Should you get AT&T?
Written: Dec 26 '03 (Updated Jan 10 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Local Coverage: |
 |
|
| Plan Flexibility: |
|
|
| Customer Service: |
|
|
|
Pros: Many phone choices, helpful and friendly customer service representative
Cons: Poor Reception(GSM), long wait to speak with a C/S Repres., expensive
The Bottom Line: For reception, go with ATT TDMA.
|
|
|
| barthalkid's Full Review: AT&T Mobile Phone Service in Los Angeles |
I had Pacific Bell from 2000 until 2002 (they became Cingular) and there's only one thing I can say about them: HORRIBLE. Constant dropped calls, horrible customer service, bad reception, system busy all the time (this means I could not call anyone after 9pm--I kept getting the busy signal, this was when their unlimited nights and weekend time began...CHEATER!)
So I switched to AT&T Digital TDMA service from August 2002 to December 2002. I have to say that ATT's TDMA reception was exceptionally well. I got reception almost everywhere I went. I traveled all over California--LA, SD, OC, and the bay area and I had reception even in many underground garages and subway stations. Unfortunately, ATT TDMA did not offer many cool phones, so I decided to switch to their new GSM network. At first, I had the Sony Ericsson T68i color phone...back then it was the only color phone around. IT SUCKED BIG TIME! I did not have reception anywhere I went, and I kept getting drop calls. So, I decided to purchase a Nokia 7210 world phone from Europe and the reception changed dramatically. The reception became decent (although not as good as TDMA) and I never had another dropped call. I had reception pretty much along all the freeways in CA and major roads. Reception inside the building such as malls, theatres, and libraries were poor, but I thought it was just a problem with the GSM signals, since I had the same problems with Cingular. However, I surmised that the reception improved because I bought a phone from Europe (and perhaps there were different regulations on cell phones so they could somehow better receive frequencies).
I was pretty happy with them except everytime I called customer service I had to wait long periods of time to talk to a customer representative. Once I held for almost 2 hours! Most of the representatives I had spoken with were very helpful and friendly. Initially, I didn't want to change service provider because I was happy with ATT but since I LOVE new gadgets, I switched to T-mobile just before Christmas of 2003 since they offered me a very hip samsung camera phone for less than $50. I've only had T-mobile for a few days, but I have noticed major improvements!
First of all, with my AT&T GSM plan, I was paying 49.99 a month and I had 700 anytime minute and unlimited night and weekend minutes. With Tmobile, however, I am paying 44.98 and I have 600 anytime and unlimited night and 3 day weekend minutes (friday, saturday, and Sunday). Secondly, I've noticed that I have stronger reception everywhere I go. For example, I did not have reception at many stores inside South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa with ATT GSM, but I had 5 bars with my Tmobile phone. In the mountains of North San Diego county along highway 15, I did not get reception with my ATT wireless but I had 5 bars with my T-mobile phone. Since my Nokia 7210 is unlocked, I could actually use both ATT and Tmobile by changing my SIM cards, and the results were the same. Tmobile had better reception.
I had Sprint from 1999-2000 and I must say back then their reception was worse than Cingular/Pacific Bell. With all of my experiences with wireless service providers, here's how I rank them and I hope this will help you make your decision on choosing the right cell phone company
Scale of 1-5, 5 being the best, 1 being the worst:
-Reception
ATT TDMA---5
ATT GSM----3
Cingular---2
T-mobile---4
-Dropped Calls & System Busy
ATT TDMA---5
ATT GSM----4
Cingular---1 (Cingular deserves a 0)
T-mobile---5
-Customer service
ATT TDMA---4
ATT GSM----4
Cingular---1
T-mobile---4
-Phone capabilities/varieties
ATT TDMA---2
ATT GSM----5
Cingular---4
T-mobile---3
-Pricing
ATT TDMA---3
ATT GSM----2
Cingular---5
T-mobile---4
*Update*
After having T-mobile for 3 weeks, I noticed major reception improvement compared with my old AT&T GSM. I had reception almost everywhere I went-even in the mountains of Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear. I don't think there's yet a place that I had been to that I did not get signal. This is FAR better than AT&T GSM. I have to admit though, T-mobile's sound quality is not as good as AT&T GSM. I did, also, had occasional drop calls with T-mobile but not with AT&T but overall, I am loving T-mobile!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): n/a
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
barthalkid
|
|
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.