Suncom

5/22/2006 8:34:00 PM

Quote :

"the only time i've had poor Cingular reception was when i was at the Orlando airport.. I've been in places near Asheville where Cingular was the only provider that worked. BTW some news about Cingular: 2005, they spent $165mln in the Carolinas alone, which includes 277 new cell sites.. in 2006, they're spending $385mln in the Carolinas, with 342 new cell sites, and 3G tech upgrades in select cities.. I think a lot of the reception problems with Cingular may have to deal with the phone. My phone(S710a) gets full reception almost everywhere I go. Even my Z500 before had the same reception. But I've seen it where I'd get 4-5 bars, and the person next to me would be getting 2. "

Someone here work for Cingular perhaps?

5/23/2006 8:52:31 AM

bttt...pretty soon i'm gonna hit a crossroads where i can stay with cingular or be another provider

i guess since i already have a good cingular phone i'd like to stay with them...whats the best deal(by best deal, i guess i mean best bang for your buck)

8/6/2006 4:15:26 PM

http://comtech.ncsu.edu/files/student/Cingularflyer.pdf

8/6/2006 4:45:35 PM

Quote :

"ive talked to friends who have cingular in NC, and we're always getting disconnected, or they'll say stuff like 'im going into a dead spot, ill call you back'. it's really annoying because it happens almost all the time."

I've had Cingular for a year and a half now and I've never had trouble with it. The only place I've been without signal is in a few spots on highway 421 in the middle of hog farming country. I think all of these people I hear complaining about their cellular provider are just whiny brats that want something to fuss about.

8/6/2006 5:00:47 PM

Quote :

"My phone(S710a) gets full reception almost everywhere I go. But I've seen it where I'd get 4-5 bars, and the person next to me would be getting 2."

8/6/2006 5:10:27 PM

From my experience with Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, and Alltell, Alltell has the best service. I've had Alltel for about a month now, and I've only had one call dropped and other than that one instance, reception has been crystal clear. One thing I would like to say about Verizon is that its coverage maps are very misleading--pay careful attention to whether your phone is all-digital and if so, look at the corresponding shaded areas; often times, if your phone is all-digitial, your reception in rural areas will be very limited. I think as much can be said for cingular and sprint. Of course, I don't know whether my experiences with Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint are still indicative of their reception because, as many of you know, they are constantly adding towers and entering into new license agreements with other companies.

8/6/2006 5:16:08 PM

NEXTEL

8/6/2006 5:36:24 PM

Verizon and Cingular are no different


Cingular has the same coverage issue as Verizon despite what every retard thinks (by the basis of dropped calls)

you really should decide which service appeals to your wallet because signal in the triangle area is going to be very close to each other

(ive had both services)

i have Cingular now but I can tell you that I had the least amount of issues with dropped calls with Alltel.

Cingular just had better plans and phones that Alltel and Verizon at the time i got service

8/6/2006 5:37:50 PM

My phone(w600i) gets full reception almost everywhere I go. But I've seen it where I'd get 4-5 bars, and the person next to me would be getting 2.

Quote :

"Someone here work for Cingular perhaps?"

yes i do

[Edited on August 6, 2006 at 5:59 PM. Reason : .]

8/6/2006 5:57:55 PM

Someone here works for Verizon too, and I can tell you they just dumped a shitload into expanding coverage in Eastern NC and are going to plow a lot more into the area in the next couple years. I will see if I can get the exact figures for ya to compare. I can't say much about Raleigh area where most of ya'll care about as I haven't been up there since I got in with them, but I can tell you around here the coverage is very good. I have some friends with Cingular that go to Lake Gaston and other areas and they couldn't get shit and had to use my phone to make calls.

8/6/2006 6:38:50 PM

My husband has had Cingular and now Suncom and I have had Cingular and now have Verizon. There have been a few times when I had signal and he didn't. I didn't like Cingular when I had it. However, I like that Suncom has just the flat rate without a bunch of fees tacked on afterward. My Verizon is supposedly $39.99 but after fees it's around $54. My husband's is $39.99 and he added $10 for the ability to list ten numbers to which he could call free at any time, and it's still cheaper than my plan.

8/6/2006 8:45:11 PM

buy a better phone if you want good signal...do you really expect a free phone to get good reception?

