Sprint or Cingular in OC and LA California?

[jimwayda]

Which cell phone service provider provides the best service the the Orange County and Los Angeles California Area? I currently have Sprint and the Sprint service seems to be quite excellent regarding not having dropped calls and the excellent clarity of the calls. On the other hand, I don't have any experience with Cingular. I am considering switching carriers because Sprint made some promises to me that the cannot keep that I don't care to elaborate on. Sprint seems to have an excellent network buy very poor customer service. I may wind-up staying with Sprint, but I really want to understand what Cingular has to offer in my area especially regarding dropped calls, and the overall quality of coverage in the OC/LA area.

Thanks,

-jim

[Mobile Mike]

Originally Posted by jimwayda

Which cell phone service provider provides the best service the the Orange County and Los Angeles California Area? I currently have Sprint and the Sprint service seems to be quite excellent regarding not having dropped calls and the excellent clarity of the calls. On the other hand, I don't have any experience with Cingular. I am considering switching carriers because Sprint made some promises to me that the cannot keep that I don't care to elaborate on. Sprint seems to have an excellent network buy very poor customer service. I may wind-up staying with Sprint, but I really want to understand what Cingular has to offer in my area especially regarding dropped calls, and the overall quality of coverage in the OC/LA area.

Thanks,

-jim

Jim, you can't go wrong with Sprint or AT&T in the LA/OC areas. Except for a few small pockets of spotty service (which every carrier has, by the way), you would be fine with either. In my experience, AT&T is very strong in Greater Los Angeles (especially where 3G is available).

[TelcomJunkie]

Personally speaking, outside of the business areas and major highways I have been constantly disappointed with ATT (Blue Network) in the LA/OC area. The ATT Blue network wasn't near as strong as the Orange one. If the only two choices were ATT and Sprint, all personal bias asides I'd still pick Sprint. I was a long time VzW customer prior to coming over to Sprint but looking back, the coverage has met or exceeded VzW in all of the areas that I travel.

[TelcomJunkie]

I forgot to mention, I'd strongly suggest picking up a ATT GoPhone and give it a whirl. See which works better in the areas that you primarily need it to.

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by jimwayda

Which cell phone service provider provides the best service the the Orange County and Los Angeles California Area?

Jim,
It's too bad Sprint doesn't work for you. They have done much to become to top carrier in SoCal. While AT&T wouldn't be my 1st choice after Sprint, it isn't all that bad. A couple years ago AT&T, nee Cingular, had all kinds of problems, but have since worked them out. Just make sure you give them a good workout during your 30-day tryout period. If you have any problems, T-Mobile and Verizon are also highly recommended.

You are lucky. In your area, service is mostly good from all carriers (except maybe Metro PCS) that you can choose by price or phone model. Let us know how it works out.

[shango]

I had att and I hate gsm. Tmobil or att, they sound is choppy to me and have drop outs and dropped calls. Im in LA alot of the time and roam on Sprint and the overall performance is good. Real good. Maybe when you call to cancel service they will put you through to retention who can make good on their promises.

[RJB]

I think out of the two you speak I would say go to Sprint. Wait tell Larry comes along I think talking about Sprint in So. Cal is one of his favorite things to discuss. (which is not a bad thing, he lives there and has them)

[larry]

The OP (jimwayda) have recently discussed this matter. I don't have any experience using AT&T so I don't know what they're network is like so I can't comment on that. But I can say that if you compare the two carriers based on the number of cell sites they each have here in OC and LA Sprint wins easily.

The big question I want to know is whether or not AT&T can match the deal that Jim currently has with Sprint. Since I'm familar with the deal he has I would say it's doubtful they could once you factor in all costs and included features. So it's really up to Jim to decide if he wants to leave Sprint and probably pay more money over a promise that customer service couldn't keep (which probably came from a mis-informed rep).

[jimwayda]

A want to express my appreciation to everyone that responded to this thread.

I have two Sprint lines with the $99 Everything Plan on Blackberries. I visited two ATT Stores this weekend and in order to match the Sprint Everything Plan I will be paying ATT $160 per phone line!! WOW! What a difference!

I am very satisfied with the Quality of the Sprint network and never experience dropped calls or the inability to initiate a call. Based upon these facts, I will most likely be staying with Sprint despite the lying tactics of their Customer Service Organization. I can only hope that Dan the new CEO will be able to resolve the problems within what has to be the worst Customer Support Organization in America (or India )

-jim

Originally Posted by larry

The OP (jimwayda) have recently discussed this matter. I don't have any experience using AT&T so I don't know what they're network is like so I can't comment on that. But I can say that if you compare the two carriers based on the number of cell sites they each have here in OC and LA Sprint wins easily.

The big question I want to know is whether or not AT&T can match the deal that Jim currently has with Sprint. Since I'm familar with the deal he has I would say it's doubtful they could once you factor in all costs and included features. So it's really up to Jim to decide if he wants to leave Sprint and probably pay more money over a promise that customer service couldn't keep (which probably came from a mis-informed rep).

[Mobile Mike]

Jim, good luck with Sprint. I hope it works out for you!

Glad to help.

[larry]

I had a feeling that AT&T would be significantly higher but didn't think it would be that high. I'm starting to think Sprint is blowing away the competition with their offerings and am surprised that they are still losing that many customers.

[jimwayda]

Larry,

One of the main problems that Sprint is facing as a company is their brand reputation. Even though Sprint has much better coverage in the OC/LA/Riverside/San Bernadino area than T-Mobile, folks will always choose T-Mobile over Sprint. I see it here at the company where I work. Some of the folks here can't believe that I can really initiate and hold calls with my Sprint phone because Sprint has such as tarnished reputation. This is a prime example of what poor customer service can do to a company. Sprint has an excellent network that most folks will never try because of the company's reputation in the cellular industry. Couple this with the fact that Sprint is blamed for Radio Shack's poor financial results and other media events in which Sprint is raked over the coals. Dan Hesse has quite a battle in front of him! Recovering a tarnished company's reputation is very difficult and even more difficult when the company is being attacked from many angles on a daily basis. Recently Sprint was downgraded to a "junk investment". T-Mobile has the right idea with providing excellent customer service. Excellent customer service can compensate for less than stellar network performance in some of the areas that T-Mobile covers.

-jim

Originally Posted by larry

I had a feeling that AT&T would be significantly higher but didn't think it would be that high. I'm starting to think Sprint is blowing away the competition with their offerings and am surprised that they are still losing that many customers.

[larry]

Yep I agree Jim. The reputation that they have is not all deserved in my opinion and like you said it will be tough to fix.

[RJB]

Good to hear that you got what you needed.