yea, they are the industry leader at not dropping calls. they spend around 5-6 billion dollars wisely of capex into their networks and they do it well.

i think that is the main differnce. if everyone was like them, the other carriers, i think that verizon wouldnt have the edge becuase of lack of good products and services.

i love their new commercials.. "ITS THE NETWORK" it is a great commercial and point to get across. the helicopters and the towers and stuff like that. its a good commercial. finally, their marketing crew does a great job and i give them kudos.

I believe Verizon is at the top of their game right now, but I also think it's only a matter of time before analog cellular is truly relegated with the dinosaurs, where a tri-mode phone will not be an issue, and that GSM will, in fact, replace CDMA as the desired technology. For the time being, though, even though the company is NOT all things to all people, you just can't beat Verizon. I live in Charlottesville, VA, as I might have mentioned earlier, and Verizon doesn't have a presence here, but Alltel does. I use Alltel's towers and get an "extended area" on my screen all the time. True, I don't have access to things like checking my minutes on my phone for free right in my own backyard, but plan-wise, I like Verizon's over Alltel's. ...
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very true. well said!!!

"I believe Verizon is at the top of their game right now, but I also think it's only a matter of time before analog cellular is truly relegated with the dinosaurs..."

Yes, a matter of 5 years time since the FCC decided the rule that carriers which have transitioned to digital must also maintain analog service.

The decision was made in 2002 - I believe the sunset date is now 2008, but I could be off on that and it's subject to change anyway. AWS wanted to drop analog immediately with no sunset period. It will be interesting to watch what happens when we get closer to that date. I predict some carriers will campaign to extend the date as it has a negative impact on VZW

Verizon wants analog to go bye bye as well, why else would 70% of the phones they offer be All Digital?

Where do you live? Verizon is good regionally as are most carriers.

SoCal. El-lay.

SystemShock said:
SoCal. El-lay.

Each carrier has a return period...you can try 'em all out and keep whichever one works best for you.

Yeah, thats what I keep hearin'. Thanks bro.

I would say Verizon is overall the best there. Mainly because as you head east the coverage in Riverside and SB counties is better.

Once Cingular completes the transition to the ATTWS network they will be very similar (not sure if when that will be done or if it already has been completely for new customers, any help?).

ATTWS always rated very well (formerly LA Cellular) in So Cal.

One thing that Verizon has done to add more customers is that they have really true nationwide coverage. In my area, Northern Wyoming, Cingular, TMobile, Sprint/Nextel, GSM, iDEN, none of them work at all. Not even roaming. We just don't have the population and the revenue is just not there for them to come in and put big $$$ to have towers here. We have one major competitor, CellularOne/Alltel, and their plans are very similar but the roaming charges are the major difference. The new Alltel plans that have rolled out with the merger have 99 cents a minute roaming if you are out of your area. Customer service is a difference too. Yea I know about all the complaining that people do about customer service, but overall Verizon is the best.

H...
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brentgodwin said:
Good Luck. I hope you choose Verizon and you can be IN.

Yeah, with what I'm hearin I'm starting to lean that way. Thanks for the help.

No problem. Glad to be of help. Anything else, just ask!!

Your statement is not accurate. Cingular offers nationwide coverage. So does Verizon and T-Mobile. None of them work everywhere so by your definition none of them offer "true" nationwide coverage.

Here's my 2 cents considering I just got a cell phone back in late August. I got Verizon because my parents had Verizon so that way I could do IN calling. Here's where it matters: ALL cell services offer Mobile2Mobile (IN-calling) whatever. So WHOEVER your going to be talking to, it's best to find out who they have (thats where you ask how the service is) and the service more people you'll be talking to have is the best bet. Word gets around who the better carrier is in your area and if you can talk for free for most of your calls--the questions you'll wish you had before you signed up are answered.

I just did all the work for ya.

P.S. At first I wished I had looked at the phones for each carrier since I'm big into phones now...
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at least imnerho...

I supported VZW through an outsource company for 3 years.

I had a VZW phone briefly through a friend who worked for them directly - my credit sucks too heavily otherwise.

I live in Portland Oregon - one of the most unwired cities in the country - any carrier should work fine here. My reception sucked ass in my home - in spite of 5 vzw towers within 5 miles.

Over the years, I've played with phones from all the majors and it came down to no clear superiority between VZW and Cingular.

