In recent years, cell phone usage has sky rocketed. Consumer reviews and tech columnists have devoted volumes to the subject of which phone to choose. The loyal followers of the iPhone, the Blackberry, the Palm, the Sidekick, ect, have engaged in fiery online debates over which one is better.
Relatively little has been written, however, on comparing cell phone carriers. To a considerable extent, a cell phone is only as good as the carrier that provides the signal. We’ll see here that evaluating carriers and their monthly plans is every bit as involved as reviewing the cell phones they run on.
J.D.Power and Associates have reported that the quality of *all* cell phone services has become so consistently high across the board that there was no longer a reason to even own a “land line” anymore. Paradoxically, ask any of your friends about cell phone reception horror stories and they’ll have plenty of fireside tales to tell you. J.D. Power and Associates also asserts that call carrier customers who did not have their complaints resolved by customer service were six times more likely to switch carriers. And in fact, this happens all the time. If one isn’t satisfied with one’s cell phone, it’s easy enough to get another one. But dropping a cell phone carrier is another matter. The advent of phone carrier contracts with cancellation penalty fees has largely come about to combat cell phone carrier dissatisfaction. Even the advent of 3G Networks, which was announced with great fanfare, still has not quelled a considerable percentage of cell phone customers that are not happy with their carriers. According to comScore Networks, one in four cell phone customers are not satisfied with their wireless carrier. With such an astonishingly large statistic, it’s clear that cell phone signal technology is still in its adolescence. Keeping this in mind, let’s now compare carriers.
According to comScore, Verizon Wireless has consistently been rated the best carrier in terms of coverage and customer service. Overall, only six percent of customers break their service contract.
AT&T/Cingular come in second, just behind Verizon. Alltel’s customer service contract breakers are more numerous, coming in at 9 percent, while Sprint/Nextel have an even higher dissatisfaction rating at 11 percent. At the bottom of the heap is T-Mobile, with 15% of customers wanting to break out of contract obligations.
But there might be more to this than meets the eye. The above comScore survey is not location specific and uses the percentage of customers breaking the service contract as the litmus test for popularity. A J.D. Power and Associates survey does indeed confirm Verizon as the leader, but mentions that this is particularly true in the Northeast, where Verizon’s coverage is the strongest. T-Mobile, with the lowest rating in the comScore survey, actually ranked first in the Southwest, according to J.D. Power. Moreover, Verizon also ranks lower in terms of the phones that run its service, which tend to use CDMA technology rather than GSM. As a result, Verizon phones tend to not accept SIM cards (Subscriber Identity Modules) which prevents their use when travelling overseas. Verizon’s rates also ranked considerably higher than its rivals, and though its customer service gets high marks, its bills tend to be confusing to read.
J.D. Powers also claims that Sprint has a strong popularity in the Southwest, yet at the same time it concedes that Sprint also ranks lowest in call quality. The latter statistic was also confirmed by a PC Magazine survey. By contrast, PC Magazine ranks T-Mobile as the best carrier in terms of pricing, and second only to Alltel in service plan options. T-Mobile also offers its service on a wide variety of phones and smartphones with GSM/SIM card compatibility enabling international use.
Prepaid cell phones deserve their own category all together. Virgin Mobile won the highest marks, just ahead of TracFone and T-Mobile respectively. Verizon, ATT&T, follow in order of decreasing popularity, with poor Sprint/ Nextel once again at the bottom of the heap.
Oftentimes people let their choice of service providers be determined by what phone they choose. Let me suggest that you might just as easily consider the reverse route; find the best carrier for your needs and chose your phone from there.
Sam Compton
http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/got-signal-choosing-the-best-cell-phone-carrier-895085.html
Someone stopped payment on your reality check.?
100,000 sperm and you were the fastest?
42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
A day without sunshine is like, night.
A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.
A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.
All generalizations are false, including this one.
All men are idiots, and I married their King.
Always remember you’re unique, just like everyone else.
Always try to be modest and be proud of it!
Anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of.
Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity.
Assassins do it from behind.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
Auntie Em, Hate you, hate Kansas, taking the dog. Dorothy.
Be nice to your kids. They’ll choose your nursing home.
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
Beer: It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks
Borrow money from a pessimist, they don’t expect it back.
Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!
C program run. C program crash. C programmer quit.
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
Chocolate: the OTHER major food group.
Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
Corduroy pillows: They’re making headlines!
Could you drive any better if I shoved that cell phone up your ass?
Criminal Lawyer is a redundancy.
Daddy, why doesn’t this magnet pick up this floppy disk?
Death is hereditary.
Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how popular it remains?
Did anyone see my lost carrier?
Diplomacy is the art of saying good doggie while looking for a bigger stick.
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me alone.
Don’t be irreplaceable; if you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
Don’t drink and drive. You might hit a bump and spill your drink.
Don’t piss me off! I’m running out of places to hide the bodies.
Don’t take life too seriously, you won’t get out alive.
Double your drive space. Delete Windows!
Duct tape is like the force, it has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.
Energizer Bunny arrested and charged with battery.
Error, no keyboard. Press F1 to continue.
Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.
Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don’t have film.
Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Few women admit their age. Few men act theirs.
For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism.
For Sale: Parachute. Only used once, never opened, small stain.
Forget world peace. Visualize using your turn signal.
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
Friends may come and go, but enemies tend to accumulate.
Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your mouth is moving.
Genius does what it must, talent does what it can, and you had best do what you’re told.
Get a new car for your spouse; it’ll be a great trade!
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
Good judgment comes from bad experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.
He who laughs last thinks slowest.
Honk if you love peace and quiet.
Honk if you want to see my finger.
How do you tell when you run out of invisible ink?
How does Teflon stick to the pan?
How many of you believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand.
I am not a vegetarian because I love animals. I am a vegetarian because I hate plants.
I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.
I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame you.
I don’t suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
I feel like I’m diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
I get enough exercise just pushing my luck.
I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
I need someone really bad. Are you really bad?
I poured Spot remover on my dog. Now he’s gone.
I took an IQ test and the results were negative.
I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose.
I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not sure.
I used to have a
lol you serious?
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LOL i love these things!
star for you!
: )
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funny have a star
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Sounds like Steven Wright!
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Mind boggling!!Loved every word of it! LOL
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LOL!!!!! ur SO good.
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I used to be a werewolf but I’m al right nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
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Interesting, mind-boggling, reality checks!
Have a star!
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let me guess…u copied frm a book?
coz they r in alphabetical order
any ways, VERY funny…lol;)
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