Our Top 5 list of Best Cell Phone aid Providers come from user feedback spreading manifold 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 fellowships (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 generate a review, but discrete reasons came into play - curious 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 fellowships as both his cell and home phone. The areas that Nick has tried these cell phone fellowships are: California (mainly around San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties), Oregon, Illinois (including Chicago and suburbs), Indiana (in and around Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Bloomington, and South Bend), Minnesota, Georgia (only around Atlanta), and Rhode Island. Nick actually 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.
Please note that there will all the time be exceptions to individual experiences.
We understand the needs of any one individual or family will differ. This is a quick summary 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 exception being T-Mobile. Us Cellular is by far the cheapest if choosing their "widearea" plan, which only caters to the 25-26 states that they cover. In terms of the price of basic family plans, the basic family 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 exception being T-Mobile. T-Mobile sells their family tiny plans on distinct "minute" levels than the other 4, but on a per-minute cost, T-Mobile is the cheapest of all nationwide individual and family plans. All other fellowships are exactly the same in regards to the basic plan, not the plans with added features. The suspect why some cell phone aid providers are more "expensive" is because of the cost of adding these further options/features.
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 compact as opposed to the approved 2-year compact (you determine if requiring any compact is a pro)
* Strong business-friendly features - 1st mover in walkie-talkie technology - a surprisingly beneficial function
* Fast internet
Cons:
* No international plans
* Coverage is not as colossal 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 succeed should be good news for the customer, not a moot point for customer service
Personal experience: Sprint has all the time had a tiny option of phones, which to me, actually 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 safe bet functions remained the same). The phone option is tiny and in many cases seem outdated. From my contact with customer service, Sprint (Nextel) was actually #1 on my list pre-merger in 2005, but it has dropped since then. The customer aid pre-merger was excellent - consistent bills from month to month, earnings on bogus charges I disputed, and free "loyalty program 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 actually stands out with the exception being international plans. Besides that, the plans offer the usual range and benefits to meet your need.
4 (4a). Us Cellular
Pros:
* Good customer service
* excellent 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 outside of the 25-26 states that Us Cellular covers
* Very tiny phone selection; durability of phones offered a concern
* Beware of incommunicable costs
* Add-ons such as unlimited texting, downloading, etc can add up quickly
* Limited/outdated phone selection
* If downgrading plan, be actually sure of your tiny usage; they are not helpful in providing advice, but quick to contribute 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 tiny option and durability of the phones. The individual and family nationwide aid plans are exactly the same as the others with the exception being T-Mobile. If you live outside of the 25-26 states that Us Cellular covers or tour frequently, then pick an additional one 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 family plans out of the 5 cell phone aid providers
* myFaves add-on is beloved and useful
* 1-year compact as opposed to the approved 2-year compact (you determine if requiring any compact is a pro)
* Lots of distinct plans and options - most flexible of the 5 cell phone providers and 2nd best gift of plans and options (Verizon is #1 in our opinion)
* excellent reception in safe bet 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
* tiny phone selection, tends to sell outdated and even worse, phones that are no longer in production/discontinued
* Inconsistent signal reception/spotty coverage
* Poor assurance policy
* Slow internet
* Pesky about "too much roaming"
Personal experience: I've had a unique love-hate relationship 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 perfect nightmare. I won't go into the specifics of the dispute, but the way T-Mobile handled the situation from several customer aid reps to a couple 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 amount with no leeway given. Even with the vigor drinks, steroid shots, power bars, and the like, I couldn't hold up any longer and they would not budge or give anything 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 actually go straight through your bills and retell your usage and give you great guidance and recommendations, but other than that, they have the worst widespread customer aid of the 5 cell phone aid fellowships when it comes to disputes or anything to do with questioning T-Mobile and their bills. In an additional one instance of "hate", I was experiencing several dropped calls per day and spotty coverage throughout Illinois (specifically Northern suburbs and Chicago). It was very 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 family plan, we were never obligated to a contract. So all this time, I belief I was under compact and I could've switched at anytime. The suspect 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 fellowships 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 option of phones - arguably the best option thanks to the Apple iPhone
* widespread good customer aid that helps you and/or resolves issues
* Internet is fast and reliable
* Out of all the phone business mergers, At&T/Cingular was the biggest improvement
* Rollover minutes is an very beneficial feature/benefit that no other business offers - this is approved on all plans
Cons:
* Dropped calls is hit or miss
* customer aid is actually a joy when you are a customer or activating lines/transferring numbers, etc, etc, however, once you become 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 become a customer, but I have noticed improvements since the merger. Their phone option is arguably the best. The coverage and reception has been consistent in all the areas I've been to. Although I rarely contact dropped calls, this seems to be a hit or miss issue with others. The one thing that actually stands out from the rest of the fellowships 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 recovery me money.
1. Verizon Wireless
Pros:
* Widest range of plans and options available than any other cell phone company
* Consistent coverage and reception - carefully the best, but At&T is End the gap
* Wide option of phones
* customer aid is the most consistent of all the cell phone fellowships although there are safe bet 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, very 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 high-priced of the 5 cell phone fellowships (factoring in phones, plans, add-ons, deposit, etc)
* Blocks safe bet features on your phone, ex: transferring photos to/from your phone requires buy of software and safe bet bluetooth features
* If upgrading/downgrading plan, they will increase compact for an additional one 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 completely ruining my phone. I did not have insurance, as a matter of fact, I never buy assurance on phones, but after an hour or two of sweet talking, they not only supplanted the phone, but rushed the order to me free of fee 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 range department contacted me out-of-the-blue saying I still owed .00 and as one can imagine, my credit 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 contact us.