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CNN Live Today

Can You Hear Me Now?

Aired January 07, 2004 - 11:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So you're still not sure? "Consumer Reports" is taking a good, hard look at carriers, phones and plans in its February issue. David Heim is the deputy editor there, he joins us from our New York bureau this morning. David, good morning.
DAVID HEIM, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Thanks for having me.

KAGAN: Let's first of all look at plans out there. You rank who has the best overall performance.

HEIM: We took a survey of 31,000 subscribers to our Web site asking them just what kind of experience they had had and how satisfied they were with their cellular carrier.

Verizon topped the list. We looked at 12 metro areas from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles on down. But it's important to note that Verizon wasn't perfect. Overall, we found lower levels of customer satisfaction with cellular service than we have with most other services we've looked at over the years. Cell service is on a par with cable TV, for example.

KAGAN: OK. Say no more. No one is really knocking it out of the park there. I imagine it also depends where you live. You said you did a number of metro areas. But in fact if you live in a small town versus someplace else the coverage might be different. You need to do your own investigation.

HEIM: That's very important. Our ratings in the February issue can be a very good starting point because Verizon has consistently topped our rankings.

But another carrier may be more suited for you because you get better service where you live. It's important to ask around friends, business associates, neighbors. Find out who literally has the best service on the street where you live.

KAGAN: Plus, now is a great time to shop around for competition because people are able to move with their phone numbers, phone companies or cell phone companies are doing a lot of offers and incentives trying to pull you over or to get to you stay right where you are.

HEIM: It's really amazing out there right now. We've taken a look at some of those offers in our February round-up on cell phones.

What we found overall though is that the ads are getting better, but the service is not. The deals are there, certainly. But the best deals, unfortunately, are tied to the longest term contracts. If you want the best price on a phone, if you want the sweetest deal on calling time, the companies want you to sign up for a two-year contract.

KAGAN: You have to commit.

Let's talk about the actual phones. Now, for a long time there has been one system in Europe, and that's GSM. Most phones here in the U.S. have been TDMA. Sounds technical in engineering but that's kind of changing.

HEIM: It is changing somewhat. The U.S. cellular system is a very fragmented. There are actually four major digital networks in use right now. They don't talk to one another. It makes it difficult sometimes to get service even if you happen to be surrounded by cell phone towers.

Our advice in "Consumer Reports" is to be sure that you get a multimode or a trimode phone. That gives you more than one option for having a call go through. Important when you just want to talk to a friend, especially important if you're using the phone in an emergency and you're trying to call 911.

KAGAN: Absolutely. And isn't that the original reason we all told ourselves we were getting the cell phone in the first place?

HEIM: It's still important. One person in three says they buy a cell phone because they want it for emergencies.

KAGAN: Absolutely. David, thanks for tips.

HEIM: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Much more in the February edition of "Consumer Reports." Appreciate it.

HEIM: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 7, 2004 - 11:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So you're still not sure? "Consumer Reports" is taking a good, hard look at carriers, phones and plans in its February issue. David Heim is the deputy editor there, he joins us from our New York bureau this morning. David, good morning.
DAVID HEIM, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Thanks for having me.

KAGAN: Let's first of all look at plans out there. You rank who has the best overall performance.

HEIM: We took a survey of 31,000 subscribers to our Web site asking them just what kind of experience they had had and how satisfied they were with their cellular carrier.

Verizon topped the list. We looked at 12 metro areas from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles on down. But it's important to note that Verizon wasn't perfect. Overall, we found lower levels of customer satisfaction with cellular service than we have with most other services we've looked at over the years. Cell service is on a par with cable TV, for example.

KAGAN: OK. Say no more. No one is really knocking it out of the park there. I imagine it also depends where you live. You said you did a number of metro areas. But in fact if you live in a small town versus someplace else the coverage might be different. You need to do your own investigation.

HEIM: That's very important. Our ratings in the February issue can be a very good starting point because Verizon has consistently topped our rankings.

But another carrier may be more suited for you because you get better service where you live. It's important to ask around friends, business associates, neighbors. Find out who literally has the best service on the street where you live.

KAGAN: Plus, now is a great time to shop around for competition because people are able to move with their phone numbers, phone companies or cell phone companies are doing a lot of offers and incentives trying to pull you over or to get to you stay right where you are.

HEIM: It's really amazing out there right now. We've taken a look at some of those offers in our February round-up on cell phones.

What we found overall though is that the ads are getting better, but the service is not. The deals are there, certainly. But the best deals, unfortunately, are tied to the longest term contracts. If you want the best price on a phone, if you want the sweetest deal on calling time, the companies want you to sign up for a two-year contract.

KAGAN: You have to commit.

Let's talk about the actual phones. Now, for a long time there has been one system in Europe, and that's GSM. Most phones here in the U.S. have been TDMA. Sounds technical in engineering but that's kind of changing.

HEIM: It is changing somewhat. The U.S. cellular system is a very fragmented. There are actually four major digital networks in use right now. They don't talk to one another. It makes it difficult sometimes to get service even if you happen to be surrounded by cell phone towers.

Our advice in "Consumer Reports" is to be sure that you get a multimode or a trimode phone. That gives you more than one option for having a call go through. Important when you just want to talk to a friend, especially important if you're using the phone in an emergency and you're trying to call 911.

KAGAN: Absolutely. And isn't that the original reason we all told ourselves we were getting the cell phone in the first place?

HEIM: It's still important. One person in three says they buy a cell phone because they want it for emergencies.

KAGAN: Absolutely. David, thanks for tips.

HEIM: My pleasure.

KAGAN: Much more in the February edition of "Consumer Reports." Appreciate it.

HEIM: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com