Thinking of getting a cel phone, need some advice...

[Sir Fredrick]

Hi, as the title says, I'm looking at getting a cel phone. If I got a cel phone, this would replace my landline. I'm seriously considering this because I'm paying $40/month for the stupid thing, plus any long distance charges I incur. That seems rediculous to me, when I could get a cel phone for that price, and not have to pay for long distance.

Voicestream seems to have the best deal anywhere, with $40/month which includes 500 any time minutes, and unlimited night and weekend minutes, with no roaming charges for leaving my calling area (this is critical), and no long distance charges.

I need to be able to roam because I'm going to be moving around. I have 3 places I call home: Lansing, MI, Springfield, MA (a nearby town actually), and Tampa, FL (again, a nearby town). Voicestream's coverage seems to be quite spotty, but they DO have service in all three places. It's doubtful I'll spend much time anywhere else.

What I'm curious about is whether the voice quality is actually good enough to replace my phone at home, is it reliable enough to rely on without a backup land line phone, and which phone do you recommend? Also, I'm slightly concerned about the number of minutes; I have no idea how many minutes I use right now, as they are not metered, but I would guess that they are probably below 500/month during the day.

Here are the plans. I'm considering the "get more" plan, and the Motorola T193 phone. I hate those flip phones and I want something that's not really super small and uncomfortable. I'd also want to get some sort of holster for it.

 

[Deeko]

Get the ericsson t68 like im getting

 

[Sir Fredrick]

They're not offering that. I can get the Motorola for free after rebate.

 

[erub]

Voicestream DOES NOT give you night time minutes, only weekend. Get more plan is $40, 500 anytime and unimited weekend. It looks to me like you will need a national plan, those states aren't in the same region..Cingular offers 150 anytime, 3000 nights and weekends for $35. AT&T doesn't have any national plans for under $60. Verizon is in a pricewar with Cingular in Dallas (as I guess they are nationwide - they both seem to have about the same plans) - 150 anytime, 3150 nights and weekends for $35. Cingular though has a .35 cent overcharge/min, where Verizon wants .40 cents - and Verizon wants $175 to cancel, while Cingular only wants $150 (both are ridiculous). I have Cingular in Dallas, and its fantastic. I am on a home plan, and I can go to Austin, Houston, San Antonio or Oklahoma City (and all along the highways, anywhere there is Cingular coverage) with no roaming charges. Unlimited long distance can be added for $5/month (on the home plan). I have the Nokia 3360 ($25 from Cingular last weekend, with a 2 year agreement), its a great phone - not too big, I put it in my pocket, but not too small to loose either (its not a flip) - I wouldn't attach it to my belt, I'm not a technician or doctor (to quote somebody else). And its got downloadable rings, snake, and a pretty long battery life...all the goodie features . The one major player I haven't mentioned is Sprint PCS. A couple of my friends have sprint, and they like it well enough - but I've heard lots of horror stores about them, and they charge you 50 cents/min if you roam off their network (ouch!)

 

[erub]

Read this article also

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Thanks, I hadn't noticed that it was weekends only...that certainly makes a difference.

It seems like there isn't anything that's quite what I'm looking for.

 

[lepper boy]

I use to live in a place that didn't have cell phone coverage but all the maps showed it was there... it was central eastern oregon.. I had at&t wireless call me up one day and try to sell me a cell phone insisiting that they would work in the area. Even though I knew that no cell phones work... they are all EVIL! EVIL! RUN! don't do it! I just use onesuite for long distance... 20 bucks has lasted me for 3 months... even though I did buy my wife a cell phone....

us cellular 600 anytime minutes.. for 39..

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Hmm...what plan did your wife get?

 

[Way Cool Jr.]

If you have a Handspring Visor, get the Visorphone. It's great, plus you can surf the web in color. I think they are free with activation and Voicestream is one of their carriers.

 

[VTHodge]

I agree with Erub about the 3360 . . . Nokias are great all around. I have a 5185 and I will probably get a 3360 next. 8200 line is also very good, but maybe smaller than what you want.

My GF has Cingular with Free Nights/Weekends, and sometimes it is very difficult to get through. The lines get very busy between 9:00 and 10:00 (their nights start at 9:00). My service is with Alltel. They are pretty good. The instore Cust. Service is great, but over the phone support is not so good.

I think doing away with a landline will start to be very common. I almost never use my landline. The only catch is if you ever need to make an important call, your cell might be getting a bad signal, or you might have "all circuits are busy" problems. It is definately a good idea to only do long distance on the cell phone, especailly if you use less than an hour or two per month.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

I use cingular, its been good to me.

Why is your ground line phone 40$??? seems like about 25$ too much

 

[Sir Fredrick]

<< I use cingular, its been good to me.

Why is your ground line phone 40$??? seems like about 25$ too much >>



Cingular doesn't seem to offer service in my area.
I agree that $40 is insane. I could understand $20...but come on, this is basic service, the only thing I have is voicemail, and they were pushing really hard to get me to sign up for call waiting, which would make it $45/month. shea, as if!

This is what happens when there's no competition I guess.

