San Diego People interested in Nokia 8290, look here

[wildting88]

Dear Group:

Excuse me if I break any of the rules on this forum because I have only posted about 3 times and one of those times, I made a mistake. So my friend is a sub-agent for pacific bell (now cingular wireless). He said that he'll beat any price in San Diego.

But currently he is having a special where he will activate a 1-year plan with Cingular wireless $29.99 or above. And he will give you a Nokia 8290 for $65.00 (plus tax on the original price on the phone) with the included handsfree headset and he'll throw in a car charger.

I think this is the best in San Diego. I believe that the commission rates are different in different areas. He told me that he'll beat any price though. So if you find something cheaper in San Diego (and I tried to), then please let me know. Or post it on this forum thread.

But if you are interested in activating a new Cingular Wireless cell phone, email me, ok?

There is also a new 3 month promotion going on starting monday. If you are currently, a Cingular Wireless user... then just call 611 and ask for their promotions. They should add them on with no problems.

Thanks for reading.
=)

 

[wildting88]

bump for san diego people

 

[urameatball]

bump for a good deal (I think)

In Canada, the phone goes for $850+15%taxes (canadian dollars).
your deal comes to about 650 for the 12 months (that I won't use) and the phone... [in canadian dollars again]

I might just goto san diego and save a few hundred myself.

 

[Pers]

San Diego is the Best...Thats all...
=)

 

[kw3i]

im in san diego, is this a good fone or something? my current fone is fine but if this one is the shiznit then maybe ill tell my friend who is looking for a fone about it

 

[Laxer]

I was curious about the Cingular wireless plans. I heard from a friend who has a $29.99 Pacbell plan with unlimited nights/weekends and added the mobile-to-mobile for 10 dollars more or something. Apparently, he says during the nights and weekends when you get free minutes, he is able to call long distance for free.. this includes calling from OUTSIDE the CA/NV area. (somehow negating roaming/LD charges). Is this possible? He's made calls from Hawaii and Washington DC back to Cali at different times... during the daytime, it deducts from the minutes that come with the plan as long as you still have minutes left. During the nights/weekends, it's all free. Is this really feasible.. and does it work with mobile-to-mobile.. or would that only work in the CA/NV area? I would definitely appreciate some input from experienced Pacbell (or cell phone) users.. thanks.

 

[Riskhk]

yep the plan that pacific bell has right now is great...thats what i have also....i got the same fone for free in orange county...1 hour north of san diego...

 

[Tonec]

Al&Ed's Auto chains have the 8290 for 85-50rebate. Might be worth looking into if you can wait for the rebate

 

[hoomza444]

urameatball

you're close. the plan that comes with free domestic long distance is the 39.99 plan. that comes with 300 peak and ur choice of ulmited mobile-mobile, nights and weeknds, or an extra 150 peak minutes. on top of that...you get the free roaming in the enitre ca/nv area. plus you ge tthe test messages, e-mail, voice mail, confrence call, forwarding, and all the other good stuff included. this is a VERY good deal. currently i am usign verizon but my contract ends next month so i am switching over to pacbell. for the extra $5 i get a LOT more. also, they both have a family plan, so i am going to add another line, jsut liek i ahve on my contract now, so i can share my unlimited nights and weeekends with my mom for only 15 more. she gets her own phone, own #, and all the goodies too.

But in answer to your question, it is possible, but only with the 39.99 + plan to get free domestic long distance outside of the regional area. for the 29.99 plan, it is $0.15 per minute. i don't know how the long distance works with mobile-mobile but i do know that the mobile-mobile calls only get coutned as mobile-mobile when calls are made to other cingular wireless users WITH mobile-mobile in YOU CALLING AREA. personally, i would rather have the unlimited nights and weekends, which gives you the freedom to call any numbers.

oh yeah, if anyone know sa good deal in the San Jose area on that phone, let me know. but also, one question. how is the service of pacbell? i have heard it is hard to get service in almost all buildings. can anyone confirm? thanks.

