OT - Getting a Cell Phone Question

I've decided to get a cell phone & just wanted hear from this knowledgable group any advice or about any companies that you're particularly happy or unhappy with & any other words of wisdom. Thanks. -- Richard "may have narrowed it down to ATT or Verizon" Hickok

Reply to
Rhhickok
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I use Verizon, am have always had excellent service!

in particular, they function flawlessly under the many tunnels we have under the rivers of NYC

I have never failed to a cell signal, when others using AT&T could not make or receive calls

- iz

Rhhickok wrote:

Reply to
Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed

Verizon has been good to me. Been using them since 1995. A little advice, forget all the bells and whistles(internet, camera, etc.) and just go with what a cell phone was intended to be, a cell phone.

Ted Novak TRA#5512

Rhhickok wrote:

Reply to
nedtovak

I agree

I used to have internet, text paging, etc. but never made use of it in practice. I stopped those services three years ago.

GPS for E911 is handy, but I think it is standard in even the cheapest phones now, so the company can meet its compliance schedule

- iz

nedtovak wrote:

Reply to
Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed

I wonder if they got prepaid cell services in the states as well? in taiwan we have these SIM cards that we can buy at a convience store that has a number, and voicemail too. You buy the card and it comes with some minutes on it, and once you're done with those minutes you just buy a recharge card... of course if you got too many stalkers/threatening calls or whatever you can just take out the SIM card and throw it in a ditch or something and get a new one...

Reply to
tai fu

Verizon & Motorola.

Phil Ste>I've decided to get a cell phone & just wanted hear from this knowledgable

Phil Stein

Reply to
Phil Stein

I used to have Motorolas, but the past three years I've had Audiovox and have found them to be durable and reliable as well.

One word of advice though - don't buy a cellphone that is hinged (flip-open).

I challenge everyone who has one to drop it from a six foot height (the top of your head is close enough) onto concrete, and I do the same with mine. I have yet to have any takers from the flip-open crowd.

Mine have only had a battery pop out and minor scratches.

- iz

Phil Ste> Verizon & Motorola.

Reply to
Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed

Exactly the reason why every cell phone I've gotten I've made sure there were no moving parts(except the antenna). I also always get a leather case as well. My current cell is a Kyocera 2135 and considering how many times I've dropped it there are no scratches whatsoever.

Ted Novak TRA#5512

Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed wrote:

Reply to
nedtovak

I have Verizon and it works everywhere I've ever gone, except in my house.......it's kind of annoying but worth it when I go anywhere.......the guy across the street sells T-mobile, he said get Verizon. :-) And I much prefer the more fragile flip phone, as I have this terrrible habit of forgetting to hit the end button......in fact a guy I was working with had his one piece in his pants pocket an unbeknownst to him his squeezing in the elevator he had hit the phone home button along with the send......his wife was listening while he was putting the moves on a woman on the elevator.......until his pocket started yelling at him..... :-D

Reply to
Chuck Rudy

F the 6 foot drop challenge. Be a man & throw it against the wall like I do. Yes it is hinged. I've done this many thimes with many Motorola phones & haven't broken one yet. I do the 6 foot drop at least once a week.

Phil Stein

Phil Stein

Reply to
Phil Stein

bummer! That's what keypad locks are for, and that's why I never set my phone to auto-answer.

I was having breakfast at a company outing in Montauk, LI (ritzy place), and my lawyer 'returns my call' (seems he was on vacation too). I apparently pressed his programmed number button at some point. Had a nice chat, but I was worrying how much he was going to charge me for the call. He didn't though :)

- iz

Chuck Rudy wrote:

Reply to
Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed

well, at least they were "afraid" to test it ;)

- iz

Phil Ste> F the 6 foot drop challenge. Be a man & throw it against the wall

Reply to
Ismaeel Abdur-Rasheed

if you are in a rural area, check to see who has local service.

the traveling execs that come to visit can never get theirs to work in our area unless they have the same service as the local area

Reply to
tater schuld

I'm not afraid to test it. I usually need a new phone every 18 months but, all things considered, that's not bad.

Phil

Phil Stein

Reply to
Phil Stein

I'd suggest talking to people in your intended usage area, to see how the coverage is in places you intend to use the phone.

You'd be surprised at where dead spots can crop up. I have Sprint, and there are a couple of spots in town where I'll drop the signal, every time. I even spent a year working in a building where the coverage was horrible, as the local antenna was on the roof of the building!

-Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Trojanowski

My dad used something like that way back in WWII. Something to do with 2 Campbell's soup cans and quite a bit 'o string. Or was that Bit 'O Honey?

Randy

Reply to
Randy

I use ATT my son uses Verizon. I get service almost anywhere, he has sporatic service in the outlying areas of Los Angeles. My program is the same as his, maybe a tad better. We both have Motorola flip phones (much better than the Nokia crap or any of the other phones IMHO. I got my phone for free with a rebate, his was $100 with the rebate.

Reply to
Reece Talley

If you live anywhere in the western USA, no one has better coverage than Verizon. I have checked the coverage maps about every six months, and Verizon still covers more as local, and takes in most everything else as roaming, which only costs you minutes on most plans.

However, if you are extremely dollar conscious (as in $10 either way would make a choice difference) then ATT might have better plans. All the companies recently changed their plans to be more competitive, so I don't know who is currently best for minutes vs. $$$ vs. call times/plans. I would check it out.

Personally, I have been with Verizon for about 3 years, and am a heavy user ($100~$150/month). I used to use the StarTac line (several model iterations, all out of date, but man have I ammassed a pile of widgets) and currently an LG-TM510 (can still get parts, but getting old fast). I chose Verizon because of coverage area. I travel... a lot.

There are certain model phones, however to stay away from, as calls are more frequently broken and sometimes dropped on some models. Don't just take the saleperson's word for it... A little research will go a long way to keeping you happy long term...

~ Duane Phillips.

Reply to
Duane Phillips

Depends on what you're buying the phone for. We got a pair, major purpose was for my wife in case of emergency. We use them very little, maybe a handful of calls a week. Most of the "big" carriers charge an arm and a leg for their various plans, and throw in bunches of minutes we don't need.

We found one of the pre-paid phones, TRACFONE, to be the best deal. I buy a card good for a years activation, 150 minutes (and typically a bonus of an additional 50-100 minutes on top of that) for just under $100 per year. That comes out to $8 per month, as long as we don't make too many calls. Minutes roll over as long as you keep the phone activated. I've used less than 50 minutes in the past 6 months, and hava a balance of 581!

The down side of this deal is that regular minutes are expensive. Depending on the card you buy, any where from $0.40 to $0.75 per minute. But I've enver needed to buy extra minutes, and in fact use the extra minutes to make the few long distance calls I've needed. And in remote locations like NARAM-44 my phone still worked while my team mate's "major carrier" phone didn't!

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

Good point. My company gives me an AT&T cell phone when I'm on call. From home, the ONLY place it works is from the corner of pur master beedroom. Any where else, and I have trouble getting out or answering calls.

My el-cheapo analog emergency use only phone works fine from any where in the house.

Remember those commericals with the static. Well, that's analog. With digital, if you can't get a clear perfect signal, you get NOTHING AT ALL.

Take THAT Chris Taylor!

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Reply to
Bob Kaplow

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