January 01, 2005
Help Help Help
Help me choose a cell phone and service provider. I'm a pseudo-luddite, so this will be my first phone (please be gentle). I don't want to spend a lot, but I also don't want to get stuck with some crap phone or crap plan so I'm willing to pay more for "quality". Or at least perceived quality.
Use the comments to let me know what your experiences have been: what providers, what phones, what stories??
So I know about (and am slowly reading) the following:
Mobiledia Cell Phone Industry News and Reviews.
I'm also thinking about going to Pinky's Wireless because it's a local business. Any comments or experience on that?
Help Help Help!!
T-Mobile, through an unfortunate circumstance, screwed me over pretty bad when I signed up and I got a huge bill. It's not worth recounting, but suffice it to say that it was the online retailer's (plan bought from a third party) fault mostly. Anyway, I can safely say that you should stay far, far away from the Sony/Ericsson T610 with T-Mobile in Austin, as I get crappy reception everywhere that isn't within ten feet of the ENS loading dock, for some reason.
I used to have both Sprint and Cingular. Cingular was fine but I jumped ship for a better plan for the price. I remember Sprint's customer service being the absolute pits, so pray you don't have problems if you get a sprint phone.
I am actually half-heartedly investigating new phones myself, so I will be following your links. I probably won't switch in the end but the most important quality for me while I am looking will be RECEPTION RECEPTION RECEPTION. I don't know if it is T-Mobile's fault or just my phone, but I can't talk to people in several very important places such as my house, Flip's house, and the Posse. Fuck all the cameras and bluetooth and whatzits, I just want to be able to talk.
No mention of verizon yet, by the way. Anybody use verizon?
Sprint PCS - I don't know about the other providers, but all I know is that their customer service is great, regardless what natedogg says. Everytime I had a problem* with something I have received the best customer service. Not only is the problem fixed right away, but usually end up getting an little somethin' somethin' on the side (100-200 free minutes for the rest of the month, $200 off from a $250 phone, 20% off starting this month from now on for being a loyal customer, etc).
* problems - small errors in billing
it should be noted that ziggy's loyal customer status came after three or four years of service, so don't look forward to that until after you've graduated and making enough money that you don't care about 20% anymore. It is true that my customer service problems would have been a while ago, like in college, and we had two phones on the plan and a bunch of other crap that made it very complicated. maybe things are different now. Also, you might want to check with Pete F. because I think the service that he had actually got some reception in the Downer lab, if you can believe that. I seem to remember that he had Cingular but don't rely on that.
Habcous and I have T-Mobile with the motorola v300 phone. i'm happy with the service and the phone, and unlike nate, i get reception at the posse fine, no data on flip or nate's place. nate might have a phone specific issue. I had a bad experience with Sprint PCS (so it looks like you aren't going to get a unanimous suggestion). My apartment is in a dead zone in their coverage. fortunately, if you notice something like that, you can cancel the service and the phone and get your money back. I also had verizon at one point and the coverage level was fine although I was unable to get voice mail to work - i think that was a fault of the phone. i switched to t-mobile because i needed a new phone and t-mobile was cheaper for what i wanted.
before you start listening to all this advice though, you have to figure out which options you want. a huge consideration for the whole phone thing is how much you plan on using it, what locations you will be calling and what other (if any) options you want. text messaging? flip's mind boggling assortment of realistic sounding ring tones? Is phone size important? to add to matters, if you aren't planning on using it too much, there are some good pay as you go phones that might end up being cheaper (I think tracfone is one of them).
If you have no clue what you want, here are things that I think are important: nationwide calling - i travel too much and i call out of state a lot. if i went on a regional call plan, i'd be paying much more for roaming.
voice mail - i turn my phone off or leave it somewhere enough that this is useful.
phone size - smaller phones are more expensive but i'm more likely to carry a smaller phone with me.
i have text messaging, but to me it is more of a toy when i am bored. i don't know if anyone actually needs it.
finally, i wanted a picture phone. my friends no longer do undocumented stupid stuff.
When I got my phone, I spent a day at highland mall, picking up brochures from all the different service providers (most of the major ones are in that mall), and found out which ones had the cheapest rates for what I wanted. what phones they had available and for what price was secondary. I don't know too much about Pinky's except that I enjoyed their superbowl commercial featuring Leslie from two years ago.
Do y'all have insurance on your phones??
Places with bad/no reception with my Sprint PCS phone (Sanyo 8100):
- Nate's apartment
- Flip's apartment
- Beltway 8 Toll Bridge
- Allen Parkway as a drive under Waugh
- C.E. King Parkway between Hwy. 90 and Tidwell Dr.
Places with reception that I didn't think I could get:
- Dr. Fink's lab
- ENS (basement)
I don't have insurance, but I hear that it is a good thing to have for $5 a month.
