GSM Service in Irvine

[Celluser]

I've been with AT&T on their standard network this past year and I have to say I was quite satisfied with their cell phone service (for the most part - reception wasn't that great inside buildings @UC Irvine) and customer service. I was thinking about switching to their GSM network because of the nicer phones, but I want to know if anyone has done that already. If so, how is the reception in Irvine? in UC Irvine? I want to be sure it's good before I switch over because once you're on it, you're stuck. I don't want to incur a cancellation fee because of a bad decision. Any help would be appreciated.

[Jack]

I can not comment on the service in irvine.

BUT- I will tell you this at&t has a 30 day trial if you are unsatisfied then you can cancel within 30 days

Jack

[Celluser]

Do you get a refund on the phone as well if you don't like their service? Is there a cancellation fee? Where did you find this information? Please let me know, thanks.

[Jack]

IF you get the equipment from a at&t wireless store you have 30 days to try out the service and if it is not to your satisfaction then you return the phone and only pay for what you have used.

Its at&t standard policys

This is assuming that you are out of contract. IF you are NOT then if you return the GSM phone you would need to go back to a TDMA one to finish out your contract.

Jack

[chromiums]

I'm from south county OC (Mission Viejo). I was on TDMA (R289LX w/ Free Pocketnet), and switched to GSM when I bought the t68i. AT&T has been super with me. I've been with them since 1998. I asked them about switching to GSM or cancelling them since they were allowing to break the contract a couple months ago. They said if I stayed with them, they'd give me $40 off my next phone. I used that on the t68i. Reception was terrible. What I took for granted as stellar service before turned into dropped calls one after the other. Often, I would roam into Cingular (of course, don't call then or they will charge you roaming). I returned the t68i a week later, but they let me use the $40 credit toward my phone bill. They refunded me all my monies and switched me back to my free pocketnet internet service again. The experience has been great. TDMA only has one fault.....it cannot penetrate walls too good. Other than that, it's perfect in OC. Too bad it's a defunct technology. I will keep it until the end. Now, of all the GSMs out there, T-mobile probably has the best network. They are the only national GSM carrier. They are the oldest GSM carrier in the US. They have been building their network for the last 6 years under the guise as Voicestream. Deutsche Telecom bought them out in 2000 for $30 billion. Of course, they've only been in California for a couple months after they swapped towers with Cingular in NY. However, that doesn't mean they have the same service as cingular. All carriers have their sweet spots. I know cingular is great in north and central OC. Sprint (although CDMA) is more sporadic but okay in the Inland Empire. AT&T is the newest GSM carrier so give them 6 months to get going. T-mobile has their own switches and are building beyond their cingular towers too. Cingular is building out too. In fact, they just put a cingular tower 2 blocks away from me on the corner of Jeronimo and Olympiad so I might give them a try. I just need service at home (Mission Viejo) and at work (Anaheim - which Cingular works fine). Keep in mind that south county has a lot of hills and mountains. Any carrier would have a hard time in my area. My att works, but I have to stand near a window. I am hoping that Cingular picks up the Danger hiptop as I really think that might be my answer to a one device cell phone/pda/wireless internet. For now, t-mobile will be the only carrier offering this device. It will be released 9/21/02 I believe. And if the rumors are correct, t-mobile will offer limited voice and unlimited GPRS data for only $39.99. That will be the holy grail for me. Sure, with t-mobile and cingular, you can go on the internet wirelessly for $6 (plus minutes) with their CSD network, but who wants to chug along at 9.6 to 19.2kbps. Nicer to surf at 134kbps on the 3G gprs. That's the only way, I'll go on gprs (cheap and unlimited). Who's gonna pay for $7 per 1MB data (especially when using a pda or laptop to hook up to a modem cell phone). You can use up 1MB in no time!!!! Hope this helps you.