I'm looking for a 300 minute plan for $30 and the only two I can find that work here are T-Mobile and US Cellular. I live in Mequon so I need great coverage here and in Milwaukee. I would also like my phone to work well in places like Wisconsin Dells so basically I guess I want good coverage for all of SE WI and northern IL if possible. I like T-Mobiles plan features better but USC's map looks like it covers more. I also kind of like the idea of having a GSM phone. Does anybody have experience with or have friends that have either of these two companies? What would you guys recommend?

 

i hate tmobile w/ a passion and spend more time on other companies networks than tmobile in WI
thats all i have to offer

 

I don't care who's network I'm using since roaming is free. Their plan has free weekends and free roaming which is a huge plus as opposed to USC which you just get 300 mins and that's it.

Is the 300 min USC plan nationwide or just local?

 

I have had U.S. Cellular since 1998 and have had great service from them and great coverage.

 

I have t-mobile. I would give them a good rating just because the price for the service is great but sometimes I get a lost signal for a short time (usually only lasts a minute) and I'm in the city. Other then that I still will stick with them.

 

USCC FTW!!!

I actually work for US Cellular (Engineering....so no free phones. haha), but honestly, we have one of the best networks out there. We're not as large as t-mobile, but in the markets that us and t-mobile serve, we have a far superior network.

Also, do some research on CDMA networks vs GSM networks. USCC is CDMA (Verizon, Sprint are as well), most of your other carriers are GSM. Depending on your usage, one network may be better than the other for you.

 

I'm well aware of the whole CDMA vs GSM thing, but USCC's plan and phones are just inferior to TM's that I'm pretty sure I'll give TM a try.

 

Most companies have a "30-day trail" period you can use their service (USCC does, and I'm sure TM does as well). The only thing I would worry about TM is the spotty coverage. I can't see TM's, obviously, but I could take a look at our eng. coverage maps (MUCH more detailed than our retail maps), and see what your locations look like.

At the very least you could try the service out, and see if it works where you are going. That way you could pick the one that best suits you.

If you'll list out some of the cities in addition to the ones above, I can give you a good idea of the coverage in that area.

 

I've had USCC for 2 years, I know the coverage is good, but the plan is worse than TM and the phones suck.

 

^^^^ yeah, we're not doing so well in the "cool phone" department. I think the Motorola Q comes out pretty soon for us, but I don't know the exact release date.