How's the coverage?

**surgicalrep** · 01-10-2008, 10:12 AM

Hey folks, frustrated Verizon customer here!

My sales territory covers Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, the western 2/3 of Pennsylvania, and a little of upstate New York. I'm tired of the ongoing rumors of VZW releasing the curve only to see no new BB devices added month after month. Not to mention that VZW consistently has the highest calling plan costs in the industry. My plan is up in March and I'm thinking of rolling the dice and switching. Could any of you in the states listed above give me an idea of the quality of the service coverage? Years ago I had AT&T when I lived in northern NJ; their coverage was so bad there was a class-action lawsuit brought against them. Four years ago, I had Cingular here in Pittsburgh and couldn't use the phone at all in my own home!

If you're in MI, OH, WV, PA and upstate NY, here are my questions for you...

1. Do you honestly think the merger has improved your coverage/signal quality?

2. I'm averaging 2200 minutes per month on my phone. I drop a call maybe three times per month. How often would you say you deal with the same?

3. Does AT&T/Cingular have a total equipment coverage program that will allow you to replace at no cost, a lost or damaged device?

4. What is you overall experience been with customer service?

I really appreciate your time and look forward to your responses.

Best regards,
Rob

**jsanders** · 01-10-2008, 10:19 AM

Hey, the bottom line is you will have to get a device on AT&T and just simply try it.

I went through a similar period moving from TMo after over 11 years. I was worried AT&T did not have the same or better coverage, so I bought the extra device and activated on AT&T to test along side my TMo service.

Still though, some user-input from those areas will be useful to you, your actual use where you live work and play will be the ideal way to tell.

**surgicalrep** · 01-10-2008, 10:25 AM

"I went through a similar period moving from TMo after over 11 years. I was worried AT&T did not have the same or better coverage, so I bought the extra device and activated on AT&T to test along side my TMo service."

How did that work for you? Are you still with TMo or did you switch?

"Still though, some user-input from those areas will be useful to you, your actual use where you live work and play will be the ideal way to tell"

That's what I was thinking too...

Hey, thanks for the reply. One more question, let's say I purchase a device for a side-by-side comparison. How long do you have to return the device to AT&T and cancel the contract if I find the coverage isn't what I need it to be?

Thanks again.
Rob

**Click** · 01-10-2008, 10:25 AM

I'm going to sum 1-4 up for you, I work for att in cs. I have both services, vzw for personal, att for work. I will NEVER get rid of my vzw because my vzw has 100% better covrage in my surrounding area the att could dream of having. I've never had a problem with vzw, I would do what jsanders says, get the crimsion curve(that's the one I like) and try it out! Then make your choice then! Plus it totally makes you look cool when you carry 2 bbs!!! Lol

Click

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

**surgicalrep** · 01-10-2008, 10:30 AM

"I will NEVER get rid of my vzw because my vzw has 100% better covrage in my surrounding area the att could dream of having. I've never had a problem with vzw"

That's what I was afraid of. Thanks for the honest input.

**jsanders** · 01-10-2008, 10:30 AM

two on the hip, hey, lol really really cool!

You can do it for I think, two weeks, on AT&T and return it no questions asked. It could be 30 days, I don't recall.

I just ported all my data from the TMo BB over to the AT&T BB, so I had it on both. I set my AT&T BIS account to push emails from my pop accounts as well, so I was receiving the email on both devices (and there was rarely more than 30 seconds difference in delivery times). I did this all summer, 3 months. I moved on over to AT&T and never looked back. TMo is a better $$ deal, but I had been a customer of TMo for over 11 years and they were treating me like a leper and with no respect as a valued customer, so I tossed them.

**Click** · 01-10-2008, 10:49 AM

Yes sir, 30 days! I mean the one thing I love about ATT is that it does have the sim card and I can swap BBs at will! I have a couple of berrys that I use, so its kinda nice!

Click

**LilUnique** · 01-10-2008, 10:55 AM

AT&T does allow you to test the phone for 30 days, and if you don't like it then you can return it. Also, their phones automatically come with a one year warranty whether you have insurance or not. So if something happens to the phone, whether it be the hardware or the SIM card, they'll replace it for free.

**cronaldo** · 01-12-2008, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by surgicalrep

1. Do you honestly think the merger has improved your coverage/signal quality?

2. I'm averaging 2200 minutes per month on my phone. I drop a call maybe three times per month. How often would you say you deal with the same?

3. Does AT&T/Cingular have a total equipment coverage program that will allow you to replace at no cost, a lost or damaged device?

4. What is you overall experience been with customer service?

Ok surgicalrep the answers to your questions are as follows
1. The merger did not improve coverage/signal at all but Cingular has awesome service I was recently thinking of switching of AT&T due to personal issues but no other carrier offered me the coverage that AT&T did (not even Verizon)
2. I average about 1,500 minutes a mouth and I have drop maybe 1 call or 2 calls a month.
3. AT&T does not offer insurance for PDA/Smart Phones so if you break/lose/damage the phone get ready to dish out some $$$ for a new one.
4. My experience with customer service has been positive, but they always depends on the rep that you get and the call center that they transfer you to.
If you any specific questions about AT&T you can PM me since I'm a dealer for them. Hope this helped

**surgicalrep** · 01-12-2008, 12:55 PM

1. The merger did not improve coverage/signal at all but Cingular has awesome service I was recently thinking of switching of AT&T due to personal issues but no other carrier offered me the coverage that AT&T did (not even Verizon)

- What area are you in? You're the first person to tell me that AT&T has better signal coverage than Verizon. I hope you're right.

2. I average about 1,500 minutes a mouth and I have drop maybe 1 call or 2 calls a month.

- That's about the same (a good thing) as I have now.