When it came time to get service for my wife's small business, we went with Cingular.

Sprint should be called Highway Wireless - great coverage on most interstates, but don't try to use the phone on a county road.

T-mobil...
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It is my understanding through our technical support people at the carrier I'm employed by that if you are not within 2 miles of a tower, your service is going to be spotty, at best. We are, after all, dealing with a radio wave, subject to interference by natural phenomena (like mountains...ask me about that!) and manmade barriers, like brick and steel constructed buildings. I do not work for Verizon, so I have no way to benefit here. It could just be that where you happen to live, your Cingular tower is closer to you than your Verizon tower is. Overall, and generally speaking, I would have to disagree with you. CDMA has been around a lot longer in the US than GSM has. I'm just a little surprised you don't get comparable results with T...
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Oh. I'm solidly in the GSM camp - have been for a while.

VZW touts the superiority of cdma - and yes - it's superior from the perspective of the carrier - greater call density and all that.

From my perspective, the service is close enough that sim card technology alone tips the balance - I don't need my carrier's permission to use a particular model phone - and if one unit dies I can transfer the sim card in 30 seconds - and my phonebook is all on the sim card. With a sim card reader, I can also back up my data to my pc.

Totally correct. That's why GSM IS the service of the future. The biggest problem right now is they have coverage where CDMA generally has coverage, but CDMA has coverage where GSM does not. Let me share a story with you.

The last cellular job I had in the DC market a couple of years ago was with the company that had the franchise in all the Sam's Clubs. I was the manager of that installation, and we sold (at the time) all six providers in the market...AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile, Nextel, Sprint, and Verizon. Talk about keeping your promotions straight! Anyway, just for the heck of it (this was February, 2004) I took the coverage maps of all the GSM providers at that time, the first three I mentioned above. I made transparancies of ea...
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sngwrtr525 said:
Totally correct. That's why GSM IS the service of the future. The biggest problem right now is they have coverage where CDMA generally has coverage, but CDMA has coverage where GSM does not. Let me share a story with you.

Please..... 🙄 Verizon will NEVER go to GSM. In fact, Cingular and T-Mobile (and all GSM worldwide, for that matter) is in the process of upgrading to a form of CDMA technology.

Read this:

https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/forum.php?fm=m&f ... »

It is by the editor of this website. He would know better than any one of us.

zombywoof said:

From my perspective, the service is close enough that sim card technology alone tips the balance - I don't need my carrier's permission to use a particular model phone - and if one unit dies I can transfer the sim card in 30 seconds - and my phonebook is all on the sim card. With a sim card reader, I can also back up my data to my pc.

Anyone who has actually attempted this knows that it isn't quite that simple. Sure, you can pop the sim card out and use it in another phone, but most phone offers far more numbers of memory than is available on a SIM card. Also, in my experience, the SIM card doesn't support multiple numbers per name/directory entry, as most phones do, and indeed, many of...
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gsm is by no means a "wave of the future" technology. it's not a dead-end technology either. cdma is king now and is spreading more rapidly worldwide than gsm. some carriers in asia are pulling down gsm to replace with cdma.

our own government uses cdma technology because it's the most secure. (ask paris hilton) cdma drops less calls than gsm because of spread spectrum. i.e. a gsm carrier would need 5x the towers as cdma to hold the same volume of calls. that's a 5:1 ratio.

part of gsm's problem is they are constantly coming up with ways to enhance it. if they need to enhance the network so much is this a product you want to go with?

most people go with verizon because they want reliability AND security. and we, as salespeop...
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I agree and although I love the flexibility of SIMs, the potential,feature laden phones with complete BT support I am missing reliable call connections. Dropped calls and "can you hear me now" has become an everyday recital here In South Carolina. I'm tired of "waiting for new towers that are always six months away."

How is Verizon is SW Missouri?

I couldn't agree more when it comes to the "Best Network" hype. It's the sole excuse that you hear anymore when you point out VZW's other inadequacies. The worst part is that in alot of places now, the difference between VZW's network and other choices is either minute or non-existent. They have long since stopped being able to successfully justify the price difference with that excuse, but you still hear it.

What price difference? Our single line plans are the same price as Cingular with the same amount of minutes. Not only that, but I think "More bars in more places" is more HYPE than "Best Network" ever will be. At least ours is not as ambiguous.