Cell phone

[dk132]

I did a search but didn't see this subject listed. The search engine here is pretty vague. I am getting ready to go off to CDL school and was wondering if you guys could tell me what cellular service works best for truck drivers. I have Tmobil now and have found that it doesn't work to good in northern Michigan. Pros and cons of your cellular service would really be appreciated.

[yoopr]

I live in Northern Northern Northern Michigan and Alltel put up a bunch of New Towers and Prior to this our Coverage was Horrible unless you went into our little towns-Now you can pretty much call from anywhere in the U.P with few poor areas of coverage.

[dk132]

Good to know . Thanks. I'm looking for info on coverage in all states if anyone can help. In the next couple months I'm going to be in Arkansas, Missouri and North Carolina and of course all states in-between and around. What company covers all states. I just want to make sure I can talk to my wife & kids reguraly.

[GMAN]

I use Sprint. For the most part the service is pretty good in most areas where I run. I just made a trip to Northern Maine and lost signal south of Portland. But, from what I gather, most other phone services don't work well there either. I am sitting in Phoenix right now and have had good service almost all the way from where I picked up in Kentucky. I have been with them for about 5 years and the service has gotten better. I spoke to a representative of T-Mobile who told me that they use everyone else tower, so they should have a better signal. A friend of mine has T-Mobile and seems happy with them. He lives in Nevada and primarily runs the Western states. Verizon and Cingular are both supposed to do well across the country. Frankly, I am not sure that there is that much difference in them. All have expanded their towers and service network during recent years. You should be able to find more information with a search. We have discussed this before.

[teamster]

I have had verizon for years and never had any problem.

I use US Cellular, i have the nation wide plan....works great, only 49 bucks a month

[kc0iv]

I did a search but didn't see this subject listed. The search engine here is pretty vague. I am getting ready to go off to CDL school and was wondering if you guys could tell me what cellular service works best for truck drivers. I have Tmobil now and have found that it doesn't work to good in northern Michigan. Pros and cons of your cellular service would really be appreciated.

I have used just about every system and they all seem to work about the same. I'd rate Tmobil the weakest.

If you are looking for a new service the advice I would make is make sure you have a tri-mode phone. This will give you the best coverage.

kc0iv

[dk132]

Thanks for the replys. Anyone have cingular. I have a verizon aircard for my lap top it pretty much works no matter what. So Im thinking about going with them. My job currently provides my aircard and lap top but thats about to change since im going to have to quit so I can go toCDL school. I read on another post that i might get a discount for both. I dont even ues the pc anymore i cant carry it around the house.

[Jackrabbit379]

I use Cingular. I got my first cell phone in the spring of '96. I have had AT&T the whole time of having a cell phone. I switched over to Cingular from AT&T about a year ago. At first,the service stunk very much bad. Cingular is starting to come around. Im happy with Cingular,now that they have gotten better.

[One]

I have cingular, switched from sprint due to its roaming costs. Sprint willl go to roam outside of metropolitan areas (see their coverage map) and interstates. All in all Sprint is good, few dropped calls and clear calls, but has large areas esp W of Mississippi where you will roam at .69 cpm unless you pay 5/mo to include roaming. All carriers that I know of have gaps out west, even around some interstates. Cingular with a Razr phone shows great bars, but they come and go. I drop a call and alloversudden I have full bars again :x I think they lie, they didnt increase their signal strengh, they just made it look like it...

[GMAN]

I don't know how other phones are set up, but Sprint has a setting where you only receive signals from Sprint towers. They are not set that way when you first get the phone. If you set it to Sprint only, then you should not have roaming charges. Try roaming in Canada with Sprint. It is a bit pricey. And the nationwide coverage doesn't include Canada. They have their own system. They do have Sprint, but unless you include Canada on your plan you will need to roam to have service in Canada.

[arky]

What would you guys recommend for me? I will be driving for Maverick, east of I-35 most of the time, as I understand it. I would like to have a wireless card for internet, plus a good phone plan. I'm guessing that either Sprint or Cingular would be my best choice?

What about Alltel or Verizon?

Thanks, Arky

[New2This]

Great Q...i was wondering about it myself...as my profile name suggests I am new to this, I've been with T-Mob for 6 years and my battery shows it---price of a new one is practically the same as a new phone---so I was waiting till I graduated from CDL school (In 2 weeks---yea) to ask about this. So, the consensus is that it doesn't matter? Stay with T-Mob? AND are their companies out there that provide or supplement cell costs?

[dk132]

You could probably get a new phone for free from tmobile if you sign a new contract. That's what I did and actually got 2 phones for free.

[New2This]

Thanks DK132...thing is I have the pay as you go plan...LOL I think I've put in say $50 this year....just don't use it all that much. Now knowing I will in the future is why I was so interested in this Q. I CAN get a plan but the pay as you go thing worked best to this point. That was why I was putting off the purchase of one and possibly changing carriers...

[Malaki86]

What's 'ROAMING'? I have Sprint's nationwide plan, and I've yet to see a roaming charge on my bill for a call made/received in the US. Now, if I go to Canada, that's a completely different story (it cost me something like $60 for close to 2 hrs of talk time in CA).

Now when I go to CA, I tell everyone to not even bother calling me. If I do get a call in CA, voicemail gets it, and I call back when I hit the border.

[dk132]

What's 'ROAMING'? I have Sprint's nationwide plan, and I've yet to see a roaming charge on my bill for a call made/received in the US. Now, if I go to Canada, that's a completely different story (it cost me something like $60 for close to 2 hrs of talk time in CA).



Now when I go to CA, I tell everyone to not even bother calling me. If I do get a call in CA, voicemail gets it, and I call back when I hit the border.

Tmobil also has free roaming no charge at all.

[One]

Sprint has different plans, they may have changed this, but it used to be default that outside the 'PCS' calling area you would be charged extra. The retention plan i had did charge for that... your plan may include roaming.