Cellular Carrier

Updated on October 23, 2007
J. asks from Naperville, IL
26 answers

I am looking to change my cell phone carrier and was wondering if anyone has an opinion - good or bad - about T-Mobile or AT&T/Cingular.

Thanks for your help.

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M.R.

answers from Chicago on

I had terrible service with Cingular. Dropped calls,no service etc.... I switched to Virgin Mobile about a year ago and have had no dropped calls or service problems. Plus I use their pay as you go plan which for me averages about $10.00 a month.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.K.

answers from Chicago on

I like Cingular because you can get service in northern Wisconsin and my husband with Sprint cannot. Maybe you should ask people if they travel to areas that you go to and if they can get a signal there.

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T.G.

answers from Chicago on

I have t-mobile and have to say I love them...they've got good prices for plans and great costomer service. I hate hate hate att/cingular..I always got these 'mysterious' charges and they even charged calls that i never made to crazy foriegn countries. i'd go with t-mobile...though, their network isnt as big as att, theyre definitely better in many other ways

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P.B.

answers from Chicago on

I had a terrible time with t-mobile. I had their service when thy first came to this area and I had so many dropped calls it was ridiculous. I don't know if they've improved because as soon as my contract wa up, I switched to verizon.

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Y.S.

answers from Chicago on

We've had T-mobile for @ 5 years now, no problems. Recently we changed our plan to a pre-paid, since we don't use as many minutes anymore and that works great also. Before we were paying $50 a month per phone for 3000 minutes and we were only using 1000. Now we only pay as we use the minutes and it's great.

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J.

answers from Chicago on

i love cingular never have trouble
and this past january my dad past away and i went way over my minutes calling everybody and everybody calling me
they understood and took off most of the charges because they could see this was not a normal bill for me really nice and comforting

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F.F.

answers from Chicago on

Hi J.,

Don't do T-Mobile. I had to speak to customer service 7 times about an issue that took 6 months to get resolved b/c no one read the pages of notes that my account contained. At which point, I quit the company, they wanted me to pay for ending my contract in which I fought & won. I have had Cingular & they were ok - no real problems. I have Verizon for the last 4 years & I must say they have been a pleasure to work with, both in store & calling customer service. Check out the plans & see what works best for you. Good luck!

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V.D.

answers from Chicago on

i think that either one is good don't worry my husband has looked at both of these and they are good but my husband is looking to change to att i have teen mobile and have no problem good luck and let them give you a good deal call them both and tell them that you are looking into both and are looking for a good deal i will assure you that you will find a great deal....
good luck again!!!!!!V.

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D.F.

answers from Chicago on

Hi J.

We have a contract with AT&T/Cingular now that we would love to get out of! Their equipment insurance sends you a phone which is typically of less quality then the one they are replacing. Since they merged with AT&T, we get more dropped calls, we will be talking to someone one minute, then next, the phone goes dead. And the phone just turns off. We have friends and family who use T-Mobile and I have not heard any complaints. Which is what we will be going to after tax time when we get out of our contract.

God's Blessings
D.

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B.A.

answers from Chicago on

I have t-mobile, and I like it. Alot. But then again, most of my co-workers, and many friends and family members have it as well, so it really is beneficial for me to have it. I had both AT&T and Cingular a few years ago, before they became one company, and I did like AT&T, but Cingular not so much.

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R.P.

answers from Chicago on

Hi...we have Cingular (the "new" AT&T) for 7 years now and we've never been happier. I see in a lot of the posts on here that there is an issue with dropped calls with Cingular...I've NEVER had a problem with dropped calls! I'm not one of those cell phone addicts that MUSt be talking 24/7, but we manage as a family (3 phones) to use qutie a few minutes. I think their customer service is great, as well. If something is not up to par in your opinion, they will work with you to either correct the issue or compensate you for it. We love Cingular!

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M.B.

answers from Chicago on

My husband and I both have Cingular. We never had any problems. If you have a package that has free cingular to cingular minutes, it also includes free minutes when you call land lines that have AT&T service. We have not had dropped calls. Customer service has been real pleasent. (I received a replacement phone under an after market warranty and they were real helpful switching out the phones.)

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M.L.

answers from San Diego on

We have ATT & Cingular and chose them specifically because they were one of the only carriers that has good reception where we live. Verizon & Sprint did not - don't know about T-Mobile.

