Re: Looking for a cell phone service provider that is not crappy
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Verizon or Nextel. You pay a little more, but from what I've heard, their coverage is generally better. Cingular/AT&T/Airtouch/Clem's cel shop is about 200 cobbled together networks running on fumes and duct tape, and it behaves like it. I started keepng a list one time of all the bizzarro [censored] my cel phone would do, just for my own therapy.
Anyway I haven't kept this list up for a while, so it's very incomplete, as the phone still finds some new bizarre weird way to screw up at least once a month or so. And obviously some of these are the Nokia phone, which I generally like. But enjoy anyway:
Sometimes goes into "zombie mode" where it shows one bar of coverage, but really nothing is working. You don't find this out unless you try to dial out or all your friends yell at you for not answering your phone. When it comes out of this mode, the voice messages come along within a few minutes, text messages come trickling in over a few hours
Sometimes resets times to some random time, for no appaarent reason
Drops about 50% of calls in my current residence
Doesn't work at all where I stay in San Juan Capistrano
Won't let me lie down on the couch, sitting up is iffy
Phone doesn't work inside, so I have to go outside with all the loud trucks and leaf blowers
At my current residence often goes straight to voice mail, if I let it sit long enough, people trying to call get:
"Message GA-22. Welcome to AT&T Wireless Services, the wireless subscriber you have called is not available at this time." No chance to leave a message.
If I move the phone around the house it makes contact with the server and this message goes away
Phone sometimes shuts off for no reason
Phone sometimes locks up trying to call and I have to shut it off to hang it up, this seems to happen often when driving through SJC
Sometimes phone gives annoying "ber-dee-dee" old school invalid number sound--three times before lettin me call again, hasn't done this for a while
Used to have annoying text message that came with every VM and you had to delete it
Sometimes phone's setting to display clock goes away for no reason
Sometimes phone forgets last # dialed and instead dials previous # before that
When trying to listen to one message - "You have one unheard message. The following message has not been heard. First unheard message…" - very annoying
Phone used to last for five days until one time when I charged it before it was totally dead. After that it's charge lasted half as long
In this house, often person can't hear me but I can hear them, if I walk out in the front yard it goes away.
If I wave my phone around the room in SJC, the TV makes strange noises
For some reason, the phone just started showing the Nokia handshake when it comes on
Shows call from 720 area code when it's really 612
Hangs up on caller after one ring and gives them a message "the callee has dropped the line"
Alarm snoozes for indeterminate amount of time (10, 20, 30+ minutes)
Alarm goes off at 3:31 pm for no reason whatsoever, alarm icon was not showing
In Kansas City the phone works ok, unless in a car moving over 50 MPH, then doesn't work
Often dials and just sits in silence indefinitely, no ring, no busy signal, just silence
My friend used to get hundreds of spam text messages starting every night at 8pm. AT&T repeatedly told her there was nothing she could do about, until she finally complained loud enough. Then they said "ok", and did something that instantly fixed the problem. She can still send and receive norma test messages.
Sometimes you will say the same sentence 10 times, and the phone will cut out at the exact same point everytime. This is expecially fun when trying to read a phone #.
Often people have called to hear a message that my phone service has been disconnected, sometimes it actual says "for non-payment". Then they call back an hour later and it's fine.
Lately I've been getting calls that just say "CALL", not out of area, or private caller. There is never anyone on the other end of the line. No idea what's going on here.
In Mexico, there is no warning, but text messages cost $.50.
Phone sometimes shows a weird S with a diagonal slash through it. The manual says nothing, and no one at AT&T knows what this means.
"Internet browsing" is beyond a joke. Most websites you can find like 2 links and they don't do anything.
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A lot of these problems sound like phone related issues and lack of signal strength in your area.
I actually just got a job for Cingular customer support. I just finished the 1st of 6 training weeks today. The place I work at deals with the Southeast states.
BTW, If you call customer support you can ask them how the singal strength is in your area, they have a program that will show them the signal all across the US.
Also, when you go to mexico, the mexican companies can charge you whatever they want for using their services. The warning is that you're moving out of your coverage area(assuming you have a nation plan), that's only common sense.
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