The cell phone plans change so rapidly…I’m wondering if anyone is using a plan that they are especially fond of.
blue
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. According to him I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information…don’t listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Replies
Depends on what you want, where you live, etc.
Outfits like T-mobile have really cheap rates but limited coverage, and they don't "roam", so if you're out of a T-mobile area you have no phone.
Some outfits have good base rates, but not so good for additional phones, if that's your thing.
Some outfits/plans "roam" more cheaply than others, and have larger "home" regions.
Are you going to use data services, messaging, etc. Some plans have it free or at a minimal charge, others charge an arm.
I don't know exactly what I want. I need analog capabilities. I need nationwide. I need, I need, I need..but I hatepaying.
I'm already sick of this process...
blueJust because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. According to him I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
If you're sick of the process then you already understand things too well.
blue.. i've got nextel.. good coverage.. good service..not too many drops..
the direct connect is a good feature
$44 / month BUT the killer is the taxes $10 so my bill is $54.. x 3 phones .. my average bill is $160...
one of the nicest things about nextel is their phones... the are set up so much better that the other ones i've used..
i still have my verizon in the truck too...better coverage.. even less drops.. and no contract left , so i can cancel whenever i want with no penalty... that one is $46 incl. taxes
i see another big shake up in cellular comming.. another consolidation.. verizon will still be there..
i wouldn't be surprised if i wind up with all verizon.. nextel sure had the construction trades covered around here.. i can direct connect all my subs.. and most of my relativesMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
"i wouldn't be surprised if i wind up with all verizon.. nextel sure had the construction trades covered around here.. i can direct connect all my subs.. and most of my relatives"If you are thinging about the merger, Nextel is merging with Sprint and not Verizon.Blue if you google on - cell phone rate comparisons - you will find a number of sites that list plans and some of them have a calcualtor so that you can try different combinations of minutes and features.
bill... just watching what's going on.. my guess is that verizon decided to compete with nextel for the trades
as you know, you get these plans by singing a contract... i try to let the contracts lapse so i can switch to whatever is going to win the battle
i can use verizon and nextel all up and down the coast.. i can talk to our daughter in NC
the technology that don is talking about with his new cingular sounds promising
coverage would be easy, but the towns won't let them put up the towers they need for line of sight the zoning boards tell them to go pound sand
when we go to NH, there are vast areas with no service
same thing comming thru the mountains in Carolina
the nextel phones we have now are the military spec i530 nextels.. with GPS.. nice flip phones.. i really like the nextel keypad.. very intuitive
my verizon is a motorola flip phone.. verizon has a better signal... and the phone is analog/digital.. so it will break thru in places the nextel won't
i see consolidation and technology moving fast in cell phones.. so i don't want to do anything to extend my contracts right now.. in other words i want the freedom to change to a better carrier when one comes along
so far.. the only one we've been able to use from nova scotia to florida.. and rhode island to tennessee is our verizon... best coverage by far...
but i decided to switch to nextel for the company phones. when i added two users.. been with them about three years.....
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
$44 / month BUT the killer is the taxes $10 so my bill is $54.. x 3 phones .. my average bill is $160
That is why I was able to talk my boss into cingular
You get the family talk plan 59.99 first phone
than each additional phone 10.00
up to 4. Do the math it, comes out lots better
And they can talk to each other all day, no minutes used
Unless your crew does a whole lot of talking 850 minutes is quite a lot and
with the rollover minutes what you don't use you keep
Wife & I had ATT before the merger w/ Cingular. Just went & bought a new Cingular plan w/ Motorola's Blue Tooth technology on phone. WOW!!!!! All of a sudden we have cell svc at our house, where NO ONE's cell works. Areas that were cell phone La La Land now have commo. Our daughter lives in Nashville, & her old Cingular phone didn't work at all in her apartment or in the hospital where she works. Bought a phone exactly like ours and it works in both locations. There has been a change in technology at Cingular to something called GMS. Makes all the difference in the world. I am pretty bad off in the ears dept - have hearing aids in both - phones drive me nuts. But, this new one works fine. I can actually hear on it. We pay $39 per Mo, plus junk,for 500 min. That's all we need.DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
cingular pretty much rules imho.
