[Five]

I'm getting ready to switch carriers, and I need to know which carrier has the best plans for a BB? On its face, USC has much better prices per minute and on unlimited BB plans as well as for the device itself.

Why should I consider Sprint? I need to know some real experiences with BB users on both of these networks.

I wasn't sure where to put this thread since it's about both carriers, hopefully this is okay.

Thanks!

[jenaywins]

Sprint's network is definitely stronger than US Cellular's. They have far more nationwide coverage, hence the slightly higher prices. US Cellular, IMHO, is a sub-par carrier at best. Sprint features the Simply Everything Plan, which seems to suit quite a few people I know. For a hundred bones a month, you get unlimited EVERYTHING - voice, text, data, etc. I don't see how you could go wrong with that.

[MadCatUSA]

Exactly what Jena said... USC has great coverage, *where they have coverage*, but Sprint has great coverage nationwide. Problem w/ USC is once you get out of their coverage area, what will you do? What are their roaming rates like? Sprints new plans include unlimited nationwide roaming, something to consider as well.

[tpurdin]

Sprint's billing is not very trustworthy. Every month they seem to over charge me between 30 and 60 dollars, however I call in every month and the customer service is willing to help and always resolves the problem. Also with sprint Unlike verizon or other companies Sprint gives you free navigation and sprint tv which some of the other carriers charges extra for those features. I use my navigation alot so this saves me money. As the above posters have said sprint has a better coverage area and sprint gives you a unlimited plan for 100 bucks a month. You have to be on a blackberry plan which i believe is 39.99 a month which gives you unlimited data and unlimited text then you can choose your voice plan which may or may not be a cheaper option depending on how many minutes you choose. For the price and few extra options you get with sprint and coverage area this would probably be your best bet.

[jenaywins]

Sprint's billing is not very trustworthy. Every month they seem to over charge me between 30 and 60 dollars, however I call in every month and the customer service is willing to help and always resolves the problem.

This is a specific issue you personally are having, so I wouldn't think it would be fair to automatically label Sprint's billing as untrustworthy for everyone. Your circumstances are obviously going to differ from the OP's. That being said, please also keep in mind that Sprint disables MMS services, which does tend to irritate their customers.

[cadmonkey]

I have sprint simply everything and I love it. But I had many problems dealing with Sprint CS just to get my BB in the first place. They corrected this with a few credits back to my account which resulted in getting a free Curve. IMO Sprint's service is great unless you have to deal with their CS.

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[Five]

Thanks everyone for your feedback so far. I will not be roaming much, so I don't mind the charges when I do roam. I get a 12% discount through my job for Sprint, but not for USC, so that does make it a little more even. I will be getting three lines of service on a shared plan, so the Simply Everything will not be what I will be getting. I suppose you have to get that to get the Sprint TV, huh?

We just need two BBs, one free cheapie phone (for my mom) and great service/customer service. I hear good thins about the EVDO network, but I don't know much about it. Is it comparable to the 3G or the newer 3.5G that will be out soon for GSM? I know the 1X service with USC will be slower, so that is a factor as well.

Thank all!

[tpurdin]

did I say do not get sprint because of their billiing, I was telling my experience with sprint and trying to give the poster insight. It's a joke anymore you can not even post on this site without getting bashed by one ***** or another. I have seen it happen to many people on here. I do not recall saying "sprint will screw up your billing" with my experience they are untrustworthy which would mean to me if i were reading this post, maybe i should go over my bill every month if i choose sprint

[cadmonkey]

I will check my bill every month now after hearing so many people getting overcharged. I have no confidence in Sprint getting anything right after all the hassle I went through just to get a working phone. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!

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[tpurdin]

luckly I have had good experiences with customer service, it's just the billing issue I have had problems with. but we shouldnt talk about our experiences we might be accused of "labeling" sprint with a bad name according to some comments from other posters above. ha ha

[MadCatUSA]

I will be getting three lines of service on a shared plan, so the Simply Everything will not be what I will be getting.

Not so fast... You can get the Simply Everything plan for all three lines for a total of $284.97/mo. You get a discount of $5 off the plan for the second line on the account (MRC of $94.99) and an additional $5 off the third line (MRC of $89.99). Now.. You did say that you get a 12% discount through your work, so the Simply Everything plan may not work for you because you can not apply discounts to the Simply Everything plan. What you may want to ask about is a Talk/Message/Data shared plan. Hope this helps!

Oh, and for the other poster who was saying that you have to pay $39.99 on top of the $99.99 for the Simply Everything plan? Not true. If you have a BlackBerry on the Simply Everything plan, the cost is included w/ the $99.99.

