Since cell phone companies and their deals change a bunch thought I'd ask this week what's going on.

I'm looking for a decent phone with or without a contract $50ish, decent minute plan and solid coverage.

What's your experience. I'm looking for soon. I'd much rather not do more than a year contract but I understand that most contracts are 2 year now.

Also if you have a phone you want to sell lemme know. Small and compact is king!

10/29/2005 10:16:56 PM

i try to avoid anyone that doesnt let me keep the minutes i dont use, so far the only one i seen like that is cingular

10/29/2005 10:18:09 PM

I need the cell for basic usage. Occassional calls from the girlfriend or friend that wants to get in touch with me quick. I don't know if I'd need that.

How has Cingular service been for you? Dropped calls? Signal period?

10/29/2005 10:26:35 PM

at MOST i'm never more than 10 feet away from being able to do anything i need to do on my cell phone

that 10 feet would be getting off a couch and going in a back porch

i know some people complain about the reception but honestly cingular is done a good enough job for me to have it for 2 years and not want to get another company

i just got a new phone since i was there for 2 years and its bad ass and it was free too

10/29/2005 11:05:32 PM

what did you get? model?

10/29/2005 11:38:25 PM

10/29/2005 11:42:20 PM

^I have the same one. It's a great phone.

10/29/2005 11:48:10 PM

drunknloaded, what phone did you get?

[Edited on October 30, 2005 at 12:49 PM. Reason : .]

10/30/2005 12:49:02 PM

see if your company gives any discounts with certain providers. sprint takes 25% off the entire bill, not for the first line, so having that family plan really saves us money.

10/30/2005 12:56:11 PM

AVOID SUNCOM (just do a search on TWW, there are a LOT of unhappy people.)

"We're SunCom, and we get itSUCK."

10/30/2005 12:57:50 PM

Suncom wasn't even in the running.

Alltel
Cingular
Sprint
Verizon

10/30/2005 6:41:38 PM

cross out alltel too

[Edited on October 30, 2005 at 6:45 PM. Reason : and sprint]

10/30/2005 6:44:58 PM

^ can you give specific reasons please?

10/30/2005 7:14:17 PM

I like Suncom....cheap, good service, good FREE phones


atleast check them out, most people on TWW were/are upset w/the transition process from AT&T Wireless. Most of that is over now, and for new users (who sign with Suncom and never had AT&T) the transition process doesn't even affect them.

10/30/2005 7:31:52 PM

My observations:

Alltel - I have an Alltel phone. They still use CDMA (older and won't work overseas) technology but I have had great luck with the service so far and customer support has been great.

Cingular - Since the dissolve of AT&T wireless they have greatly improved their wireless service. They are GSM and GPRS for data. Their customer service is severely lacking but at least the service is good. I have dealt with them on corporate accounts and the more services you request the more confused the customer support people get. It's kindof sad ...

Sprint - Heard a lot of complaints from friends and other pissed off people.

Verizon - Most people that I know with Verizon phones have been happy and usually recommend it.

Basically of those companies they are all pretty good except for Sprint. Alltel is great if you don't plan to travel abroad. Cingular has great service but if you try to package in GPRS data services or WiFi then plan for a huge mess.

Quote :

"Most of that is over now, and for new users (who sign with Suncom and never had AT&T) the transition process doesn't even affect them."

Seeing what happened to the AT&T customers, I have no trust for SunCom. They seem to have no business ethic.

[Edited on October 30, 2005 at 7:42 PM. Reason : +]

10/30/2005 7:38:15 PM

sony ericcson z500a is the phone i got for free and its bad ass

10/30/2005 7:56:20 PM

yeah seems a trend with sprint.

I know Alltell when it was strictly analog was a bitch to deal with and had lots of issues with their connections. Friend of mine uses his daily all over raleigh and garner and there's been no signal drop issues.

A huge bonus about a phone is that I want to know who's calling me before i open/answer the phone.

10/30/2005 8:19:18 PM

Uhh

Cell phone companies don't do anything but sell Cell Phones.

Cellular Service companies is what you're talking about.

10/30/2005 8:50:14 PM

Thank you AnalRetentiveSanta. You know what I meant.

10/31/2005 7:32:14 AM

cingulars plans seem to be getting expensive...

from what i can see all the offer is national plans now, no regional plans at all. sure you get to keep rollover minutes, but the cost per minute if far higher than most other companies. and rollover minutes are nice and all, but you don't really get to "keep" them. switch to another plan and you only take a portion of them with you (the amount of minutes in the new plan)

the other consideration for me is the phone quality...I like GSM phones, since they're made for the world ($$$) market and not just the US (stingy bastards) you can get nicer phones with more features...eg S710a

10/31/2005 1:00:26 PM

Toss up between cingular and verizon really. I've used both and never had problems with either, but I think the plans for verizon are a better deal, especially if alot of your friends use it and have the "IN" plans.

10/31/2005 1:07:34 PM

Quote :

"Cingular has great service but if you try to package in GPRS data services or WiFi then plan for a huge mess."

why's that? i haven't had any problems and you cant beat unlimited data for $19.99
i have had to get them to reload the soc once but that was just because i already had them on the phone

10/31/2005 1:15:59 PM

i've had sprint since '99 or '00 and i've always been pretty happy

10/31/2005 1:32:45 PM

but what are the best phones you can use with verizon?

10/31/2005 1:54:46 PM

^ I got a treo 650 and think its the best phone I ever had.

Most of my friend and family are IN now so that will remain the best option for me. At least until voice is free.

10/31/2005 3:06:42 PM