I have had Verizon, AT&T, and now Sprint. I can't wait till my contract is up so that I can return to Verizon. I have found that when i travel it is the best.

Sarge
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I am with AT&T, but the only reason is because most of my friends and family are. They have pretty good coverage where I travel so no issues with that. I also like the fact that you can just switch out your sim card to a new phone without taking it in and having it reprogramed. The main reason I do that is so I can use two phone one small one and one pda.
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That is not due to Verizon.
Text messages consume/utilize very minimal amount of "space" for the networks.
As such, they transmit before any cell signal can ever make it through.
That is why when all fails, they still work.

Having both networks, AT&T and Verizon in my household, and traveling the country, having noticed any difference in service.
I would buy the phone I like, such as if you want an iPhone, the choice of carrier is simplified.
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I've had Verizon for years and wouldn't consider anything else - we've had issues with teen txt msg that would have normally send our bill through the roof! Called the Verizon rep and they would re-work our account, back date a program, what ever it took to keep the bill down. Hands down the best service I've ever received plus you can't beat the new phone every two years! :-)
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In Los Angeles, covrage is pretty good for all carriers so company isn't a real issue; it's the phones. I just swithed from my T-Mobile Blackberry to AT&T IPhone (posting from it now) because only AT&T carries it. It was the same for my wife's phone, the Samsung Eternitity. Coverage aside, some carriers have exclusive contacts where you cannot get the phone anywhere else so whatever phone has the best utility is what we go for.

Also, Verizon phones do not use SIM cards so you cannot pop it into a different phone and use it; you have to buy anyother phone. Definitely a turnoff if you want more advanced and newer cellphone.
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I think as much as anything it is the area you live in. Around here Altell has by far the best coverage, but don't try traveling with it. I had t-Mobile for quite some time and was please. However, were I will be moving to had pretty poor coverage by them. I went with AT&T because I travel out of the country and Verizon uses a system that no place else in the world uses. AT&T phones work great in other countries that I have been to.
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You will be be happy to know Smokin Gator, tht Alltel is now Verizion.
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He said call as well, Carlos. :-)
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I've been with Alltel for 12 years with few complaints. It will be interesting to see how my plan and costs change once they migrate us Alltel customers to Verizon plans. Very good to see a lot of satisfied Verizon customers here, that's encouraging.
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Thanks for all the advice. It appears that Verizon is the winner and I will probably go with them. After all, my family seems to be wanting to go that way so I can call them for free.
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i've sold verizon products for 8 years now. if you have any questions or anyone does feel free to PM me about stuff.

as for global coverage, VZW is slowly putting out world edition phones. almost all of north america and south america is covered by CDMA. the EU is the only place i know that mandates GSM only coverage. so you don't have to have AT&T for global coverage as we offe that capability as well.

we just started offering my circle type plans on sunday.
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I've had T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless (before they merged with Cingular) and can say that Verizon has the best coverage I've ever had. I can't remember the last time I had a dropped call or didn't have coverage. One down side is that you pay a premium for their services and no iPhone.
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Unfortunately, not for everyone.
I have my wife on the $39 plan and it does not qualify for friends and family.
I have to go up to the $59 plan to be able to get it.
In my case, just not worth the extra $20 as my daughter is her main calls and she too is on Verizon so it would be free anyway.
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Had Sprint for many many years, until they merged with Nextel and spun off thier local divison. Switched to Embarq for the last 2 years and signed up for Verizon last night. We're looking forward to the great customer service everyone talks about on the web. It will be a breath of fresh air.
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that's the reason why i said it was a type of my circle plans. you gotta pay to play.
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So I was a long time customer of t-mobile (think 10+ years)... but they lost me when they failed to keep with their network and as a result, they lost me to Verizon... so far I can say I am happy with Verizon and I am happy with my storm. It is the best BB I have ever had (this is my 3rd one). I am glad this BB worked out, since I hated the Pearl so much.

As for verizon, I can say I have had far superior service with them, than with t-mobile and I don't regret switching at all.

So add one more vote for Verizon! :-)
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Is Verizon sticking with CDMA or going to come out with GSM? America does both, but Europe's standard is GSM so only GSM phones like T-Moble and AT&T can work there.

Also, happen to know why Verizon went with on board SIM cards instead of having them removable?
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the whole world is changing again. VZW will go to LTE (long term evolution) and it will launch this year (towards the end thanks to the whole DTV delay).

VZW has removable sim cards in their world edition phones. the storm, blackberry 8830, the z6 world edition and the new samsung saga all are world capable.

on their regular edition CDMA only handsets there is no sim card in them period. it's an ESN (electronic serial number) only system.

if you don't want to be stuck with those specific phones for world travel all you have to do is call the global department and they will give you a free phone to use over seas.
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I've been using TMobile(Voicestream) for about 8 years now. Chose them initially because they had the best price plans. That, the SIM cards, and the option to go with a 1 year contract, as opposed to 2 for all the rest, made my choice easy. I've also found their customer service to be exceptional.
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VZW also does 1 year agreements and does month to month agreements (not prepaid).
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