Need cell phone advice

[Muse]

My employer just informed me that they will no longer pay for my cell phone. They sent me a Nokia 5165 (big honkin') cell phone when I got the part time telecommute job a couple years ago. They want me to either get the billing (ATT) switched to my name or get my own service and return the Nokia phone to them. What they will do is reimburse me for up to $40/month for cell phone service.

I'm in Berkeley, CA. I never had a cell phone before and don't have a clue how to buy the hardware and set up service and from whom. I've heard that some providers are far better than others, but I haven't a clue what the scene is now. My current service is for 400 free anytime minutes/month, but I didn't use anywhere near that. On the job I actually use probably less than 5 hours/month, because the client usually calls me on my home phone (a toll call). Any extra hours, I could use for whatever, although I have been well under 400/month, usually well under half that. I could probably get by with 50 hours/month! What matters more to me is not having dropouts around every corner!

I'd appreciate any helpful advice, and thanks!

 

Originally posted by: Muse
My employer just informed me that they will no longer pay for my cell phone. They sent me a Nokia 5165 (big honkin') cell phone when I got the part time telecommute job a couple years ago. They want me to either get the billing (ATT) switched to my name or get my own service and return the Nokia phone to them. What they will do is reimburse me for up to $40/month for cell phone service.

I'm in Berkeley, CA. I never had a cell phone before and don't have a clue how to buy the hardware and set up service and from whom. I've heard that some providers are far better than others, but I haven't a clue what the scene is now. My current service is for 400 free anytime minutes/month, but I didn't use anywhere near that. On the job I actually use probably less than 5 hours/month, because the client usually calls me on my home phone (a toll call). Any extra hours, I could use for whatever, although I have been well under 400/month, usually well under half that. I could probably get by with 50 hours/month! What matters more to me is not having dropouts around every corner!

I'd appreciate any helpful advice, and thanks!

It's been my experience that no one (except maybe AT&T) has better reception than Verizon. I've been places with a group of people and have them bitching about how crappy their reception is (Nextel, Cingular, Tmobile, etc.)

 

[Muse]

It's been my experience that no one (except maybe AT&T) has better reception than Verizon. I've been places with a group of people and have them bitching about how crappy their reception is (Nextel, Cingular, Tmobile, etc.)

Thanks. Yeah, I think I heard that a good year ago. I guess that hasn't particularly changed! Actually, I've sometimes had reception issues with the AT&T. I've had dropouts, calls mysteriously ending, that kind of thing. I guess moreso a year or two ago, than recently. Like I say, I don't use it that much because the client usually calls me than the other way around. But when I call other people, I'd like minimal issues (connection issues, I guess).

I see people using cell phones that make mine look archaic (it's big and it weighs almost 1/2 lb. - 6.3 oz, actually). Do I get the actual hardware through the provider or can/should I buy the hardware somewhere else?

 

[brigden]

Originally posted by: Muse

It's been my experience that no one (except maybe AT&T) has better reception than Verizon. I've been places with a group of people and have them bitching about how crappy their reception is (Nextel, Cingular, Tmobile, etc.)

Thanks. Yeah, I think I heard that a good year ago. I guess that hasn't particularly changed! I see people using cell phones that make mine look archaic (it's big and it weighs almost 1/2 lb. - 6.3 oz, actually). Do I get the actual hardware through the provider or can/should I buy the hardware somewhere else?

For simplicity's sake, find a provider you like (i.e. Verizon) and pick up one of their models you like. I've always been partial to Nokia's phones.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Make sure you vote NO on prop 67 tomorrow!

 

[Ilmater]

Ask around and see how good the coverage is of the carriers in your area. If you REALLY want to get the best, get a phone and make a point to go around to the areas where you will use it most and see how good your reception is in those areas. You should have at LEAST 14 days with any carrier to return your phone for a full refund, so check that out. Otherwise, ask around to see what others in your area have luck with.

And the blanket statement that "AT&T is second to Verizon" is ridiculous. Verizon has the best coverage in the most areas nationwide, but everywhere is different. The thing to remember is that every carrier will drop once in awhile. The question is, which carrier will drop less in the areas you travel to?

 

[Metron]

I second the vote for Verizon. I had service with T-Mobile, and used local number portability (LNP) to move my number to Verizon. Using my service information, Verizon was able to move my existing mobile number in less than 15 minutes.

Coverage and service rock.

Metron

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
Ask around and see how good the coverage is of the carriers in your area. If you REALLY want to get the best, get a phone and make a point to go around to the areas where you will use it most and see how good your reception is in those areas. You should have at LEAST 14 days with any carrier to return your phone for a full refund, so check that out. Otherwise, ask around to see what others in your area have luck with.

And the blanket statement that "AT&T is second to Verizon" is ridiculous. Verizon has the best coverage in the most areas nationwide, but everywhere is different. The thing to remember is that every carrier will drop once in awhile. The question is, which carrier will drop less in the areas you travel to?

