cingular vs verizon

[illapah]

Been thinking of changing to Cingular cell service from Verizon. Any experiences I should know about with Cingular?

[Montana_738]

Hi Illaph,

You better research this good, there should be a lot of threads on this subject. Personally I would stick with Verizon, they do have good reception all over the US. I know in Illinois cingular sucks for reception. I use Us Cellular for our business because it's a little cheaper and the reception is great in our area, but my wife has Verizon. We use her phone when traveling for two reasons, I can have a Cellular data Card with cellflex that plugs into our lap top that allows me to go on the internet and get my email or just browse around the net. It's put out by Ositech Communications. It's not the quickest thing in the world (I think the speed is 28k)but it serves my needs and there is no extra charge for using it other then your air time. If I need to pick up me email or look at something on the net I try to do this on off peak hours. I'm not sure what I paid for the card as it's been a few years ago that I purchased it, but I think it was in the $50.00 dollar range. Verizon is the only company that I know of you can do this with their Motorola phone. I do hear stories that the new phones they are selling won't let you do this either. They want you to buy their monthly program. I can't remember which Motorola it is but if you want to know I will see if I can come up with the model number. So if you have one of the older Motorola phones hang on to it. The other reason is of course reception, so far anywhere I have traveled the reception has been great.
Mind you though this is only my oppinion. I'm sure other's out there will be able to help also.

Good luck,

Bill

[315RLS]

quote:Originally posted by illapah

Been thinking of changing to Cingular cell service from Verizon. Any experiences I should know about with Cingular?

We use Cingular Family Talk Nation 550 with Rollover. The plan allows additional phones with their own numbers added to the plan for 9.99 per additional line in addition to the $49 per month. Calls are unlimited between numbers/phones in the plan and the balance of the 550 monthly minutes are added to your rollover total within a 12 month sliding windows. This is a national plan and their coverage country wide has been good from our experience. Once you have the service and phones squared away and the billing is right and don't have to deal with customer service anymore then they are fine. They provide an online dashboard to see usage and billing. I haven't used verizon but when looking for a plan I couldn't find anything better for our requirements.

(I've been using the Cingular datacard for my laptop for the last couple of years and that has worked great. My company gave me the card and service so I've no idea of the cost. Just use it when I need it.)

[Chuck and Carol]

I use Verizon when we travel. They have this program you buy ($14.00) and then I can hook my cell to my laptop. Of course it I use it during week days I use my minutes. After 9 and weekends free.

Carol

[Bob & Lee]

we have cingular we changed from nextel the service w/nextel in colorado was bad, cingular so far has been good service we have two phones and a wireless card in our computer so both phones are free all the time they give us a 19% discount every month for military and the package we got the card was $199. we got free. got it all done on line.when we start to travel more we may have another view. We have traveled from Kansas City MO to Colorado Springs CO and Rapid City SD to Long beach CA and it all worked OK

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Been using Verizon for years and we are totally satisfied. Since we have been full timing we have found few places where we didn't get a signal. We also use the Verizon AirCard for the Internet. The AirCard has nearly the same speed or faster than DSL and Road Runner.

[jrgwdenner]

During our trip from Alabama to Alaska, down the west coast, across the south with side trips up to Illinois and Iowa, Verizon has the best connection. Cingular has the rollover minutes which is also appealing. So it depends on what you're looking for.

[Longwell]

We just changed from Cingular to Verizon and couldn't be happier. Rates on programs are lower but, more importantly, reception is about 10 times better wherever we go. That's my 2 cents.
(By the way, if you get a penny for your thoughts but you put in your 2 cents worth, who gets the change?)
Larry

[bobgay]

We had Cingular for 2 years. Really liked the rollover of unused minutes, but we seemed to be without service in many areas, particularly in the boonies (where we seem to spend a lot of time). We have been with Verizon for 2 years now and have been happy with the coverage. We use the Verizon Mobile Office Kit for the internet, and it has worked well for us-doesn't cost anything except for the minutes used.

[Wordsmith]

We too have Cingular, and those ahead of me said it well. Reception is often spotty, no matter what the commercial says about more bars. There are areas in South Carolina--yes, the boonies--where we have had difficulty picking up a signal. Do like the option of rollover minutes, but really do not use it enough that it is a major deal.

Just thought to add, we had a deplorable run with Cingular last year when Marsha wanted to add a phone. We were supposed to be refunded the price of it and my new one when we upgraded our plan, but I wound up spending close to ten hours on the phone trying to get someone to understand that. No one seemed to know anything about the promotion we were offered for being a "valued Cingular customer." Eventually, and at different times, I managed to wrestle several assurances that our refunds would come in the standard six to eight weeks. It has been four months since my last call to them and we have received nothing. I have been too tired to fight with it any more.

[richfaa]

We have cingular and it can be spotty..howver AT&T just aquired Cingular and AT&T has a very good coverage area. I think that merger may put the new company, I think it will be called AT&T into the lead with coverage.. You might want to wait and see????

