Cingular vs Verizon

[jbeaber]

So, finally done with Sprint.  The bastards screwed me over one time too many.  Good company until you need service or they do something to screw you.  I'm trying to decide betwen Cingular and Verizon.  The cost for plans is identical.  Phones are similar.  I'm also thinking of getting a camera phone.  I'm curious to know what y'all think of your plans out there.  Service for both is pretty good in the Bay area, so that is not an issue.

[JetSwing]

what's there left to compare?  :dunno:

customer service?

btw, they're dropping the name cingular in favor of at&t.

[Onlypastrana199]

I have both...make sure you dont go over with Verizon..they like to screw you big time with overages.

My verizon phone is a Samsung a670 camera phone with flash. I dropped it once and its starting to split apart, my mom dropped hers and a whole chunk broke off, kind of cheap and it likes to take pictures of the inside of my pocket on its own.

I have a cheapy sony phone from cingular, but i just got it so i dont know how it will hold up yet.

[jbeaber]

Customer service is prolly the biggest.  People usually have a strong opinion on their cell service.  Just curious to hear what others think...

[flyingbeagle71]

I'm using Verizon now, they suck.  Their customer service isn't bad, it's their coverage.  There are huge holes in the coverage in my area.

My contract is done in March so I'll be switching to  I've had Nextel in the past and thought it was a pretty good service, but it's owned by Sprint now so

[skoozi12]

I have that phone too, Pastrami.  I'm a big fan of dropping it from heights exceeding 5ft.  It's held up like a tank or insurance has replaced it.  I think I'm going on my 4th one in 2 years.  

Regarding customer service, Verizon sort of depends on who you talk to and what day.  I have had some horrible experiences with them but overall it has been really good.  One time I went over on minutes BIG TIME and the guy was a jerk at first but then offered to up my plan to the next highest price level to cover the difference.  Instead of costing me almost $400 my bill was around $100.  

I had cingular in the past and their customer service is a lot like Verizon but I just don't like them.  They were not quite as accomodating.

Verizon gets my   but I would also pay close attention to coverage in your area since it varies greatly.

and sprint and nextel suck IMHO!

[Alphamazing]

According to Consumer Reports, Verizon has one of the best ratings in customer service and coverage. Cingular has one of the lowest, especially in terms of customer service.

I've got Verizon right now, and I'm very satisfied with it. It's got good coverage around here, and the plan is reasonable for my use. My coverage is a bit better than some people I know with other carriers (I get reception, although not great, in places they don't). My service tends to cut out when I am in underground buildings or in buildings housing a LOT of electrical and magnetic equipment. For example, our Pharmacy building and Chemistry building tend to cut out. Both rooms I'm in are underground, and above them are numerous labs and computer rooms.  

In my experience, Verizon gets the same or better reception than Cingular in my area. The "better" part is minute though.

[Grainbelt]

Cingular all the way. Have had them/AT&T in various forms for 5 years. Rollover minutes is great, coverage was good, online pmt/minute view/etc all easy to use. Customer service? can you click a mouse?

[weaselnoze]

ive had cingular for 3 years or so.  how can customer service be any better? i've had nothing but good luck with them.  i called up once to tell them that i didnt get service on this small stretch of road consistantly.  i would always drop a call when i went thru there.   they reported the area and in a few weeks it was fixed!  they cancelled my bill for the month for my 'troubles'.  i've had a few things over the years i have called to complain about. one time my text msgs werent gettin thru to other ppl so they gave me unlimited texts for 3 months at 2.99.  the list goes on.

one more testimonial.  my friend initially bought his fone from bestbuy with cingular.  best buy had somethign that if u break ur fone and they cant fix it within 2 minutes, they replace the fone.  well anyway, like 2 years past and he went to go get his fone replaced for the X number of times and they said they dont do that anymore. so he called cingular and threatened to switch. they gave him double the mintues that he had and sold him a fone at the 2 year contract plan with no contract.

[Caffeine]

Verizon has been my first and only carrier for about 5 years.  My coverage here in South Florida always seems to be better than my friends who have Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.

Customer service has been OK.  Not spectacular, but OK.   I've never been burned for overages, but I never go over.

