never had cellphone and was pondering about getting one

[laFiera]

man, seems to be a scary world in the land of cell phones....

 

[JonnyDuke]

Yes it is a jungle out there... I recommend getting as much info as is humanly possible before buying a cell phone.

Personally I can say that most of the big name brands are good phones...
Nokia, Samsung, Motorola. I would be using a Motorola right now except the Company and plan I chose at the time didn't have any available, so I'm using something else. But quite to my surprise it's actually fairly durable and easy to use for me. I use a Sprint all digital TP1100 and I don't roam from Grand Rond Oregon to Seattle Washington. Unfortunately I had no signal west of Grand Rond, but that's the sacrifice I made by going with an all digital phone.

 

[JonnyDuke]

And I recommend against using the pre-paid phones. My friend had a couple of different types of these and had nothing but problems. He had a hard time finding places where he could purchase more minutes, it seemed as though once he bought a card from someone they would stop carrying it altogether and he would have to search all over town for someone else. After a year he gave up on the pre-paid phones.

 

[tommigsr]

personally...i'd get nextel. just better service/reception overall, yes even in buildings. i have cingular and i'm just pissed at their reception in southern california

in lafierra's sake...getting a prepaid cellphone would be a better deal. get a nokia 5190 or something and get a card for 20 bucks, use it or don'ot use it for 3 months, and pay another 20 bucks.

my dad gets 200 minutes / 20 bucks + 300 extra bonus minutes. for free! dunno how that works...my bro just got prepaid also after his contract ended with cingular. I use over 3000 minutes every month so i can't go that way, so i'm going to nextel! hope you find a plan that is right for you

 

[thedarkwolf]

My sister uses a pre-paid phone though AT&T and so did I just to test their service out in my area and it worked great. She uses it for pretty much what your wanting to do checking in with the parents and emergencys. I never bothered to add any extra mins to mine but I think all you had to do was call them up so its not that big of a deal. I can't remember for sure but I think its $25 for 60mins over 3 months.

 

[i3rYs0n]

yeah man get a phone. When i got mine it was like being home all the time, you know never miss a phone. You might want to get more mins though cuz mine was for just "emergencies" and i went over like 100 min. lol\

LaSt

 

[Logix]

Let me add to the chorus by saying: CINGULAR SUCKS!

I'm changing providers as soon as my contract is up. Just one example of their coverage: I get little to no reception on the fourth floor of my residence hall which is located several hundred feet above sea level. I get perfect reception three stories underground in the BART station. :disgust:

My friends and parents have Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, and all of them have better coverage where I am (Berkeley).