 

[mk52]

<< Get the ericsson t68 like im getting >>



sure if you have $1000 to burn



it is a beauty though link

 

[kranky]

Do you know why your phone is $40/month? Is it because of usage, or because of the costs that aren't related to usage? That does seem very high. Check in the front of your white pages directory where the phone company explains the different services and the monthly costs for each - maybe there's a cheaper alternative.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

They have a breakdown of everything they charge for. I don't remember what each thing is. It's not for usage, I don't make any long distance calls (or local long distance) with my home phone, I use a calling card. I believe my voicemail is $5/month, and I can't remember what all the other charges are. I can look it up later though.

 

[Thegonagle]

I don?t know why I write so long about cellular phones. These threads never stay up for long.

I used to use Sprint PCS for about 2 years (not bad for me except in Chicago). Now I use Verizon, and have for the past 2 months. They have the rockingest network in the Minneapolis area and they seem good elsewhere, like in Chicago, on the road in Illinois, and in the St. Louis area.

My opinion: If you're stingy and they cover all three places, go with Sprint PCS. Sprint PCS does include night time minutes. If you want a good nationwide provider that works almost anywhere, and you?re willing to pay, go with Verizon.

Like Voicestream, Verizon?s national plan does not include night minutes, night minutes are only included on Verizon?s regional plans.

Verizon will work just about anywhere on US soil, or in your region, without roaming charges, depending on your plan.

Sprint will not charge any roaming as long as you?re on their owned network somewhere in the US. If you have a dual band Sprint phone, you can use your phone just about anywhere (like Verizon), but you pay 39 cents per minute, plus 25 cents long distance on outgoing LD calls if you?re off Sprint?s owned network (unlike Verizon.)

Voicestream might be OK, but I don?t know if they allow roaming off their owned network I honestly don?t have experience with them. If they don?t have any kind of off network roaming as a back up, that would be a definite deal breaker. The lack of night time minutes is also a big minus.

There are several considerations if you want to replace your land line. First, you need your provider to have a strong signal inside your dwelling. Every provider should have a trial period (1-2 weeks) during which you can return your phone and cancel your contract without penalty. Try your phone at home right away and make some test calls to someone?s land line and ask them how you sound. The phone itself can make a big difference in sound quality, still, if I answer a landline, I can usually tell if someone?s calling from a cell phone, even a decent one, by the sound of their voice. There is also the issue of the digital delay's effect on call quality. Digital cell phones and systems usually have a 1/8 to 1/4 second delay which doesn?t exist on local calls using a land line.

If you live in an apartment building that has a security phone outside, landlords usually won?t program your cell phone into it.

Lots of delivery restaurants, for example, Dominos, won?t take your order if you don?t have a home phone.

If you put your cell number on some form or give it to some companies, you might start getting spam phone calls on your cell phone, which waste your precious airtime.

You can?t make those hour long local calls to a GF/Best friend, etc, until your night and/or weekend minutes are in effect.

If you cancel your land line, you won?t get the real phone book delivered anymore, just all those fake ones that never get used.

I?ve decided to keep my home phone for the time being. The bottom line is just under $23/mo. It has no long distance and no features like call waiting, VM, unlisted number or anything else. I have the ringer off so all calls go to my $20 digital answering machine. The announcement simply says ?leave a message, or call my cell phone.? I don?t give my cell phone number on the announcement. If they?re a friend of mine, they call my cell phone first anyway. If it?s important business, they?ll leave a message. Telemarketers don?t leave messages, so I never need to talk to them.

The most important thing is that I can use it for all my local calling and conserve minutes on my plan (allowing me to have a cheaper plan). It also serves an important purpose that calls to 911 are attached to my address, so I don?t need to tell anyone where I am, should I be unable.

Good luck.

EDIT: One more thing about the home phone. It's my gateway to nefdom if the cable ever goes out.

EDIT 2: Should make this post easier to read.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

This would be a non-issue if they weren't charging me through the nose for my regular phone...
I really don't spend all that much time on the phone usually...I don't have much opportunity, I work 9-5, and twice a week I have class until 9 or so, so that leaves me 3 weekdays with the potential to use my phone before night minutes kick in. Most of my lengthy calls are made after 9, with maybe a few 15 minute calls here and there before 9...and there are days when I don't really make any calls.

Seems like I need ~500 minutes with free nights and weekends.

You bring up some good issues of the practicality of relying solely on a cel phone though...I just recently had to use my land line when there was the ATT vs Excite problem, although I was unable to nef anyway due to the fact that I borrowed my parents' AOL account.

 

[erub]

Voicestream doesn't allow analog roaming - their phones are GSM, and there are currently no phones that offer it - you have to buy an attachment to your phone to roam analoglly - which could be really bad if you don't have it and your stuck with no GSM coverage (their network isn't great yet, although they are working on it). I think they probably charge you very high rates to roam analoglly. It looks like Sprint PCS might be the way to go for you, 350 anytime, 3650 nights and weekends, and free long distance for $40/month. I hope it works in your places though, else you will have to pay a lot for analog roaming. Too bad that you can't get Cingular.