[QUOTE=Fredd;7466361]Free roaming? Alas no - it's currently $.59 a minute and I hope you can maintain your "grandfathered" plan:
QUOTE]

The fine print of my wife's plan indicates the same charge for roaming, however they have never charged it.... Mrs. Sqwert is actually in Canada as I type this, and I just checked her online bill.... sure enough, no roaming charges.

I'm takin' it !

Cool! :)

I'm tempted to sign up for the Canada plan to find out if it works for me. Right now when in Canada I think roaming works out to about $.80 a minute all in, which is okay for the odd quick call but certainly beyond my budget for conversations of any length.

I think the plan that you are referring to here is different than what I am paying for. I signed a 2 year contract in 2003 with ATT Wireless. I am still on the same plan, with the same old ATT SIM card, and haven't signed another contract since. I buy my new phones overseas, primarily in Hong Kong where I can buy newer models than what is being offered with new contracts here in the US.

Before posting, I should have verified whether the same kind of add-on service is currently being offered. I just assumed so, because several of my friends seem to have the same thing.

The Pros of Both:
 

The Pros of each:

Cingular:
Better nationwide coverage in more rural areas and smaller cities/towns
Rollover Minutes (usable up to 1 year)
Better nationwide coverage for wireless data plans (Edge and HSDPA)
Large selection of phones including many new ones like the iPhone
Walkie Talkie (PTT) Service available in USA on select phones

T-Mobile:
Good coverage if you remain in larger cities and on interstate highways
More anytime minutes for the money (ie individual voice plans)
No extra monthly charge to add Int'l roaming
1 year contract available
Some claim better voice call quality


Based on recent experience who drops more calls: Cingular or T-Mobile?

My experience as a TMO customer over the past several years is that their coverage is great in major US cities and along the interstates, but once you get out there in rural America they're pretty useless. I've seen folks with Cingular have much better luck when I'm dead in the water.

for me, cingular has better coverage -- particularly the beaches in California, and suburbs in fairfield county.

This reminds me of "you pay what you get".

Very happy with T-mobile. Yes, coverage outside major cities can be spotty, but when it comes to the choice of plans and their customer service I wouldn't pick anything else.

I do get annoyed that they still don't have any 3G though... EDGE is getting painfully slow.

Pro and Cons
 

Excellent summary. I would add:

Customer service: T-mobile
Unlock phone: T-mobile (unless Cingular/ATT has relaxed their policy)
Coverage when in subways, trains and tunnels: Cingular

Just a point that Cingular will sell you a SIM if you have an unlocked phone and want a 'pay as you go' plan. I think I paid about $100 for about 1200 minutes good for a year. They gave me a SIM which I inserted into my R520M and it worked like a charm.
Cingular was the only carrier with a decent signal in an area I am building a house on in Florida (about 50 miles north of Tampa). Even my current company (which I like a lot), Verizon, had no usable signal.

I am a current Cingular customer in a Rural area and am doing a test switch to TMo this week.

I have been very happy with my Cingular service for the last 4 years, but I have not been happy with Cingular pricing and customer service. To get anything done with Cingular you have to threaten to drop them and then be transferred to the retention department, only then do you get someone that can and will resolve your issue.

I have used a TMO sim in my phone and had the same quality service as Cingular. With TMO's recent roaming agreements I don't think coverage will be an issue any longer.

I am currently on a Cingular family plan with 4 phones, all phones are unlocked and quad band. I expect to save about $50 a month switching from Cingular to TMo. A key cost savings will be TMo's unlimted text messaging at $20 a month for a family plan - my kids do more texting than talking.

It's sad when business behave like this. Cingular needs to be more responsive to its customer's needs, and not irritate them before they will do something.

I left AT&T because their customer service was awful. Voicestream/T-Mobile, on the other hand, is amazing. T-Mobile's coverage decent in Denver, but there's about a 1-mile (diameter) dead spot in the southern 'burbs--and I think my parents are right in the middle of it. On the flip side, I get a signal up in Blackhawk/Central City where most companies don't.

I used Cingular for several years before moving to T-Mobile...I'm much happier with Tmo. The biggest unmentioned benefit is that I can understand the bills. When I was with Cingular, my bill would vacillate monthly in ways totally unrelated to my usage patterns...I could never figure it out. As well, for those of us that travel frequently, Tmo offers some great EDGE/WIFI data plans...I pay $30 per month for unlimited edge/push-email and wifi at Starbucks/ACs/CRCs/RCCs/US Clubs/many airports/Borders/etc.

I like TMobile's customer service a lot. The only downside is TMobile has no coverage on Vail mountain! Makes it a bit hard to coordinate with friends when you are running late for lunch at Two Elk.

I once drove for several days from SF to Seattle and had excellent coverage the entire way.