Go Phone - pre-pay vs pick your plan, coverage differences

[Steerpike]

I'm comparing the two 'Go Phone' plans from Cingular - pre-pay and 'pick your plan'. I'd rather use the 'pre-pay', but I noticed that the coverage map for 'pre-pay' is not as good as the coverage map for 'pick your plan'.

I searched around, and there is some suggestion that the reason is that the 'pre-pay' does not allow any roaming - you are tied only to the proprietary cingular network, while the 'pick your plan' allows you to roam onto partner networks.

A lady in my local Cingular store said that there was also a difference in the network used, though she didn't sound too convincing. She said the 'pre-pay' phones were limited to the 1900 frequency, while the 'pick your plan' phones can also use the 850 frequency. This sounds unlikely, but who knows.

I also heard that even the 'pick your plan' coverage is not as good as with the contracted plans. Is that true?

Thanks!

[elmo01]

Originally Posted by Steerpike

I'm comparing the two 'Go Phone' plans from Cingular - pre-pay and 'pick your plan'. I'd rather use the 'pre-pay', but I noticed that the coverage map for 'pre-pay' is not as good as the coverage map for 'pick your plan'.

I searched around, and there is some suggestion that the reason is that the 'pre-pay' does not allow any roaming - you are tied only to the proprietary cingular network, while the 'pick your plan' allows you to roam onto partner networks.

A lady in my local Cingular store said that there was also a difference in the network used, though she didn't sound too convincing. She said the 'pre-pay' phones were limited to the 1900 frequency, while the 'pick your plan' phones can also use the 850 frequency. This sounds unlikely, but who knows.

I also heard that even the 'pick your plan' coverage is not as good as with the contracted plans. Is that true?

Thanks!

both rate plans (pick your plan and pay as you go) use the same network...the differences are just billing


pay as you go

you buy a block of airtime (25 bux has an expiry time of 90 days) once you expend that airtime or it expires (whichever comes first) you recharge your minutes with another payment...this typ of rate plan is for the typ of user that doesnt use the phone a whole lot normally

pick your plan

similar to a contract plan... you get peak (day) minutes and nigght and weekend (some also have MtM minutes)... you dont get as many minutes as a contract plan... but there is no contract....


if you statrt out on one plan and determine its not appropriate for you ... you can change to the other one...

same equipment same network

if you are a prepaid customer and decide you want to have a contract (post paid plan) you prepaid phone will work there as well

on all cingular rate plans national roaming is included... for prepaid you still get national roaming but (as you posted) only on the Cingular network...

[Fire14]

I believe you are correct on the "Pick your plan" allowing roaming in some area's vs Pre-paid. As for the Contracted plans, yes they do allow more roaming area's vs either pre-paid plans, since they have you in a 1 or 2 year contract.

As for the different frequencies, no they use both 850/1900 no matter which plan you use.

[bobolito]

Originally Posted by elmo01

both rate plans (pick your plan and pay as you go) use the same network...the differences are just billing

Actually, the difference between the two is that the "Pick your Plan" allows roaming while the "Pay as You Go" does not allow roaming. That's why if you look at the map, the coverage area for "Pick your Plan" is considerably larger especially towards the western half of the US. But if you are in the eastern half of the US, it shouldn't make much difference.

[Steerpike]

Originally Posted by Fire14

I believe you are correct on the "Pick your plan" allowing roaming in some area's vs Pre-paid. As for the Contracted plans, yes they do allow more roaming area's vs either pre-paid plans, since they have you in a 1 or 2 year contract.

Can anyone elaborate on the difference in roaming offered by the 'pick your plan' vs. a contract plan? It seems odd that they would make such a distinction. I guess Cingular negotiate different roaming rates with different network providers, and are trying here to limit the usage of the more expensive networks? But why? Why would they want to allow roaming to a contract user but not a 'pick your plan' user?

I'd almost argue that, since they've got you in a 1- or 2-year contract already, they could offer LESS roaming and you are still stuck with them so who cares! Whereas, with a 'pick your plan' user, the user is only on the hook for a month, so ... better keep them happy in order to keep renewing!

My interest in such a plan, by the way, is that my partner hardly ever uses her phone, and currently has an old ATT GSM plan at~$25/month, still honored by Cingular. But if she gets a new phone, they insist on putting her on a current Cingular plan, the lowest cost being around $40. So we are looking for a way to get the proven coverage of Cingular (she's happy with the coverage everywhere she needs it, which includes underground in the BART stations in SF) without paying them $40/month. She's willing to shell out hundreds for a phone, but on principal won't pay $40 / month for such limited use!

Which raises another question - I wonder who provides that GSM coverage in the BART stations of SF; my T-Mobile phone works, as does her Cingular phone. I wonder if one of us is roaming at that point ...!

[Fire14]

If she has a GSM phone with AT&T Wireless, go to Ebay and buy a unlocked or AT&T branded phone & switch the SIM over.
This is what I and numerous other Blue (Old AT&T) customers have been doing and she can keep her current plan.

I guess they offer contract people better roaming, because they feel by signing a contract they have you as a customer for 1-2 years, where as for pre-paid customers, they can cancel at anytime with no penalty.
Also with them offering better coverage for contract customers, they will get more people that want to sign a contract for the better coverage. (A marketing ploy if you will)

[Steerpike]

Originally Posted by Fire14

If she has a GSM phone with AT&T Wireless, go to Ebay and buy a unlocked or AT&T branded phone & switch the SIM over.
This is what I and numerous other Blue (Old AT&T) customers have been doing and she can keep her current plan.

