Cingular cell phone question - ANSWERED!

[Heights2Bastrop]

Question for you who have Cingular cell phone service:

Have you noticed a rise in the frequency of dropped calls recently? We have. We get disconnected nearly every single time we make a call of any length.

[HoustonMidtown]

Question for you who have Cingular cell phone service:

Have you noticed a rise in the frequency of dropped calls recently? We have. We get disconnected nearly every single time we make a call of any length.

I haven't noticed any increase in dropped calls, I rarely have any at all....

Have you changed phones (or have an old phone)....?

[ricco67]

I believe it also depends on where you're at in the city, especially if you're in a part of town you're not used to that might not get as good of a coverage.

god I hope that sentence makes sense.

[Heights2Bastrop]

GF and I went to the Cingular outlet yesterday. They seem to have fixed the dropped call problem, and the fix was something I was not aware of.

It seems that service updates to the phone are received fairly often. However, for the changes to take effect, the phone needs to be turned off, and then back on. It is like loading a new program on your computer, then having to restart the computer for the program to be properly installed.

I never turn my phone off. But, I will be now.

[Parrothead]

I dunno, but we switched from Cingular to Verizon recently and have never been happier! I can actually talk to my husband at work, which is something we could never do with our Cingular phones.

[MidtownCoog]

I never drop a call with Cingular. OK, maybe on the 40th floor in a inside conference room, but that's about it.

And Cingular is now AT&T.

[Subdude]

In the past Verizon was widely reported as having the best overall network, fewest dropped calls etc, but I think now there is less difference than there used to be. I'm no expert on it, but I think a lot will always depend on the signal strength where you happen to be calling. The only place I seem to have a consistent problem with Verizon is at home, which is frustrating.

[editor]

The problem with the claims that the cell phone companies make about "fewest dropped calls" and "better overall coverage" is the fine print at the bottom of the screen.

The claims are made based on studies done by national surveying companies like J.D. Power and others. But those companies don't include ALL cell phone companies in their studies -- only the big national carriers. Usually that means Cingular/AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. Sometimes, they don't even include T-Mobile in their studies.

The problem arises when you have good regional carriers. Like Alltell in the Southeast, U.S. Cellular in the Midwest, Qwest in the Plains, Cincinnati Bell in Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana, etc... Those companies concentrate on their core, so they have excellent coverage in their home regions. In addition, they have roaming agreements with hundreds of cell phone companies across the country for when you go outside your home area. Technology permitting, those agreements tend to be with the best carrier in the region.

For example, there is no better cell phone coverage in Cincinnati than with Cincinnati Bell. But if you travel to New York, you roam on Verizon, which is New York's hometown carrier, and provides the best service in that region. So, in effect, by going with the smaller phone company you have the potential of getting better coverage wherever you go.

Last Summer one of the surveys (I think from Consumer Reports) came out and actually included many of the smaller companies. The results were that U.S. Cellular had the best service in the nation. Two weeks later, Verizon has a TV commercial out citing the same survey and touting, "the best nationwide service." Not entirely inaccurate, but the key word there is "nationwide." They ignored the fact that they came in third behind two regional carriers and made up for it by sticking the word "nationwide" in their claim.

Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile would love for people in America to think that there are only four choices out there. But there are many. The best thing to do when you're considering cell service is to do a two-week or 30-day trial with several carriers and see which one works best in your particular area. If a carrier doesn't offer a trial period, then cross them off the list as they don't believe enough in their product to let you try it without penalty. What does that say about the business relationship?

Another idea -- call their customer service lines at different times of the day and see how long it takes for you to get through and how the call is handled.

[technoevil]

I have Cingular and I have not had many problems recently. Every once in a while I will get a droped call or network busy message but if I wait 1-2 seconds and try again it goes thru.

[Guest Marty]

Has anybody ever used one of these ?Wilson 3 watt Cell Amp

[editor]

I had an external cell phone antenna like that when I used to drive across the country a lot in the very early 1990's when cell phones were still pretty rare (and all analog). It worked very well. Plug one end into the phone, plop the magnetic antenna on the roof of my truck and I got reception in places I didn't think possible.