"We are the Nation's.......Insert Here......Cell Network"

Commerical after commerical, each United States cell phone company has its own story. But who is truly the best? Each one seems to state they are the best at something. "Largest", "Most Reliable", "Most Powerful", "Fewest Dropped Calls", "Best Plans", "Best Customer Service", etc. but who can you believe? Obviously not the cell company because their main goal is to get YOUR business. Since you have a good six or seven choices with whom to go with, each one has to seem worth your time.

So this guide breaks down what is true based on information taken from the Internet and each company's personal website. The point of this guide is to educate and not to show my personal opinions on any specific company. Based on the facts listed below, you make the choice.

(Oh, and please take the time to click the 'YES' this Guide was helpful Button at the Bottom if you learned anything, the fact that this guide has been viewed over 20,000+ times over the past 3 years and still has less than 200 clicks of the button rather it be good or bad is pretty sad, if you take the time to read it, take the time to click, thank you)

-Cricket, Metro PCS, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile begin this guide because all of these providers are used without having to sign a service contract. The most popular users of these companies are those with bad or little credit and those who don't do a lot of traveling outside major cities. Cricket and Metro are really the same type of company because both provide no contract plans with UNLIMITED anytime minutes as well as unlimited texts, pictures, and internet on your phone. ALL for one monthly fee, no contract, and completely NO credit requirements. WOW! How come they don't have the most customers? Well, the problem is you ONLY get these unlimited features within a small region. Because of that, these companies are known as "bubble" cell companies. In the beginning, your phone only worked within that set region or bubble. If you left, the phone just didn't work what-so-ever. In recent years, they have added a bundle of nationwide minutes for roaming outside the set region. This change did make the service more appealing since you need a cell phone when you travel, but the problem is you have a limit to these minutes, and once you go over, they hit you with HUGE roaming charges. Something you don't see as often anymore from the larger cell companies. The other reason these companies are not the best is purely because of service. They are small and don't have the same towers or money to produce better technology than the other MUCH larger nationwide cell companies. The majority of their customers come from large cities with people who need a phone for A LOT of talking without needing credit.

Cricket has also jumped on the 'Wireless Internet Card' for your laptop bandwagon. Just like their competitors, the wirless card allows you to jump online anywhere you have service, but the cost is MUCH less. The price is just $35 a month for unlimited Internet access anywhere you go. That price is almost half what Sprint, Verizon, & AT&T charges. Sounds amazing!!! Why don't they sell more wireless cards than anyone else?? Well, the speed of course varies with location. And just like Cricket's cell service, if you aren't in a great area for service, your speed online will be very slow or simply not work at all. In the end you are truly getting what you pay for. If you need this service and it does work pretty well in your area, then go for it, but for those who need a truly reliable wireless Internet service, paying more equals happiness.  

While Cricket and Metro provide service with a plan, Virgin and Boost are straight up PrePaid cell companies. While the vast majority of cell users in the US prefer a monthly bill and plans that allow them unlimited services, prepaid customers have total control over what they spend each month. Rather than pay a set rate each and every month, you pay for the minutes you use. Most of the time this is done with refill cards you find at gas stations or supermarkets that you add to your account over the phone. You are charged anywhere from .5 to .25 cents per minute when you talk on your phone thus exhausting the refill forcing you to buy more. There are many different ways these plans can have additional features. Sometimes you can add unlimited texting or night & weekend minutes for an additional cost per refill at the time of activation. While others allow you free company to company calling, but charge you a $1 fee per day you make a call. The unique aspect of Boost is they work through Nextel and provide a prepaid "churp" or walkie-talkie service. At one point they offered users the ability to "churp" completely unlimited each day for the fee of just $1. I am not positive if this is still offered since it seemed to be costing the company WAY more than it was bring in. The commericals for this type plan and service seem to have vanished. Recently, Boost has started their own plan based service very similar to Cricket with unlimited everything service for flat $50, but also like Cricket, it is not going to work everywhere, so know what you are getting when you believe its the same as the larger companies only cheaper.