This sounds great. The woman in the Cingular store suggested that there were 'compatibility' issues with the 'Blue' SIMs - which made no sense to me at all, other than a scare tactic to try to keep her from going 'outside' the Cingular family. I'm guessing all GSM SIMs are compatible with any unlocked GSM phone?

[Isgrimnur]

With regard to 'Blue' phones and SIMs, you have to remember that AT&T Wireless and Cingular used to be competitors. All carriers lock their phones to their network in an effort to get people to buy their phones only. Locked phones are based on information internal to the phone programming. Just because a company has been bought out/merged doesn't mean that the equipment knows that.

[Fire14]

Yes you can get any unlocked phone & use your AT&T Wireless SIM in it.

1 thing to make sure of, is that the phone has both 850/1900 bands on it, this way you will get the full usage of the networks, especially if you live in an area that has 850 coverage.
You will see phones listed as "Tri-band" phones, as long as the 800 & 1900 band are included you will be fine, if it is 900/1800/1900 then don't buy one of these, they are made mainly for Europe. Another excellent choice is a "Quad" band phone, this way if you go outside the US & Canada you can use the phone with a pre-paid SIM from a carrier in that country.

[Red Lief]

Okay, here's a question.

I had an "old" AT&T Go-Phone (Nokia GSM) that Cingular just forced me to switch away from to a Cingular Pick Your Plan. My AT&T phone had excellent roaming coverage in Atlantic Canada and now with the new "service" I get no service there at all. Furthermore, areas in Maine that are listed as "partner" coverage are "no bars."

Is this something fixable? Was the phone programmed wrong?

[John454ss]

I thought you couldn't get international roaming unless you were on a post-paid account.

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Red Lief

Okay, here's a question.

I had an "old" AT&T Go-Phone (Nokia GSM) that Cingular just forced me to switch away from to a Cingular Pick Your Plan. My AT&T phone had excellent roaming coverage in Atlantic Canada and now with the new "service" I get no service there at all. Furthermore, areas in Maine that are listed as "partner" coverage are "no bars."

Is this something fixable? Was the phone programmed wrong?

The phone wasnt programmed wrong... Cingular has disabled roaming on certain networks. When I had the Blue GoPhone in the middle of central GA, I was able to use (what is now) Alltel GSM where the Orange service was nonexistant. From what I can tell, this area shows up as partner for contract people and as No Service for prepaid (Pay as you go and Pick your plan). The blue plans were more flexible than the current orange (which you found out).

This is "fixable" if 1. Cingular builds in these "partner" areas (which is probably unlikely) or 2. if Cingular opens these areas up for prepaid roaming. As for Roaming internationally on prepaid, I wouldn't count on it anytime soon.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by Red Lief

Okay, here's a question.

I had an "old" AT&T Go-Phone (Nokia GSM) that Cingular just forced me to switch away from to a Cingular Pick Your Plan. My AT&T phone had excellent roaming coverage in Atlantic Canada and now with the new "service" I get no service there at all. Furthermore, areas in Maine that are listed as "partner" coverage are "no bars."

Is this something fixable? Was the phone programmed wrong?

Per this national Pick Your Plan map http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cel...apt=gophoneMap
Only parts of Maine are included, depending on where you are & they are showing some future coverage in Maine on this plan.

For the "Partner" coverage, you probobly are looking at the Contract map. People on a Contract get more roaming options compared to pre-paid customers.

As for roaming in Canada, they do have plans available for "Contract" customers & for a fee of $3.99 a Month you can get roaming charges of 59 cents a minute & calling to Canada from the US is 19 Cents a Minute.
AT&T Wireless had awsome plans for Canada & Mexico.

The only Fix I can see is going on a Contract, or go with another carrier like Verizon or USCC

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by Steerpike

[b]Can anyone elaborate on the difference in roaming offered by the 'pick your plan' vs. a contract plan?{\B}] It seems odd that they would make such a distinction. I guess Cingular negotiate different roaming rates with different network providers, and are trying here to limit the usage of the more expensive networks? But why? Why would they want to allow roaming to a contract user but not a 'pick your plan' user?

I think the answer has little to do with 1 or 2 year contracts, but simple business. As the fine print says, even on contracted, post pay plans, roaming partners may have delays in billing Cingular, so that your monthly bill may not reflect any roaming charges in a timely fashion. Granted that it is a national plan, but internally to cingular, there are roaming fees to pay, that are transparent to you. Today, this kind of thing can happen when you roam internationally to post pay contracts.

So, I think, with prepay Go phones, you payed upfront for service for only 1 month, for example. Then, technically, your gone; you could just drop your service and walk away. I doubt Cingular would like to find out a month later that you racked up charges roaming somewhere...they have no way to recoup those charges or plan ahead for your roaming adventures. Some roaming partners may be better at billing quickly than others, so they may be used.

Simple business. I think that is why they like to keep you on the Cingular, native towers. With the more expensive, "pay as you go plan", your required to have a credit card or checking account on file, which is perhaps why you get more coverage with roaming partners.

Just my thoughts.

[BillRadio]

You can't depend much on the maps. I saw quite a difference among prepaid coverage, but in reality, my GoPhone roamed in exactly the same places as any other Cingular prepay plan. Since I currently have the 'bottom' tier of the prepaid tree, PayAsYouGo, I am always surprised to see coverage where the maps say there is none. The phone always says "Cingular..." so it's hard to discern.

A 2nd phone, 7-Eleven Speakout, which also uses the Cingular network, clearly shows when you are off Cingular, and where the charges are higher, by displaying "Other Network". However, the two are still identical in coverage areas. There is a huge difference between pre- and post-paid.

*As usual, this is my experience in the west, your area may be different.