Should I trust Voicestream?

I live in Austin and travel to the California area often. I've been with Sprint for like 3 years now and I can't put up with them anymore. Voicestream clearly has the better plans, but being in the tech industry I learned that you get what you pay for. I want a 2 phone family plan. Any suggestions?

Better yet, what should I watch out for with various carriers? My top 3 choices are AT&T, Verizon, and VoiceStream.

[MTS2000]

<< I live in Austin and travel to the California area often. I've been with Sprint for like 3 years now and I can't put up with them anymore. Voicestream clearly has the better plans, but being in the tech industry I learned that you get what you pay for. I want a 2 phone family plan. Any suggestions? >>



Well I can understand your frustrations with Sprint. Here in the southeast, VoiceStream has a very established network in the populated areas, but they are simply not in some of the areas in the midwest, and like many PCS providers, coverage in the rural and suburban areas may be limited to major highways and interstates.

I have Verizon's America's Choice and just got back from a short trip to Nashville and had no problems, and all the calls were free (nites/weekends free) and have been happy so far. Cingular has some attractive plans like Cingular Nation with NO ROAMING at all, and the phones will search for an available netowrk wherever you are, it may be an 800 analog, 800 digital or 1900 digital signal, but you pay a flat rate for your included minutes. Cingular would have been my second choice but Verizon offering unlimited nites/weekends on their America's Choice plan was what won me over.

AT&T also has similar plans to Cingular, and they use many of the same networks (here in Georgia, AT&T TDMA phones roam onto Cingular's 800 TDMA network when they go into "Extended Area") and I think AT&T is offering unlimited nite/weekends, but I am not clear if that is in your "home area" only, and only package minutes follow you to other AT&T markets- maybe someone can clarify this?

My choice: Verizon. No I don't work for them. They have done right by me so far and the service has been top notch, but will be doing more travels in July to other areas so we will see how they measure up.

Thanks for the advice. I like Verizon, but big companies always scare me for some reason. It always seems like they are more interested in gobbling up other companies than they are with providing quality service for the ones already gobbled up. If that makes any sense. Does Verizon make you sign any long term contracts?

[Rich]

Hi Anonymous,

So you travel to California often, Do you drive??? If so...I would definitely
recommend Verizon!!HANDS DOWN!!

Voicestreams fine as long as your not planing on driving, their coverage is very limited
in the South west and Arizona (where I live). They don't even have their own service in California..YET, unfortunately you would have to roam off Cingular in Cali, until they
get their own towers up and running. As for At&t I would wait until they build out their new GSM network.

Hmm. Good point. I will be driving throughout the Texas area, but flying to Cali. I'll be there often though. Sounds like Verizon is the way to go so far.

[TNDan21]

I'd consider Verizon on a America's Choice Plan or maybe Cingular with a Cingular Nation Plan if I was you. From what I have heard Texas is good with Cingular and over in California with a Cingular (TDMA) phone you would be roaming on AT&T which is suppose to be really good in California.

Remember Cingular's Nation Plans are no roaming and no long distance charges period I really like that it's easy to understand and convient. If you can stick to the America's Choice Map though Verizon Wireless may be the best choice for you.

I notice with Verizon they round up to the next minute on calls. Anyone have this come back and bite them?

[aiwapro]

Voicestream is just fine. They don't lie about their coverage. All you have to do is check their Nationwide Coverage Map before you travel. I have had them almost two (2) and I travel enough, enough to see that their coverage is just fine. The service is always great whenever or where ever I travel. Voicestream's 'Family Time' Plans should work out great for you. They service both of the area codes there, 512 and 554.

[TNDan21]

All providers round up to the next minute on calls that is standard. Have you ever seen a home phone bill with a 1 minute and 12 second call? No it's going to be billed as a 2 minute call. Whether its wireless or a landline company nearly all are going to round up to the next minute.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I looked at VS coverage map and San Jose and Las Vegas don't have the "home coverage area" for long distance calling, and that's where I'll be traveling 70% of the time. If I don't get free long distance calling to San Jose, then long distance does me no good. That is unless I'm reading the coverage map on their site wrong.

[Mike]

Roaming off Cinguilar in California with VoiceStream is not a problem. VoiceStream has an agreement with them so there are no roaming or long distant charges. I was out there last fall and the phone showed I was on the Cingular Network while I was in San Diego and San Frisco. No additional fees were encountered with VoiceStream National Plan.

Early this year I spent many weeks in Houston and had no problems with VoiceStream there either. The only place I could not make a call was on the way home when the plane stoped in New Orleans, and I understand VoiceStream will be there soon.

[TNDan21]

Isn't VoiceStream already in New Orleans now? I'm not sure but I thought they had coverage there now.

[ChimeraJS]

I signed with voicestream today, so i'll tell you how it goes. I'm from Atlanta.

[Jack]

Let us know what you think.

What phone did you get?

Jack

[aiwapro]

Yeah you are correct TnDan21, Voicestream has launched service in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana, and it is up and running just fine. I was down there around the end of March, and my service was good.