Overall, prepaid can be an excellent option for those who want the active cell phone in their life, but they don't want it for everyday use or they fear the overage bill. The most popular Prepaid customers are children/teens & Seniors. It can be a great option for youth who need cell service but there is a fear of the child causing large overage bills. Since you pay before you use it, you have complete control of the usage of child. Keep in mind a customer will still pay more per month than having an additional line on their contracted Family Plan but each child is different, so the needs will very between households. Prepaid also works great for the older generations or senior members of your family that will never be using the phone for conversations and only need an active cell phone to leave in the car Prepaid customers typically keep their phone turned off, and enjoy not having to pay a service bill each month no matter how often they use the phone. Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T/Cingular all provide their own prepaid service as an option over their regular contracted service. AT&T/Cingular call theirs GO PHONE. The GoPhone option currently leads the country as the #1 most popular type of Prepaid service in the US. Not hard to believe when you see that the network is the same as what contract customers use with AT&T. This also makes since when you consider the fact that AT&T has the highest deposits and credit requirements for contract service. AT&T has no problem pushing those with high deposits toward their Go Phone service. Keep in mind that you cannot use an iPhone or Blackberry PDA Data plan on GoPhone service, so prepaid is not an option if you need the emailing or net access of a PDA.  

(See Verizon for news about them purchasing Alltel Wireless!)

-Alltel, Suncom, US Cellular start the list of contract based services by being the three smaller cell companies that continue to exist despite not having service in all 50 states. In most cases, these companies will exist in more rural areas that don't have many options for cell service. Since they can't be the only provider in one area, they sometimes split time with each other or one of the other large companies. For many years, Alltel was the largest of these companies until 2008 when they were purchased by Verizon, and as of 2009, are no longer a seperate company. While it made no since why they continued to show so many ads, I for one will not be missing their VERY annoying commericals. US Cellular continues to be a very popular company in the mountain and rural regions of the country. With large farms in the middle of no where, typically US Cellular will be the only service that works. For those that live in these areas, you will have no other options but US Cellular, while the larger companies stick to big cities. From my experience, they offer similar plans to other cell companies with a few different features considering they don't have the same competition in rural areas. Suncom is all but gone providing service in a few states around the country. Much like US Cellular, Suncom is big in areas that don't have many options. I know the least about Suncom, so I don't have more to say about them.

- Sprint begins the list of major companies. Once a huge landline provider, Sprint has turned its focus on cell phones. For years, Sprint was a top player in the cell phone industry, going neck and neck with Verizon in the '90s as the largest provider with many long standing customers. Even when Cingular was created in the late '90s, Sprint continued to stay near the top. Everything seemed to change in 2004 when they purchased Nextel, and changed their logo & colors to black & yellow (Nextel colors). Normally a merger of two major cell companies means a larger network of customers and techology as all the cell towers combine (just like when Cingular bought the old AT&T Wireless also in 2004). BUT, Sprint uses CDMA technology & Nextel uses GSM (SIM cards). So while both companies were now owned and controlled by Sprint, they were still two seperate companies with different rate plans, phones, & technology. Sprint being the larger more powerful company wanted Nextel for its Walkie-Talkie network of customers. This idea seemed like it would work, but in the end, the merger only drove people away. They finished 5th overall for 2006 in revenue. Not only that, but they continue to lose more customers to other companies than any other mainly because their customer service has dropped greatly over the past few years. As reported in a Newsweek article back in Aug '07, Sprint dropped over 1,000 customers simply because they called into customer service too much. If you notice, their commericals are beginning to change. As a last hope of staying in business, Sprint fired their CEO and almost overnight adopted the idea of one rate plan for everything. They called the plan the 'Simply Everything Plan' providing customers with Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text, Pics, Emails, & Internet for a flat price of $99. This change happened very close to the time that both Verizon & AT&T adopted their Unlimited Nationwide talking plans for $99 (JUST TALKING). So Sprint took a big leap in cost difference. The rest of their plans for single & family plans remain pretty much the same with all of them including free 7 at 7 night & weekend minutes and the abiltiy to add unlimited text (No Pics) for $10 to a line. Going forward Sprint w/ Nextel stays in the fight with simliar phones to Verizon and a strong data network for its 3G & Wireless Broadband cards (in major cities). Besides the plan price, their biggest thing going for Sprint is their contract with the NFL to broadcast live games through the phone. Other cell company phones can do with through the Internet by access websites, but Sprint has its own technology for the live broadcast through a regular flip style over having to have a great Internet phone. Time will tell if Sprint can stay alive. *For note, their customer service is still pretty poor, and has finished near the bottom the past two years* Keep that in mind if you hate dealing with bill problems and replacing phones.

