best nationwide coverage over all states?

[liltwinstars]

In 7 days, I'll be relocating to Boca Raton, Florida from San Francisco, California. I will be making long distance calls to San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Oahu. Please advise me on cellular phone carriers that provide the BEST reception and BEST coverage.

Thanks.

P.S. I currently have AT&T and am open to other plans.

[ljh]

I think AT&T has the best coverage but are too expensive. I have not had a lot of problems with T-Mobile.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Verizon or AT&T(TDMA)would be your best bet. DO NOT go with T-Mobile if you need the best nationwide coverage, their phones are GSM only, and many areas of the US do not have GSM service.

[northform]

Cingular's (TDMA) perfered nation map has more coverage than Verizon's America's Choice map.

For Florida: Verizon has very little coverage in FL. It's because they are a PCS carrier there. They might foot the bill for roaming to make it look like they have more coverage though. BTW - By little coverage I mean less than T-Mobile. Cingular has excellent coverage in FL. ATT also has excellent coverage in FL (better than Verizon's) with 600 anytime minutes for $40/mo and unlimited night and weekend minutes.

I would go with ATT. ATT gives great minutes and great coverage in FL - even has great coverage with GSM in FL. Verizon doesn't have a good network, but they may let you roam for free (FL doesn't have a CDMA provider with good coverage though so it would mean analog). Metro PCS has an interesting talk all you want for $35 plan, but they have limited coverage (although not bad if you don't expect to travel well beyond Boca Raton). Cingular isn't bad, but why go with Cingular over ATT in FL?

[Rich]

Don't forget Sprint PCS, They have excellent coverage in Florida...I think they have the most digital coverage out of anyone. I've had experiences with both Nextel & Sprint, and both work great out there. Please feel free to e-mail me and id be more than happy to give you more detailed info.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

rich how is that 5350 treating you. so far it seems LG made a decent phone- though not as good as the hitachi or sanyos i am not as leery of selling the 5350 so far it hasnt really come back with issues yet.

[Rich]

Great, no complaints yet...although, i wish the ringers were alittle louder. I can't here it ring when i'm checking out a job site, and yelling at my employees..lol, that's why i love our Nextel phones I can instantly yell at someone and they here it.

[northform]

Sprint doesn't have a lot of coverage in florida. ATT and Cingular have more digital coverage. Sprint does have the most CDMA coverage, but it doesn't have much more CDMA coverage than Verizon and has similar coverage to T-Mobile in FL. PLUS, Sprint won't foot the bill for roaming as Verizon might and they don't give you a stellar minute package to sweeten the pot.

ATT has the best FL coverage followed by Cingular with T-Mobile/Verizon/Sprint all lumped together.

[med1]

Strictly nationwide coverage AT&T and Verizon are tops, the rest if combined all together will come close

[northform]

Actually Cingular is a good deal ahead of ATT and is EQUAL to Verizon (within the margin of error for any accounting).

ATT simply pays the roaming bill for its customers so it looks like their coverage is greater than it actually is.

[bobolito]

I think the original poster is talking about coverage, not plans. Either AT&T (TDMA), Cingular (TDMA) or Verizon will have similar coverage. But don't forget that they all have weak areas here and there.

[Rhow411]

for south florida, verizon wireless has good service. i live in the philadelphia and have traveled plenty of times to san francisco and boca ratoon using my verizon wireless phone. it works great in both places. my stepmom uses sprint PCs and the service in that area tleast was just as bad as it is here in philly. Florida is a great state for cell phones , so i say go with Verizon, Tmobile works good down there now, there GSM service is awesome... so i say t-mobile or Verizon

[AnthroMatt]

My grandmother lives in Boca Raton. SHe has used ATT and Verizon. ATT is definitely better. I can never hear her when she calls me on Verizon and she drops a lot of calls. She is switching back to ATT as soon as her contract with Verizon is up. As for Cingular, I can't comment on siuth Fla, but when I lived north in Gainesville, they were bad. The oversold their capacity and are still struggling to catch up from what I understand. There was a time when Cingular's network would go down for about 15 minutes every hour: the 15 minutes in between classes at the Univeristy of Florida!! I think things have gotten a bit better now, but I have some friends still unhappy with their service. I recommend ATT.

[roamer1]

Miami is a very easy area for any carrier to cover; it's rather flat and compact. If a carrier doesn't have good coverage in Miami it's either because of being cheap or because of NIMBYs. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I've personally used only AT&T and Nextel in the Miami area, and both have excellent coverage. VZW used to have a very bad rap in Miami (PrimeCo was apparently very cheap cell-site-wise when they built their network), but has gotten much better -- but VZW is still reported to have some problems in the Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton area (ONLY -- Miami-Dade is fine, most of PB County is fine, western Broward is fine, the Keys are fine...) because of NIMBYs keeping VZW from builidng some cell sites where they need them. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] From what I hear Cingular and T-Mo are fine too; the only carrier to even consider staying away from is Metro PCS, and that's more because of a very small coverage area (but it isn't nearly as bad as their Atlanta coverage area, which excludes many suburban areas) than bad coverage.

