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ChopSticks · 04-19-2006, 09:10 PM

This is my first post, so bare with me, and YES for all of you super moderators out there I did a search first and did not find the answer I wanted.

I currently have Cingular using the BB 8700C. Everything is fine, speed is awesome and phone quality is great. However, T-Mobile just came out with the 8700G which seems to have the same features BUT at a cheaper monthly plan price. So I want to get an opinion from anyone who currently use T-Mobile around southern California. Please give me your opinion as far as phone quality, data speed, service, etc..

I'm seriously considereing switching over to T-Mobile because it is saving me about $50 a month. But, I do not want to switch if the speed and phone quality is horrible. Thanks for your help, love the site!

04-19-2006, 09:33 PM

Hey Choppy! Welcome

Los Angeles City or Los Angeles County?
Basically depends on your zip code. I live in Burbank and have very good signal in my area.

Go to T-mobile.com and you can actually check your coverage through entering your zipcode under the "Personal Coverage Check Get street-level details of coverage in your area". There it pinpoints detailed information (color coding) on what's your coverage. You can check your office address or home address if you like.

Hope that helps!

ChopSticks · 04-19-2006, 09:40 PM

Yea I noticed they had that, but didnt know if it is really accurate. I'm in LA county, how fast is your EDGE data?

stileshingles · 04-19-2006, 10:22 PM

I'm in the San Fernando Valley and get excellent reception including a fast EDGE connection.

I've lived in Los Angeles for most of my life and in that time I've used Nextel, Sprint (before they merged), Verizon, Cingular and now T-mobile. My personal opinion is that T-mobile is tied with Verizon for best reception in Los Angeles.

ChopSticks · 04-19-2006, 10:24 PM

Nice! Thanks for your help.

DuckWingDuck · 04-20-2006, 12:47 AM

I'm in Irvine with the occasional trip to Long Beach and north but my experience is within Orange County and it's plenty good.

mhab12 · 04-20-2006, 12:54 AM

TMo is great for BB service. I live in Malibu and struggle to find a dead area anymore. T-mobile is great at locating the dead spots and keeping all the major roads well covered. Always improving, make the switch.

Aldazar · 04-20-2006, 02:08 AM

I'm in Malibu, but I travel to LA quite a bit and have had no problems whatsoever with reception. Also, note that you don't have to purchase an 8700g, it'll probably be cheaper to have your 8700c unlocked and just stick a T-mo SIM card in it.

As long as you're staying mostly around the city areas, I recommend T-Mobile! Much better customer service!

dolpnfn · 04-20-2006, 02:22 AM

Hi. I work al over LA and there a few dead spots, but that happens with every phone carrier. I spoke to a TM rep tonight and I asked her if TM was still using Cingular's towers. She told me that they have a ton of their own, but in some areas, they do use Cing. towers. She said it is like the best of both worlds and thier service is only slightly worse than Verizon. I know that Verizon does have the best service, but thier prices are at least double, so it is not worth it. The 8700g which I bought tonight will be my first foray in to the Crackberry world, so I can't wait to test all te services. Switch to Tm, you will not be dissapointed.

drgoodtymes · 04-20-2006, 09:47 AM

I am in Orange County, Rancho Santa Margarita, and then cover from Carlsbad in San Diego County, up through Newport Beach, and out into Riverside. I have a few area's of problems, but then again doesn't everyone have issues at some point. Overall I am very happy with T-Mobile, and i have switched many people from Cingular to T-Mobile and they are also very happy.

*&)) · 04-20-2006, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aldazar

I'm in Malibu, but I travel to LA quite a bit and have had no problems whatsoever with reception. Also, note that you don't have to purchase an 8700g, it'll probably be cheaper to have your 8700c unlocked and just stick a T-mo SIM card in it.

As long as you're staying mostly around the city areas, I recommend T-Mobile! Much better customer service!

This is true but what ever you do don't ask cingular to do it, they act as if they don't believe in doing so. I just recently went out of the counrty but still paid for cingular service and they still did not want to unlock it for me.

hmosesi · 04-20-2006, 12:25 PM

I am a new convert to the BB. I used to use an unlocked Treo 650 on TMO.