What I don't like is that I sign up for 2-year contracts, but the phones they give me never seem to last 2 years.  (And I treat my phones pretty well.)  And when it comes time to repair my phone, they always seem to be "obsolete" or "We don't fix or sell this model any more".   Then I end up signing up for a new 2-year period in order to get another phone.   Kinda scam-ish to me.

But nobody is offering any better plans than the one I already have, and I'm generally happy with Verizon.

Talk to people "locally" about their phone service to get an idea of how good your coverage will be.

[weaselnoze]

i'll tell u what to do.  if ur like me and hate contracts, wait till u are out of your contract and DONT renew it!  if u must have the newest fone on the market, hit up ebay! sure u pay more but no contract.  its so worth it.  i've had 6 or so fones since my contract was up.  most of them werent even cingular fones.  i unlocked them  

[roguegeek]

Been with AT&T/Cingular for a while now. Here in LA, I tend to like the Verizon coverage a little more, but Cingular is no slouch and I prefer their phones. As far as customer support goes, I've heard Verizon is better, but I hear nothing but horror stories from my friends with Verizon. Never have problems dealing with Cingular. I think customer support rating are directly related to the customers, so I never look at them.

I've been perfectly happy with my Sony Ericsson S710a for the last year. I think SE's interface is pretty damn good if you don't want to go the full Treo or BlackBerry way. Cingular has a good deal on the Sony Ericsson W600i right now. That's what I'd go with.

[ashman]

when i moved from La to Al (bama) I needed a plan that would have nationwide roaming so friends/family back home wouldnt have 2 pay long dist. charges. Cingular had a plan 450min/4500 night weekend for 43bux a month. best of all i had a phone i could use n e where in the country, then they introduced roll over, the most I went over was 250min one month cost me nearly 200 bux. now I have cloes to 1k min stored up for whenever i need. cust service: durin katrina cell service in the gulf coast wasnt worth crap in some areas, cingular cut my bill in 1/2 that month and gave me unlimited text/internet use. I was happy. i've been w/ them since 2002 my contract is up in a few months, i'd resign again.

-ash

[average]

I ve been with AT&T since '99.  This year they announced that they were teaming up with Cingular and gave us the option of dropping our contract and going to another carrier or just being picked up by the locals who were taking over for them.  A company called Suncom. I never switched over so they kept my line open on a month to month basis with the same features from AT&T.
Suncom sucks! The coverage seems to be worse than AT&T but the CS is the same ,pretty good. Right now i have a month to month deal on a Nextel thats about to take me to the poor house. Ive been thinking of signing on with them also. Just havent had a chance to go down and check on there plans.
What really gets me is that they have Cingular here. I dont understand why we weren't switched over to Cingular instead of f%# a$$ Suncom. It just seems to make more sense to me.....

[Alphamazing]

Go pick up the latest issue of Consumer Reports. They rated cell phone plans and phones in 18 metro areas. Check it out.

[dbNnc]

A little off-topic, but recently people have given me their cell phone numbers and they've been long-distance. I guess people don't want to go through the hassle of changing their number, but it's a little annoying to have to pay long-distance to call someone around the corner.

As you were.

[Alphamazing]

A little off-topic, but recently people have given me their cell phone numbers and they've been long-distance. I guess people don't want to go through the hassle of changing their number, but it's a little annoying to have to pay long-distance to call someone around the corner.

As you were.

Oh man. On my old plan I had free long distance to all numbers in Texas. Wasn't a problem for the 10 months I had it, until a few months ago. I got a girlfriend from Louisiana who's going to school in Texas. Her phone number was located in Louisiana, so every time I called her it charged me long distance fees, despite the fact she was just across campus. We changed plans to get free nationwide long distance now. Silly girlfriend.

[pantablo]

why dont you guys have free national calling like I do? its cheap.

I have been with Verizon for 10+ years and never had a problem.

[Turkina]

My verizon phone is a Samsung a670 camera phone with flash. I dropped it once and its starting to split apart, my mom dropped hers and a whole chunk broke off, kind of cheap and it likes to take pictures of the inside of my pocket on its own.

My A670 does that too!  Too often I take the phone out of my pocket and find that it has taken 10 or so pics of linty goodness  :x

Oh, and Verizon still owes me a good $100 or so in corporate discounts they have repeatedly screwed up processing...

But the service is good, and that's what I need.  Make sure you put a decent text message plan on your phone if you use them, nowadays they are 10 cents each way.