Sprint, at&t, T-Mobile, Verizon; which is the best?
EDN just decided that we are not going to use at&t cell phone service anymore. I don’t know if this is because at&t is dropping their TDMA phone system, or they charge too much, or just corporate whimsy. The nice thing is we get to keep our old numbers. So the phone department or IT or whoever worries about this wants us all to pick an alternative serves, T-Mobile, Sprint or Verizon. I asked all my local friends what they thought and was depressed at how may people told me to stick with at&t. One thing about my choice different than most people is I don’t care about the plan cost because I don’t pay and I don’t care about text messaging because I refuse to poke at a little tiny box to send a message to someone I could just as easily call up. I know, I’m a dinosaur. Of my friends that had an opinion, the ones that did not go for at&t seemed to prefer Verizon. My buddy Dave said:
My brother in law is a road warrior, and swears by Verizon. Their evdo data is better than Tmo, though Tmo is promising 3G with higher data rates soon (UMTS). I have tmo and generally find their service acceptable, but the slow data rate is a bummer. Across the country, CDMA has better coverage. In Europe, GSM wins, but if you go there, just buy a second used, unlocked quad band gsm phone and get prepaid sim at the supermarket.
Analog guru Paul Grohe responded:
They are all evil. Verizon modifies (cripples) the phone OS and charges you to use features the phone manufacturer originally included (GPS, Bluetooth file transfer, USB file transfers, phonebook backup, photo downloads, etc). Though a few hacks can get most of them back. But if you just want a voice-only telephone, they are fine. I had 5 solid bars with AT&T TDMA at home (I can SEE the tower from by back yard), whereas Verizon is one bar (but still works) and Sprint is driveway-only reception. If you live in a stucco house, or stray outside the urban areas, forget Sprint. On our drive down to LA (101/1 scenic route), my Verizon phone had bars the whole way, whereas my fathers Sprint phone was dropping in-and-out. But everywhere else, I have had no problems with Verizon reception. Verizon and Sprint uses 800/1.9GHz CDMA - so the signal penetrates pretty well. AT&T is moving from 800 TDMA to 800M/1.9G GSM. Note that AT&T has already discontinued TDMA phones. T-Mobile sells $40 all-you-can-eat bucket plans - so that means they will be overloaded by teenagers and other yakkers in a crowded area. The downtown concerts are a good test of capacity. Billing-wise - I have had no problems with Verizon. I think the second least evil would be Verizon, with Sprint and T-Mobile in a tie for third. Just have your buddies with a phone on each system do a "site survey" with their phone and see how the reception is in the areas you frequent the most. T-Mobile’s "Coverage Check" says you will get 3 bars at home (outside). Just be sure you get a multi-band phone (800/1.9). If you are going to travel internationally, get a multi-band GSM "world-phone" with a SIM card.
In addition Paul sent a link to a great site that explains the cell phone differences and focuses on which service is best in the SF bay area. It may be a little outdated but it taught me a lot about cell phones, a device I would not own if EDN did not require it. That site also led me to this history site about wireless and cell phones, something former editor and electronics history buff Steve Leibson is sure to enjoy.
Since I don’t even like cell phones I am also loathe to get a Blackberry or Trio, but most of my buddies seem to think the Apple phone is best for web browsing and the Blackberry is best to handle email. And everybody tells me to stay away from any device run with a Microsoft OS. My buddy with a Microsoft PDA says it constantly crashes, and my buddy Tim over at Linear Tech has had nothing but problems once he allowed his Treo to sync to his Outlook email program. You can’t even have Microsoft drive by your stuff without it causing crashes.
So add your two cents—which service and which phone—I would love to hear about that, since I do not even know what phone I well get now that I have chosen Verizon.
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