Nextel all the way !
coast to coast direct connect feature (walkie talkie)
Sprint will slip you the Pickle and At&t will bleed you slowly until you pass out!

 

I've had ATT for over 5 years.. first with a TDMA line, then the GSM line. In my area, I like the service that ATT provides, and the discount from work helps offset the price.
Sprint's sound quality is horrible here (GF uses Sprint)
One negative thing I have with the ATT program is that GSM is not everywhere, so I can drive into southern Ohio, and be totally SOL. My friend has the dual phone (analog and GSM), but still made no difference.
I've heard that Verizon has good service and offers great deals so I recently had my dad and sister switch to Verizon. So far they are happy with their service.
For me, the big thing is my number..I don't want to lose the number, so until they are able to claim ownership to a cell phone number, I'm going to be using ATT.

 

I don't know if Steve C is reading the other members' posts. Yes, we know that service can be spotty in different area but let me tell my own experience.
I pay $100/mo to get high min cell phone so I don't have to get a home phone. I live .5 mile from a Sprint store. the sales persone GUARANTEE good service "the best you'll ever have". Guess what? No signal whatsoever when I go home or pretty much anywhere in my metropolitan area (not a rurual area mind you).
So I call customer service, wait at least 20 minutes to talk to a live person (but often disconnected before being able to). I also went to the local store and discussed this with them.
After dragging me on for 2 months. "oh, we'll fix that problem next week. now go away", I canceled my service but lost a lot of money on the phone, the init fee.
Why am I so upset?
Oh did I mention that I'm a physician and when the hospital page me, I have to walk approx 300 yards from my house to make a phone call. It gets tiring after a while, esp if you have to get up at 2am and walk out in the cold to return a phone call.

 

I just wish I have read a thread like this before signing up with Sprint

 

...or make a thread/poll asking which cell phone service is the worst. I think you'll have the answer.

 

First hand experience. They are not consistent; many of them are not even logical. There is lot's of grey area to play with.

It's a matter of how you interpret the books, but yes, every carrier has a noose around their neck by one or more of the network equipment providers who often delay payments or stretch them out for incredibly long periods with lots of strings attached (buy only our equipment etc). It's the dirty secret the carriers are hiding, but it's real. Now, on the other hand some of the larger carriers, Verizon among them have managed to prove out the economies of scale to the point where they are actually ostensibly making a profit ...

Yes, just like E911 was before it and how long did that take past the first deadline? While it's true that this is a mandate from the government (Nov 2003) the usual process involves years of lobbying and even lawsuits. The major carriers have a lot to lose with this requirement, in all likelihood it won't be happening anytime soon. BTW WNP and LNP are different, the mandate is termed WLNP.

Believe it or not, some of them aren't.

I agree, you never will.

Yet, I have had SprintPCS service since 98 (not always used depending on location) as have a few folks I know and outside of Seattle and parts of California I have never had a problem. My experience does not mean the SprintPCS is great, we all know they have terrible customer service, but using a few folks negative experiences provides nothing but anecdotal evidence, it's just not a valid way to pick a carrier. Asking folks in your area how their experience has been in my opinion is ...

 

I really don't know if i should laugh or cry.. with Steve C's post...

Consumer Reports, JD Powers, and Wall Street Journal All did surveys on cell service, and in each one, who came out on top? and which one came out bottom or near bottom? Granted not everyone is going to have the same / equal reception as someone else, but you know... when survey after survey have people complaining about sprint, something has to be wrong. i am sure if you survey Hyundai owners, a lot of them will say their cars are good. but if you survey drivers who have driven better cars, they will say the Hyundai's suck...

How great can a company be if they post losses after losses quarter after quarter?

Sprint PCS posted a second-quarter net loss of $92 million
Churn level 2.4%
Verizon Wireless' second-quarter consolidated operating revenues include a double-digit, year-over-year increase for the fourth consecutive quarter. Verizon Wireless total revenues grew 14.3 percent to $5.5 billion, from $4.8 billion in the second quarter of 2002. Service revenues grew 14.7 percent, to $5.0 billion, compared with the second quarter of 2002.
Churn level at 1.7%

how can you disregard the facts? Verizon is making money, keeping customers, and providing great customer service...

To state that all companies lie about figures is a typical way to shift attention of the real situation... In this day and age... i doubt companies are that willing to post up "fake" numbers anymore.. for fear of being the next Enron...

 

I am not attempting to divert attention; and with regards to the fake numbers, again there is no consistency between companies as to how they determine what an activation a deactivation and a reactivation are, among other things. There is a lot of grey area in that logic and very few if any legal requirements. The churn numbers you posted up are almost certainly incorrect in an absolute measure.

Apparently you seem hell bent on convincing us all that Sprint is terrible and Verizon is fantastic. So be it. I have no intention of participating in such a debate. My guess is that you are a CSR or sales rep for Verizon and as such you should be biased towards your product.

Being that I have evaluated, fixed and designed many of the internal billing and reporting systems for all of the companies we have discussed here and many of the smaller carriers from long ago I am speaking from a different, perhaps skewed technological viewpoint. I will say this, some of the carriers are better than others, but many of them are a deck of cards from an infrastructure and billing perspective.

 

I like Sprint PCS a lot. Clarity of calls is top notch. Dropped calls happen regardless of the carrier. Signal could be a bit stronger in the Seattle area.

1000 minutes anytime, anywhere on the digital network
3000+ night and weekend mins starting at 8PM
Free Sprint to Sprint calls
$40 a month

Have yet to experience any issues with being overcharged, etc.

Don't plan on switching to another carrier anytime soon and I am no longer under contract.

I agree w/ steve c re: infrastructure/billing/deck of cards etc. attws is a major client of our company and we do some work around that stuff and we know the issues that all carriers have. none are impervious to them or else we wouldn't be working there and elsewhere.

 

actually, i am not hell bent on saying Sprint is terrible or Verizon is fantastic. Yes, i do work for Verizon Wireless in their business office, and because of that, i can say with full honesty that we do provide better service, better coverage and better customer service? why? people i hear about it all the time. If you read my previous posts, you can see that i did say that this is only my take in my region.

I will say, billing is not the easiest thing to do. Verizon went through hell and back converting 10 billing systems to the current number. Why? think how many different billing systems were in each separate company that got bought/merged to form Verizon. Yes, it was bad.. and yes, it pissed a lot of people off.. me included.. but what happened happened...

Back to the churn level. Where i am getting the inform is from the source itself. That is what was posted by the CEO of Sprint PCS.. and CEO of Verizon Wireless.

Steve C, where is your arguement about the earnings? are they calculated different? maybe if Sprint uses Verizon's account method, they will be able to turn those losses into positive gains.. HA!.. *joking.. joking...*

I agree that this is getting nowhere...basically people will have their own choices on what is good for them.. Coverage, price, equipment, name.. .etc... anything...just do a bit of research and ask your friends and co-workers... that is usually the best way to find out who is #1 in your area...