The Edge makes a big difference. The coverage is great pretty much whereever I go. I live in Glendale and travel all over Los Angeles. I get connection in places where Cingular, Nextel... lose connection. The only place I dont have connection is in the San Fernando Courthouse.

I dont make many long distance phone calls so I've had the 3000 minute plan (California and Nevada) for 2 years now and only pay $49.99. I also have the BB data plan. I love TMO and would highly recommend that you cancel and go with TMO. You'll recover the cancellation fee from the savings on TMO in no time.

PCW · 04-20-2006, 01:33 PM

I had a TMO Blackberry 7230. Coverage in Los Angeles itself was pretty good. Once I left the metropolitan area, however, and strayed beyond the freeways into the suburbs, hills and valleys, particularly here in Ventura County, coverage was hit or miss.

TMO's pricing couldn't be beat. And their customer service, in my opinion, was outstanding. I was very happy with them overall.

For my needs, Verizon Wireless has offered more saturated coverage where I need it on a routine basis.

If TMO ever gets to the point where they can match VZW (and not just here, but throughout the areas where I travel), then I'd gladly switch back.

04-20-2006, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PCW

I had a TMO Blackberry 7230. Coverage in Los Angeles itself was pretty good. Once I left the metropolitan area, however, and strayed beyond the freeways into the suburbs, hills and valleys, particularly here in Ventura County, coverage was hit or miss.

TMO's pricing couldn't be beat. And their customer service, in my opinion, was outstanding. I was very happy with them overall.

For my needs, Verizon Wireless has offered more saturated coverage where I need it on a routine basis.

If TMO ever gets to the point where they can match VZW (and not just here, but throughout the areas where I travel), then I'd gladly switch back.

Customer service with Tmo is the best in the industry. They have like 6 awards. Been with them for quite awhile and never had any issues that they could not resolve. The longest I was with the phone with a supervisor was for over 2 hours!!!

DuckWingDuck · 04-20-2006, 03:54 PM

I have heard from friends that Verizon's customer service (which used to be stellar) has now gone down the toilet. I'm not a VZ customer so I can't confirm this, but a data point.

And ya, customer care with TMO is stellar. They sat on the phone with me for two nights in a row trying to get my XDA IIs to work.

TBC · 05-25-2006, 12:31 PM

I just switched to TMO from Sprint about a week ago. So far I think that Sprint had better phone reception. I am in the mid-wilshire/beverly hills area during the days and mostly on the westside during the evenings. The phone reception isn't bad, it just has some small glitches during conversations that I never had with Sprint.

The data plan on the other hand has been far better than Sprint. EXCEPT for the fact that I cannot connect to the web now with 4 (nearly full) bars of EDGE. I keep getting the "insufficient network coverage to process your request". Before this I never had any problems with data (IM SMS web).

Overall I am happy except for this data connection problem. I am paying a little bit more for my TMO plan compared to my Sprint plan, and I am unhappy right now that i cannot connect.

Hope this helps

rjw3000 · 05-25-2006, 12:36 PM

I am down in Orange County and travel for work in many areas of LA/Orange County and find the service works great for T-Mobile in this area.

wclyffe · 05-25-2006, 02:48 PM

This is my first posting, too. I just bought the BB 8700g from Amazon (works out be free) and moved from Sprint (after 5 years) to T--Mobile. I work in Beverly Hills and live in the Valley, but I travel this city all over, and I mean all over Freeways, canyons, etc). All said, I like T-Mobile better. We all get use to where a particular carrier will bug out and we avoid those areas by not making a call right then, or if on one, driving a different path if the call is important enough. I think T-Mobile is fantastic and I am saving about$40/month on my plan which after just a 5 months would cover the cancellation fee. It is also my first Blackberry after being a Palm user since 1986...I absolutely love it and I'm customizing my BB all the time!

azmmza · 05-25-2006, 04:38 PM

i have always had good reception on t-mobile in the los angeles area.

LunkHead · 05-25-2006, 07:18 PM

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 8700g: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Born and raised in LA area, transplanted to midwest... Anywho.. Was in the LA area a few months ago on vacation and visiting family... T-Mo worked like a champ all over the LA area!

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T-Mobile Users in Los Angeles? Need Opinion!