 

[wildting88]

i'm glad to see that people are discussing this phone. yes, it is a VERY solid phone. basically, the upgrades (from a 5190 or 6190) include the infared port (can sync with palm pilot or computer), the voice recognition (for safe dailing), the small size of the phone, and the word recognition on text messaging (it makes sending text messages easier).

on MONDAY, i believe that more promotions will come on. but yes, if you are interested in this phone, just shoot me an email.

understand, that for 65 bucks... you only can get a San Diego phone number. if you are in LA, the phone should be free... unfortunately, San Diego doesn't have high commission rates. you see, my friend makes so much money off of selling computers that he doesn't really need to make a lot off phones (like true Cingular Wireless) stores. and he can get you some free stuff.

so... i'm still wondering, is this the lowest price in San Diego?

 

[wildting88]

dear kw3i: yes, the phone is very good.

dear hoomza444: in san jose, coverage is very good. not as good as in san diego, BUT a whole lot better than that crappy sprint service and verizon (no offense). in san jose, i think you should got to Parrot Cellular, if i'm not mistaken. you see, i live in San Mateo, but go to school in San Diego... and have many contacts... check out Parrot Cellular though.

 

[SuepurDuper]

i live in san diego and have/had contracts with 2 of the major carriers in the area for cellular service... I goto UCSD and everyone i know has a cellphone...between me and my friends, the only company that i haven't had the chance of using is Nextel...and hands down, without hesitation, i whole heartedly recommend VERIZON, i will take the "pepsi" challenge any day against any other service carrier in the San Diego area..i've been in building basements/elevators/stairs and have still been able to use my phone... so far, i've been able to place a call anytime i've wanted...coverage provided by VERIZON is phenomenol...i can't tell you how many times i've had solid digital reception/coverage while my non-VERIZON friends have had "roaming" or "Searching for Signal" messages...this is compared to pacbell, sprint, and gte..

as for the phone i'm using, it's the base NOKIA 5185i series... and it works like a charm...doens't have any frills and is a bit bulky, but for me coverage is what it's all about..and i learned the hard way that it doens't matter how many whistles and bells your phone has...it's useless if you can't send or receive calls... i initially purchased a motorola startac through SPRINT PCS (is suck) and wound up cancelling my contract after 1 month of the crappiest service known to man...believe me, you won't ever hear the pin drop....

so keep in mind that service coverage matters....

 

[Laxer]

hoomza444- Thanks for the response. Actually, I looked at some fine print in a brochure and they mention that if you have mobile-to-mobile (M2M) but the person you are calling does not, it's still free for you (the caller). It includes incoming and outgoing calls to and from other Cingular numbers in the CA/NV network. I guess that answers my question whether or not it works outside of CA/NV.

I do agree that unlimited nights/weekends is a great deal though.. I think it would definitely save more money in the long run than the M2M option.. at least for me. I need to check with my friend to make sure he has the exact plans I was referring to because I think he really does have the $29.99 plan, but was able to call outside of the CA/NV region for free during nights/weekends. Strange.

 

[zsir]

wildting88

did u get my email?

 

[DongTran]

Hi guys. Now here's the scoop on M2M. I work in San Francisco, but I live in San Diego. My girlfriend lives also lives down in San Diego, but she rarely goes up to the Bay Area. When I decided to get us both cellies last May, I signed up for Pacific Bell in San Francisco because their plans were actually better than the LA/San Diego plans. Both of our accounts are in San Francisco, however one hour after I signed up for her phone, I changed her # to an 858 area code. Anyway we do talk on the phone A LOT, so I decided to try out M2M, not only because of that but because like everyone of my friends and their mothers have Pacbell/Cingular, so most of my calls are free. Now whoever said that M2M ONLY works in people in your calling area is BS. My girlfriend and I call back and forth all day long, not to mention my other friends who live in San Diego and my other friends in San Francisco. I can tell you that it does NOT matter where you are, if you are calling Pacbell/Cingular customers, there are no airtime charges incurred. But don't forget, if you don't have free long distance, they will charge you for long distance if it is applicable, and don't forget about the roaming.

If anybody here doesn't believe me, e-mail me, and I'll scan parts of my 29 page cell phone bill since there seems to be a lot of people who are disagree.

BTW, coverage is excellent for both of us, but I'm looking to get 8890s for us (with all this talk about the T28world having all kinds of radiation, I'm trying to step away from that). The cheapest price I've seen for an 8890 is 383 (but then again, I haven't been looking very hard), and that's at a Pacific Bell PCS SmartMart @ 235 Town Center Parkway, Santee. I got the guy's card, his name is Carson. Lemme know if you can find a better price.

