debating
i still don't have a new phone. i'm indecisive. sometimes. and also... i'm thinking.
some of my most favorite [and most frequently called] people in the whole wide world use cingular. of course, some of my most favorite people in the whole wide world also use sprint, but oddly enough, most of them are local; in one case i can see their house from mine which surely makes a less than compelling reason to stay with the service. anyway, unlike sprint, mobile-to-mobile minutes are standard for cingular users... very tempting. it's been noted elsewhere that this may be a very bad idea, but it sure sounds like fun. and the whole night time minutes thing doesn't work so well when you have strictly mobile friends in mountain standard time.
[sidenote, survey, public service announcement, and commentary: am i the only person on earth that still has a landline? if you need to call me and there is at least a 50/50 chance that i am home, CALL MY LANDLINE FIRST. this seems obvious to me, but maybe i'm just weird like that.]
cingular users: are you happy with cingular? what are your experiences with billing? customer service? do you like your plan? pricing? phone? does it work well in this particular area? all other [cingular related] miscellaneous factoids are welcome.
my only reservation about all of this is that aside from their inane phone rebate regulations, i have never had a major problem with sprint in the almost four years i've used their service. it's a little like my good landlord situation. only not.
so, internet: what say you? should i stay or should i go?
mdog
16 Comments
Reader Comments (16)
:O)
As far as T-mobile goes (the story Jared referred to...and i've known several others who have had similar experiences a couple years ago), they went through a phase of massive growth and acquisitions to expand, but had several integration issues (very common in these situations). From what I gather, they have move past all that.
The moral of the story is you need to look at things in a current context. Who has the fewest dropped calls industray wide? (#1 Cingular, #2 Verizon...). Who has the plans that best serve your needs? etc...
jared - guess i'm a sucker for the voice quality of landlines...
jeff - the mobile-to-mobile is the only real reason i'm even thinking of switching. the rollover minutes are also a definite financial draw. i remember about four or five years ago i had friends using at&t [now cingular of course], and the voice quality was just horrible. for some reason i've carried that with me and i'm trying to get feedback from current users [thanks!].
My plan (w/o discount): $39.99 for 450 minutes + 5000 nt/wknds
+ $7.00 to make evening start at 7pm (instead of 9pm).
and I've been very liberal with my minutes and still have over 1000 banked (the oldest expire after 12 mos.).
Voice quality has more to do with the phone than the carrier. Back when you had AT&T, they were most likely not GSM, they started that a couple years ago and as they transitioned into it, Cingular bought 'em. Almost every country in the world uses GSM, so phones you buy can work anywhere, unlike the CDMA/TDMA (i.e. spring, Alltell, etc) technology.
david, however, had crappy service with cingular when he got a razr. he now has verizon and it works much better. not sure why, but he could tell you if you really want to know.
good luck!
amo - thanks for the input. as far as the razr, that's weird since jeff [above] has one and seems happy...
but I still like cingular
On another note, "recycled??" Try, returned to the original owner. Please.
i have no idea what is going on with your last comment. is it some sort of code?
surely i have other cingular readers out there... don't be shy. :)
My 5c is that it's all about the coverage in your area. I live in a major city, so I found out I could basically go with any service provider and be ok. I was a bit worried about wedding travel in the boonies of NH, but have not had a problem since switching to Tmo (they call themselves that sometimes, incredibly enough). I just made sure I had one of the major players rather than going for cheap-but sketchy places where they give you a "free" phone that's refurbed from a Japanese user.
kevin - good thinking. has yours broken off its hinge too? not that turning off sporadically isn't enough reason to shop for a new one. can you explain to me why i still have this intense desire to stick with samsung models even though they keep breaking? i think there is something wrong with me.
i will be beyond amused if you jump to cingular.