In today's blog, I would like to take the time to touch on a common topic of conversation most of my friends, colleagues, relatives and online acquaintances tend to ask me: Which of the most common cell phone provider do you think is the better one? Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint?
I can say that I am one of the few people who has actually used all 4 of the companies listed above. In my line of work as a computer support specialist, most places have devices on each of the providers shown above. Some companies have a preference which they use the most, others just allow for anyone to bring in their devices so as long as they meet certain requirements. I will briefly discuss the customer service for each company in detail as far as my experience is concerned. I will then talk about the service/coverage for each company. Next will be the devices I have mostly tested, which ones i liked/disliked and why. Then I will also talk about which provider I use now and why. I will also do a side note on the new MetroPCS provider and give you my personal take on what they have to offer. Finally I will give you my personal preference from best to worst.
Let's start off with Sprint. Most people don't know or remember this but the company started off as Brown Telephone Company, then United Telecommunications, GTE Sprint, MCI WorldCom, then Nextel and now Sprint Nextel. So its safe to assume one of the following: They have years of experience and grew to what they are now, or They haven't been successful and decided to change the names to make it sound like a totally new company. I think its the later ... Rust painted by any other color is still rust.
The products they had/have are great products. I remember having the MCI WorldCom service many years ago, I had the Motorola Startac phone. One of the best mobile phones of its time. However, I clearly remember how bad their customer service was back in those days. It was so bad that not even after my year was up, I called to cancel my account. They tried to threaten me in making me pay for the $200 dollar cancellation fee. Luckily, I had my original contract that was given to me at the time I had signed up where it clearly stated I did not have a cancellation fee and if they even tried to charge me for one, I would sue them and take it to the press. That ended the conversation really quick. Now fast forward to the present time, company known as Sprint. After acquiring the technology from NexTel with the Push-to-Talk walkie talkie, it has gotten a little better, expect the coverage wasn't all that great. When working at another company, the second level support team that I worked with had to work with Sprint in order to activate the Blackberries and ensure the push-to-talk (PTT) would work. The tech support I would work with were kind and knowledgeable so it appears it has gotten a little better.
Next up we have T-Mobile. Here is a fun fact that a lot of people do not know. T-Mobile is actually a German mobile telephone provider owned by Deutsche Telekom. Before it was called T-Mobile USA, the previous name was VoiceStream Wireless (remember the actress Jaime-Lee Curtis in these commercials?) Let's start with the customer service. Their customer service was probably one of the best ones during the time it went from VoiceStreem to T-Mobile. Not too often when a company gets bought out do you still continue to receive great customer service. The people in the 2nd level support of T-Mobile actually took the time to explain why something was or wasn't working and they would speak to you as a person and use regular layman terms instead of talking techie. The devices they had were pretty good, especially if you were on a budget and can only get a free device. The ones that were offered were really nice ones. I remember getting a cool Samsung SGH-T809 which was a slide phone, camera (takes pics and video) and a great MP3 player on it too. The phone coverage started out very good. Almost any place I went to I had coverage, excluding the underground subway. I was with T-Mobile for a good 3 years, which was the longest cell phone provider I had ever been with at the time. I was no longer on a contract so I never had to worry about closing my account and getting charged a cancellation fee. I then started to experience some dropped calls and where I used to always have a reception, now I wouldn't even get a single bar of reception. I decided to gut it out cause they still took good care of me by giving me either a free month for my troubles and sometimes a free upgrade to a new phone without the renewal of the contract. That was OK at first but when it came down to it, getting my calls was more important that the freebies, so I cancelled my T-mobile service and moved my number over to another provider.
Now we will talk about AT&T. AT&T snuck up and was able to manage to jump on this one with acquiring the iPhone in a long 5 year deal. A lot of people actually jumped from their current providers to AT&T just to get on board with the iPhone (bear in mind this is only for the US that i am referring to). Now lets backtrack on AT&T's cell phone history. It was originally just Cingular (which was a joint company venture of Bell South and SBC communications, which was formally known as AT&T). During this time the phones that Cingular provided were great quality and the customer service was just amazing. I remember having an issue with one of my phones back then, a Palm Treo 650. No matter what was done, I had soo many issues that I was ready to cancel my contract. After working with several techs and speaking to a supervisor, not only did I get a newer phone (Palm Treo 670) but I got 2 months of service for free. So i stayed with them and was happy. I eventually had to end the contract about 6 months later due to financial issues. Cingular then gets bought back by AT&T in 2005 and ever since then, the customer service has dropped. They still had some good devices such as the Blackberries and wireless air-cards but they started to focus more on marketing the roll-over mins and not listening to the customers and their problems. They also went as far as marketing how they cover a lot of the US. The problem with that is, they were never clear what the coverage was. Why do you think Verizon won that battle on their coverage? So what do I think saved AT&T? The answer is simple: Apple's iPhone. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy how the iPhone works and I believe the way AT&T locked that contract down to 5 years preventing other wireless phone companies in the US to get their hands on it. AT&T should had focused on working with the customer and listening to them. Because of that, Verizon is the top leading wireless provider in the US.
