The Best Cell Phone Service?

I think that you'll probably be on equal footing regardless of what provider you go with. Check and make sure the coverage area is where and what you will need it to be, compare rate plans and have at it. Personally, I have never had a singularly good experience with ANY cellular provider (and that includes "Cingular") so when my contract starts wrapping up I look at my options, choose the best of the worst, then bite the bullet for the next year or two. Here are a few examples: 1. T-Mobile - the service with T-Mobile is phenominal if you're in their iimediate coverage area but unless you're in a major metropolitan area you could be out of luck. Just as an example, I know people in Philadelphia and NYC who LOVE T-Mobile but here in western Massachusetts, I've heard loads of horror stories. 2. Sprint/Nextel - These miscreants are probably the only exception to the "every provider is about equal" rule. Not only has the quality of service with Sprint been steadily declining over the past several years, but their customer service is abominable. I have hung up with Sprint customer service (after at least an hour wait ALL THE TIME) feeling genuinely embarassed for the CSR because they were either so untrained or simply too dim-witted to carry a conversation on their own. They make promises they don't keep, they don't record conversations unless you tell them to and they are generally useless when it comes to resolving issues. Without exception, every issue I ever called them about was made worse, one time WAY worse, before the five or six subsequent phone calls and endless transfers later when a resolution was reached managed to make them better. It's never a one-call close with Sprint. They are a complete travesty of customer service and their PCS service has gone from exceptional to woefully average inside of five years. it begs the question of how it will be at the end of your interminable two-year sentence...er...contract with them. Beware. 3. Cingular/AT&T - This is my current provider. I will vouch for their "more bars in more places" slogan because I find their coverage areas to be better than average but mobile-to-mobile communication leaves A LOT to be desired. So far customer service has been at least marginally helpful but I'll go on record stating that you will have just as many dropped calls on AT&T as you would with any other provider. 4. Verizon Wireless - These people actually have decent customer service but the actual phone service is only average to poor in most areas I've seen. I haven't met too many VZW customers that stand on the fence about their service: either they rave about it or they hate it. If you live in an area where you hear a lot of accolades for Verizon, you'll probably be happy with them. I just hope you don't do a lot of traveling.