Voicestream: The Epitome of Clarity and Cost Savings
Written: Mar 25 '02 (Updated Mar 25 '02)
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Pros: Clarity; Cost; International Roaming; Advanced GSM Handsets; Customer Service; GPRS
Cons: Limited/No Rural Coverage; Hard Hand-offs
The Bottom Line: When call clarity and cost savings mean the most, then consider Voicestream. I would have rated Voicestream as excellent, but local coverage needs to improve first.
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| karentonyjake's Full Review: T-Mobile Phone Service in Washington/Baltimore |
For any of you who've read my reviews on the other wireless carriers, I've had positive experiences with almost of them, except Sprint PCS (many dropped calls). I'm currently using Voicestream for the following reasons: call clarity; cost; and international roaming capabilities. The customer service, as an aside, has actually been outstanding. Their responses to my questions have not been canned, and they've gone the extra mile to review my calling plan needs, even, to some extent, at their own expense.
Over the years, I've sought a landline quality call experience, and only two carriers come close to meeting my expectations: Voicestream and Nextel. I've found the "cell breathing" problems (i.e. call quality degradation, echoing) associated with CDMA carriers (i.e. Verizon and Sprint PCS) both troublesome and annoying, despite the claims by both of having additional capacity.
In the DC area, Voicestream has outstanding city-wide coverage, with above-average coverage and reception in the suburbs. I've had occasional dropped calls, but nothing like I had experienced when using Sprint PCS. With GSM, hard hand-offs occur when you're traveling between towers. You'll either experience sound gaps or a dropped call, altogether, especially when you're driving between towers distanced too far apart. This is not suppose to happen w/CDMA, although you'd never know that it if you've used Sprint PCS. Verizon's hand-offs are much more seamless. Overall, the call quality is superb. It's been close to landline parity, if not better. I believe GSM is accountable for this.
Voicestream offers the most cost-effective rate plans in the industry. It also boasts of having the most advanced handsets available in the U.S. I'm currently using the Motorola Timeport P280 (see my review), which must be one of the best sounding phones I've ever used, and possesses outstanding RF capability. New handsets on the horizon will include color screens, multi-messaging services (i.e. streaming video, built-in cameras), and/or be reasonably sized PDA/phone combinations, like the Handspring Treo or Microsoft Pocket PC 2002.
Currently, only 2 carriers offer high-speed data access: Verizon and Voicestream. I chose Voicestream because of the per kilobyte charge on data, rather than by the minute, as is the case w/Verizon. Additionally, my Voicestream handset, itself, is GPRS capable, which means that I don't have to sync it up w/a PDA or laptop to enjoy the experience. Currently, this is not the case w/any Verizon handset.
Here's the bottom line. If you're looking for absolute coverage (i.e. urban, suburban, rural), then forget Voicestream and consider a provider w/analog back-up. If, however, you enjoy clear calls, cost-effective plans, and international roaming capability (120+ countries, where I can bring my phone and use it upon arrival), and can live without rural coverage, Voicestream should seriously be considered. For GSM, Voicestream is your only choice in the Northeast (for now), until AT&T and Cingular convert to GSM nationwide. I'll accept the occasional dropped call, and settle for exceptional call quality at a reasonable price. Thanks Voicestream.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80/month
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Epinions.com ID:
karentonyjake
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Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 5 members
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