T-mobile vs Verizon

bewitched

If you have T-mobile, are you happy with the quality of signal, customer, and phone service?

I have Verizon and the signal is great but customer and phone service leave much to be desired. I have a problem with my actual phone and their anwser is to keep exchanging it for a new one of the same model. The problem remains, even with software upgrade, reset, battery test, etc. First they told me after 3 exchanges I could swap it for another model of equal value, now they're eating their words. Then I asked if I could upgrade early and pay the difference and they said no.

I've had Sprint and Nextel before and came back to Verizon, but they're seriously pissing me off.

It'd be nice to T-mobile and use my phone abroad, and have a better phone selection, but that alone doesn't justify the cancellation fee.

Thoughts?

emily

My husband and I each have a Treo on T-Mobile (so we use the internet, too) and it's been fine. The signal is not as broadly available outside NYC as Verizon, but that's okay with us. I've also had fine service with them; they seem to pick up the phone quickly and the people you talk to are able to address problems (none of that "let me put you on hold while I talk to my supervisor for 20 minutes" kind of thing).

My only beef with them is that when my husband and I transferred both of our phone numbers to T-Mobile at the same time, and got a supposedly joint account, they decided that the entire account now belongs to him, as does my phone number. So if I call you, his name will appear on your caller id. Jerks.

mr. tips

Ive been with Tmobile since they where Voicestream and since they were OmniPoint. Ive been very happy with them the price is competitive (dunno yer minutes needs and how many phones). Their cust service has been very good too, no complaints here. Also, my connection around here (NYC really) is always great.

rhodamine

i had t-mobile for years, too, since it was voice stream. they were good.

but when i got my treo, i had to switch to sprint as they were (at the time) the only carrier who could support the data coonectivity i wanted.

and i gotta say, ive had great luck with sprint, in our neighborhood and all over.

not that it matters, just my two cents.

everyone has an opinion/horror-story/whatever about their/other cell carrier. its a topic thats completely subjective, i think, but good luck getting people's imput!

bewitched

rhodamine wrote: everyone has an opinion/horror-story/whatever about their/other cell carrier. its a topic thats completely subjective, i think, but good luck getting people's imput!

Yeah, I hear what you're saying but I think it's totally unacceptable that Verizon's solution to my problem is to keep sending me phones with the same issue. The issue being that when I set reminders in my calendar, sometimes they go off and sometimes they don't. Understandably, I bought this to be a phone, not a PDA, but I definitely chose my phone because it has the calendaring feature. I'm not sure I need all the features of a Treo, nor do I want to carry a separate PDA. But this business of selective reminders beeping is a joke. And me being chronically late, well, it's just not helping that! ;-)

pheightsgirl

I have had cell phone service with Verizon, Nextel and I've been with T-Mobile since 2003. Price wise, T-Mobile is the best, hands down. They really are the best bargain in my opinion and have a broad range of minute packages.

They also have friendly customer service people who are actually in the US (not outsourced jobs in India, which can be mildly frustrating).

I would completley recomend T-Mobile. Good luck.

bewitched

PHeightsGirl wrote: They also have friendly customer service people who are actually in the US (not outsourced jobs in India, which can be mildly frustrating).

No kidding. I called Motorola directly to complain and I couldn't understand a darn thing the service rep was saying. I politely asked her to repeat herself several times, and I apologized for not being able to understand her. So I asked to speak to someone else and had the same problem and eventually gave up and said nevermind.

qtrain

bewitched wrote: If you have T-mobile, are you happy with the quality of signal, customer, and phone service?

T-mobile signal is great in Prospect Heights. I haven't compared rates lately, but they've been undercutting the competition for a long time trying to gain market share.

bluedove

I have Cingular and my husband has Sprint, and though we have comparable minutes on our plans, his costs almost $20 more a month. It's retarded. And he signed a 2-year renewal, too. :x

I also find that Cingular has much, much better phones than Sprint.

We stopped using all Verizon (and we'd had land line, cells, AND internet through them previously) two years ago because of how much their customer service sucked. It was seriously a complete nightmare. I'd say, "bewitched," run far and run fast.

Can't recommend T-Mobile specifically, though.

rah

I have Sprint and am literally in a blackhole when it comes to service. My phone rings maybe 10% of the time when I am in my apartment. The other 90% it just goes straight to voicemail. I have a friend who has Cingular and she gets perfect reception in what I thought was a total cell blackhole. I hate my contract

axel foley

Sprint totally sucks in New York. It routinely drops calls in my bedroom (though conveniently it does work in most of the rest of my apartment). It also doesn't work 90% of the time in my office in Manhattan (!)... and there's a Sprint store on the ground floor of my building. Oh Sprint, how I hate thee.

kate

I dislike Tmobile as well but they have cool phones. Verizon, I think, is best for service, I don't know what the deal with your phone is though...

bewitched

KateBklyn wrote: I dislike Tmobile as well

Why?

kate

bewitched wrote: [quote=KateBklyn]I dislike Tmobile as well

Why?

