| As cell phones have climbed to the stratosphere | | | | larger providers have millions of subscribers and |
| on the list of "must-have" personal technologies, all | | | | therefore have many more customers willing to |
| the major wireless cell phone providers have done | | | | rate them. That may put them at a disadvantage |
| their best to advertise themselves as the most | | | | to the smaller regional sites, which may get |
| reliable and user-friendly of their kind, in the hopes | | | | excellent ratings, but only from a few customers. |
| of carving out a larger chunk of the estimate | | | | CNET, for instance, has gathered data which |
| three billion cell phone subscriptions. | | | | shows that as of September 2007, of the six |
| The big four of the US wireless cell phone | | | | wireless cell phone carries which their readers |
| providers, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T (formerly | | | | have rated, Allnet has the highest ranking. But it |
| Cingular) and Sprint Nextel, have now been joined | | | | also has had only 23 people rank it, far less than |
| in the battle for market share by regional wireless | | | | more than 400 which rated AT&T lowest. |
| cell phone providers like MetroPCS, Alltell and US | | | | But AT&T has tens of millions of subscribers, |
| Cellular. But has any one of them done any thing | | | | so how much weight should be given the opinions |
| to distinguish itself as the best of the wireless cell | | | | of a mere 400 plus of them? For more |
| phone providers from a customer's standpoint? | | | | information on cell phone providers and camera |
| The reality of telecommunications technology is | | | | cell phones visit |
| that the quality of reception produced by the | | | | And what some cell phone users may not realize |
| same wireless cell phone provider can differ | | | | is that their wireless cell phone provider may |
| greatly within a small geographical area. Until a | | | | actually piggyback on the signals of another |
| group of people signs up with every wireless cell | | | | wireless carrier in the areas where it does not |
| phone provider in every part of the US, and | | | | have a widespread customer base. T-Mobile, for |
| devote their lives to making and reporting the | | | | instance, has roaming agreements with |
| quality of thousands of calls, there will be no | | | | AT&T, so if T-Mobile calls are being dropped |
| comprehensive data on which wireless cell phone | | | | in a specific area, the droppage might be due to a |
| provider has an edge on the rest. | | | | problem with the AT&T service. |
| One way, therefore, to judge which of the US' | | | | The state of the wireless cell phone providers |
| wireless cell phone providers currently has the | | | | today is such that most of cell phone users, most |
| best performance record is to read the online | | | | of the time, can call the people they need to call |
| reviews posted by customers of the different | | | | regardless of their location, and be confident that |
| providers, or to visit consumer advocate sites | | | | their calls will not be dropped. That, to many |
| which have done their own independent testing | | | | minds, ought to be enough. But competition is the |
| and drawn unbiased conclusions. | | | | consumer's friend, and there is likely to be a |
| The problem with relying on the impressions of | | | | continuing growth in the number of regional |
| consumers to determine which is the best | | | | wireless cell phone providers in the US to keep |
| wireless cell phone provider is that many of the | | | | the bigger providers on their toes! |