Cingular vs T-Mobile
 

Your experience: Who has better coverage traveling within USA?

My experience is 2 years with TMobile after 5 with Cingular. I travel a lot and mostly by air to larger urban areas where I then stay in that larger urban area. I've never not had coverage with TMobile. I love just about everything about their company, coverage, phones, and plans. I just wish they had rollover minutes.

Other than that, I'm a huge fan. Just my experience...

I have had T-Mobile for years (since before they were "VoiceStream"), and I would disagree on the coverage. If you're in major cities, coverage is usually good. Outside of cities, in suburban and rural areas, T-Mobile's coverage is by far the worst of the carriers. I put up with it because I wanted GSM (lots of international travel), but have started switching the rest of my family over to Cingular, where the coverage is much better, though prices are higher.

I am otherwise satisfied with T-Mobile, but if you do not live in an urban area I would try out the coverage before signing up (try to find someone with a T-Mobile phone).

T-Mobile's coverage is pretty good. I've had them for ~5 years. They definitely don't have as good coverage in areas without many people, but since I almost never go to such places that's not an issue for me. Their international calling and roaming rates are a LOT better than Cingular's and Cingular makes you pay extra for an international calling plan. Also, T-Mobile will sign you up for a one year plan. Cingular almost always insists on two year plans.

Within US, I like the quality of T-Mobile. Cingular signals are often strong, but
the voice call quality is generally not as good.

Reasonably happy with Cingular
 

I've used Cingular for 3 years, and although I've looked at T-Mobile, I keep finding Cingular better for my needs.

The things that I like about Cingular include:

Nationwide roaming (without fees) -- It is very freeing not to have to be concerned about roaming charges, especially with college kids in the family. (I recently was in a seminar in a hotel, and while I had great coverage, an associate with Verizon could only get costly roaming unless he went to the lobby.)

Good rural coverage which helps when traveling in the US.

Rollover minutes.

Unlimited mobile-to-mobile (Cingular & AT&T), including now messages.

I travel to Europe once or twice a year (for about 2 weeks each) and I've always used Cingular's int'l roaming. It's been more cost effective for me.

FWIW, here's what I do when in Europe: Turn off voice mail since it's twice the cost per minute to retrieve, as are most inbound calls from the US. So I typically don't answer and inbound call but I return the call right away (since caller ID works). I also rely on text messaging from associates in the US -- much cheaper and you don' t have to be awake. At night, I leave the phone on with the ringer off so I can tell who has called.

Now if only they had a decent calling plan from here to Canada.

AT&T (the new Cingular) has plans with unlimited calling to anyone with an AT&T landline, in addition to AT&T/Cingular mobile, but there are no rollover minutes.

This is not true; you can get international roaming without a plan, but you have to ask for it (they won't offer). The per-minute rates are higher, but comparable to T-Mobile's non-"World Class" rates.

Will Cingular allow international roaming on a pay as you go plan? I have Cingular just for international use, but I started with a relatively inexpensive 2year plan. Once that plan lapses, can I go to some type of pay as you go plan??

I had Cingular for 2 years and T-Mobile for 5 years. I much prefer T-Mobile -- from their phone plans to their service. The coverage is adequate, although even in places like Raleigh-Durham, NC there is no "native" T-Mobile coverage (they route me through SunCom, which is spotty). I haven't been to SFO in a while, but I remember having trouble at the SFO airport... it would always put me on the Cingular network for some reason. That was a couple years ago.

happy tmobile customer here
 

i've been w/ T-MO for about 5 yrs, alot better than sprint (guess anyone is right), great customer service, good phones, good coverage. Have 3 lines with them now

I've been with AT&T -> Cingular -> AT&T since 2001, and have had no problems at all. I'm currently on a BlackBerry, and have had exactly 0 dropped calls, or quality issues.

I realize I am in the minority with this. Just about every member of my team has switched carriers over the years due to quality issues, but I've been happy.

FWIW, Mrs. Sqwert has a Motor Razr through Cingular and is on an a plan that gives her local, national, and international calls (450 anytime, 1000 night and weekend minutes) with no long distance to Canada, Mexico and the US for $59.99 a month - rollover included. She doesn't even seem to get charged for roaming when in Canada.

It's not a published plan, you have to ask for it - the code on her bill is NAM450R1KNW

I roam internationally using Cingular with no international calling plan. I had to call and ask them to enable international roaming, which was tough when I was a new subscriber (they wanted a longer payment history - international roaming can get expensive and they're actually paying another carrier for the minutes that you use). The per-minute rates are quite high, but as others have mentioned text messages aren't terribly expensive (still much more than getting a local sim, but with my cingular sim everyone can reach me) if you limit the number that you send.

A litte bit about my domestic experiences with Cingular - I live in Manhattan and find that the quality of their network isn't great. My phones (I have tried several) always show a good signal but poor sound quality and dropped calls are common (even when the phone thinks it has a great signal). I moved here last summer from Boston. I was very happy with Cingular up there but now I am counting the days until my contract with them expires.

I agree with your list and you've given me some ideas for utilizing our phone a little more efficiently when abroad. ^

In return, I'll share this outfit (and I'm sure there are others) that we've used for a couple of years now after seeing their ad in UA's Hemispheres mag:

http://www.gorillamobile.com/

Other than the odd time that people on the receiving end can't hear us, it's very cost-effective. :)

Cheers,
Fredd

I use Cingular, and pay $9.99/month for free long distance to Canada, as well as free roaming while in Canada. I think Mexico might be included as well, but I've never been there. I'm not sure if this option is still offered; I have had it for over 3 years. I think it shows up on the statements as "North America Package."

Free roaming? Alas no - it's currently $.59 a minute and I hope you can maintain your "grandfathered" plan:

Cingular® Canada™ $3.99 per month
With Cingular Canada, get our lowest rates when you travel to or call Canada.*
Call 1-866-CINGULAR to sign up now.
59¢ per minute while roaming in Canada
19¢ per minute when calling from the U.S.
*Outside this destination, standard rates apply.

http://tinyurl.com/29z8gf