Thread Question Change: Wireless Phone Warranty or No Warranty?

[alimoalem]

depending on how often you're in the car, how much you care about appearance, etc. getting a car charger and leather case off of ebay would be a good idea. you can easily find both for $10 or less, shipped, while it would cost easily $40+ from the store/online.

also, as for the appearance, you can get headsets off of ebay (with the case/charger combo) and still keep it undr $20 but if you want bluetooth, there's the H500 and the HS850 (i think they're both pretty good) and they cost $70 and $100, respectively. off of ebay, you can get them for $25 and $40 (maybe less).

i have the samsung a950 (just got it a couple days ago) and i'm happy with it. looks good, durable, speakerphone, bluetooth, and a camera/camcorder. not much else that i need. my dad had the a850 and it was good compared to my old a670, but i don't think it's nearly as good as athe a950, especially in appearance and durability

 

[Henrythewound]

I dont believe the 815 is tri-mode. I got the motorola v325 because of this (it IS tri-mode and wrks out in the sticks where I am quite often). So far I have no complaints other than getting used to a flip phone. I have characteristically used the Nokia candy bar style phones, durable as all hell and the tr-mode phones get great reception (they're usually the cheapest too) but dont offer all the extra crap that I dont need anyways (camera, 1,000 ringtones, GPS nav etc).

Wound

 

[LordUnum]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
Oh...and any gotchas to look out for? These should be mostly used mobile to mobile. I'm estimating $20 in fees/taxes. Is this reasonable? Brings the total plan plus two lines to $69.99 + $9.99 + $9.99 + $20 ~ $110. The $70 plan has 700 minutes.

Oh, can I get dinged if OTHER people send me txt msgs? I won't use them.

P-X

My first bill was hefty as activation + plan(s) + warranty(s) + taxes add up quick. Feel free to speak to the Verizon Wireless rep. on the phone if you have any questions. Keep in mind they automatically sign you up for VCAST (~$10/mo) which is free for the first month, but will only be cancelled if you bring it up to them. They were very helpful in clearing up my bill and removing what amounted to two months of VCAST charges before I noticed it. At first, being new to cell phone service, and also considering I decided to merge my residential bill with my cell phone bill (conflicting/musical due dates FTL, but still recommended if you have residential service due to the fact you receive a detailed run-down/print-out of all charges on both bills for free), I was a bit confused by it all and let one bill slip a couple of days past its due date, resulting in my service being temporarily disconnected. I called a friendly Verizon Wireless rep. and explained my situation to her and had my service reconnected within an hour and all associated reconnect charges and late fees dropped painlessly.

It seems that the Verizon Wireless CSRs are (fortunately) a night-and-day's difference from the nightmar-ish Verizon DSL CSRs I've had to suffer with for a few years. :thumbsup:

I don't really TXT message much myself, but have had friends send me over several msgs and sent over a few in response in the four months I've been with Verizon. I haven't checked the bill, but I believe you're dinged $0.10-0.25 for any text or pix msg regardless of destination (Verizon or other carrier) if you don't cough up the extra ~$10/mo.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Thanks for the info. I was wondering if I got dinged for the texts for incoming, or only for outgoing.
The sales rep I talked to said the e815 was tri-mode. Doesn't mean he knew what he was talking about.
If you buy through the internet you can select to NOT have VCAST. Though, I'm certainly going to be eagle-eyed on the first few bills.

I'd love to combine, but my local is Sprint, not Verizon.

Thanks to all who've supplied me with information. Just have to narrow down the selections for accessories and I'm good to go. I'm leaning towards a holster and a car charger (I can get the BT headset later if I decide I make that many calls in the car while driving). Just have to decide which holster and which car charger.

P-X

 

[PrinceXizor]

Any additional comments on accessories?
P-X

 

[ultimatebob]

I recommend the Motorola branded car charger from amazon.com. It's only $9, and it works great.

Edit: The E815 is actually a "quad band" phone.... It does CDMA 1x, EV-DO wireless broadband, aGPS 800, and aGPS 1900 frequencies.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Any comments on holsters? The previous few posts on holsters were about the RAZR holster. I'm going to get the e815 instead.

P-X

 

[PrinceXizor]

Anyone have any comments? Any real difference between the $10 ones at amazon and the $30 from Verizon?

P-X

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
Thanks for the info. I was wondering if I got dinged for the texts for incoming, or only for outgoing.
The sales rep I talked to said the e815 was tri-mode. Doesn't mean he knew what he was talking about.
If you buy through the internet you can select to NOT have VCAST. Though, I'm certainly going to be eagle-eyed on the first few bills.

I'd love to combine, but my local is Sprint, not Verizon.

Thanks to all who've supplied me with information. Just have to narrow down the selections for accessories and I'm good to go. I'm leaning towards a holster and a car charger (I can get the BT headset later if I decide I make that many calls in the car while driving). Just have to decide which holster and which car charger.

P-X

Charged for incoming and outgoing. If you do much text, its well worth it to get a package.

 

[PrinceXizor]

I won't text, but I have friends who might text me. I'd rather get more shared minutes for my $10 then text messaging.

P-X

 

[PrinceXizor]

*duplicate*

 

[PrinceXizor]

*duplicate*

How can you get two dupes when you only hit post once? Weird. My apologies.

