cell phone help!!! (and poll)

ok i have a siemens56 cell phone with the service provider of cingular...well att wireless...like im in att wireless plan still. i had this phone for about like a year and half...and lately it has been going into "network search" when i am in places where it shouldnt say that...and when peopel call me it goes straight to my answering machine...i dont kno if its the phone...or just the service....does anyone have the same problems? lol and what do u think is the best service provider???

-Court-

[JVN]

I'm on my third Motorola Cell Phone using Verizon, and I'm still happy; no problems to report.

(Gotta love Motorola right? )

[Matt_Kaplan1902]

Originally Posted by CourtneyB

ok i have a siemens56 cell phone with the service provider of cingular...well att wireless...like im in att wireless plan still. i had this phone for about like a year and half...and lately it has been going into "network search" when i am in places where it shouldnt say that...and when peopel call me it goes straight to my answering machine...i dont kno if its the phone...or just the service....does anyone have the same problems? lol and what do u think is the best service provider???

-Court-

I actually have the same phone as you and also have been some problems recently as well. I think it is because of the AT&T deal. My phone has also been randomly shutting off on me as well. I won't go buy a new phone because Cingulars family plan would cost the $20 more a month, and I don't have enough money to pay for my own plan. If I did I would most likely stay with Cingular.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Court - I recently recieved a new cellphone plan.

We were deciding between T-Mobile & Cingular Wireless.

The reason we chose cingular:

T-Mobile service seems to be in general clustered around major urban areas. That's not a problem for you, you live in Chicago. I live in W. Lafayette, and travel often, so T-Mobile wasn't the best choice. If you plan to go to college in a large town, T-Mobile has excellent, affordable plans. However, if you plan to travel often through less urban areas, I'd recommend sticking with Cingular or Verizon or something else.

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by CourtneyB

ok i have a siemens56 cell phone with the service provider of cingular...well att wireless...like im in att wireless plan still. i had this phone for about like a year and half...and lately it has been going into "network search" when i am in places where it shouldnt say that...and when peopel call me it goes straight to my answering machine...i dont kno if its the phone...or just the service....does anyone have the same problems? lol and what do u think is the best service provider???

-Court-

Ok the reason why when people call you it goes straight to your answering machine is because you either
1.) have no reception
2.) have the phone turned off
-more and more phones now a days are starting to have features like that


anyway, my family switched from Cingular to Sprint back in June, we were using phones that used the TDMA signal format which was largely in use in the early 90s. So we had these old chunky phones that didn't work.

I had a "trick" that i used to do, when i turned the phone on i wouldn't get any reception in places i knew i should of gotten reception. So what i did was took the battery off the back so it wouldn't crack and then i simply dropped the phone and magically i got reception.

In my opinion Sprint's reception is AWFUL. I've yet to get anything over 3 bars, and its rare that i get anything above 2 bars. Out of 5! meaning i'm usually operating under 40%. Even in places, like Times Square which should get the best reception reguardless of who you are paying.

So this led me to do some thinking about why i didn't get good reception. So I did some experimentation with a friend that has a phone that operates in Cingular's GSM network. The CDMA format has a lower wave frequency then the other current standard GSM, so you'll get reception in more places theoretically, however rarely will you get quality reception. GSM which operates at a higher frequency should carry a better signal but at a smaller range. But the GSM network has more advantages, you get better reception in buildings, which is very handy because I don't like to go outside just to take a call that'll take 10 seconds. Also in my findings GSM has a better network than advertised. (Though that just might be New Jersey and New York City)

If you ask me I'll reconmend Cingular and TMobile above all as long as you get a GSM compatable phone. If not Verizon has the Best CDMA (which is standard on all networks accept Cingular and TMobile) network available right now.

Ok thats a long post.

[Cory]

I had ATT before my current phone, as did the rest of my family, and it was horrible. This was before they were acquired by Cingular, so they may have gotten better, but we switched to Verizon over a year ago, and I wouldn't go back.

I've gotten consistent coverage all over the country with Verizon, probably even in some places I wouldn't have expected a signal. The only annoying thing is there's dead spots in my house.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Courtney,
There are many reasons for your problems, but I suspect that a hard fall has broken your internal antenna and/or the battery is not able to put for reliable communication. (My bet is on the former.) Cingular is a good plan and has good coverage but cell phones can use one or more of four different bands. Your phone may only work on one band as designed and there might not be a lot of coverage in your area on that band. Being that you are so close to Motorola and right under flight approach to O'hare airport, interference might be a problem as well. Do you have a signal meter on your phone and does it ever show maximum signal? If not, and your parent's phones do in the same location, I would suspect then phone.

[mechanicalbrain]

Actually Cingular has some weird coverage areas. Their is a 50ft bubble of no coverage around my house. Yeah i don't exactly love Cingular but its like using Windows, I'm just to lazy to do anything about it.

