Cell phone providers

[the_idle_threat]

FWIW, I've had great luck with Verizon and an LG phone. No problems getting a signal, even at the family vacation house way up north.

[Partial]

I am telling you guys, phone may be more important than the carrier! Getting that analog in remote places is key!!

[SkinBasket]

I had Sprint for 5 years. Their reception AND coverage was much less than ideal. I ofetn found myself in major cities without coverage, roaming, or with "1 bar." Out in the sticks - forget about it.

A few months ago we moved to Verizon. The coverage and reception is great. The phone pisses me off to no end. We got the Razor, and almost all the features have been crippled or removed by Verison. If you simply use it to make and recieve calls then this wont be a problem, but doing anything else will require paying more money to Verizon or literally hacking into your own phone.

The other company that has great coverage in out-of-the-way places is US Cellular. There hasn't been a golf course in Wisconsin I couldn't reach my dad at yet.

[GBRulz]

Partial, I think you misunderstood me. I didn't say that Verizon and Cingular are the only carriers who's service will work in GB. I'm saying based on choosing a provider where I can go up north (which by the way are all digital towers) and not be roaming or not have service, Cingular and Verizon are my only choices. I suppose U.S. Cellular and Cellcom would work, too but I wouldn't recommend Cellcom to my worst enemy. I had them for a year and they sucked. AllTell doesn't offer service to GB. Sprint/Nextel doesn't even have a signal up north. TMobile doesn't offer service in GB.

Sure, I can go get T-Mobile or AllTell service, but I won't have a local GB number. FCC regulations won't allow it since they aren't licensed for this market. AND, you need to be careful if you have a service and are constantly using another tower, they probably will cut your service. I know several people who had Cingular but did not live in an area with their towers and so they had their service cut off. A cell provider would much rather use their own towers vs. paying another provider to use their towers. They lose money that way.

Alltell is not a "local" company. They are the 4th largest carrier in the U.S. Like I said before, they bought out several markets that used to be Cellcom (Rhinelander, Eagle River where I go up north) and established an agreement that they wouldn't compete in the same markets as them. So, GB has Cellcom. Which means that AllTell isn't available to me.

[Zool]

I am telling you guys, phone may be more important than the carrier! Getting that analog in remote places is key!!

Ding. Correct for 200 points. My friend and I are both on Cingular. I have full bars 99% of the time and have never dropped a call. He has crap service. I paid for a Nokia 6503 and he got whatever crappy free phone they give you. We live within a mile of each other too. At his house my phone signal is great. A lot if it is phone.

[CaptainKickass]

Sprint and Verizon Wireless do not publicize this information very well but I am here to let you in on a bit of a secret to service when traveling outside of your "home" area - particularily out of state or at least a 50 mile radius.

I can't recall what the codes are for Sprint - but - for Verizon Wirelss - you simply dial *228 and select option 1 to "activate" or "program" your phone. (If you are wealthy enough to have a PDA use *22899 no need to make a selection just wait for "programming successful" to appear on your phone.)

You'll want to do this AFTER you arrive in your new destination (such as another metro area)

What this does is "resets" what they call a PRL or "preferred roaming list". This will ensure that your phone will attempt to "find" the tower that's geographically closest to you, instead of trying to "find" your local home tower first and then running through a progression of algorythms to attempt to locate your position or the closest tower.

To summarize: dial the activation # when you arrive in a new area for best service and reception.

[Partial]

I am telling you guys, phone may be more important than the carrier! Getting that analog in remote places is key!!

Ding. Correct for 200 points. My friend and I are both on Cingular. I have full bars 99% of the time and have never dropped a call. He has crap service. I paid for a Nokia 6503 and he got whatever crappy free phone they give you. We live within a mile of each other too. At his house my phone signal is great. A lot if it is phone.

Nokia has pretty much mastered the cell phone. I remember those nokia tank free phones that everyone had a few years back. Those had better service than any phone I have ever experienced. My house is very near several service towers, and my sister and I had phones that were digital only. Her's worked great and mine sucked, simply because it wasn't designed as well. It's amazing how big of a difference different phones can make on a like-network.

[GBRulz]

I am telling you guys, phone may be more important than the carrier! Getting that analog in remote places is key!!

Ding. Correct for 200 points. My friend and I are both on Cingular. I have full bars 99% of the time and have never dropped a call. He has crap service. I paid for a Nokia 6503 and he got whatever crappy free phone they give you. We live within a mile of each other too. At his house my phone signal is great. A lot if it is phone.

I don't necessarily agree with that. At least from my experience. When I first switched to Cingular, I had the Motorola V551, which at the time was a top of the line phone. I was dropping calls left and right. About 6 months ago I bought a Razr and while the calls don't drop as much, they still drop. Unfortunately, my thesis shows me that even having a good phone cannot overcome Cingular's crap service!

I have heard though that Nokia's are the best for obtaining a good signal.

Just as important, it really depends where you live. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, my service works great for me when I go to Milw, Chicago, etc...just works for sh*t in GB !!

[Partial]

I am telling you guys, phone may be more important than the carrier! Getting that analog in remote places is key!!

Ding. Correct for 200 points. My friend and I are both on Cingular. I have full bars 99% of the time and have never dropped a call. He has crap service. I paid for a Nokia 6503 and he got whatever crappy free phone they give you. We live within a mile of each other too. At his house my phone signal is great. A lot if it is phone.