 

[christon]

Hi Folks. For $85 - the rebate, how can this be a good deal? You can get the 8290 for FREE at certain places. I was in Irvine at ranch 99 supermarket and they gave you it for free + tax and a whole case, kit and everything you need with it. Basically if you buy from stores such as CC and BB, they will rip you off charging at least $50 for the phone. That's how those stores make money. The smaller mom and pop shops sell it for less and make money signing people up. This is not a good deal at all.

TIP: Never buy any cell phone for more than $50, it's simply not worth it with today's competition.

 

[wildting88]

Dong Tran: ... you are right... MTM (Mobile to Mobile) works from Cingular to Cingular mobile phones anywhere in California and Nevada for free. People that think it's in your local calling area have probably experienced Verizons idea of MTM.

Zsir: got your email and will reply as soon as i get home... (i'm at GFriends place now). =) we'll have you hooked up.

 

[Laxer]

Christon- yeah you're right.. it's so easy to go to stores in parts of OC/LA and pick up the newer cell phones for very little. I'm assuming they make money off the plans and not the cell phones.. but do they give you the exact same plans as you get at a normal pacbell store or authorized dealer?

Dongtran- Hmm.. not sure who said M2M doesn't work for free within the CA/NV network. What I am wondering is even if you are getting "free" minutes with M2M, if you're not in CA/NV (or the pacbell customer you're calling isn't in CA/NV), they will definitely tack on the applicable LD and/or roaming charges? Have you ever tried it out?

 

[urameatball]

so where have you guys seen the phone for free?
cuz I'm in Canada and if I can get the 8890 for free in the US, then I'll just sign up for some one year contract there and throw it away while taking the phone back to Canada

or I could give one of you guys the contract and I'll pay for whatever the cost for the year would be.
so... anyone want free minutes? find me a place where they sell the phone for free and I'll drop by in mid feb

 

[labmice]

pick up the 8290 in la for free... doesn't even cost a penny...

go to monteray park to get it...

link to previous post...

[L]http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=301638&highlight_key=y&keyword1=8290[/L]

 

[urameatball]

OOPS...
all this time I kept on reading 8890 instead of 8290...
okay, nevermind. I'll stay in Canada

btw, anyone know the cheapest price for the 8890?
you know, the matted silver phone?

 

[hoomza444]

thanks for the responses about the coverages.....i have heard differnt thigns from everyone. well soory i must have been mistaken about the M2M but the guy at the pacbell stand in the mall told me that, maybe i just misunderstood. oh well, if the reception of pacbell is anything like AT&T, and i am right to assume the 8290 has the same if not better reception compared to the 8260, then yes this is a great phone. too bad the lowest i have seen it in this area is 90. anyone in the san jose area that knows a good place to get one then let me know. Thanks.

 

[Laxer]

I claried some things with my friend who has the PacBell plan and used it for roaming/LD. Apparently, he has the $39.99 plan (you guys were right).. that explains the free long distance. With roaming, for some reason when he called at night/weekends from outside CA/NV, it was free and he had checked this out on his phone bill (made calls from Hawaii and Washington D.C. to home phones or cell phones in Cali). WHenever he called in the daytime, it just deducted from his minutes. I have no clue how come roaming charges were not applied, but I do recall seeing that if a roaming charge applies, it INCLUDES long distance charges as well.. so maybe there is some loophole here. At any rate, the $39.99 plan doesn't seem like too bad a deal if you have people to call all over the U.S. and you get the nights/weekends free. (oh.. and get a free phone too =P ).

 

[szymcom]

wildting88,

Do you have the details on what is the new Cingular promotion starting Monday?

Thanks,

Szymon

 

[jonnysnakes]

Hey guys,

I talked to a guy who owns a cell phone retail store. He said that he can hook up San Diego ppl w/ phones for $39!! That's right, no more paying $69 for the dang phone! Plus, LA peeps get the phone for FREE plus free leather case and car charger. I think this is a pretty hot deal, if you ask me. Email me and I'll pass along his info to ya! Or maybe I should tell him that a bunch of ppl are going to email him and tell him to give us all a big group discount... hmm... "I'd like the Anandtech special please"...