DUers and Cell Phones--I'm getting one (finally)

[kaitykaity]

and want to know if anybody has any horror stories
or good things to say to help me?

I want free long distance and a two-person family
plan.

I tried looking at consumer reports, but they want
me to pay to subscribe, and I'm not really that
interested.

Thanks in advance!!

:hi:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. i like my t-mobile

[kaitykaity]

2. Does your plan have

long distance charges?

I was leaning towards T-Mobile, but the web site
said something about charging 20 cents a minute
for long distance.

[gristy]

3. Free long distance is pretty standard with most plans I think

Verizon has pretty good nationwide coverage.

[Servo300]

4. I think most all of the companies

offer plans like you are looking for.

I would check the prices for comparable plans, and look at the coverage maps to make sure they cover the areas you are likely to be.

[Mr. Blonde]

5. I have Sprint

if you live in a big city you will have good service. I think it is free long distance, and I know it is unlimited sprint to sprint not just within a family but anyone you know with a sprint phone.

[trotsky]

6. I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon

T-Mobile didn't have coverage in the area where my extended family lives, so it was kind of a pain. So far Verizon has been good. We got a deal with two phones, unlimited calls to each other (which my wife & I use a lot), plus the "In" deal where your calls are free to other Verizon customers. And long distance included. I think we have 600 pooled minutes, which is more than enough for us.

[FlashHarry]

7. Working Assets. Progressive Wireless!

http://workingassetswireless.com/

I've had it for a couple of years now and love it!

[RoyGBiv]

8. Horror Story

Up front, the moral to this story is to make sure you read the fine print. I usually do, but was lazy this one time, and it cost me big.

I was happy with my original cell phone. I used it primarily because of what amounted to a flat rate for long distance charges. But I got my original contract just before the number of minutes a basic contract bought started exploding. I had about 1000. By the time the contract ended, the plan with the same cost offered 5000 or so.

So, I got the new plan. But, I failed to note something. My "night and weekend" minutes on my former plan had begun at 6pm. On my new plan, they began at 9pm. So, I spent an entire month happily talking away between the hours of 6pm and 9pm, eating up my very limited "anytime" minutes very quickly, and in the end I had an enormous bill, biggest phone bill I've ever had in my life, in fact. And, worse than the money, I felt like a complete idiot.

As I said, read the fine print. Pay attention to your minutes. In most plans I've seen, charges for overages are excessive.

[amandae]

9. I'd rather get the DUer ...

but if you HAVE to have a cellphone, don't use Sprint. Although their network is better in some ways, Sprint has fired tens of thousands of people in this country since 2001 and is outsourcing even more jobs to India. They have a HORRIBLE reputation for how they treat their employees (many of whom are struggling to get by and also with the incredible lack of job security) while top figures receive multi-million dollar bonuses. There is NO salary cap on the head guy (Forsey, now, I think).

I use Cingular, which, as part of SBC, is just as bad. But I can at least have nation wide service with no roaming charges (VERY important for traveling) and not pay out the ass for it.

Good luck :)