Just in case someone invokes (invents?) an arcane CZJ Rule.
Posted on 12/25/2005 7:22:24 AM PST by radar101
Today's cell phones can do all sorts of things: surf the Web, show videos, take photos, play games, you name it. These newfangled features are nifty, except that even in this era of ingenious wireless technology, there are still occasions when you can't make a simple phone call. Thirty-two years after the first cell-phone call was made, and 200 million U.S. subscribers later, users continue to complain about the basics: dropped calls, dead zones and static.
"All of the carriers are racing toward providing more and different services – location services, concierge services – and the core service that most people seem to want – to communicate by voice – is being neglected," said Carl Hilliard, a Del Mar city councilman and president of the nonprofit Wireless Consumers Alliance.
The result: unhappy customers.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
In southwest Florida, T-Moble is the worst provider there is.
Dead zones, dropped calls, and just horrible customer assistance.
> ... there are still occasions when you can't make
> a simple phone call.
And as often as not the whiners are probably the problem,
because they are often also the NIMBYs who won't let the
cell companies improve their coverage by erecting more
antennae, even when disguised as bald eagle nests.
At our rural spot, with line-of-sight to multiple
towers with cell stubbies on them, I can sit motionless
and watch the sig strength wander up and down, digital
drop back to analog and reverse, and even occasional
switching to "roaming" mode indication (we don't actually
pay any roaming, but it means we lost the primary carrier).
Are we just in an overlap area between cells? Is our
carrier having maint issues? Who knows.
Glad to see that TV news is down where it belongs.
I have Cingular, and with the exception of a dead zone at the end of my street, they are very good. Customer service has been excellent, too.
They NEVER send me the bill late, either.
No.
And hell no.
That Verizon guy who goes around saying "can you hear me now"? He doesnt come around where I live.
I am damned lucky to get a signal half the time at home and many times I have to go outside and stand in the cold. When I am in the boat crabbing or fishing it never works.
We were having significant problems with our Sprint PCS service and decided to cancel after Sprint couldn't fix the problems (and we gave them 2-3 chances). They, of course, proceeded to charge us $400 in cancellation fees. We fought and fought AND fought them and finally got the fees waived.
I might mention my dial up isnt much better, Always noise in the lines and I cant get DSL because I am too far away from the switching station. The phone company hasnt been worth a bucket of pee around here since they broke up Ma Bell.
Despite having dead zones along every route into town, we're pretty happy with T-Mobile in Redmond WA. Looking at coverage maps they're probably not the provider you want if you're in rural areas a lot, but my experience in cities (outside of Norfolk VA Little Creek Navy Base) has been very good.
Customer assistance is generally pretty good too, but then we're "blue"-level customers (top-rated long-time customers). Years ago the wife tried AT&T here... it was horrible.
I agree...T-Mobile is HORRIBLE here in West Texas. I switched to Cingular and am happy with their service.
The T-Mobile signal in our house used to be very weak; one could use a cellphone on one side of the house (if you didn't move) but not the other. We switched to Motorola phones the same time they put up a new tower, and for months observed much the same as you, except that we never went to "roaming." We submitted reports to T-Mobile, and somewhere along the way they fixed it. I can tell which tower I'm connected to, but we no longer get bounced back & forth when active.
I have a verizon cellphone.
I also have a 20X20 foot sqaure area in my backyard, called "The Talking Place". It is the only place on my property where the Verizon cellphone will work for more than a couple of minutes without dropping the signal.
It sucks, this time of year.
Last Fall, a Verizon Salesman was going through the neighborhood. I cannot recall the reason or service he was selling, but it was not SUPPOSED to have been about their cellphones. I offered him my phone and challenged him to make a call. I think he would rather walk into a brush shredder than come back here.
I have Alltel for my personal phone, its great.
ThreePuttinDudette has T-Mobile, soon to cancel when contract is up.
Just in case someone invokes (invents?) an arcane CZJ Rule.
Coverage on all the carriers is far from perfect. If you live in a place with sucky coverage from your carrier, ask a friend using another carrier to come over and see if his phone works there. If it does, switch carriers.
For me, in my locations, Verizon has been great.
Well T-Mobile has been very very good to me. I had tried the other carriers and T-Mobile has provided the best service and the best customer service.
"Just in case someone invokes (invents?) an arcane CZJ Rule."
LMAO....any excuse to post a CZJ pic, eh? :)
One in my family is getting one thousand dollars a month for a tower on their property. My sister hates that it ruined her view out her kitchen window, but that is guaranteed income forever.
And, it does not look like an eagle nest. Maybe Pop should have negotiate harder.
The funny part is that I chose Verizon because its the only one that works here even part time. The rest are even worse.
How do I convince them to put a tower in my apartment? Could always use 1000 dollars/month :)
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