8/6/2006 8:55:04 PM

Quote :

" Verizon and Cingular are no different Cingular has the same coverage issue as Verizon despite what every retard thinks (by the basis of dropped calls)"

really?
please explain to me why my mother and I have no signal out in angier...but my boyfriend does. Why i had no reception at my dorm, except by my window at the edge of the building, and my best friend and boyfriend both were able to have reception in the inner hallways and inside end of the apt.

i have a good phone; mom has a shitty one.
best friend has a good phone; boyfriend has a shitty one.
(i use shitty relative to mine and miska's)

guess who has which carrier.

8/6/2006 9:39:47 PM

Anyone with verizon get repeat text messages... lots of times I get them in multiples of three. Other than being a little pricey, I rarely have coverage issues.

8/7/2006 12:14:55 AM

whats cheaper, verizon or cingular?

8/7/2006 12:55:33 AM

Cheapest Verizon plan is $39.99/450 minutes for a single-line plan. $35 activation fee and taxes and shit will get you around 47 or so.

Quote :

"My Verizon is supposedly $39.99 but after fees it's around $54"

Did you add the 4.99 insurance or a text message package? When the salesperson asks you if you want these things and tells your that price, that is added to the plan. It sounds like you added $5 txt messaging package or insurance or something. It should only be about 47 or so with the line charges.

8/7/2006 6:58:55 AM

^She probably got slammed with Roadside Assistance and Insurance.

8/7/2006 9:00:01 AM

Yea I love when folks here you say thats 5/bucks on your bill and think its a one time charge. Then they are like a MONTH and I'm like, well shit your phone is $300 at cost, you think 5 bucks is gonna cover the bitch for the next 2 years? Then of course they come back, "It ain't 300 bucks, its only 100 when I buy it" and I'm like "Yea thats because you just activated a new line of service dumbass, and therfore get a discount. I guess you think those phones that are free we really don't pay anything for either."

8/7/2006 10:26:16 AM

Anecdotal evidence = truth.

8/7/2006 4:02:47 PM

so far i think with cingulars ncsu discount, cingular is the cheaper option

plus rollover...

8/7/2006 4:07:20 PM

rollover is for people who are too dumb to keep track of their minutes.

I've gone over my minutes one month in 4 years of having a cell phone, and I knew it would happen ahead of time.

BTW, V0LCOM you are completely 100% wrong. GSM coverage in the US isn't anywhere CLOSE to the CDMA coverage area.

8/7/2006 5:19:51 PM

isnt gsm more updated/newer?

yeah rollover is awesome but honestly what can i do with like 6 thousand rollover minutes...obviously i'm not going to use them- i think i like it based on my jewish principles rather than actually needing it

8/7/2006 5:21:29 PM

alltel

8/7/2006 5:21:53 PM

yea they are adding a bajillion towers because there is still no GSM coverage in a LARGE part of the country

8/7/2006 5:22:32 PM

Quote :

"rollover is for people who are too dumb to keep track of their minutes."

or people like my mother who SUCK at planning ahead

"oh, I should have called my mother yesterday. yes, a 30 minute conversation on I40 is an excellent idea!"
...and calls me AFTER: "how are we doing on minutes?"

they also would have come in handy had we added my sister to my plan.
those are about the only two cases I can think of where your statement wouldn't apply without conditions, though.

8/7/2006 5:26:50 PM

its called free nights and weekends, i plan almost all my nonbusiness calls around that

8/7/2006 5:29:13 PM

what's it called again? thx in advance

8/7/2006 5:30:12 PM

Quote :

"Sim cards are only worth a damn if you are going overseas. "

Yeah, you won't be able to use your Verizon phone overseas. I have Verizon and am considering switching to Cingular just because I am not happy with their billing plan. I want rollover minutes dammit. I either go over by a little bit or end up not using a little bit each month, it would be nice for that to even out.

