Verizon most popular with cell phone users

Verizon Wireless is the favorite cell phone provider on the EMU campus, according to a recent survey.

In a survey of 25 students, Verizon came out the winner for service, over that of Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile and Nextel. Popularity does not always mean best service, but in this case it did.

Amanda Maust, a senior and local Harrisonburg resident, was one of the students interviewed who is currently a Verizon wireless customer. "The service is great. It works everywhere I need to go, even when I am out of the area," Maust said. Kayla Miller, also a senior, agreed. "Verizon is wonderful. I'm from Indiana and it works here and there and everywhere in between. I have never really had any real problems with the coverage."

Eleven of the 25 interviewed said they use Verizon. Among the reasons for their choice in service was a feeling that Verizon's plans offer the most minutes per month for the cost. Still others said they are on a family minute sharing plan with their parents and siblings or they chose the service because all of their friends used Verizon and they offer free in-network calling.

Unlike the other major competitors, students seemed to be relatively happy with the service they receive from Verizon in this area. They say they rarely have dropped calls and almost always have a good signal. When asked how the service compared to their home areas of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, and Colorado to name a few, they seemed to agree that the signal here was just about as good as their home, if not better.

On paper, the coverage of Verizon's service is very similar to that of other companies used on campus.

Cingular was the next most popular provider on the EMU campus, which makes since because their company boasts the largest customer base in America since they merged with AT&T Wireless in 2004. Despite this fact, students are somewhat dissatisfied with the service Cingular provides. "Yeah, it's OK," commented Melanie Kratzer, a senior from Ohio. "I get better reception at home than I do here. They [Cingular] seem to drop calls a lot and it's sometimes hard to get a clear signal."

Other students agreed. "I definitely get better service in my home area," said Katie Moyer, a junior from Pennsylvania, said of Cingular's service, "It's great at home and other places I have been, but I don't know, here it's not that great." This seemed to be the general consensus from the six students interviewed who currently subscribe to Cingular--they're a good service, just not in this area.

Sprint and Nextel were in a tied for third place, each having three customers in the survey. In the business world, Sprint has just recently bought out Nextel, so they are now under the same company umbrella, meaning in time they will be just one company.

For now though, the three Nextel customers are a bit happier than the three Sprint customers. "Sprint's pretty good," said Jeremy Gibson, a senior from Strasburg, VA and a Sprint subscriber. "It works great here in Harrisonburg, but at my house in Strasburg, it's a dead zone. I have to walk a bit down the road in either direction to get service. It's a pain." Other Sprint customers agreed. They said the service is good in larger towns and along major highways, but after venturing too far away from them one starts to lose the signal.

The three Nextel customers, on the other hand, are quite satisfied with their service. This was surprising, since Nextel is among the smallest national carriers, having only 17 million subscribers nationwide. "It's great," said Steve Christener, a senior from Florida. "Always works here and at home. I don't think we've ever had trouble."

When asked why they went with this provider, the three said it was because of family and friends who also had Nextel, as well as their unique Direct-Connect feature, which acts as a walkie-talkie to connect to any other Nextel customer instantly.

T-Mobile, with only two customers interviewed seems to be the least popular provider with students on campus. However, that is not to say those two customers are not dissatisfied with their service. Both students had many positive things to say about T-Mobile. "It's good coverage," says Joel Lehman, a senior. "It seems to get interfered with other wireless electronics though. Wireless computer service and cordless house phones run on similar signals, and those signals interfere with the cell reception sometimes."

Lehman speculated that T-Mobile's lower customer numbers come from the lack of size and capital to run the ad campaigns bigger companies do. If they could get the numbers that say Verizon and Cingular have, Lehman thinks they could be a serious competitor for best service.