Verizon v. AT&T v. Sprint v. US Cellular

[tim huntzinger]

Funny that the telecoms want immunity from any laws that may have been broken for the NSA's sake.  But, hey, let us sue about the iPhone ye consumer advocates . . .

I think a more interesting angle would be if the telecoms cooperated with US intelligence agencies to facilitate the acquisition of wireless devices by potential evildoers.  Of course, I have evidence that points to that.

[tim huntzinger]

Surprise! Senator Rockfeller is flush with telecom cash, receiving $25K in the last year alone from Verizon.

[Johnboy976]

Overall Verizon has been rated the highest in customer satisfaction for any major cell phone company.

I have both AT&T and Verizon, and I can say that if it weren't for the fact that I live in Kentucky, I would have gone Verizon and never looked back. As Kentucky is one of five states where AT&T has better overall coverage than Verizon, I have both.

[Hometown]

Okay, so if Qwest is not available, does anyone know if US Cellular or Sprint turned over customer records?  Noodlez says Sprint's signal strength isn't so great where Noodlez lives.  Are there any other Sprint or US Cellular users that would be willing to share their opinion on their service?

[tulsa_fan]

I have been a US Cellular customer for 7 years.  I don't have any trouble with them.  They are helpful, there are a million stores, the service is good.  I rarely lose a call, anyway, I'd recommend them.  My only complain from them in having been loyal for 7 years, I'd like to upgrade phones and not have to pain so much when its not time for renewal.

[inteller]

quote:Originally posted by tulsa_fan

I have been a US Cellular customer for 7 years.  I don't have any trouble with them.  They are helpful, there are a million stores, the service is good.  I rarely lose a call, anyway, I'd recommend them.  My only complain from them in having been loyal for 7 years, I'd like to upgrade phones and not have to pain so much when its not time for renewal.

this is why I would only use WCDMA service because it is easy to swap SIM cards.  CDMA sucks big time for this reason.

[Breadburner]

US Cellular sucks....

[tim huntzinger]

I must say that the call center for Cingular-cum-at&t whipped Verizon's arse in the New York market recently, not only reducing churn but helping to increase the subscriber base.  Turns out the smash-jaw New Yokkers respond well to us easy-going Tulsans.

[USRufnex]

^^last 2 posts = spin or in BB's case, the story of a disgruntled customer... (there are many disgruntled cell phone customers for ALL wireless providers, btw... problem is industry-wide).

any real info or stats?... if you don't post them, I will...

[tim huntzinger]

No doubt, link it up soccerboy.  I have not heard that BB's experience is representative of USC's customer service, but I know that the individual companies' satisfaction varies from region to region and are all pretty much in the same range.

In my case I just want folk to know that at&t has a major presence here and booth jockey Tulsans do a great job for at&t.  Verizon has very little invested in our region, so if keeping it local matters this is something to consider.

[Wilbur]

I've had US Cellular for many years and could not be happier and will continue to be their customer in the near future.  They treat their customers great and it's easy to get a hold of their customer service reps or to contact a store.

I had AT&T through my employer several years ago and IT SUCKED.  Their customer service was the absolute worst and you could never call a local store without having to go through an 800 number some place.  I would love to be using an iphone, but refuse since it can only be used through AT&T.

Plus, I always know when I'm talking to someone using AT&T because their reception always blows.

[tim huntzinger]

Hmmmmm, 'bur, sure it is not one of them say-wilbur-lemme-call-you-back-my-reception-sucks kind of things?  May not be the reception! []

[USRufnex]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

No doubt, link it up soccerboy.  I have not heard that BB's experience is representative of USC's customer service, but I know that the individual companies' satisfaction varies from region to region and are all pretty much in the same range.

In my case I just want folk to know that at&t has a major presence here and booth jockey Tulsans do a great job for at&t.  Verizon has very little invested in our region, so if keeping it local matters this is something to consider.

Of course AT&T has a major presence here... this is Southwestern Bell country.  SBC = AT&T.  They bought the name.  The northeast is Atlantic Bell/NYNEX, etc country... and Verizon Wireless is the offspring of Atlantic Bell and Britain's Vodaphone... the Cingular and AT&T merger was messy.  The conversion from TDMA to GSM was also messy.  They've come a long way from those days and have reduced "churn" alot in the last couple of years.  Last I checked, a Tulsa customer will still get to talk to a "booth Jockey" in Lubbock... and everyone in the NY and Philly markets will still call customer service and get Tulsa...

