Looking for new phone & carrier

J

Jessicaaa. <3

New member
Right now I pay $85-$100 for a regional carrier that does nothing but get me unlimited text, unlimited mins, 200 roaming mins, and 5MB BREW. The compant dosen't have nice phones (just got the 1st Razr 3 months ago and just started carrying Blackberrys), has not internet support, and customer service isnt the best.

Im looking to switch to something new and was just wondering what you would choose with my coverage area and your personal experience with each carrier? I am in VA and my Zip Code is 24477

Cingular



Cingular Phones
Samsung D807


Motorola RAZR V3 Black



Verizon


Verizon Phones
Motorola MOTOKRZR K1m




Sprint


Sprint Phones
Motorola MOTO KRAZR (Coming In November)




Alltel


Alltel Phones
Samsung U420




T-Mobile


T-Mobile Phones
T-Mobile BlackBerry? Pearl?


Motorola RAZR V3 - Pearl Gray


T-Mobile Sidekick? 3
 
See if you can find co-workers and neighbours and ask them what they are using and how satisfied they are. I think there's no substitute for first hand experience.

I think there's also no substitute for fully availing yourself of a carrier's trial period.

When you start a poll in a huge, very popular forum like this, you are taking chances that you will be getting replies and votes from people who really don't know enough to be telling you what to do.

I live in Culpeper, not too awfully far from you, and travel all kind of territory from Richmond north to Baltimore, and west to Harrisonburg and up and down I81 and I64.

In my experience, the problem you have in the less developed parts of Virginia with the CDMA carriers is that they try to leach off each other's systems.

Verizon, for example, advertises coverage and sells phones all over where there is no native Verizon system, and you will be on the Extended Network and on the Alltel system much of the time.

This is fine most of the time for voice calls but if you're purchased data services from Verizon they are not necessarily going to work perfectly (or at all) on the Alltel native network.

Alltel, Sprint, and US Cellular seem to have the same problem in your part of the world.

You'll also occasionally find yourself switching from one company's array to another, and you will drop your call cold when this happens. Your phone will desperately try to hold onto a zero-bar signal from one carrier before switching to a four or five-bar signal from the enxt array, and sometimes this just doesn't make for the best conversations.

I guess what I'm leading up to is that I have had the very best service with Cingular. It seems to be able to penetrate old buildings a little more, and seems to have a larger native network when you get off the big roads.

None of the others seem to be able to match it in rural areas and the home counties in Virginia, and in the mountains. NO carrier works perfectly in the Blue Ridge, but Cingular does better (for me) than anybody else.

I have tried Sprint, Verizon, and Alltel, and I know people with US Cellular. My old Razr with its Cingular SIM in it seems to work in all kinds of places where they just can't make a call.
 
dsim87,
It sounds like you're with nTelos. nTelos really is a good company but they don't have the customer base to offer newer technology or have any nice features. They primarily market to people with a bad history of credit. Yes, they do have some great plans but they're phones and coverage leave a lot to be desired. I am in your area a ton visiting family in Harrisonburg. I'm originally from SW Virginia off of 81 and live in Eastern Virginia off of 64 so I am there quite a bit.

I would recommend staying away from T-Mobile or Cingular. Just because Southwestern and Southside Virginia are huge deadspots for GSM. Once you get south of Roanoke off of I-81 or far enough south of 64, you won't have service if your car ever breaks down there or anything. Just look at the Cingular and T-Mobile maps, there is no coverage just south of your location.

Where you are in Stuarts Draft, Alltel doesn't have native coverage. Alltel free Roams off of Verizon in your area and you are unfortunately unable to get a local number with Alltel. This is a shame because Alltel is by the best service in Charlottesville, where Verizon doesn't cover, and Southwest Virginia. George Knighton was correct about Verizon in SW Virginia, they will sell service but Verizon customers roam on the Alltel system all through SW Virginia. But I will disagree with George about having problems in the less developed areas of SW Virginia. I live in a very small town and Alltel has placed a tower there where nobody else will cover. Alltel actually does a really good job of covering SW Virginia. They have made a huge investment in the area over the past 2 yrs or so. But if you do any traveling in your area, I would advise against Cingular. They have some real problems in the SW mountains.

