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Superlative Picks: June 26, 2006

Mobile Phone Service 

T-Mobile
 

[Editor’s Note: As you may have noticed, T-Mobile is an advertiser on superlatives.com. This fact has no influence on their service being a “Pick.” I have used and currently use T-Mobile long before they were an advertiser.]

Since my career in journalism began in the field of consumer electronics, it shouldn’t surprise you that the high-tech products and services which I use are put through unbelievable scrutiny, before I spend my own money on them. And if, later, I discover that the product or service doesn’t do the job, I have no hesitation in canceling the service or returning the product.

Earlier this year, that’s just what happened with my wireless phone service. In 2003 I had chosen a certain wireless service after exhaustive research. Their network (based on “CDMA”, the most popular in the US) had the largest coverage area. Plus they also had the fastest wireless data service available. My research verified these claims; in addition, research didn’t indicate an inordinate number of customer complaints about the service.

However, my personal experience with my former carrier wasn’t that great. While the number of “dropped calls” was miniscule, the sound quality of most phone calls was regularly bad. But what was worse was the customer service and the technical support. From my experience, I concluded that the primary goal of their tech support was to get the customer call done as soon as possible. My (charitable) guess is that 75 percent of my calls to the old CDMA tech support were below average in quality; more often than not, I had to research the answer myself.

A few months ago I changed to a new wireless carrier: T-Mobile.

T-Mobile uses wireless phone technology called “GSM”; while it’s not as widespread as the “CDMA” technology of Sprint or Verizon Wireless, GSM is the “de facto” standard for mobile phones in most of the world, especially Europe and Asia. However, because CDMA is more popular in the US, GSM has less of a coverage area.

So far, I haven’t found a problem with T-Mobile’s coverage area. While the “signal strength” fluctuates, I have not found “sound quality” to suffer as a result. My conclusion: if the person  can hear me clearly, and if I can hear them clearly, why should I care if signal strength is 10 percent or 100 percent? In cities, GSM coverage has been fine. I think that coverage in rural areas is where GSM coverage suffers.

Where T-Mobile shines is their customer service and technical support. From my years of experience with tech support, T-Mobile is easily one of the best. Of any high tech company.

In the goal of cutting costs, many companies have sacrificed customer support. Others like Microsoft (who has maybe the best tech support of any company) now charge a customer for support. T-Mobile has been reliable in their support. And more importantly, T-Mobile’s support has solved problems; some of them, extremely technical problems.

T-Mobile’s wireless rates are quite reasonable; in fact, they’re good deals. Luckily, I signed up during a special promotion offering 1,500 call minutes (that’s 25 hours) each month for $39.99. I also added “Total Internet”, which provides unlimited web and email access for $29.99. That includes unlimited use of T-Mobile’s “Hotspot” wireless Internet service, which you can find at many Starbuck’s, Borders, and other places around the world.

Speaking of “around the world” … T-Mobile offers to their customers something that no CDMA carrier can offer to their customers: wireless phone roaming around the world. Many countries in Europe and Asia (for example, Italy) don’t have CDMA wireless service at all. For T-Mobile customers, they can still receive and place calls in Rome from their own phone and number; US CDMA carriers offer their customers GSM phone rentals with different numbers.

What I gave up from switching from a CDMA wireless carrier to T-Mobile doesn’t compare to what I gained by the switch. One of the best customer and tech support programs of any company; a reasonable rate plan. And roaming around the world. While T-Mobile’s coverage in rural areas isn’t as extensive, I’ve found that I’d rather be out of a service area than in a service area with poor sound.

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