ATT wireless or Verizon ?

[Valv]

I am switching carrier, I am very interested in ATT offers, plans, and phones, but I know Verizon is top of the line too.

Anybody has any issue I should know about ATT ? How about coverage ? I can see central MN is well covered but the remaining of state is a question ?

[hanson]

I've had AT&T/Cingular for as long as I've had my cell phone. At this point, I am NOT going with them next time around, it'll be Verizon.

I was an AT&T customer, then a Cingular customer, and now an AT&T customer again. When Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless (or whatever happened there), they failed to disclose to me charges against old AT&T customers that were under the new Cingular name. I found that out when I went to get a new phone. Guess I don't read my bills close enough.

With AT&T, my daytime minutes ended at either 6pm or 7pm, can't remember. It was never an issue of going over my daytime/anytime minutes. When I renewed my Cingular plan, I didn't pay attention to when day/anytime ended and got stuck 2 months in a row with HUGE bills because my anytime minutes ran over. So now I have to take my basic plan and pay an additional $10 a month ($$ well spent) so I don't run my anytime minutes over.

AT&T/Cingular is also a joke for media IMO. The amount extra you have to pay to get get multimedia on your phone isn't worth it.

Coverage is also horrible now that my new phone doesn't work with the analog networks, its digital only. Another small point they failed to mention to me when I got my new phone.

I'm whining... yes. Some of the things that happened to me are because I expected status quo when policies changed on their end and I got stuck with plans and phones I was not happy with.

[picksbigwagon]

I have verizon, I used to have t-mobile which was fine as long as I was 3-5 miles from the interstate up north, but with verizon, I am okay out in the sticks, except at my parents house in Iowa, that is out in the sticks, believe me. I only really have problems when there are high power lines going over head, in fact my calls usually get dropped when I am under high power lines

[theoilman]

Check with your friends who also travel in the same areas that you do. That is the only reliable way to find out which phone company is going to give you the service you need WHERE you need it.

[delcecchi]

T mobile now has some roaming networks at 850 MHz which some phones don't (or at least didn't) handle. For example the new tower near cook, mn (a cellular one tower I believe) is at 850. Had to get a new phone.

[Scott K]

I had midwest wireless,I was happy with their service, just wanted the phones that att offered. I switched to cingular, now att. My first phone worked good, it went bad got a different phone, that one sucked bad coverage. They sent me 3 different phones until I was happy with one. I have a phone with good coverage now.

As Hanson stated I too had to pay the extra for 7pm, and unlimited nights and weekends, then if you use multi-media it gets pretty spendy of a plan. I dont use that very often, so for me the service has great coverage where I need it.

I dont have any expereince with verizon. My contract is up with att in the spring, I like the phones att offer, there coverage fits me. But I will shop around and try different phones and carriers when the time comes. Att isnt the cheepest, the customer service sucks, ok I think they will do anything for you, when you get them on the line.

I would sugguest trying differnt carriers if your not happy with what you have now. You have a trial period of like 30 days. If your not happy switch. Good luck get what is right for you, they all have benifits over each other, it just depends on which benifits are most important to you.

[iffwalleyes]

Yep it really depends your area. I personally have verizon they have the best coverage form me out in here in the flat lands. I would imagen in the cities area it will be fine. I don't always have the best coverage in Northern MN but usually I don't have to go too far to connect. But since they cover where I spend most of my time better than anyone I don't expect to change thing in the near future.

[bigdog]

I just left AT&T (after 6 years), which had great coverage for MN and Nodak, to go with Verizon. In Feb when analog is done all of AT&T will be on GSM and the coverage is spotty once you get off the main hwys. My mother switched to AT&T GSM in June and has had trouble loosing signal in Mpls. Verizon had the best coverage I could find. Turns out my hunting partner has Verizon and the same phone I got and he has not had any trouble anywhere in MN.

[ChuckN]

My first cell phone was ATT in 1999. I'll just say I had nothing but problems (shady billing practices) with ATT with the cell and landline long distance.

Been with Verizon since 2000 and it is nothing but superb for cell service and customer service.

[MrPik16]

I have had ATT or Cingular with nothing but good luck. Even had service up on Crane lake.

[Valv]

Nice replies, thanks.

My main concern is coverage, I travel to Cass Lake and Duluth a lot, plus most of the Midwest/Central US

[uffdapete]

Valv - Although I don't have it, friends have told me that Verizon has the best coverage up here of any of the big companies. It's actually better than Unicel, which I do have and is one of the 2 services offered in town.

[Scott K]

Att has good coverage in duluth, and all the way up there. I go there a quite a bit. I havent ever fished Cass so I dont know about that.

