Best cellular service?

[torinsmom]

Our AT&T contract is up in a month, yahoo! I have lots of places where my cell phone does not work or cuts out around here. One big place is at the school I teach at. The only time anyone would call me at school would be in an emergency, so noone needs to tell me I shouldn't use my cell phone while I teach(just sayin' because someone will certainly go there) Last year, DS15 was really sick at school and called me 6 times in an hour. I did not know until finally someone called the office and tracked my class down in the cafeteria. We are in and out of the classroom, so I don't like using the classroom phone as my only line of communication.

Tell me what plan you have and how your coverage is. I am looking for family plan--2 phones--and maybe 900 minutes plus some texting for DS.

Thanks,

Marsha

 

[arminnie]

My AT&T contract (iphone) is up in about 5 weeks and 2 days. Can you tell I'm waiting. I despise the dropped calls. I only have my cell phone and all of my friends expect at least one dropped call per conversation. This is in multiple cities.

I had much better service as to dropped calls with Sprint, but they did have a big stretch in SE Arkansas (where I drive every month) with no service.

I have to figure out what phone I want to go to. A Droid of some type I guess. The iphone advantage is all the apps - but I'm more interested in not getting cut off phone calls - especially those business ones where I've had to enter 20 numbers and wait for 10 minutes only to have AT&T drop the call in mid-sentence.

I would check with others in your school. I also think you can return most phones and cancel the contract if it's less than 30 days.

 

[torinsmom]

Everyone except the AT&T people seem to have coverage.

 

[foolishmortal]

im att/cingular and will never leave! between rollover minutes, great coverage, cheaper data plans and family add ons, shoot my bill would double for worse coverage.

I have friends and family on tmobile and they are always dropping calls

 

[AshleyW]

I don't know how Verizon coverage is in your area, but my guess is probably really good. We've never had coverage issues, and we travel to some pretty remote places.

Anyway, DF and I are on a family plan. We have 700 nationwide minutes, unlimited messaging (picture & text), free night & weekends, free calling/texting to other Verizon customers. Our phone bill comes out to $92 every month. It would be about $20 cheaper per month if we didn't do the unlimited messaging, but we both use it quite a bit. A disclaimer, though: we do get a 22% discount on our bill because DF works for a very large utility company here. But, Verizon does give discounts to a LOT of companies - every place I've worked for has gotten at least a 12% discount on plans through Verizon.

I've had Verizon for about 8 years now, and never had any issues whatsoever. I'd definitely recommend them.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Love Verizon coverage. DH has TMobile and it sucks, really bad. I have a signal no matter where we are, on top of a mountain, in an elevator, etc. He loses a signal if you blink the wrong way.

 

[RadioNate]

This totally depends on where you live. I've had AT&T in Texas and Florida where coverage was great. No dropped calls ever. Here in Denver, it's a different story. AT&T not so great.

Our friend here has Sprint and the coverage is horrid, even compaired to my AT&T. He can't even get a signal 1/2 the time. However, when he lived in Texas, his phone was fine.

Talk to friends and co-workers. They will have a much better idea of what is good in your area.

 

[rainydayplay]

Verizon does give discounts to a LOT of companies - every place I've worked for has gotten at least a 12% discount on plans through Verizon.

I've had Verizon since they came to our area in 2003. Wouldn't change. (Although I was talked into getting a Blackberry--which I LOVE...but can't get Mobile Magic for it.)

As far as the mentioning of the discount, ask them if there is a discount for teachers -- I believe I get one. (I get one for something, anyway.)

Really, though...you should poll the other teachers at your school and see how their service is and who they have service with. Everyone had Unicell at my school, which, eventually, Verizon bought out, so NOW I get great service at school.

 

[NikitaZee]

I have to agree with the posters who said Verizon. Best coverage available, IMO. We had AT& T - loved their customer service, but dropped calls all the time. Sprint - dropped calls (not as much as AT&T) and so-so customer service. Verizon - great coverage, hardly ever drop a call - but they nickel and dime you to death. Every couple of months or so I'm calling to get inocrrect data charges, roaming charges, etc. removed from my bill. They always remove them, always apologize, but I think at this point there's something sneaky about the whole thing. It's the coverage that keeps me a customer, in spite of the billing issues.

 

[torinsmom]

I do love the rollover minutes with AT&T. The only thing I don't like is that if I reduce my usage plan, I will lose so many minutes. If you go from a 1400 minute plan to a 900 plan, you can only carry over 900. I swear I have like 12,000 RO minutes

I thought I might stay on and get an Iphone, but now I hear that they've done away with the unlimited data plan. With internet usage charges, that is scary to me. Besides, that signal would probably drop too since I have that problem.

I think there is a company that has a discount for our school district. I'll have to look into that as well!

Marsha

 

[rainydayplay]

Oh, wait...you asked for plans, too.

I have a family plan with 1400 minutes & unlimited texting on 4 phones. I get insurance and extended warranty coverage on all phones. 2 of the phones are smartphones, which requires an extra $29.99 per month. We get unlimited nights and weekends plus unlimited Verizon to Verizon calls. Never go over our minutes, either (although we've gotten close a time or two...)

My bill this month is $240. Not the cheapest, but happy with the service.

 

[foolishmortal]

This totally depends on where you live. I've had AT&T in Texas and Florida where coverage was great. No dropped calls ever. Here in Denver, it's a different story. AT&T not so great.

Our friend here has Sprint and the coverage is horrid, even compaired to my AT&T. He can't even get a signal 1/2 the time. However, when he lived in Texas, his phone was fine.

Talk to friends and co-workers. They will have a much better idea of what is good in your area.

hmm im in denver and have great coverage

 

[tiggspring]

We live in a rural area where we could not use our AT&T service when we first moved here 7 yrs ago. We switched to Verizon and have never had a problem in all that time. My DH travels alot and has never had a problem and cell service was fine from Western Pa to Orlando and there are alot of rural areas on that route. I love that since all my friends are with veriszon that talking to them does not use up my minutes!

 

[tinkerfan1]

Another happy Verizon customer. Ours used to be Alltell but was bought out by Verizon.