3. AT&T does not offer insurance for PDA/Smart Phones so if you break/lose/damage the phone get ready to dish out some $$$ for a new one.

- That's not a good thing! I'm on my third 8703e. My three year old has tried to see if Blackberrys (or would that be Blackberries?) could swim in toilets and fly out of third story windows. Needless to say, the total equipment coverage from VZW has paid for itself for me already.

4. My experience with customer service has been positive, but they always depends on the rep that you get and the call center that they transfer you to.

- Yep, that seems to be consistent with all carriers.

If you any specific questions about AT&T you can PM me since I'm a dealer for them. Hope this helped

- Thanks so much for the honest responses. They have helped. Shoot me a PIN if you're close to Pittsburgh. When I make my decision, I'll sign up there.

Take care and thanks again.

Best regards,
Rob

**cronaldo** · 01-12-2008, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by surgicalrep

1. The merger did not improve coverage/signal at all but Cingular has awesome service I was recently thinking of switching of AT&T due to personal issues but no other carrier offered me the coverage that AT&T did (not even Verizon)

- What area are you in? You're the first person to tell me that AT&T has better signal coverage than Verizon. I hope you're right.

2. I average about 1,500 minutes a mouth and I have drop maybe 1 call or 2 calls a month.

- That's about the same (a good thing) as I have now.

3. AT&T does not offer insurance for PDA/Smart Phones so if you break/lose/damage the phone get ready to dish out some $$$ for a new one.

- That's not a good thing! I'm on my third 8703e. My three year old has tried to see if Blackberrys (or would that be Blackberries?) could swim in toilets and fly out of third story windows. Needless to say, the total equipment coverage from VZW has paid for itself for me already.

4. My experience with customer service has been positive, but they always depends on the rep that you get and the call center that they transfer you to.

- Yep, that seems to be consistent with all carriers.

If you any specific questions about AT&T you can PM me since I'm a dealer for them. Hope this helped

- Thanks so much for the honest responses. They have helped. Shoot me a PIN if you're close to Pittsburgh. When I make my decision, I'll sign up there.

Take care and thanks again.

Best regards,
Rob

I'm in NY and at my house Verizon does not even get signal although there coverage maps says that they do get signal and AT&T gets full signal. As for the insurance I'm not sure what to tell you because T-Mobile has insurance but they have horrible coverage; Sprint also has insurance but they do not differ in devices from Verizon. I would say if you want to go to AT&T then you will have to keep a closer watch on the BB, but still if you have any questions about Sprint of AT&T just shoot me a PM cause I am actually a dealer for both. Also Rob I can't send you my PIN since my BB is actually on it's way I just upgraded to a Curve but when it gets here I'll be sure to send it too you

**Sunshyn** · 01-12-2008, 04:27 PM

We'll be going with AT&T when we get our new BBs because my husband swears it's the only carrier who has consistent coverage throughout CT. He drives all over the state for work.

I was concerned about the lack of insurance with AT&T so I looked into 3rd party coverage. I've read good reports about Safeware.com and was happy with their customer service response to my questions. We're probably going to purchase insurance with them.

**surgicalrep** · 01-14-2008, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by Sunshyn

We'll be going with AT&T when we get our new BBs because my husband swears it's the only carrier who has consistent coverage throughout CT. He drives all over the state for work.

I was concerned about the lack of insurance with AT&T so I looked into 3rd party coverage. I've read good reports about Safeware.com and was happy with their customer service response to my questions. We're probably going to purchase insurance with them.

EXCELLENT! Thanks, I'll check this out as an option for coverage.

**surgicalrep** · 01-14-2008, 10:30 PM

"I just upgraded to a Curve but when it gets here I'll be sure to send it too you"

You just stuck a knife in the back of another VZW customer!

**cronaldo** · 01-15-2008, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by surgicalrep

"I just upgraded to a Curve but when it gets here I'll be sure to send it too you"

You just stuck a knife in the back of another VZW customer!

Why is that? I had just upgraded to an unlocked 8320 from a 8300 I'm not sure how that is sticking a knife in your back?? Anyway I had upgraded due to the fact that I had dropped my 8300 in the toilet and it was unusable so I didn't have a Blackberry for about a week.

**djbigben10** · 01-15-2008, 11:48 PM

Hey i switched from sprint to att the coverage was great but i got so annoyed with all the buzzing sound in the background of their voice network its the worst static non clear voice network. sothen i switched to t.mo and the coverage isnt the best but money wise for it all its worth it and has a clear voice network so i dont have to roll up the windows when im talkin on the passenger side lol !

and i dont have to turn down the t.v or radio.

**tp_cracker** · 01-16-2008, 08:36 AM

I have at&t and never have noticed a buzzing sound before. I switched from Nextel and at&t has 100% better coverage and seems clearer to me.

**wulfjr** · 01-17-2008, 09:57 AM

I have had ATT(CIngular) for about 10yrs and i live in NC. I have been to chicago, NY, Atlanta, houston, VA and Cali. Since they merged i havent REALLY traveled much. But i havent had any issues that make me want to leave. I'm on my first BB (Curve) and i luv it. I was gonna get an iPhone but pfffft BB rocks. Anyway the only place i had issues a few YRS ago was in VA (Va Beach mainly) I didnt get a signal and i couldnt understand why when Cingular had just started offering service there... Maybe it was tdma but i honestly dont know. Now i did go to Williamsburg last may and i had service the entire time i was in that area. Customer service wise i can really remember any bad experiences. Like dude says it does depend on who u get. One nice thing is they type in ur account notes any issues u have and why u are calling. And the reps will go and look at the most recent notes. Best thing i would say is do the 30 day thing and see which is better. Insurance tho idk maybe if u use a major CC u can use their insurance?