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CLEAR WIRELESS
CRICKET FARMERS MUTUAL TELEPHONE COMPANY
NEXTEL
SNAKE RIVER PCS |
SPRINT
Sprint has a national, feature-rich digital
network. Their coverage is a little "fragile",
but where it's good, it's very good. Sprint
has a good selection of phones. Their plans
include the ability to roam in many systems
when away from their own coverage, as well
as any National plan. They offer an inexpensive
"basic" plan for only $30 per month.
They also offer a few Unlimited plans with
lots of features included. Sprint has added
service by taking over parts of some carriers'
networks, and "sharing" spectrum
with others. Sprint merged with Nextel which has created some beneficial network
configurations, including sharing of cell
sites. Sprint phones normally prefer the
network which, where available, gives Sprint
customers the best data throughput. Some
Sprint phones have the ability to force the
phone to "Roam Only", helping you
use the strongest network, however there
is a limit to how much roaming you can do,
generally 50%. Also, newer phones lack that
feature. Sprint does not offer their own
branded prepaid service but owns Boost Mobile
and Virgin Mobile prepaid. Pros: Sprint gives you good value for your
money, but is not necessarily the cheapest.
Sprint covers every urban area in the US,
maintains local stores, good roaming capabilities,
their digital and data features work very
well, they have a good selection of phones.
Sprint has good roaming agreements. Cons:
You might find a weak area right where you
want coverage, some of their plans are not
very competitive, customer service is a notch below average.
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More Sprint Pros & Cons
T-MOBILE
T-Mobile works very well within their service
area. While they have a slight disadvantage
with their higher PCS frequency, they make
up for it with strategically-located sites.
T-Mobile doesn't serve many rural areas,
but provides coverage along most interstates.
They offer roaming in rural areas, and the
network is still growing, although often
they're just 'filling in'. They offer some
handy features like "My-Favs" which
includes Unlimited calling to your choice
of five numbers, regardless of network, "Kid
Connect" which helps you limit the amount
of charges your kids can rack up, and an
Unlimited "Hot Spot" plan using
your home wi-fi connection. They have plans
that include unlimited voice and messaging.
Pros: Generous included-minute plans, National
and Regional plans, "Unlimited" calling plan available, good urban coverage, good choice of phones,
good pre-paid plans, good roaming capabilities,
including internationally. Good customer
service. Cons: Some weak spots, limited data
bandwidth, high international roaming charges.
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TRACFONE
Tracfone isn't an actual cellular carrier
but is a major supplier of cellular phones
and service. They are the largest prepaid
wireless company and arrange for their phones
to use whichever wireless carrier is available
in a given geographic area. As a result,
Tracfone actually has more included roaming
coverage available than perhaps any other
single company. They offer price points that
start as low as $8.33 a month and offer all
the advantages of prepaid services. They
offer several promotions with bonus minutes,
and offer plans with 365-day expiration.
Their service is mostly limited to Voice
and Text but does support data use of their
web-capable phones. While their plans are
Prepaid, they offer the option of having
the fees deducted from your account automatically,
eliminating the need to renew on an exact
expiration date. TracFone offers Free international
calls to 60 countries by calling a special
number, and with their International Neighbors
features, can provide a local number in Mexico
or Canada for incoming calls from those countries
at Local rates for both callers. Tracfone
offers additional plan options through NET10, and Unlimited plans with
STRAIGHT TALK. Pros: Coverage and Local service, available
virtually everywhere in the US, good price
plans, no roaming or long distance charges,
Local numbers in all markets, included Long
Distance calling to 60 countries. Cons: You
must use their own branded phones, no smart phones, coverage is determined by the phone model
(CDMA or GSM) which may limit your roaming
coverage.
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US CELLULAR
US Cellular is a good company that offers
good coverage, good plans and lots of features,
and a good selection of CDMA phones. Unlimited
incoming calls are available on most plans.
In some plans, Nights & Weekends begin
at 7pm, others start at 9pm. They offer a
large selection of phones including Smart
phones. They have fairly good roaming capabilities.
They have a $20/100 minute "Piece of
Mind Plan." In Chicago they use 1900
MHz frequencies which has more dead spots.
They have a number of customer-friendly features
like usage notifications and free battery
swaps.
Pros: Their price plans are competitive,
and they offer National and Regional plans,
"Unlimited" calling plan available,
good customer service, National plans appear
to be all-inclusive and roaming has good
coverage, mostly with Verizon Wireless. Cons:
Mobile to Mobile minutes are extra on lower-tier
plans, Unlimited Nights & Weekends have
confusing start times.
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VERIZON WIRELESS
Verizon is the largest cellular carrier in
the US. They have taken over a large portion
of the Alltel network and are now dominant in rural America.
Cellular service in a few of Alltel's local markets are being sold to other companies, but no
Verizon coverage will be lost. Their claim
to fame is superior coverage, especially
in the west. They use PCS frequencies only
in a few areas, but they have constructed
those networks well. In the few places where they don't have their
own coverage, they have roaming agreements
with other carriers, normally ones with superior
coverage. Therefore, their "National"
plans, which include almost all of the country,
are about as close to "wall-to-wall"
as you can get. Their reasonably-priced plans
have no roaming or long distance charges,
and they also throw in Unlimited Night and
Weekend minutes as well as Unlimited calls
among Verizon Wireless users both on and
off their own network (there are a few exceptions).
They offer fairly competitive prices, and
often have promotions. They also offer plans
that include Unlimited Voice and other features
at various fixed price levels. Data service
is excellent with various price plans. Verizon
forces their phone manufacturers to offer
a "standardized" user interface,
limiting menu and font variations. This could
mean the screen appearance may not be to
your liking or the fonts may be too small.
Smart and data-type phones require a per-Mb
plan. They have the largest area of 3G coverage in the US.
Pros: Verizon has reasonably-priced plans,
"Unlimited" calling plans available,
extensive coverage, wide-ranging National
plans, excellent customer service and 'customer-friendly'
policies. With such a large coverage area
of their own little roaming is necessary,
but their roaming partners normally have
superior coverage. Cons: Some Verizon plans
are a little more expensive, Customer Service
closes at 11pm, but technical assistance
is available 24/7, there are some billing
transition concerns as they take over other
carriers, they don't offer as many "cute"
phones, they 'cripple' some User Interface
functions like larger fonts: make sure you
can read their submenus before buying. Some
of their data services are not available
while roaming.
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