It really depends on your area. What's nice is most carriers now allow you to cancel within 14 days for free, so I've actually used that where I did return a phone because I wasn't getting sufficient coverage. You get refunded minus the activation fee, which is minimal.

Also, they have a local service center in Schaumburg, so if they need to replace or repair your phone, you can go right there instead of sending it to them. We've had to use that twice for 2 phones in the last year, one due to damage, and they replaced them free of charge. We're pretty happy with them. Good luck!

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N.D.

answers from Chicago on

We used to have Cingular and always had dropped calls, cut calls, and poor customer service. So we switched to T-Mobile, and have never been happier with them since. It's been about 5 years that we've had T-Mobile. Great customer service, great deals, and always clear lines with no dropped calls. Their signals are always strong, even nationally AND internationally! When we went to Australia T-mobile worked just fine.

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K.M.

answers from Chicago on

I have had AT&T/Cingular for the past 3 years and have constant problems. I have never been able to get a signal at home (first in Chicago and now the suburbs) and every solution they have offered involves spending $100+ and ultimately involves extending my contract. My husband has T-Mobile and has no problems. Good luck.

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C.U.

answers from Chicago on

My parents have cingular and the calls are ALWAYS dropped and they can never use there phones in stores b/c of no service. We have had T-mobile since the beginning and they have great customer service, we have tried other companies and have always gone back to T-mobile.

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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

I have t-mobile and i love it because of the amount of minutes you get for the money. although i do have a lot of dropped calls. My husband has verizon and NEVER has had a problem. Good luck.

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T.K.

answers from Chicago on

We had AT&T/Cingular and we had nothing but dropped calls or no service and there customer service is not friendly at all.

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M.F.

answers from Chicago on

I've used At&T/Cingular for 6 years. Love them!

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M.H.

answers from Chicago on

I had cingular/AT&T a few years back when they had different names and it was terrible. Dropped calls and the worst costumer service (beat only by SBC)

I have had T-mobile for 2+ years and they have been great. Calling customer service is a breeze, our bills are always within $5 of each other every month, no surprise charges (like we had with Nextel) it's great and I highly recommend it.

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K.

answers from Chicago on

Cingular has a lot of dropped calls and their customer service sucks. You have to wait a long time to talk to someone and when you do(if they speak english) they don't know what to do or how to help you. They are terrible and I wouldn't go with them if I were you.

T-Mobile we never had so can't tell you anything about them. My friend has had them and I know she washed her phone and they made her buy a new one full price and it was expensive so make sure you get the insurance.

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J.G.

answers from Chicago on

I have had tmobil since their begining, I have never had a dropped call or complaints. I have 3 phones with tmobile and like them very much.

J.
www.noahbyjodi.com

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T.W.

answers from Chicago on

Hi J., I have tried the following:
Cingular
T-Mobile
Verizon
AT&T Wireless
Sprint

The BEST one by far is Verizon. It costs more but I never have a dropped call and I can always hear someone clearly. I tried to go the cheap route and tried all other carriers first.. I am sold on Verizon. I take the metra and it never even breaks out on the train when we go under tunnels.

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T.E.

answers from Chicago on

I have AT&T and really like it. I am a little biased as I worked there for 8 years prior to having my child. I have driven from IL to AZ and never went without service. Whereas on the same drive my mom and brother both had T-Mobile and were without service quite a bit. My husband travels overseas and his phone still works there. I can't remember the last time that we had a dropped call. Good luck with your decision.

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K.K.

answers from Chicago on

I've had Cingular/AT&T for about eight years, and it's pretty good. I'm waiting out my contract, however, because T-Mobile is much cheaper and 4 of my friends have it and really love it. You can also get really great phones from them for free (I checked out wirefly.com for the Blackberry Pearl -- swoon!)
Again, though, I have Cingular and it's just fine. Some people complain of dropped calls with their service, but it hasn't happened to me.

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M.F.

answers from Chicago on

We had T-mobile even before they were T-mobile (I can't remember what they were called!!) and they were great. I had a super cheap plan and didn't have too many dropped calls. We switched to Cingular about 3 years ago because of the mobile to mobile minutes and we love it. My entire family has cingular so we never pay to talk to each other!

The issue with talking in buildings such as malls and stores has more to do with the phone than the service. I have been in Target talking away and my husbands phone won't even ring (and not because noone is calling, but because it has terrible reception) - we are on the same plan.

Services are so similar these days, I would suggest that you look at what both services have to offer and go with the one that best suits your needs. There will always be issues - it is technology after all.

Jessica

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