How To Find Best Cell Phone Plan?

[Toby'sFriend]

Is there a good way to test which company has the best area coverage before committing to a plan?

Our contract with Cingular is ending soon. We get terrible reception at our house and I would be interested in switching to another carrier if it would mean my phone would work in the house.

But if the reception is going to remain lousy, I guess I would just keep Cingular and keep all our banked Rollover minutes. It looks like all the carriers have about the same prices.

 

[Christine]

Sometimes it really depends on the phone. I have Cingular also. I can barely use my phone in my house, yet my DD uses hers just fine. Go figure?

Also at my office, most of us either have Cingular or Verizon. Whether or not we can all use our phones in the office is "spotty." Some Verizon and Cingular uses can and some cannot. It doesn't appear to be a service issue as much as a phone issue.

 

[NewJersey]

I had Cingular until last year. I didn't get service at my house or in my dorm so I switched to Verizon and haven't had a problem since!

 

[Southern4sure]

I have been with Cingular for 7 years now. This past year has been the worse service. I have called and complained a few times and they downloaded something to my phone for better reception but I still have problems.

I'm like you though, I don't want to loose my rollover minutes (which I like) to try another carrier if my problems wouldn't improve. Might as well tuff it out.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Whenever you have guests over I would ask what carrier they use and see if they get reception at your house. I say this because I know on LI there are a bunch of "black out" areas. You will never get reception there, no matter which company you are with. Also, DBF's house gets terrible reception from all carriers. Cingular, Verizon, Nextel, none of them work.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

We have the same problem with our Sprint cell service. Our service is awful. It will drop the call at least 2 times on a 10 mile trip home.

Our contract is up in July so I've been shopping around. I went to a Cingular outlet and they had a program that you enter your address into and it shows you how strong your signal would be at your house. Maybe check it out and see if maybe your phone is the problem?