So my AT&T (now Cingular) wireless contract is up on the 20th of this month, and I’m contemplating reupping with them versus a move to Verizon. The pros to staying with Atingular are better phones, more than adequate service (except in NYC), and better nationwide bandwidth (EDGE is available pretty much everywhere). The pros for Verizon are better overall coverage, potential for a great mobility option with EV-DO, and most importantly – virtually everyone I know now is on Verizon, so mostly free calls.
Any thoughts or recommendations on making the switch or staying?
Update: One other thing I meant to ask – any Linux desktop users have experiences pro/con with any of the new Cingular or Verizon phones? While it’s not critical, if one phone is able to connect to Gnome Pilot or some such it’d be a plus.
sogrady says:
January 12, 2005 at 10:51 am
you're biased, so your opinion doesn't count.
Peter says:
January 12, 2005 at 6:03 pm
I just switched from Cingular to Verizon and have been very happy. I can't make any specific claims about the service, I haven't had any problems with either carrier.
My biggest problem with Cingular is that they don't care about keeping their customers. If you go to the web site, go to the store or call them everything is always different. Different pricing, different offers. When you inquire about this they ramble on about how they have "different divisions". I don't care, why is the phone $30 on the web site but $150 in the store? They used to offer incentives for existing customers to stay, now they specifically have a policy of making exactly the same offer to existing customers as new customers. I was actually going to renew but we reached a point where one CSR could match the web pricing on the phone but couldn't offer me the free shipping new customers were getting, and another CSR could give me the free shipping but had to charge me $100 more for the phone. They are the most screwed up company who doesn't care one bit about keeping customers.
I left Cingular only for that reason and am gladly paying Verizon and extra $5/month.
Floyd says:
January 13, 2005 at 1:01 am
Switch.
Floyd says:
January 13, 2005 at 5:01 am
Switch.
James says:
January 13, 2005 at 10:05 am
did you read seth on verizon? negative vibes http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/01/t…
sogrady says:
January 13, 2005 at 10:29 am
Peter: couldn't agree more. had a nightmare over the holidays, where Cingular's customer service rep told me – among other things – to see if my GSM phone could pick up VZW's signal. i thanked her politely and said have a good day.
sogrady says:
January 13, 2005 at 10:31 am
Floyd: you're also biased, and therefore don't count.
James: yup, i did see that. one of the reasons i haven't switched to VZW before, actually, is b/c i hate their cust svc with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. i've had multiple hideously botched installs from them – and once had to sit around in my NYC apt with one of their own reps, waiting on an *internal* support line for almost 3 hours.
that said, the wireless is for the most part a different division, and while their service from what i understand isn't stellar, it's not as bad as the landline/dsl/etc folks.
Peter says:
January 13, 2005 at 2:24 pm
Stephen – I agree compeletely about the different division point. The wireless people I've talked to have actually been very helpful and friendly. Even the folks in the store were nice, once you accept the fact that they are sales and are obviously going to try to sell you extra stuff.
Don't let your experience with Verizon TPC taint you. (Although I will say here in Phila. Verizon TPC is actually pretty good. They even replaced an aging trunk line on my street because so many people complained.)
Now I get 1.4 from my 1.5 DSL. 🙂
chrisA says:
January 13, 2005 at 2:28 pm
I've recently made the switch from Verizon to AT&T/Cingular. Aside from some of the headaches I had initially setting up my phone ( which is the sweet little Audiovox SMT5600 ) for use with the carrier…I've been very happy with the service. The clarity of sound is the most noticeable thing. When I borrowed a friends phone the other day who has verizon I felt like I was speaking on a CB radio. What New Yorker wouldn't jump at the chance of staying away from Verizon…blech!
sogrady says:
January 13, 2005 at 2:55 pm
Peter: will do, VZW's looking likely.
ChrisA: NY? really? my own exprerience with AT&T/Cingular was very good generally, but quite poor in NYC compared to VZW. overall i like atingular, but not so much in NYC.
chrisA says:
January 13, 2005 at 3:10 pm
Yes, so far so good. Service has been good, customer service has been good. A few years ago I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile drooling over the GSM phones and had an awful experience with bad service, dropped calls, no service at all sometimes. I promptly switched back to Verizon. So I was apprehensive about switching from Verizon which definately rules NYC, but like I said I have been anything but disappointed.
sogrady says:
January 14, 2005 at 10:43 am
interesting. i haven't been down since NYC, so maybe the merger positively affected their coverage, particularly in the better building penetrating 850mhz band.
glad to hear the switch has been good for you.