-SC

[bobolito]

I've been all over FL with Cingular, from Cape Canaveral, Orlando, Tampax [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img], Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Miami, the Keys, I-75 corridor to Naples, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. I only had weak signal and no service spots in the middle of the I-75 corridor from Naples to Miami. Other than that, I can't complain.

[WirelessBeachBum]

northform

I'm guessing by your many post recommending Cingular and T-Mobile virtually everywhere as the best carrier that you either work for one of them or are a dealer selling them?

[northform]

nope. just a student.

i can't stand cdma's voice clarity. it really isn't better than tdma and is, in many ways, worse.

i kinda feel that att is a bit more directionless than t-mobile and cingular.

[bobolito]

Do you mean when you are listening to someone else using a CDMA phone or when you are using a CDMA phone?

I think CDMA is very clear when you are using the CDMA phone in all cases. I can't say the same when I am listening to others using a CDMA phone. Sometimes, it is nice and clear. However, it depends on the CDMA phone and how the person is holding it. Usually, it is NOT clear when the CDMA user is highway driving in a noisy car, or using a headset and I am in the other end listening. In some cases, it sounds worse than TDMA. Hopefully, newer codecs in CDMA2000 will fix this. However, even in the best circumstances, I still think GSM sounds better.

[northform]

I meant both. The latest codec (which includes 1xRTT codecs) is the EVRC codec. It is good, but not great. It looses a lot of the nuances of speech (especially anything with an "s"). The biggest problem with CDMA's clarity comes when you are doing a mobile to mobile call. The problem is that phone 1 transmits the 8kbps signal which is converted at the tower into a traditional phone signal which is then coded back into an 8kbps EVRC signal. In the process, a lot is lost and the EVRC codec is pretty slim as it is. 8kbps really isn't enough to transmit voice well, but without it CDMA would have far less capacity than GSM (CDMA2000 1xRTT with the EVRC codec can handle 15.6 calls per MHz while GSM can handle 14.2 calls per MHz with a 4/12 re-use pattern. GSM carriers have implimented/are implimenting single antenna interfearance cancelation which will allow tighter reuse of spectrum than the current 4/12 or 6/12 patterns all the way to 12/12. Further, DFCA-dynamic frequency channel allocation-increases call capacity by 20%). Basically, without the bit chopping EVRC, CDMA would have far less capacity than CURRENT GSM-about 32% less. Truely, it isn't fair to compare EVRC to GSM since GSM has much better voice clarity, but it still fairs well. Heck, most companies have moved to DFCA systems including T-Mobile so they see 9% better capacity than Verizon per MHz-Verizon owns more spectrum than T-Mobile in many markets. With single antenna interfearance cnacellation GSM will widen the gap.

Not that call capacity matters from a user stand point. All I care about is that I can hear someone when I call mobile-to-mobile with GSM.

EDIT: I also hate the error correction sound of EVRC. Anyone who has used a CDMA phone in the past 2 years has heard it. It sounds like running water digitised at a very low bit rate.

[t720]

Originally posted by: bobolito Do you mean when you are listening to someone else using a CDMA phone or when you are using a CDMA phone? I think CDMA is very clear when you are using the CDMA phone in all cases. I can't say the same when I am listening to others using a CDMA phone. Sometimes, it is nice and clear. However, it depends on the CDMA phone and how the person is holding it. Usually, it is NOT clear when the CDMA user is highway driving in a noisy car, or using a headset and I am in the other end listening. In some cases, it sounds worse than TDMA. Hopefully, newer codecs in CDMA2000 will fix this. However, even in the best circumstances, I still think GSM sounds better.

I agree with you, Bobo (once again). After going from TDMA to GSM I quickly noticed the change in voice quality. But, if GSM coverage is spotty in your area, things may not turn out so well for you.

[Luckie7]

Originally posted by: northform Sprint doesn't have a lot of coverage in florida. ATT and Cingular have more digital coverage. Sprint does have the most CDMA coverage, but it doesn't have much more CDMA coverage than Verizon and has similar coverage to T-Mobile in FL. PLUS, Sprint won't foot the bill for roaming as Verizon might and they don't give you a stellar minute package to sweeten the pot. ATT has the best FL coverage followed by Cingular with T-Mobile/Verizon/Sprint all lumped together.

Actually, Sprint PCS does have the largest digital network period. What makes this even better is Sprint PCS is also the only FULLY DIGITAL, that means non ofe the static everyone falls in love with with AT&T and Cingular. Verizon posts the next largest digital network, however has a larger total network due to the fact that Verizon is not fully digital. Sprint won't foot the billing for their customers to use the LOWER END signals from other providers because they offer a higher quality of connection and then could not guarantee the connection they do.

[jmccrane]

Originally posted by: northform nope. just a student. i can't stand cdma's voice clarity. it really isn't better than tdma and is, in many ways, worse. i kinda feel that att is a bit more directionless than t-mobile and cingular.

