OT: Cell Phones in Ukrainian Village.

I know this is boarderline at best, but I'm sure I'll be using my phone to order food, and arrange dinners, so it kind of fits.

I've been researching cell phone providers for my move, and as usual I'm getting all kinds of mixed information. I figure this forum should be fairly neutral on the subject, as opposed to most phone forums.

So what service works the best in/around Chicago specifically around the Ukrainian Village? What about the Loop area? On the L? I haven't had a land line since I got back from Korea in 01, so this is pretty important to me.

Thanks for any information you guys can provide.
SSDD

We moved to Bucktown Friday and have already used our phone to order food We had a nice dinner at Feast last night (no phones involved) and have had takeout from Babylon.

I don't know all providers, but we went to the T-mobile store and they had a map that shows the city down to street level, with an overlay that shows where reception is good and where it is great and where it is not good. This should be something you can search for online, this map, though it may be proprietary to their internal web.

We bought our phones on Amazon.com - they had great deals the week we were shopping. You can generally find the phone you want for a greatly reduced price. My husband said "they'd have to pay me to use a cell phone" and through Amazon after we pay the fee and get their instant rebate and get the manufacturer's rebate, we are actually making a small profit to buy this phone!

leek wrote:I don't know all providers, but we went to the T-mobile store and they had a map that shows the city down to street level, with an overlay that shows where reception is good and where it is great and where it is not good. This should be something you can search for online, this map, though it may be proprietary to their internal web.

Here's the link...AFAIK, no other provider has bothered to create an actually useful coverage map.

http://compass.t-mobile.com/Default.aspx

I'm a T-Mo customer and am generally happy with their service...I have found that coverage is quite spotty around Armitage & California (and the coverage map supports this) but it looks like Ukrainian Village is pretty well covered.

At any rate, I second the suggestion of purchasing the phone from Amazon. You'll get a phenomenal deal (after rebate). Buy.com also has similar deals.

Thanks guys. T-mobile definately has the best map of their coverage. I guess I might just keep my current phone and use it for the first week or so, and see what networks I'm on at my new home, and around the city.

Thanks
SSDD

I'll add that Nextel STINKS in Wicker Park. YMMV. It's a total black hole.

tem wrote:I'll add that Nextel STINKS in Wicker Park. YMMV. It's a total black hole.

Thanks for the info. Nextel wasn't really a consideration, but it is good to hear that I didn't leave someone worthy off the list.

FWIW, my wife and I have been with Sprint since moving to Chicago about 2 years ago.

Year 1 we lived in the heart of Wicker Park and had intermittent service, worse while in our apartment. That improved somewhat near last summer (more towers?) and now we have no complaints to report either in/around our place in Bucktown or on commutes north to Evanston, into Loop, or many points in between.

Customer service has been hit or miss, but luckily haven't had reason to deal with them much in past 1.5 years.

Zee

PS: who knows what the recent Sprint/Nextel merger will bring?

Based on extended conversations with a great number of friends (these have been ongoing for years, involving several dozen of us comparing notes on our experiences with our providers) the overall gold star for best coverage and signal strength has to go to Verizon, hands down. (Heck, as of my last visit, they were the only provider that even worked in the House of Blues - that was somewhat important when we were setting up shows there.)

The downside is that you definitely pay a premium for that quality. My bill tends to average ~$100 - $110 a month.

Verizon was definately the way I was leaning when I started this thread, it's good to hear something first hand and positive. One thing I like about them is that they appear to have significantly better nationwide coverage than a couple of other providers.

The price isn't that bad, historically I've never been much of talking on the phone guy anyway. Before taxes I'm looking at about 105 for my wife and I's plans. Not a big deal, especially since we don't plan on having a land line.

Thanks again.

Both Verizon and T-Mobile are highly rated for customer service and for coverage but I've heard bad things about both, so you never know. The big difference is the kind of networks they use. This matters for where in the world you can take your phone, and what kind of phone you can get.

T-Mobile is GSM - international, cool phones, interesting side deals like T-mobile hot spots. On the downside, slower internet on the phone and service outside urban areas is spottier.

Verizon is CDMA - superb network, works even inside concrete buildings. Downsides are boring phones, not easy to go international, pricier.

You are of course correct, there are upsides and downsides anyway you go.

My personal situation leans me more to Verizon. I do tend to roadtrip fairly often so the better the nationwide coverage, the better. If I leave the country (unlikely) it would be on vacation, and if I'm on vacation the only person what would need to reach me, my wife, would be with me! The "Cool" factor is about the only strike I have against Verizon, but since it will be my only phone, functionality has to be first in line. What good are cool phones if they don't work where you want them to?

I'm probably going to go with a E815 from Motorola, pretty loaded as far as toys go. They also have a CDMA RAZR coming out, but as cool as it looks, I don't like how it feels in my hand. I was looking GSM providers (Cingular and T-mobile) because I like the Sony-Ericson S710a form factor, I just don't like how the screen isn't protected. I tend to just put the phone in my pocket, and the screen would take a beating.

Thanks again all, It looks like I'll be on Verizon.
SSDD

I highly recommend T-Mobile if you live in Ukrainian Village. I get reception everywhere, I never have any dropped calls, and my phone bills are pretty darned low. Their nationwide plan is good, too--I seem to get coverage everywhere I go, and never any roaming charges. Many of the samsung phones available through T-Mobile are really good, very easy to hear the person on the other end of the line, even when you are in a crowded bar. Not that I would know, of course...

My monthly bill is around $60 for 600 minutes (and unlimited weekends and evening), free long distance, alsot including unlimited text/picture messaging and internet access, so it could be alot cheaper if I didn't have all the bells and whistles.

I had Cingular for years, fool that I am, getting no reception at home, either of my jobs, or at any of my local hangouts, so T-Mobile has been a vast improvement...

As our phone contract expires soon, this discussion has been useful. We have Cingular now, and have found that while the package we have that includes free long distance is reasonably priced, and nationally coverage is good, there are a lot of places with poor reception.

headcase wrote:Verizon was definately the way I was leaning when I started this thread, it's good to hear something first hand and positive. One thing I like about them is that they appear to have significantly better nationwide coverage than a couple of other providers.

That's part of what lead me to pick Verizon, as well. My parent's have a ranch in rural western Wisconsin. Back when I was with AT&T (on their GSM network prior to the Cingular merger) I'd lose all cellphone reception about 25 miles west of Madison - and it wouldn't return until I came back the same direction. There were simply no GSM providers, period.

With Verizon I almost always have a signal. (There's a few spots on narrow roads, in valleys between steep hills that are dead - but that's expected.) Worst case, my phone swaps to analog and jumps onto US Cellular's network to grab a signal. (Which murders battery life, but that's what car chargers are for!)

I've been lugging around a Moto V710 for the past year or so, and the RF performance on the handset itself is notably better than the performance from other handsets from LG and Samsung. I highly reccomend it.

One other thing - the notion that getting a phone with a GSM carrier will automatically give you a phone that works internationally is a pretty significant fallacy. Do some research if you need an international phone - there's a bit more to it than just using GSM. (And US GSM != European GSM.)