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Help me choose a cell phone?

C

Chu

Banned
Hello all. I am trying to choose a cell phone provider . . . and the options are truly mind boggoling. Anyone know some good sites out there that have reviews of providers and plans? The problem with me is that being a college student 1/2 the year I'm at school and 1/2 the year I'm elsewhere, with cell providers loathing to change your "local" calling area. Another problem is I use a TON of hours about 4 times a year, and probably less then an hour for the rest of the year. . . looks like almost every plan where you pay as you go doesn't do rollover, or does it for only 2 months or so.

-Chu
 
Get Cingular, they have roll over minutes.

Not too sure how good their coverage will be

Verizon has the best coverage throughout, but it's also the most expensive. But you can move up and down in the plans if you want to without extending teh contract as long as you stay in the same promotion.
 
Originally posted by: isekii
Get Cingular, they have roll over minutes.

Not too sure how good their coverage will be

Verizon has the best coverage throughout, but it's also the most expensive. But you can move up and down in the plans if you want to without extending teh contract as long as you stay in the same promotion.
Click to expand...

it's pointless to choose a provider based on minutes alone, the minutes are useless if there is no coverage when you need it.
 
Originally posted by: isekii
Get Cingular, they have roll over minutes.
Click to expand...


WTF is up with them...they don't even offer service in the state of Minnesota! 😕

It was easy for me, Cingular's coverage was nil, nada, zip...


Coverage for where you are and will be going I think is one of the most important factors.
 
After the new cell phone law goes into effect, I think the rates should get better for most provider since it's gonna be really competitive.
I use T-Mobile btw and happy with it.
 
it was a tough decision for me. I'm in the Bay Area. Everyone I knew used cingular because they had fair reception but were cheap, so they're parents got it for them. The rebels used ATT for the cool phones at the time like the Sony Ericsson T68i's. Everyone had some form of a nokia candybar phone or a motorola V60 clamshell one. The ones with cash went with Verizon and they're seemingly great reception/coverage.

I decided to go with Sprint. Why? I got my phone from Costco for one, and with they're great return policy, I can exchange phones anytime I want for free at no cost, and at the end of my 2 year contract if I want to change providers I can return the phone and get all the money back that I spent initially. Not to mention the Sprint rebate that comes with it. A lot of people said they have expensive plans. Well I'm paying $35 a month for 500 anytime, unlimited nights/weekends, and unlimited mobile-mobile, and I don't even use all those minutes. Lastly, people said they have the worst customer support in the universe. That, I can vouch for a little bit, because they screwed up my plan initially, but on a trip down to the Sprint store to look for a phone case, I resolved it in about 5 minutes.

The websites I gave will help a lot, dont choose your provider/phone without some research there. You DON'T want to be in a 1-2 year contract and get stuck with bad reception or a phone that you don't like.
 
Verizon is universally hailed for their superior service/reception in all markets. A recent Consumer Reports survey backs this up.

You will rarely find someone complaining about their coverage while with Verizon.

AT&T TMDA also has decent coverage but is being phased out in favor of their new GSM network,which is good in major markets but has poor cross-country coverage.

Sprint has had problems in the past but recently has shaped up very well. If you want the "cool" phones you want to think about Sprint or AT&T. Also since Sprint uses CDMA, on occasion Sprint and Verizon will end up sharing towers.

Nextel has fair to poor reception in most markets but has the two-way radio, which is useful for only a handful of people. Besides, it is offered by Verizon anyway.

Coming in dead last is Cingular. I know four people in three major metropolitan markets who have Cingular. All of them despise that company solely because reception is beyond horrible. The reason they are so gung-ho with giving out minutes is to make up for the poor service quality.

I rarely hear anything about T-Mobile, good or bad. I honestly can't say I've seen a single person with a T-Mobile phone, so I will refrain from comment.
 
i used tmobile, cingular, and ATT...i hate all three (tmobile and cingular uses the same towers..so they both have crappy stupid reception)

i'll pay 10 dollars more per month for better service w/ verizon or nextel..

reception is a joke, too many call attempts and those attempts waste minutes

my current plan? i have 1000 minutes w/ tmobile (stuck for 2 yrs damn!!).

400 of those minutes are just from call attempts, dropped calls, etc..

so essentially i have only 600 usable minutes...


i live in so. cal. btw...



 
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