Cell Phones

[xok85xo]

just an FYI - I have been with t-mobile (voicestream) for over 2 years, and i called them a few months ago to try and sign up for unlimited nights and it was no longer availabe also..since i've moved, i've had pretty bad reception with them..its pretty sporadic..i'll be driving and have a full signal, 2 seconds later i won't have any signal i'll drive for another minute and i'll have 1/2 a signal etc..its VERY finicky..however, i never had this problem in new mexico or arizona..

[soulfulremix]

I love Sprint but it seems like I'm the only one! I have a $39.99/month plan and it suits me pretty well. Sprint also includes Long Distance (for the travelers out there).

I do understand everyone's complaints about calls being dropped but I havent had to deal w/ that too much.

(I live in a big city).





soulfulremix

[USFSDTAlum]

Originally posted by xok85xo
just an FYI - I have been with t-mobile (voicestream) for over 2 years, and i called them a few months ago to try and sign up for unlimited nights and it was no longer availabe also..since i've moved, i've had pretty bad reception with them..its pretty sporadic..i'll be driving and have a full signal, 2 seconds later i won't have any signal i'll drive for another minute and i'll have 1/2 a signal etc..its VERY finicky..however, i never had this problem in new mexico or arizona..

I have this problem too, I have GREAT service in Tampa, always have a signal. But when I was home in DC this summer I had NO Signal. I had to stand on the end of my driveway with like my elbow up in the air to get one bar...pain in the ass.
Then when I'm at the beach it will work in one store, and not at the one next door.
So i was asking my friends who is the best provider, and they said for DC that Verizon's the best but Verizon sucks down here. Hopefully, my phone will have a signal when I move home, I don't want to have to buy ANOTHER cell phone (I have two others collecting dust in my closet)

[lifesaver]

No, get this $hit. At one end of my desk at work, one or no bars. At the other end 3 bars. WTF is that. Or when I am pulling out of my parkign lot at home, I'll go from 1 to no bars, drop the call, and then when I have moved 3 feet out into the street I have all 4 bars?!?!? I have tyhe worlds most finicky cell phone.

[Fewdfreak]

I've had Verizon for like two years, and it's worked great for me. I have a share-talk plan with my mom. It's not nationwide, but I live right on the border of Iowa and Illinois, so Chicago is included in my plan, as well as Iowa City, so when I went up to Chicago this summer, my friend couldn't even use her SunCom, and I was able to, and it wasn't roaming. We've never had any problems with Verizon, except this summer my mom couldn't dial out or recieve calls, and we went to the store and they had to enter the authorization over, because they had been working on the network, but they addressed her concerns and fixed her problem in like five minutes, so the customer service reps were great.

My friends all have SunCom, and the network is rather small, and also my friend was "hotlined" by them like three times, and they shut her phone off, claiming that her bill was past due... and it never had been.

The only thing I don't like is my phone is like 3 years old (It's an LG 330W) and they don't sell it in the store anymore, so I can't get a new battery unless I order it online, and the phone thinks it's roaming when it's not, so the caller ID doesn't work when the phone thinks it's roaming (when I'm in Iowa City), because it thinks it's out of area. Weird, but it's not Verizon because it worked when I went to Chicago...

I really want a new phone, but it has to be a flip phone because I don't like talking on flat ones, also I will not purchase a Nokia phone. All of my friends have had problems with them, and the service wasn't great, and I'm just not impressed with what features they have--come on games--I think that's silly to drain your battery on games on a cellular phone, but that is just me.

Anyway, enough of my blathering... good luck on finding a phone.

[AXOLiz]

I use Alltel for my service which is ok. I'd rather switch, but it's easier not to at this point. For around $45/month (after taxes and everything...I think the plan's $39 or something), I get:

200 Anytime minutes
3200 Night/Weekend minutes
Voice mail
Caller ID
Call Forwarding
Call Waiting
No roaming/long distance anywhere in the continental US

I think text messaging would be another few bucks a month, but I doubt I'd use it.

