T-Mobile or Cingular - Overall Honest opinion

So as we will start seeing Motorola Razr V3's emerge into the T-Mobile market, I am trying to decide which service to switch to. I'm currently on Sprint PCS, and hate them. So I'd like to switch to a GSM provider. This narrows it down to T-Mobile and Cingular. I like Cingular, cause they ate up ATT, which means after their growing pains, or converting all those ATT towers to GSM Cingular towers, we're essentially going to have ATT's wireless network, which I hear was quite extensive. I also like them becuase they seem to get all the cool phones first. This was very true, with ATT. I don't see this as much with T-Mobile.
But I hear T-Mobile's customer service is REALLY good compared to other. Also, I hear they're coverage at the moment is quite good, and might even be better then Cingulars, especially right now. But I don't know if that'll stick, before Cingular is done with their roll out.

I'd like to get your opinion on the differences between these carriers. The Pros and cons, and of course the ultimate question....should I switch to T-Mobile or Cingular.

Compare coverage in your area, and areas that you go often, if they are equal go with T-Mobile as their plans are cheaper and the phone doesnt really matter if you are looking at the razor so either company should be able to give you that. T-Mobile only has 1 year contacts as oppose to multi year with cingular. Plus if you leave the country often T-Mo will unlock your phone after you have 90 days of tenure, cingular will never unlock your phone, but like I said look at coverage first, doesnt matter how cheap the plan is if you have no service.

P.S. Cingular and T-Mobile are tied for second most coverage in the U.S.A right now, behing Verizon.

Thanx for the feedback. So it looks as though coverage in my area is about the same, in all the areas I travel. But it's really hard to tell. T-Mobile has the Personal Coverage checker, which is nice. But Cingular does not have that, so I have to rely on their generic map on the website.
I like the fact that T-Mobile sticks with 1 year contracts as opposed to 2 year contracts.
I did speak with Cingular in regards to unlocking phones, and contrary to some experiences I've read on this forum, Cingular is also willing to unlock their phone, after a 90 day grace period. I got this info from a few representatives at Cingular.

One thing I noticed Cingular has, that T-Mobile does not is Roll Over minutes and Unlimited Evening and Weekends starting at 7PM. That's a real incentive.

More of your feedback is greatly appreciated

Agreed cingular does have roll over minutes and nights starting at 7pm, but look at what you are paying for their plans... T-Mo depending on where you live will give you 1000 min N&W nationwide calling and roaming for 39.99$ or 45.99$, were a similar plan with cingular is the Nationwide 900 w/Rollover for 59.99$.

So looked at both carriers by what package I would sign on to. Here's what I found:

T-Mobile - $99.99 a month
2500 Anytime Minutes
Unlimited Nights and Weekends
Additional Minutes - 30 cents
No Roaming or Long Distance Charges

Unlimited Mobile to Mobile - $6.99 a month

T-Mobile Total - $106.98 a month

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Cingular - $99.99 a month
2000 Anytime Minutes with Roll Over
Unlimited Nights and Weekends
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile
Additional Minutes - 25 cents
No Roaming or Long Distance charges

Evening and Weekends at 7PM - $7

Cingular Total - $106.99

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Besides the extra anytime minutes I would get on the T-Mobile plan, I see more features on the Cingular plan, with the specific plans I choosed. Am I wrong?

Good stuff then lol, guess you made up your mind, just call cingular and see if they can check your coverage from a street level perspective. Cant stress how important it is to research this as alot of people dont and just go for a cheap phone.

Yeah. I'll do that. Thanx!

Now I'm just curious about overall customer service, and overall use between the carriers and peoples experiences. Positive experiences, and negative.

My wife was a 6 year AT&T customer, and since being acquired by Cingular, they have started charging her for roaming, declined to provide a new phone (as per her AT&T contract) and to top it off, are charging her $175 to terminate her contract. Plus they nearly had her in collections because their system was unable to correctly process either a cc or check via their site. They also hung up on her when she called to calmly complain.

On the other hand, I have been a T-mobile customer for 4 years, and when my original 1 year contract was up, they called me and offered me a killer $40/month plan with no lock-in. Love them.

Yeah. I hear from various forums that T-Mobile's service is top notch for continued users. That's good to know. It seems all providers are really good to you, when you first sign on, but when you've been with one for awhile, that's when the customer service breaks down.

As far as with customers weathering the transition between ATT and Cingular...I have heard this is a nightmare. New customers like me, seem to be ok with Cingular's service as there is no convergence involved. Orange sim card, orange network, new service contract, no problems.

T-Mobile is definitly a consideration.

I've been a Cingular customer for about 2 years now, and am considering a switch to T-Mobile, mostly so I don't have to pay big bucks to upgrade to a better phone. I would stick with Cingular if they gave me a decent discount on a new phone, but they don't seem particularly interested in keeping me as a customer. Apparently, I can only get a good discount on a new phone with Cingular if I ditch my current phone number and get a new one. OTOH, with phone number portability, I can keep my phone number AND get a great deal on a new phone by switching to T-Mobile.

The only thing holding me back is the difference in coverage. I currently get great reception at my home in San Francisco with Cingular, but T-Mobile's street-level coverage map shows a big fat dead zone where my house is. I read somewhere that, with a roaming plan, T-Mobile will leech off of Cingular's towers as necessary and thus, T-Mobile and Cingular should have equivalent coverage. Does anyone know if this is true in San Francisco?

T-Mobile or Cingular - Overall Honest opinion

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