Those companies are the revenge of the baby bells.  Which is fine, I guess.  The nice thing is that VZW provides another comparable option to AT&T/Cingular and Sprint.  If you drive to Muskogee or OKC, your extended area of VZW will be US Cellular.

US Cellular is currently not the best option for folks who have to have "cutting-edge" equipment and technology.  Their phones simply aren't going to have as many bells/whistles until US Cell starts putting in the big $$$ for wireless broadband EV-DO towers.  They've done this in Milwaukee and will likely roll out to other cities in the next couple of years.  US Cell is considered a regional provider (6th largest behind Alltel, T-Mobile, Sprint/Nextel, VZW and AT&T/Cingular) which also offers national plans with no roaming to compete with other national carriers.  

Verizon Wireless has had a very impressive rollout in Tulsa.... they just entered the market last January.  ALL their towers are broadband EVDO and their slave driver has been getting those broadband cell towers up and running over the past few months-- that coverage map has doubled in the past six months.  In the next year or so, VZW will enter the OKC market which will cover them in all 100 of the nations top markets.  
  http://www.jdpower.com/telecom/ratings/wireless/index.asp

Hometown, the story from a couple of years ago only involved landline carriers AT&T and Verizon Communications volunteering customer info.  I'd be more frightened of yahoo and google and internet "spyware" if I were worried about my privacy.  US Cell is not sharing information at this time... the kind of info that gets into the hands of marketers... who somehow know your tastes in music downloads or games.... kinda frightening how much potential there is for this kind of information sharing...

Now if I could just have ISP's share information with my spammers letting them know I will NEVER buy herbal viagra or a penis extension... thanks.  []

[AMP]

I have owned two Cricket phones and service for it seems like 7 years or as long as they have been in Tulsa.  Never have had any issues with them, Travel Time works as good or better than my Sprint does.  Took both them 32,000 miles last Summer and the Sprint had a signal less times than the Motorola Cricket did.  

www.mycricket.com

Cricket has no contract, month to month EASY BUTTON deal.  Don't like it turn it off no problem.  Need it back, turn it back on, way too easy.

Also all Cricket areas now servered, you have the same unlimited talk tiime 24/7 as you do in our home service area.  Have had up to 20 employees on our cell plan at a single time using US Cellulars, SWB Ericksons, I have never found a better value or service than the Cricket deal.  

Until you travel around 50,000 plus miles from Florida to Washington State and from New York to San Diego and several stops in between, you really don't have a concept of National Cell Service.  With the Cricket deal, their Travel Time locates the closest tower/service to lock onto. I rarely found a location where the Cricket, which seems to use most services, had no signal.  

Majority of the folks working in the local offices for the cell services don't do much traveling outside of their local village.

[USRufnex]

AMP--- "Majority of the folks working in the local offices for the cell services don't do much traveling outside of their local village."

LOL.  If you're happy with your Cricket service, fine.

Every carrier has its strengths and weaknesses... Cricket offers unlimited calling within a relatively small local area.  Nationwide long distance is free which is  industry standard.  Cricket is the only local wireless provider I know of where you will be roaming in OKC or Muskogee... heck, you'll roam  anyplace north of Collinsville or south of Bixby.

But if you're lucky enough to travel to Wichita or El Paso or KC on a regular basis and don't travel to St Louis or Dallas or Chicago, it's a great deal cuz you won't be roaming in certain cities...

http://www.mycricket.com/cricketcoveragemaps/area?zipcode=74146

...and of course you won't be under a contract because you'll be paying these prices for a phone...
http://www.mycricket.com/cricketphones/

Back to topic.... I'm not sure boycotting a certain carrier based on previous press releases accomplishes a lot... the best thing you can do is write letters to the company you decide to use, telling them how you want your privacy to be respected, and that you will not give approval to have that information "shared" voluntarily with government agencies or with the company's marketing dept or with any of their third-party "partners."