As for my phone, I have a Motorola V60. I got it right after it came out, so I have a pretty old version. I love it, but it can't do a lot of the cool stuff like ringtones or games. They have a new version coming out (if it's not out already) that can do all that though, and they come in different colors. Cool thing about the v60 is it has two accessories you can get - one's an FM tuner, so you can listen to the radio (the phone mutes it if you get a call), the other's an mp3 player. My older version doesn't have the software to run the mp3 player, but a newer version would. I just think it's kind of cool to watch movies and TV shows and go, "Oh, I've had THAT phone for MONTHS."

Another plug for the V60 - apparently if you get a Mercedes, they have a special version that's integrated with the car's computer, so it displays the caller ID on the dash, mutes the stereo when a call comes in, etc. But you have to get the car too, so that's a little more expensive.

[leilanimoon]

I have Verizon and Im happy. I have the Motorola V60, and its cool because u can buy a hands free headset that plays the radio through ur phone. great, but it can run the battery down faster than normal, so keep a charger handy.

[LeslieAGD]

I've had Verizon for quite a while and I've never had any problems with it.

[poodleNtraining]

Well. to add my 2 cents,

**I first had a voicestream/T mobile. I went over on my minutes EVERY month. I ended up upgrading to the highest level and STILL went over. I signed up in March, and they didn't have free night minutes. The service areas were kinda sucky, I went down to Hampton VA, and I lost reception on I-95, I mean that's a major highway!!!

**I kinda let them fade away (ie, I didn't pay that last high as hell bill lol) and I got Verizon. They are VERY good pricewise. They have plans at all price and minute ranges, unlimited nights/weekends are just $5 extra, plus you get a new phone every 2 years FOR FREE!!! You get all the perks (long distance, etc.) And they have some cool phones to offer. You can get the phone cheaper and with NO activation fee if you get a two year contract, and the termination fee is only $125 (or $150), which isn't bad. I had to pay $125 deposit, which is not bad, compared with AT&T they told me $400 (if your credit is good, you won't have to pay one). I TOTALLY recommend them. Verixon Wireless

**Nextel is good, but if you don't people with one the 2-way intercom is wasted

**Cingulair is GARBAGE I've only heard HORRIBLE things about them

**Ditto for Sprint, except they have cool phones.

[librasoul22]

Well dang, y'all, lol. I have Sprint and have had NO troubles with them. They have the coolest phones (reason why I signed up) and FREE nationwide long distance, which is a plus. I have the Sanyo 5000 phone which is a newer model and I love it to death. I get text messaging for only a dollar extra a month and also I like the way their service integrates with the web. Just had to give Sprint some positive pub, lol.

[Kevin]

I've found that it depends a lot on your coverage. My advice, find out about the return policy... There's usually some small financial penalty for cancelling a contract early on (like $36 plus whatever minutes you use or whatever).. But it's better than a year or 2 pissed off at your carrier.

Take your new phone and try it where you use it. EVERY carrier has different coverage. If you think that cell phones should just work everywhere then you may not understand how they work.

RF signals are like voodoo... few understand why or why they are not in a ceratain area. The smallest things can effect them.. Like that neon sign at Krispy Kreme could be the reason you dropped your call.. not sprint!

If you're not within a tower's reach -- or sometimes between towers you'll have problems. Actually Sprint is less likely to drop calls when between towers because the technology that they use is the only thing to date that uses a 'soft handoff' meaning the load of the call is gradually transferred from tower to tower than all at once (which if there's an interruption during the handoff you drop the call).

You can also try to find someone that has done some market research in your area. I know in Oklahoma City an independant group tested Cingular to have the best coverage here.

Remember... a great plan ain't worth a damned thing if the phone doesn't work. You can either do your research or just jump into the deep end... Really there is no inbetween.