone would be your best choice, for the best service possible. (I would recommend a tri-mode phone if you do a lot of travelling in rural areas, as there are times when analog service is all you can get in the middle of nowhere).

Sprint's plans are pretty reasonable right now, and the Fair & Flexible plan includes free roaming and free long distance. One thing I love is the upgrade to Free Nights and Weekends starting at 6pm or 7pm (the standard is 9pm). For $10 extra/month, my free nights/weekends start at 6pm, which saves me a lot of anytime minutes.

Sprint offers certain incentives to eligible customers; for one thing, if you use a friend who is already with Sprint as a referral, both you and your friend get a $25 credit on your next bill. If you are a government employee you can get a 25% discount on your monthly service, and many corporate employees get a 15% or better discount (call them to find out if your company qualifies).

Most Sprint plans come with a 2-year agreement, but if you buy your phone at full price, you might be able to get a 1-year agreement, call to confirm. You can only use a Sprint phone with Sprint service, an unbranded phone or one from a different carrier will not work. But you can buy your Sprint phone elsewhere such as eBay as long as the ESN is cleared for activation (make sure the previous owner does not owe Sprint money by checking the ESN with them).

There are services online that allow you to "sell" your contract to other people who are looking for what you have. If you want to try Sprint for a few months, or if you get tired of your contract and want to move on, sites like celltradeusa.com or resellular.com might be an option for you. Just remember that after the first 90 days of service, any changes to your service renew the contract for the original term.

If you are past your contract term with Cingular, you can continue to pay monthly and as long as you don't try to change any services in your plan, you will remain out of contract and can discontinue service at any time. This applies even if you move your SIM card into a newer phone, as this is not really a change to your plan, and as long as the phone is either branded Cingular or otherwise unlocked, they don't even need to know.

I cannot speak for the entire CONUS but my dad travels extensively through North Florida, all of Georgia, and most parts of Alabama and his Sprint coverage is excellent. Even when he roams get gets good coverage through Sprint's roaming partners. I added him to my Sprint plan because he is trying to leave Verizon, who has terrible coverage in the areas where he travels.

I hope I answered all of your questions, you sure did have a lot of them. Now, here is something you can do to test coverage. If you know where you travel the most, you can use google to get zip codes by typing "City, State" in quotes, and then check the zip on Sprint's site to see if they would sell to someone in that zip code. Now, as with my dad, you may need to get the zip for the nearest mid-sized town to see an area-wide coverage map. For example, the zip for my dad's town will say "service not available" but the nearest town brings up an area-wide map that shows coverage in his town, and he does get good reception, but for some reason they just wouldn't sell to him based on his zip code (it's a town of less than 4,000!). This is also a good way to see what areas have PowerVision available.

Let me know if I might be able to answer any more questions.

Originally Posted by Brad729

SprintTV is a part of the PowerVision service, which is usually available only in major metropolitan areas or at least in most of the Int'l airports. Therefore, it would most likely be of no use to you in rural areas. You can try Sprint for 14 days and as long as you cancel service within 14 days you will only be responsible for the minutes and services you have used during that time.

Just a side note here, the PowerVision service will NOT work when the phone is roaming. This is also true about text messaging. You will still be able to make and receive phone calls though. Just something to think about if a majority of your time is in rural areas.

Thanks to everyone, and especially Brad, for your replies. I'm going to look into US Cellular, but Sprint's Tri-Mode/Analog roam feature is very enticing.

Brad, I spoke to the "National" department, and I mentioned the 25% discount for Government employees, but the girl said that it was only 15%: I politely challenged that, and she double-checked, and said that she could find nothing better than 15% (I'm Federal). I would appreciate any more information that you have on that discount.

Thanks again

Originally Posted by HFK1001

Brad, I spoke to the "National" department, and I mentioned the 25% discount for Government employees, but the girl said that it was only 15%: I politely challenged that, and she double-checked, and said that she could find nothing better than 15% (I'm Federal). I would appreciate any more information that you have on that discount.

