Cell phone advice?

[gctong]

My one year contract is up in a month or so and I wanted to see how coverage is for cell phone and their companies. I currently have the old AT&T system phone (which is terrible!)

I'm looking at AT&T's new GSM system, T-Mobile and possibly Cingular. How are they for WDW? I've read in other threads that T-mobile is pretty good. Is there a particular phone model I should go for or wait for?

I also travel a lot between NYC/Tri-State and Atlanta...so I need to take that into consideration for reception and price! Any advice?

 

[Pin Wizard]

I lived in FL, had Cingular and LOVED it! I moved to VA in March and wanted to keep it! Cingular isn't in this area of the state. I had to give it up and went with...Sprint! I HATE Sprint! They're terrible compared with Cingular. I never had a problem with them at all. Always great reception. Good luck!

 

[luvdisney81]

Not to totally rebute what Pin Wizard said but I've had Sprint for 4 years and LOVE them. I will never go with anyone else till I am forced to. I go to Disney and never have a problem. I love my service, I travel a lot and very rarely hit roaming. It's been months since I had a problem. With Sprint buy Sanyo phones, much MUCH better quality and reception. They cost a tiny bit more but it is sooooo worth it. And as a new customer they always have rebates and deals.

 

[Dizzy-Disney4]

I have ATT's new GSM America and I HATE IT! I have the worst reception and cannot believe the number of calls I have that are dropped. Its a new phone made for GSM, and I am very disappointed with it. We had ATT wireless before the GSM and it was ok but we figured if the new GSM offered a stronger signal and our contract was up...why not? Well from what I have been told, MANY people with ATT's GSM america are having the same problem. STAY AWAY!!!

 

[Shugardrawers]

Originally posted by Pin Wizard
I lived in FL, had Cingular and LOVED it! I moved to VA in March and wanted to keep it! Cingular isn't in this area of the state. I had to give it up and went with...Sprint! I HATE Sprint! They're terrible compared with Cingular. I never had a problem with them at all. Always great reception. Good luck!

Well Sandy, you and I will disagree here! We had Cingular in MS and our contract isn't quite up so we switched to a national plan for a while. The coverage itself is decent but the calls are dropped CONSTANTLY, static is horrible and they are very expensive. You'll find yourself roaming frequently even when you are in your home area. Check them all out then return to the one that suits you best.

 

[stinkerbelle]

I had AT&T for the longest time and dropped them after my contract was up because the service was just horrible.

Spring PCS is horrible too...the reception is horrible and there is a tower a mile or so away from my house.

DH has Nextel...which is what I'll be switching to come December when my Sprint contract is up. (Another reason being that I have yet to encounter 1 polite employee in that company)

 

[gctong]

Thanks to all for the tips!!

 

[TinkBoo&ElliesMum]

We have Cingular now and plan to switch as soon as our contract is up in August. We have a "family" plan and we're paying $100 a month for the two phones! It's insane! We've had problems with them from the start though, contract said one thing, they entered something else and we ended up with HUGE bills that we shouldn't of had. They finally fixed it but it was a mess. Right now they're merging Cingular and AT&T and it's been awful! Half the time I have "no access", when I call customer care I get AT&T customer care which tells me to call my own

We're looking into Verizon or T-Mobile at this point.

 

[Carl]

In general I get good service from T-Mobile. However the signal is weak at my house and no service at the Boardwalk Villas in Epcot.

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I've been with Nextel for 3 years, and have only had very minor problems, all of which were quickly (and politely) resolved. I have pretty good signal coverage in most places I've been.

I switched from Verizon, because of a hideously bad experience. I tried to re-locate, and get a new number. Verizon decides that this means I want a second account, and that I should be charged for 2 accounts. It took several hours on the phone, being transferred between various agents and supervisors and on hold before they even agreed there was anything wrong with me being double billed, and another hour or 2 for them to agree to give me a refund ... and even then, they only refunded about half of what they should have.

 

[TNCarole]

We have Cingular and have had really good service and reception. Used our phones at OKW in May with no problems at all.

 

[ByTheSea]

I've had sprint for 3 or 4 years now, switched from AT&T which I hated.

I travel for work, pretty much every week, or 9 out of 10, all over the U.S. The only place I've had trouble with Sprint is way way Northern MN (5 hours North of Twin Cities) and I actually had a signal almost all the way....

and middle of Iowa/small town area... both places I was in "roaming" so it wasn't as if my phone had no signal what-so-ever.

I've been to many clients in the "middle of nowhere" with no problem with Sprint, and no problems in Orlando or at WDW.

 

[gctong]

Originally posted by TinkBoo&ElliesMum

We're looking into Verizon or T-Mobile at this point. [/B]

Me too!!!

I just can't stomach the high prices of Verizon. With 2 phonelines at Verizon, it comes up to $80 + tax and that's just too much for people who rarely use it. T-mobile seems to have a more reasonable plan of 2 lines for $50 +tax. I just don't like any of their models and I don't know how trustworthy the models are. I hear that sometimes Samsung is better than Motorola on certain models. I'll have to see if T-mobile comes out with some better models in the next couple of months!

Tried looking at AT&T again, but I hear it's worse with AT&T GSM in my area so I can't go back with them. Sigh.