POLL: Poll: Least-evil Cell-phone company

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I just got my SprintPCS bill and it's so ridiculously high from overages that I'm actually considering switching companies. This is AFTER I upgraded my plan a month ago to one with more minutes. Bastards.

(First one who tells me "maybe you talk on the phone too much" gets a shot in the pills. )

This poll really only applies to Americans (sorry - I'm not likely to change services anywhere else), but non-Yanks can feel free to vent their frustrations here too.

So since I'm now considering shopping around, I'd like to see what else is out there, and see what the consencus is on the major wireless carriers. Hence, ye wonderful poll. Also - I'm looking for recommendations from anybody as to what the best company out there is. Sprint has been fine for me up to now, but from what I hear, I'm paying way too much ($40 for the plan, plus roughly another $30/month in arbitrary fees) for relatively little (500 minutes/month, with $.40/minute for overage.

It should also be noted that my cell phone is my only phone, so getting rid of it isn't really an option right now - at least until I get out of school (next March). Help!

[edit - Tal (or whomever) if this is more suited to Techno-magic, feel free to move it. I just figured since it isn't a gadget-specific question it'd be okay - but do whatever. ]

Poll Information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 14 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: Poll: Least-evil Cell-phone company (14 votes.)

Cell-phone service I like the best (or that has screwed me the least): (Choose 1)
* Sprint PCS - 0% (0)
* Cingular (this now includes AT&T Wireless) - 7% (1)
* Verizon - 14% (2)
* Nextel - 7% (1)
* T-Mobile - 21% (3)
* Other (please list) - 50% (7)

I'd rather pass a cantaloupe-sized kidney stone than get phone from: (Choose 1)
* Sprint PCS - 21% (3)
* Cingular (this now includes AT&T Wireless) - 29% (4)
* Verizon - 0% (0)
* Nextel - 0% (0)
* T-Mobile - 7% (1)
* Other (please list) - 43% (6)

 

Ah, I know what you mean, even if I don't know anything about these companies. In the UK, Vodafone were rubbish, as much for their appalling customer service as for anything else. They just kept making mistakes.

In New Zealand there are only two companies to choose from: Telecom and Vodafone and they're so competitive that their plans and promotions pretty much mirror each other.

$70 a month does sound pretty high to me tough. I spend about NZ$10 per month on my mobile phone(about US$7).

 

Ha Ha Ha! Death Rabbit, how the hell could you sign your soul over to Sprint PCS?!?! Oh man, my g/f used to work as a Sprint PCS "customer care" rep., so I know enough about how badly Sprint will fu** you over if you give them a chance. If you do become wise and cancel early in your contract, they'll slap on yet another fee to your final bill.

Once you are free from Sprint, do yourself a favor and get T-Mobile. Not only does T-Mobile get great coverage, they also have great phones, and the #1 ranked customer service out of all cell phone providers...which is probably because their call center is in Canada, and Canadians have nothing else to offer the world *except* their friendliness...unless they are French-Canadians. Oh yeah, T-Mobile also has the sexiest spokes model...CZJ is hot.

Back on topic, I've had T-Mobile for awhile now, and I have never had any complaints with them. Getting a hold of them is as easy as dialing 611 with a T-Mobile phone and telling the automated system, "Speak to a Representative ". I'm currently paying $39 a month for a 400 minute Family plan that offers: 100 free, extra minutes every month, no roaming, no long distance, and free mobile to mobile calling. Try to beat that plan!

So in short, save your soul and get T-Mobile.

 

Death to Telecom!

I'd go with Vodafone in NZ.

 

Tassadar - there's no difference. Telecom introduces free texting on weekends, then Vodafone brings in the same promotion. The main differentiation is the characters in their advertising. Fast Eddie rules.

 

In the UK, the best one i have found is O2, great pay monthly plan, £19 a month and you get 500 free texts and 50 anytime minutes or 100 anytime minutes and 25 free texts. They also have a wide range of hpnes to choose from.

 

@ Harbourboy

But Telecom are spamming cellphones with their advertising, and ripping off other companies (eg - Slingshot). Death to Telecom!

 

Telus (local company) has treated me well so far. From what I hear from my roommates, BellMobility is the worst choice around here currently.

