local phone service in Maryland

[peggyfromwastate]

HI- I am trying to figure out the local phone service out there. Where I live we have exactly 1 choice, so it is easy to decide who to use for local phone service, b/c there is just qwest! I think they changed their name to Qwest b/c they had acquired the nickname: US WORST instead of US West back in the day...

Anyway, I have narrowed it to AT&T and Verizon. Any opinions out there?

Also, any opinions on cell phones? This may be a luxury we'll have to forego, but just in case, Verizon vs. Sprint PCS-- what do you think?

Thanks for any help! Isn't moving neat! 8O

Peggy,
I don't know about those two for local service choices. What you're really shopping for here is price and customer service. Both companies use the exact same phone lines (AT&T probably rents from Verizon) that go to the exact same central office. Any promises of better line quality between the companies is bogus. And they sometimes also use the same technicians -- at least on the central office side (probably Verizon techs). There are fewer differences than they would like you to believe!

re: the cell phones -- I dropped my verizon plan (the second the contract year was up) for a Sprint PCS phone. I love both the phone and the service. I get great reception and most people can't tell that I'm on a cell phone. My verizon reception was spotty and awful and the customer service wasn't too great (except that James Earl Jones was the recorded voice -- I could listen to him all day). I don't know about the Sprint service because I haven't had to call them once in the year I've had the phone. Disclaimer on the reception quality -- it varies from location to location depending on how many cell towers the company has installed. You might want to ask someone around the area you're moving to.

[mommax3]

We have Sprint, too, and we love it. I agree that you need to check with someone in the area where you will be, though, because it seems like Sprint is regionally more popular in the southwest/west. No one that we are close to from "home" (Indiana) uses Sprint, although our phones work fine when we are there -- other providers are more popular for whatever reason.

Sally

[migirl]

We also have a Sprint PCS cell phone (never tried Verizon) and it works fine for us. We usually get pretty good coverage, unless we happen to be in a really remote area. One thing about Sprint though, they are notorious for having awful, terrible, horrendous customer service. We've only had to deal with the customer service once (when we went to change our phone number when we moved), and they were so awful that I actually sent them a letter of complaint. Nothing happened, but it made me feel better.

[peggyfromwastate]

Thanks everyone- I was sort of leaning towards Sprint PCS anyway. It probably will be at least a few months before we get a cell phone, so I'll have a chance to ask some of the local people what service is like when I get there.

[DCJenn]

Peggy-

We went with Verizon for local because they used to be BellAtlantic and they own all of the equipment anyway!

Jenn

[peggyfromwastate]

I think I'll compare plans some more, but right now it looks like Verizon is $5 more per month for the basic service...

That just may be the deciding factor...