So now can you talk to your daughter all you want if you have the
cingular to cingular?
With regard to phones, there's a lot of variables there. Some phones are designed to only use one digital system, other phones can run analog and two or three different digital protocols. Can make a lot of difference if you're in an area where coverage is spotty.
butch... cingular has no coverage around here...
the phone has to work or it's no good
even with nextel & verizon , we get a lot of drops
sprint, cingular, t-mobile... foggedaboutit
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike, I also have a nextel. I don't have any idea what is costs me..its part of a package that the crew uses. I don't use it much though..I don't like the coverage, or the phone. Now, since we are all together on the same job, I leave the phone at home for my wife. She needs it because when she wants to talk to me, she two ways frank or ben to tell them, to tell me to call home!
I wish nextal was more dependable.
blue
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. According to him I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
Mike,Why do you like the Direct Connect so much? I have had two Nextel phones and wasn't impressed.I'm not complaining but it seems to me like it is less useful than a phone call. The communication is asychronous (gotta use those $10 college words every now and then!), there is a delay, and it adds one more beep to my day.With Verizon all mobile to mobile calls in the network are free so no difference as comared with Nextel.
Jon Blakemore
Look out for analog Blue, its going the way of vinyl records. Even digital will be going out in a few years. The new thing is GSM. If you don't already have analog you can't get it. My plan is ATT for 1000 min. for 70$ for nationwide. Nights and weekends start at 7:00 fri. and end 7:00 am mon. So far we still have a dealer here locally. Next month, who knows?
BTW, in the next few years Nextel is going to have to completely replace their system (and phones).They worked out a deal with the FCC to swap frenqquniecies. One of the reason is that they are next to public service bands and there has been problems with interference.
I'm happy with my Sprint.
got 2 phones which share the minutes ... gave the second to the wife and she leaves it sitting at home all the time ...
for $100/month get 2,000 minutes ... free stuff on nites and weekends ... but with that many .... I don't even think about saving call time .... I'll never touch 2k.
the deal was 1,000 for $95 ..... kick up an extra $5 and get the second line plus the extra 1,000 ....
I like having a "known amount" every month.
I started with 300/month .. then was 500/month .... and on months when I was over .... I was paying close to if not more than $100/month anyways ...
Not saving any money this way ... but it's a fixed amount.
Made life a little easier getting her the phone too ...
all one account ... all one bill.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
Thanks Jeff. I'm considering a "joint account". The sprint deal sounds good....I'd be saving a bit compared to what I'm doing now.
So far, I've reviewed the verizon plan. I only use about 300 minutes max and my wife uses less. I'm thinking I can set us both up for about 70 dollars per month with plenty of extra minutes (neither of us are phone-aholics). I especially like the free calling to each other, but I'm not sure if the free calling extends nationwide.
These plans are extremely hard to interpret.
blue
ps I like your latest username. I wasn't a "Buck" fan....Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. According to him I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
I have the Verizon "family share" plan with the wifey. 300 peak shared, unlimited off-peak (after 9pm, and all day sat/sun) and free to any other verizon wireless phone (anywhere, yes nationwide), so you can talk back and forth as much as you like (oh the joy).
With taxes and fees (don't forget those) runs about 89/month. I rarely, rarely have any overages (2x in 3 years?) and we have had good coverage every where we have traveled.
Bought the MIL one of those Virgin Mobile pay as you go phones, she likes it, the cards last 90 days and the phone is only about 30 bucks with no contract. May be worth a shot if you are afraid of cell phone contracts
Edited 1/6/2005 4:19 pm ET by RickD
I have cingular, both personal and the company I work for.
