Cingular v/s Verizon in Cleveland Metro area

[tg2063]

I am moving shortly from NYC to Cleveland metro area; I currently have cingular, which is fine in NYC; anyone with any experience with either of the above carriers? I heard from others that Sprint and T-Mobile are both not very good there.

Thanks

Tom

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by tg2063

I am moving shortly from NYC to Cleveland metro area; I currently have cingular, which is fine in NYC; anyone with any experience with either of the above carriers? I heard from others that Sprint and T-Mobile are both not very good there.

Thanks

Tom

In the surrounding Cleveland area, Cingular is ok, you wont get top notch service, but you wont be wondering if you have enough signal every time you make a call, now if you are going to be more towards Warren, the network here is pretty bad, my wife had Cingular, and I lost count of all the dropped calls when talking to her.

My opinion is that Sprint made alot of mistakes when they built their network here, and are trying (slowly) to make it better.

T-Mobile is the newest network here and they are still working on filling the dead areas, which they are doing pretty well at.

The coverage leader here is Alltel, with second going to Verizon.

And we also have an unlimited provider here, Northcoast PCS which covers the Cleveland area pretty well, if you dont do much traveling, that might be a good option for you as well, instead of getting a home phone. Their plans start at $35 a month for no features to $50 for unlimited everything, including long distance, all the features and text messaging.

[jones]

Coverage was ok driving westbound on I-80 to Akron towards Columbus
then Cincinatti on I-71.

[tg2063]

Thanks!!

Tom

[Cailiff04]

I would go woth Verizon..they have the best coverage in Cleveland. Also Alltel isn't too bad there either. I used my VZW phone and my girlfriend used her Alltel phone there and both have excellent coverage.

[Airb330]

Cingular should be better in Cleveland when they add ATT into their network.

I was stuck in Cleveland overnight (thanks Continental...boo!) and Cingular really stank at the airport--it was on ATT. The rest of the time the service was fine. Odd that it stunk at the airport though.

[jones]

I've been to a rural place here
driving from Cincinati to a wedding
where lots of people
has different carriers.
Nextel, T-Mobile and Sprint
Does NOT have coverage at all.
(nothing against them)
And only VZW and Cingular works.

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by jones

I've been to a rural place here
driving from Cincinati to a wedding
where lots of people
has different carriers.
Nextel, T-Mobile and Sprint
Does NOT have coverage at all.
(nothing against them)
And only VZW and Cingular works.

I dont know if you realize this or not Jones, but in northern Ohio Cingular is all PCS and in southern Ohio they are in the cellular band. That map that you posted up further in this thread, I can tell you from experience that in the northern part of the state, that map is probably what they wish their coverage was, and in the Cleveland area, there is only one other GSM network to roam off of, now if you get to the Warren/Youngstown area, you can roam on Cellular One, which has a very well built network.

[jones]

Originally Posted by coalminer

I dont know if you realize this or not Jones, but in northern Ohio Cingular is all PCS and in southern Ohio they are in the cellular band. That map that you posted up further in this thread, I can tell you from experience that in the northern part of the state, that map is probably what they wish their coverage was, and in the Cleveland area, there is only one other GSM network to roam off of, now if you get to the Warren/Youngstown area, you can roam on Cellular One, which has a very well built network.

If u read the FINE PRINT on that coverage map
it includes "areas served by unaffiliated carriers"

[coalminer]

Originally Posted by jones

If u read the FINE PRINT on that coverage map
it includes "areas served by unaffiliated carriers"

And there should be a way to distinguish between the Cingular network and roaming. But then again, im sure Cingular is not the only company that does that....if only every company had maps as accurate as T-Mobile, I know, im dreaming now.....

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by coalminer

In the surrounding Cleveland area, Cingular is ok, you wont get top notch service,

Coverage map notwithstanding, I fully concur with Coalminer. But for your purposes tg, Cingular will work with your existing account just fine. After you start wandering around the state, you may find some areas that could be better, and only then would you need to consider other carriers.

The combination of AT&T and Cingular has improved coverage in many areas, but the fact that both networks are at PCS frequencies in CLE still leaves them at a slight disadvantage. Driving or biking in some of the Metroparks or in the Cuyahoga Valley and you'll notice some dead spots.

To get the best coverage, get a 64k SIM. My 32k SIM switches back and forth between networks which is a problem that may not go away for some time.

[CYvonne]

I live a little west of Cleveland and go into Cleveland often. My reception is great and I have Sprint PCS. My son in law works all over Cleveland, east of Cleveland, south of it and all, he also has sprint and has no problems. I had verizon in the past, which worked well, but I have had sprint for two years and swear by it.

Originally Posted by tg2063

I am moving shortly from NYC to Cleveland metro area; I currently have cingular, which is fine in NYC; anyone with any experience with either of the above carriers? I heard from others that Sprint and T-Mobile are both not very good there.

Thanks

Tom

[CYvonne]

Originally Posted by BillRadio

Coverage map notwithstanding, I fully concur with Coalminer. But for your purposes tg, Cingular will work with your existing account just fine. After you start wandering around the state, you may find some areas that could be better, and only then would you need to consider other carriers.

The combination of AT&T and Cingular has improved coverage in many areas, but the fact that both networks are at PCS frequencies in CLE still leaves them at a slight disadvantage. Driving or biking in some of the Metroparks or in the Cuyahoga Valley and you'll notice some dead spots.

To get the best coverage, get a 64k SIM. My 32k SIM switches back and forth between networks which is a problem that may not go away for some time.

Sprint PCS has a "free and clear America plan" that is totally free roaming. You can use off of other towers when you leave sprint network and it won't cost you extra. It also has digital roaming, which has clear calls, instead of having to use the analog roam, which stinks.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by CYvonne

It also has digital roaming, which has clear calls, instead of having to use the analog roam, which stinks.

There's not too many national CDMA carriers left that prefer analog over digital roaming actually.