Help CatWoman choose a wireless phone package

[CatWoman]

I'd appreciate any tips/advice/rants/warnings you can provide :D

[northzax]

1. where are you?

what will you be using it for?
do you want lots of pretty features, or simply a phone?
do you travel? where to?

more info, eh?

[CatWoman]

11. Atlanta

and I don't need a lot of features.

And presently, I don't travel much.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

2. My advice

Don't give anyone the number, and just keep it with you for emergencies. Heh.

In case you haven't guessed, I don't like the darn things! ;)

[ihaveaquestion]

3. I've had good luck with Sprint PCS

I get a discount from Sprint because my company's big enough to negotiate one. My kids are on Sprint too, so calls to them are free any time.

The only place I couldn't get a signal was on vacation in Jackson Hole / Yellowstone. My mom has Verizon and she got a weak signal there - sometimes. If you don't want anyone calling you on vacation or if you want to go where everyone isn't talking to him/herself, go to Wyoming!

[CO Liberal]

4. My Wife and I Are With T-Mobile and Are Very Happy

We each have a cell phone and share 800 minutes a month with their Family Plan - we've never used our monthly allottment, even when I'm kept on hold by the local radio talk shows.

Calls between our phones don't count against the total, and are free. (Which is good, because I work 44 miles from home and it's a toll call using our house phone.) And long distance is also free, so I can call my kids in NJ for nothing!!!!

[shanti]

10. yes, i have t-mobile too

and they are great! their customer service sure beats the others, imo.

[cmf]

5. Verizon seems to have the best coverage area, but

I recently have had some bad customer service with them. Trying to hard sell more expensive phones, demanding we purchase a new phone when trying to change our calling plan.

We're now with Sprint. We get a military discount through them, plus airline miles. Don't know how good the customer service is yet.

I have heard some really bad things about AT&T. My experience with other parts of that company cause me to believe that the stories are true.

[tkulesa]

6. Cell phones

Which company is best really depends on where you will be using the phone.

Here in the NYC tri-state area, I hear that Verizon is much better if you will be out on Long Island but AT&T Wireless is better if you will be going into New Jersey.

T-Mobile is supposed to be one of the better ones nationally but they suck in parts of northeast.

Be very careful of phones with an external antenna. If you are keeping your phone in a pocket or purse it's likely to break. Many phones have an internal antenna.

Go with a committment plan slightly higher than what you really think you will use. Most people end up using their phones more than they thought.

[bif]

7. We've been very happy with Verison

No probs. And we have an old phone that we shoudl upgrade. They're going to give us $100 towards a new one--so we basically can get one for free. Never had a problem with service/reception.

[matcom]

8. Nextel

that way you can radio me whenever your feeling 'frisky' :D

[CatWoman]

12. LOL

Your'e so silly

:loveya:

[barbaraann]

9. A website that might be helpful.

www.getconnected.com

[CatWoman]

13. you're a doll!!

thanks

:hi:

[barbaraann]

28. You're very welcome.

:-)

[physioex]

14. I am communications engineer and I know about wireless...

It's really a complicated question and there are many factors involved. Personally I don't worry about the price of the plan per month, to me good service is more important.

This is in general but not always:
1. Verizon Wireless Typically has a better network. They are the
largest provider of wireless service in the US. Their prices are
typically more, but you get what you pay for. For you techies Verizon uses CDMA technology.

2. AT&T another good wireless company their networks are a bit smaller. But they should have good service in a metro area.

3. Cingular they are also soild in the metro areas.

4. Sprint don't go there. They lease their networks from other carriers. They are the Wal-Mart of wireless carrriers. In all honesty if you are in a metro area and never leave it, Sprint would work fine. But I find their coverage spotty and their networks unreliable.

5. Nextel they primarily cater to the business clients. They have a feature that all the blue collar people love called direct connect. I think the other carriers will come out with the same feature soon.

Basically my advise is to pick a carrier and find out how long the trial period lasts. In that time go to the places you will typically be using the phone and test to make sure you can make reliable calls. If the phone doesn't work at your own home reliably defintly don't get it, I had this problem with Sprint. Also remeber when your trial period ends, you are locked so make sure youre happy with the service. The salesman might try and sell you on the phone, but that's not important it's the service.

I am also a lazy person, I don't like flip phones. It takes two steps to answer a call and I would rather do it in one.

hope this helps

[robnycny]

15. Without a doubt, AT&T Wireless is PURE evil.

Do yourself a favor and don't even consider them.

[LynneSin]

16. I"ve had great luck with AT&T

But whatever package you get make sure you get the following:

GSM - That's the newest network system and currently the standard in Europe. Most wireless companies are moving towards that direction so you don't want to be using an antiquated system

National Long Distance - With GSM, that is usually included and it's sweet. I could visit you down there in Atlanta (which was outside of my old network), call my mother in PA and I won't have any charges provided that I don't go over my minutes.

