Switching cell phone provider, any suggestions?

[DeseretJohn]

I've been with Sprint for a couple years now and haven't been able to find much to praise them on during that time. Poor and sporadic conections, unlikely dead areas (like the driveway of my home in a SLC, UT suburb!). Which cell providers out there provide good phone and customer service? I don't need many of the bells and whistles that are available - just pretty much basic voice service. I do hit the road on occasion though the open country of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado so whatever service I chooses will need to have roaming capabilities. Some of the providers look great from a metropolitan point of view, but would be useless if I tried making a call from a country corn field. Thanks in advance for all responses.

 

[Mountain Man]

Praising cell service providers? :lol:
You are talking in their native language "oxymoron".
In my experience, they all have problem areas, and good customer no-service. I am with Cingular, but that is because they are the ONLY game in town.

Try buying an external antenna. I got one a couple of weeks ago, it helps. Look on the back or bottom of your hand held cell phone, there should be a little button thing that pops out. That is where you can plug in an external antenna. Yes, you will have a little wire dangling around that limits your movement, but you shouldn’t be talking and driving anyway :wink: , or use the little hands free ear and microphone thingy :idea:

 

[wyecoyote]

John,

I use Voicestream now T-Mobile. They are good in my area (metropolitan) and offer the best plans with the most minutes here. For actual roaming and most services areas none that I know can beat At&t. They cost more but have more towers bar none around the country. I know, used to do installs for them. You may have to get a phone that uses both analog and digital capabilities. Unless they have switched over all their radios. This was 6 years ago so they may have gone completly digital buy now. So if your looking for overall best coverage that would be AT&T will cost you an arm and a leg though.

Ryan

 

[Farm Gal]

John:

I am not saying it is a perfect solution, but Mel is on the right track: I get 90% better reception and send on my cell with the carphone setup, it is worth every dime I spent. I find this alone nearly doubles my reception and way improves the clarity of the calls received....

I have had both Sprint and Cingular for a period of time, and the coverages in our area vaires by the day. One day phone a works at location X next day it is phone b! Had the same problem with no covereage in my own urban front yard, which is how I 'temporarily' acquired two phones...

Your roaming with Cingular on their national plans is now near as good as Sprint, but you might want to ask around, Verizon is catching up fast in SOME areas. In any case if you are running outside state lines you need to inquire carefully about coverages from other folks using the individual services in YOUR area!

We have an old Cingular plan which I am not about to change: free calls (friends n family) to/from any pair of Cingular phones, switching to the national plan precludes this service... so I still carry the Sprint Phone for travel out of area :roll: I try to use up my monthly allotment of paid Sprint calls on client responding, so hopefully the IRS won't disallow the dual phones just for lil ol me! My Cingular costs only the addl $10 per month for the addon to the one hubby carries, and it is certainly provable that this is cheaper than running up the sprint phone AND the cingular for mobile to mobile use! thus if I get 'stuck' out witht he wrong address or soem other issue I call mobile to moblie even if hubby is sitting at his desk! (He bought a desk charger speaker phone that has also paid for itself...)

 

[Tater Salad]

If you decide to switch companies, be careful from whom you buy. If possible, go directly to the Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, whoever store. If you go to an independent that is not a company store, they sometimes have differing warranties.

I heard on Clark Howard about someone who tried to exercise the "3day right of recission" on their phone through an independent, and was told that they don't honor it.

If you can get the trial run from a company, might be a good idea to cruise around and see how their coverage is. I have Cingular and was told that they are getting rid of the analog option because it is too costly to maintain the equipment. They are going straight digital in the St. Louis market. Good luck

 

[Restrain]

I use ATT with a Nokia combination analog/digital phone. The companies that advertise totally digital means that they are digital where they have towers, and no service elsewhere. I am somewhat limited to a Nokia because several of the phone manufacturers do not have external antenna connections. This antenna is ugly but gives me reception in areas that normally would be dead. And as I work a combination of urban/rural areas, especially deep rural areas, I need this access.

Roger