[CountryGuy]

Verizon, no air card, but we are not full timers, so only use a few weeks a year in that mode, I wait till 9 PM or Sat-Sun, and surf till I cannot stay awake! In last 2 years service has improved dramatically, most places we can get a call out. Not all, but, most. Staying right where we are, Verizon.

[Bill and Bobbi]

We switched back to Verizon for the better coverage too and nationwide long distance. We had Nextel(which my work still gives me). But Nextel coverage is practically non existent when we camp in western North Carolina. I would think that with North Carolina being such a big fan base for NASCAR and Nextel being a big time sponsor that they would blanket the state. But what does logic have to do with anything?

[dsprik]

I believe we've talked about this before. I am going to stay with Alltel. It is now the largest "regional" carrier, by far in the US, and they are growing faster (not counting mergers) than any single cell carrier in the US. They are dropping their rates (not really - they just increase the minutes for each rate, eg: $99/month used to be for 1600 minutes last year at this time, and now $99 = 2200 min). You can now get 6,000 "national" mins for $199/mo. How would you ever used that many "primetime" minutes???

Cheryl and I share ours and we do not have a landline phone. We have to push to get 1600-1800 month, using it as home phone, plus with both of us on the road (as with most companies, cell to cell users are free plus one free landline number is free). I even use the internet on mine during prime time, along with several brew apps that access the internet, like weather, email, and news headlines. Maybe if there were four heavy users all sharing...

Also, they really closed the gap between their "local plan" and the "national plan", to where it's almost riduclous. $99 local plan = 2200 min, $99 national plan = 2100 min (just recently did this with no fanfare).

I have been to Las Vegas, and most of the eastern US, and Midwest with no loss of signal. Canada calls are also dropping over the last few months. I used to call my son in Neepawa, MB and dread the bill. Now it's only $.20/minute - used to be $.79/minute last fall.

This is their national map:
http://www.alltel.com/personal/wirel...om_map_775.gif

I have heard some bad things about Verizon, in regards to them modifying their phones (disabling Bluetooth, etc). Hopefully they have changed this poilcy, but last year there were a ton of very unhappy customers all over the internet on forum boards. Their coverage, however, is the best. We'll see how Alltel stacks up.

ATT will definitely bear watching. There are always grwoing pains in something like that, but I am sure that they will hustle to get things up and running ASAP, as this has such a large potential for them and they can't afford to upset a lot of consumers.

*On Edit~ Here is their rate plan:

http://www.alltel.com/personal/wirel...l_freedom.html

[Montana_738]

Glen & Lorraine,

If you don't mind what do you pay for your AirCard, also how fast is this card?
I'm paying Verizon around $68.00 per month nation wide. The monthly charge for 1000 min. is $39.99, then they add usage charges for another $20.90, plus surcharges for $1.18 & Tax of another six or seven dollars. So our $39.99 plan averages $68.00 every month. None of these companies tell you about all the other charges you will receive. When you buy the plan you think you really got a good deal. I see some of the users are paying around $100.00 I think that's outragious. Well anyway I wanted to know how you like your AirCard.
What I like about US cellular is when they tell you your plan will cost you $50.00, that is what the bill is, they don't add all these other charges. The problem is get outside of our tri-state area and the reception sucks.

thanks,

Bill

[gkbutler]

We have the Cingular Nationwide program with roll over. Our bill is $74 for two phones. That includes all charges and fees. We have had them for several years now with no problems. We have great reception everywhere we go, even when we went out west several years ago. The only place we have problems with reception is the RV park where we are. Once we leave the property, our signal is exellent.

[Montana Sky]

I have Cingular Nationwide, have had the plan for the past 8 years back when it was AT&T wireless. I travel the road from Spokane to Nashville, Spokane to Palm Springs and every where in between. I spend alot of time in Rapid City, Chicago, Seattle, Nashville and Orlando throughout the year. Have been very, very happy with the Cingular coverage.

[rak]

We just changed from Cingular to Verizon because the Verizon reception is much better. I had trouble of having calls droped and the coverage was not good where we camp. Verizon cost a little more but it is well worth it. Cingular is rated at the bottom in consumers digest copaired to T-Moble, Sprint, And Verizon. I am very happy with the fact that I changed to Verizon.
Dick

[houseof many dogs]

just to muddy the waters here - We have TRACFONE prepaid and are quite happy with the service and coverage. Had local coverage from WI to FL and hardly ever in a no service area.
If you do not use a lot of minutes - prepaid is the way to go.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I have been with Verizon sence 1991 of course it wasn't Verizon then and I dont remember what it was either, there were times I wanted to dump them and get a different provider, but I never changed even with all my threats to them. mine and Georgias free time starts at 7 PM untill 7 AM and weekends free as everybody else. I will stay here with Verizon. even though there are those days!!! I think all carriers have there Horror stories from the user end.

TT2