Author Topic: I'm getting a cell phone.. (Read 1229 times)

GRUNHERZ · « **on:** November 21, 2003, 10:47:51 PM »

I have avoided getting one of these damned things for a long time, but now, I too must give in. So....

Which of the service providers do you guys have experience with and can reccomend?

Thanks

rpm · « **Reply #1 on:** November 21, 2003, 11:01:02 PM »

I've had AT&T since it was MetroCell. Never had a reason to switch. $39 a month and 500 minutes plus unlimited night and weekend minutes, free wireless internet, free nationwide long distance.

Martlet · « **Reply #2 on:** November 21, 2003, 11:05:23 PM »

Depends on where you live and what you're using it for. I travel a lot. I had my past assistants have had Sprint and AT&T, and both would lose service all the time. Even locally. I have Verizon Wireless, and I've never lost service. It often works out of the country, too.

B17Skull12 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 21, 2003, 11:42:48 PM »

i have a 5 year old cell phone! i have cingular is fine for what i do. you need to think about what you will use it for to before you choose a plan.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2003, 11:51:07 PM »

Wow a cell phone.
What's next?
Driver's License?
Voting?

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2003, 11:51:44 PM »

PS PayPal

PPS You get the sticker in the mail?

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #6 on:** November 22, 2003, 12:02:19 AM »

Yes the Airshow $40 is on the way, but first I have to return that damed $50 wifi gadget to Fry's

Seriously though I have been so busy since that con that I forget week after week.

Ahh the sticker.. Beautiful Thanks!

Driver's License? What, you mean we need a license to drive? Get outta here, youre kidding right...

LOL - no voting yet.

It's funny I never really needed my own phone because all my buddies and apparently 95% of random people have one so I never really was without one if need be. It's just now that I'm so busy having to coordinate 3 seperate complicated group projects and have contact with multiple companies and busy executives (yes Urchin all of them have horns

) that I just have to have one to meet their schedules...

Thats precisely why I never got one before, it meant people could bother me or expect to know I was available for contact...

So be useful funked, which cell phone service are using and what u think?

Lazerus · « **Reply #7 on:** November 22, 2003, 12:08:43 AM »

The best cell phone service I have ever used was the one the guy next to me was using.

Raubvogel · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2003, 01:21:13 AM »

I use the same service Lazerus uses. I refuse to get a cell phone, guess I'm getting old and geezerly.

FUNKED1 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 22, 2003, 01:44:14 AM »

I have Sprint, no problems.
I got a PDA-phone (Palm OS, Samsung I-330) and it is great. Synchs address/email/phone numbers/calendar with Outlook at work. We have like 2000 contacts so it's nice to always have that info with me.

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #10 on:** November 22, 2003, 01:44:48 AM »

LOL Lazerus and Raub, that has always been been my favorite brand as well. But in my current situation their service has begun to suck in the past few months so I need to "switch."

Chairboy · « **Reply #11 on:** November 22, 2003, 01:58:43 AM »

My wife and I use Cingular. It's ok.

I have a T68 (Sony-Ericcson) and it blows goats. It's very slow, and generally sucks.

My wife has a T616. It's pretty dang cool and does almost everything I want, but I'm still holding out before I upgrade.

BB Gun · « **Reply #12 on:** November 22, 2003, 02:01:05 AM »

Used to have voicestream (now T-mobile) and their coverage SUCKED in my area (WA State). Now I have Verizon,and while coverage is better, there are WAY too many instances of people calling me and saying I don't answer. But I had my phone on at all times, AND the voicemail beep took several HOURS to actually notify me of the message left by the caller. "You can't hear me now" should be their slogan.

Not to mention I got an LG VX10, whose battery died, and LG sends me to verizon, and verizon sends me to LG..... ARGH!

BB

Tarmac · « **Reply #13 on:** November 22, 2003, 02:04:08 AM »

I just got my first cell phone a few months ago, when I finally got out of dorms and had to actually pay a separate phone bill. I resisted as long as possible too.

I have a Nextel; no problems at all. Customer service is absolutely top-notch. 2-way feature is nice if you have friends that also use Nextels. Customer service is excellent. Reception is good in my area. Oh, and they treat their customers really well.

Customer service sets Nextel above any company I've ever dealt with. I'm happy to do business with them.

SOB · « **Reply #14 on:** November 22, 2003, 02:36:31 AM »

I've had Airtouch (Verizon), Sprint, AT&T and finally T-Mobile...in that order.

I can't comment too much on Verizon since it was so incredibly long ago when I used them. A friend still uses them though and he talks on the phone like a woman and beats the piss out of his phone. He's satisfied with their sound quality and customer service, and he's the type that's never satisfied with anything.

Sprint really did sound great compared to all of the other providers I've used. Also, I'm not sure if it was the phone or what, but the sound quality wouldn't start degrading until I hit 1 bar of signal. Any higher and it was perfect. Their customer service sucked bellybutton and it was a pain to call them for anything. At about the time I left service with them they were switching to a system where you'd have to pay $5 to call customer service for certain issues. How f'ed up is that? I would never have switched though, except I moved into an apt that I just couldn't get signal in. When I quit, they charged me for an extra month of service since I was two days into a billing cycle. When I spoke to a manager to try and get that prorated, he basically told me to piss off because why should he care about me since I'm quitting the service.

AT&T generally sucked, but was OK for a cell phone. Using it as my primary and only phone though wasn't optimal. Customer service was good when I called in for the most part. Oddly though, they refuse to tell you how many minutes you've used in a particular billing cycle. Not sure if they just won't or if they some reason don't have the technical capability of checking that. It was very annoying. Switched because I went to work for T-Mobile.

T-Mobile has been somewhere between AT&T and Sprint in terms of sound quality. Definitely closer to Sprint though. Can't really comment on customer service, since I haven't found any reason to call. I know they've got a big focus on giving good customer service though, so I can say they'd be the opposite of Sprint (or my experience with Sprint). In CA your coverage will be the same with T-Mobile or Cingular since T-Mobile uses Cingular's towers down there.

Also, the GSM technology is cool. Uses a smart chip to store all of the acct info, so the service goes with the chip. You could literally swap phones every day if you cared to without needing to call up your provider. The smart chip also has memory so you can store all of your contacts on it and they'll move with the chip
For coverage, check with friends near you and see what their experience is. When you get a phone, make sure you find out what the buyers remorse period is for returning the phone and cancelling the service. If you get the phone from anywhere but a direct dlr (store owned by service provider), make sure they'll take the phone back if you decide to cancel service during the buyer's remorse...and get it in writing.