It's Verizon vs. Sprint over 'most dependable' network claim

I was on a small company for years. I live in very northern Minnesota and switched to sprint five years ago to find I had absolutely no signal most of the time. Went back to my little company and was very happy with my coverage until AT&T bought it out. Now I'm waiting very angrily for my contract to expire so I can switch to Verizon. AT&T and crap where I live and I'm now dealing with dropped calls and almost no signal on highways. I'm pissed. I can't wait to switch.

I have had sprint for years and reliable does not belong in the same sentence with sprint. I get dropped calls in the middle of Washington DC. And forget it if I go to Annapolis or Arlington.

I had a friend who had a cousin married to a lawyer with a client whose sister's boyfriend knew a student at his high school on a team with another guy whose mother thinks Acme Cellular sux! It's the truth or I wouldn't have emailed this. Trust me! End of discussion, alright?

I'd recommend you looking into writing letters to the FCC, your state attorney general, etc as a complaint. I was a former Cellular-One customer then bought out by AT&T, then bought out by Cingular (now rebranded as AT&T). The Cingular buy-out was absolute B.S. as they did purposely sabotage the former AT&T customers to force some of us to change phones to be compatible with their network (non-subsizdized, so i had to buy a new phone). A class-action lawsuit was filed and recently won on this issue against Cingular. But i couldn't get Cingular to acknowledge any of it at the time and all i wanted was to get out of my contract early. I ended up writing complaints to some of the federal and regulatory agencies (State Attorney general, etc.), and about 2 months later, got a letter from corporate at Cingular saying they will let me out of my contract early, essentially because they were probably contacted about it. I am in California, but I would recommend trying that path to exit your contract early. I have moved to Verizon, although slightly more expensive, i'm extremely pleased with the connection and friendly customer service (unlike the uncooperative Cingular). Hope that helps.

My contract with Sprint just ended and I jumped ship to Verizon. I couldnt be happier as I havent dropped a single call or signal and I have strong 3g coverage on a tiny island town of 35000 thats several hours away from the nearest major city. What a huge difference. Sprint is awful. Can you say forthcoming bankruptcy.

One thing you can depend on from Verizon,is a large bill.

I tried T-Mobile but could not get a signal at my office location. Switched to Sprint who I have had absolutely no problems with. And... for my plan is about 1/2 the price of Verizon. If I was a frequent traveler I might consider Verizon but Sprint works 100% of the time for my particular situation.

I would avoid verizon like the plague.. second rate phones billing hassles... endless calls to customer service are dropped rerouted and lost... no follow up ATT is no winner but they do answer phones without and indian accent

After using Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint.. and I have traveled extensively.. I gotta say that Verizon has the network coverage here in the U.S.! Sprint's coverage is SO bad that you can't even get a signal near their corporate headquarters in Kansas City! However when it comes to international travel.. AT&T is the way to go.. Sprint has no coverage in Europe!

It really depends on the consumer i guess. Had Sprint since 2005 and have no complaints. Had 2 dropped calls in the middle of nowhere since that time and I'm actually paying the bill i thought i would pay every time i renew my contract. No hidden fees or anything. And i have friends who complain about Sprint, complain about T-mobile, complain about Verizon, etc. Sprint works just fine for me!

The drop calls depends mostly in the phone too, not just service, i had a samsung where i never had a drop call , now with an LG I drop calls left and right depending where I grab the phone.

The drop calls depends mostly in the phone too, not just service, i had a samsung where i never had a drop call , now with an LG I drop calls left and right depending where I grab the phone.

To Tarahlynn. I am with Verizon in a problematic area and THEY called me and told me that they would not hold me to my contract if I wanted to cancel and change providers. I told them I would rather put up with a little annoyance than go with at&t on a good day. at&t are way to corrupt and dishonest for me. Give me a tin can and some string over them.

I think its BS the people who complaing about Sprint service being crappy and Verizon being better. Sprint has a roaming agreement with Verizon so if there is no Sprint Coverage then you should be roaming on Verizon. If your call got dropped then you have a problem with your phone. Wherever Verizon has service then Sprint has service.

We should be thankful for what all of our cellular carriers are doing for us: which is meeting our telecommunications needs in America. Help your carrier out whether they are doing good or losing suscribers. If you run to AT&T and Verizon - soon it will be a duopoly. Remember when cable came to your neighborhood and there wasn't any choice. Wait till these two take over. No say, all the power, all the decisions in their hands. I don't think we want this to happen. HELP YOUR CARRIER TODAY - BUY A SERVICE OR PRODUCT. NOT JUST A PHONE AND A PLAN. WE NEED OUR INDUSTRY TO BE ROBUST AND COMPETITIVE. NOT GIVING THE TOP TWO A LOCK AND KEY TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.....It makes me mad when people say let this company go under and out of business. So un-American in my book!!! AMERICA IS NOT A COUNTRY OF QUITTERS!!! Hang in there Palm, Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, Gateway computers, Sprint and T-mobile. Thank you for sticking by us. Why on earth should we give up on them because the top two tells us too?????????

