Hi Everyone,

My husband and I are trying to decide on a new wireless carrier. So far I have had Alltel for the last 8 yrs and my contract with them has just expired so I am free to choose a new carrier without penalty. We have narrowed it down to two carriers: Verizon and Cingular. Please vote and tell me the reason for your choice. This is a long post so get a snack and read

A limited history with Alltel

1) they have disconnected my cell phone service several times without just cause even though the bill was paid on time, their reasoning was the representative didnt post it accurately. NOT MY PROBLEM it came out of my account showing it was paid.

2) Given wrong info on when my unlimited calling time started. One representative would tell me one thing and another would tell me something different and so on from there.

3) Charged for roaming even though the plan I have is nationwide and has no roaming charges.

4) Spoke to representatives with bad attitudes when it was clearly a mistake on Alltel's part. Don't get me wrong I have spoken to some very nice representatives but the total number of bad info and representatives leaves a bad taste

5) Once I went over on my plan minutes by 5 -10 minutes and instead of charging me for the overage they charged me $30 in overages since I have a family share plan with my husband(which he rarely uses unless hes calling me or receiving a few text messages from our family in Egypt)

6) They charged me a full month of service even though they kept turning my phone off due to computer glitch.

Thats just a few of the gripes I have had with Alltel. Yes, I have tried to change carriers but was always denied until one day after i signed a new contract with Alltel and then all of the sudden I have been approved from 6 months ago. Cingular was one of those companies

How can you decide between two carriers without a comparative analysis of the two carriers? Cost is easy to compare. What's not so easy is figuring out which of the two carriers has a better network in the area in your region. Have you spoken to other users? Consulted online message boards? Asked the carriers for coverage maps of your region?

In my personal opinion, Cingular's business practices are sometimes sketchy; Verizon's are outright thievery.

I had Verizon for 6 years and never once managed to get something changed or fixed on my account or with my phone on the first try and rarely on the second. It usually took three or four tries. To cancel them took two days, two phone calls (of 30 minutes and an hour respectively), visits to two different stores (also of 30 minutes and an hour respectively), and speaking to a total of seven different people. The last straw was that they were refusing to replace a faulty cell phone and if I bought a new one, I'd have to get a more expensive plan because they'd discontinued the plan I had (and I was already not even close to using all my minutes) plus the only non-camera phone they had was a Push to Talk one so they were going to charge me an extra $20/month besides the rate increase for the privilege of having a PtT phone, despite the fact that I abhor PtT, think it's the spawn of Satan, don't know anyone who has it, and wouldn't use it if I did.

They get away with providing such godawful customer service because, unfortunately, it's true that they have the most reliable network.

Cingular, for example, bought AT&T wireless and then charged every single AT&T customer $25 for the privilege of having had their account bought out. And demanded they upgrade their phones within a certain time period.

Between the two I'd take Cingular, you can get a quad band GSM phone that can be used overseas and will run off a SIM card you can swap out for a pre-paid one while over there (not sure where you/your spouse is from, but that could be useful).

But I agree you should find a message board for the place you live and check how the coverage is in your area, especially if there are a lot of rural areas around you.

I have T-Mobile now and am loving it. T-Mobile has the smallest network but their customer service is completely amazing, I can email them and they fix whatever it is within 24 hours. They are also much, much cheaper than Verizon.

We have Cingular and have been happy so far. My husband can send text messages to his friends and family in Egypt for 20 cents and they can send unlimited messages to him and we are not charged. I think most carriers will have some pros and cons to each.

If you do want to use your T-mobile phone overseas with a prepaid SIM card. You do have to contact customer service and request that it be unlocked. They have some rules to determine who is eligible (Customer for 3 months, account in good standing), but if you are, its pretty easy to do.

You should consider other available carriers in you area.

We have T-mobile and find it very good, in terms of coverage area, plan features and overall pricing.

As Gupt said, do an analysis of available carriers in your area, then decide.

Here is a Comparison by area that you might be interested in
http://www.wirelessguide.org/plan/service-comparisons.htm

Best place I have found to look up both plans and also phones.. as well as figuring out the hacks for my phones... .
is.. Howardforum: Your Mobile Phone Community some very good information sitting there. good luck..

I voted Verizon.

It all depends on where you live. I got Cingular while I was living in NY - no problems. However, it is the WORST company in Central Florida. I have dropped calls ALL THE TIME - I hate watching those commercials saying Cingular has the least dropped calls. Yea right..my a$$.
My friend has Verizon and LOVES it.