8/7/2006 5:42:55 PM

yeah, i mean nothing personal against verizon, but cingular is all around the better deal

8/7/2006 5:43:50 PM

this thread has been done a number of times...this is the most recent one i've seen:

message_topic.aspx?topic=421850

if your question is which offers better customer service, then they're equal...if it's about quality of cell phone service, then it depends...do you ever go far from cities or major highways? do you want to travel out of the country and use your phone? if you answered yes to either/both, then go with GSM (cingular)...if you ever think you'll need phone service away from a major area, then that reason alone is why you should go with CDMA (verizon)...you can get relatively equivalent phones/plans/services with both companies

that said, alltel FTW

8/7/2006 6:04:24 PM

i have cingular so it is the best. its a metaphor, but seriously it happenned

8/7/2006 6:09:26 PM

verizon, feds use verizon, i use verizon on personal phone...even in the middle of nowhere in NY(in a village, yes, they have villages) i have no problems, while other people get no signal with there phones(using all other companies)

8/7/2006 6:51:08 PM

Anyone beside me having trouble with Cingular signal out at U. Woods? It says I have 5 or 6 bars but it drops calls ever 3-6 minutes. It's so damn annoying. I even tried to call the help people and it dropped my call to them three times. So I went to the Cingular store at Crossroads and the dude looked at my call history and say clearly that all of my phone calls were short and repetitive (because I'm forever having to call people back). He was like..."we are restructring the network in that area. There is no way I can promise that this will not continue to be a problem. No, I can't give you minutes back. No, I can't make your rate lower. You'll just have to deal with it and hope it gets better."

Bastard. Who restructures the network and makes it worse!?

8/8/2006 6:45:26 AM

Quote :

"Yeah, you won't be able to use your Verizon phone overseas."

Absolute bullshit. I sold a 700W to a guy who had his business phone with Verizon for 2.5+ years. In that time he had gone to Indonesia several times as well as China and other areas and had no problem using it overseas. He made regular trips over there for work and said it did great.

Another advantage on Verizon, they are trying to cut their stupid ass fees down significantly. They already cut the dumb $15/month just to access V-Cast to download music. Now they are going to start pro-rating their early termination fees, so that if you have had your plan for a year and a half, your only charged 25% of the ETF. Meanwhile Cingular is punishing the people that they bought up from AT&T that aren't switching from Analog or TMDA by charging them $5/month because they aren't using digital phones. Sounds kinda shitty, though I know they are trying to force them to upgrade so they don't have to support the Analog/TDMA systems anymore. But its still kinda shitty.

8/8/2006 6:56:13 AM

Cingular all the way, man! Because you'll get to choose from the large variety of Sony-Ericsson phones and, as we all know, Sony-Ericsson phones are the best out there.

8/8/2006 7:33:15 AM

I use Cingular but I worked for Verizon for about a month....that being said, I liked Verizon more but it is more expensive. You can get service in more places (I was in three seperate states and lots of cities and still had service for the month I worked a promo for VCast) but I am not impressed by many of the service features Verizon offers. For example, Verizon has the service center in their stores but they forget to mention they are always completely packed when you go in to service your phone. Also with Verizon, you have to pay $20 each time you switch phones so you get a new phone...plan to add on $20. They have a good network and such if that is what you are looking for but I prefer to just pay less for Cingular and get adequate service. They are very close in the running for highest customer loyalty but Verizon has a few percents higher than Cingular.

8/8/2006 7:36:40 AM

Quote :

"you have to pay $20 each time you switch phones "

Must have changed. I never charge this at my store. I do it for free.

8/8/2006 7:43:07 AM

I got Cingular a few days ago, and I do not even get reception at my OWN APARTMENT (lineberry). I get two bars and when I make or receive calls their call gets dropped within a few minutes.

GO VERIZON!!!

8/8/2006 7:57:48 AM

Quote :

"verizon, by a mile"

How dare someone dare say ALLTEL???

WTF? Alltel blows. Don't use it because Chuck Amato does.

8/8/2006 8:22:18 AM

Alltel sucks cuz everybody you call somebody with alltell you have to wait for all those clicks.

I dont think anybody has mentioned the fact that Cingular phones do not lock ringtones and the bluetooth capabilities of the phones. You can transfer ringtones with other people and use them as your ringtones, Verizon DOES NOT LET YOU DO THAT.

Ive had Cingular for so long, and my dad has Verizon, and in terms of signal, there isn't much difference locally. In the mountains, my phone was the only one that worked, however while driving through west virginia, his worked and mine didn't.

I would reccomend Cingular because of service and rollover minutes.
The rest is up to you.

8/8/2006 9:12:43 AM

Quote :

"I dont think anybody has mentioned the fact that Cingular phones do not lock ringtones and the bluetooth capabilities of the phones. You can transfer ringtones with other people and use them as your ringtones, Verizon DOES NOT LET YOU DO THAT. "

Truth

8/8/2006 9:16:58 AM

Quote :

"Alltel sucks cuz everybody you call somebody with alltell you have to wait for all those clicks."