[hanson]

Quote:

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My main concern is coverage, I travel to Cass Lake and Duluth a lot, plus most of the Midwest/Central US

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Really pay attention to what kind of phone you are getting, I've got to believe all AT&T phones will be digital only now.

When I had an AT&T phone that worked off the Analog towers, I had service everywhere, even in my ice shack on URL.

Once I got the new phone (digital only), I wasn't getting service in many of my old areas. As they expand the digital coverage, this will obviously get better.

[Valv]

Quote:

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Really pay attention to what kind of phone you are getting, I've got to believe all AT&T phones will be digital only now.

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I am actually looking at the Sony/Ericson 5801 Walkman which is an awesome phone for the money, I will check if it's dual

[sirsunnyslayer]

I have Verizon and the last two phones I have had (LG 8300, Samsung SCH780) both all digital I believe have had coverage on LOW, URL, Vermillion and 99.7% of the places between the cities and there. My Nextel work phone loses reception at Grand Rapids, a buddies LG (I forget the model but it's the thin one like a KRAZR) gets worse reception than I do, while another buddy has Sprint with a Katana phone and he gets better recption than I do.

IMO, if you travel off the beaten path and use you phone Verizon is the only way to go.

[Eckie]

Sirsunnyslayer took the words right out of my mouth. I have Verizon (currently have an LG 8100), service is excellent between the metro and Bemidji (with the exception of the area between Motely and Akeley) and is also very good on URL and LOW.

I've been with Verizon for 6 years -- customer service is great. My contract is up, and I'm staying with Verizon (if it ain't broke, don't fix it).

[Valv]

I actually had service with Midwest Wireless, and I was very happy until they got sold out to Alltel. The plans are expensive, coverage got worse, phones are few, service is good, local stores are OK except for Northfield (bad employees). They changed my plan terms, now I am dropping them.

[Scott K]

I know my phone from att doesnt have coverage on url, and is very spotty at best on low.

[blueroof]

Quote:

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My first cell phone was ATT in 1999. I'll just say I had nothing but problems (shady billing practices) with ATT with the cell and landline long distance.

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Ditto what ChuckN said. Bad billing and customer service with AT&T. Verizon has great customer support and does work on both Red and parts of LOTW for me.

LB

[Ice Hole]

It really depends on the area you want to use the phone. If you're making a lot of calls in Lonsdale, you're going to be frustrated with Verizon. Myself and two family members continually get dropped calls as the phones flip between a very poor Verizon signal and a stronger signal from their partner carrier (Midwest Wireless) in the area. We all have different phones, all have been updated, and we all still have problems. Verizon did try to assist us by updating phones, etc., but none of it has helped.

I will be switching carriers within the next month, but have yet to decide on who to go with.

[Valv]

Ice Hole, I live south 6 miles, I am doing fair with Alltel, looks like ATT has better coverage (on paper).

We should do a Group Buy for a discount.

I'll decide today or tomorrow and let you know what I think.

For now I learned to stay away from internet deals and dealers, I almost got setup yesterday with Letstalk which is Walmart, they charge $ 250.00/line for early termination on top of ATT $ 175.00. That's a lot of money to risk finding out coverage is not good.

[sirsunnyslayer]

Verizon has a 30 day "try it" deal and I believe ATT does as well. Check that out, it will make switching alot easier.

[BoxMN]

FWIW - I have had ATT since, well, loooooong ago. I complain at times, but for the most part like it. I spend time in the Crosslake area, Fergus Falls, NE NoDak. The only place I don't have coverage is some of NoDak (but buddies told me a new tower is up now, and my friends Verizon didn't even have coverage there last year, so we were pretty similar). Also a small stretch around Crosby MN.

I use for work a lot, so use plenty of minutes. I have the 1400 minutes and rollover and nighttime and M2M free mintes. This has three phones on it - mine, wifes, my Moms. I also have the Digital pack for $50 a month for my Treo, and total bill is.... gulp... about $150 a month. That lets me surf freely, send and get unlimited emails from any account I want. I don't have texting package or multimedia package, as I just use the "free" email instead.

I wish ti was cheaper, as I think they charge too much for internet... oh well. I gotta say this, I do like my Treo 680. Beats carrying a laptop when I travel

edit: BTW, don't even think about a razor phone if still considering... my brother hates his, and the thing drops calls and has horrible reception. He can't wait until he falls in the water with it in his pocket so he can justify the cost of getting a different one

Good luck,

[Scott K]

Valv, Im pretty sure you have 30 days under most providers to cancel, with no fees!

[bigdog]

Exactly. ATT analog service had/has very good coverage but they are going 100% GSM in Feb and coverage is not the same. Digital is not the same from one carrier to the next. Other carriers do not use GSM and have better coverage than the GSM network.