Bell seems to be having an issue with their billing, where it shows that any calls from areas with different towers is considered long distance.

My buddy just got a $300 phone bill for calling within the city, because they marked it as long distance. Of course, it is fixable, but you have to call, wait on hold, have them review it, and so forth.

 

Mine is a different one. Just a local Polish one, I think, though might be wrong. Idea Centertel or whatever they call themselves now. Low costs, reliable service, just no spectacular goodies from the big but expensive operators, but they do make some nice promos, have nice services and also cover the whole country, so you don't find yourself in dead zones. I love the service which forwards your SMS to a specified e-mail address. This way, you can send short e-mails within your free minutes. They show your number instead of the address, but people can still figure it out and you can always leave clues. They also have a free online SMS gateway, so anyone connected to the internet can send me SMSes for free (you only need to figure out the Polish on the site or follow my instructions closely).

I did hate my previous operator: Plus GSM. They had the biggest fees ever. They had nearly no promos for old customers (apart from 2.5 euro worth of a bonus for birthday), the cost/card validity tariff for pre-paid was murder. Problems with range. SMSes from the operator at night hours whenever your pre-paid credits ran low. Whatever. Bye bye, Plus. Idea is way superior.

 

Finland has a funny situation with these. The competition runs so high and all are forced to bring their prices so down that many companies are on the edge og bankrupcy because of it. It's good for the customers though, we have all sorts of "special offers" coming from various companies all the time.

 

@ Morgoroth

That's because they didn't develope their services to new areas when they could: speaking to phone should be 100% FREE by now and that is one reason why IP-phones are rising their head. Charging 10-30 bucks of live image-call is understandable, but speech only...? No. The companies are still ripping their customers.

 

I have been very happy with Cingular. My dad and sister in Florida also got Cingular so all of our calls are free to each other. My aunt's family are all on Verizon and they seem pretty happy also. Although it is a strong possibility that whichever family's contract ends first, may all switch to the other so we are all on the same plan.

This is one of the few industries where I am actually hoping for additional mergers as the chances of people being on your plan are better.

 

I have an Orange/Hutchison cell. It has pretty good reception and we got a decent deal too. Calls on the same network are damn cheap. The one thing I wont be doing with it is roaming, better to get a pre-paid card for the short duration I'll ever be out of the bombay-new bombay area.

Anyone know which other countries the Orange company works? And which is its host country?

 

Spain has 3 principal phone companies: Telefonica (the one that sponsors in almost every motor sport) Vodafone and Amena, there are some others that work just in some cities; lately there was a struggle because if you are in Vodafone and want to change to other one you virtually fight for about 6 months to get transfered; every one of the companies offers almost the same and the 3 of them give away to you a free cell phone if you change company.
I got in 2 months 350 euros in bills, of course, I never spend that money, after I disconnected the web service I recieved my 'normal' bill of 12 euros, of course, I'll never see my stolen 350 euros.

 

Um, I get spammed on my Vodafone so it's still no different.

 

LOL, I was just being a menace.

For some reason that Telecom CEO really bugs me.

 

350e*50=17500R
350/12=29.16 times to normal
You should sue them Sydax.

 

I feel people over here are changing operators left and right, not me though I've had the same one (elisa) from day one, when I moved out from my parents house. It's probably the most expensive one out there, but I just can't be bothered with changing. I average under 20€/month, so it's not bad. They always call me to make sure I've got the cheapest subscription (right word?) and an upp to date chip, nice people.

 

I can't; according to them, I made all calls, all downloads and all the surfin'; according to them, machines and computer don't go wrong; according to me, I didn't do anything that they say; I could lost my cellphone or someone could stole to me but then I everytime I got it back I should see the downloaded games but nothing was in it. However, I made a report to the consumer asociation, they have about to 2000 reports this year with cases similar to mine.

 

@ Sydax

Ask them to show the proof then and namely the proof that show YOU made those calls and not someone else. Of course, if you have a trojan on your machine you can blame only yourself...

Take it to court if nothing else helps; big companies don't care for your rights otherwise and you certainly shouldn't just swallow whatever trash they throw at your way.