Haha, that is your only complaint??

8/8/2006 9:29:03 AM

^My dad hates his Alltel phone. The only reason he doesn't switch is because it is paid for by his company. But he drops his calls all the damn time esp. when I call him.

8/8/2006 9:37:14 AM

Quote :

"How dare someone dare say ALLTEL??? WTF? Alltel blows. Don't use it because Chuck Amato does."

and

Quote :

"Alltel sucks cuz everybody you call somebody with alltell you have to wait for all those clicks."

to which i agree with

Quote :

"Haha, that is your only complaint??"

i love alltel...i love paying $40/month for 700 minutes, getting free nights & weekends with free calls to other alltel customers AND getting to choose 10 numbers (landline or non-alltel wireless) to call for free as well...in a month, i don't even use 200 anytime minutes because of these features

i only get clicks when i'm out in podunk, and if that's what has to happen in order for me to make a call (after all, that's the point of a cell phone), i'll happily take that over GSM (cingular's) inability to make a call at all

Quote :

"I dont think anybody has mentioned the fact that Cingular phones do not lock ringtones and the bluetooth capabilities of the phones. You can transfer ringtones with other people and use them as your ringtones, Verizon DOES NOT LET YOU DO THAT."

this is entirely true...verizon even got sued because you couldn't use the v710, despite the fact that they advertised their features...that said, i'm with alltel and using the nokia 6255i and my bluetooth is completely enabled...ALSO, the nokia software is completely free from their website and i can load up java games, ringtones, mp3s and photos via bluetooth without any modding whatsoever

ALLTEL FTW

8/8/2006 10:28:37 AM

Quote :

"i love alltel...i love paying $40/month for 700 minutes, getting free nights & weekends with free calls to other alltel customers AND getting to choose 10 numbers (landline or non-alltel wireless) to call for free as well...in a month, i don't even use 200 anytime minutes because of these features "

Sounds like a good deal to me, I have to try to use 150 anytime minutes, as I have the mobile to mobile and 10 freebie numbers

Quote :

"i only get clicks when i'm out in podunk"

Wouldn't this be true of any cell phone provider?

8/8/2006 10:35:53 AM

Quote :

"They run off of an analog CDMA network"

Quote :

"CDMA is a dual mode network"

Both are wrong. CDMA is a form of DIGITAL. Verizon does have analog (800 MHz - cellular band), and two frequencies of CDMA digital (800 MHz - again, cellular, and 1900 Mhz - PCS band). Verizon uses 800 MHz digital and analog in the Carolinas and 1900 in Florida, for example.

Verizon DOES have dual mode phones, but your definition was wrong.

CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access

Also, all CDMA chipsets in the US (maybe worldwide) are made by Qualcomm.

8/8/2006 10:38:34 AM

i dropped 7 calls yesterday with cingular

8/8/2006 10:40:01 AM

Quote :

"Wouldn't this be true of any cell phone provider?"

no...the all-digital networks (GSM) don't have the clicks...the clicks are a function of the CDMA service searching for the best frequency:

Quote :

"CDMA is a "spread spectrum" technology, allowing many users to occupy the same time and frequency allocations in a given band/space. As its name implies, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) assigns unique codes to each communication to differentiate it from others in the same spectrum. In a world of finite spectrum resources, CDMA enables many more people to share the airwaves at the same time than do alternative technologies."

while your phone is requesting a unique code, you get the clicks...the farther you are from a digital tower, the more clicks you'll have while your phone attempts to work out the request...you SHOULDN'T get the clicks when you're on an analog network

8/8/2006 10:54:38 AM

Quote :

"Both are wrong. CDMA is a form of DIGITAL. Verizon does have analog (800 MHz - cellular band), and two frequencies of CDMA digital (800 MHz - again, cellular, and 1900 Mhz - PCS band). Verizon uses 800 MHz digital and analog in the Carolinas and 1900 in Florida, for example. Verizon DOES have dual mode phones, but your definition was wrong. CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access Also, all CDMA chipsets in the US (maybe worldwide) are made by Qualcomm."

You are correct, I should have said Verizon is a dual mode network not CDMA. Good explanation

8/8/2006 11:02:14 AM