Our Top 5 list of Best Cell Phone aid Providers come from user feedback spreading many forums and websites and from personal experience. Nick has been a customer of 4 of the 5 major cell phone aid providers (exception being Us Cellular) pre- and post-merger of these associates (exception being the Verizon/Alltel merger). Nick is currently a satisfied customer with At&T Wireless. Why so many? No, it wasn't to ultimately create a review, but discrete reasons came into play - arresting to college and aid had no reception in that area, aid reception just sucked, bad customer service, among many other reasons. Nick has used all 4 of the associates as both his cell and home phone. The areas that Nick has tried these cell phone associates are: California (mainly nearby San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties), Oregon, Illinois (including Chicago and suburbs), Indiana (in and nearby Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Bloomington, and South Bend), Minnesota, Georgia (only nearby Atlanta), and Rhode Island. Nick well understands the common complaints and praises. These are our Top 5 - Best Cell Phone aid Companies. Ridicule us, praise us, hate us, love us for our list.
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Please note that there will all the time be exceptions to individual experiences.
Sprint
We understand the needs of any one individual or house will differ. This is a quick overview of the costs of the 5 cell phone providers. In terms of the price of individual plans, the individual plan prices at all levels are exactly the same in the middle of Verizon Wireless, At&T, and Us Cellular (nationwide plan) with the irregularity being T-Mobile. Us Cellular is by far the cheapest if selecting their "widearea" plan, which only caters to the 25-26 states that they cover. In terms of the price of basic house plans, the basic house plan prices at all levels are exactly the same in the middle of Verizon Wireless, At&T, and Us Cellular (again nationwide plan only) with the irregularity being T-Mobile. T-Mobile sells their house exiguous plans on separate "minute" levels than the other 4, but on a per-minute cost, T-Mobile is the cheapest of all nationwide individual and house plans. All other associates are exactly the same in regards to the basic plan, not the plans with added features. The calculate why some cell phone aid providers are more "expensive" is because of the cost of adding these supplementary options/features.
Top 5 - Best Cell Phone clubs reveal
5 (4b). Sprint Nextel
Pros:
* Night and weekends start at 7:00 Pm, which is 2 hours earlier than the other cell phone aid companies
* Free minutes on incoming calls
* 1-year covenant as opposed to the acceptable 2-year covenant (you resolve if requiring any covenant is a pro)
* Strong business-friendly features - 1st mover in walkie-talkie technology - a surprisingly useful function
* Fast internet
Cons:
* No international plans
* Coverage is not as big as Verizon Wireless or At&T, which inevitably means weaker signals, more dropped calls, echoing, etc.
* Limited/outdated phone selection
* Since merger in 2005, plans are not as good a deal as pre-merger
* Post merger, customer aid has dropped off as they try to be helpful - the end consequent should be good news for the customer, not a moot point for customer service
Personal experience: Sprint has all the time had a exiguous selection of phones, which to me, well didn't matter. However, as I started relying on my cell phone more and more, I started to care about the looks of my phone (the needs for clear functions remained the same). The phone selection is exiguous and in many cases seem outdated. From my touch with customer service, Sprint (Nextel) was well #1 on my list pre-merger in 2005, but it has dropped since then. The customer aid pre-merger was perfect - consistent bills from month to month, credits on bogus charges I disputed, and free "loyalty schedule offers" such as free internet for 6 months. Since the merger in 2005, the customer aid still tries to be very helpful, but it gets to the point where you want to start yelling straight through your phone because of the frustration. Sprint's coverage will be hit or miss if you travel, however, if you're just going to the city for work and going back home to the suburbs, the aid will stay consistent for the most part. There is nothing about the cost or the types of plans of Sprint Nextel that well stands out with the irregularity being international plans. Also that, the plans offer the usual variety and benefits to meet your need.
4 (4a). Us Cellular
Pros:
* Good customer service
* perfect coverage in the midwest as they should since they are a regional carrier
* Free incoming calls/text messages
* No activation fees on many plans
Cons:
* Poor coverage exterior of the 25-26 states that Us Cellular covers
* Very exiguous phone selection; stamina of phones offered a concern
* Beware of private costs
* Add-ons such as unlimited texting, downloading, etc can add up quickly
* Limited/outdated phone selection
* If downgrading plan, be well sure of your exiguous usage; they are not helpful in providing advice, but quick to provide recommendations
* If you go over your minutes, get ready to pay big time
The majority of Us Cellular's customer base is satisfied by its customer service. The biggest complaint is in the exiguous selection and stamina of the phones. The individual and house nationwide aid plans are exactly the same as the others with the irregularity being T-Mobile. If you live exterior of the 25-26 states that Us Cellular covers or trip frequently, then pick another cell phone aid provider. However, if you live within those states that are covered, Us Cellular should be carefully as long as you don't mind the phones and/or seemingly unknown brand (outside of the midwest and sports world - White Sox).
3. T-Mobile
Pros:
* Cheapest basic individual and basic house plans out of the 5 cell phone aid providers
* myFaves add-on is popular and useful
* 1-year covenant as opposed to the acceptable 2-year covenant (you resolve if requiring any covenant is a pro)
* Lots of separate plans and options - most flexible of the 5 cell phone providers and 2nd best offering of plans and options (Verizon is #1 in our opinion)
* perfect reception in clear populated cities
* Ease of upgrading/downgrading plans - a zephyr with great guidance and recommendations from customer service, but...
