[tlcbob]

That's interesting. In Harrisburg AP, Cingular is excellent and T-mobile is awful.

The other issue with T-mobile is their substandard customer service. I spoke to a technician with another cell company and they told me that they overload each cell's channels, which is why they drop so often. I would start getting a weak signal - totally drop the call and instantly get a full signal. This was a regualr repeatable event in Harrisburg. I even offered to meet their technicians at certain locations and demonstrate. Their answer was always "keep complaining" as that is how we decided where to put up new towers.

I had an issue with Cingular and they were able to identify the bad tower (while travelling in Las Vegas) and had it fixed in less than 4 hours!

I wouldn't recommend t-mobile to anyone. They have an unsatisfactory record with the BBB: http://www.thebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=27026359

[jmunguia]

Bill-in-Atlanta,

Sprint has an international roaming option where you can use GSM networks when outside N. America (Mexico and Canada have CDMA roaming). They provide you a SIM card and you supply the GSM phone (they will rent or sell you a phone but their prices are ridiculous). The SIM costs $36 for activation and then $6/month. However, you can't use the Sprint Treo outside N. America, you would have to get an unlocked GSM phone (which could of course be GSM Treo). The per minute roaming charge is $1.50/min which is actually very good. We have Sprint and I set this up for my wife who went to Russia recently and this worked great even outside the main cities there.

-Juan

[Bill-in-Atlanta]

Just talked with Cingular customer support. They are saying that I need to pay $44 for unlimited data access. No discount for wife's phone data access, so it would be $44 each or $88 per month for us both. That IS getting expensive.

Sprint is $15 for me and an additional $5 for Anne.

Sprint is looking more attractive.

[Crowdawg54]

u talked to the wrong CS person, you can use the MediaNet Unlimited plan for $19.99 a month on your Treo and be fine. It's the plan I use and I use data every day w/no problems accessing my email or the web.

[silverdragon]

I personally like Sprint the most. I won't rehash what has already been said about roaming outside of the country and data, I think we're clear on that. Keep in mind, there is no perfect solution, every carrier has their + and -'s.

I do want to clarify one thing: In the US we're actually moving closer to CDMA than we are to GSM. With Sprint purchasing Nextel and gobbling up those frequencies, they are poised to move Nextel (and they may not do this) to a CMDA system and use the additional frequencies for other services (3X RTT as opposed to 1X RTT for example). Keep in mind that I'm speculating here. We will never loose one or the other, both CDMA and GSM will be around for a while, but in the US at it looks like CDMA is going to be a stronger presence.

In my humble opinion, Sprint is the way to go.

[sj3]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned this, but Sprint does not have unlimited roam for $5/mo. The $5 plan option pays for roaming so long as less than half your used minutes are roaming minutes. They charge 65cents/min. for roaming minutes above that half-way point.

Thanks,

sj

[grndslm]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned this, but Sprint does not have unlimited roam for $5/mo. The $5 plan option pays for roaming so long as less than half your used minutes are roaming minutes. They charge 65cents/min. for roaming minutes above that half-way point.

Thanks,

sj

well then it's VIRTUALLY unlimited 'cause there's no way in hell that you could roam outside of Sprint's network for more than half of your minutes....and if you did roam for more than half, i'm pretty sure that $5+ 65c/min afterward would be a much better deal that 25~30c/min....but I've never onced roamed on sprint's network and I've ALMOST never had dropped calls (nothing too unordinary from verizon, cingular, and the rest).

I'd probably pay for the $5/mo but in my market area it's only 50 min of roaming, not half of all used minutes....so that's not worth it to me, but I've still had 0 roaming charges without paying for it....WEIRD??!?!?? NO!! SPRINT ROCKS!!!

[Bill-in-Atlanta]

I just bought a Treo 650 from the Treo Store for $289. Should get it in about two days. I REALLY appreciate all the comments. Sprint and Cingular are both great companies. It was a hard decision.

Best
Bill

[Atif]

I just bought a Treo 650 from the Treo Store for $289. Should get it in about two days. I REALLY appreciate all the comments. Sprint and Cingular are both great companies. It was a hard decision.

Best
Bill

So which carrier did you pick?

[v3treonut]

So which carrier did you pick?

I'd say he went with Sprint at the price he paid. CNG is $60 less, but only with an unlimited data plan.

[grndslm]

I just bought a Treo 650 from the Treo Store for $289. Should get it in about two days. I REALLY appreciate all the comments. Sprint and Cingular are both great companies. It was a hard decision.

Best
Bill

Excellent choice on picking Sprint, Bill! Really it shouldn't be that hard of a decision...the only area where Sprint is weak is customer service. But when we talk thousands of minutes a month with clear quality to people we know, talking to a sprint customer rep for a coupla minutes ain't so bad and you'll only need to do it a couple times a year if even that much. Their customer service has actually improved quite a bit since I first joined them a few years ago, and it's constantly getting better.

Once again.....

SPRINT!! SPRINT!! SPRINT ROCKS!!!!

[mediasi]

The more I look at this, the more likely it seems that I would be as well off using internet cafes or wireless access/networks in hotels to access the internet and email with my notebook computer.

Most likely there would be nothing that couldn't wait 24 hours or so for my response.

I don't really need a phone in those places, nor internet access from a phone, but I DO want these things here in the USA.

Under these circumstances perhaps Sprint?

Or if I am willing to pay $39/month for a better access to data? Really Sprint wants $15 for data access. CNG wants $40 that figures to $300/year. Not that big a deal if the service is superior. I could havethe option of a GSM phone that way.

There is a possible consideration that CNG might be going to a cheaper data plan. Wonder if I would be tied to the $40 plan IF they went to a cheaper service?