No insurance. I've actually gotten reception sitting near your desk Ben with my cingular service.
Also, because cingular and AT&T are together now I believe they've probably got the best coverage of any of the players now.
Can the phone numbers stored in y'alls cell phones be backed up to computer easily??
Yes.
Do you text message regularly? Would I want to text message regularly? What I really want is a phone that can also fellate on command... NOT!
How much are the taxes on top of y'alls phone plans? My sister just informed me that she pays about $20 in taxes alone...
Hey, thanks to y'all so far for the super-radtastic responses!!!
Dude, unless you go out an buy a super expensive phone you shouldn't worry about the insurance. In most cases you'll find a phone that's free anyways.
Ok, here's some data:
I make an average of 160mins of long distance per month, for an average cost of $9.85/mo.
Local phone costs ~$20.5/mo, or $25/mo if I pay late (which has been happening a lot lately).
Unfortunately I don't have a way of knowing how much time I spend talking on the phone when other people *call me*, or when I make local calls. I think the local call time is small, but the time spent on long distance calls made to me might be big.
Anyway, have you ever altered your phone plans mid-contract? (not changing providers, just minutes) Any comments on that??
Anyone have a 1 year contract rather than a 2 year contract? All the corporate websites seem to have only 2 year contracts...
I got a 1 year contract with my phone when I bought it and the signup deal was that I got a $150 phone - $200 rebate = $50 cash for me. PJ just got a similar deal a few months ago.
re: insurance - I figure that with a free phone I can afford to screw it up once. If I drop it into the toilet or something then I have to buy one and I feel like I got away not having to pay in the first place so I'm even. I've never had a phone break since I started carrying one six years ago, but maybe I'm lucky.
I have too many daytime (600, maybe?) and unlimited night/wknd minutes for $47/month after taxes, since Nov 1 '03 so hopefully plans are better now. I changed plans after the first month to something else that was the same price (this was the cause of the aforementioned fuckup). There is generally no reason you can't change mid-contract unless you got a signup deal that stipulated a certain minimum dollar amt per month (mine did). The reason so many people (myself) change providers (twice so far) is that you can get a snazzy new phone for free or less if you are a new customer. Then again, if you stick to it and just pay for a new phone like Ziggy you eventually get the perks.
My phone supports text messaging, it is $0.10 per and the only time it was ever used was when Pete F. messaged me to tell me how cool it was that he could message me (and when his son was born). You can pay a monthly fee for x messages if you really think you'll use it. Helpful Hint: You won't. Plan treats local and long distance identically which most of the big guys do today anyway. If your phone supports Bluetooth (some do, some don't) I guarantee that you can back up to computer and also move around free ringtones/pictures.
Finally, I want to say that as soon as this phone comes down to $150 or less, it is in my pocket. I don't care how long I have to wait or what contract I have to break when it happens. Mmmmmm, minimalist styling.
So you have a $40 plan and the taxes are ~$7/mo?
That is correct. Your sister was either exaggerating or Boston had better have the damn finest telecommunications system in the country if her taxes are $20/month.
Where is Mr. Flip? I need his omniscient advice!
Also, the cute woman at Pinky's says to go with T-Mobile b/c they have the best service.
So this afternoon I did what NanoCindy did and threw myself to the wolves at Highland Mall. It was nice to have all the companies in one place, but it reminded me why I hate the mall. There's a goth store there now so we can all get our mommies to buy us the studed belts and angry black clothing we so desire.
I've switched plan minutes on many occasions and I've never had them try to extend the contract on me. You should always check though. A lot of plans above a certain threshold rate offer free nights and weekends which is nice for those long long-distance calls. I really like bluetooth for the backup ability and I spent $99 a while back for a bluetooth headset. If you spend a lot of time talking on a phone get a headset (the corded ones are like $25 or so). You may look stupid but it won't matter in your own home and it's way more comfortable that holding a small headset to your ear.
NOOOOOO, don't go with T-moble!!!!!!
Ben, Hot Topic? How long has it been since you've been in a mall? Last time I passed by (visiting my sister at work) I noticed that you can also get all of your favorite Napoleon Dynamite replica shirts there.
Why not call mrflip? He's bored out of his mind most of the time, or so I hear. I guess not bored enough to ever check this website, but still.
Also, pretty ladies are nice. Last time I had a pretty lady help me at the store I ended up with green hair. She didn't offer to help me dye it so it wasn't as good as it could have been.
If you haven't jumped in yet, I recommend Verizon. They are a bit more expensive than the rest but their customer service and signal service is great. I also have AT&T and the signal service sucks. I got Verizon service on Enchanted Rock and in Yosemite. So that's got to count for something. :) Good Luck!