Regarding California & Nevada; Yes, Voicestream has an unique roaming agreement with each other in these areas. It's not like normal roaming agreements where the other companies customers use the other companies network. With this agreement, Voicestream will have access to Cingular's network, but have also put money into the deal to help prepare the network for their own customers. Cingular was required to spend the first $450 million before Voicestream would spend anything. With this agreement, Voicestream will be able to advertise, market, and sign up their own customers, just as they woud if it was their own network all by themselves. The network will be shared between the two companies, but the spectrum has been upgraded to support the two companies. Voicestream should be launching service there this month. I think I heard June 14 or something around that time.

Also, when Voicestream does launch in that area, they will launch it as T-Mobile, not Voicestream, because the name is being changed across the entire nation, but they have just decided to start with the new cities that they are bringing service to. Voicestream's customer's won't say Cingular on their handset, it will say T-Mobile. The newer model Motorola P280's already say "Welcome to T-Mobile."

The reason why you don't see the coverage on that map is because Voicestream hasn't launched there yet, but on this Voicestream map it shows that you can use your phone in the Cali & Nevada area and not be charged long distance or roaming. The refers to only their Nationwide Plans. Don't look at that map for any other purposes, because there are many areas on the map that haven't been updated. You should look at this Voicestream Wireless (T-Mobile) - Nationwide Coverage Map any other time.

[TNDan21]

VoiceStream won an award from JD Powers for that area, so VoiceStream should be good for Atlanta let us know what you think though. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[bobolito]

I heard that Cingular sucks in CA right? Maybe they should give them the Austin Powers award!!

[Rich]

yeah baby...yeah....

[Mike]

The last layover in New Orleans was March 15th of this year. At the airport I could find no VoiceStream Service. They may have it now.

Also, on the VoiceStream using Cingular roaming (GSM) in California, I used that last year in San Diego and San Francisco without any problems.

VoiceStream is getting such a great deal in California because they are doing the reverse in New York City. VoiceStream is letting Cingular use their network in NYC, basically a swap as each wanted in the others location.

[aiwapro]

Yeah Mike, I like these kind of agreement like what Cingular and Voicestream have, where they actually put money into the network to support their customers, instead of just using the other companies network without any work being put into it.

[ChimeraJS]

FIRST DAY OF VOICESTREAM -
Well, I signed mostly because of the JD power award, it had to be for something.

sign up was a pain, but mostly because of the credit check...i had a block on it, so the credit bureau had to call me at my HOUSe...requiring me to drive all over the earth...mostly a personal problem.

well, luckily they no longer charge 50$ for the nokia 3390...it's included, so that's what i got with the 3000 anytime neighborhood minutes (I'm in Atlanta) + ping pong (500 text messages)

So i get home, and charge it for 12 hours. Once i transfer all 100 numbers/names from my phone book (they had no software/hardware to do it), then I tried test calling my house. "This call can not be completed because this house does not accept phone calls from claler ID blockers" somehting along those lines, well, we don't have that. So I called VS tech support...they told me what to do. didn't work, so i called back and they cleared it up -not bad support.

So I called my house and it worked. then i tried calling the cell phone - it goes straight to voicemail. why? because i dont' get reception in my house. as you know it's on a 1900mhz frequency, thus recpetion is basically hard to come by - probably the deciding factor of whether i keep the service. I'm gonna give it one more day, and if it's not corrected by then, I'm giving it up. You either have 4 bars, or none. So...keep that in mind.

I'm not being negative, cause I really want this service to work, so I'm allowing one more day (of my 3 to return the service.) I'll keep you all up to date.

[aiwapro]

I don't know if reception will change in your house, but I'm certain that there areas in your house that get reception, like near a window.

I usually get full frequency in my house, but when ever I'm somewhere that gets one (1) bar of frequency, there is no problem, because service still acts as if I had full frequency. There is no static with one bar or four bars.

[Rich]

Well, I'm sorry to here that Voicestream is not working out for you.
My personal recommendations would be Verizon or Nextel if you decide to get rid of Voicestream.
Both company's have far more coverage than Voicestream, and a longer trial period. Verizon 15 days and Nextel 30 days, kinda makes you wonder why Voicestream doesn't have a longer trial period.

[aiwapro]

No Rich, it doesn't make you wonder why they have ashorter trial period. All of the providers' use to have a 72 hour trial period, and then they changed to 15 - 30 days trial, because of the many complaints. Apparently Voicestream hasn't gotten enough comlaints to do so.

About Coverge: Nextel does not have far more coverage than Voicestream, and you know it. Nextel is about a hair above Voicestream in coverage, and after Voicestream launches in California this month, you know that Voicestream (T-Mobile) will be taking that #5 spot from from Nextel.
Verizon has more coverage than Voicestream, more coverage than Nextel, and more coverage than any provider, IF YOU COUNT THEIR ANALOG, like they do. If you are just counting Digital, than Sprint PCS has more digital coverage.

Besides, Nextel is too expensive for the average user anyways, and their phones are SuperUgly.

[Rich]

OK, you obviously have an inferiority complex with Voicestream. But thats ok.....lol