A few things Sprint has going for it is the whole the contract for NFL access on a cell phone, so they are the only cell phone provider where you can watch/listen to live games through you phone. For those diehard football fans out there who travel a lot or simply aren't near a TV of your favorite team, Sprint is the cell service for you. It is also important to note that recently Sprint has changed some of their Family Plans so they are much lower per year than similar Verizon / AT&T plans (only when comparing talking, texting, & data plans all together).  

Finally, Sprint is one of those cell companies that "traps" you in your contract. Most will usually require you to extend your contract a year when you change your voice plan within so many months of being out of contract, but Sprint does it for just about everything. Rather you just signed up a month ago, if you decide to change your voice plan, text plan, address, or just remove something. They will say your contract will be extended for an additional year from that date. Now everyone has different experiences with this company, so it might be a per rep bases on some of these things. Just make sure that if you go with Sprint, you know that what you decide on needs to be what you truly want or you will never be able to leave without paying an early termination fee.

- T-Mobile is next in line and are the youngest of the group. Most cellular carries formed from smaller cell companies already set up, while T-Mobile is a European based company that came over here to set up service. The company also operates with the GSM technology (SIM Cards). Looking at their coverage map, it seems like they only cover major cities and interstates. Once you hit any rural area, the service just drops. So they have to roam on other company's towers like Cingular/AT&T or Nextel. Since their plans are nationwide, it will not cost you money, but you will have a lot more dropped calls since one of the reasons for a call dropping is the change of tower mid call. T-Mobile by far has the BEST plans for minutes. For the money, you get more daytime minutes than any other carrier. The reason for this is because they are the smallest so they have to offer something truly unique in order to stand out. Plus they are one of the smallest when it comes to their data network. While every major carrier has created a 3G or newer technology for data, T-Mobile still uses the Edge or 2.5 speed, so if you want to have really fast internet on your phone, go with Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T/Cingular. T-Mobile also introduced My Favs or favorite friends where you can elect five numbers (landline or cell) to be always free. This was a good feature for T-Mobile because they are never the largest provider in any specific area. The downside to this is you lose the full Cell to Cell feature throughout all T-Mobile customers, so what might work for one person will not for someone else. Something you should know about the Favs is you have to have a specific phone to even use the feature. If you don't use that phone, you simply can't get the feature. One of the greatest things going for T-Mobile is its customer service. For years they have been at the top for customer service, so while they might be smaller, they know how to treat the customers they do have. Like Sprint, they also require lower levels of credit, so it is usually easier to have service with them over the two larger companies that may require a higher deposit.

- AT&T / Cingular comes next in this guide because they are currently the second largest cell company in the US (Formly the largest until Verizon purchased Alltel back in 2008). Before I go into all that makes AT&T different, I thought it would help if I cleared up the whole mess with the name change. OK, so once upon a time there was Cingular Wireless, which was originally created by two very large landline companies known as Southwestern Bell Company or SBC and Bellsouth. In forming Cingular, these two companies were able to help the other by combining the towers from the parts of the country that the other controlled. Cingular went on this way until the end of 2004 when they purchased AT&T Wireless. Since both used the same GSM technology, Cingular was able to combine ALL the AT&T Wireless towers with their own thus creating the larger more powerful Cingular which all have seen these past years. Now, AT&T Wireless had completely NO ties to the old landline AT&T that we all know from history class. It was simply a wireless company with the same name. So, what happened recently is that SBC purchased the old AT&T landline, thus changing their name from SBC to AT&T. Then this new AT&T purchased Bellsouth. Making the two original parents companies of Cingular into one LARGE company under the old AT&T name. Now that Cingular is controlled by just one company, it has become the wireless division of the new AT&T company. Thus the name Cingular is gone. Oh, and just for education sake, the new AT&T Company is now the 3rd!! LARGEST Company in the whole United States (behind Exxon & Microsoft).

