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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?

Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 10:41PM by Registered Commentermdog | Comments16 Comments

Reader Comments (16)

God is telling you to stick with sprint.

:O)
Oct 16, 2006 at 10:59PM | Unregistered Commenterpaul
I REALLY like Sprint. I switched to T-Mobile once, which is one of the worst decisions I've ever made in my life. I hear Cingular is okay, but I've not tried it. As for the land line debate, I haven't had a land line in about seven years, and I just call your cell because your on Sprint and it's free. Plus, I'm too lazy to make two calls.
Oct 17, 2006 at 09:42AM | Unregistered Commenterjared
I've heard sprint is okay (I'd never use them...can we say "dropped calls"?), but in this area I think Cingular has the broadest coverage, and is especially resilient to basements and elevators with the quad-band phones they have. Also, you'd have all the perks of gsm. You also get roll-over, which is way cool. If you ever work for OU, you can get 15% off your plan as well.

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...
Oct 17, 2006 at 10:26AM | Unregistered CommenterJeff
paul - uh, very helpful. thanks.

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!].
Oct 17, 2006 at 10:54AM | Registered Commentermdog
Whatever you do... For long conversations or driving in a car, I HIGHLY recommend getting a bluetooth earpiece. They are just awesome. Some of the nicer ones have noise cancelling algorithms that makes it quieter when you're in your car etc...

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.
Oct 17, 2006 at 12:40PM | Unregistered CommenterJeff
even though i'm in chicago, i thought i'd pitch in and say i'm a happy cingular user. happy with the lack of dropped calls, happy with the customer service (which i can't say i've had to call more than once), happy with the plan.

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!
Oct 17, 2006 at 01:24PM | Unregistered Commenteramo
jeff - perhaps i can con them into giving me a free earpiece if i go with cingular. :)

amo - thanks for the input. as far as the razr, that's weird since jeff [above] has one and seems happy...
Oct 17, 2006 at 01:30PM | Registered Commentermdog
plus with gsm you can get that funky feedback noise with your landline phone, your tv, your clock radio, your car radio...

but I still like cingular
Oct 17, 2006 at 05:45PM | Unregistered Commenterkt
you know, i've seriously thought about that little quirk. because it's REALLY freaking annoying. but i suppose it would be a small price to pay.
Oct 17, 2006 at 05:52PM | Registered Commentermdog
I think the wisest decision is to have BOTH. More is always better, right?

On another note, "recycled??" Try, returned to the original owner. Please.
Oct 18, 2006 at 12:44AM | Unregistered CommenterSJL
both, yes. of COURSE. why didn't i think of that? live in excess, i always say!

i have no idea what is going on with your last comment. is it some sort of code?
Oct 18, 2006 at 07:13AM | Registered Commentermdog
If cellular providers are all Satan's minions with Verizon being Lucifer himself, Cingular is a lesser demon, maybe along the lines of Mammon or Asteroth.
Oct 18, 2006 at 07:27AM | Unregistered CommenterTB
nice. i'm pretty sure rachel will back you up on the verizon analogy.

surely i have other cingular readers out there... don't be shy. :)
Oct 18, 2006 at 09:01AM | Registered Commentermdog
I was just going to say... Verizon is the antichrist. I think my mom just switched to them, too.

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.
Oct 18, 2006 at 11:37PM | Unregistered Commenterrachel
Hey, I am looking to get a new phone as well and seeing how we always have the same phone I thought we should discuss this before we make any rash decision....
Oct 19, 2006 at 12:28PM | Unregistered CommenterKevin
rachel - yeah i don't do the "free" phones... you get what you pay for.

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.
Oct 19, 2006 at 12:50PM | Registered Commentermdog

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