[cadmonkey]

You can also get the "shared" simply everything. That's the plan my girlfriend and I are on. Its $129.99 for 2 lines with everything included but you have 1500 minutes to share. We only use about half that many minutes on average so that plan saves us a bunch of money.

[jmom72]

I have had US Cellular since the late 90's. I love them!! I have NEVER been anywhere that I didn't get service, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. I pay $39.99/mo for 450 minutes (obviously, I don't use my BB for talking a lot), plus I pay $24.99 for the UNLIMITED data plan, which includes email, internet, etc. I have several friends/family members who have US Cellular as well, and everyone loves them. Customer service has been great always. I vote for US Cellular

[Tilton53]

I have been with sprint/nextel for 6 years now and the customer service has always been freindly and helpful. I used nextel for the past 5 years and about 11 months and never had any issue with them besides them being a little over priced. I bought a blackberry curve from sprint online and when I got it called customer service and got it hooked up and my plan changed to everything 450 (unlimited data, text, email with 450 minutes, unlimited minutes on weekends and nights from 7pm to 7am, 70 dollars a month). It took all of about 40 minutes on the phone mostly due to the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere and no cell carrier has prefect coverage at my house. Costomer service was friendly and help set everything, and had no problems. Also I have never had a billing issue with sprint or nextel even after the change over. In they have been more then helpful, had a girl and my brother on my bill for a while. Both at one point in time went over there text limited by about 1000 msgs and sprint allowed me to just switch them over to other text plans for around 10 dollars a month and erase the 400 to 500 dollars in overage charges. Besides the issue of sprint disabling MMS and not allowing unanswered calls to be forwarded to services like YouMail. I would highly recommend them.

On a side note, I have no issue with making calls or texts on my phone or receiving emails, the only problem with setting up is my phone would switch between normal service and EVDO in the middle of provisioning and mess it up. I don't have any problem with the phone during normal use, just the setup was a little painful but sprint by far has the best coverage in my area.

[coolbrett007]

Tmobile is kinda the best of both of those. It has 20 buck a month unlimited data and great coverage. And great deals on rate plans, BlackBerrys and they have great free phones.

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[49ways]

Jenay said it perfectly.
I am thoroughly enjoying my time with Sprint. I love the TV and GPS.

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[49ways]

Tmobile is kinda the best of both of those. It has 20 buck a month unlimited data and great coverage. And great deals on rate plans, BlackBerrys and they have great free phones.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Ummm... the OP never asked about TMobile.

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[tpurdin]

i stand corrected madcat, No i was saying i was not on simply everything plan but I have a 39.99 blackberry plan + voice.

[Five]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I'm leaning toward the Sprint decision. They are actually a little cheaper than USC afterall (with my discount) and they are a little more on the "techy" side--which is what I wanted anyway.

And the reason I'm leaving ATT is the same reason I can't go with Tmobile. GSM signals are teh suck where I live. ATT has more towers than anyone, but the signal is the weakest--go figure. The ATT store told me that TMO piggybacks off their towers, and if that's true, I want nothing to do with them. I will investigate before I rule them out though.

Thanks again all,

[clitrenta]

It really isn't that simple. Which carrier is stronger is totally dependent on where you love. It always is. Where I live, both are good but I'd have to say US Cellular has a better signal. I've tried them both. I think maybe you might want to base it on future technology. Sprint tends to have more cutting edge phones even though USC has better pricing. Choose your posion

[clitrenta]

Oops. I meant "where you live" (not a little mistake) :-)

[49ways]

Oops. I meant "where you live" (not a little mistake) :-)

You can edit your posts if you see a mistake (or delete it if you need to).

[thelazyone]

Did someone say nav is free on sprint? I don't believe it is. Their 3rd party vendor charges 10 bucks a month for their gps app.

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[latina berry]

Sprint's network is definitely stronger than US Cellular's. They have far more nationwide coverage, hence the slightly higher prices. US Cellular, IMHO, is a sub-par carrier at best. Sprint features the Simply Everything Plan, which seems to suit quite a few people I know. For a hundred bones a month, you get unlimited EVERYTHING - voice, text, data, etc. I don't see how you could go wrong with that.

I agree with you.

[49ways]

Did someone say nav is free on sprint? I don't believe it is. Their 3rd party vendor charges 10 bucks a month for their gps app.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

And that's where you're wrong. The Sprint Navigation is built into their Simply Everything Plan. There is no $10 charge - unlimited everything for $99.