Best Cell Phone Carrier?

[AngryABCGirl]

My metro Sprint PCS is acting flakier and flakier to the point where I have to run around my apt to find reception. It won't work at all in my house in LA and gets spotty in ranom places. I want to move to cellular only and just cancel my landline service, but I need to find a carrier that'll work nationwide, although I'm in Norcal most of the time in Sacremento area, with at least 3 or 4 bars most of the time. Usually I have one of two bars in buildings. Also, does the phone model matter? I'm using a Samsung A500 right now. My dad has one of the newest Samsungs that's an international phone with Cingular service here and seems to have full bars wherever he goes.

Should I just switch to another service with the same phone or get a new package al together, and what carrier should I be looking for?

[ren28]

I use Cingular in the Bay Area and it has been dropping calls once in a while for the past two weeks. Phones matter sometimes but usually not enough to make a difference between a phone choice, IMO.

[hooligan]

...

i can tell you verizon's the best for socal, but nationwide? sorry i can't help you there.

[Green_Circle]

It's true. According to Consumer Mag, an article they had detailing customer complaints on service revealed Verizon, Sprint and ATT, respectively, as being the most with the least customer complaints. Not surprisingly, these carriers are the biggest and richest in terms of sales and money and antennas. But I'm sure we all know people who are with the top three who do have complaints and that includes me. And I had to drop the supposed best of the best because of unsatisfaction. My advice is to go ahead and purchase the plan and cell phone and try it within your area for 10 days to 2weeks for warranty/return and customer satisfaction. This way you'll know the areas you frequent and the reception there. Oh and another tip. I used to think the tinier the phone the better. Not true with me. It's hard to stick my huge fingaz into those lil digits with accuracy. Oh and many times the cheap or free phone will mess up quality of sound and even reception. Try everything out for 10 days and return it promptly with any little reason. From a true cell phone junkie!

[moJo]

I've had AT & T for two years now (and I still have the TDMA, as opposed to GSM, technology) and it's good. My dad has AT &T, with the GSM technology, and it's pretty good, too. My mom has Sprint, and the customer service sucks, as does the format of the invoice/billing statement.

[Chester]

I've had AT & T for two years now (and I still have the TDMA, as opposed to GSM, technology) and it's good. My dad has AT &T, with the GSM technology, and it's pretty good, too.
AT&T GSM is pretty good in the city, and seems alright on the Peninsula, but down here in the South Bay, there are some significant blank spots. All in all, you're better off with the TDMA till they populate more GSM sites.

It all depends on where you live, but 'round these parts, Sprint has always been known as a shitty carrier, as has Cingular.

[moJo]

All in all, you're better off with the TDMA till they populate more GSM sites.
Yup, that's exactly why I'm sticking with TDMA for now. I'm thinking in a year or so, maybe, it'll be good enough for me to switch over...cuz my phone is so ancient and boring compared to the GSM phones.

[missmeow]

I have tmobile. It works pretty shitty in the valley, but everywhere else it is good.

[Tao]

I have tmobile. It works pretty shitty in the valley, but everywhere else it is good.
except for where i live

[FrankieY18]

i have tmobile and it's been great...i recommend tmobile

[amietron]

i use AT&T with the tdma service. works fine for me, even in santa cruz. service gets splotchy sometimes in the mountains, but i don't think that can be helped too much.

if you don't live near a big city, gsm service with AT&T sucks. santa cruz is 30 minutes out of san jose, in the mountains, and the service is almost nonexistent.

[Oblivious]

I've had Verizon for the longest time when I lived in SF. It never gave me any problems whatsoever. Then I switched to AT&T and the reception was still great when I moved down to LA. Now I have TMobile and compared to my past carriers, I really don't like it as much. The reception ain't that great. :rolleyes:

[sOrr1ez]

i have a sprint and it works really well...
some carriers just don't work well in certain places..
like verizon (which is known to have one of the best repception) has the worst reception in oc... so it depends on where you live..
and i also noticed that if your phone is sort of outdated then it doesn't have as good of a reception as a new-er phone would

[avs]

Verizon all the way. By far the best reception and customer service.