wireless service in ohio

[euckohn]

hi
just like to know which is the best service in northeast ohio. also, who offers best family plan rates.

thanks

[Andy]

Check out T-Mobile, and, if available in your area, ALLTEL. They will most likely have the cheapest plans.
As to who has the best coverage, I have no idea.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by euckohn

hi
just like to know which is the best service in northeast ohio. also, who offers best family plan rates.

thanks

Overall in the Cleveland area, this is my ranking on coverage

1. Alltel
2. Verizon
3. Revol (Cleveland area only)
4. Nextel
5. Cingular blue
6. Cingular orange
7. Sprint

Now once Cingular combines both networks, they will a close 3rd to Verizon, Nextel has made some improvents in this area, they used to be at the bottom of the list, Sprint has not done much in this area, I used their service for a couple of years and was not impressed.

I have not ranked T-Mobile becaue I have not had any personal experience with them, my mom has a T-Mobile line, but does not use many minutes so I am not sure of the quality of their network.

The one good thing about T-Mobile, is that they do have very accurate coverage maps, go to their website and you will be able to enter your home address to see how strong of a signal you should recieve. Another good idea is to check other areas that you frequent to see if you are covered.

Do you travel alot? Do you care about data on your phone? Do you plan on doing alot of text/picture messaging?

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by euckohn

hi
just like to know which is the best service in northeast ohio. also, who offers best family plan rates.

Best? Whew! Alltel recently just added more minutes to their plans, and I feel their coverage is the best. There isn't that much difference among carriers across northeast OH, so you can price-shop. Just make sure you test the phone during your 2 week test run.

[AnthroMatt]

I agree with Bill. Not much difference between the carriers up there, each has their weak spots. Personally, I'd go with Alltel if you can find a phone you like and a plan that suits your needs.

[Ironwalt]

Alltel does have some nice rates. Check them out at www.alltel.com

[jones]

[AnthroMatt]

Unless the old Blue and Orange have been fully integrated, avoid Cingular if you spend any amount of time in Columbus. AT&T had a great network there, Cingular's is lousy.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt

Unless the old Blue and Orange have been fully integrated, avoid Cingular if you spend any amount of time in Columbus. AT&T had a great network there, Cingular's is lousy.

You would think that the exact opposite would be true as Cingular is the B block cellular provider and AT&T was PCS.

I know here in Cleveland the integration is not complete, I was playing around with my moms T-Mobile phone, and on a manual search still showed both Cingular and AT&T.

[AnthroMatt]

Cingular (Orange) is easily the worst provider in Columbus. They did a lousy job building out their network there for some reason.

[bpowell170]

I'm nearing the end of my verizon contract and am wondering if another provider would be better. I know that some are less expensive -- e.g., cingular -- but I'm worried about cingular's coverage outside of the Cleveland, Ohio area. Any advice? Thanks.

p.s. I also plan on upgrading my phone so that it has bluetooth, etc.

[OHuser]

Originally Posted by coalminer

Overall in the Cleveland area, this is my ranking on coverage

1. Alltel
2. Verizon
3. Revol (Cleveland area only)

Revol really catches your attention with their all-you-can-eat $48 plan. Revol has expanded and is selling in Columbus and some other towns. They also roam on Cricket in some areas, I am told. Still, I would not call them a national or even state-wide carier. It is a nice price for all you get.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by OHuser

Revol really catches your attention with their all-you-can-eat $48 plan. Revol has expanded and is selling in Columbus and some other towns. They also roam on Cricket in some areas, I am told. Still, I would not call them a national or even state-wide carier. It is a nice price for all you get.

Yes, since I wrote that, Revol makes even more sense, with native service in Columbus, Indianapolis and Warren/Youngstown, and roaming available on Cricket in Toledo, Dayton, and Pittsburgh, and probably soon Cincinatti (when Cricket launches there). The only thing they need to do now is offer some sort of prepaid roaming option like Cricket does, hopefully with a rate that is closer to 25 cents a minute, but if they do that, they will unbeatable for people that dont do much traveling.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by bpowell170

I'm nearing the end of my verizon contract and am wondering if another provider would be better. I know that some are less expensive -- e.g., cingular -- but I'm worried about cingular's coverage outside of the Cleveland, Ohio area. Any advice? Thanks.

p.s. I also plan on upgrading my phone so that it has bluetooth, etc.

Where are the areas you are talking about outside Cleveland?