Oh boy, where do I start? OK, first of all TDMA (at least on Cingular in Philly and other NE areas) is slightly above analog and totally incomparable to Sprint's CDMA. It's night and day to me.

Cingular has had 2 quarters of net customer losses and is VERY close to losing its spot as the #2 provider to ATT. If anything, Cingular is the company that needs to find direction. Right now their plans include a conglomerate of TDMA and GSM coverage by about 50 different providers (TDMA) on their Nationwide plans.

[MOBILEHEAD]

Definitely go with the Verizon Wireless America Choice plan.

[Laaate]

If you travel a lot, I highly recommend AT&T TDMA. That's from personal experience. I've also read that Verizon is great nationaly, and Cingular TDMA promotes itself as a great national carrier too. For Verizon, I agree w/ what someone else already said....it s-ucks in Florida. Cingular TDMA, I here is very very good in general too, but to me Cingular has always been the poor man's AT&T.

I don't do a great deal of traveling, and when I do, I'm always in metropolitan areas....so T-Mobile is fine for me. I love the clarity of GSM calls....it is way better than TDMA, it is near landline quality. Anyway, I tried ATT GSM when they rolled out in my area (Tampa Bay) and it stunk out loud. I got droves of dropped calls, and fades....which they cannot afford to do considering that they offer less than what T-Mobile offers for either the same price, or greater price. I cancelled my M-life b/c it was an imposter and just sorry representation to GSM itself.....AT&T, while prices for their TDMA can be justified b/c they are superior, is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out of line pricing their GSM plans where they are. They act like their GSM coverage is on par with their TDMA - one day maybe, but no way right now. I would guess that Cingular GSM is even more of an abortion than AT&T's at this moment.

[bobolito]

Thank you Luckie7 for your Sprint commercial. Not trying to start a Sprint debate here, but next time you get a chance, look at the Sprint national covegage map. I am sure it will remind you of a US Atlas with the way most highways are covered. That means that beyond those highways and metro areas you will be roaming in analog. Sprint has to be grateful to the analog/cellular carriers (AT&T, Cingular and Verizon) for they are the reason many people choose Sprint over T-Mobile, and they are the reason Sprint's map looks larger than T-Mobile's. However, you should notice that over 70% of the US covered land area is analog roaming, not digital. Also, don't forget that T-Mobile is also 100% digital and 100% PCS. Although Sprint may have the largest network, that doesn't mean they cover the most US area. Just look at the national map. What good is to praise having the largest national network when it actually covers less land than any of the top 3 carriers? Those "LOWER END signals" as you label them is what Sprint relies on in over 70% of the US land and is what makes other carriers bigger. Again, not trying to bash Sprint here, just showing you that Sprint could not be what it is today without the other "LOWER END" carriers.

Finally, I'd like to thank Sprint marketing teams once again for brainwashing people the way they do. It is a truly hypnotizing job.

[bobolito]

Originally posted by: Laaate If you travel a lot, I highly recommend AT&T TDMA. That's from personal experience. I've also read that Verizon is great nationaly, and Cingular TDMA promotes itself as a great national carrier too. For Verizon, I agree w/ what someone else already said....it s-ucks in Florida. Cingular TDMA, I here is very very good in general too, but to me Cingular has always been the poor man's AT&T. I don't do a great deal of traveling, and when I do, I'm always in metropolitan areas....so T-Mobile is fine for me. I love the clarity of GSM calls....it is way better than TDMA, it is near landline quality. Anyway, I tried ATT GSM when they rolled out in my area (Tampa Bay) and it stunk out loud. I got droves of dropped calls, and fades....which they cannot afford to do considering that they offer less than what T-Mobile offers for either the same price, or greater price. I cancelled my M-life b/c it was an imposter and just sorry representation to GSM itself.....AT&T, while prices for their TDMA can be justified b/c they are superior, is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out of line pricing their GSM plans where they are. They act like their GSM coverage is on par with their TDMA - one day maybe, but no way right now. I would guess that Cingular GSM is even more of an abortion than AT&T's at this moment.

I agree that AT&T GSM offerings are overpriced. They are certainly not going to move TDMA customers to GSM with that new strategy.

C:\AT&T\>EXECUTE NEW PLANS
Fatal Error: TDMA customers prefer moving to T-Mobile. Please lower your GSM prices.

[roamer1]

IMO, AT&T's main mistake with their GSM offering that will backfire on them when they start "pushing" TDMA customers to GSM is their not supporting analog roaming. That isn't a problem in MOST areas, but where it is (e.g., south GA, the Carolinas, and Arizona, where in most areas both 800 MHz carriers are CDMA carriers) it's a REALLY BIG problem. AT&T will have a VERY hard time transitioning TDMA customers who need rural coverage to GSM; more than likely customers who value rural coverage will simply churn away to VZW/ALLTEL/etc. instead of going GSM. Sometimes I wonder if AT&T may be deliberately trying to get heavy roamers to churn in order to reduce roaming costs...

-SC

[bobolito]

They will introduce GAIT phones according to some documentation I have about their future GSM deployments and 3G. So, analog and GSM 800 will be in their network just like Cingular.