If you are considering gsm networks, look at t-mobile. Cheaper than at&t (at least for what I need). As Ben stated - only you can tell if the coverage is good for you. I have had t-mobile for a few years now. Suits my needs - including having to make calls from China and Europe. Their smart phones leave something to be desired though... So far I think none of the carriers have phones & plans that make sense together.
-Bruce -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ben Scott Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 3:10 PM To: Greater NH Linux User Group Subject: Re: iPhone/Smartphone stuff On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 12:32 PM, Warren Luebkeman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am also curious to know if you have any recommendations > on other smartphones worth considering, and why. What are your requirements? Just a phone that plays MP3's? Casual web browsing? Wireless sync of mail, contacts, and calendar to MSFT Exchange, plus compatibility with existing business applications? Something else? The answer will be hugely different depending on what you need. > What do people think about their cell phone coverage area? Mobile phone coverage is a hugely personal thing. I can't emphasize this enough. Your neighbor may have great coverage while you have nothing. Or vice versa. And nobody really cares what their neighbor has for coverage; all anyone cares about is if they have coverage. What I recommend doing is obtaining a phone for testing. Bring it to all the areas you usually frequently. If you've got coverage there, you'll be happy most of the time. You can still factor in overall coverage reports to your decision, but the biggest factor should be coverage where you routinely are. And ignore carrier coverage maps; they routinely lie. > We have Sprint now and it seems to be alright, but AT&T > seems to have better coverage, as well as Verizon, especially > for roaming. Avoid anything Nextel (iDEN) like the plague. It's a dead-end technology. Sprint is the only US iDEN carrier, and they're trying to get rid of it. Both Sprint and VZW are CDMA networks. In theory, their phones should be compatible with each other's towers. In practice, they don't always have roaming agreements everywhere. VZW prolly has the best coverage inside North America. Leave the continent and you're in rough shape. AT&T is a GSM carrier. Outside of the US, it's basically GSM everywhere (with a few notable exceptions (such as Japan, where they have their own standard incompatible with everybody)). So if world travel is something you do a lot of, AT&T is probably the best choice. As Bill McGonigle can attest, get far enough away from major population centers, and you'll have crap for coverage no matter who you have. Most carriers regard the northern half of NH as a foreign country. Actually, worse; if it was another country, GSM would probably work. I hear Iridium is still in operation.... ;-) -- Ben _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/ _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
