I think it all depends on where you live. I have always had Cingular and get great service. Way back when I first got a cell phone, everyone had dropped calls and low reception. There were not as many towers out in the rural area I live in. But Cingular was probably the best at that time. Now most of the carriers have plenty of coverage, but we have always stuck with Cingular. When you stay with one company your rates stay low, but when you switch, you have to take the going rate at that time and it can mean a big increase. We only had to have a jump once and that was when we had to change our plan to add a third phone for my son. It seemed expensive at the time but now everyone else thinks we have a good plan.
About those add on download charges -- some of the ads are very misleading! My son answered a text message for a free song download. Somewhere there was supposed to be a line about charging a monthly membership fee of $9.99 -- that was if you downloaded anything or not. I had a hard time getting it off -- but Cingular was very helpful. It was not Cingular charging me it was some other thing -- that might have been bluehippo or something like that. We had two I had to work on and then my son got the ultimatum -- a third would lose his phone for him -- no more downloads! I got him the new Razr that has itunes and said -- buy from itunes with your card, and then download from your own computer only. I think those companies are purposefully misleading -- especially to young people. I don't mind itunes -- they are very straightforward. |