Our Top 5 list of Best Cell Phone assistance Providers come from user feedback spreading complicated forums and websites and from personal experience. Nick has been a customer of 4 of the 5 major cell phone assistance providers (exception being Us Cellular) pre- and post-merger of these clubs (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 create a review, but various reasons came into play - lively to college and assistance had no reception in that area, assistance reception just sucked, bad customer service, among many other reasons. Nick has used all 4 of the clubs as both his cell and home phone. The areas that Nick has tried these cell phone clubs are: California (mainly colse to San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties), Oregon, Illinois (including Chicago and suburbs), Indiana (in and colse to Indianapolis, West Lafayette, Bloomington, and South Bend), Minnesota, Georgia (only colse to Atlanta), and Rhode Island. Nick for real understands the tasteless complaints and praises. These are our Top 5 - Best Cell Phone assistance Companies. Ridicule us, praise us, hate us, love us for our list.
Please note that there will all the time be exceptions to personel experiences.
Htc Sprint
We understand the needs of any one personel or family will differ. This is a quick summary of the costs of the 5 cell phone providers. In terms of the price of personel plans, the personel 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 selecting 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 slight plans on distinct "minute" levels than the other 4, but on a per-minute cost, T-Mobile is the cheapest of all nationwide personel and family plans. All other clubs are exactly the same in regards to the basic plan, not the plans with added features. The suspect why some cell phone assistance 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 assistance companies
* Free minutes on incoming calls
* 1-year covenant as opposed to the approved 2-year covenant (you settle if requiring any covenant 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 enormous 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 assistance has dropped off as they try to be helpful - the end corollary should be good news for the customer, not a moot point for customer service
Personal experience: Sprint has all the time had a slight selection of phones, which to me, for real 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 definite functions remained the same). The phone selection is slight and in many cases seem outdated. From my contact with customer service, Sprint (Nextel) was for real #1 on my list pre-merger in 2005, but it has dropped since then. The customer assistance pre-merger was exquisite - consistent bills from month to month, toll on bogus charges I disputed, and free "loyalty program offers" such as free internet for 6 months. Since the merger in 2005, the customer assistance 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 assistance will stay consistent for the most part. There is nothing about the cost or the types of plans of Sprint Nextel that for real stands out with the exception being international plans. Also that, the plans offer the usual variety and benefits to meet your need.
4 (4a). Us Cellular
Pros:
* Good customer service
* exquisite 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 slight phone selection; stamina of phones offered a concern
* Beware of hidden costs
* Add-ons such as unlimited texting, downloading, etc can add up quickly
* Limited/outdated phone selection
* If downgrading plan, be for real sure of your slight 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 slight selection and stamina of the phones. The personel and family nationwide assistance 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 voyage frequently, then choose someone else cell phone assistance 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 personel and basic family plans out of the 5 cell phone assistance providers
* myFaves add-on is favorite and useful
* 1-year covenant as opposed to the approved 2-year covenant (you settle if requiring any covenant 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)
* exquisite reception in definite populated cities
* Ease of upgrading/downgrading plans - a breeze with great guidance and recommendations from customer service, but...
Cons:
* Poor customer assistance (especially disputes) - worst of the 5 cell phone assistance providers
* slight 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 assistance with T-Mobile, like all cell phone providers, I ultimately had to call customer assistance to dispute charges. To put it simply, a unblemished nightmare. I won't go into the specifics of the dispute, but the way T-Mobile handled the situation from several customer assistance reps to a incorporate supervisors was the worst 5-hour nightmare. Yes, I was on the phone for 5 hours getting bounced from department to department, having to account for 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 whole with no leeway given. Even with the energy drinks, steroid shots, power bars, and the like, I couldn't hold up any longer and they would not budge or give anyone back that was rightfully owed to me. T-Mobile is great at handling straightforward customer assistance requests like upgrading/downgrading a plan or request straightforward questions like, do you think I should add the fave-5 plan? They'll for real go straight through your bills and enumerate your usage and give you great guidance and recommendations, but other than that, they have the worst full, customer assistance of the 5 cell phone assistance clubs when it comes to disputes or anyone to do with questioning T-Mobile and their bills. In someone else instance of "hate", I was experiencing several dropped calls per day and spotty coverage throughout Illinois (specifically Northern suburbs and Chicago). It was extremely frustrating and it got to the point where I called customer assistance 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 plan I was under covenant 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, better phone selection, although still limited, and more consistent coverage than the last two clubs 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 selection of phones - arguably the best selection thanks to the Apple iPhone
* full, good customer assistance that helps you and/or resolves issues
* Internet is fast and reliable
* Out of all the phone company mergers, At&T/Cingular was the biggest improvement
* Rollover minutes is an extremely beneficial feature/benefit that no other company offers - this is approved on all plans
Cons:
* Dropped calls is hit or miss
* customer assistance is for real a joy when you are a customer or activating lines/transferring numbers, etc, etc, however, once you come to be 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 assistance is still lacking compared to Verizon especially once you come to be a customer, but I have noticed improvements since the merger. Their phone selection 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 for real stands out from the rest of the clubs 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 variety 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 selection of phones
* customer assistance is the most consistent of all the cell phone clubs although there are definite hit or miss days
Cons:
* Need to keep an eye on your monthly bills - mysterious charges showing up on bills
* customer assistance is hit or miss, some days you get great, no, extremely great service, other days you want to reach into your phone and do bad things
* Add-ons can pile up speedily especially the data plans for smartphones
* Most high-priced of the 5 cell phone clubs (factoring in phones, plans, add-ons, deposit, etc)
* Blocks definite features on your phone, ex: transferring photos to/from your phone requires purchase of software and definite bluetooth features
* If upgrading/downgrading plan, they will increase covenant for someone else 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 assistance to coverage and reception and down to phone selection. One shining customer assistance occasion was when I accidentally dropped my phone in a puddle of water wholly ruining my phone. I did not have insurance, as a matter of fact, I never purchase assurance on phones, but after an hour or two of sweet talking, they not only substituted the phone, but rushed the order to me free of payment with next day delivery. An example of a bad customer assistance 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 variety 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 assistance Companies. We would love to hear your thoughts so feel free to commentary 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.
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