 

[MrBond]

Fees shouldn't be too bad, certainly not $20/mo after your first bill. I have a family share plan ($69.99) with an additional line ($9.99) and my bill comes out to ~$91.32/mo, so figure around $3.40/mo in fees per line, although it might vary state-to-state.

The e815 doesn't come with a holster? Both LG phones I bought came with a nice belt holster. I keep the phone in my pocket, but the holster is nice for clipping to the visor. My buddy has a v710 from Motorola and I'm pretty sure it came with a holster.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Not that I've seen anyway. But I'm a n00b to cell-phones so I couldn't say for sure.

Anyone in Ohio have a family share plan with two extra lines that can give me an estimate on the extra fees. That would be cool.

P-X

 

[MrBond]

I'm in Ohio, I have a family share plan with one extra line (the $69.99 plan includes two lines, so there's three total on the account.) Like I said earlier, total bill every month is somewhere around $91.30.

I'd wait until you get your phone to see if it comes with a belt clip or not, no need spending the money if it does.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Cool, thanks for the info. Also, did you add the line at the time of your plan purchase, or later?

P-X

 

[PrinceXizor]

How do text messages work? :/ Can someone send me a text if they know my cell #?
Also, if you only need two lines, is it cheaper to get a single plan and add a line?
Finally, it doesn't appear the e815 comes with a holster, comes with the home charger and the LI battery.

P-X

 

[PrinceXizor]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I recommend the Motorola branded car charger from amazon.com. It's only $9, and it works great.

Edit: The E815 is actually a "quad band" phone.... It does CDMA 1x, EV-DO wireless broadband, aGPS 800, and aGPS 1900 frequencies.

I just checked out some reviews and I'm falling back on my n00b status...

1. Some reviews said no analog.
2. I don't know what aGPS 800 and aGPS 1900 is?

Are these analog signals? If so, how can I verify this? There is a decent amount of analog area southeast of where I live and it would be nice to be able to have service there.

P-X

 

[Shawn]

When we signed up for the family plan we got 4 Samsung a670 phones for $50. Well worth it. Great sound quality and reception, plus they are camera phones and work with Bitpim (which is free) so you can download the pictures onto your computer, upload ringtones, etc. I'm not sure if they still sell them anymore but I'm sure the later models are just as nice.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I recommend the Motorola branded car charger from amazon.com. It's only $9, and it works great.

Edit: The E815 is actually a "quad band" phone.... It does CDMA 1x, EV-DO wireless broadband, aGPS 800, and aGPS 1900 frequencies.

I just checked out some reviews and I'm falling back on my n00b status...

1. Some reviews said no analog.
2. I don't know what aGPS 800 and aGPS 1900 is?

Are these analog signals? If so, how can I verify this? There is a decent amount of analog area southeast of where I live and it would be nice to be able to have service there.

P-X

Analog has been pretty much phased out. I don't know of any current phones avaliable that offer it. The last good phone that did (that I know of) is the LG VX4400.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Well, looking at the Verizon "red" coverage map, I might agree with you.
But when you check the more localized coverage map that lists digital, extended digital, analog, extended analog, roaming and no service there are quite a few pockets of analog and some larger pockets when you head east into WV. Its not critical, but I know I'll be heading to northwest WV in September and it would be nice to have service available.

The e815 seems like a nice phone though. Are there any other options that have comparable reception and voice quality but are tri-mode? Toy features are not neccessary, phone use only is important.

P-X

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
Well, looking at the Verizon "red" coverage map, I might agree with you.
But when you check the more localized coverage map that lists digital, extended digital, analog, extended analog, roaming and no service there are quite a few pockets of analog and some larger pockets when you head east into WV. Its not critical, but I know I'll be heading to northwest WV in September and it would be nice to have service available.

The e815 seems like a nice phone though. Are there any other options that have comparable reception and voice quality but are tri-mode? Toy features are not neccessary, phone use only is important.

P-X

OK I did a bit a research. These are the only phones avaliable that offer analog.

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: PrinceXizor
Cool, thanks for the info. Also, did you add the line at the time of your plan purchase, or later?

P-X

I added the lines at the time of activation. It was a little different, because I was under contract already with VZW as a single line customer, but you don't get charged the ETF if you upgrade plans. So I upgraded to a family share plan, kept my phone, and added two lines.

You can get a text messege from anyone with your phone number. It costs 10 cents to send/recieve them, although you may be able to call VZW and get it turned off for your account. VZW sends out occasional text messeges that don't cost you anything (I've gotten maybe two of them in 3 years).

I have a VX6100 which has analog. I have it set to digital only in the phone menu though, because sometimes rather than pick up an extended network digital signal (free), it'd pick up an analog network that was roaming for me. That only ever happened in one location, but I turned it off just the same. I can turn it back on in about 2 seconds if I ever need to make a call on an analog network.

I'm pretty sure you can't add a line with a normal plan (ie: the $39.95/mo plan). You have to upgrade to the family share before you can add a line. I think the family share plan offers more minutes per line than two $39.95 plans.

 

[PrinceXizor]

Any comments on the V325 vs. the e815? Remember, I don't really care about cameras, mp3's, VCAST, ringtones or even BT. Just give me reception, sound quality and durability.

P-X

 

[PrinceXizor]

Oh...is it worth it to pay $2/month for coverage?

P-X