Cingular VS Verizon in Seattle

[turbo63]

How does Cingular Compare to Verizon in the Seattle Area? I am thinking about making the switch to Cingular.

Thanks!

[danny boi]

Ask my aunt in Seattle or friend in Tacoma. I could be wrong, but according to them this is not one of Cingular's better markets. They swear up and down that both Quest and AT&T TDMA work the best up there; for now anyway. I gave my other cousin who lives in Seattle my old Nokia 5185i with VZW and he said their coverage is fair but not great. I think T Prophet knows that area better than most. I'd ask him.

[Rich]

I'm not a big Verizon fan but, they cover Seattle very well and wouldn't even consider switching to Cingular.

[Rasputin]

Cingular's network is PCS 1900Mhz in Seattle, Verizon and ATT have 850Mhz. I like Verizon, ATT, and Sprint have good coverage in the Seattle area.

[TProphet]

Until last month, I had Verizon on my primary line, and had secondary lines with Sprint and Cingular. I dropped Verizon because Sprint coverage is now about equal to Verizon in quality (provided you have a good Sprint handset such as the Nokia 3588i or Sanyo 8100), and Sprint is a lot less expensive.

Cingular, while the most mature GSM network in the Seattle area, doesn't even come close in quality. My Cingular handset drops calls regularly, the handoffs are noticeable (unlike Verizon and Sprint, who benefit from the "soft handoffs" their CDMA technology offers), and the GSM codecs don't filter out background noise. Worst of all, my Cingular handset is barely usable at best inside most large buildings--even places where you'd expect good coverage, like Boeing and Microsoft (the latter having no Cingular coverage at all in the buildings I have visited, although it works outdoors). Cingular customer service also doesn't even measure up to Sprint, let alone Verizon. They aren't open at all on Sundays, are open during only limited hours on Saturdays, and close up shop by 10PM on weekdays. Verizon and Sprint both have 24/7 technical support, and are open well beyond regular business hours for other matters.

If all of the above reasons weren't enough to avoid Cingular, their limited coverage area may be. They have no coverage at all in southwest Washington beyond Toledo (it's a little speck on the map about 20 miles south of Chehalis), or anywhere in Oregon, either. Instead, they rely on T-Mobile, AT&T, and Edge Wireless for roaming. This does you no good on KIC prepaid, unfortunately, where you can only use their network.

Here in the Puget Sound area, Verizon and Sprint offer the best coverage in my opinion. Verizon has very good customer service, and a very good network, and they charge a premium for it. Sprint's customer service is poor (relative to Verizon), and their network coverage is more limited than Verizon (although where they have coverage, it's generally very good). On the other hand, they give you many more minutes and a lot of nice "extras" for a lower price than you'd pay with Verizon. They even give a discount of up to 25% to employees of most local companies--all you have to do is ask for it (to be fair, Verizon also offers discounts, but they are lower and apply only to the base plan--not the entire bill, as with Sprint).

[turbo63]

Thanks for all the help! Verizon it is! Sprint doesn't work at my house!

[wirelesspr0]

As they say, you get what you paid for! I had problem with VZW but they they took care of it. Yes, VZW is expensive than any other cell phone carriers but they have good customer service and largest network in the US. The most important thing for me having a cell phone is RECEPTION. I don't care If I have an ugly phone as long I can make a calls and not to worry if I have a reception all the time.