Cell Phone Help

[Sqube]

Allow me to jump on the "stay the hell away from Nextel" camp. My friends keep talking about how cool their phones are, and the walkie-talkies and all that stuff... but then they never have signal.

Go with Cingular or Verizon though, IMO. I know somebody who stays up in Hershey, just switched to Cingular from T-Mobile, and said that she's getting nothing but good times in terms of the signal. Can't vouch for Verizon up there, but I've used Verizon in a couple places and it's always worked well for me, frequently giving me signal when other people were out in the cold.

 

[ironcrotch]

I had Verizon for a few years and they were great. But their business practices are what made me ditch them. They do by far have the best service coverage, but that doesn't really matter when they cripple the phones that they sell you in order for you to use their pay services.

I've been using a razr on T-mobile for a few months now and it's been great. They do subrtract minutes right when you hit send, but IIRC all carriers do that. If you want to get the phones you listed, then you'll need to go with a GSM carrier, like TMO or Cingular. What I would do is just get a free phone from one of those carriers and then sell it on ebay and get yourself a k750i, all you have to do is just throw your sim chip in it.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ironcrotch
I've been using a razr on T-mobile for a few months now and it's been great. They do subrtract minutes right when you hit send, but IIRC all carriers do that.

Alltel only subtracts minutes if the other party answers. Verizon used to only count when the other party answered, but I don't know what they do now.

ZV

 

[shamrock1313]

Is CDMA an old type of service? Because lately, I have been hearing more and more about GSM and how many providers now use it.

 

[konichiwa]

 

[shamrock1313]

The Sprint offer doesn't work in my area. :|

 

[Captante]

GSM is digital-only & is a newer technology then CDMA, but unless you plan on using your phone outside of the USA it won't do much to help you & will leave you with no coverage at all if/when you enter an are that only has analog service available .. not all CDMA phones have analog anymore either but most still do.
As for providers, I've had cell-phones since the only kind you could get were the ones hard-wired into your car & although Verizon isn't the cheapest, they do provide by far the best coverage overall nationwide (speaking from experience) and are also top-rated by Consumer-reports... Cingular is overall second best, but its a distant second & really only worth it if you need GSM.

 

[shamrock1313]

Originally posted by: Captante
GSM is digital-only & is a newer technology then CDMA, but unless you plan on using your phone outside of the USA it won't do much to help you & will leave you with no coverage at all if/when you enter an are that only has analog service available .. not all CDMA phones have analog anymore either but most still do.
As for providers, I've had cell-phones since the only kind you could get were the ones hard-wired into your car & although Verizon isn't the cheapest, they do provide by far the best coverage overall nationwide (speaking from experience) and are also top-rated by Consumer-reports... Cingular is overall second best, but its a distant second & really only worth it if you need GSM.

Hah. I remember the days of those huge Zach Morris cell phones. My mother had one of the cell phones you speak of in her car with the nice huge antenna on the back windshield. It was wired and as big as a house phone.

I do have a Cellular One in my area, but I have been with them for 2-3 years, and they have since sucked further and further more.

Thank you for the input on Verizon. I think that is what my family is going to get. I just have to figure out the phone since the ones I asked about in my OP aren't useable with Verizon.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Captante
GSM is digital-only & is a newer technology then CDMA, but unless you plan on using your phone outside of the USA it won't do much to help you & will leave you with no coverage at all if/when you enter an are that only has analog service available .. not all CDMA phones have analog anymore either but most still do.
As for providers, I've had cell-phones since the only kind you could get were the ones hard-wired into your car & although Verizon isn't the cheapest, they do provide by far the best coverage overall nationwide (speaking from experience) and are also top-rated by Consumer-reports... Cingular is overall second best, but its a distant second & really only worth it if you need GSM.

Wrong.

CDMA is TWO YEARS NEWER than GSM. GSM is still partially TDMA (TDMA being the very old system used in analogue setups and is not to be confused with CDMA) based. CDMA also has higher call security (proof-of-concept intercepts for GSM exist, no-one has yet managed to intercept a CDMA signal from the air), more calls can be handled per CDMA tower, and more bandwidth is available for CDMA both for voice transmission (i.e. higher audio fidelity) and for data transmission. The "Dual Mode" CDMA phones that allow analogue transmission do not use CDMA in analogue mode. CDMA has no analogue abilities, the phone has to switch to an entirely different transmitting mode that is un-related to CDMA.

The benefits to GSM are these: It's cheaper to license and therefore reduces overhead for the provider and it is legally mandated in much of Europe so it makes a "world phone" possible.

