Mobil Phone Service Providers

T-mobile
Best overall
Tethering uses 3G (slower)

Verizon
 Close to T-mobile overall
 
What Are the Best Carriers on Verizon's Network? Best MVNOs of 2021

1. Verizon: 70% 4G Cell Phone Coverage
2. AT&T: 68% 4G Cell Phone Coverage
3. T-Mobile: 62% 4G Cell Phone Coverage

Sources:
1. Consumer reports ratings 2013?
Cell Phone Providers Review 2010 - TopTenREVIEWS
Rating Cell Phone Plans, Wireless Plan Ratings

Coverage:

Dead Cell Zones (Inverse coverage map) at DeadCellZones.com is a list of locations reported by users where their service doesn't work.

J.D. Power and Associates study Sep. 2008:
The study measured wireless call quality based on seven problem areas that impacted overall carrier performance: dropped calls; static/interference; failed connection on the first try; voice distortion; echoes; no immediate voice mail notification; no immediate text message notification.

Verizon Wireless lead the way with the highest ranking in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, West, and tied with Sprint Nextel in the Southwest Region. Alltel ranked the highest in the Southeast, and tied with U.S. Cellular for the North Central Region. Consumer Reports subscriber survey published in Jan. 2009
Verizon had the best coverage, Sprint was 2nd and AT&T and T-mobil were last.

Which carrier has the least amount of dropped calls? at mobile.aol.com had the same result. However, they say more people are switching to AT&T because of the iPhone.

Coverage Maps:

 Verizon: voice	data
  Sprint: voice & data 
    AT&T: voice data
T-mobile: voice data

Only sprint reprted of number of PoPs (Point of presents) or cell towers
like those listed below in 2001.  I think the companies are keeping that
information close to the vest now.

Network technologies:
GSM: AT&T Wireless, and T-Mobile USA (Deutsche Telekom).
GSM carriers can offer international roaming.
GSM networks dominate the world market.

CDMA:  carriers are Sprint PCS, Verizon, Alltel and Virgin Mobile.

Pay as you go:
I've bought a Tracfone and I'm saving money every month,
I hear that Net 10 is also a good option.

Features/Services:
ConsumerReports Blog:

Having had Verizon and now ATT, I can confirm that Verizon tends to have more of
a stranglehold on features. They commonly cripple Bluetooth, limit music and
picture services to their own platform (all for a fee) and even have a 'Verizon'
user interface on many of their phones. They tend to charge for everything
(GPS, visual voice mail, etc.)

Some may say the same thing re: the iPhone being locked into iTunes,
although I find this to be less of an issue. 

Data:
CDMA has been traditionally faster than GSM, though both technologies continue
to rapidly leapfrog along this path. Both boast "3G" standards, or 3rd
generation technologies.

Who's Got The Fastest Mobile Broadband? at GOarticles.com
ComputerWorld May, 2008 - Tests in Austin, Boston, Chicago, New York City,
Portland, Raleigh-Durham, San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Verizon Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO):
downloads -- typical speeds of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps.
uploads -- typical speeds of 500-800 Kbps.

AT&T  BroadbandConnect HSDPA/UMTS technology 3G
(High Speed Downlink Packet Access/Universal Mobile Telephone System) 3G
download throughput of 700 kbps to 1.7 Mbps 
upload 1.2 Mbps

T-Mobile 
GPRS/EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) 110Kb/s
download speeds of 220Kbps to 320Kbps with bursts at 384Kbps.
UMTS/HSDPA - download up to 1 Mbps
See: T-mobile G1 faster than iPhone AT&T G3

Sprint Mobile Broadband Card
download speeds of 600-1.4 Mbps, peaking at 3.1 Mbps
Sprint had the highest national average download speed (1.4 Mbps)

Wireless 3G speeds
forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=897042

In Kansas City VZW (Verizon wireless) was in the 600kpbs range, AT&T avg more like 1600+kpbs. 

Verizon Mifi in NY city destroys AT&T 3G

Tethering (Mobile Modem):
Tethering is using your mobil phone to connect your computer to the Internet via 
a USB cable, PC Card (PCMCIA), IrDA (infrared wireless), Bluetooth or WiFi.

You need a web-enabled cell phone with a data plan and
bluetooth or a data cable connection. 
Phones: Blackberry Storm, ..

See problems with using Nokia 3220  data cable
See How to Connect Your Computer to the Internet Using Your Cell Phone at:
theInternetPatrol.com and rickysays.com


Femtocells:
$250 box which connects to your broadband internet and acts as a mini cell tower.
Offered by Srint, Verizon and AT&T

Contracts:

Make sure your contract doesn't renew automatically for another two years when it expires.