Well she might be right, the only reason I thought it was 25% is someone who works for the State Dept told me their discount was 25% but maybe I should have double-checked that before taking one person's word for it. I'm glad I was able to help you, let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Hey, thanks again. This forum has really helped out.

Originally Posted by HFK1001

Hey, thanks again. This forum has really helped out.

Any time, my friend, any time. We are here to help, and once you get your new service, be sure to come back and see if we can help you out with some free ringtones and screensavers. Get your friends to sign up and mention your username as a referral, and you can get a discount on all the profile upgrades, download access, and arcade passes in our Store. We have a lot of fun here, and there's a lot more going on here than cell phone help; check out our chit chat forum to get in on some of our little chats. Or if you are into the classic arcade games, try to beat some of our high scores for a huge CPF cash jackpot!

I would just like to say that Brad's right. It IS 25 percent for government employees.. My mother gets 25 percent ON TOP of a 5 percent loyalty discount cause she was with sprint for 6 or 7 years. Sprint Reps arent always aware of the discounts, as they like to tell you but when you ask to speak with a supervisor or manager, im sure you will get the correct discount that you are ENTITLED to and DESERVE. It just takes a little bit of work and time. In the end, totally worth it. I cant tell you HOW many times my mother called sprint with the check stub ( to provide the employee ID number ) and they would tell her to call back at another time due to the fact that someone who is trained to put discounts and account modifactions into the computer, is not currently available and they even tryed to say that there is NO employee discount for government workers. Had to laugh at that one, so finally after 2 months. YES i said 2 months, FINALLY things were straightened out after numerous LETTERS with copied check stubs with all information nessasary on it, as well as many phone calls!

My advice to you, keep pushing for it cause you WILL get what your entitled to and deserve. Just dont get worked up and frustrated if you dont get it as soon as you first try. Most likely, it will take you at least a couple weeks before it gets handled correctly. So to clarify this question and give an ACCURATE answer, YES the GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT IS 25% AND THE LOYALTY DISCOUNT IS 5 %!

Do NOT let sprint tell you there is NO discount of these kinds, they are either lying to save money OR they honestly dont know about it. But like i said, do NOT get aggravated and give an attitude to the rep cause it wont get you anywhere except probably a hang up. It helps to ALWAYS be nice even if you want to snap!!!

I still need some kind of proof. I'm a government employee (AD Military) and I was told we can get a 15%, but I have yet to see anything in writing. If what you say is true I would love to use that theory when I buy my new car. "Gee, us government employees get a 25% discount and you have to give it to us cuz I said so".

Show me something official. I'm not calling you a liar. Please do not interpret it that way. Thanks

To clear up this misconception, Sprint CAN offer any discount they want. Doesn't mean that they do. The government discount that everyone talks about varies from region to region, just like rate plans and phone prices. For instance, Renee I do believe you when you say that your mother gets a 25% discount, however where we sell Sprint services (Columbus, GA/Ft. Benning, GA) the government discount is only 15%.

Like every other carrier (any big company for that matter), Sprint will try to get as much as possible from each market. It doesn't make sense (financially) for Sprint to offer a 25% discount to the military here simply because there are so many soldiers stationed here.

This is why no one can come up with an exact discount percentage, because there is none...it varies!

I agree cell, youre right. Some reps try telling you theres NO such discount, when in fact, there are. My mother works for Logan Airport, which is government. So after 3 months or so, she finally got her discount after MANY phone calls, faxes of certain documents, letters in the mail, email, and more.. It does take alot of work to get a discount, to be honest.. by the time u get the discount, ur contract will be up LOL! ( just kidden about that, i was being sarcastic )

I also agree with you Cell, when you say that Sprint financially doesnt want to just hand out discounts ( especially at a rate of 25 percent ) they would loose more business then actually making business, if they do that. So thats why alot of people get denied discounts or told there is none, when there is.

It just depends on the rep, the reps mood, and your standin with sprint.

Originally Posted by Renée

It just depends on the rep, the reps mood, and your standin with sprint.

...exactly!