Is there a website that compares performance of different cell phone providers in specific metropolitan areas? I’m looking to get a new phone and possibly change carriers. In the past I’ve avoided Sprint because my experience talking with people using their phones in my area (NY/Long Island) has been less than stellar; however, it’s been several years since I’ve paid attention, and thought that by now they might have improved.
Note that I’m not looking for experiences with Sprint, unless you happen to live on Long Island and have used them regularly in the past year or so.
I’m in a meeting right now so can’t type long, but you may want to try consumer reports. I don’t know if you need to pay to play or not. The other thing is to hit each carriers website. T-mobile has a coverage map that is very good and scales down to the street level. I’m very sure the others do as well.Trainer coming, I’ll be back later with a little more detail. ( Assuming my meeting doesn’t suck the life force completely out of me )
OK sorry to dash off like that. But I was in a training meeting and I was already busted once for texting. I’ll tell you man they thrive on the blood of innocents!
You are going to have a real hard time finding a site that is 100% objective for comparing cell phone companies. One of the problems on a coverage scale is it does kind of depend on what type of phone your using. A higher end phone is going to generally give you better service coverage than a low end phone. (This isn’t always necessarily true but it’s a good rule of thumb)
My suggestion to you is to compare the maps from each carrier and see what one says you have the best coverage. From there each provider has a minimum of a 2 week trial period. Pick up the phone you think should work best in your area and try it for a couple 2 – 3 days. And go from there.
I took the liberty of looking up the links for you to all the major providers.
I’d like to add that I’ve found t-mobile’s and Verizon’s maps to be pretty accurate in my experience. I work for one, and have a contract with the other, so I’ve had the opportunity to test out both networks on comparable devices. I haven’t tested out the others, so I can’t speak for or against those.
Thanks for those links; I had actually found the relevant one for Sprint after you posted your first response, and it looks their coverage is still vastly inferior to Verizon’s…oh well.