So here is my complicated advice. If you spend a lot of time in Charlottesville or south of Blacksburg, go to Charlottesville to an Alltel retail store and get an Alltel phone. Their technology is up to date, their coverage is fantastic, and you will free roam off of Verizon in Stuarts Draft.

If you primarily spend your time in Stuarts Draft and don't go to Charlottesville much, go with Verizon. Verizon's plans will cost you a little more than Alltel but they give the best coverage where you are. If price is a big issue for you, Alltel would be best and MyCircle is a great deal. But you might experience some hit or miss problems sending a text on Verizon towers. Same is true if you go with Verizon, you might experience some hit or miss problems sending a text on Alltel towers in Charlottesville. For that zip code, I would go with Verizon if that's where you spend most of your time. You can always free roam on the Alltel network in Charlottesville and SW Virginia. But the same is true, if you want Alltel, you can free roam off of Verizon in Stuarts Draft.

Just look at Verizon map you posted, the light yellow areas are native Verizon service. The dark yellow areas are where Verizon roams on Alltel. If you spend most of your time in your hometown, go with Verizon for the best handling of your texts, if you spend a lot of time in the dark yellow or want a better price, go with Alltel.
 
I do spend most of my time in Draft but go to Charlottsville and Harrisonburg quite often.

I used to have Cingular and it sucked, my bill was outrageous (another story), but I think part of it was the phone I had.

I am with Ntelos right now and they have good coverage they just don't offer enough for me to keep paying $90/month.

Most of my friends tell me go with Verizon but I don't think they really know what they are talking about when it comes down to cell phone tech.

I guess its down to Verizon or Alltell, any other reviews or advice on the 2?
 
If you're considering Verizon and Alltel here is what it comes down to in that part of Virginia:

The coverage is the exact same. Exactly. Verizon does not cover Charlottesville and Alltel does not cover the Draft or Harrisonburg. If you go with Verizon you will use Alltel's network in Charlottesville and if you go with Alltel you will use Verizon's network in the Draft and Harrisonburg. Alltel and Verizon do Not overlap in your area but they roam off of each other so coverage will be exactly the same. You will not be charged for roaming with either carrier because it is free and you will be covered everywhere you go because they both have great networks.

Alltel's service is much more reasonable than Verizon pricewise. You could probably get a plan with MyCircle and cut your phone bill way down from $90/month. Since coverage is the same, I would decide based on price myself.

edit: But no matter which on you go with, be sure to take advantage of the 15 day trial period if you run into any problems such as any difficulty in texting which I wouldn't expect because Verizon and Alltel should also data roam on each other without any problems.
 
I have a Verizon phone and a Cingular phone.

In Culpeper on the Alltel native system, all data services are quite buggy and usually nonoperational.

I'm sorry to find myself in opposition to people about this, but having both phones I really think that Cingular is the better choice for me to use as the everyday phone.
 
I have heard several comparisons and Samsungs aren't as good as Nokias or Motorolas with picking up a signal. Nokias & Motos generally hold onto a signal longer and have better call quality.

But in your area, I don't think that would really be a problem. I would try it out if you like the features and design of the phone. If you have any problems picking up signal you can return it and exchange it out within 15 days.
 
If you live in Culpeper G.K. and have problems with this why not switch to Alltel? They are a less expensive provider and in your area will provide you with just as good of service as your Verizon phone, especially if you are having problems with your Verizon phone in Culpeper on an Alltel system. Whenever I've been in Harrisonburg, Elkton, or on the Verizon system on the interstate I've never had any problems with data with my Alltel phone but I don't use it a lot. But it is certainly true that this could be an issue in some areas.
 
You are 50% correct. Nokias and Sony Erricsson are the best for reception. Moto's are OK, but I have several co-workers that have motorolas and they all hate them because they say "it's doing the moto thing" I asked them what it meant and they informed me of the phone reseting on its own and also going blank and returning back to the standby screen.
 
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