Finally, the provider that I am currently with right now, Verizon Wireless. A brief history on Verizon Wireless now. They used to be known as Bell Atlantic Mobile, Nynex Mobile and at one point was a subsidiary of AT&T. It then became AirTouch Communications which merged with Vodafone Group, which then bought out Bell Atlantic Mobile and AirTouch Paging and thus becoming Verizon Wireless. Now Verizon Wireless has been known to have the best mobile service in the US and the proof can be found in the following link (http://cell-phone-providers-review.toptenreviews.com/). The reason for this is the customer service and technical support staff are excellent. They work with the customer, listen to them, provide the best solutions and if it comes down to it, will replace your device and try to keep you happy. The plans they offer provide the most optimal performance depending on what your needs are. For example, you want a no frills phone that allows you to make calls, send text messages and allows for you to have a vm, they can get you something like that. If you are someone like me who enjoys multi-tasking, taking pictures and video clips, watching YouTube, doing multimedia stuff like listening to Radio online or watching online TV, they have a phone and plans for that. They work with you with your needs and your budgets. They will offer you extras and you have the option to take them or now. It isn't forced down your throat like others. The quality of the phones is excellent and all of their phones have insurance on them so if something were to every happen to the phone, you get a new one at no cost. The only way you get that with an AT&T phone is if you have purchased the phone with your American Express card, and only they will be able to work on getting you a brand new one free of cost. Otherwise, its get a new one out of your pocket or get a loser cost freebie one.
T-mobile has certain phones as well tat you can put insurance on but not all the phones. (ie, the G1 doesnt allow you to get insurance on it). So you heard all the good stuff about Verizon Wireless and its services, now here are the bad things. Unlike its competitors (T-Mobile and AT&T), the majority of Verizon's cell phones(as well as Sprint's mobile phones) uses CDMA Technology, which only will work in the US. AT&T and T-Mobile uses GSM Technology, which will allow you to use the phone in the US and overseas. If you ever had to take the battery out of your phone, you will notice what is known as a SIM card. The SIM card is what will allow you to use the phone overseas. There are a few Verizon phones that are now carrying this but it is a little extra to pay for. (More info regarding CDMA and GSM can be found at the following link: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-gsm-and-cdma.htm)
Verizon is getting better at working on the technology to provide both CDMA and GSM in devices such as the Blackberry, which is great. But for someone like me who has a Motorola Droid phone, I may need to contact Verizon and pay a little extra in the hopes it will work overseas for the time I am away. Since I dont do a lot of traveling, this works for me and I dont have too much of a problem. However, if you travel a lot, you may want to consider getting a Verizon device that will allow you to work overseas with.
Now my side note on Metro PCS. The company is fairly brand new, only been around since Sept of this year and yet, they have started to pick up a huge following. The part that stands out the most is the no contract, no surprise fees, not $40-ish, just $40 promotion. That is great marketing. This is also another company that uses CDMA technology. Here is my problem with it. The technology it is using, while amazing it may be being the first CDMA company to introduce a 4G mobile device for an affordable price, is expensive. So here is where the questions start to come up. If it is this good, will the prices eventually go higher? will they begin implementing hidden fees in the future in order to cover the costs? You might be asking me why I may think that and I have the answer. Not so long ago, a new wireless provide came out called Amp'd Mobile. It started up at around 2006 with great services and prices as well as terrific customer service. MTV and Universal Music Group were 2 of its investors and provided a wide range of services. I signed up with them and never had any issues. I have unlimited texts and picture messages, like TV and radio and because Amp'd used the Verizon Wireless's EV-DO network, I had the best coverage all around.
The plans were incredibly affordable and offered a lot of stuff for so little. So many people got hooked with it and this started to be the downfall for Amp'd Mobile. Many subscribers took advantage of this and began not paying for their service, but the way Amp'd handled that was to not worry so much about it. This in turn lead Verizon Wireless to inact the Bankruptcy Protection to Amp'd and threatened to cut their services if they could not pay. The company filed for bankruptcy a year later and thus the end came for Amp'd mobile. This is a reason why I have mixed feelings about MetroPCS. Lets see if they can manage to last past a year and then we will revisit this.
Now we have come to the moment where I will provide what my ratings are from best to worst and what I can recommend to get. I will use the 1 - 10 rating with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst. The rating will involve the coverage and the customer support.
Verizon Wireless: 9
AT&T: 7
T-Mobile: 5
Sprint: 3
*MetroPCS is a good first phone to get if you are on a tight budget but dont expect the best of services in all areas yet but you can get a prepaid phone from one of the other providers.
Now as far as what I recommend, that will depend on your needs. Whether you are staying in the US or traveling abroad, I would recommend doing some research with Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Those are the best pics and offer the better deals.
Hopefully you will have found this informative and should you have any questions, don't heasitate to ask.
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