Radtastic! Thanks TheClaw! Yeah, having cell service in out-of-the-way locations would be nice, like at my parents' house...
Word to my mommy.
Verizon has by far the best customer service according to stuff I've heard from consumer reports et al.
Yeah, sorry for subjecting you to the mall. I hope you found it informative, and were able to pick out a reasonably priced "I <heart> tater tots" T-shirt.
And yeah, don't get insurance on your phone. I actually did drop mine into a toilet, and after a day of drying out in unassembled form it worked fine. (It was an unused toilet, if that makes a difference)
Habcous and I are on the same bill, which is $69.00, $13 of which is taxes. (400 anytime minutes each, with unlimited weekends.)
It turns out that Cingular is 60% owned by SBC. SBC is Satan Incarnate, and I'm not allowed to do business with them.
News flash to javalina...ALL CELL PHONE PROVIDERS ARE FUCKING SWINDLERS...so get over it and choose the one with the best stuff. Stupid cracker...
Cell phone companies are no different from the rest of corporate america: they rule.
Insurance: treat it like a bet. If you pay $5/mo for a year, you've laid out $60 for insurance. Even if your phone is $300, you win only if there is a better than 1/5 chance that you will wreck (as opposed to lose) one phone a year. If those are honestly your odds of breaking the phone, you should stick with fisher-price as your provider.
Apparently my apartment is a 900MHz slough of despond. I always got reasonable but not fantastic service with my old Sprint service; I get pretty good coverage there with Cingular/AT&T.
My new phone, the Smartest Phone In the World, will sync its phonebook to the internet, which is the best. Some phones will sync their phonebooks with the SIM card (the chip holding your customer data from the cell co. (or store them there altogether). SIM cards are nice because if your phone runs out of juice you can pop it in your friend's (same carrier) and all of a sudden you have your account and your phonebook on your friend's phone.
I've only texted a few times, since getting my new phone, and I'll now admit I can see the appeal. But I could live without it, if I had to, or if it costs money (which it might, I'll have to check my bill).
Oh, and I think that the companies and their customer service are all more or less what you'd expect but that Sprint's is slightly worse than the others. I'm also not a smooth-talking large-living latin lothario like the Zig.
So after a solid week in which the site was pretty much sG and me disgorging crap onto the FP I go without checking it for two days and look what happens... I guess everyone got back in town or something. And Ben: I assume you mean Hot Topic; I own their stock so stock up on all the Vans and noserings your Mom will let you buy. They also have Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teamwear.
Ok, so I have now jumped into the cell phone pool with:
400 minute Nationwide Plan from Verizon;
I did get the insurance, which I think I'll keep for just this one contract period -- the "Javelina Learns Cell Phones" period.
And my landline number is being transfered to the cell phone. So right now I can make calls from the cell, but any calls to me ring at my apartment where they are answered by The Dingo. 'They' say that it will take about 10days to switch the landline number.
The phone seems pretty nice and easy-to-use. But I've only called myself with it so far. Following the recommendation of Mr. Flip I'll be getting an extra battery and maybe an extra charger dock for it soon. And the USB cable so I can back stuff up to my home computer. And... A POKIA!!!
Actually, I'm pretty wishy-washy on the insurance, but now I think I'll get rid of the insurance (I think I can do that during the 15day grace period). The decision here is based on that there's a $50 deductable and the cost is $5/mo, and $120 out-of-pocket is damn close to the cost of a bare phone off the internets.
javelina: now you have to spill the cost of the phone. free with rebate?
mrflip: You're alive!!! Praise be to the gods of internets! Tell us, how did you survive without logging on for so long? I think Time Warner wants to option a book on it, so make it compelling. "Offline: The True Story of One Man's Quest to Heal His Back and His Soul by Staying Off the Internets." Chapter four could be about withdrawal and swimming. Or you could move the setting to the other side of the country.
Also, javelina, did you consult with Doraem...er...Broadband's guide to cell phones before making the decision to jump in? I know that first question about privacy was troubling you.
One more anti-insurance comment: Even if you do manage to break the phone within a year, it will probably cost half as much as it does now.
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Let me be the first to say; Whaaaaa??? You're finally joining the cell phone age?
As far as service providers I've had an absolutely horrible experience with T-moble and I would stay away from them with a vengence. Of course thats the provider Nate uses so I don't know about his experiences.
I'm currently using Cingular/At&t (they merged) and I've been happy with it so far. Cingular has the rollover minutes, which is nice, and if I ever get my rebate the phone will have been more than free.
I had sprint a while back and I don't really remember anything good or bad about the experience.
You should get cingular so we can talk for free in network for hours and hours about Flip and what a hunk he is with his new and improved back.
posted by splatnikGanglion at 12:05PM CST on January 01