NYC-should I switch from att to cingular or verizon?
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Author
Message
flying Posts: 2
Phone Model: Motorola
Service Provider: ATT
Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:35 am
I have had ATT for years and am deep into a contract for at least another year with an analog Motorola phone. It costs $175 to cancel the contract. Here are my choices. Which do you recommend? My number one priority is good reception in NYC which I am NOT GETTING WITH ATT! I need to switch!
A) switch from ATT to Cingular but remain analog?
B) switch from ATT to Cingular and get a 4-band unlocked GSM that I can use in France (I travel there twice a year)? If B any phone recommendations?
C) switch from ATT to Verizon which I heard has the best reception in NYC and pay the $175 termination fee? If C, any phone recommendations?
D) If I get verizon, I understand it's only analog. Which is better in NYC - analog or digital or are things changing?
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NDogg78 Posts: 87
Phone Model: Motorola V600
Service Provider: Cingular
Tue Dec 07, 2004 2:00 am
A) how do you know you are using analog? what phone do you have? if you're on an old plan, you probably are using TDMA which is digital with analog AMPS capability if needed. if not, then you are GSM which is digital also. the question on whether or not to switch to Cingular is whether or not GSM coverage is good in general in NYC since cingular will use its own network, att, or tmobile's network.
B) see A) about cingular. yes, then you could pretty much get any GSM phone since all your information is tied to your sim card, this is the beauty of GSM, you are not tied to 1 phone and can easly switch between GSM phones and between sim cards if you'd want to say use a prepaid sim card elsewhere in the world. most of moto's new phone's are quadband so yes it can work anywhere in the world where GSM is in use.
C) considering verizon is the incumbent to the NYC area, they most likely do have the best reception. it's up to you whether or not you see value in cancelling your current contract to use verizon or switch to cingular. question is how much better is verizon's network compared to GSM in the area?
D) verizon is not analog unless you of course there is no digital service from them. verizon uses CDMA which is digital. your question shouldn't be which is better in NYC - analog or digital...it should be which is better in NYC - GSM or CDMA? which i cannot answer, you'd have to check out people's experiences with both and then make the decision.
JCMyersIV Posts: 122
Phone Model: V635 & BB 7290
Service Provider: Cingular
Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:34 pm
Quick clarification to dogg's earlier comment - Cingular does not have a native network in NYC, they share T-Mo's (and in return T-Mo gets to use Cingular's network on the West Coast). As part of the AT&T purchase, they will be unwinding that partnership, but its not expected to close until second half of '06.
In NYC, Verizon does have the best network; however, b/c Cingular still has the network sharing arrangement with T-Mobile, and will continue to hold 2.5Mhz of the spectrum post unwinding of their partnership, if you combine the AT&T and T-Mobile networks I think you're looking at something stronger than VZW's native network.
For the time being, if you switch to Cingular and get a GSM phone, it will default to T-Mobile's network (it will say "cingular" on the phone). The phone should automatically switch to AT&T's network if they have a stronger signal (not sure on the logic on the current SIM's they're selling - may only switch if unable to get T-Mo signal, or may now favor AT&T's network, and only choose T-Mo if unable to get AT&T network). In any case, you have the power/constellation of two networks with Cingular vs. only one with Verizon.
Having said that, most of my co-workers in NYC swear by Verizon. As for the trips to France, you would need to get a new Samsung phone Verizon is offering that will allow you to use GSM overseas (CDMA in the US), if you wanted to keep the same phone.
I'm pretty sure Cingular will let you switch to a Cingular plan/phone mid-contract. I would try that first (you loose nothing by doing so) to see if its any good. If the network stinks, then switch to Verizon. When I travel to NYC (six-eight times/year), I don't have any trouble with my Cingular GSM phone on T-Mo/AT&T's networks.
