Question for NY users. I would like to go with a T-Mobile voice/data plan, because it's significantly cheaper than Cingular. However, looking at the coverage maps, I'm worried reception might be inadequate. Looks weak in eastern Long Island, as well as other places I travel to (so. Florida, no. Carolina, etc). Has anyone had coverage problems with T-Mobile?? Thanks.

T-Mobile has a roaming agreement with Cingular for North Carolina, because T-Mobile doesn't own any spectrum in the state. If you check a Cingular map, you can see the coverage, which is included free-of-charge with T-Mobile's unlimited data plan. The same is true for parts of South Carolina.

Not sure about the situation in South Florida or New York. I've had no problems with reception in Orlando or New York City.

DavidE
www.davidenglish.com

In my area, their online street-level coverage map is fairly accurate to what I get travelling around.
http://compass.t-mobile.com

One of our ops folks is based out of Ft. Lauderdale and swears by the coverage her 7100t gets down there, but I honestly don't know how far south she travels.

FWIW, all of T-Mobile's North Carolina coverage comes from Cingular. Well, crap, I think it's now SunCom since Cingular took over SunCom in SE Virginia. Either way, Cingular/T-Mobile coverage in NC should be the same.

T-Mobile and the "old" Cingular (before AT&T merger) have exactly the same coverage. Cingular has never had their own network in the NY/North NJ/CT area, so they made an agreement to roam on T-Mobile back in 2002. This agreement is still in force.

Now with the AT&T merger, Cingular coverage is the combination of the T-Mobile spectrum plus the old AT&T spectrum -- the T-Mobile roaming agreement is still in place. So basically, Cingular coverage is quite a bit better in this area.

I have TMobile. Coverage great in Orlando and Miami. Roaming on NC shore was great. No problems NYC, NJ, Boston, DC, Phil. You're right, it is cheaper.

Thank you all. That clinches it....T-Mobile. I have also heard that T-Mobile is a better platform for handling data as on a 7100.

My only concern is Eastern Long Island (Hamptons, etc), where I heard of mediocre (or worse) T-Mobile cell coverage. Anybody out there?

You might also want to throw a quick post over at
http://t-mobile.howardforums.com

That's probably the largest gathering of T-Mobile users out there.