Cell Phone Help

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Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,353
10,876
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I have no experience with letstalk.com, but I've heard of wirefly .com many times so I think they are legit... you might want to do a google search and see if you can find reviews of both sites before buying, but again I'd suggest you go to a Verizon store as your first choice to get service & if theres none around you, Radio Shack sells Verizon as well & has a direct relationship with the company.
 

shamrock1313

Banned
Jan 17, 2005
671
0
0
Originally posted by: shamrock1313
Originally posted by: 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?

Bump bump bump... Bump bump bump bump bump.

^^^^^
 

slpaulson

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2000
4,414
14
81
Have you checked Amazon for deals? Right now you can get an E815 and make $25 after rebates. I'd trust amazon over wirefly or letstalk, which I have heard bad things about. They also have the razr for $99 after rebates, although I don't know how the reception is on that phone. I have an E815, and it works in a couple places where other phones don't.
 

shamrock1313

Banned
Jan 17, 2005
671
0
0
Amazon is lame.. They have one of those stupid customer loyalty rebates. It says after 180 days you can send in the rebate.. That is a big NO!
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
0
I am currently with verizon, my contract is up in February. I am debating if I should stay with them or not. I haven't had any problems with them, and thier coverage is great. I am in Columbus, OH, and pretty much all the major carriers have coverage in my area. The only thing is that i often travel about 2.5 hours north/northwest of here to see my family. It appears as though the exact place I go is a major dead zone for all carriers with the exception of sprint and verizon. I like some of sprints phone and may go with them. But I am undecided as of yet. Any opinions?
 

eminemrh25

Golden Member
Feb 21, 2005
1,109
0
0
I'd go with T-Mobile. They have GREAT service as far as I've been. Customer Service is WAY better than ANY other Celluar Provider I used.

I like GSM because if at any time, I travel, I grab a pre-paid SIM from the area and use that. T-Mobile unlocks phones for their customers, I've never had another service do that, and to me that is a critical feature of anyGSM provider..
 

Ornery

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,022
17
81
I like some of sprints phone and may go with them.

Gal I work with is on Sprint, and has had it with them. Too bad she just upgraded her phones and signed on for two years.

Her daughter's 1 month old Samsung puked, and Sprint charged her close to $40.00 to replace it. I couldn't believe they didn't have a year warranty, so I called 'em myself and asked a CSR. She said the only way it would be covered at all, is if an "insurance plan" had been purchased at about $5.00 per month. They don't use standard Samsung model numbers, so I guess that means Samsung isn't obliged to honor their normal 1 year limited warranty.
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
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Originally posted by: Ornery
I like some of sprints phone and may go with them.

Gal I work with is on Sprint, and has had it with them. Too bad she just upgraded her phones and signed on for two years.

Her daughter's 1 month old Samsung puked, and Sprint charged her close to $40.00 to replace it. I couldn't believe they didn't have a year warranty, so I called 'em myself and asked a CSR. She said the only way it would be covered at all, is if an "insurance plan" had been purchased at about $5.00 per month. They don't use standard Samsung model numbers, so I guess that means Samsung isn't obliged to honor their normal 1 year limited warranty.

Interesting
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
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Do I need to actually sign a contract with sprint in order to try thier service. I am going out of town this weekend and would love th chance to borrow one of thier phones(I wouldn't even care if they gave me the number of the phone, as long as I can see how thier coverage is and make a couple calls myself to see how it sounds, I would be fine with that. But I don't know that i want to go through the whole sign up and activation and then have to cancel later if it doesn't pan out.
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
0
Originally posted by: Ornery
...in order to try thier service.

Why, what's the attraction?

What do you mean, the attraction to sprint service? I would like to be able to try out the coverage/service of all the carriers in the area, without having to go through all the work of signing up for thier service, and then go through more work to cancel it later if i don't like it. Plus I would want my phone number transfered to each one I try, not sure how easy they make that.
 

Ornery

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,022
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81
Of all the carriers, you want to screw around with Sprint? Their reputation for service is poor, and I haven't heard great things about the coverage. What do they have going for them, that makes you even want to bother?

Save some time...
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
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I didn't say i wanted to screw around with sprint, I just want to see if there is a better carrier out there. I wanted to try them all. It seemed as though most of them have a big coverage hole to an area of the state I travel to often. Not sure if that translates to no coverage, or just limited/crappy coverage. I could live with a dropped call every now and then, and i don't make a ton of calls in that area, so as long as call clarity is decent it would be tolerable. I hadn't heard all the bad things you have heard about them. I haven't heard much about them at all. The only people I know in my area have tmobile or verizon. And even that doesn't help with how the coverage will be in the other area I travel to.