They usually don't start over unless you buy a new phone.

 Frequencies:
   824-849 MHz US Cellular Mobil Telephone (AMPS, CDMA, TDMA, CDPD) 800 MHz
   851-869     SMR (NEXTEL) 
   869-894     US Cellular Mobil Telephone (AMPS, CDMA, TDMA, CDPD) 800 MHz
   1.8-2.0 GHz US PCS Mobil Telephone (CDMA, TDMA, GSM)
   
   890-960     GSM in Europe, Israel, Far East, Australia,
 
Fraud - Scams - Legal Problems:
See conversation with T-mobile cust supt
over refusal to cancel contract because of no service.

Advanced Phones:
T-Mobile G1 features a full QWERTY keyboard, 3G support, Wi-Fi, GPS,
and Bluetooth. The Google Android operating system offers good integration
with Google applications.


	

		
Feature
 
iPhone
 
G1
	
	

		
Talk time
 
5
 
5
	
	

		
Standby
 
300
 
130
	
	

		
Screen size
 
3.5
 
3.2
	
	

		
camera
 
2Mp
 
3Mp
	
	

		
storage
 
8 or 16GB
 
2GB or 8GB
	
	

		
tethering
 
n
 
n
	
	

		
Qwerty keyboard
 
n
 
Y
	
	

		
storage
 
8 or 16GB
 
2GB or 8GB
	
	

		
Cost
 
	
	

		
phone
 
$200
 
$180
	
	

		
voice *
 
$70
 
$30-60
	
	

		
data
 
$0-20
 
$25-35
	
	

		
total 2yr
 
$2,360
 
$1,620 - $2,460
	

* Basic plan for the iPhone includes unlimited Internet.
Unlimited texting is extra.

Phones with GPS:


See comparison at PC World

Old

Company	Band !	Technology	Customers M 3Q 2001	Coverage click on map for more	PoPs *		Rev- enue $B
					built	licenced
Verizon	800	CDMA, AMPS	29M, 24%		213M	233M	$4.5
AT&T **	800/1900 most 800	TDMA, AMPS, GSM	20M 16%		193M	269M	$3.5
Sprint PCS	1900	CDMA, AMPS, (GSM-selected areas)	14M 11%		205M	269M	$2.6
Cingular	800/1900	GSM, TDMA	21M 17%	70% - GA, SC, NC, TN, LA, Miss., FL, AL, OH, Mich., CA, WA, Missouri, OK	152M	179M	$1.5
T-Mobile	1900	GSM	6M 5%	Nationwide except CA, NV, Mont., WY, ND, SD, VA, WV, NC, VT, MN,	120M	220M
Nextel	SMR	iDEN	8M 7%	Nationwide	193M	200M	$2

GSM phones in europe operate at 890-960 MHz

 Frequencies:
   824-849 MHz Cellular Mobil Telephone (AMPS, CDMA, TDMA, CDPD) 800 MHz
   851-869     SMR (NEXTEL) 
   869-894     Cellular Mobil Telephone (AMPS, CDMA, TDMA, CDPD) 800 MHz
   890-960     GSM in Europe, Israel, Far East, Australia,
   1.8-2.0 GHz PCS Mobil Telephone (CDMA, TDMA, GSM)
Mobil Telephone Svc listings
Point.com
Get Connected
Omni Choice
CNET

Verizon Wireless - Dennis Strigl CEO
180 Washington Valley Rd.
Bedminster, N.J. 07921
(908) 306-8000
 
Sprint PCS - Charles Levine CEO
6160 Sprint Parkway
Overland Park, Kan. 66251
(800) 480-4727
 
Cingular Wireless - Stephen Carter CEO
5565 Glenridge Connector
Atlanta, Ga. 30342 
(866) 246-4852
 
T-Mobile USA, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile International.
Robert P. Dotson, CEO
1-800-T-MOBILE
12920 S.E. 38th St.
Bellevue, WA 98006

VoiceStream Wireless Corp. - John Stanton CEO
12920 SE 38th St. S.E.
Bellevue, Wash. 98006
(425) 378-4000
 
Nextel Communications Inc. - Tim Donahue 
2001 Edmund Haley Dr.
Reston, Va. 20191
(703) 433-4000
 
See Also:

Wireless Communications
Yahoo
Wireless Consumers
Mobil Phone Technology
  - Timeline
  - Glossary


Pagers and Wireless Data
Web Link Wireless

See Also:
2008 Wireless Call Quality Volume 2 at JDPower.com

Mobile/Cell Phones Products

Mobile Phone Accessories

Cell Phone Forums


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