Voicestream Value (Updated 2/14/02)
Written: Sep 05 '01 (Updated Feb 14 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Local Coverage: |
 |
|
| Plan Flexibility: |
 |
|
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Good amount of minutes for the price, GSM network, good customer service
Cons: Limited coverage in the boonies, weak indoor reception at times
The Bottom Line: For the price that you pay, you'll get the most out of their plans.
|
|
|
| kenshin27's Full Review: T-Mobile Phone Service in New York |
Well, I've used Voicestream for over a year now and thought I'd do some updating. You can still read my original review at the bottom.
Anyway, how things have changed in just 5 months since I first wrote this review. As far as wireless service plans go that is. =) Free long distance seems to be the new bandwagon that every wireless provider worth their salt is jumping on these days. Gone for the most part are the regional plans. So let's take a look at how the plans have changed (if at all) for the 4 providers that I had originally compared:
Voicestream - $19.99 still gives you 60 Anytime minutes and 500 Weekend minutes with each minute over an extra $.40. Their $39.99 plan now gives you 500 Anytime minutes and _unlimited_ Weekend minutes. Lo and behold, my prayers were answered and Voicestream now also has a $29.99 plan that gives you 200 Anytime minutes and unlimited Weekend minutes. Both the latter two plans charge you $.35 for each minute over your monthly allotment. And the kicker is that all these minutes include free long distance _and_ free roaming.
Sprint - Sprint's cheapest plan is $29.99 which also gives you 200 Anytime minutes and 2800 Night & Weekend minutes. Their $39.99 plan gives you 350 Anytime minutes and 3650 N&W minutes. $49.99 will give you 500 Anytime minutes 4500 N&W minutes. Extra minutes will run you $.40 for any of these plans. They also stress the free long distance and roaming.
Verizon - Verizon's cheapest plan starts at $35 for 300 Anytime minutes and 3000 N&W minutes. $.40 for extra minutes. $45 will give you 400 Anytime minutes and still 3000 N&W minutes. $55 will give you 550 Anytime minutes and yet again, 3000 N&W minutes. Extra minutes for the latter two plans come in at $.35. Again, free long distance and roaming.
AT&T - Their free long distance plans come in at $59.99 for 450 Anytime minutes, $79.99 for 650 Anytime minutes, and $99.99 for 900 Anytime minutes. Extra minutes come in at $.35 for the first two plans and $.25 for the last one. Yes, _no_ free minutes whatsoever. Why? Well, because AT&T still has their regional plans which is where the free minutes are at. The difference? You get free long distance only if you're calling from within your home calling area and they still charge a $.60/minute roaming rate. Anyway, the regional plans are $29.99 for 120 Anytime minutes and 1000 N&W minutes, $39.99 for 200 Anytime minutes and 3000 N&W minutes, and $49.99 for 400 Anytime minutes and 3000 N&W minutes. Extra minutes are $.40 for the first two plans and $.30 for the last.
So, what can we tell from the new batch of plans? Well, I think AT&T's still the big loser here. Least amount of minutes per plan and they're the only one who hasn't jumped whole-heartedly into the free long distance and roaming deal. Not too surprising though I think since it would probably cannibalize a lot from their landline-based long distance market. Although I guess you could say the same thing about Verizon. *shrug*
At each comparable price point, Voicestream still comes out ahead, even if only a little bit, when you look at how many minutes you get. Although of course some people will get better value with the Night & Weekend minutes as opposed to just Weekend minutes. I guess I'm still not a very talkative guy. ;-p
As for the reception problems I was having at work and at home; well, at home, reception has picked up a bit because I'm living in a still-developing area so I guess they were finally able to extend more of their network out to us. At work, I switched offices and the problem went away. So hey, no more problems for me. =)
Customer service has still been just fine for me. People I've spoken to have always sounded pleasant but then again I haven't exactly called them with atypical requests. Although sometimes I think people take the "The customer is always right" mantra a little too close to heart and feel that it's their right to treat customer service personnel like underlings. Respect, people, that's all I gotta say. Of course that goes for the customer service personnel too since I'm sure there are some rather ornery ones out there. =p But so far, it's all been fine with me as far as Voicestream customer service goes.
Anyway, besides the regular voice service, Voicestream has also started to roll out their iStream service which runs under the GPRS network. Supposedly allows you to surf the web at relatively high speeds on your phone and also allows you to connect your PDA and/or laptop to the net through your cell phone. I haven't used it yet since I haven't really found a need for that kind of functionality but it's there for people who want to be on the cutting edge of connectivity.
So, after about a year and a half as a Voicestream customer, I'm still quite happy with them. Well, except for the fact that they can't seem to make up their minds as to which of the new cell phones they want to support. Fourth months ago: "No, we don't anticipate the Ericsson T39 ever coming to the US market." Today: "Yes, the Ericsson T39 will be supported soon." Geez. =p
Anyway, hope this update helps.
End of update.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I returned from overseas a year ago and started looking around for cellular service, I basically had one option and one option only, Voicestream. Why? Because they were the only provider in the area that had a GSM network. Why GSM? Because besides the US and Japan, the rest of the world uses GSM. I could foresee myself visiting Asia every now and then and it would be nice to have just one cell phone that I can take with me everywhere. Sure, the World phones are more expensive but it makes up for it through convenience.
That was last year. My one year contract is just about up and while I have decided to continue using Voicestream, I moved to a lower-priced plan and also did some comparison shopping. I basically looked at the 2 lowest-priced regional plans offered by the top 4 providers in the area: Sprint, Voicestream, Verizon, and AT&T. Here's what I found.
