http://www.teaneckshuls.org/SelectedPosts/CellPhonePoll.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/message/28851
From: crshulman@a..
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 10:38 PM
Subject: [TeaneckShuls] Results of TeaneckShuls Cell Phone Poll
Results of TeaneckShuls Cell Phone Poll
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/surveys?id=1128543
What cell phone service have you been happy/unhappy with in Teaneck, taking into
account cell-reception IN TEANECK AREA, cost, etc.? (You can vote for more than
one entry, provided that you have experience with multiple providers.) Poll is
NOT anonymous.
The following were the ratings (assigning 100 to "great", 65 to "adequate", and
0 to "bad") -
Verizon (based on 26 responses) - Score 73
AT&T (based on 35 responses) - Score 49
Sprint (based on 27 responses) - Score 43
Nextel (based on 6 responses - Score 77
T-Mobile (based on 25 responses) - Score 30
Cingular (based on 4 responses) - Score 25
-----
Individual explanations -
From: rickimsw@a..
Sprint is adequate. It is good in most areas of the usa but it is terrible
within teaneck proper. i cannot get service in my house, onky in my backyard and
when i go into the steet in front of my house. i cna't get it in any store in
teaneck
From: "Kalman Staiman" <kstaiman@i.. >
T-Mobile used to be cheapest at $20/month for 60 minutes, but there's no service
in my house. ATT works well for me all around.
From: "Alter, Bryan" <BAlter@b.. >
I have a lot of trouble getting a good Verizon signal in the Teaneck area,
especially in the Queen Anne / West Englewood shopping area.
From crshulman@a..
I have T-Mobile prepay which gives about 200 minutes a month for $25 - no tax,
no extra fees, no possiblities of roaming charges or overruns (great for
teenagers) If you remember to always redeem the coupon a day early the remaining
minutes will carry over to the next months. But service gets spotty in certain
areas of Teaneck. The other companies now all have prepaid plans as well. I
haven't compared costs recently.
From: Joseph Offenbacher <brisk6@j..
>
Please note that ATT has two services. The older one is on the way out although
it still has one of the best receptions in town. The newer one, from my personal
experience during the blackout, still worked fairly well. (My son was stuck in
the city and our two phones could still talk the whole time). I tried to vote
but I would like to say that ATT is good not great. However it is better than
adequate.
From: Joseph Offenbacher <brisk6@j..
>
AT&T digital is good and will be getting better as they are investing in their
new system and expanding it. The text message part of it is free for incoming
and it is great! I use it to get notified of incoming mail to a group I moderate
that is not very busy. This way I can read most of the message and then respond
or look it up on a real computer to read the whole message. Besides the regular
minutes they give you 1000 minutes between AT&T phones. This helps especially
with my son's phone (which is on AT&T as a second line).
From: Keith Schreiber <keschrei@y..
>
Sprint offered a very good deal when I called their retention line; when I
renewed with them last December, I got 750 minutes for $40, but I had to request
it specifically. Unfortunately, the coverage in the area is spotty; in some
places, it works really well, but there are specific dead zones that I have to
be aware of when I am talking & walking/driving. Worse, I get almost no
reception at all in my apartment (Walraven), but I suspect that that is the case
for most of the wireless services.
From: IANAZIZ@a..
I am basically happy with Sprint PCS service. I generally get good reception
(but not in Dunkin Donuts!) - There are no bad spots in Teaneck with my Nokia
phone but my daughters are not so happy with their Kyocera phones (that came
with their plan.) NYC I always got good reception.
From: Deborah Dmwsmom1@a..
I have AT&T - I get pretty good reception almost all over town, EXCEPT in my own
building, Teaneck Rd just south of Rte 4 (across from the bagel shop). [I've
also had no luck with Cingular here; if you know of anyone who gets good
reception with Verizon, I may try them next...]
From: "Dr. Dov Kroopnick" <drdovk@y..