CDMA is both newer and technologically superior. However, in most instances the technical superiority of CDMA is irrelevant to the end user and the cost savings of GSM combined with its legally imposed monopoly in Europe serve to make it useful both to the bargain-basement group and to the world-traveller group.

ZV

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Captante
GSM is digital-only & is a newer technology then CDMA, but unless you plan on using your phone outside of the USA it won't do much to help you & will leave you with no coverage at all if/when you enter an are that only has analog service available .. not all CDMA phones have analog anymore either but most still do.
As for providers, I've had cell-phones since the only kind you could get were the ones hard-wired into your car & although Verizon isn't the cheapest, they do provide by far the best coverage overall nationwide (speaking from experience) and are also top-rated by Consumer-reports... Cingular is overall second best, but its a distant second & really only worth it if you need GSM.

Wrong.

CDMA is TWO YEARS NEWER than GSM. GSM is still partially TDMA (TDMA being the very old system used in analogue setups and is not to be confused with CDMA) based. CDMA also has higher call security (proof-of-concept intercepts for GSM exist, no-one has yet managed to intercept a CDMA signal from the air), more calls can be handled per CDMA tower, and more bandwidth is available for CDMA both for voice transmission (i.e. higher audio fidelity) and for data transmission. The "Dual Mode" CDMA phones that allow analogue transmission do not use CDMA in analogue mode. CDMA has no analogue abilities, the phone has to switch to an entirely different transmitting mode that is un-related to CDMA.

The benefits to GSM are these: It's cheaper to license and therefore reduces overhead for the provider and it is legally mandated in much of Europe so it makes a "world phone" possible.

CDMA is both newer and technologically superior. However, in most instances the technical superiority of CDMA is irrelevant to the end user and the cost savings of GSM combined with its legally imposed monopoly in Europe serve to make it useful both to the bargain-basement group and to the world-traveller group.

ZV

Interesting... I could have sworn I read an article about the two technologies recently that said GSM was newer, but its entirely possible I'm mistaken.

 

[drinkmorejava]

:thumbsup: for him ^

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: shamrock1313

Originally posted by: Captante
GSM is digital-only & is a newer technology then CDMA, but unless you plan on using your phone outside of the USA it won't do much to help you & will leave you with no coverage at all if/when you enter an are that only has analog service available .. not all CDMA phones have analog anymore either but most still do.
As for providers, I've had cell-phones since the only kind you could get were the ones hard-wired into your car & although Verizon isn't the cheapest, they do provide by far the best coverage overall nationwide (speaking from experience) and are also top-rated by Consumer-reports... Cingular is overall second best, but its a distant second & really only worth it if you need GSM.

Hah. I remember the days of those huge Zach Morris cell phones. My mother had one of the cell phones you speak of in her car with the nice huge antenna on the back windshield. It was wired and as big as a house phone.

I do have a Cellular One in my area, but I have been with them for 2-3 years, and they have since sucked further and further more.

Thank you for the input on Verizon. I think that is what my family is going to get. I just have to figure out the phone since the ones I asked about in my OP aren't useable with Verizon.

Yeah, I used to have a Motorola phone built into my truck with one of those huge antenna's
myself, despite that thing reception was terrible, the service area was tiny & the bills were
insane.. then I graduated to a bag phone that I could carry in my briefcase & that actually had a battery (gasp!).. reception was even worse with that thing, but it was really cool to take it with you outside the car. The coolest thing of all though was my first Motorola "flip-phone" which was roughly the size & weight of a small brick, but was really the first practical hand-held cell phone... funny to see the tiny phones we have today in comparision!

Anyway go with Verizon & you shouldn't be dissappointed, as I said the only issue I have with them is their not the cheapest, but thats because they don't have to be to sell their service. My only other advice is go right to a Verizon store to get your service if you have one nearby & don't accept the first phone they offer you.. it'll be the model corporate told them to push, not the best one & also make sure you do get a dual-mode phone so you get analog service when needed... it won't happen often, but when it does you'll be happy you have it.

 

[NutBucket]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Captante
GSM is digital-only & is a newer technology then CDMA, but unless you plan on using your phone outside of the USA it won't do much to help you & will leave you with no coverage at all if/when you enter an are that only has analog service available .. not all CDMA phones have analog anymore either but most still do.
As for providers, I've had cell-phones since the only kind you could get were the ones hard-wired into your car & although Verizon isn't the cheapest, they do provide by far the best coverage overall nationwide (speaking from experience) and are also top-rated by Consumer-reports... Cingular is overall second best, but its a distant second & really only worth it if you need GSM.