I don't necessarily agree with that. At least from my experience. When I first switched to Cingular, I had the Motorola V551, which at the time was a top of the line phone. I was dropping calls left and right. About 6 months ago I bought a Razr and while the calls don't drop as much, they still drop. Unfortunately, my thesis shows me that even having a good phone cannot overcome Cingular's crap service!

I have heard though that Nokia's are the best for obtaining a good signal.

Just as important, it really depends where you live. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, my service works great for me when I go to Milw, Chicago, etc...just works for sh*t in GB !!

more expensive phone != better phone.

more expensive phone == more features

For example, the Razr and the Slvr are very expensive, feature rich phones. They're both notorious for their lack of signal strength and inability to hold a call, though.

Nokia phones are the cream of the CDMA crop because they are generally bigger, constructed better, good feature set for the price, and tri-band.

For GSM, you cannot beat a Sony Erickson phone. Online reviews continuously put them at the top even above Nokia, unfortunately I do not beleive they make CDMA phones.

[Zool]

I am telling you guys, phone may be more important than the carrier! Getting that analog in remote places is key!!

Ding. Correct for 200 points. My friend and I are both on Cingular. I have full bars 99% of the time and have never dropped a call. He has crap service. I paid for a Nokia 6503 and he got whatever crappy free phone they give you. We live within a mile of each other too. At his house my phone signal is great. A lot if it is phone.

I don't necessarily agree with that. At least from my experience. When I first switched to Cingular, I had the Motorola V551, which at the time was a top of the line phone. I was dropping calls left and right. About 6 months ago I bought a Razr and while the calls don't drop as much, they still drop. Unfortunately, my thesis shows me that even having a good phone cannot overcome Cingular's crap service!

I have heard though that Nokia's are the best for obtaining a good signal.

Just as important, it really depends where you live. Like I said in one of my earlier posts, my service works great for me when I go to Milw, Chicago, etc...just works for sh*t in GB !!

Location is a big factor I suppose. Its all about towers and tower leases. Sprint sux donkey doo at my house, but Cingular is crystal clear.

I guess the moral is, get the service that is best in your area. I, unfortunately, am not in your area.

[Scott Campbell]

Um, any phone can be used to work with any provider, just has to be unlocked. There are few phones that are made that are exclusive to certain carriers.

That's not accurate. A GSM phone (T-Mobile, Cingular) can't be unlocked to work on a CDMA network (Sprint or Verizon). And visa versa. The phones use different hardware.

[Partial]

Um, any phone can be used to work with any provider, just has to be unlocked. There are few phones that are made that are exclusive to certain carriers.

That's not accurate. A GSM phone (T-Mobile, Cingular) can't be unlocked to work on a CDMA network (Sprint or Verizon). And visa versa. The phones use different hardware.

Even thats not true in reality. You would have to go manufacturer direct. Companies alter the firmware now-a-days and refuse to unlock/relock in order to get you to buy the more expensive phone from them and to cripple features.

A prime example of this is a follows:

Motorola phones used to have a really shiity user interface. Just terrible. About a month ago they released a new user interface called "synergy" that is backwards compatible with most newer phones. US Cellular (and I am sure other companies) have blocked the ability to upgrade the phones software for several reasons. It truly is a pain in the ass.

I can understand firmware hacking to prevent piracy in electronics (with video game consoles, soon to be pcs, etc) because those companies have the right to protect their intellectual property, but crippling firmware to take away standard features on a cell phone is a TOTALLY different and BS thing to do.

[Scott Campbell]

Um, any phone can be used to work with any provider, just has to be unlocked. There are few phones that are made that are exclusive to certain carriers.

That's not accurate. A GSM phone (T-Mobile, Cingular) can't be unlocked to work on a CDMA network (Sprint or Verizon). And visa versa. The phones use different hardware.

Even thats not true in reality.

Yes, it is true. GSM modems are physically different than CDMA modems. It's not a firmware issue. It's a hardware (modem) issue.

[Partial]

Um, any phone can be used to work with any provider, just has to be unlocked. There are few phones that are made that are exclusive to certain carriers.

That's not accurate. A GSM phone (T-Mobile, Cingular) can't be unlocked to work on a CDMA network (Sprint or Verizon). And visa versa. The phones use different hardware.

Even thats not true in reality.

Yes, it is true. GSM modems are physically different than CDMA modems. It's not a firmware issue. It's a hardware (modem) issue.

Right, I understand how it works. EE/SE student here I was saying its not true that you can unlocked any CDMA phone to work on any CDMA tower and any GSM to work on any GSM tower. Not only are there frequency restrictions, most companies are unwilling to do that, now.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

They all suck. It is as simple as that. I rarely meet anyone who is happy with their service.

It is true that certain companies are stronger in cetain markets, Verizon is strong out west.

Myself, I have had sprint since 00. Do i love them, prolly not. But, everytime I thought about switching, someone I knew, who had the other company, was talking about switching to sprint.

I like my new sprint phone, the blade. Think it has a better hand feel than the razr and a little more heft.

Mostly I don't switch cause I play the "i'm leaving, what are u gonna do for me" routine. I love customer retention plans. I got the blade for free, the usual 500 more free minutes (i'm up to like 2500 for 40 beans a month) and 7 call time. I've done this every couple of years. I think I started with 500 anytime minutes.