Jeffrey says:
January 17, 2005 at 1:22 pm
We switched from AT&T to Verizon. We like the plan (essentially no roaming and long distance charges), but the coverage in Austin, TX stinks. Reception at home is iffy, and we have to watch that we don't end up on "External Network, Analog" where there are roaming charges. Similar for my wife's workplace in central Austin. Coverage is a little better for Northern California and Northern Nevada where we have family. AT&T's coverage was much better.
sogrady says:
January 17, 2005 at 1:32 pm
interesting. it's the virtual opposite at my parents house in NJ, where AT&T is ok but iffy indoors while VZW is pretty much perfect. up here in ME VZW is losing ground while AT&T's gotten a bit better of late, in that i actually get enough of a signal at home now to receive and send text messages.
i think there are always going to be places where one carrier's better than another, but Austin is someplace i figured all of the major players would be at least decent.
curious.
Tanya says:
August 10, 2005 at 9:47 am
I've had a very negative expirence with verison wireless. They tend to leave things out when working up their deals, tell you they've fixed your problem;then 2 weeks later find out it was processed through the entire way. Big hassles,and time wasted, never again.
Mark Husak says:
September 28, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Stay with Cingular! Verizon is one of the most nastiest companies on this planet! They don't care one bit about you! After my family having service with this company for almost ten years in a area with poor coverage my daughter got off my plan and went on her own plan. The first two months she never got a bill because they sent it to a physical address and not the post office like requested. Then she lost her job and her bills backed up. After she got another job she worked her butt off to get the money needed to pay the Verizon bill and she did. She was told because she wanted the phone re-instated that $175 dollars of the bill which was a termination fee that they imposed not because she asked to be terminated would be waived. Then the Verizon finance office called and told her that they would not turn the phone back on unless she came up with a $400 security deposit. If she had $400 dollars the service would not have been in arrears in the first place. Forget about the $11,000.00 they already collected from us over the years, She couldn't help that the company she worked for closed on her but do think Verizon cares about that. I know when you sign contracts you are expected to follow through but it seems like if you go through a hardship situation they would be a little compasionate about it and try to work with you. NOT VERIZON, KICK YOU IN THE TEETH WHEN YOU ARE DOWN! This is why this country is in the shape it is in because everyone forgets about their neighbors. When I was growing up part of life was to help people when they where down now its like just tear them apart and feed them to the wolves. Stop and think about it, $3.00 a gallon gas-Rip Off $100 a month Cell Bills-Rip off, it goes on and on and we let it and at times promote it. Today the only thing people care about is the almighty dollar, and that comes before God, me and you. It won't belong before it comes to two types of people already quoted by our President when he addressed people as the "Haves" and the "Have Nots". Stop and think about it, what will you be! Say No to Verizon
Anonymous says:
October 13, 2006 at 11:20 am
verizon is a complete rip-off first of all it says there are ringtones to a new song and verizon doesnt have it, also it costs extra for the ringone to have the actual song instead of a stupid tune to it, and cingular is better, and cheaper and worth it and thhey get everything unilke verizon
Raddy says:
February 7, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Verizon sucks! planning to switch to Cingular; I could never make any phone calls from my house; Despite, several attempts to resolve with their technical support, they would not get me out of the contract, saying they will screw my credit; their customer service people are very rude people. Cingular may not be the best, but they cannot be any worse!
Lori says:
March 9, 2007 at 12:21 pm
“Oh my gosh!” I hope you have not switched yet! I had Verizon for three months and decided I’d rather pay the 175.00 cancelation fee than deal with them any longer! My husband had the service for over 5 years so when we got married I decided to switch from my own carrier (who I never had a problem with in 3 years). We have spent 3 months fighting with Verizon over bills that have all exceeded 300.00. They put us both on different plans (idiots!) and now are charging us for calling out of our plans! What!???!! Then my husbands phone went into the pool with him and they told him he could not buy a new phone without paying extra because he had not had the contract long enough! What!??! Now we have canceled and gone to T-Mobile & are happy. “Oh” they are charging each of us a cancelation fee of $175. because we had two phones (forget they are on the same contract!) VERIZON SUCKS!!! Hope you haven’t switched yet. If you have “Sorry”
Johnny Appleseed says:
April 20, 2007 at 8:58 am
Verizon has decent coverage, but other carriers have caught up singnificantly. Verizon’s customer service is okay, it’s their policies that I disagree with. No loyalty to their customers whatsoever. Their data plans are comparitively high and they often charge more for their phones. Compare their Treo prices against Cingular, AllTel or Sprint.