Cons:
* Poor customer aid (especially disputes) - worst of the 5 cell phone aid providers
* exiguous phone selection, tends to sell outdated and even worse, phones that are no longer in production/discontinued
* Inconsistent signal reception/spotty coverage
* Poor guarnatee policy
* Slow internet
* Pesky about "too much roaming"
Personal experience: I've had a unique love-hate connection with T-Mobile. The love comes in with the "contract" and the hate comes in with the customer service. I have to start with the "hate" before I go into the "love". After a year and a few months into the aid with T-Mobile, like all cell phone providers, I ultimately had to call customer aid to dispute charges. To put it simply, a complete nightmare. I won't go into the specifics of the dispute, but the way T-Mobile handled the situation from some customer aid reps to a integrate supervisors was the worst 5-hour nightmare. Yes, I was on the phone for 5 hours getting bounced from department to department, having to clarify the dispute over and over again, and had to to take a 1/2 day from work. I started the call at 7:30Am, you do the math. End of the 5 hour nightmare? I ended up paying the full number with no leeway given. Even with the energy drinks, steroid shots, power bars, and the like, I couldn't hold up any longer and they would not budge or give whatever back that was rightfully owed to me. T-Mobile is great at handling uncomplicated customer aid requests like upgrading/downgrading a plan or request uncomplicated questions like, do you think I should add the fave-5 plan? They'll well go straight through your bills and impart your usage and give you great guidance and recommendations, but other than that, they have the worst whole customer aid of the 5 cell phone aid associates when it comes to disputes or whatever to do with questioning T-Mobile and their bills. In another instance of "hate", I was experiencing some dropped calls per day and spotty coverage throughout Illinois (specifically Northern suburbs and Chicago). It was highly frustrating and it got to the point where I called customer aid and canceled without hesitation. But Nick, you say, what about the cancellation fee? That's where the "love" comes in, apparently when I signed up for the house plan, we were never obligated to a contract. So all this time, I idea I was under covenant and I could've switched at anytime. The calculate why T-Mobile barely outranks Sprint Nextel and Us Cellular is because of their flexibility and options in their plans, cheapest plan options, great phone selection, although still limited, and more consistent coverage than the last two associates with very good signals in populated areas compared to the two.
2. At&T
Pros:
* Consistent coverage and reception - End the gap with Verizon Wireless
* Wide selection of phones - arguably the best selection thanks to the Apple iPhone
* whole good customer aid that helps you and/or resolves issues
* Internet is fast and reliable
* Out of all the phone company mergers, At&T/Cingular was the biggest improvement
* Rollover minutes is an highly useful feature/benefit that no other company offers - this is acceptable on all plans
Cons:
* Dropped calls is hit or miss
* customer aid is well a joy when you are a customer or activating lines/transferring numbers, etc, etc, however, once you come to be a customer, they are helpful, but they get impatient
* Ever since the merger, extra services/add-ons have increased (compared to just Cingular), which leads to costs piling up quickly
Personal experience: As a current customer of At&T Wireless, I am satisfied. At&T Wireless has had the biggest improvements of all the mergers. Their customer aid is still lacking compared to Verizon especially once you come to be a customer, but I have noticed improvements since the merger. Their phone selection is arguably the best. The coverage and reception has been consistent in all the areas I've been to. Although I rarely touch dropped calls, this seems to be a hit or miss issue with others. The one thing that well stands out from the rest of the associates is the rollover minutes. This has saved me lots of money in the long run because a plan I used to have with the other carriers allows me to downgrade due to the extra minutes thus rescue me money.
1. Verizon Wireless
Pros:
* Widest variety of plans and options ready than any other cell phone company
* Consistent coverage and reception - carefully the best, but At&T is End the gap
* Wide selection of phones
* customer aid is the most consistent of all the cell phone associates although there are clear hit or miss days
Cons:
* Need to keep an eye on your monthly bills - mysterious charges showing up on bills
* customer aid is hit or miss, some days you get great, no, highly great service, other days you want to reach into your phone and do bad things
* Add-ons can pile up swiftly especially the data plans for smartphones
* Most costly of the 5 cell phone associates (factoring in phones, plans, add-ons, deposit, etc)
* Blocks clear features on your phone, ex: transferring photos to/from your phone requires buy of software and clear bluetooth features
* If upgrading/downgrading plan, they will increase covenant for another 2 years
Personal experience: I have not experienced the "new Verzion" with Alltel, but as much as I hate to admit (being a current and satisfied At&T customer), Verizon Wireless is the most consistent from customer aid to coverage and reception and down to phone selection. One shining customer aid occasion was when I accidentally dropped my phone in a puddle of water wholly ruining my phone. I did not have insurance, as a matter of fact, I never buy guarnatee on phones, but after an hour or two of sweet talking, they not only replaced the phone, but rushed the order to me free of payment with next day delivery. An example of a bad customer aid is refusing to budge on mysterious charges (over .00) worth that they said would be removed, but never did. I ended up changing services because of this dispute. It took over one year until a variety department contacted me out-of-the-blue saying I still owed .00 and as one can imagine, my reputation score dropped like a ton of bricks.
There you have it, our list of the Top 5 Best Cell Phone aid Companies. We would love to hear your thoughts so feel free to annotation on this list. Ridicule us, praise us, hate us, love us for our list. Got topics/categories you'd like topped? Give us a shout straight through the comments or touch us.
Top 5 - Best Cell Phone clubs reveal