Unlimited, anytime, anyplace, no roaming,free cingular to cingular
free long distance and rollover minutes. I've accumalted over 1000 minutes
thus far on my personal phone. Also unlimeted nights and weekends.
Matter of fact I talked my boss to switch from nextel to cingular at
a savings of over 300.00 a month on approx 12 units.
With way more coverage area compared to nextel
That push to talk feature(nextel) is nice but we cover a large area and
their coverage isn't that great.
I'm paying apprx. 90.00 amonth and that is with 850 minutes and
two phones. With the rolloever plan I'll never exceed my package minutes.
I like the sound of that Butch. My wife currently has a cingular contract. Unfortunatly, cingular doesn't have good coverage at my resort property which is located on Lake Huron. That property also doesn't have any land line and I'm hesitant to switch all my phones to cingular.
Now that I'm thinking about it...I might still switch our packages to Cingular, then keep the bare minimum on my existing Verizon for that Lake property.
...off to look at the cingular pitch...
blueJust because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. Although I have a lifetime of framing experience, all of it is considered bottom of the barrel by Gabe. According to him I am not to be counted amongst the worst of the worst. If you want real framing information...don't listen to me..just ask Gabe!
In regards to coverage,my wife and I just got free upgrades from Cingular(all done thru the mail)and the phones came with new SIM cards that are integrated with AT&T for suposedly much better reception.Don't really know how much better as we are in an urban area and never have much trouble anyways.Regards,Mike
Its the same in our area. Verizon give the best over all coverage and the best nationally when we travel. Nextel has all the construction business in this area too. We use Nextel for the business and the wife and son have Verizon, business phones of course for tax purposes. I agree the the Nextel phones are a much better business phone and I think more durable. When the Verizon phones go bad the sell you a new one, when my nextel failed a while back the girl at the desk took it apart, added new board and off I went for $40. DanT
I think i have the same sprint plan as you... cept i get 2500 min... and i have the extra line... my wife also leaves hers at home 50% of the time... i also have first minute incoming free... and it's free between our 2 phones... last month i looked and i'd only used 800 min... and i think i'm on it all the time...
i do know that the $100 plan costs me $121 every month...
pony
We have Verizon and it works. I don't get excited about it but, like I said, it gets the job done.
2 plans with 2k minutes, 3 plans with 400. Total monthly bill (w/taxes) $370. Am thinking about dropping the 2k plans to 1k, but that will save a max of $50/mo. Service is better than Nextel but could be better in some areas.
Jon Blakemore
Consumer Reports seemed to like Verizon the best. Don't remember just what went into the rankings, but I think number of complaints to the authorities may have played a role. Unfortunately, Verizon coverage appears to be pretty weak in the Columbia Gorge area where I will be - at least from the coverage maps I have seen.
One write up on the CR report:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/155547_cell07.html
Another vote for cingular here. I live around you Blue (Metro Detroit) and have an excellent signal all around the Detroit and Ann Arbor area. I can't even remember the last time I had a dropped call.
I have several friends with Nextel and I dread talking to them as it more often than not results in several dropped calls during a 10min conversation, however, they are usually working in the Grosse Point area and they don't allow any towers in the city, so it's hard to get good reception with any provider in that area.
Like others said GSM is the way to go... I have a Nokia which has proven to be the most indestructible phone I have ever owned. I have had bad luck with flip phones, I break them to easily.
The rollover minutes are great... I hated having all those minutes just wasted.
I know what you are saying about no service by lake Huron. My in-laws have a place in Presque Isle that we go to and I can only get service if I stand on the end of the dock and touch the flag pole with the phone. Seems if you are close to US 23 you are okay... I hope they add more coverage soon.
Bonus is that Cingular shares towers with T-Mobile and ATT, although we never had much ATT coverage in MI.
I have also had really good luck with their customer service too. A year or so back they had a network outage for a few hours during the day and when I called to complain they gave me the month free.
I had Sprint 2 years ago but GSM compared to digital is night and day..that and I hated their customer service.
-Chad