<p>I'm a junior, but my family will have to renew our plan, or get a new one. I'm trying to make sure that all the places I may be going to school will get decent reception. So what is the consensus and UCLA, verizon or cingular?</p>
<p>Verizon.</p>
<p>+10chars</p>
<p>Yep - Verizon is by far the best in Los Angeles</p>
<p>verizon for coverage, cingular for better phone selection and GSM-ness.</p>
<p>verizon owns ucla like none other.</p>
<p>Even if Verizon is the best, how is the usability of Cingular in the UCLA area? Decent?</p>
<p>What about T-Mobile?</p>
<p>Damn... I have Verizon.... I like it but who else thinks the cell phone plan sucks....</p>
<p>cell phones were discussed here:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=55534&page=1&pp=20%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=55534&page=1&pp=20</a>
start from post 8.</p>
<p>seems Cingular and T-Mobile are "pretty good".</p>
<p>I've read the old cc boards, old threads on the new boards, etc, and the consensus is verizon :)</p>
<p>This is what I gathered:
Phones: good- verizon, Nextel, tmobile<br>
bad- sprint (ok), cingular, at&t wireless</p>
<p>I don't know if this is still the case. Correct me if i'm wrong..and i think the list goes from best to worst.. lol..</p>
<p>how can cingular be bad and t-mobile be good? they share the same network. cingular coverage will equal if not surpass t-mobile's (cingular users can use both the t-mobile and former AT&T network)</p>
<p>hmm..I don't know I just read past comments on phone service..a few people may have responded negatively under cingular and i took note of that..all ii'm sure of is that verizon is the top choice. I remember reading posts about some network taking over another though..?</p>
<p>Ok, I happened to surf in here.</p>
<p>Here's the thing about Cingular, AT&T and T-Mobile. Before the whole acquisition crap, Cingular allowed T-Mobile to use their network in CA, NV and some other state in exchange for T-Mobile opening up their NYC network for Cingular.</p>
<p>After Cingular and AT&T became one, Cingular sold its entire CA, NV and what other state's network to T-Mobile. There was was that time where Cingular users would sometimes be using AT&T's network when you could still access both. Today, Cingular = AT&T's old network (its actually smaller than the old Cingular network). T-Mobile is only the old Cingular + T-Mobile's towers. Thus, they are two separate networks now.</p>
<p>t-mobile now owns cingular's former CA/NV network, true. but cingular (and AT&T) users still have access to the now t-mobile network AND the old AT&T network. t-mobile will continue to allow cingular users on the network for a few more years as cingular continues to build out the old AT&T network. so new cingular = old cingular + old AT&T GSM. t-mobile = old cingular (t-mo doesnt have towers in CA/NV)</p>
<p>these are facts, and i'm not just pulling this info out of my @$$. i have cingular and i can log onto both networks, so can all my friends on cingular and AT&T.</p>
<p>hmm well now sprint has bought nextel so is sprint good now? im trying to figure out if i need to switch once i get down there and im running sprint. sprint or verizon?</p>
<p>sprint and nextel's networks arent compatible (CMDA vs iDEN) so their networks can't be combined. i dont know what sprint is going to do with nextel...</p>
<p>cingular and AT&T's GSM networks are the same technology, so they were able to combine them.</p>
<p>goto orientation and see how your coverage is with sprint. if its bad, you could switch to verizon or something before school starts. (be aware of early termination fees you might have with sprint if you're still under contract)</p>
<p>I was visiting S out in UCLA and my T-Mobile coverage was okay. There were some areas where the coverage was spotty but not enough to cause any problems. I'll be out there again in a few weeks and will report back.</p>
<p>I don't know whether I should get a number in the 310 area code or stick with the area code down here in San Diego (858).</p>
<p>Does it really matter beside the fact that I'd have to tell people my area code (which they will probably and hopefully SAVE in their cell phones so they won't have to remember)?</p>
<p>ehh, im keeping mine. 408!! NorCal baby! </p>
<p>but really, its just 3 extra numbers (four if you count the "1" prefix)</p>
<p>also, everyone with a cell phone should have free long distance anyways, so thats not an issue.</p>
<p>everyone keeps their home area code unless they got a new cell phone or plan when they moved to LA from probably out-of-state</p>