>
T-Mobile has many dead spots throughout the Teaneck area, but their prices are
pretty cheap. Verizon is ok but I could get no signal on much of Sussex and Most
of Bergenfield (at least the Teaneck/Beth Abraham side of New Bridge). I now
have AT&T and am very happy.
From: david.b.schwartz@v..
I subscribe to T-Mobile. The rate plans are good (I have two phones) but most
plans are competitive. The big problem is too many dead zones and dropped calls.
I often can't call out or receive calls in my own office. Much of Cedar Lane,
Belle Ave. area etc. etc. As soon as my contract is up at end of November, I
will change carriers. By then I should also be able to keep my old numbers when
switching.
If there are more explanations, I'll send a part 2 out in a day or two.
Hope that's all helpful.
Chaim
- - -
Additions
From: Joe Offenbacher <brisk6@j.. >
Oops. I meant to say GSM, not digital. The old digital was pretty good.
My GSM phone is fairly good and is excellent for getting short (free) text
messages and very short e-mails.
-The main dead area for AT&T GSM in Teaneck is at Teaneck Rd and Route 4.
-I have even gotten calls in Glatt Express!!! (not too well).
-It does not work well in my basement.
I hope that clears things up.
From Chaim Shulman <crshulman@a..
>
I am told that in Glatt Express area (notorious dead area) AT&T and Nextel work
the best
- - -
Re: Results of TeaneckShuls Cell Phone Poll
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/message/28851
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/surveys?id=1128543
The following additional comments came in
(at this point I won't be forwarding further comments)
Thanks
Chaim
Subj: Re: [TeaneckShuls] 2 Additions re TeaneckShuls Cell Phone Poll
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 11:29:13 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: "Len Moskowitz" <vze24hrw@v.. >
I can add a bit more information about T-Mobile. I've used them for almost three
years. Rates are reasonable (especially for a business): $39.99 per month for
1000 "any time" minutes and 50 text messeging minutes ($44.29 with tax). On this
plan there are no out-of-area roaming charges. The dual- (or tri-) band GSM
phone works in other countries (I've used it reliably in the UK, and one handset
I've owned also worked in Israel). Free caller ID. Free Voice mail.
There are still some dead spots in Teaneck (notably near Sagamore Park) but
that's been slowly improving after numerous complaints. I get good reception now
down near Ma'Ayanot when I never used to. If you use a small (6 to 8-inch)
external antenna on your car (around $15 on eBay), or in your home, that solves
the problem all around Teaneck and most of the Tri-State Metropolitan area.
If you go up to the Catskills, there's no reliable service roughly past
Middletown. Friends with Verizon seem to have no problems with service up there.
If you exceed your monthly minutes, they don't tell you and the charges are (if
I recall correctly) forty cents per minutes -- it gets very expensive
very quickly.
From: "Dr. Dov Kroopnick" <drdovk@y..>
It may be too late for this to be helpful (I just cheked my e-mail today for the
first time in a few days) but if there's a "round 2", it's the old digital
network. Even the guy in the store said that the new GSM network has lousy
reception as it's still under construction. I hope this helps.
-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo! Groups Notification [mailto:notify@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 10:23 PM
To: crshulman@a..
Subject: Poll results for TeaneckShuls
The following TeaneckShuls poll is now closed. Here are the final results:
POLL QUESTION: What cell phone service have you been happy/unhappy with in
Teaneck, taking into account cell-reception IN TEANECK
AREA, cost, etc.? (You can vote for more than one entry, provided that you have
experience with multiple providers.) Poll is NOT
anonymous.
Send questions to crshulman@a..
