cell phones

rascaljim · Post by **rascaljim** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 1:27 pm

Hello

Just wondering what you all think about the different cell phone companies. I have verizon wireless and I'm only moderately happy with their service. I live in chicago and deal with a lot of dropped calls. Their customer service people tell me it's because my phone's 2 years old and this particular model gets worse with age. I'm thinking of resigining a 2 year contract and get a new phone for the sole reason that they are one of the few that still let you roam. Being I'm 'driving for dollars' on the regional scene, roaming's important to me.

Thoughts?

Jim Langenberg

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:18 pm

You forgot "none of the above". My wife carries a cell for emergencies, but I won't be bothered by one. Besides, they're useless at home--under the best of circumstances, I have to take one outdoors and wander around the front yard looking for any kind of signal. If I'm out for a walk, most of the way I get zero signal at all.

WoodSheddin · Post by **WoodSheddin** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:18 pm

The Motorola phones from Verizon have the best reception. I understand the Motorola V710 is their best current phone and its replacement the E815 is supposed to be out this month.

Lew · Post by **Lew** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:24 pm

My children have Verizon cell phones as their only phones. They have no home phones. Verizon seems to have the best network in all of the areas I'm usually in. For me it's all about coverage, and Verizon has been the best on the East coast. Your experience may be different in other parts of the country. I suggest looking at the coverage maps, available online from each provider, in your area to see who has the best coverage in the areas important to you.

Joe Baker · Post by **Joe Baker** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:33 pm

US Cellular

Quality of phone service: virtually flawless. Seriously, in their service areas I NEVER drop a call, NEVER get "no signal" -- it works perfectly, every time.

Billing accuracy: much better than others I've tried. In almost three years, I've had one billing error of about $15.

Customer service: better recently, but still needs some work; they used to farm it out -- several times I got somebody in India that barely spoke English, once I got some lady that sounded like she was from Minnesota, and it sounded from her voice like I woke her up. She actually answered the phone "Hello?", not "U.S. Cellular". More recently, they seem to have their act pretty well together at the call center -- the billing error I referred to above was about three months ago, and took one 5-minute phone call to straighten out -- but I still can't manage my account through their website.

Price: best available in this area for the features and level of service we need.

Total grade: A-minus, up from a solid "B" a year ago.

I've also tried AT&T (they may be out of the business now), Sprint and Verizon, and give none of them higher than a C+ overall; but, again, I've been with USCellular for almost three years, and the others may have improved in that time.
____________________________________
Joe Baker, whose daughter is moving to Waco, TX in the fall, where USCellular isn't available, and who will therefore be watching this thread for useful consumer info!

TexTuba · Post by **TexTuba** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:39 pm

Joe Baker wrote:US Cellular

Yeah here US Cellular is no more. I got switched from US Cellular to AT&T, then to Cingular. I like the phone but I hate their customer service. It just flat out sucks. So many charges that they don't mention it's just ridiculous. I miss US Cellular. It was my first cell phone company and was the best IMO.

Ralph

JCalkin · Post by **JCalkin** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:34 pm

I first (four years ago) started with AT&T, then switched to Sprint for a bit b/c I got married and my wife and I got onto one plan, and her family uses Sprint (she could talk to them for free).

I was only with Sprint for four months because each and every one of those months, they overcharged me between one and three HUNDRED dollars and I had to go into the store and get on the "Batphone" to Sprint HQ to straighten it out. Each time I got someone on the other end of the phone saying things like "Gee, that's odd, I have no idea how to fix this" and it took well over an hour each time to rectify the situation. I happily paid the early termination fee and went back to AT&T, now Cingular. I couldn't be happier.

chevy68chv · Post by **chevy68chv** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:16 pm

Verizon gets the best service in my area, but don't expect to get a phone with a bunch of bells and whistles without paying a great deal for it. If your looking for a fancy phone cingular is the way to go. Personally I prefer service to gizmos.

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 4:32 pm

I have a three-phone family service from Cingular. Two phones are here in Southern Indiana and the third one is currently with a son working in Michigan's UP. I'm happy with the Cingular's service but I can honestly say that the very best cell phone service I EVER had was when I was on the road in a company car with a Motorola hands-free and Verizon service. With an antenna mounted on the car the darned thing worked flawlessly just about anywhere.

