What mobile phone service provider should I use?

I work in Acton, Massachusetts, USA, and live in the Boston area.  My
needs are fairly average:  I use my phone casually, typically less
than 1000 minutes a month.  I don't need wireless web or other
gadgets.  I occasionally travel on business, perhaps six weeks out of
the year.  Just like anyone, I use the phone the most when I'm
traveling.

I am fed up with my current service provider.  Changing phones or
phone numbers is not a problem.  My priorities are reliability,
responsive customer service, sound quality, and price - in roughly
that order.

Hi jorend,
Thanks for using Google and for such an interesting question.

I've found many sites related to mobile phone service providers in
Boston area, but here are some of the best ones. Take a look on these.
Some of these sites have given a very good comparison of the providers
along with their plans. So, you can choose the best one for you from
these.

Check out this one:
[ http://www.letstalk.com/browse.htm/depId=2/pgId=101/corpId=ALL/zip=02101
]
It has a huge list of all the service providers along with their
plans. I think the $29.99 plan from Cingular Home 250 or Cingular
National 250 suits your requirements. After this, I'll recommend to
try AT&T Digital Advantage $29.99.
I've not recommended Verizon and Sprint PCS because it doesn't fall
into your requirements. You are going to use your mobile occassionally
and these providers are for frequent users.

Here is one more site where you can do a very good comparison and get
the best deal.
[ http://www.epinions.com/elec-Comm-Mobileservice-All-Boston ]

Here is a site which has reviewed AT&T service in Boston area.
[ http://www.epinions.com/content_24974823044 ]

Search terms used:
"mobile phone" service in "Massachusetts"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22mobile+phone%22+service+in+%22Massachusetts%22&btnG=Google+Search

Feel free to ask for any clarifications. And don't forget to rate this
answer.

Regards,
netcrazy

---

Request for Answer Clarification by jorend-ga on 06 Jun 2002 08:25 PDT

I should clarify my question a little.

The sites you've linked are all interesting or useful, but I'm looking
for an answer that makes me confident of my choice.  These sites and
your answer don't quite do that for me.  Let me try to explain why...

You seem to recommend Cingular mainly based on service options and
listed price.  But I don't care about these things.  Please be sure to
address reliability, customer service, sound quality, and *actual*
price.  The first three factors are especially important.  Does any
provider try to sell itself as superior to the competition on these
fronts?  What do Boston consumers think?

Also, is the listed price really what I'm going to pay?  What about
peak vs. off-peak minutes?  And how will my business travel affect the
bill?  Perhaps you need more information about my calling habits to
answer these questions.  If so, feel free to ask - or just assume I'm
an average joe; I won't complain.

The epinions link is interesting, but it leaves all the hard work to
me - no offense.  :)  I could read through a few hundred customer
reviews, but I'd rather see a summary of any trends that seem to stand
out.  If there are no clear trends, is that because the companies just
don't differ much?  Or is it more of a reflection on epinions?

Thanks for your answer!  I hope this helps to explain what I'm looking
for.

---

Clarification of Answer by netcrazy-ga on 06 Jun 2002 14:17 PDT

Hi again.
Correct me if I'm wrong. Basically you want a service provider with
accurate details in terms of pricing, coverage, and many other factors
which we can say "Fine Prints". If this is what you want, then here it
goes.

For Cingular Home 250:

Monthly Rate  $29.99  
One Time Activation Fee  $36.00  
Calling Area  		Local 
Free Long Distance  Y 
Free Incoming Calls  N 
Anytime Minutes  	 250 
Night and/or Weekend Minutes  1000 
Contract Term  	  1 year 
Security Deposit  May apply contingent on credit check and other
carrier considerations
Maximum Cancellation Fee  $150.00 
First Incoming Minute Free  N 
Private Call Minutes  Not Applicable 
Billing Increment  Per minute 
Night and/or Weekend Time Period  9pm to 6:59am Mon to Fri; 9pm Fri to
6:59am Monday
Long Distance Charges Per Minute  None 
Roaming Charges Per Minute  $0.99 
Rate After Included Minutes for Additional Minutes  $0.40 
Directory Assistance  $1.29 plus airtime 
Activation Fee  $36.00 
Contract Term  1 year 
Security Deposit  May apply contingent on credit check and other
carrier considerations
Maximum Cancellation Fee  $150.00 
Customer Service Hours  24 hour customer service 

Cingular Nation 250     

Monthly Rate  $29.99  
One Time Activation Fee  $36.00  
Calling Area  National 
Free Long Distance  Y 
Free Incoming Calls  N 
Anytime Minutes  250 
Night and/or Weekend Minutes  1000 
Night and/or Weekend Time Period  9pm to 7am Mon to Fri; 9pm Fri to
7am Mon
Mobile-to-Mobile Minutes  0 
First Incoming Minute Free  N 
Private Call Minutes  Not Applicable 
Billing Increment  Per minute 
Long Distance Charges Per Minute  None 
Roaming Charges Per Minute  None 
Rate After Included Minutes for Additional Minutes  $0.40 
Directory Assistance  $1.29 plus airtime 
Contract Terms and Fees 
Activation Fee  $36.00 
Contract Term  1 year 
Security Deposit  May apply contingent on credit check and other
carrier considerations
Maximum Cancellation Fee  $150.00 
Customer Service Hours  24 hour customer service 

Summary of both the comparisons is that everything is basically the
same for both the plans except that in the Home plan, you'll paying
roaming charges of $0.99 per min which is not charged in Nation plan.
Both the services have 24 hour customer support and have same amount
of talk time.