I use to have a sidekick but service was spotty in PSlope, completely unavailable in my old apt. and not so great in and around Boston & DC. This was 8 months ago so it's possible towers have been added etc. but I was most pissed off that my phone literally didnt not work in my apt. and they wouldnt let me cancel my account, so then I had a useless Tmobile phone until my contract ran out. I use to get a decent amount of dropped calls in Manhattan too. Verizon doesn't have shiny exciting phones but I have found they work best.

bewitched

KateBklyn wrote: Verizon doesn't have shiny exciting phones but I have found they work best.

I agree (at least in comparison to Sprint and Nextel) but I'm just so pissed that they are totally unwilling to provide me a phone with all of it's features working properly. I don't know what other steps to take and I'm not just going to be quiet about it.

kate

bewitched wrote: [quote=KateBklyn]Verizon doesn't have shiny exciting phones but I have found they work best.

I agree (at least in comparison to Sprint and Nextel) but I'm just so pissed that they are totally unwilling to provide me a phone with all of it's features working properly. I don't know what other steps to take and I'm not just going to be quiet about it.

Now, you're sure it's the phone and not you (totally genuine)? :?

bewitched

KateBklyn wrote: Now, you're sure it's the phone and not you (totally genuine)? :?

Yes, the technicians in the Verizon store have replicated the problem each time I've gone in the store.

kate

bewitched wrote: [quote=KateBklyn]Now, you're sure it's the phone and not you (totally genuine)? :?

Yes, the technicians in the Verizon store have replicated the problem each time I've gone in the store.

and they won't give you a different model of phone? blech. I got in a big fight with them once because someone peed on my phone (we're not friends any more) so it was water damaged and I had insurance and a warranty, $10 worth of crap each month that is suppose to cover such issues. Nope. I was livid, I mean no help on top of a peed on phone.

bewitched

KateBklyn wrote: and they won't give you a different model of phone? blech. I got in a big fight with them once because someone peed on my phone (we're not friends any more) so it was water damaged and I had insurance and a warranty, $10 worth of crap each month that is suppose to cover such issues. Nope. I was livid, I mean no help on top of a peed on phone.

I think I'll ask you privately just how that happened. Did you have to pay for a new phone? I don't have insurance but I'm still under warranty. First Verizon said they'd swap it, now they say they won't. I'm going to have to go to the store and raise hell and if that doesn't work, talk to the incoherent people at Motorola. This really blows.

rogersma

One caveat: if you travel a lot (within the US) nothing beats Verizon. I visit all kinds of places--rural, suburban and urban--and very rarely have any difficulty with connections.

While T-Mobile's technology, GSM, is actually the most widely-used worldwide, it's a late-comer to the US and still has some bald patches. But if you're staying close to home and T-Mobile works there, then it's attractive pricing and GSM is a very well-supported technology.

qtrain

You can check out T-mobile's searchable coverage map here. In my experience the shade between "Good" and "Fair" coverage may mean no signal inside.

anonymous

My only beef with them is that when my husband and I transferred both of our phone numbers to T-Mobile at the same time, and got a supposedly joint account, they decided that the entire account now belongs to him, as does my phone number. So if I call you, his name will appear on your caller id. Jerks.

Emily, same thing happened to us when we switched to TMobile. If you call them they will put the appropriate names on each line. Should take 5 minutes. Overall we've been happy with the change from Verizon to TMobile.

alafairnadia

reinvigorating this topic with a few questions:

- has anyone recently started experiencing a lot of problems with tmobile? I'm getting total crap service right now and it's driving me batshit.

- does anyone in the nabe have cingular? thoughts?

- I really want a Treo. I can either stay with tmobile and buy an unlocked phone (ugh, expensive) or I can switch to cingular. what should I do? my contract with tmobile is up.

- I want to keep GSM service - I leave the country with relative frequency and like to be able to use my phone wherever I am.

armchair_warrior

I have tmobile it works good in the city and parts of jersey i goto. sevice is very good.

alafairnadia

okay, it looks like the problem is my phone. tmobile says they're not doing any model upgrades until february at the earliest. so screw it. I'm going to change to Cingular ... wish me luck!

armchair_warrior

alafairnadia wrote: okay, it looks like the problem is my phone. tmobile says they're not doing any model upgrades until february at the earliest. so screw it. I'm going to change to Cingular ... wish me luck!

dont get cingular i have that right now too. i still have 5 months on contract and the service is horrible. thats why i am back on tmobile.

marshapn

I have Cingular and am in the neighborhood. Never have a problem getting a signal. Their customer service has always been useful, plus the rollover minutes feature is awesome. I regularly have 700-1,000 extra daytime mins, and I share my phone w my partner. Big plus is that they are the only cell phone provider which is union.

alafairnadia

marshapn wrote: I have Cingular and am in the neighborhood. Never have a problem getting a signal. Their customer service has always been useful, plus the rollover minutes feature is awesome. I regularly have 700-1,000 extra daytime mins, and I share my phone w my partner. Big plus is that they are the only cell phone provider which is union.

yeah. my cingular is working out great, actually. amusing. thanks!

armchair_warrior

if you get messages a day later you'll know the pain of cingular.

alafairnadia

armchair_warrior wrote: if you get messages a day later you'll know the pain of cingular.

that happens to me all the time w/ tmobile. oh well.

carnivore

Aren't T-mobile and Cingular on the same network anyway? I thought they merged their infrastructure a few years ago...

Still not as good as Verizon though (but more minutes for the money).