Phoenix Metro Area recommendations please....

[Moetion]

Hello,

I just moved the Phoenix area, Chandler to be exact, and am wondering on opinions of the various cell providers as well as phones that work best.

I am unsure as to how well the coverage actually is throught the area and thought somebody on this board would have a good idea.

I would like to make sure I don't have to worry about roaming charges as I'm driving around, and in different areas.

I don't need a lot of minutes, but I do plan on using this instead of a phone line.

Any recommendations you have would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[seminole2001]

I live in Phoenix. T-Mo is really good in metro area. There is a good deal on the Sony Errisson T300 now at Worst Buy. You get the phone, and a free Spy Pack that contains a car charger, flashlight, and wrist strap. You can get the phone for FREE after rebates at Worst Buy. You can try T-Mo for 14 days and return it if you think it suc$ks. Thats my 2 cents.

[GeneSteinberg]

Originally posted by: seminole2001
I live in Phoenix. T-Mo is really good in metro area. There is a good deal on the Sony Errisson T300 now at Worst Buy. You get the phone, and a free Spy Pack that contains a car charger, flashlight, and wrist strap. You can get the phone for FREE after rebates at Worst Buy. You can try T-Mo for 14 days and return it if you think it suc$ks. Thats my 2 cents.

Honestly, I tested T-Mobile a few months back, when I used a friend's phone. Very frankly I was disappointed in the service in Scottsdale. Even Sprint PCS, which has horrible customer service, was much better.

I recommend Verizon for the best combination of call quality, coverage and customer service. They may not be the cheapest provider, but the money you spend is worth it in quality of service that you get.

[BillRadio]

Moe,
So much depends on where you live, and where you go. Verizon and Alltel are almost tied for the best coverage, Verizon having slightly cheaper plans. I give high marks to AT&T for most improved, but they roam on the above networks when you get off the interstates.

Please visit:
Phoenix Wireless Ratings

and:
Arizona Cellular Ratings

-Bill

[fidelis]

I agree with Gene, I have lived in Phoenix since 1995 and have been a verizon customer (same number) since 1997. Verizon has been a little more expensive than other carriers but the customer service and phone service is better. I just went through a bad experience with T Mobile (formerly voicestream) and I can tell you from experience that customer service is much better with Verizon. I know some people that have Alltech and some others but I am really not sure about the service quality ect...

[IrikYSS]

Hey Moetion I live in the Gilbert/Chandler area and have AT&T. So far I have nothing to complain about at all. I have been all over the metro Phoenix area and have noticed only a few dead spots in North Phoenix behind Camelback Mt. Other than that its been fine. I travel the 60,10,17,& the 51 all of the time and I cant remember dropping a call. As far as the south east valley signal seems to be strong at least to the San Tans and the Superstitions. There customer service is excellent and AT&T's GSM network is building fast. I would recomend AT&T for sure. I have also seen that Verizon is just as good if not better. As far as T-mobile the only good thing they have going for them is there phones. I hope this helps some

[azcellphonejunkie]

I have been in Pheonix since 1998 and have had Sprint with them the entire time. I have no real complaints about them and would reccommend the service. I know they get a bad rap, but they are fine for me and I think that is the main thing that counts. Let me know if you have any other questions about them in the PHX metro. I have been all over the state with them and know pretty well where is good and where isn't.

[Airb330]

Well I can vouch for Verizon. They were great in Phoenix metro. My hotel was right near Camelback, passed it a million times. I got full signal 99% of the time. Even when we went out to this park...geez...can't remember the name. Was like 20-30 miles (i think) west of Phoenix, and we hiked and stuff, had 3 bars analog there, which was pretty good. I only visited, but Verizon was pretty good.

[larry]

The Phoenix area is an easy area to cover and I would guess that most of the providers are decent there. I noticed a heck of a lot of towers there on my last trip this past summer.

[GeneSteinberg]

Maybe it's easy to cover, but some cell providers have a problem.

I had lots of dead spots with Qwest, which is strange, since that's the local phone company.

Sprint PCS was better, but the area around my son's school was perfectly awful. More and more dead spots were located around the valley and customer service evinced an attitude of not caring. So I dumped them.

Verizon has fewer dead spots and rates best for customer service.

For more information, check www.deadzones.com and see where the problem areas are located.

No cell service is perfect. Pay attention to the areas where problems occur, and how eager the company is to fix the problems.

Peace,
Gene

[larry]

Originally posted by: GeneSteinberg
Sprint PCS was better, but the area around my son's school was perfectly awful. More and more dead spots were located around the valley and customer service evinced an attitude of not caring. So I dumped them.

Gene,

I hear this often and was just wondering what you expected customer service to do about dead spots? They have no control over that issue and really have no way of knowing when those areas might be improved. That all depends on the local zoning boards and how quickly new sites can be approved and set up for construction. No one can accurately predict this.

[GeneSteinberg]

With Verizon, when I called about dead spots, they took the report and consulted their technical department to let me know the status of the situation. In at least one case, they informed me that they actually sent a crew out to check into it.

But dead spots is not the only area where Sprint fell down on the job. Even routine matters of billing and equipment problems were dealt with in a rude and uninformative fashion. The rare friendly person I encountered at Sprint was the woman to whom I gave my cancellation notice. She offered a free phone and a couple of other enticements. Finally I told her that if Sprint offered good service, I would not need to cancel. She couldn't argue the point.

Peace,
GEne

[larry]

I seriously doubt they would send a crew out just for one complaint. It's probably something they told you to make you happy.

[GeneSteinberg]

Originally posted by: larry
I seriously doubt they would send a crew out just for one complaint. It's probably something they told you to make you happy.

Except that, after a couple of complaints, the problem in that area have been sharply reduced.

In one of my conversations with Verizon, they mentioned six known dead spots in Scottsdale (confirming that one of my problem reports fell at the fringe of one of those zones), and they hoped to have two new cell towers online this quarter to help improve the situation. Maybe it's coincidental, but I'm happy at the improvement nonetheless.

Sorry if you have to take a cynical approach. I prefer to assume a company's support staff is telling the truth, or at least trying to, rather than trying to just fool customers. You fool a customer and the customer finds out, you lose that customer. I don't think Verizon became number one just because of mergers and lying to its customers.

Compared to the other cell providers I've used (Qwest and Sprint PCS), and two others that I've tested with the help of clients and business contacts (AT&T and T-Mobile), Verizon remains the best in this area. Nobody is perfect, but I'll take it as it is till something better comes along.

Peace,
Gene

[larry]

I bet it was just a coincidence. The new towers would have come up just the same if you hadn't reported it. I know how these things work. It takes several years to plan and build a tower from scratch and they will do so when they receive a good number of complaints about a particular area.

What did Verizon become number one in? Number of subscribers? That did happen because of mergers and acquistions.

By the way I'm not disputing the fact that Verizon has the best coverage. They probably do.