Prepaid Cell phone performance

[doitmyself]

Is there any way to verify how good the range/area coverage of a given brand of prepaid cell phone is before you buy?

For instance, in my area T Mobile's coverage map shows that it should work good here. But, I talked to numerous people that say their local operating range is lousy. Same for Tracphone.

 

[TheLoneRanger]

Virgin Mobile (prepaid) uses the Sprint network. Ours works very well, better than the Verizon phones we used to have......

 

[brianl703]

My Tmobile works much better coverage wise than Nextel...but that isn't saying much given how bad Nextel is.

 

[The Critic]

If you're interested in Virgin Mobile, go to Sprint's site and insert your exact address. Sprint has a detailed coverage map showing signal strength at a specific location. It shows my house as mediocre, and trust me, it is.

 

[doitmyself]

Quote:

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Virgin Mobile (prepaid) uses the Sprint network. Ours works very well, better than the Verizon phones we used to have......

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That's ironic because in my area, my employer has a huge contract with Verizon because it supposedly has the best coverage (their prepaid plan sucks).

There must be huge regional differences in performance of various providers. Again, refering to my original post, the coverage maps provided on the company sites seem questionable. Guess I'll have to look for more opinions locally.

 

[Auto-Union]

I have good luck with my Net10 phone which is basicly a cheaper TracPhone. Seriously.

 

[The_Jeff]

If I were to look at the Virgin Mobile coverage map, I definately don't have it.

I do get reception on Sprint, when I'm not in the typical valleys/black holes that block all signals around here.

Oddly, my "bars" seem to indicate only "genuine" virgin service. No bars = Sprint.

Still happy with it.

Check the money-back guarantees for companies you plan on trying. Most have 'em.

 

[CivicFan]

I've been happy with my T-Mobile prepaid service. I get coverage where it matters. The only times I don't get coverage is while driving through rural Pennsylvania. The main problem with prepaid is that you can't get roaming so if you frequent locations where T-Mobile doesn't serve, better have a monthly plan so that you can roam using the Cingular or any other GSM network.

My prepaid service didn't work in Europe either so I had to get a local SIM card for these countries.

 

[XS650]

Quote:

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I've been happy with my T-Mobile prepaid service. I get coverage where it matters. The only times I don't get coverage is while driving through rural Pennsylvania. The main problem with prepaid is that you can't get roaming so if you frequent locations where T-Mobile doesn't serve, better have a monthly plan so that you can roam using the Cingular or any other GSM network.

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Some pre-paid plans do have roaming. We have our prepaid service through Locus. My wifes phone is GSM and uses the Cingular network anyplace in the country and has free long distance to 50 countries. My phone on Locus uses the entire Verizon network, same deal on international long distance.

My phone also works off the Verizon network but the rate goes up to 4 times the base rate.

We bought our two phones (different good models of Motorola) on eBay for reasonable prices so we aren't stuck with elCheapo phone performance.