Wrong.

CDMA is TWO YEARS NEWER than GSM. GSM is still partially TDMA (TDMA being the very old system used in analogue setups and is not to be confused with CDMA) based. CDMA also has higher call security (proof-of-concept intercepts for GSM exist, no-one has yet managed to intercept a CDMA signal from the air), more calls can be handled per CDMA tower, and more bandwidth is available for CDMA both for voice transmission (i.e. higher audio fidelity) and for data transmission. The "Dual Mode" CDMA phones that allow analogue transmission do not use CDMA in analogue mode. CDMA has no analogue abilities, the phone has to switch to an entirely different transmitting mode that is un-related to CDMA.

The benefits to GSM are these: It's cheaper to license and therefore reduces overhead for the provider and it is legally mandated in much of Europe so it makes a "world phone" possible.

CDMA is both newer and technologically superior. However, in most instances the technical superiority of CDMA is irrelevant to the end user and the cost savings of GSM combined with its legally imposed monopoly in Europe serve to make it useful both to the bargain-basement group and to the world-traveller group.

ZV

To add to this, I finally found out why EV-DO capable CDMA phones don't have analog. Besides the fact that analog towers are only required to be around for another few years it turns out they're running out of ESNs. They're adding on more digits, much like next-gen IPs. So basically any EV-DO phone has a longer ESN than a non-EV-DO phone hence making it impossible for it to work with older analog equipment.

 

[shortspanishguy]

I feel Verizon is the best.

 

[pontifex]

where in pa do you live?
i live in a rural area about 45 minutes north of harrisburg. i've tried cingular and verizon.
verizon is better for me for where i am. cingular's signal on digital phones was in and out the whole time i had it. verizon signal stays strong for most of the time. there are a few areas where it cuts out on me or has low signal, but thats due to the area, not the service

 

[MrBond]

Consumer Reports rated Verizon #1 in every market they surveyed except Chicago, where US Cellular beat them out by 4 points.

I love my Verizon phone. It's digital only and I've only been out of service once when I was going over a mountain in West Virginia. They do have some tri-mode phones, so if it's important you have analog coverage, look at those (LG VX6100 is tri-mode).

Verizon also has a really nice coverage map on their webpage where you can see what coverage you'd have based on plan. I don't think they have a lot of analog towers themselves, unless you're REALLY in the sticks, but Verizon does rent service from other carriers (the "extended network"), so you're pretty much covered anywhere.

 

[fstime]

Verizon is #1.

The phones I reccomend is the Moto E815, New Samsung phone, Forgot the model name, its partially red, the LG VX8100.

 

[shamrock1313]

I have another question. Is Wirefly, InPhonic, and LetsTalk all scams? I've seen numerous posts talking about how people have filed a class action suit against them and what not.

Today we went to the Verizon store and the prices compared to the ones online at the companies I just named are quite expensive. I can get any other phone at those sites from $50-$150 cheaper. Those deals seem too good to be true.

 

[Ornery]

With Wirefly, you have to follow the terms of the rebate to the letter, which seems to be too much to ask for some people. I'm going to be trying for a rebate from them in a couple months, and I'm holding my breath...

 

[shamrock1313]

You know you can go to this website for no rebate: www.wireflyfriends.com

I am just not sure if they are scammers or not.

 

[Ornery]

Those prices look comparable to what you could get locally at a Verizon store, or Circuit City, so I don't see why it should be a scam.

 

[bmacd]

i had AT&T/Cingular for the last ~6 years. I loved every bit of it. I've had Sprint for less than a week and I'm hating it already.

-=bmacd=-

 

[GregGreen]

I live about fourty minutes east of Erie in Jamestown (in New York). In my experiences in this area verizon has been pretty good! I suggest them personally -- they have been working very hard to have good service in the rural parts of NY and PA! Unless you go out really far in the boonies, you shouldn't lose service -- and I mean really far (around here if there is electricity there is basically verizon). I'm sure you are a couple counties below Erie or Warren county but I hope service is similar south of Meadville towards Grove City.

 

[shamrock1313]

One final question before I finish this ordeal.. Is www.letstalk.com a legit site? Also, what about www.wireflyfriends.com? This is the site where there are no MIRs, just Instant Rebates.. I have heard bad things about this company. Are either of them reputable or worthy enough of my money?

 

[Gibson486]

I have Tmobile. the only time i have bad service is when i go to Florida. When I am down there, it just piggy backs on Cingular's network and it gets pretty bad...