CHOICES AND RESULTS
- AT&T is great, 6 votes, 4.88%
- AT&T is adequate, 17 votes, 13.82%
- AT&T is bad, 12 votes, 9.76%
- Verizon is great, 10 votes, 8.13%
- Verizon is adequate, 14 votes, 11.38%
- Verizon is bad, 2 votes, 1.63%
- Sprint is great, 5 votes, 4.07%
- Sprint is adequate, 10 votes, 8.13%
- Sprint is bad, 12 votes, 9.76%
- T-Mobile is great, 3 votes, 2.44%
- T-Mobile is adequate, 7 votes, 5.69%
- T-Mobile is bad, 15 votes, 12.20%
- Cingular is great, 1 votes, 0.81%
- Cingular is adequate, 0 votes, 0.00%
- Cingular is bad, 3 votes, 2.44%
- Nextel is great, 2 votes, 1.63%
- Nextel is adequate, 4 votes, 3.25%
- Nextel is bad, 0 votes, 0.00%
- My provider is not listed above, 0 votes, 0.00%
- - - -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TeaneckShuls/message/30388
From: "Avi Greengart" <lists@g..>
Date: Thu Sep 11, 2003 2:40 pm
Subject: 6 Cell Phones, 11 Locations: Wireless Guide to Teaneck
I've enjoyed following the questions, polls, and opinions here on Teaneck Shuls,
possibly more than anyone else, as I live in Teaneck and I'm the lead wireless
analyst at Jupiter Research. Since I have at least one phone from each carrier
(they send them to me to play with; I have 11 at the moment), I thought I'd
inject a little objectivity into the proceedings, and test real-world
performance of each of the six major carriers offering service here. Data on the
11 locations I tested is at
http://www.greengart.com/teaneckshuls.htm
Key Finding:
Wireless coverage - even within Teaneck - depends on exactly where you happen to
be, and what phone you're using. The "best" network for you is different if you
daven at B'nei Yeshurun and shop at Pathmark or daven at Beth Aaron and shop at
Stop and Shop.
§ Overall, phones on Nextel's network provide the best average reception at the
11 locations I tested - just don't shop at Glatt Express or rent movies at
Blockbuster on Teaneck Road.
§ Actually, Glatt Express is a black hole - nobody provides service there.
§ Can you hear me now? Maybe. Verizon provides broad - but not deep - coverage
in Teaneck. In other words, the phone gets some reception at 10/11 locations I
tested, but signal strength is weak in half of them. In many locations, moving
behind something or just a few feet in either direction resulted in a dropped
call.
· Not only do you have to choose a carrier (ex: Verizon, AT&T Wireless), the
specific phone model also makes a difference. And sometimes, the phone itself is
worse than the network it's on - I spent a few years with several truly awful
Ericsson phones on T-Mobile's network. As you can see from my tests, T-Mobile is
just fine with a better phone. Depending on where you happen to be, of course.
Some other things you should know:
· AT&T Wireless runs two networks in Teaneck (and much of the country): "TDMA"
and "GSM." You use different phones on each network, and the "TDMA" network is
being slowly phased out. I only tested phones on the "GSM" network, but I'm told
that the old "TDMA" network in Teaneck is "pretty good."
· Like AT&T, Cingular also runs two networks in Teaneck - sort of. Their "TDMA"
network in Teaneck was awful. Any new phone you get with Cingular should be a "GSM"
phone (again, the only kind I tested). Here's where it gets interesting: in the
Tri-State area, Cingular shares T-Mobile's "GSM" network. Therefore, any
differences between Cingular and T-Mobile are differences between the phones
themselves.
I did not test everywhere in Teaneck; maybe I'll add to the spreadsheet in the
future. You can find the spreadsheet on my web site at
http://www.greengart.com/teaneckshuls.htm
along with The Jewish Life Worksheet, a spreadsheet I created a few years back
to explain why you don't have any money. (Please note: the main site,
http://www.greengart.com ,
contains a monthly consumer electronics column. You may find answers there to
some of the other frequent Teaneck Shuls questions about digital cameras, PDAs,
PCs, etc. Nothing on who has room to give someone a ride to Brooklyn, though.
Sorry. I also publish a corporate weblog on wireless and personal technology at
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/greengart/).