T-Mobile or Cingular in Boston?

Welcome to New England (in advance)!

Cingular is 850 MHz and T-Mobile is 1900 MHz (which is probably what you meant to say). The USA does not have 900/1800 allocated for cellular use.

Your best bet is to have an 850/1900 phone so you'll have the best chance to have a signal, especially when you leave the city. That probably means you can't use your current phone. You really need to get one of the new quad-band phones that will handle all GSM providres in the UK and US.

I'll leave the specific Cambridge question to those who frequent the area, but I'd say that both are probably okay there. As you move towards the more rural areas, Cingular is going to have the edge.

The Sony T630 does not have 850 MHz, so you are going to be limited to T-Mobile as your provider in the Boston area. Check the coverage maps at tmobile.com so that you know where you will have service.

 

Strictly in Boston, T-Mobile has better native coverage than Cingular. Cingular however, has free roaming on AT&T anytime you hit a weak spot, and with this is stronger than T-Mo. When the merger completes, the native Cingular network in Boston will then be stronger than T-Mo.

Now, leave Boston city limits and T-Mo starts to really suck, and Cingular really shines. I live in Worcester, an hour west of Boston, and travel all over the state, and Cingular is the #1 carrier in the state. T-Mobile sucks outside the big cities or highways.

If you're moving to Boston temporarily, and will be stickin to the city, maybe T-Mo will be good enough for you, and your triband 900/1800/1900 will work, bc Tmo is only 1900mhz. However, if you are here for good, and will be going places outside the city - get Cingular, and an 850mhz enabled phone.

 

This is how it looks like for Cambridge, MA

 

By the way, those T's are new T-Mobile towers added in the last 90 days.

 

I think they both have good coverage in and around Boston, now as you leave metro, Cingular has the edge.

 

Of course, as a sales person, I would tell you that you will have good service in the middle of Antartica so as long as you buy it!

But if you need a detailed map of Cingular's coverage in NC, let me know the zip code in NC and how many miles radius you need.

 

Yes, you can call TM with an address and they will give you coverage information. I think that TM does have service on the T in Boston. Not 100% sure though.

 

T-Mobile tends to outbuild their competition in some cities/towns.
I think they now should build in areas they don't have coverage.

 

limited coverage in the t. only at the downtown stations.