Cingular coverage in RI - is it any good?

[quente]

So my wife and I are very tempted to buy an iPhone and jump ship from Verizon to Cingular. Problem is my experience with Cingular in the past was horrible - poor coverage, calls dropping all the time, etc. I just checked out a survey in Consumer Reports that rated cell service in the major metropolitan markets (Boston & NYC were the only northeast locations): in all markets, Cingular was ranked dead last or second to dead last in terms of cell phone service.

Assuming we can't resist the temptation, if we buy the phone and switch to Cingular, we will end up with a reliable, state-of-the-art cell phone, or an expensive (but purty!) paper weight?

Thanks.

[runawayjim]

So my wife and I are very tempted to buy an iPhone and jump ship from Verizon to Cingular. Problem is my experience with Cingular in the past was horrible - poor coverage, calls dropping all the time, etc. I just checked out a survey in Consumer Reports that rated cell service in the major metropolitan markets (Boston & NYC were the only northeast locations): in all markets, Cingular was ranked dead last or second to dead last in terms of cell phone service.

Assuming we can't resist the temptation, if we buy the phone and switch to Cingular, we will end up with a reliable, state-of-the-art cell phone, or an expensive (but purty!) paper weight?

Thanks.

[jencoleslaw]

i hated cingular enough that i terminated my contract before it was up and paid the fee just to get out from under them.

I have been pretty happy with Tmobile all over RI on both my cellio and my crackberry (yes, i have both.) Mr CS also have tmobile and is happy. We are kind of bummed how it doesn't cover when we visit our parents in North Carolina and the Ct River Valley (Lyme), but maybe someday they will.

[smcbride11]

I think the service you receive is more a function of the phone than the service. Living in the same area, with four different phones (all on Cingular), I've had alternatively horrific service and spectacular service.

My current phone, a RAZR I got about a year ago, has been stellar. No problems with dropped calls, rarely ever less than full reception. I don't know what the radio on the iPhone is like, but it's something to look into. It's been my experience that the cheap phones have low service quality, but that's not always the case.

[JJK5]

I think the service you receive is more a function of the phone than the service. Living in the same area, with four different phones (all on Cingular), I've had alternatively horrific service and spectacular service.

My current phone, a RAZR I got about a year ago, has been stellar. No problems with dropped calls, rarely ever less than full reception. I don't know what the radio on the iPhone is like, but it's something to look into. It's been my experience that the cheap phones have low service quality, but that's not always the case.

[runawayjim]

It's been my experience that the cheap phones have low service quality, but that's not always the case.

[matt]

that's not always the case (at least not with verizon)... if you read through phone reviews, a lot of times the more expensive and gadgety phones are worse than some of the less expensive more basic phones. much of the reason for that is because they spend too much time worrying about putting gadgets into a phone.

and for what it's worth, the 2 people who just posted about their RAZR phones are the first 2 i've heard have really good things to say about it, most are just mediocre reviews. i've had perfect luck with my LG phones for the past several years.

[dgreco]

I used to have cingular and never had problems really, I had some highway issues sometimes, but never bad. I will say I have tmobile now and the service is amazing, I never lose a call and always have great service, everywhere.

[Frankie811]

What is this that I'm now reading in the newspaper? Cingular is the new AT&T. They've mreged?

[webbage]

Yes, the baby bells are merging back together. Go figure.

[drc72]

One theory on this: LG may be better at making CDMA (the network Verizon uses) phones than they are at GSM phones. Isn't LG from S.Korea? Aka, the only other country other than US and Canada that uses CDMA?

Just a thought. Could be wrong.

[provid]

AT&T was awful.

[JerseyBoy]

While I don't live in New England, I travel up there quite often from Charlotte. I have Cingular and am looking to purchase the iPhone also. Cingular is pretty decent IF you have a good phone as others have mentioned. I don't know how Apple's phone might be in terms of service, but if your with Cingular stick with a Motorola or Nokia phone. I've had 10 phones in the last 2 years (yes I'm a gadget-junkie lol) and I've had a phone from almost every brand Cingular carries like Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and LG. Nokia and Motorola got the best service out of all those brands I mentioned. When I do travel up north I get superb reception with my phone on 95. I've never had a problem with Cingular yet, well....except for customer service.

[quente]

To the orginal poster why don't you just try the 30 day trial period? That should give you enough time to test out the service in the areas you use it most.

[smcbride11]

Didn't know about the 30-day trial! Thanks!\