Thanks everybody! My employer is (I think) giving me until the end of the week to make a change (they forgot to tell me until a couple days ago that I had to change by the end of the month!). I'll ask some people. My main concern is:

1. How good the service is exactly where I'm sitting - at my computer. That's where I'll use it with my client, 90+% of the time.

2. Other places in the house.

3. Well, everywhere else!

I'll check out both Verizon and ATT, compare rates and then probably go with Verizon, but will definitely check out some people I know who live in the vicinity who use cell phones.

 

[Muse]

Update:

I was going to go into my local Verizon store a couple of days ago, but things piled up and I didn't get a chance. I went for my obligatory workout downtown, and going back home I took an alternate route by a cell phone store (I didn't know what kind, but I'd remembered there was one there). It turned out to be a Cingular store. Well, I'd heard earlier in the day that Cingular had just bought out ATT Wireless, so I figured I'd go in. After all, keeping my ATT was one possible option. I was getting OK coverage in my house with the ATT.

There was one guy in the store, and I left with a phone and plan. The plan seemed excellent. $29.99/month for 250 anytime anywhere, minutes, no roaming charges, mobile to mobile, free phone with a 2 year contract (Nokia 3120, triple band phone that will work all over the world). My big concern, of course, was will it work in my house? I'd heard bad things about Cingular, but that was over a year ago, they'd just bought ATT (which worked OK for me), and the guy told me I had 15 days to bring it all back and get my money back. What could I lose?

I get it home and call from downstairs and get "No Network". I call the guy who sold it to me and he says it's a configuration issue. He tries to help me reconfigure. Take a chip out and reinsert it. That must have been a longshot, because he mumbled something about possible moisture in the chip connection! He says I'll have to come in in the morning and he will reconfigure. I hang up and then find out that if I turn it off and back on and go upstairs I sometimes get "No Network" but sometimes can get a weak connection, but it usually craps out after a few seconds or a minute and I lose the connection. I go back in the morning and he gives me my money back. But he says that Cingular will still charge me the $36 activation fee! I'm indignant. He'd told me I would get my money back if I decided I didn't want it within 15 days if the phone, etc. were in "like new condition." He says he's putting comments in for me on my account for Cingular indicating that I called him immediately complaing of bad service and that I returned the phone within 24 hours. He said that this would help dispose them to waive the $36 fee. He said I could wait and see if I get a bill. He give me a number to call (writes it down), in case I get charged. I ask if I should call today. He says I could wait.

I go to Verizon and sign onto one of their 2 year plans and then go home and call Cingular and ask about the activation fee of $36. The CSR says they don't waive those. I'm indignant and ask to talk to her supervisor. After a 15 minute wait on hold with the usual background stuff, she comes back on and says that since I only used the phone for 8 minutes they were waiving the activation fee and per minute charges. I'm done with Cingular.

The Verizon experience:

Instead of one person sitting behind a counter, they had a real mill going. There were around 5 guys walking the small floor, a guy who signs you in, people behind a counter. The place was humming. Phones everywhere, on the walls, on kiosks. I perused the phones and found a likely choice - next to cheapest, but had speakerphone, $39.99 after $50 MIR. They had one that was $29.99, but I figured the extra $10 was worth it to get speakerphone. This is an LG VX4500. I know next to nothing about cell phones, but this seems like it has some nice features and is pretty damn well thought out. The manual is over 100 pages and the feature set seems very extensive to me (a newbie, yeah!). After reading the manual for a couple of hours last night I decided that it was programmed by people who used it personally. This is the product of iterative software engineering. It reminds me of my iRiver SlimX IMP-350 in that regard. Intelligent design, and the manual is in very very good English, indeed!

A guy approaches me and inside of 1/2 hour I was out the door with the same phone I'd spotted by myself as a likely best choice for me (the LG VX4500), etc. Their deal didn't suit me nearly as well as Cingular's (I had to pay $40 + over $18 taxes for the phone, after a $50 MIR, and I decided to buy a headset at retail for $30, Plantronics MX150), it was over my "budget" (I'll have to pay some out of my pocket after my employer reimbursement of $40/mo.), but I have good coverage, at least in my house. The plan is 400 minutes/month for their promotional "America's Choice" plan, and at $40/month it's the cheapest plan. The sales guy tells me it's the cheapest plan they offer, period. I wonder, now, but he insisted that's it and I figured I had to go with that.

I now see that the Web (and email) access is an option, and additional charge of $4.99/mo. and I think I'll cancel that. The guy I talked to wasn't too cool about informing me of stuff, kind of a mumbling geek, and not very good at communicating verbally. He assured me the Web was included. It's not. I figure I can do all the internet stuff I need on my computer. I'm not the kind of guy who would use my cell phone to find a local restaurant or gas station. I get tons of email, and I can better handle it from my PC. Stock quote? Yeah, that could be cool, but I haven't owned any stock for a couple of years.