Rate Plans
Voicestream - $19.99 will give you 60 Anytime minutes and 500 Weekend minutes. Each additional minute is $.40. $39.99 gives you 600 Anytime minutes and 2000 Weekend minutes. Each additional minute is $.25. There's also a promotion currently going on where your Anytime minutes also counts Nationwide so you don't pay for long distance when you call outside of your region.
Sprint - $19.99 will give you 20 Anytime minutes and 20 Night & Weekend minutes. Each additional minute, $.40. $34.99 gives you 200 Anytime minutes and 1000 N&W minutes. Each additional minute is still $.40. Free long distance for everything.
Verizon - $25 will give you 45 Anytime minutes and 0 Night & Weekend minutes. Each additional minute is $.50. $35 will give you 350 Anytime minutes, 1500 N&W minutes and 1000 Mobile to Mobile minutes. Each additional minute down to $.45. But, these 2 plans are local plans, not regional. Their regional plans start at $35 and up.
AT&T - $19.99 will give you 60 Anytime minutes and 0 Night & Weekend minutes. Each additional minute is $.40. $39.99 will give you 200 Anytime minutes and 2000 N&W minutes. Additional minutes still $.40.
So, as can be seen, Voicestream gives the most amount of minutes at each rate plan price point. Sure, you can quibble about the differences between Weekend vs. N&W minutes but my view is, unless you live most of your life during the time when most other people are asleep, then it shouldn't make much of a difference.
I just wish Voicestream offered another plan between the two plans listed above. I had been using the $39.99 plan for the past year and found that I've been using less than half of the monthly minutes. But then the 60 minutes provided by the $19.99 seems to be too low. The only provider that has a plan at the point that I'd like would be AT&T which has a $29.99 plan that gives 120 Anytime minutes and 1000 N&W. Oh well, maybe when they finally migrate their networks over to GSM.
Coverage Areas
Voicestream's Northeast Neighborhood plan covers the areas surrounding most of the major highways in the tri-state area. Ranges as far north as Boston and as far south as Washington D.C. Pokes west into eastern Pennsylvania and has pretty thorough coverage in NYC, Long Island, and most of New Jersey. Also reaches up the Hudson Valley and through parts of Connecticut.
Sprint's regional plan pretty much looks the same as Voicestream's except they only go up to Connecticut and down to southern Jersey.
Verizon's local plan covers only New Jersey, NYC, Long Island, and a tiny piece of Westchester county. But their regional plan basically covers the _entire_ eastern seaboard.
AT&T had the most impressive-looking coverage map as it makes it appear that almost every single area of every state in the tri-state area is covered. Whether that's true or not I leave up to the people actually using AT&T to reveal.
If you don't wander too far from the urban or beaten path, then Voicestream should work just fine for you. People who need to travel way out into the middle of nowhere should probably go with AT&T.
Call Clarity
In general, I haven't had much of a problem with Voicestream's call clarity. More than sufficient most of the time. My mother on the other hand (who also uses Voicestream), has complained a few times about my voice sounding very small sometimes even though I can hear her just fine. I think the actual cell phone that you use plays a part in how well people sound to you and how well they hear you.
I have located two problem areas though throughout my daily routine. When I'm at work, any calls made to or from my cell phone to a land line will always be extremely static-y to the person on the land line even though I can hear them just fine. I contacted customer service via email about this issue and they said they would notify their engineers about the problem but that if the problem was occurring somehow because I was indoors, then there wasn't much that they could do. On a whim, I walked outside my office building and tried calling a land line from there and it worked fine. So I guess there's something weird about my office building even though my phone shows full bars when I'm inside.
The second problem area is at home. Basically the signal strength that I receive in my apartment is usually too weak to do anything with unless I stand right by the window. Granted I live on the first floor of a four story building in a developing area so hopefully this will work itself out as soon as this area gets more populated. But, if I stand outside my apartment, the signal strength is raised up to acceptable levels. So maybe it also has something to do with the material that my apartment complex is made of.
Customer Service
I have been rather lucky in that all of my dealings with Voicestream personnel have been pretty uneventful. From the store employees in Union who first signed me up with Voicestream to the phone-based service department I called recently to switch payment methods and calling plans, everyone I've spoken to were unfailingly polite, friendly, and eager to help. Customer service for every cellular provider is pretty much luck of the draw though since I've heard pretty bad complaints about Voicestream's customer service and while I've heard some people say that Sprint's customer service is superb, one of my friends who used to use them got so fed up at one time that he canceled his service and even fired off a long letter of complaint. So it really is luck of the draw.
Final Thoughts
I like Voicestream and they have worked well for me throughout the year. Sure, I have problems with the service while I'm at home and at work but, that's what my home and office phone numbers are for. ;-p When I'm out and about, it's always worked just fine. Plus I like the fact that when I travel to other countries, I can still use the same phone and the same phone number. Or if I don't want to pay the more expensive rates for using Voicestream overseas, I can just swap in a pre-paid SIM chip in the country that I'm in.
Plus I'm not too fond of the phones that Sprint and Verizon offer. Tend to be a tad too generic and chunky for my tastes.
Most of my friends use Voicestream as well and the ability to send SMS to each other comes in handy. Voicestream will soon start rolling out their GPRS services as well which should be interesting.
So, with all else being equal, I would recommend Voicestream to anyone who needs cellular service in the tri-state area and doesn't often venture far off into the woods. They give great value for the price.
Read my review on my new phone, the Ericsson T39:
http://www.epinions.com/content_36832644740
Read my review on my old phone, the Ericsson T28 World:
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-6C78-B46B211-3A19628B-prod4
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 29.99
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
kenshin27
|
|
Member: Ben C
Location: NJ
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 17 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.