Recommendations for a carrier in LA County

[fatchan2k]

I've posted a thread similar to like this before but I am becoming quite desperate in my search for a good solid provider. I've been using a AT&T GSM phone for the last two weeks which frankly put, it is a complete pile of crap (may be network, may be the Sony phone) Anyhow, they are now out of the picture. Can some of you guys please recommend me a phone that would work well in Los Angeles County (specifically in the UCLA area) and Orange County (Irvine, LA/Orange County border)

Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

[budney]

I don't know about coverage at UCLA, but the LA/OC boarder & Irvine I do travel to. I have had great coverage with Sprint & Verizon. AT&T TDMA would be another possiblity, but I never used them personally.

For phones, with Sprint the Sanyo 8100, Samsung A620, Nokia 3585i (basic) are good phones. With Verizon the VX6000, A530, V60i (eBay is the only way to get the phone now) are good, but the first two don't have analog. With AT&T all I can say is Nokia. I am not sure about their model numbers though.

Cingular/T-Mobile's coverage is OK, but not as good as the three listed above. Their indoor and residential coverage is poor IMO.

I hope this helps, good luck!

[larry]

According to a Senior Acct Manager for Sprint PCS in the Los Angeles area Sprint is finally going to have a couple of new sites on the UCLA campus by December of this year.

They already have very good coverage surrounding the campus in Westwood.

[fatchan2k]

Thank you very much for your sensational responses. I will be sure to take them into consideration when I finally decide upon a provider. Thanks again!

[Tony E!]

Budney pretty much hit tha target with his recommendations, except for ATT -TDMA, that's even pretty bad right now, like you allready know, so no it's not the phone you are using with ATT.

you can't go wrong with either verizon or sprint, all my friends that have cingular and t-mobile are always complaining about something with their service.

[ILUVSOCAL]

It could be the phone, where did you get the Sony for AT&T? AT&T doesn't sell any Sony GSM phones, or TDMA phones, and hasn't for a while. Did you go to an independent retailer? Sometimes they don't sell the best phones, I always seem to get a better phone when I get it directly from the carrier.

[budney]

Originally posted by: djtonye
Budney pretty much hit tha target with his recommendations, except for ATT -TDMA, that's even pretty bad right now, like you allready know, so no it's not the phone you are using with ATT.

you can't go wrong with either verizon or sprint, all my friends that have cingular and t-mobile are always complaining about something with their service.

Wow! AT&T's TDMA network is really that bad in SoCal. I still see a lot of people with 5160 around. But it dose make sense because they are putting more money into their GSM network.

Originally posted by: ILUVSOCAL
It could be the phone, where did you get the Sony for AT&T? AT&T doesn't sell any Sony GSM phones, or TDMA phones, and hasn't for a while. Did you go to an independent retailer? Sometimes they don't sell the best phones, I always seem to get a better phone when I get it directly from the carrier.

fatchan2k probably means SonyEricsson. AT&T sells the T306 & T616, but SE phone don't seem to have good RF anyway.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Sony Ericsson, DOH! I should have got that one, yeah, I haven't heard good things about SE and RF, though they do make some really nice looking and well built phones.