MartyNeilan · Post by **MartyNeilan** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:03 pm

Most people simply do not need cell phones. PERIOD.
For all its perceived benefits, this is one technology that has made our society much worse as a whole.
And don't give me that "emergency" excuse, because people got along without them just fine in our fast paced modern society for decades. Plus, how many calls do you make that are actually emergencies. I though so.
Sorry if this offends you, (fill in the blank), but get over it.
Besides, if the whole brain cancer thing turns out to be true, several decades from now I will be the only one left to repopulate the earth. Scary thought, eh?

Dan Schultz · Post by **Dan Schultz** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:17 pm

MartyNeilan wrote:Most people simply do not need cell phones. PERIOD.

I'm glad you said 'most' people... because I REALLY enjoy the convenience of being able to communicate when and where I want. I use my cell phone as my primary business number. I don't know how many times (prior to cell technology) that I've had to make another pickup or delivery in the same direction I just came from. I am truly spoiled by the convenience of cellphones and email

Joe Baker · Post by **Joe Baker** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:25 pm

I dunno, Marty. "Need" is one of those words that different people will define differently. I don't "need" a cell phone the way I "need" food and water, but it significantly eases our lives for our family to have them. For my wife and I, logistics can get complicated as kids' activities end early or work runs late, and the cell phone REALLY helps us to coordinate our plans. For the kids, I view the cell phone the same way I do airbags; I hope they never have the kind of situation where they NEED the cell phone, but if they ever do I want them to have it.

As far as "what people used to do", they "used to" go to the outhouse, so I don't guess we "need" indoor plumbing either. Same with electricity, automobiles, and antibiotics.

If your implication is that kids can use a pay phone like I did when I was a kid, the existence of cell phones has pretty much eliminated pay phones -- in fact, I just saw on the news a couple of days ago where cities are removing their emergency call boxes because "everyone has a cell phone".

Yes, mankind could survive without cell phones, and did just fine without them until the last 10 years or so, but for a lot of people they are a VERY useful tool that makes life a LOT easier. Does that make it a "need"? I don't know.

And I don't really care!

_____________________________________
Joe Baker, who would miss his indoor plumbing, electricity, computer, DVR and cell phone, whether he needs them or not!

funkcicle · Post by **funkcicle** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:37 am

I've been with tmobile for a little over 2 years now and am very happy.. I've had 2 instances of misbilling in that time and both were quickly dealt with to my satisfaction(I didn't do it over the phone, i stopped at a t-mobile kiosque near my work and had them fix it on the spot). I travel a lot and use their data services a lot(i have the tmobile sidekick) and from what i've researched tmobile best meets my needs... it's great to spend a week in another country checking my email, sending/receiving txt messages, and making a few quick calls just as much as i would at home and coming back to a phone bill that is only about $10-20 higher than normal(with Verizon i'd be looking at a $200-300 difference)..

Cons: network isn't as large, but it still works everywhere i go. I rarely get "full" signal strength, and there are a couple of indoor spots where i can't make a call(or have to stand in a specific part of the room)..i'd pay a few bucks a month extra to have those issues fixed, but from what i hear these are typical of pretty much any carrier.

If it weren't for my heavy data and frequent international use I'd be with Cingular.. they seem to offer the most for the least when it comes to north american use(they also have free-calling-to-canada).

rascaljim · Post by **rascaljim** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 11:27 am

See, I think that cell phones will one day completely replace the land lines that we have now.

If you do the math, in many cases it costs the same and sometimes less to own a cell phone than a land line. I know for a fact that very basic incoming calls land line is very cheap, but for someone that actually has to do things like conduct business over the phone and regularly call long distance a cell phone is a better deal.

Many of the young people (20 something crowd) I know do not have land lines at all and just use cell phones. It's sometimes a curse to always be available, but for those of us trying to make it in the freelance scene, sometimes getting the gig depends on being available when that person calls. I've lost more than one gig in the last year because of not responding immediately to someone who wants to have the position filled 'right now'.

