cellphones.

 

Everything's very regional so whatever I would have to tell you wouldn't really be the same for you... EXCEPT...

Stay away from Nextel.
Their phones are well designed and very intuitive to use but my experiences with their customer service has not been to good. I called up to set up text messaging and my voicemail was deleted along with all the messages I had stored. I called them on it and they gave me the text and online capabilities free - hey, that's cool.
Somewhere along the line though, my PTT mobile to mobile was cancelled. That's 2 strikes man... you don't delete one part of the plan when somethine else is upgraded.

I dropped my phone and broke it so I used my insurance and got a new phone. In 2 months the battery died and when I called up the insurance they said it wouldn't be covered because I didn't have problems within the first 30 days.
I went to a Nextel shop and they told me the reason my battery died was because it was rated for the previous year - i.e. the previous year was the last year that battery should have been used.

Called the insurance company on it again... same story. No problems within 30 days you're outta luck :pat:

Their rates suck too.
I was out as soon as I learned that the mobile # transfers were going off without a hitch.

 

rocky,

with mobile networks, its all over the map. ive almost tried them all in differnt cities from boston to LA to SF to Santa Clara with different carriers.

best thing to do is to ask around, esp to the people who live in your area or your friend's area. also, sounds like she wants to go 'on the cheap'. look into pre-paid plans, esp if she doesnt have good credit

bob

 

Generic info:
I use Cingular which is pretty good in this area. The rollover minutes are good so you never get overage charges.

Nextel sucks, imo. My friend has it and drops calls or "can't locate" all the time. Might be a good deal if you 2-way alot but I don't.

If it's just emergencies, those cheapo disposable cell phones might be the way to go.

 

T-mobile is pretty awesome. I get covereage in any major city and on interstates. They offer really good plans as well as awesome gsm phones!

They have taken fairly good care of me. If I ended up breaking my phone, they would replaced it for free and they even would cover shipping!

 

i have AT&T GSM and have no problems with it... it's my ONLY phone, and only means of communication, but with unlimited nights and weekends, AND unlimited Mobile to Mobile minutes, i dont go over minutes even when i use between 1500 to 2500 mins (sometimes more) a month... for $40 a month my plan only includes 600 peak mins, but I rarely use more then about 300 of them…

 

Altell (Verizon)- 600 anytime, unlimited nights/weekends/mobile-mobile, and you can designate the one number you call the most as your "home" number, and it is unlimited - for $45 a month, but I guess it depends where you are

 

I've had sprint ,,, good customer service .. avg telephone service
Cingular ... good customer service, good telephone service
T mobile ... terrible terrible telephone service, and crappy customer service
Verizon .. very good phone service .. I just got it, so I can't realy comment on thier customer service yet. The plan is a little more expensive, with less minutes ... but I just use it to talk with my girl who is on verizon, so its free. but I get signal on the trail, underground in metro, inside office buildings .. I love it, its like having a land line, the connection is so good.

whatever you do stay away from T mobile

 

hmm, thanks for all the suggestions guys! i did a bunch of research on the plans/rates last night for pretty much all the ones mentioned here ... came out with the conclusion that T-Mobile was the best-priced pay-as-you-go phone, and AT&T was the second best.

sdastg1, thank you so much for the warning!! i will definitely avoid T-Mobile, despite their prices, and am very much leaning toward recommending AT&T Free2Go for her.

 

I know I'm a bit late but I left At&t after 5 years with them a month ago and went with Verizon, in my town the best reception next to Sprint PCs (which I found had incompitent morons that run their company, CS sucks!!!). But all cell companies have their quarks as Verizon charges for incoming messaging (how stupid). I also have a secondary phone from Nextel and the PTT function does occassionally lock up. But it's not like it's any worse than At&t, Cingular, or T-Mobile in actual phone quality.

Here's my cool newest phone from Verizon. This thing is awesome, plays MP3, 1.2 Megapixel camera, and records video. Got the bluetooth, wireless headset, and the expandable 128 MB memory card (therefore I can just take images, videos, and MP3 off my computer and put them right into my phone, no charges for that web crap).

 

What model phone is that? Motorolla _____?

 

 

that's a great looking phone!!

 

it's sweet. i have a pair of V400's on the way for my wife and i from cingular.

 

I got the kyocera sliding one ... no camera feature, but its still a pretty cool looking phone. Pus I got it for free with mail in rebate .. can't beat that

 

experienced many different cell companies except for nextel. I knew enough that that was a "no no".

Currently a long time customer of Sprint and pretty happy with their service. Their customer service has improved ALOT (and I mean ALOT) so I'm pretty content where I sit. Verizon is the alternative company I'd check out if I were to leave Sprint.

 

Here is a cool website that reviews phones:

www.phonescoop.com

Here is the one that i just bought
samsung
I ordered it off of amazon, $199 with a $200 rebate

 

I recently switched from Sprint (5 years or so) now that I have number portability I could switch...

I'm on AT&T GSM. 3500 peak plan (shared with the Mrs - although she only uses about 500 min). This phone is the only number I use for business, hence the big plan.

I have a Motorola V600 with a Motorola bluetooth headset. The 4Runner is too loud to do a total bluetooth handsfree/speakerphone setup (for now - gotta sound deaden it!!) The phone is great - some of the functions have a little lag, but I'm used to it now. The mobile phone tools and use of a SIM card make loading the info into this phone quite easy.

Now if I can only figure out how to use the V600 to be my wireless modem for my bluetooth PDA (Ipaq 4150) and my bluetooth laptop (HP zt3000). Just picked up a wireless printer too (HP deskjet 5850) Yep, tech junkie...

 

I can't press how important that is! T-Mobile has terrible quality (transmit/recieve) and their customer service sucked.

I've also had AT&T - service (trasmit/recieve) was ok, customer service was just ok.

I'm on Verizon now and I love it. I can call my friends on the Verizon network for free!!! It gets service inside building, trails, you name it.

Cingular is also a service company to check out - rollover sounds nice when you have to pinch your pennies.