Now for AT&T, here is the summary:

Monthly Rate  $29.99  
One Time Activation Fee  $36.00  
Calling Area  		Local 
Free Long Distance  N
Free Incoming Calls  N 
Anytime Minutes  	 200 
Night and/or Weekend Minutes  1000 
Contract Term  	  1 year 
Security Deposit  May apply contingent on credit check and other
carrier considerations
Maximum Cancellation Fee  $175.00 
First Incoming Minute Free  N 
Private Call Minutes  Not Applicable 
Billing Increment  Per minute 
Night and/or Weekend Time Period  9pm to 5:59am Weekdays, Weekend: 9pm
Friday to 5:59am Monday and Holidays
Long Distance Charges Per Minute  $0.20
Roaming Charges Per Minute  $0.69 
Rate After Included Minutes for Additional Minutes  $0.40 ($0.60 in
NY/NJ
Directory Assistance  $0.99 plus airtime 
Activation Fee  $36.00; free with 2-year contract 
Contract Term  1 year 
Security Deposit  May apply contingent on credit check and other
carrier considerations
Maximum Cancellation Fee  $175.00 
Customer Service Hours  24 hour customer service 

So here you'll find that AT&T is costlier than Cingular. It has long
distance charges, romaing is also not free, anytime minutes are less.

Also, you can try this link. [
http://www.letstalk.com/browse.htm/depId=2/pgId=101/corpId=ALL/zip=02101
] Select Cingular, AT&T and Nextel entries(serial number 5, 6, 7, 8
from top) and then click on Compare on the top or on the bottom of the
page.
This will give you a beautiful comparison of all the possible aspects
for these 4 services. It gives price comparison, activation charges,
calling plans, roaming charges, customer service details and many
more.
I hope this time, you'll be able to extract more info from this. I
tried to format this info, but the information is too much for me to
put it on Google.

In terms of the user commments, AT&T is given rating 2.9 while
Cingular is given 2.8. Check this site :  
[http://www.letstalk.com/reviews/reviewlist.htm/depId=2/pgId=101 ]
As far as reviews are concerned, both the service providers are being
rates almost equal with almost the same number of users. In the above
link, you can find the reviews also. If I go by the rating then Nextel
Wireless Plans are having 3.1 rating but then its costly. So, its a
mix n match situation here. But I firmly believe that you should talk
to your friends and get their opinion too about this.

I hope this answers your question. Feel free to ask for
clarifications, if any.
Thanks
netcrazy

The answer neglects sound quality, coverage, and customer service. 
letstalk.com doesn't have user ratings for Acton.  So, I'm a bit
disappointed - and as uncertain as ever about which service to get. 
However, the links were somewhat helpful.

Interesting article from Business Week:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_46/b3757707.htm

Not wanting to take away from the service that google provides here...
but you can also get some pretty good opinions of phone services
through www.epinions.com. I'd use this in addition to the official
information that net-crazy has given you.

You can occasionally find out information there that you wouldn't by
looking at the phone company website. For example most of the phone
companies will tell you that their service covers the whole Metro
Boston area. I can tell you that while Sprint PCS is a great service,
it definitely does not have coverage at the Chestnut Hill green line
station, the Hynes ICA t-stop and directly outside of MIT, the three
places that I want to use it most!

Hey calebu2,
I've already mentioned about www.epinions.com in my first answer. Any
other better site ??
netcrazy

I live in the Boston area...I have had the AT&T digital one rate plan
for 3 years now.  During that period I have traveled extensively all
over the contiguous states and to Hawaii.  The plan that I use started
out giving me 1100 minutes for $119.99 plus tax no roaming no long
distance including voice mail, and called ID.  There may be other
features but I don't use them.  Coverage is excellent with few dropped
calls.  I use a Nokia phone which I have also had for about 3 years
(Oh..maybe I had to replace one because I ran over it with my
car)....I have been very pleased with this service. One of my
daughters uses Verizon which seems to also work fine in New
England.....I know the Boston Globe did a survey of useability a month
ago or so...I have not been able to find it online but they pretty
much cited AT&T as the top service although not by a great margin...

good luck...I always curse (with some of the letters missing) when I
drop a call hoping that one day this technology will be fool proof..

seedy

I recently left Cingular for AT&T because, in my area, Cingular
deducts "anytime" minutes first (even on weekends) and AT&T uses night
& weekend min first on weekends. In other words, if you had 250
anytime min with Cingular and talked for 250 min on a weekend, you
would have no 'anytime" min left, while with AT&T the 250 would be
deducted from your weekend min first, so you would still have your 250
anytime min available to you for daytime use.
This is a very important difference for most folks!