Besides, if I have a choice of the convienence of taking my answering machine with me, I might as well.

I didn't realize how many people are fed up with this cultures attachment to cell phones, but here's the bad news people... they're here to stay and people will only be using them more with the way that minute packages are going. I definitely feel annoyed by the morons who feel that the 'silence your cellphone' in performances doesn't pretain to them, heck I had one interrupt me the last time I was playing the solo from the 3rd movement of Mahler 1.

By the way, those cellphone jammers are illegal for a reason. I could see the benefit of quieting phones during concerts, but if I ever have an emergency and I find out that I can't call due to someone jamming my signal, you better believe they're gonna get a beat down if I find out who.

Gotta go answer my cellphone
Jim

Rick F · Post by **Rick F** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 2:54 pm

Food for thought...

There are a number of folks in South Florida who decided NOT to have a land-line phone--but instead have just a cell phone. After hurricanes Frances (and Jeanne), they had no way to communicate after about 24 or 48 hours. When the power goes out, cell phone service relies on batteries at the cell towers. When there's no electricity to recharge the batteries, the batteries go dead and no more service. All cell phone service was out after 2 days of no commercial power in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. If you had a land-line phone AND one of your phones happend to be a phone which does not need to be plugged in, you had phone service. No outside electric power is needed for those phones. The 24 volts needed to operate those is supplied by the phone co.

Stefan · Post by **Stefan** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 11:03 pm

No, people don't need cell phones. But then again, there are a lot of things people have that we don't need.

Anyway, I use cingular. But I am probably going to switch to Verizon because I hear they are better for rural areas. Someting about the network they use.

Stefan

Rick F · Post by **Rick F** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 11:41 pm

tubalawlisa wrote:My cell phone is my ONLY phone. As a poor law student, a $39.99 plan is much cheaper. <snip> Somehow telemarketers haven't gotten my phone number either.

You should register your cell phone number with the Nat'l Do Not Call List. They now accept cell phone numbers to be added to the list. Who wants to pay for telemarketing calls?!

National Do Not Call Registry
https://www.donotcall.gov/FAQ/FAQDefault.aspx

You can register up to 3 phone numbers.

Rick F · Post by **Rick F** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:05 am

I answered "Verizon" in the poll. The service has been good, but I only use about 30 to 40 minutes per month. I'm 'grand-fathered' in a plan that's no longer offered... $20 for 150 minutes a month. It's a convenience for quick contacts or in the event of an emergency. It's a good phone - Motorola's StarTac (no longer available). When the phone dies, I think I'm going to go with "Virgin Mobile". It's one of those 'pay as you go' services. My wife has one of these for emergencies. You have to add $20 every 90 days to keep it active. That's about $7 a month. All calls - local and long distance - are 25 cents per minute for first 10 minutes, then 10 cents / minute after that. Sounds expensive, but when you don't need to use it often, it makes sense to me. Virgin uses the Sprint-PCS towers so it has good coverage.

ThomasDodd · Post by **ThomasDodd** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 10:57 am

Another poll I cannot answer

TracFone for me. good pricing and decent service.
Since I seldom use 300 minutes a year, it's tended to cost me $100 a year. never any more, and payed once a year. No one else comes close to my needs for that price.

ThomasDodd · Post by **ThomasDodd** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 11:24 am

Rick F wrote:IIt's one of those 'pay as you go' services. My wife has one of these for emergencies. You have to add $20 every 90 days to keep it active. That's about $7 a month. All calls - local and long distance - are 25 cents per minute for first 10 minutes, then 10 cents / minute after that. Sounds expensive, but when you don't need to use it often, it makes sense to me. Virgin uses the Sprint-PCS towers so it has good coverage.

Do they not offer a years service plan? The rates sound rather high too.

The TracFone rate are higher on the 1 year cards, but I coul get 800 minutes for $80 if I would ever use that much time. Only 2 billing options normal and roma. Roaming uses double minutes (charged 2 minutes for a 1 minute call). I've never had roaming trouble anywhere I went though, since they don't have their own network, but piggy back others instead. They have no preference for network either, so I get the stronged suignal where ever I am.

TubeNet

cell phones

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cell phones