non music related cell phone carrier question

Anyone here have t-mobile and live in the dc metro area?  opinions?

I have T-Mobile and live in the city and have always been pretty well satisfied, i.e. no problems, etc.

Have it….no problems with them when I'm in DC or Baltimore.

chaz wrote:
Anyone here have t-mobile and live in the dc metro area?  opinions?

how about when you get out of the city into the sticks a little bit…how do you fare outside the beltway etc?

thanks to you both…more comments welcome. 

had it with ATT…i'm done done done done.  and verizon is just too damn expensive…so it's down to sprint or tmobile…

When I've gone out to the Shenandoahs, it starts getting a little spotty in the sticks between, say, Warrenton and Sperryville. But I remember making calls from Big Meadow inside Shenandoah Park. One thing I can't do, which I could with Verizon, is make calls from on top of Old Rag Mountain. That was always kind of nifty.

I realize I'm over-posting today but I don't have much to do.

I live in the country (under 20,000 people)…have all the bars while at work, less while I'm at home. The only disappointing part is when I make international calls…I sometimes have to try over and over before I can get through. I have the android G1 and love it  ;D

i've had tmobile, verizon and at&t since i've lived here, and tmobile's coverage was the worst. i dont think its a HUGE difference between all three. it wasnt worth the customer service hassles and cost of verizon though once i switched

I've been with T-Mobile for five years.  I've found their customer service far superior to AT&T's. (The original AT&T Wireless was all right for customer service, but Cingular were bastards when i was with them, and I was not happy when they bought AT&T Wireless and I was stuck with them again.)

I've never really noticed problems with reception in D.C.  However, when I go to visit my mom in North Carolina, I have a hard time getting a signal and have to roam on another network.  I get good reception in NYC, and somewhat iffy reception in my friend's apartment in L.A.  Because it's a GSM phone, I've used my phone abroad – not much in the UK, because I have a UK pay-as-you-go phone, but it came in handy when I was in Sweden and Denmark recently.

I am actually thinking about switching from T-Mobile to Cricket because I could get a better service package for about $5 less.  I am a little leery of switching away from the Big Four, though (and of switching from a GSM phone to a CDMA one).  Has anyone here used Cricket?

My iPhone works great for data now that there is a verizon mifi in the office ;) and it spends the rest of the searching

'in the country, under twenty thousand' . . . that's a good one.  twenty thousand is a city.  the "country town" that i live in is population four hundred.  saa-lute!  and cell phones don't work at all.  none of 'em, so there.  take that.  and we like it that way.  i would spit, but i am at my desk.

and yes, relaxer . . . i know your popularity is growing like a seaman on the saucy side of seattle, but uhh-huhh, you are, taking it deep and far.  you're frightening the children.  don't make me throw shade.

Verizon should be avoided whenever possible..they are just plain evil..

I have Sprint cell phone and I'm not too excited… I'd love to get something that cost less.I barely use it and have a cheapo phone I've had for years.. I do use text messaging…

Does Cricket cost less or something?

walkonby wrote:
and yes, relaxer . . . i know your popularity is growing like a seaman on the saucy side of seattle, but uhh-huhh, you are, taking it deep and far.  you're frightening the children.  don't make me throw shade.

so cute.

don't get sprint.
their customer services sucks. their reception sucks, especially indoors.
i worked there at one time and we couldn't even get reception on our phones in our own building. (and we all knew the cell service reps were horrible. i broke down once and called road side service and they tried to sell me a phone rather than put in my trouble ticket for a tow truck.)
once i had another carrier, i noticed friends and family who had sprint had a horrible connection and dropped calls while talking to me. they all got rid of their service - moved to verizon.
friends have verizon / tmobile not sure about att outside the city and it seems to work fine.

hutch wrote:
Does Cricket cost less or something?

Yeah… unlimited talk/text for $35/month.  That's why I'm tempted.

http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phone-plans

I wonder if Cricket uses there own network in DC or just has an agreement with Sprint for coverage, like they do in others parts of the country…

and honestly if there is a Verizon iPhone, AT&T is going to be hurting big time…

i known someone that lives in Detroit near the river and ends up making calls via the Canadian iPhone carrier because the AT&T signal is so lousy and its much stronger coming from the Windsor area. 

El wrote:
don't get sprint.

eh, definitely a case of YMMV.  i've never had a coverage problems in the DC area, including out in the burbs.  in the past year i've rented in falls church, beltsville and rockville before buying a place - good reception all around.  i travel almost every week for work and i can't remember the last time i've had a reception prob.  keep in mind that some phones are better than others… there's a reason carriers can give away phones with a subscription.  when i hike in shenandoah i tend to leave my phone in the car so i can't tell you about reception there ;D   sprint's data speed = fast.  i don't call customer support that often but when i have they were just fine, never had a bad experience with them.  i really have no complaints.

but i can't see any of the big carriers competing with $35/month, if reception is half-way decent.  if cricket uses the sprint network, my experience tells me you'll be fine.

Christine wrote:

hutch wrote:
Does Cricket cost less or something?

Yeah… unlimited talk/text for $35/month.  That's why I'm tempted.

http://www.mycricket.com/cell-phone-plans

hm.. well i never need more than my standard minutes (well there was one month..) and i'm clinging to the 29.99 plan with sprint that i signed years and years ago…

i would second what sweetcell said about coverage with sprint: never had a problem and very very rarely any dropped calls

if people want to go with verizon fine but those guys will bill you for stuff illegally, make your life hell when you try to terminate (and make you call in a bunch of times to get refunded for stuff)…

verizon really is the walmart of cell phone providers… TO BE AVOIDED.

now unfortunately for DSL in some places verizon is the only game in town.

what are some good reasons to get out of a contract without having to pay the early termination fee?

do they accept losing a job as a good reason?  

Vas wrote:
what are some good reasons to get out of a contract without having to pay the early termination fee?

do they accept losing a job as a good reason?  

I doubt it. I've heard that some carriers will let you out if you tell them you're in the military and you're getting deployed overseas for an extended period.

Pick a spot on their coverage map where they have none.  Say you are moving there.  Hope they don't require much proof.