I would lean toward VZW if coverage for the phone part is valuable. I am constantly in places where colleagues on other carriers cannot get reception, and I virtually always can. VZW is the *only* carrier that works in my home town, in the home towns of other family members (we all grew up near farmland) and on "back roads". To me that's important, because I've broken down on the highway in the past.

Pamela

[roamer1]

A few points worth considering here.
1. If data access is very important to you, then Cingular might be your best bet for now. I've found they have the best data access coverage almost everywhere I've traveled within the US. Business cohorts of mine with either Verizon, Sprint, and TMobile lost their data access when with me in several US locations and mine on Cingular worked. Verizon is close behind CNG and may be almost the same these days. All of them are running a race on this issue.

Verizon has gaping holes in data coverage, including a few large cities like OKC and several major highway corridors (I-65 and I-20 in Alabama, part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, etc.) Sprint doesn't have a lot of rural data coverage but doesn't have the massive holes in "city" and highway coverage that Verizon does.

For domestic use, as far as data coverage goes, I'd recommend Sprint first, then T-Mobile with an unlocked GSM 650, then Cingular, then (dead last) Verizon. For international use, T-Mobile is generally better than Cingular unless you spend a lot of time in the Caribbean; Sprint has a moderate amount of CDMA roaming in Caribbean, Latin American, Pacific Rim and Middle Eastern countries (but none in Europe, where use of CDMA is forbidden), while Verizon has even less. (You can get GSM roaming with Sprint and Verizon via use of a GSM phone and SIM that is linked to your normal CDMA service.)

As for Atlanta coverage: Sprint has a relatively weak network around Atlanta, but it's by no means bad. Verizon has apparently oversold their network in Atlanta and coverage has deteriorated badly over the past several months, to the point of being worse than Sprint in many cases. Cingular and T-Mobile tend to be more stable, although I'm hearing more and more complaints of dropped calls with Cingular in a few areas, particularly Sandy Springs (an area where Verizon tends to have chronic problems too.)

-SC

[roamer1]

That's interesting. In Harrisburg AP, Cingular is excellent and T-mobile is awful.

The other issue with T-mobile is their substandard customer service.

Harrisburg is a market that T-Mobile acquired from D&E Telephone (remember PCS One?), who apparently didn't spend a lot of money on network buildout. (That said, I've been in Harrisburg before and had no significant problems with coverage.) Areas that T-Mobile acquired with other carriers (for instance, Powertel here in the Southeast) and areas that T-Mobile built out as themselves (Virginia, New Orleans, etc.) tend to be a lot better.

As for customer service, most people consider T-Mobile and Verizon to have among the best customer service, with Cingular and Nextel in the middle and Sprint toward the bottom. My experiences pretty much match that consensus.

-SC

[DrDoom]

...about Sprint's roaming package. I have gone over half my minutes roaming twice. Sprint has never charged me for it. They put that caveat in there about half your minutes in case an unscrupulous sales associate sold you Sprint KNOWING you live outside their network. They don't enforce it, just as they've never enforced their "modem" or "casual usage" data charges.

[tcatnat]

I can't remember how I came across this but the Cell Phone Reception Locator website can come in handy. It's a little sparse in some areas but the feedback is all consumer based.

[nicegoogly]

I have travelled to just about every major metropolitan area and have been a Sprint customer since 2000. I have never had an issue with their data plan or coverage. Sometime, going out to suburban New York used to give me issues, but that has since ben remedied by the addition of additional radio towers. The data has never been an issue. I was among one of the original customers that had the 2000 minute plan when they first came out with it and it came with free data service. I have since increased my plan to 3500 minutes, my nights and weekends start at seven, a second line which my girlfriend uses my old I-500 on with unlimited date for $5.00 a month, and a 23% discount from my days with the City of New York as a prosecutor, which they said remains in my contract for the next two years since I signed while I was still with the city. In all I pay 114 bucks before tax, probably 245 bucks after tax, hehehehe.

Sprint is the best for the money. Also, they are usually pretty good about making good on overages, too.

[tcatnat]

Just an FYI. My company has around 1500 Treo's in the field for research purposes and we rely on the Sprint data network for data transfers and have not had any major problems in the past year. We have Treo's in 49 states (I don't believe we have any in Alaska). I do know that we have not populated some rural areas due to lack of coverage though.

[Bill-in-Atlanta]

BETTER DEAL! Just got back from the Sprint local store. I went in to see if there would be any question about me getting my phone from Treocentral Store and merging with my wife's plan later.

The Sprint salesman offered me a deal I could not believe! He said that TODAY ONLY (I got LUCKY) they would sell me a Treo 650 and merge it into my wife's plan for $225!!!

I called the Treocentral Store and cancelled the phone I ordered yesterday.

The local salesman went on to say that I could get a Treo 650 for my wife for $225 also! Family plan for $77.50 700 anytime minutes including unlimited roam. Data plan was slightly more expensive in that it is $22.50 for BOTH our new Treo 650s.

We do have a two year contract now, but this is fine with me!

I think this is good. TWO Treo 650s for $450!

Gotta decide on accessories, now. Any suggestions?

Bill

[ergosum]

Congrats on going with Sprint and welcome to the family! I see that you are in Atlanta, so if you ever have any questions or concerns swing by our location in Brookwood (we are the closest store to downtown) and we'll be more than happy to take care of you.

Wonderful deal on the phones. I think (but don't quote me) if you wait until first of August we'll be running a buy-one, get-one-half-off sale on accessories. However, I had the Innopocket Hard Case (available right here at TreoCentral) and loved it. Kept my phone nice and safe -- I'm a clumsy one and that case saw a lot of pavement. ;]

http://store.treocentral.com/content...s/4-23--46.htm