Verizon vs. T-mobile in SE Michigan?

Verizon currently does not sell a bluetooth phone. If you want one you will have to buy a Motorola Timeport 270c it has bluetooth :speechles

 

Just for instance, my brother works at T-Mobile, his best friend works at T-Mobile, and both get free phones from T-Mobile, yet both have Verizon.

 

From my experience of driving around those areas with a relative who has t-mob, I found better interior coverage with Verizon in Flint and Lansing. In Ohio I had better overall coverage. t-mob had a few small dead spots. In Madison I have had good coverage with Verizon, I do not know about T-Mob. I know in and around Traverse City the AllTel/Verizon is better than T-Mob, and same with the Bay City, Midland, Saginow areas also towards Ann Arbor.

 

t-mobile has a lot of dead spots around SE Michigan.. coverage in the Bloomfield Hills and Royal Oak areas is terrible... lots of various deadspots all around the rest.. verizon seems to work well anywhere..

although, yes i do have tmobile.. they have the best plans if you can deal with the crappy service in places.....

 

Yes, in the greater Detroit area and I guess all of Michigan, Verizon used to be the regional Airtouch Wireless carrier.

 

t-mobile has a lot of dead spots around SE Michigan.. coverage in the Bloomfield Hills and Royal Oak areas is terrible... lots of various deadspots all around the rest.. verizon seems to work well anywhere..

although, yes i do have tmobile.. they have the best plans if you can deal with the crappy service in places.....

t-mobile has alot of dead spots here in Nw ohio too. I live in Findlay (about an hour south of toledo) Why does t-mobile concentrate on just interstate coverage? I was not happy with my t-mobile service..so i switched to alltel!

 

I've had service through Verizon, Nextel, and T-Mobile. If you want the best coverage for everywhere except buildings at Grand Valley State University, I'd generally trust Verizon over T-Mobile. SMooTH, where does your phone lose service in Bloomfield Hills and Royal Joke? Even my V66 didn't have reception problems there (at least before I ran it through the washing machine and killed it -- my new Samsung E105 should arrive tomorrow).

How come cell providers concentrate on covering the major highways, you ask? One reason is that some people still buy a cell phone for emergencies only. If you're on the highway and you hit a deer/car/whatever, the wireless providers know you aren't going to have very nice things to say about them if your phone doesn't work when and where you're likely to need it most. If you have to call someone from home or work, chances are you've got a conventional wired phone available. Landlines aren't obsolete just yet.

I'd imagine it's also easier to find land along highways upon which to build towers. There probably won't be quite as much resistance from the "not in my backyard" camps since most people don't have their back yards adjacent to major highways.

 

I have had t-mobile for almost 2 years now ... and i am dropping them. Once you get north of saginaw you go on roaming with NPI Wireless ... your t-mobile features are not valid while on roam. T-mobile is a bad choice ... Remember At&t is becoming part of cingular soon .... Thanks for the Monopoly!!!!

 

I can't personally speak for the coverage in your area. Although, I have had T-Mobile before in my area. I experienced dropped calls with T-Mobile more often then anything else. T-Mobile is well known for dropped calls, hence the more minutes you get. Anyway, the reason why I bring that up is because I do know some people on the east coast and midwest (relatives and a friend) they have T-Mobile. They also complained about all the dropped calls. If you are considering Verizon, they will have the Motorola V710 coming out next month (release date from press release by Verizon & Motorola), this phone has all the bells & whistles, including bluetooth. If the coverage with Verizon is good for you, then I would recommend staying with them and avoid T-Mobile. Your bluetooth phone is just around the corner.

 

in bloomfield:
-lonepine from just west of middlebelt down to big beaver, theres a LOT of dead areas
-telegraph around the quarton area

detroit: (that i go through every day)
8 mile between woodward and mound MANY dead spots.. nearly all through ferndale along 8 mile

royal oak:
anything down and around 13 mile east of woodward

and many many other places... tmobile has shotty service all over

 

I wonder if that depends on whether you're on a local or a national plan. I've roamed on Cingular in Knoxville and NPI Wireless from Midland and Grayling up to Traverse City, and T-Zones and #MIN# (check your airtime usage) worked fine. I believe unlimited nights and weekends were also valid on their network. I'm on the Get More 600 national plan, so that could have something to do with it.

SMooTH: Dead spots on 8 Mile? If you mean you have no signal, that just shouldn't be. If you mean you can't make a call or you get lots of dropped calls, that could just be a lack of capacity, though that's not to say it's any more acceptable since you still can't make a call. Next time I'm out that way, I'll definitely try and check that out.

I have to say that my service quality has improved since I killed my Motorola V66 and replaced it with a Samsung E105. My calls connect a few seconds sooner and I get reception where my V66 always had problems. As always, your mileage may vary.

 

The only options that aren't applicable when you roam are: mobile-to-mobile minutes (since you are not on the TM network) and GPRS (in some areas, it works on Cingluar roaming, although TM says you may get billed they aren't billing right now). specifically to NPI, they are installing GPRS this year as part of their acquisition by Dobson. The rest of your features should work.