wireless

[jfb]

Hey, remember how the NSA was tapping phones without warrants? And remember how the NSA was compiling a massive database of citizens' phone records? And remember how Qwest was the only company that didn't just hand over its customers' records to the NSA?

My current wireless contract ends soon; it's with one of those other companies, and it's overpriced, so I want to switch. I kind of wanted to reward good corporate behavior, but Qwest doesn't operate in California and I'm not willing to move to Denver for this. So I'm looking for other options. What I know so far:

• AT&T/Cingular, Verizon and BellSouth handed over phone records without a fuss.
• AT&T, MCI and Sprint/Nextel cooperated on the wiretap program.
• MetroPCS might be okay if I never travelled.
• Working Assets is leftist-friendly (mostly) but kind of expensive.
• T-Mobile looks... basically okay.

So, I'm thinking I will probably switch to T-Mobile. Does anyone have experience with them, or with Working Assets? (Ken, I know something of your travails, but feel free to remind me.) Also, what else should I be considering, as a consumer and/or a progressive?

Comments

[dreamallday.livejournal.com]

I have t-mobile since 1999, or started with a company that eventually merged into t-mobile. Service has been mostly ok. coverage used to be real sketchy in rural areas, but it's getting better.

right now i'm dealing with trying to get a new phone. I don't have a contract, but I guess I have to go through an official t-mobile store since I have one of the really low minute plans.

I've been through 4 phones in the last 7 years, which is totally nothing compared to most people. right now my phone has just started turning off randomly during the middle of calls or when i'm dialing, not dropping the call, just turning off completly.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

I've been through, I think, two phones, ever (which is only five years). I have areas of Ludditude.

[monkey587.livejournal.com]

T-Mobile's service was appallingly bad when I used them circa 2002ish-2004. Appallingly bad like I rarely had any signal in the bay area. Supposedly they use a different network now and at least one person I know says they've been excellent in recent months.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Their coverage map claims five bars in my apartment and at Barefoot, and really, if there are other places, I don't need to visit them.

[monkey587.livejournal.com]

well said.

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Qwest doesn't operate in California and I'm not willing to move to Denver for this.

Simple -- move to Oregon!

I use Working Assets for my home long distance. Granted, I hadly ever use them, and should maybe cancel, but I've never had any problems with them. And they used to send me free ice cream.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

I used to use WALD, yeah, when I had a land line. Service was fine, and the price was okay for my limited use. Never got free ice cream, though, so I cancelled phone service and moved out of my apartment for emphasis.

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Good for you -- stick it to the man!

I am a current T-Mobile subscriber who just recently renewed her contract because...

[morganology.livejournal.com]

I really like T-Mobile's customer service.

I like their choice of phones available, color me seduced by the RAZR phone.

I can use the RAZR (and quite a few of their phones) in Europe (and have done so the last three trips to the continent).

They have the best minute:dollar:etc. ratio.

I like their jingle.

Re: I am a current T-Mobile subscriber who just recently renewed her contract because...

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Cool. Wait, which one is their jingle? All I can think of is the little dududuDUdu one.

[xythian.livejournal.com]

Compared to Cingular, in the places I've been when I had the T-Mobile phone and later when I have the Cingular phone -- T-Mobile coverage is weak. My apartment was weakly covered and many places I went had fine data coverage but weak phone coverage (= dropped calls) (!!). On the other hand, the phone you have can significantly affect how weak a network appears, and as a phone the Sidekick made an excellent web browser. So you might have a very different coverage experience with T-Mobile around here with a good phone (and 3 years later).

That applies to around here (bay area) as well as traveling (probably mostly places you haven't been).

My experience with T-Mobile customer support was very bad (my phone was broken, and they not only didn't fix it, but didn't even believe me when I said it was broken -- and when I went to a store they unhelpfully told me to call support because they didn't know nothin'). Really, though, it's only a matter of time before I need to interact with Cingular customer support whereupon I will no doubt discover it is also very bad. It's just luck I haven't had to interact with T-Mobile support thus far. Unlike Sprint, neither T-Mobile nor Cingular have ever cut off my service (and deleted my voice mailbox) claiming I didn't pay the bill when I had paid the bill.

I think it's important to keep in mind that T-Mobile is probably just as evil as any of the other national cell phone providers and they were just better at hiding it that one time -- and just try to pick the provider with the best service/price ratio so you can save more of your money to give to/do business with genuinely good organizations.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

I take your point about evil telecom. It's possible that the urge to switch is more due to feeling ripped off by my current provider than to good vs evil. But if I can feel a little good about the politics of my new carrier, so much the better.

I guess I should find a current T-Mobile customer and ask about coverage. Aaand not get a Sidekick. (My cute sensors are flashing on the RAZR anyway.)

Don't forget the technology

[(Anonymous)]

Gabe here, too lazy to make an account. One thing to keep in mind is the technical side. T-Mobile, being of European origin (Deutsche Telekom), uses the GSM platform, rather than the US-centric CDMA. Nice to have in case you have to flee the Fasci^H^H^H^H^HRepublicans (a factor I DID consider when switching to T-Mobile from WALD[Sprint]). With a bit of negotiation with Customer Service, you can take it around a fair portion of the globe and swap out SIMs (i.e. phone numbers) as needed.