what mobile phone carrier is the best?

Question

Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile or Nextel

Answer 1

Hahaha I think you have the right order there!!!
Honestly, you pretty much hit the nail on the head.
Verizon's coverage is the best. They run on cellular frequencies as opposed to the new PCS frequencies. That means their towers/phones have better range and less drop outs, especially in rural areas.
Cingular is the best PCS carrier. In some areas they do use cell (850MHz) frequencies, but in most areas they do not. They acquired AT&T and in many areas both AT&T and Cingular provided service. What this means is they have towers that do double duty in many areas and that makes the coverage quite solid. Some rural areas will have problems and you can't fall back on analog with a GSM phone, and that's why I put them as second.
SprintPCS has made improvements over the years but their coverage is still second best when it comes to PCS service. At least their phones will do analog mode if needed. Still, their primary coverage area isn't as solid as Cingular's. Sprint's customer service is one of the worst (if not THE worst) in the mobile phone industry.
T-Mobile reminds me a lot of Sprint PCS .... the Sprint PCS from 1999 in terms of coverage. They cover metro areas quite well but you get out into the suburbs and especially urban areas, the coverage is really hit and miss. T-Mobile in the US is actually the result of many mergers and acquisitions. They used to be regional carriers before they got merged into one. Developing this nationwide thing is still new for for them like Sprint used to be years ago. Eventually their coverage will be as good as the other PCS providers, but it isn't yet. One good thing for T-Mobile is they probably have the best customer service in the industry. They also have very competitive international roaming rates as they are in many other countries, particularly in Europe (as they're German themselves).
Nextel is the worst. They've been bought by Sprint, but they still use their old Nextel network and their old Nextel phones. They use a digital technology that no other carrier uses (except for their counterpart Telus Mike in Canada) called iDEN. Mainly only Motorola makes equipment for iDEN. It even runs on a completely different frequency than any other cell/PCS provider. Their coverage is very spotty. Poor, poor, poor. In their favor is the walkie talkie capability. They marketed pretty much only to businesses originally as an alternative to licensed 2-way radios with much better range (Nationwide) and no license. Eventually other carriers figured out how to add that feature to their network. Another thing was free incoming calls. While this is standard in Europe, no other carrier offered anything of the sort in the US. Nextel still offers this, and if you can put up with the bad coverage and you use your phone a lot, it might be worth it for you.

Answer 2

Verizon allows unlimited minutes to everyone in their network. They have the greatest coverage with NO roaming and their prices are competitive with Cingular. Cingular sucks from experiance and has a more limited coverage. Sprint, T-Mobile & Nextel - I wouldn't even think about.

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

There is no real answer to your question. Only you know what rate plans will fit you best. For example, if everyone you know has a Verizon phone, then Verizon may be a good choice because your calls would be IN. If you want to use a data device like a BlackBerry or PDA phone, Sprint has a large and fast broadband EV-DO data network, and offer unlimited data (internet and email) for only $15 on top of your voice plan. I'd suggest you research each carrier's rates and options.

Answer 5

I have never had problems with Cingular. My mom had Verizon and hated it. Something about their calling area sucked. My dad uses cingular nation wide because he is a truck driver and very rarely goes into a bad spot.

Answer 6

We've had Verizon for several years and I have no complaints. We don't even have a land line....we all use our cell phones.

Answer 7

verizon it has best service .... cingular is soooo crappy...but t-mobile is o.k

Answer 8

I know a very good website in Vietnam for reference (if you can read Vietnamese :D):
http://www.trungtamdidong.com

Answer 9

verizon

Answer 10

how about globe or smart?