[sanddrag]

Get something that will work in your house so you only have to give people your cell number and so you can take advantage of free nights and weekends. If a place really wants to sell you a phone/contract, they might let you try it for a day to see where you can get a signal. Ask to try it first.

Also, read every term and condition very carefully before you agree to anything. Cell phone plans these days are made to be intentionally confusing and sometimes deceptive. Just be on the lookout for deals that seem to good and stuff like that.

[dubious elise]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Courtney,
There are many reasons for your problems, but I suspect that a hard fall has broken your internal antenna and/or the battery is not able to put for reliable communication.

I agree, I went through 2 Nokias in the past year (I just switched to an LG slider one week ago and I love it) because of broken antennae [amazing, because the 2nd phone was never ever dropped...].

My Mom and I share a Sprint Nationwide coverage plan and it is fantastic. I get reception all over (except, of course, large concrete structures...for fairly obvious reasons). Though the initial plan is somewhat expensive ($45), my line was added for only $20 per month. That includes all of the Sprint to Sprint minutes you want, all of the night and weekend minutes you can handle, and 500 anytime minutes for, well, whenever!

As much as many people complain about Sprint, I've got to admit that their nationwide plans are fantastic if you have the chance, and their service (in their stores) is not too shabby either.

Originally Posted by MATT_kaplan108

I actually have the same phone as you and also have been some problems recently as well. I think it is because of the AT&T deal. My phone has also been randomly shutting off on me as well. I won't go buy a new phone because Cingulars family plan would cost the $20 more a month, and I don't have enough money to pay for my own plan. If I did I would most likely stay with Cingular.

yeah i have the same exact plan. like the plan is awsome but sumtimes i wish that my parents would just switch over to a regular cingular plan to make things a little better. yeah i think its because of the AT&T deal because ive just been having so many problems with this phone. when att was still kinda around and when they started merging with cingular everything was perfect...but then when att disapeared its like now ive been experience a lot of problems. soo today me and my mom called this number for customer care and looked to see what new phone i can get while still being with AT&T plan, and there wasnt alot of like good selections...so i ordered the Motorola V551 phone or whatever. im really gunna miss my siemens phone lol i love how the little lights tell you everythign like getting a call or a message or if whatever lol but unfortunetly...even though im getting my new phone..i am still gunna be with the stupid att plan. lol

AL- my phone does show signal bars...like little arrow thingys. and like i told my mom today about it and shes having no problem with her phone and reception. like sumtimes...once in a while...itll show full or at least almost full reception. mostly now it always shows at least 2 or 3 bars out of 5. and yes living by o'hare doesnt help much...because i usually go outside to talk on the phone to get better rececption and everytime a plane goes over it either cutss out or it just looses connection like 5 minuts later...but that only happens once in a while.

[Matt Attallah]

Nextel all the way here.

I've had Cingular (Before the AT&T thing was final) and T-Mobile - and they blew around my area (I had T-Mobile in the Chigago area - and that sucked for me also)

I've had my Nextel for about 4 months - and I LOVE IT. Love the reception, my 2-way, and my I-860 Phone.

Can't wait for the I-930...

[Dorienne]

I love Cingular. It used to be SO crappy back in like the early 2000s. But now it's gotten much better. We switched from Nextel to Cingular, and I love it. I hated Nextel. =/

[Jeff K.]

Cingular is great.
Dorienne's right, Cingular was really bad way back. I switched to T-Mobile and it was okay for a while. After about a year or so...the service started getting bad. We then went back to Cingular because I got an amazing deal on the Moto Razor cell phone. It's very nice.

[Mike AA]

I'll put in my 2 cents too. I have alltel. I had alltel back in 2002 when I graduated for my graduation gift to myself. My dad has had alltel since about 1984 ish. In the last couple years he started having problems because everyone is taking off the analog antenna's for phone service and replacing with the digital antennae. About 8 months after I got alltel I switched to T-Mobile to be able to call my ex-girlfriend. I could drive between Holland (where I live) and Dearborn (where she lived) I could get signal right in cities and occasionally in the country, I would have to be careful to cal. I broke up with her and soon switched to Alltel again. I've been on alltel for a little over a year and LOVE every minute about it. I have coverage nationwide, everywhere. My fiance has Nextel, she had nextel from when we met until last august when it got disconnected. Her grandma has alltel. Last summer they went on a trip all across the us following the trail of lewis and clarke. So of course they would be in weird locations. Throughout the trip myfiance and I called eachother. over half the time her phone didn't have signal and her grandma had signal everywhere. I drive all over the midwest and have never had a dead spot unless I'm 2 stories down in a basement working. I would most suggest everyone drop sprint and cingular if they ever plan to leave major cities. Signal maps (found on most everyone's websites) are quite accurate. Nextel, Cingular, Alltel, sprint all have maps on their website showing coverage areas. THAT is the major seeling point and reasons to go with different companies.

night

-Mike