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

[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.

As mentioned above, and a couple other places in this thread, T-mobile has great customer service. I have no experience with Cingular, but they completely blow away Sprint's, for example.

Are you saying you had no signal at all on the Mountain or you were roaming with TMo while on the mountain?

Let's face it, GSM coverage in the USA outside of metropolitan areas and Interstate highways is spotty, but getting better. That is the price we pay to have a broader selection of phones and world-wide compatibility.

Really? I've gotten receiption (usually 1 bar) when on the front-side of the mountain. Once I hit the back bowls, I didn't. Then again, I would never answer the phone while skiing the back bowls. :)

We've used Cingular and before that AT&T (and of course now AT&T again). Service wise, we have used it all over the US and it is virtually never without a signal.

Let's face it, GSM coverage in the USA outside of metropolitan areas and Interstate highways is spotty, but getting better. That is the price we pay to have a broader selection of phones and world-wide compatibility.[/QUOTE]

Yes, GSM has a larger selection of phones because approx. 3/4 of all cellular phones used worldwide are GSM.

T-Mobile: Buy it for its customer service and price
Cingular: Buy it for better nationwide coverage.

The worst thing about Cingular is their CS. The front-line CS people must get no training at all. Nothing takes less than an hour to resolve.

Anyone have differing experiences with both providers sending and receiving SMS / Text Messages? Is one more reliable than the other?

I've had mostly dependable service with T-Mobile while roaming outside the US, though occasionally seem to have a mystery message that is never received...

Cingular Cruising Coverage
 

With Cingular I had roaming coverage available on board Princess Cruises while out at sea in the Atlantic. In all ports in Carribean and South America, always roaming coverage available. The coverage is there, but the cost gets expensive.

I had a Cingular TDMA phone for 6 years and loved the coverage, no roaming anywhere.

Relucatantly I switched over to a Cingular GSM phone last year and have been pleasantly surprised by the coverage. However, I rarely travel off the beaten path.

Been with Cingular for three years - coverage seems comparable to GSM coverage in Europe (I recently moved from O2UK to VodafoneUK) and spend my time between US & Europe.

Always better coverage in major cities/towns and along the major road networks.

To avoid heavy roaming charges I use call divert and VOIP. I get my per minute roaming down to 10c per minute and never miss a call.