There are 2 ways to go with your package but you need to decide how you are going to use your phone.

Emergency Only: If you plan to use the cell phone only in case of an emergency then just get the cheapest package out there. Most people usually end up wasting minutes because they bought more than they can use

Full time phone: This is the way I go. I still have a land line (for my DSL) but I stripped every service off of there so I'm only paying like $12/month for local phone service. Then I pay $39/month for my cell phone which has 600 anytime minutes and free nights&weekends. I kinda use my home phone the way some use a spare email address - for all those forms & applications and other stuff you need to give out a phone number. If you're my friend (which you are CatWoman), you would get my cell phone number. But if I don't like you or don't want to be bothered by you, then you get my home phone number. I turn the ringer off and I'm not bothered by solitation calls (but I do have a cheap answering machine on it)

BTW, if you go with using your cell phone as full time service - remove your long distance package on your LAN line. I actually have a sprint plan on my lan line which doesn't charge me anything a month for long distance, but if I make a long distance phone call it costs a few cents more for the call. That way at least I have it for emergency (in 18 months I've yet to make a long distance call on my lan line). If you can't find a long distance carrier that won't charge you per month, then just buy one of those cheapie phone cards and keep it handy for if you have to call long distance

[CatWoman]

19. my first call will be to Abbott

to set up a rendezvous

:D

[LynneSin]

29. I'm sure your girls will love abbott - but he's a prince without his....

...furry balls.

BTW, I found something else that scares the bejesus out of my kitties: THE LAWNMOWER MAN

[physioex]

24. It's not that simple...

In Europe you by a phone that can work with any carrier, then you buy the service by purchasing a sim card. All the phones use GSM.

In the US you purchase the service and get a phone for "free".

Verizon -CDMA
Sprint - CDMA
T-Mobile GSM (Not the international verison but an american)
AT&T (dont recall but some old standard)
Cingular (Forgot also)
Nextel (iDEN) another strange standard.

They can't simply switch they way they transmit data. Hopefully someday there is one standard in US but that may not be likely. It really controversial whether CDMA is better than GSM.

[underpants]

17. Can you hear me now? Go with Verizon

$50 a month and it reaches pretty much everywhere.

[CatWoman]

18. Hey, you!!!

welcome back from your vacation.

Still frisky as ever, I see!!

:hi:

[underpants]

20. ## Support Democratic Underground! ##

DU GrovelBot

[CatWoman]

21. LOL

You are such a nut!!!!

[johnnie]

22. not a lot of experience here but..

I had AT&T for a while. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't use it that much. One thing is sure though, AT&T have their wireless service up for sale. I believe cingular is buying it though I could be wrong about the buyer. So I would look in to that before going with them.
Right now I have Sprint. So far it has been pretty good for me. I haven't had too many problems dropping calls, but they have been dropped. But on the average, I have had other people's services be dropped while talking to them. About the same.
The other thing that happened a few weeks ago is that my bass player and guitarist moved in to a new place. They were going to use their cells as their main phones. I was the only one that got a signal in the house. One has Nextel and the other has cingular.
Just my attempt at the little I know.

[daa]

23. Virgin Mobile

Prepaid $.25 per minute
only need $20 every 3 months
is the sprint Network
no long distance
no roaming

If you are looking for low usage or emergencies this is a great way to go. I have it in Atlanta.

[physioex]

26. Hmm..thats Sprint's crappy serivce packaged with a "youth label" ....

It's like putting lipstick on a pig....

[daa]

30. Not really

pre-paid so you only pay for what you use. What other service can you have for 8 bucks a month?

[Renew Deal]

25. T-Mobile

I am very happy with my T-mobile service. I have the 39.99 plan with T-zones for 2.25. My monthly bill is 52.25. I get 1000 anytime minutes, no roaming, free long distance. It's a good plan for me. They have other great plans, but no roaming or long distance is the key.

BTW, their phones can be made international with one phone call for support. This can be important if you ever leave the country.

I have also traveled around the country using t-mobile. It has worked where I would expect it to work. I have lost service in some back country places down south or in the rockies, but generally it's good.

PM me if you want.

[GOPisEvil]

27. I have AT&T and have been generally happy with the service.

I had some issues up in DC during the march because the circuits were overloaded, but after the march, my phone worked fine. Other people were having trouble, too. Their coverage area is fine with me, since I rarely leave metro areas, and most interstates have good coverage, too.

I pay $60 for 1000 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends. I've never gone over my minutes, even during my most talkative times. With all the taxes, fees and other miscellaneous crap, my bill totals to $74.30 a month. I cancelled my landline because I never used it.

I got my phone (a Nokia) for free, and I get airline miles from American based on my monthly bill. We'll see what happens when Cingular buys them out, but I'm hoping for the same level of service.