Find me a Phone!

YF19pilot

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Joined
Apr 15, 2005
Messages
2,768
Location
Massillon, OH
Car(s)
2006 Honda Civic Coupe
Come August my current contract with Cingu--*ahem*-- AT&T Wireless will come to an end. I've been asking around about who I should go with, but I'm getting nowhere.

So, I've decided to bring my quest online and ask the question: Who's you're provider and how well do they do that voodoo they do?

Right now I've kinda been focusing my attention on Alltel (My Circle) and Nextel/Sprint (moreso the latter than the former), so let me know your opinions and experiances or other things that might sway me towards a one or another.


What I'm looking for:
*I don't use very many minutes. My current plan is 450 Daytime roll over minutes, 5000 Night & Weekend, with free mobile-to-mobile. The most I've probably ever used was 300 minutes, I average about 200 minutes a month. I don't even use my phone enough to run into some of the problems I hear about CingulAT&T. Right now costs about $55 a month. Anything under $75 would be pretty reasonable for me.
*I would like to have a camera phone and a plan that doesn't charge me out the ass for sending pictures (or at least have some way of offloading the images to my computer).
*I would like to have a phone that can be hooked up to my computer.
*Flip-phones are prefferred, but I don't want to get charged out the ass for a phone. 2-year contracts are okay, as I really see no need to drop my phone in the next two years.
 
I have nextel, and have had it for the last 4 years. And let me be the first to say...

I have NEVER been more unhappy with a phone company (since Sprint and Nextel merged) in my life. EVER.

/contracts up in 3 weeks.
//Verizon vs. AT&T
///it depends on the area....
 
I'm very happy with my Cingular / AT&T Service. I had Sprint, then T-Mobile and I have had Cingular for two years now (actually my contract ends in 7 days 6/21). As NoBoss said, it really depends on your area. In the DC Metro area pretty much all the providers are equal (coverage, service, number of stores per city block etc....).

I'm looking at new phones and i'm leaning towards the iPhone, but i'd like to hold one in my hands and use it before I actually spend the kind of cash that it will cost. I'm happy with AT&T.
 
Well, SERO is the best bang for your buck. If you want to spend twice that amount for the same type of plan, it's up to you. Just don't say I didn't warn you :)

$30/month
500 Anytime minutes
Unlimited Nights & Weekends starting at 7pm
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (Sprint or Nextel)
Unlimited Power Vision (EVDO internet)
Unlimited Text Messaging
No Roaming Charges
 
Sounds like you just need a phone without bells and whistles, just get whatever cheapest flip fone you can.
 
I'm looking at new phones and i'm leaning towards the iPhone.

As am I... but it's just too much $$ I've decided. Because it'll cost about $500-$600 for the smallest memory version, then the service is probably going to be to exqually as expensive in order to cater to the music, movies, maps, nav, etc. capabilities. Plus taxes at activation and everything. I'd rather wait, like you said, till i can hold it in my hands, give it a try, and wait for all the buzz from the mactards to die down. Then it may get cheaper.

That calamari commercial is SO AWESOME though!
 
Well, SERO is the best bang for your buck. If you want to spend twice that amount for the same type of plan, it's up to you. Just don't say I didn't warn you :)

$30/month
500 Anytime minutes
Unlimited Nights & Weekends starting at 7pm
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (Sprint or Nextel)
Unlimited Power Vision (EVDO internet)
Unlimited Text Messaging
No Roaming Charges

I would go with SERO if I didn't have a terrible time dealing with Sprint when I had them the first time. I had a couple of billing questions, and service questions (my signal at school sucked bad) that I stopped at a Sprint store in my area (at the time) to ask about, and they basically weren't helpful and pointed me to a customer service number, which was as equally useless. Sprint would probably be fine here (especially since I drive past the former Nextel offices every morning on my way in to work), but i'm not that confident that Sprint is any better.

I don't mind the cost of the iPhone either, as it'll be replacing two devices that i've wanted to replace anyway. Breaking down the cost, i'd likely be spending the same amount on a Phone + iPod as I would on the iPhone.
 
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I'd look into prepaid plans if I were you. I've been using T-Mobile's prepaid service for the past two years during my trips to California in the summers, and it's served me well. 200 minutes a month is 2400 minutes per year, which would cost you $250/yr with their prepaid service (that would get you 2460 minutes, to be precise), plus $50 when you start the service (which comes with 130 minutes, IIRC). That works out to be an average of $25/mo for the first year and $20.83/mo for each year after that. The only downside is that it doesn't include any free text or picture messages. Texts are 10 cents to send and 5 cents to receive, and pictures are 25 cents to send or receive. On the plus side, in addition to the phones they offer, you can use any unlocked GSM phone with a compatible frequency. :)
 
Too bad that you have to buy the phone with the connection, well atlest if you want it cheap. Else you could get a nice phone.
 
Well, SERO is the best bang for your buck. If you want to spend twice that amount for the same type of plan, it's up to you. Just don't say I didn't warn you :)

$30/month
500 Anytime minutes
Unlimited Nights & Weekends starting at 7pm
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (Sprint or Nextel)
Unlimited Power Vision (EVDO internet)
Unlimited Text Messaging
No Roaming Charges

Give me the email of a sprint/nextel employee and maybe I'll consider :p I don't know anyone who works for them, and I doubt they'll be willing to just give away their emails.
 
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