As mentioned earlier, Cingular/AT&T have the same rate plans as Verizon. You get the same number of daytime mines, free company to company (AT&T to AT&T) calling, and free night & weekend minutes starting at 9 for the exactly same amount of money. BUT, you Rollover your minutes. Truly one of the coolest aspects to their company because if you think about it, this is the ONLY company where you have the least chance of an overrage bill from talking. If you think about how people use cell phones, you always start your service on a plan that fits your needs, if its too low in the beginning, you change it fast. So now you have a plan where you NEVER go over. Just like all the rest. The bill is the same each month, so you never notice how much you talk. THEN, it happens, you have that RANDOM situation where you truly need to use your cell phone WAY more than ever before. Maybe it was car problems in the middle of no where, or a loved one was in the hospital. Whatever the reason, you talked and talked and talked. Then the cell bill comes in, and with ANY other cell phone company, this was the month you just had to pay them more money. In most cases, every 100 minutes you go over, will cost you an extra $40. So 500 minutes over equals $200 extra that month. Which for many hurts when you aren't used to it. But rollover completely and totally prevents you EVER paying that extra $200. Another positive aspect to rollover is it gives you a great way to protect yourself when introducing your teenage / young adult to your cell plan. If they go over, you can get control over it before it cost you extra money. Oh, and speaking of rollover, many don't know that the minutes you rollover you keep for a whole year and only expire month by month. So the minutes from January you keep til next January, but you don't lose the Feb minutes until next Feb. You keep that specific month for a full calender year. Other companies try to scare customers away from the rollover by saying you lose all the rollover from the whole year all at once. This is simply not how it works. You constantly replace the new month with the old month, so as long as you don't use them, you will ALWAYS have rollover. Now, it is important to note that you can lose your rollover when you change your rate plan. It all depends on what you are changing to plan to and how many total rollover minutes you have built up. Example: if you have a 900 minute nation plan with 1,000 rollover minutes built up & lower it to a 450 plan, then your rollover is lower to 450, the amount you change your rate plan to. Now the opposite also applies, if you had the same 900 plan with 1,000 rollover built up & changed to the higher 1400 plan, then you don't lose ANY of the 1,000 rollover. This rule was put into effect to stop people from paying for the 3000+ plan for one month & then lowering it to the 450 the next month so they could have 2300 or so rollover to use for 11 months.  

Another positive aspect to AT&T is they truly DON'T "trap" you in your contract. The contract is purely to account for the price on the phone, and not how you have your plan or service setup. While you might see some reps say you have to extend your contract to change your rate plan when you are not in contract or within a few months of being out. The majority of the time you extend when you do an equipment uprade and maybe add a line when changing to a Family plan.

AT&T is also currently the ONLY provider of the iPhone from Apple. The iPhone broke the record for the most new phones sold on the opening weekend in the history of cell phones. The iPhone itself has its own guide which I have written (please check it out), so I won't go into all the details now. Just know that the iPhone is now the most popular phone model worldwide, and currently the #1 reason for change between cell companies. While the other cell phone companies can claim to have a phone that is equal if not more advanced to the iPhone, there is STILL no other phone that comes close to its capability. The best way to describe the iPhone is it's a handheld computer with a phone program. It doesn't just have similar cell phone features i.e. (Internet, MP3 player, camera, gps, etc). It has the ability to have specific programs installed to it aka (Applications or Apps). There is just no other cell phone sold in the USA if not the world that comes close. Thus, AT&T stays right behind Verizon in total customers.

One more thing to add is AT&T as well as other Laptop connect card companies redefined their Data Connect/Laptop Internet plans from Unlimited to a quoted 5000 MB or 5 GB limit per month for the same $60 a month as before. Those who previously setup the service are still grandfathered in, but anyone new will be on this new plan. To claify what it means to have 5GBs worth of service. Out of all the customers in the country that use this techology for wireless internet from all possible provides, less than 2% use more than 2GBs per month. So while you do have a limit, the possibility of going over the 5GBs would require someone to be online 24/7 doing a lot of media and video downloads. Sprint & Verizon have always had a cap on their quoted Unlimited service only it was never advertised that way. Newsweek has reported that Verizon has been known to drop customers who continually go over their 2GB cap. Another important fact about AT&T data's network is they are currently the Fastest 3G network in the US. So as long as you are in that 3G network, AT&T will be faster than any other cell phone. Honestly, the speed is so close to Wi-Fi speed, many cannot tell the difference.

