What is the best national cell phone provider?

[Guest ThunderRiver]

I personally like VerizonWirelss over other services because it has the best coverage so far..truly national-wide, and also their customer service is nice as well. That's pretty much all I have to say.

[teacher]

Hey, no fair. The question is two fold - 1. which do you use? and 2. Which is best?I voted for the Sprint because they are the only ones on the list that cover where I live. If you don't go with them, you end up with a regional. I am too mobile to settle for a regional phone. On the other hand, they drive me crazy. I have to go to the top of the sand dune to get reception. I have had major billing problems with them and some deceptive practices. However, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I looked at Verizon but could not get them here. I just signed another 2 year agreement with Sprint. I have three phones for my family on one plan covering all three in my house or at college. We use them up and down the East Coast and in the midwest without any problems. I hope nothing ever goes wrong with Sprint because they are my DSL provider, my local phone service, my long distance and my cell phone.

[ross549]

IMO, Sprint has the best nationwide network overall. As long as you don't have to deal with their costomer service, you will be happy.

[georgeg4]

I disagree with all of you . None of them have nationwide service although they claim to . I can't get any service at all where I live and there are many other locations that have the same problem . So my answer is none until they get a truly nationwide service .

[bjf123]

I use Cincinnati Bell, who also provides my DSL connection. Nationally, they're part of AT&T's network. I think the best, however, is Verizon, which is who I used until a few months ago. The call quality and consistency seemed better. Cincinnati Bell just happens to have a better package price that includes local, long distance, wireless, and DSL.

[siebkens]

I disagree with all of you . None of them have nationwide service although they claim to . I can't get any service at all where I live and there are many other locations that have the same problem . So my answer is none until they get a truly nationwide service .

I agree with this. I think that you have to go with the service that reaches where you live + where you travel. We use 2 different providers - Sprint & Ntelos (local to VA, WVA w/free long distance). We can get service at home from both providers. Sprint gives nationwide coverage in major metropolitan areas - so when we travel, this service is available at all airports & many places we travel - very good "nationwide coverage" in metro areas. BUT, our families live in northern WV & Wyoming. These areas are NOT COVERED by any national coverage, so I think that you have to pick your cell provider based on individual needs!

[Guest ThunderRiver]

I disagree with all of you . None of them have nationwide service although they claim to . I can't get any service at all where I live and there are many other locations that have the same problem . So my answer is none until they get a truly nationwide service .

I agree with this. I think that you have to go with the service that reaches where you live + where you travel. We use 2 different providers - Sprint & Ntelos (local to VA, WVA w/free long distance). We can get service at home from both providers. Sprint gives nationwide coverage in major metropolitan areas - so when we travel, this service is available at all airports & many places we travel - very good "nationwide coverage" in metro areas. BUT, our families live in northern WV & Wyoming. These areas are NOT COVERED by any national coverage, so I think that you have to pick your cell provider based on individual needs!

That makes sense...There is one place I often go to, and the zip code is 62863, which is the little town called Mount Carmel, IL.Well, there is only VerizonWireless there, so if I don't use VerizonWireless, I don't know what are the other choices then heheI have heard a lot of people complaining about AT&T service because of the coversage and sound quality. How is their progress in GSM network build up?I heard some great plus about SprintPCS, but I don't now how much do they actually cover.

[teacher]

Mt Carmel is one of those places where Sprint fades fast. Across the bottom of Ill and Ind I have a gap in coverage for about an hour. That is the only place between Kansas City and the beach where I lose coverage. I don't know of any service provider that goes too far off the interstates. They all have maps on their home pages that show you their coverage areas. There are no towers of any kind where I live so you have to be up high on a sand dune or down at the water's edge sometimes to get coverage. I have been through 3 different cell phone companies and it all comes down to the dollar sign. My problem with Sprint revolved around them assigning me a telephone number that was long distance to call from here and they told me it was local. I went up the chain of command complaining about it until they finally assigned local numbers for this area. The higher ups were not aware there was a problem (there were lots of us in the same boat) and I refused to let it rest with someone paid minimum wage to answer from a script. Had they told me it was a number for an area 60 miles from me initially it would not have bothered me, but they had their computers programmed wrong and none of them knew there was an error! For the small amount of $25 per month I could have added it as a local calling area to my home phone bill. Some option. Then when they added local numbers they said I had to change my plan to get a local number because they no longer offered my old plan (another gotcha!). After a few phone calls, I am basically back with the plan I want and local service. And as others have stated, there is no true "nation-wide" coverage. Just paths like a spider's web that go out across the country to hit where the most people live. I know when my husband goes home to WV this next weekend, no provider reaches that place in the mountains! We will just have to go without talking to each other until he comes out of the mountains to call me as I will be in the Midwest again.I have verbositis again. Short reply. Just go look at the coverage maps for each provider to see if they cover where you travel!

[Guest LilBambi]

All of them fade out in our little town LOL! No broadband, and cellular is in one tiny corner of the upstairs and you have to hold your head just right! LOL!You don't get any calls they all go immediately to voicemail, then back to the small corner and hold your head right to get your messages! I ditched 'em ... just not worth it in this area.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

Yeah it is really sad that they don't cover all the areas like they advertized

[georgeg4]

Here is the only cell phone that works in my area

[Guest ThunderRiver]

Hehe nice one

[Jeber]

Another option, one I use, is Virgin wireless. It uses the Sprint network, thus it's coverage is the same as Sprint's regular service, but here in the West I've had no problems. The "killer app" for me is that it's a "pay as you go" plan. You add a minimum of $20 every three months to keep your account active...otherwise it's 25 cents a minute for the first ten minutes every day (5am to 5am) then 10 cents a minute after that. No extra charges for anything (nights, long distance.....). And no contract. Since I don't use it much, I'm always carrying time over. I don't "live" on the phone. If you're a frequent user, it may not make financial sense for you.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

True that. I don't am not a very talkative person. I am quiet actually heh.

[Prelude76]

what? no canadian options? I use Telus. I thought they were an american company that bought out Clearnet a few years ago, but i didnt see Telus in your list.

[muckshifter]

This One

[labyrinth]

My wife got a cell phone (in case of emergency) Hopefully there isn't an emergency close to home. The town I live in won't allow repeating towers, and we have a lot of hills. You can get a signal some places in town, but at my house you're out of luck. If they put in a tower I'll get a cell phone.