I love it! I hate it! I love it! I hate it!
Written: Dec 11 '00 (Updated Dec 12 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: great customer service; growing everyday
Cons: spotty service areas; roaming charges
|
|
|
| melllyn's Full Review: General Reviews of Cingular Wireless Customer Serv... |
My family is just beginning to catch up in the race to be technologically advanced. Well, that's not quite true. We aren't even close to catching up. We own some of the gadgets; now, if we just understood them!
We purchased our first cell phone about six months ago. As many of you know, my girls play a lot of sports. The summer months are especially hectic since both girls play on two teams. (Yes, that's four teams total!) Obviously that means miles and miles of traveling. Most of our traveling during the summer seems to take us all in opposite directions. Sometimes my husband and I take our girls two hundred miles in opposite directions! That makes for stressful journeys, so we finally decided that we had to take the plunge and get a cell phone. We were going broke buying phone cards, and going insane trying to find payphones to use them at.
When we first began our search for the right phone service, we didn't even know the right questions to ask. We considered using Suncom, but after enough research we decided that they didn't provide the coverage we need. Like I said, we travel far and wide to get to some of our tournaments, and it is vital that we be able to make contact to get scores, injury updates, and upcoming game times. We finally decided, with the help of a very persuasive and not too forthright Radio Shack salesman, to go with Bell South.
Our salesman assured us that Bell South covered all of the areas we needed without roaming charges (at least for the plan that we signed up with). We were very specific about the locations where it was important that we have service since we frequently traveled to those areas for games. Our plan covers all of North Alabama, all the way down to Montgomery, and parts of southern Tennessee. All this and 100 minutes for $20.00 a month. Extra minutes cost around a dime and long distance charges run around sixty cents per minute. Plus, and this was a big plus, the phone itself would only cost a penny! All we had to do was sign a twelve month contract Well, we were sold.
It wasn't long before we discovered that our eager little sales rep was either misinformed or ...a liar! I would like to believe that he was misinformed, but the coverage area is in fact spotty at best and it is hard to believe that he didn't know this. In fact, we live on top of a mountain (actually that's a misnomer...it's really a glorified hill) where we were supposed to get awesome reception due to a tower in the vicinity. In actuality, my phone doesn't work in my own driveway!
I also get pitiful service in the neighboring county where I teach, and many of the areas where we play ball either don't get service at all or get such faint service that it is nearly impossible to complete a conversation before the connection breaks! Now, I am willing to admit that some of the areas we travel to are little backwater drips on the map, but we were very specific about where we traveled when we signed up for the service.
Another area where we felt mislead was about roaming charges. If I call my house from two miles away, I invariably end up incurring those roaming charges, which I believe run around ten cents a minute.
One good thing about Bell South is their customer service. Every time I have called, they have been very courteous and helpful. They have always removed the roaming charges (although you would think that as many times as I have called they would fix the problem so the roaming charges would not show up to begin with!). They have even given me, free of charge, an antenna booster to boost the reception in low areas. Although I must tell you, it does little to help. Since we first began our service with them, they have built the towers they promised right on schedule. I even get a bar or two at my house now...if the wind blows right. I rather suspect they're getting tired of hearing from me so they will soon put one in my front yard!
Overall, Bell South is really the only choice here in North Alabama for the price we were willing to pay. They have more towers than any other provider, and with a hundred minutes for $20.00, I guess I can drive a few miles down the road to get some reception.
Oh, and the phone for a penny? Well, it is an Ericsson Digital. It's a bit bulky (no flip top here), and the battery doesn't hold a charge for more than a day and a half, but what can you say when it only cost a penny? We are thinking of investing in a new phone in hopes that it will improve our service. But who knows? We certainly can't count on the sales reps to tell us the truth.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
melllyn
|
|
Location: Alabama
Reviews written: 46
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
School is back, thus I am away and cannot write as much as I like.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.