Cingular vs. Verizon in Westchester and NYC?

[trachshack]

I am thinking of switching from Verizon to Cingular for various reasons. I live in SE Westchester County and commute into NYC. Anyone have any insight into pros and cons of Cingular and Verizon for (mostly) these areas? I had heard a couple of years ago that Cingular was terrible but I have since heard it has improved. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Fire14]

My suggestion is port over to Cingular and try it out for the 30 day trial period, if it doesn't work out like you want/need then switch back to Verizon & you will only pay for the mins you used in the time period.
Either that or find a friend with Cingular & try their phone out over a weekend where you need it.

[MeatChicken]

A few years ago Cingular was the "T-moble" network in your area & that is why they were terrible.
Now that they bought out AT&T, their coverage is very much like the old "AT&T network here, + any additional cells/coverage they added in the last year or so.
I would still say, as a general statement, that VZW is the best "overall" in coverage for the NY/NJ market, but CING would be a very close #2, & as Fire said perhaps a free trial period would let you know if they work as well (or better) as VZW in the areas you mention.

[jones]

Cingular always works when i go up there in Weschester.
But you can try their pre paid
inside your House.
If decide to make them your Carrier
you can always use this Phone
simply by replacing the pre paid SIM Card
with your Post SIM Card
which only takes a Minute.

[bobolito]

trachshack, where specifically in Westchester do you need service (town/city name)?.

I particularly don't like Cingular's service in New Rochelle. While it has worked for me, indoor service must be poor since outoor coverage is just 2 miserable bars in the middle of major roads. I've found T-Mobile is much better in that area. Now, in NYC, both T-Mobile and Cingular are great. But don't expect them to work in every building. Concrete is very hard to penetrate.

As others above have stated, the best way to find out is to give it a try yourself. However, rather than porting your number from Verizon just to try out the service, I suggest you open a new line of service with Cingular first without porting your number. This way if you don't like the service, you can simply cancel without having to deal with porting back and forth between Cingular and Verizon. However, if you decide to stay with Cingular, you can still request a number port to the existing Cingular line. Either way, you have 30 days to decide.

[trachshack]

Mostly interested in service in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, and New Rochelle, with occasional use in White Plains.

[bobolito]

Then in that case, Cingular behaves exactly as I described in those areas. Just to give you an example, at the post office in Larchmont outdoors I get about -95dBm which is weak by my standards. Usually, that means indoors service will barely work. T-Mobile has panels around there so their signal is much stronger. I don't know what's going on with Cingular in that area. They either don't have customers around there, or they just forgot about that area. Cingular only works good near the highways, like I-95, Hutchinson, Cross County, Sprain Brook Pkwy, etc.

At the movie theater in New Roc City (New Rochelle), Cingular is poor while Sprint and T-Mo have full service and that's near Rt 95. I don't understand that one. At the nearby Stop & Shop, however, don't expect service from any carrier. I know T-Mo, Cingular and Sprint are dead even at the parking lot. I don't know about Nextel or Verizon. Finally, at the Dunkin Donuts on North Ave, just before you get to Iona College, Cingular is poor outdoors.

Now, even with poor signal, I have been able to use my phone just fine. I just don't think service is reliable indoors if the signal is poor outside. Since I don't live there, I haven't had that problem. But I would imagine that someone that lives in that area would face those problems.

I've also noticed Sprint is not that great either in that area. They drop calls even on some highways and have numerous dead spots around those cities. So it must be that this is an area where residents oppose cell towers and it is difficult for carriers to have good coverage around there. But despite this, I think T-Mobile has done a better job covering that area. I ignore how Verizon works around there, but I'm sure you would know that.

So once again, the best thing for you to do is try Cingular to see how they work for you and maybe those poor spots I've noticed are not an issue for you. Cellular service varies from corner to corner so what is poor for someone may be fine for you.

[trachshack]

This is very helpful. Thanks.