With Cingular I miss calls all the time and cannot even get service in my neighbor's apt....not to mention that I barely have service in ours...

I have never had more problems with anything in my life than with Verizon. Their "customer service" is a circus. I moved and was having things switched over (landline/DSL) long story short the phone line didn't work at the new place (radio interference) yet they were going to charge me the $50+ installation plus the service I had for a week while they were trying to fix it even though I didn't place ONE call because it wasn't working. I ended up calling 4 days in a row for a total of 218 minutes (used my cell) before they supposedly cleared it up. I still don't know if it is cleared up as I am dreading receiving the next bill that will probably have the same charges PLUS a late fee that I will have to call "customer service" for AGAIN. I wouldn't care about their wireless coverage, rates, plans or anything else. Their "customer service" is enough to make me RUN FAR and never go back. As soon as my DSL contract expires (another few months) I am cutting my losses and finding another provider. Verizon is RIDICULOUS!

I have T-Mobile for cell service and I am LOVING it! I have had to call CS a couple of times and I have never been put on hold for more than 2-3 minutes and the people I have talked with have helped me solve my problem and it actually was resolved. I didn't have to call back 20 times to keep resolving my "resolved" problem.

I never thought about it before I had all these Verizon problems but customer service is now near the top of my list of things to consider when choosing a company.

Good luck!

Out of your two choices, I voted for Cingular/AT&T, just for the reason that they can't POSSIBLY be as crappy as Verizon. (Can they??! )

i've had at&t (sw bell, cingular now at&t) for eight years now. i've never had any problems. you can't get verizon in okc. so maybe my vote shouldn't count .

How can you decide between two carriers without a comparative analysis of the two carriers?
I can decide between two carriers because i choose to.

Have you spoken to other users?
Yes, I have spoken to users who have/had Sprint, Nextel, Cingular and Verizon and I dont like Sprint or Nextel because of the rates and service. I knew someone who had Cingular and each time she called me or I called her the call would be distorted or get dropped. I have a co worker who has verizon and she says she loves the service and how most ppl she know who have cingular cant even get a signal in their home. My dad has verizon and his charges are outrageous. As for comparing costs I would pay the same for monthly access for either Verizon, Cingular, or Sprint as I can receive a discount through my job.

Asked the carriers for coverage maps of your region?

You dont give people much credit do you? I have done my homework and i have a copy of the coverage area maps for both carriers, I was only looking for opinions. I have also called the carriers about their coverage areas. I have looked at the phones and plans for both carriers as well as the features and the one less desirable feature is the choice phones they have.

FYI: I live in Alabama

Pretty damn defensive for someone who came in here asking for help, aren't you?

Also, you've completely misunderstood the first question that Gupt asked you.

We have Cingular/AT&T and haven't had any major problems. I have been with them from before the change to Cingular when they were still AT&T Wireless. What I like most is that they get the latest equipment and because of the GSM phones. I just got the Blackberry Curve and I am LOVING it! Whenever I travel overseas I can use my Cingular/AT&T phone which is also a plus!! The cons are that there are some dead spots in my area, but overall the coverage is good. I was also one of those people that couldn't get a signal in the house. After an upgraded phone and the recent change back to AT&T I can finally get a signal in the house again. As far as the customer service, I haven't had major problems there either. When I have requested an adjustment it's taken care of right then and there.

I have friends with Sprint/Nextel and their calls are always getting dropped. Verizon has good coverage, but I find the phones just "meh." Don't know very much about T-Mobile, although they also seem to have a good selection of phones.

I've heard Verizon is good everywhere...and I've had MANY MANY friends that have done nothing but complained about how horrible Cingular is. Cingular seems to be good in big cities but everywhere else (especially in buildings of some sort) it stinks. Just my personal recommendation that I'd never get Cingular Good luck

Lots of stuff comes into play when you are comparing Verizon to AT&T (Cingular). I would never go with CDMA again. I had it a while back (and even though they had the strongest signal, somehow this correlates to the worst customer service). I like GSM, because you can switch between phones whenever you like without a fee, you can travel internationally with your phone and it works, or you can stick in a prepaid foreign SIM card and be set too.

I have T-Mobile and looooove their customer service, they are so darn helpful that sometimes it makes me wonder why they try so hard. I only complain cause in my area they are only using 2 bands (AT&T uses 3 bands and usually has a stronger signal).

So between the 2 you are considering, I'd say AT&T. And if you are getting the iphone there, the newer version comes out in Feb, so it might be worth the wait.