I am currently with verizon and I have heard plenty of bad things abotu them, but them still seem good to me. I would be more then happy sticking with them, I just wish they had better phones. And yes I knoew carrier is way more important then the phone. But if i can get equal coverage/service with better phones, then why not.

I checked out the website you linked to, plenty of comments for columbus, and I will check them out. As for Fremont, the other area I travel to) there are no comments for that exact city. There are a few for close around it though. The only problem witht hat site is that it relies to much on the user and the phone, rather then the coverage. One person said the coverage with verizon is okay, some times, but most of the time they have 1 bar and lose a lot of calls. I have never had any dropped calls in that area and usually have 4 bars, don't think I have ever seen less then 2.

I mean really with any carrier, your gonna have your haters and bad reviews. But again it can often depend on user and phone. Granted service is one area where you can usually get good info. I have never had to deal with verizon CS, so I have no idea hwo good they even are.

As I said, in the end its quite likely I will stick with verizon, but i would like to have a chance to try out the other carriers. But as I said, i would prefer to do it without having todeal with signing up and canceling. Because as I said, I don't have much info on the other carriers, so its quite likely I may try them out for a day and realize they suck and want to get rid of them. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with all the paperwork.
 

Ornery

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
20,022
17
81
Take a look at the cell tower locations in the area you're worried about. If you looked at my zip for coverage, it would be a mixxed bag. My sister is in the north end of the city, with a cheap phone, getting merely adaquate coverage with VZN. My end of the city is rock solid. Tower locations is probably more accurate.
 

The Linuxator

Banned
Jun 13, 2005
3,121
1
0
I just go with companies that offer GSM service , I like the fact that I can switch my number from one phone to the other with all simplicity so, I went with T-mobile, I like their coverage service, Customer service is good, and the contract is one year, I am renewing my contract with them in a couple of months and getting another free phone, my old phone which I got from them was a Nokia 6800, now hopefully I am getting me a blackberry or something, or maybe the new 6822, I am not sure I will have to lookup the deals when the time comes.
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
0
Originally posted by: Ornery
Take a look at the cell tower locations in the area you're worried about. If you looked at my zip for coverage, it would be a mixxed bag. My sister is in the north end of the city, with a cheap phone, getting merely adaquate coverage with VZN. My end of the city is rock solid. Tower locations is probably more accurate.

Yeah i just noticed you could look at tower locations. But how do you know what towers offer coverage for what carriers? And about how far away fromt he tower will you generally get coverage?

I know, and just confirmed with the map that there is a tower directly across the street from my mom's(thats who we come up here to see). But does it offer coverage to any carrier?
 

xanis

Lifer
Sep 11, 2005
17,571
8
0
Originally posted by: coolred
Originally posted by: Ornery
Take a look at the cell tower locations in the area you're worried about. If you looked at my zip for coverage, it would be a mixxed bag. My sister is in the north end of the city, with a cheap phone, getting merely adaquate coverage with VZN. My end of the city is rock solid. Tower locations is probably more accurate.

Yeah i just noticed you could look at tower locations. But how do you know what towers offer coverage for what carriers? And about how far away fromt he tower will you generally get coverage?

I think it says on the map if you click on the markers......
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
0
Originally posted by: The Linuxator
I just go with companies that offer GSM service , I like the fact that I can switch my number from one phone to the other with all simplicity so, I went with T-mobile, I like their coverage service, Customer service is good, and the contract is one year, I am renewing my contract with them in a couple of months and getting another free phone, my old phone which I got from them was a Nokia 6800, now hopefully I am getting me a blackberry or something, or maybe the new 6822, I am not sure I will have to lookup the deals when the time comes.

You get a new phone every year with tmobile(or at least a discoutn on some of the more expensive ones)? Any other ones like that? Thats one things i didn't like about verizon, with the new every 2. Also I heard that they soon(maybe as soon as Feb.)they plan to cut the 100 off down to 50 instead. That woudl not make me happy.
 

coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
0
Originally posted by: Xanis
Originally posted by: coolred
Originally posted by: Ornery
Take a look at the cell tower locations in the area you're worried about. If you looked at my zip for coverage, it would be a mixxed bag. My sister is in the north end of the city, with a cheap phone, getting merely adaquate coverage with VZN. My end of the city is rock solid. Tower locations is probably more accurate.

Yeah i just noticed you could look at tower locations. But how do you know what towers offer coverage for what carriers? And about how far away fromt he tower will you generally get coverage?

I think it says on the map if you click on the markers......

That just tells you who owns the tower, or where its located. Like the one I spoke of says Futronics, thats the name of the guys buisness across the street. And some may say Fremont Police Department, or fire.