   - Verizon finishes this guide because they currently the largest cell phone company with over $80 million customers after purchasing Alltel Wireless in 2008 the largest with over 80 million customers. They also continue to make the MOST money / revenue of any cell company. What makes Verizon so good? To begin, they use the CDMA technology (same as Sprint). So while they are able to provide excellent service for customers in the US, their phones simply will not work outside the US unless you are in specific areas of Canada, other countries like the US that also have both CDMA & GSM (New Zealand), or you have a very specific phone (Blackberry Storm). The reason the company continues to be strong is because they have always been consistant with their service. If you look back at the past 10 years, Verizon has always been in the top 3 for cell companies. Once it was formed from the joining of many smaller regional based companies, they have never stopped growing. They introduce technology as fast as it comes out, and currently provides the best option for GPS (global positioning system) on the majority of their phones, while companies like AT&T and T-Mobile can only provide it on a handfull of devices. The company also continues to offer very good prices on their top end phones when signning up for 2-year service contract. What doesn't make since is how they can continue to bring in the most revenue. The main reason for this is because until recently they have never given ANYTHING away. I mean nothing. No free incoming, no free 7 at 7 night/weekend minutes,  no rollover, and no free messanging. All additional features require additional cost to your bill. And the funny thing is their minute plans (with JUST minutes) are priced the EXACT same as AT&T only they don't have rollover. Currently you might see the two companies plans look different with Verizon offering Free Texts, Pics etc on all their Family Plans. Well, all they did was apply the unlimited messaging feature that cost 29.99 extra to their plans and said that was the new plan. So while it seems like they are finally giving away something, they are still charging the same amount as before. 

Now, after decents of no free / included features, they have invented their own version of Favs (mainly because they bought Alltel & got the rights to their once 10 Favs plan). But, unlike Alltel, the feature is more expensive than what Alltel used to charge for, so really, they are still not giving anything away. The main reason Verizon has been able to get away with always charging the most is because they have been provided very solid 'reliable' phone service for truly almost 20 years. No other cell company can say this or has that long of a tenure in the industry. Verizon continues to be the highest company for customer retension. That means people don't leave Verizon as often as the other companies. At first one might think that comes from the fact that many who are fine with how the service itself works see no reason to ever change since the need for a cell phone is being met year after year. Plus at this point in their life, all their friends and family all have Verizon, so it makes no sense to leave. They never require additional free features when the unlimited mobile to mobile from their regular plan is all they need. While its true that many customers stay put for that reason, I found after talking with a few customers of Verizon that they also "Trap" customers into their contract the same way Sprint does. This comes straight from a friend of mine that said he was required to extend his contract a full year when he called in to increase his text messaging plan. These customers get trapped into never leaving everytime they make changes because they fear that early termaination fee. While Verizon does provide a very good product in the world of cell phones, they continue to get away with charging the most for the same type of service and trapping customers into never leaving.

Besides becoming the largest company in the nation, the best thing going for Verizon right now is their data network. They were the first in the US to offer 3G Speed for data, and currently the largest 3G network in the US. Verizon has also created a GPS service on the phone itself, so you can take the GPS feature anywhere you go. Other than Sprint, no company has made having GPS so easy since almost every popular model phone has the capability. Although AT&T/Cingular has option on a few models, Verizon is currently miles ahead of the GPS race. In the end, Verizon does provide a quality product in the US for the need of owning and staying connected with a cell phone.

To conclude who really is the best, it all comes down to your personal needs. If you are only looking for a cell phone that will work pretty much anywhere in the US which must also have a strong data network for both emailing & Internet as well as the largest mobile to mobile network of any US company, Verizon is honestly the best. If want a similar network both talking & data as well as need a phone that can work well almost anywhere in the world, & also has the least chance of an overage bill, then AT&T is honestly the best. If you want a solid cell phone that has a very strong 3G network and the largest walkie-talkie network of customers as well as the cheapest cell plans for a phone that will work well in the whole US, then Sprint is the best. Finally, if you live in a major city / area around the city & never travel, but also want all the popular features, then Cricket or Boost might be the best for you. Of course, you can't forget that a good number of you will find Prepaid service as long as it works no matter who it might be with to be the best.  

SO, there you have it. This guide is long, but I wanted it to be as complete as possible. Not only breaking down the differences, but hopefully educating people about any aspect of the wireless world they might have been unaware of. Please excuse any fact about a specific cell company that might be no longer true because it has changed since this guide was last updated. I try to go back and update as I find out about new information but for the most part, I will never be able to keep up. It changes TOO much!! Hopefully you learned enough to feel like it was worth the read. And PLEASE remember to click the button!!!!! Thank you.