NDogg78 Posts: 87
Phone Model: Motorola V600
Service Provider: Cingular
Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:04 pm
Hey JC, what do you do for a living? Just curious, you sure have a lot of knowledge about phone networks!
wizdum Posts: 2
Phone Model: Motorola T721
Service Provider: AT&T Wireless / Cingular Wireless
Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:49 pm
To: flying
--I have had bad experiences with AT&T also. Letter C is the best bet. Verizon is known for having the best reception in big cities and is amazing in New York. You should definately switch to Verizon... As for phone recommendations,,,, DO NOT get an LG phone..... They are ABOSLUTELY HORRIBLE! Get a Motorola. Any Motorola you get is good, my favorite is the Motorola V265...
--As for D, I don't know where you heard that. Verizon is all digital.
xplot Posts: 1
Wed Dec 08, 2004 8:27 pm
absolutely switch to verizon. I just tried cingular and switched back within a week to verizon.
The lure of rollover made me try cingular but the poor voice quality made be go back to verizon. While I don't love verizon, I didn't realize that the normal problems of verizon (sometimes doesn't ring, occasional drop outs) are nothing compared to the horrible voice quality with cingular. It was a brand new moto v180 phone I tried it with compared to my now ancient 720.
The static and horrible voice quality is what made me give up cingular in NYC.
Maybe someone in NYC will be able to beat Verizon and be able to put some price pressure on them, but it ain't now.
The salesman in the cingular store said cingular was now using AT&T GSM network... was he lying?
JCMyersIV Posts: 122
Phone Model: V635 & BB 7290
Service Provider: Cingular
Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:08 am
No, he wasn't lying. Cingular NEVER had a native network in NYC. Read my earlier post about the partnership agreement with T-Mobile. With an engineering SIM card, you can manually select either network. AT&T's network in Manhattan is not good - there will need to be lot's of $$ spent on it to bring the pressure that was spoken of in the earlier post.
As for what I do, dog - I work for a very large professional services firm - I have one client that is a cell service provider (though not one of the ones noted in this email). I have two industries I follow very closely, wireless, and the airline industry. As a 1K on United, I had my 100th flight of 2004 the first week of November. Don't get me started; I'm looking for a change of jobs - I need to get off the road!! I have an unhealthy reading habit to keep abreast of all that's going on in both industries...
NDogg78 Posts: 87
Phone Model: Motorola V600
Service Provider: Cingular
Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:20 am
JCMyersIV wrote:
No, he wasn't lying. Cingular NEVER had a native network in NYC. Read my earlier post about the partnership agreement with T-Mobile. With an engineering SIM card, you can manually select either network. AT&T's network in Manhattan is not good - there will need to be lot's of $$ spent on it to bring the pressure that was spoken of in the earlier post.
As for what I do, dog - I work for a very large professional services firm - I have one client that is a cell service provider (though not one of the ones noted in this email). I have two industries I follow very closely, wireless, and the airline industry. As a 1K on United, I had my 100th flight of 2004 the first week of November. Don't get me started; I'm looking for a change of jobs - I need to get off the road!! I have an unhealthy reading habit to keep abreast of all that's going on in both industries...
funny you should say that JC, I actually work for United. i'm responsible for United's flight schedule to be available to fly and sell worldwide. so if you're calling up a res agent or booking through a travel agency, i'm responsible for which flights that they can see and in turn sell you. unfortunately b/c of this, im on call 24/7 so if a complaint comes in b/c someone can't see a flight in travelocity/Sabre i get called to fix it. anyway, thanks for flying!
JCMyersIV Posts: 122
Phone Model: V635 & BB 7290
Service Provider: Cingular
Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:38 am
Does that role give you the ability to create inventory in "T" and "S" classes? If so, boy do I have some favors to ask ... (just kidding of course)
NDogg78 Posts: 87
Phone Model: Motorola V600
Service Provider: Cingular
Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:32 am
JCMyersIV wrote:
Does that role give you the ability to create inventory in "T" and "S" classes? If so, boy do I have some favors to ask ... (just kidding of course)
i create the default seat allocation for the classes, but our revenue management department controls the actual available inventory. i do know some people on that side though
if you need to know what kind of in flight service you'll be getting or something like on time performance i could tell you that
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