I've traveled extensively in the U.S. also and my Sprint phone has always had service.

"However when it comes to international travel.. AT&T is the way to go.. Sprint has no coverage in Europe!"

And neither does at&t. They roam just like a Sprint world phone does.

I agree with William-they all have issues, but lets hope they don't give up and just have the top 2 instead of more to choose from. I've had Sprint for years 5+ I think... thankfully I'm still using an older plan where my roaming is $5.00 on only the first phone, the other 3 n/c. I finally started to put my phone on roam all the time and suddenly I've got bars It's helped alot, don't know that it's good for the company, but it's good for me and my area. I just need to remember to put it back on Sprint when I want to call them via *2-I've gotten Verizon and ATT when I've forgotten to do that. oops... I'm thankful for Fierce giving us information about all these companies, something most people aren't even aware of. Maybe they wouldn't want to be but I like knowledge...

This kind of babyish squabbling between the carriers gets very, very old and fast. All three of the big boys all suck equally. Instead of carrying out a media war, why not spend those untold amounts of dollars on actually creating and delivering a reliable, high quality product? Sprint already is talking about 4g when 3g isn't even everywhere. These media campaigns are tiresome. Just spent some damn money and create a network - don't attack each other like little children

I've been with all carriers. AT&T sucks the worst, everything about them blows. Verizon is second in the bottom of the bucket. Poor customer service, crappy phones, horrible limited network coverage in the states, and ridiculous rate plans. tmobile comes next and the one carrier I have had the best service with ( roaming included ) is Sprint. Everywhere I go, I ALWAYS have signal and most of the time, it's near 5 bars. Their rate plans are reasonable as well. I've been with Sprint for more than 6 years and all of my relatives and friends are on Sprint as well. Verizon couldn't pay me enough money to switch to them. The way I see it, Verizon will eventually go the way of the doedoe.

AT&T works the best in VA/WV they have the best network, and the best handsets.

Everyone on here cracks me up... Verizon roams on Sprint and Sprint roams on Verizon.. if you have a CDMA phone you use both networks.. so if you are dropping calls its most likey you've dropped your phone one two many times.. Seeing how the networks are the same go for the best customer service and the lowest price! We vote with our dollars. I go with the comany the treats me well and offers me the best deal.

A couple of points. First---It doesn't matter who is 'rated' best, or who spends the most advertising to say they're best - it matters how service works for YOU and how you use the phone. If you travel outside the US extensively and need to receive emails while you're on a conference call, all the 'Verizon' dependability in the world is not going to make that service work for you. Second - the delta between provider's coverage and reliability is shrinking so that the difference between #1 and #4 is 25% of what it once was. Third - Perception (created by advertising) is reality and in nobody has spent like Verizon and consistently told people how great their network
is. Spend enough money saying ANYTHING well and it will become 'fact'. Their network is good but does have holes and weaknesses. SLOW 3G speeds compared to UMTS current and future, latency issues, lack of parallel data/voice paths,and of course the use of a platform that is clearly an afterthought among device and infrastructure suppliers.
Food for thought....

I like Sprint, but I think it won't be long before Verizon stops letting them roam on their towers, just like how Tmobile users are going to lose their ability to roam on AT&T's towers.

PAUL93- It would never happen. It would be an interruption in the flow of telecommunications. They would protest to the FCC and the federal government. These two government bodys would never let that happen.

The consumer is caught up with all these gimmicks and tactics that AT&T and Verizon employ to get a customer. The Fios packages change by the week and month. If I pay 69.99 plus tax for Verizon freedom essentials and Fios internet 20mbps up/5mbps down then next week a new flyer states - get verizon freedom essentials and verizon broadband which is DSL 3mbps for 84.95. Look at the two offers and see which is a better offer. You can see the first one is the better deal 70 dollar plus tax would be close to 83 or 85 dollars plus my internet speed is much faster. IS THIS NOT A CONFUSING OFFER OR A WAY FOR THEM TO GENERATE REVENUE AND GET A CUSTOMER? YOU DECIDE!!!

At the height of the banking collapse and rampant unemployment in America - Sprint was looking for only credit worthy customers. If Sprint turned them down; How did they become credit worthy with AT&T or Verizon? What methods did they use to get those customers credit worthy? Any ideas?