Truth Or Dare — What Is the Best US Cell Company?

Epsilon Eridani writes "I am returning to the US after an extended time overseas and upon my return I need to jump head first into the data enabled phone bandwagon. I have to admit ... I am lost as to what is the best company to choose. Before I left the US I used a Sprint HTC phone running Windows with the 'simply everything' plan to communicate and stay organized and a Sprint Wireless Card to connect my laptop to the world. Coming back several generations of technology later, what is the best set up technology-wise to link phone and laptop or two to the Internet? (Open source solutions accepted too!) Can the Slashdot community verify some of the claims on quality of service before I give my first born up when I sign a service contract?"

Comments

slashdot poll?

[Hadlock]

wouldn't this be best done as a slashdot poll?
 
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(the correct answer, by the way, is Cowboy Neal Mobile)

Re:slashdot poll?

[jonpublic]

[ ] ATT
[ ] Verizon
[ ] Sprint
[ ] Tmobile
[ x ] cowboyneal communications

Re:slashdot poll?

[Xaositecte]

I'd get serviced by cowboyneal any time!

The statistics repeatedly say

[ifwm]

It's AT&T.

With that in mind, I fully expect nothing but a torrent of complaints about them.

Re:The statistics repeatedly say

[mysidia]

Actually.. I think the best coverage might be WiFi + Skype. Not any cell provider. The speed is a heck of a lot better, and you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to find WiFi coverage in almost any coffee shop, even in fairly small cities that have very poor or non-existent 3G coverage from major providers.

Also, the price is less.. usually a $3 cup of coffee you would buy anyways, and no per-kilobyte billing -- you may be able to get it less-expensively also. At home, you don't have to pay any monthly fee at all (other than for your internet service and electricity, which you already buy).

When considering the statistics, regarding cell phone providers, the trouble is it's really hard to determine if the reports that provided those statistics were unbiased, or if funding or influence was received from ATT.

In addition, other providers in their war against ATT, very likely have paid shills whose job is to influence public opinion, by creating an impression their network has the best coverage, instead of ATT.

So it's really hard to determine from a conversation like the comments on this slashdot post.. who really is the best anecdotally.

Are posters' anecdote's real?

Which company has the most customers that visit slashdot?

Which company has the most satisfied (or unsatisfied) customers that visit slashdot?

Are the characteristics of slashdot visitors similar to characteristics of the general population? For example, are Slashdot users likely to notice problems (or features) that the general population doesn't know about, or doesn't prioritize so much?

Which of the cell providers have the most paid shills in this forum?

And now

[Dunbal]

For a list of entirely subjective replies.

Re:And now

[M8e]

I concur.

A strange game...

[Anonymous Coward]

The only winning move is not to play.

Seriously, all of the carriers suck.

Your only real choice is to choose things that are important to you and find the carrier that sucks the least in those things.

Of course, you have to put up with the extreme suckage in the other areas...

Wrong payment type

[GaryOlson]

... before I give my first born up when I sign a service contract?

You are not ready for the US American cell phone companies. Packets are transported by the souls of the damned who sign service contracts. Your firstborn is not payment enough; you must provide the souls of all your friends and family.

a lot like asking ...

[Surt]

What's the best kind of attack to have, heart attack, or stroke?

Re:Frist tsop

[Kell Bengal]

What exactly do you have against thin small outline packages, anyway?

Re:Frist tsop

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't fit in freakin' prototyping boards.