Help with Cell phone plans

[Silound]

On providers:

I have Verizon and love it. Both AT&T and Verizon have good coverage down here, but when Katrina hit, I had AT&T and was without service for almost 3 weeks, and then VERY spotty poor service after that. Family was on Verizon and had NO problems, so I switched and haven't complained ever. I'm not a smartphone person, I look at my phone as talking, occasional PDA functions, and occasional texting as the only things I do. Smaller regional providers may offer better options, but generally I would stick to one of the big ones because they have more infrastructure to support with.

Verizon has one other nice feature that I prefer. If you lose your phone, you can go online and enter the serial and MAC address of a new one and be using it within 5 minutes. If you lose an AT&T phone, you have to go get a new SIM card, which is an utter PITA.


On phones:

If you aren't going to fork out for a data plan (they're expensive) then your best option is to get a low end family plan that suits your needs and two free phones with it (never mind the two year commitment, that will go by real fast).


Some other pointers:

I get cell coverage at home, so I don't have a landline. I use my cell phone to make all of my calls simply because it's cheaper and I still don't burn 750 minuets a month because a lot of my calls are during free calling hours or are same-network calls. Also, the free long distance thing is nice, compared to landline rates.


Anyway, just some opinions for you.

[larryinlc]

I was on Altel now Verizon pay as you go. I quickly dumped it due to the double dialing required. I live in a roaming area and since it's pay as you go, they charge for roaming. It was not the money issue for me, but being required to dial the number, then dial it again with a few more digits so they can bill you annoyed me to no end. Couldn't even store numbers in memory because of this. I suppose not all pay as you go plans are like this though. I now use Sprint contract service with free roaming and it makes it much simpler.

Larry

[captain53]

Originally Posted by shilala

Phones are only a couple bucks at Walmart, Jamie.
Hey, if you can do the pay as you go with any verizon phone, I have a couple of the gzone unbreakable ones that kick ass. I can hook you up, tuna.

I have had two of those GZones and no doubt they are some great heavy duty performers. If i did not need some crackberry features I would use nothing else but the GZones. My son jumped in the swimming pool with one in his pocket and when he got out opened it up blew off the water and made a call. Never quit working. I also got mine wet and muddy on a regular basis in the duck blind, never quit working till one day it finally met its match - a 6 month old Labrador Retriever and then after he ate it the damn thing still actually worked but was rather uncomfortable to hold on to! They are the Ronson JetLites of Cell Phones.

Ok it sounds like you have the best idea with the pay as you go phone. I have Verizon here in Houston, it is by far the best service, I would never go AT&T here! But it is also more pricey then the rest of them, worth it as far as I'm concerned.

Your not doing the smart phone thing so it doesn't matter, but I have a BlackBerry Storm2 and love it. Use it for everything as far as a MP3 player, to twitter and FB and even will be using it to post here. Everything is just a finger tip away. Apps like Poynt lets you look up movie time and clips, get directions using the phones GPS and maps (google maps is best) find people and places. Check radar and on and on. If you ever get a smart phone you won't go back!

[jjirons69]

Just completed my deal today. I got the wife and myself a Verizon 700 minute/250 text plan, with LG Accolade flip phones. $80, plus taxes and I get a 12% discount through work. She's going to kill the Tracfone and we'll eventually do away with the land line. I think this will be the best for both of us. Thanks for everyone's input!

[Blueface]

Wife has Verizon.
I have AT&T for my iPhone.