best cell phone/best calling plans?

[steph]

OK friends, so those of you I talk to on the phone will be thrilled to know that I lost my cell phone at this week's Munch. It even has a nickname, "ghetto phone" because it's such a piece of crap. So now I get to ask Santa for a new one...Can anyone share their stories of phones and calling plans they're happy with? I don't need a ton of minutes or buttload of bells and whistles, but voice mail, etc. would be great...

Also, bad reviews are welcome also! Thanks in advance!

XOXO

 

[featherfingers]

I've been pretty happy with my Kyocera phone and the AllTel plan, but it's also the first cellphone I've ever had, so I've got nothing to compare it to.

I get 1000 free anytime minutes, 100 free roaming minutes, free nights and weekends, free long distance, voicemail, and a few 'tools' like a calculator, stopwatch, alarm clock and some weird game called 'Brick Attack', which is a distant cousin to 'Pong'. There is also accessibility to the Web but I haven't had that activated.

The phone cost about $200.00 or so, maybe less, and I pay $60.00 a month for the service.

I'll be watching this thread for better deals, too.

 

[giantfan121262]

For THREE phones, I pay approximately $80 a month. It's a family plan with Verizon. I like verizon b/c you get a much better reception from where you are calling. I used to use AT&T Wireledd but they sucked. I can't count the number of dropped calls I got with that plan.

 

[maniactickler]

Ill second the verizon choice. it was rated the top service in cell phones. steph, call me and lets discuss it. :O

 

[steph]

😀 😀 😀
Character!

XOXO

 

[pghtickleguy]

I too am very happy with verizon. Nationwide long distance and a regional plan that is great. I pay $59 dollars a month for 1000 minutes. Unlimited off peak and unlimited mobile to mobile. Basically anyone else with Verizon I can talk to for free. I have a Samsung flip phone and I love it. Hope this helps Steph

 

[chode]

pghtickleguy....I agree. I have the same plan but i also have a camera phone for those fun drunk moments. So my plan is a fewdollars extra but i love verizon so far. I used to have sprint and i was always getting dropped calls and things. I havent had a problem with verizon for the 3 years i have had my plan with them. My phone even stopped being able to take pictures after a year and they replaced it free of charge, and they really didnt have to do that. Not like a camera on your phone is a must though. But i have gotten quite a few foot tickling pictures with that trusty little tool!

 

[DonnieBrasco]

On the phone service I have 1000 free minutes,free nites,free weekends,free long distance,600 text messages,free t-mobile to t-mobile calls,45.00 dollars-No problems with service --------Tmobile

Db

 

[steph]

Thanks friends!

XOXO

 

[P50]

Interesting you should ask. I am in a very similar market right now in a very similar context.

I am, as you probably are, overwhelmed by the plans, minutes, charges, roaming, and the inter-stellar time warps, etc.

I looked back over my previous six months and computed two numbers: [A] How many dollars did I spend, and How many minutes was I on the phone ?

When you boil away all the other marketing distractions, those two numbers are THE two numbers that mean anything.

I encourage you to do the same thing.

Cingular has a brilliant marketing department; and their rollover plan is evidence of it. Whether you have one hundred extra rollover minutes, or one thousand, you have "gotten what you paid for".

Those guys are very smart, because, the only people who will really benefit from that plan either [A] should not have a cellphone in the first place, or are so unpredictable in their lifestyles that they will most probably terminate the service on one of the contractual rules.

Even if you do have thousands of minutes, you have to use them to get the value from them. Consider, if you will, the concept of spending two thousand minutes on your cellphone. That is more than one solid hour a day, all month long, just talking on your cellphone.

Whether it's rollover, zillion nights and weekends, whatever, when you really divide dollars by minutes, you come out with your actual unit cost.

This astounded me: the majority of prepaid cellphone users are receiving a lower unit cost than the majority of users who signed multi-year contracts.

It's not my favorite place to recommend at this moment, but someone I know is raving about a cellphone deal from (of all places) WalMart. You pay 50-to-75 dollars for a plain and useful phone (sorry, no downloadable video games in 4096 colors) and you fund the thing with calling cards at about 25 cents per minute.

They contract with multiple carriers and towers, giving better coverage blankets than any single carrier can provide.

The 25 cents per minute thing is a little over half of what I was spending on my zillion minutes plan; when you do the honest math of "X" dollars divided by "Y" minutes

 

[P50]

And now, for the real benefit, I <I>THINK</I> you can buy those things for green dollars cash, and the calling cards too, with no names used, or a fictitious name. (If anyone has tried this, correct me if I'm wrong.)

i.e., it would be quite a useful phone for a 'Lee to use to converse with prospective 'Lers. She could speak with them in real time and gain the advantage of personal speech in screening the 'Ler, while maintaining her own personal safety (i.e., by using a medium of communication that does not disclose location or identity).

I have some homework to do on this topic. If it works, I plan to use it myself.

If it'll work for 'Lees it should work for 'Lers

 

[steph]

Way overwhelming!

Yep P50, you're right! The friends called mine "ghetto phone" because it was way old and had no features but it was a pay as you go plan with no official sign up~I used my real info but could've called myself anything. It was just a basic a Tracfone model, they're waaaay cooler now!
I like the pay as you go because it let me decide if I wanted to talk or not. I don't like to live on the phone like some people.
I figure once I get one with voice mail, that puppy'll fill up in a hurry, between all my patients, pals, etc.

But you're onto a great idea for people that need 100% discretion~Mine didn't even have caller ID!


Let's keep each other posted!
XOXO

PS~thanks to everyone for their input, got a decision to make I guess! 🙂

 

[chode]

Hey steph, have a great time the next few days.................

 

[P50]

Virgin Mobile: $130

Latest Real Life Research:


-------------------------
Cingular: Only sells full plans

PSC Wireless: Takes name and address off driver's license

Verizon: Takes name and address off driver's license
-------------------------

These results are from walking into the stores and asking the people who work there.


Virgin Mobile (the Sprint version of Prepaid wireless) seems to have an offer that might work

www.virginmobile.com

From conversations with a living human at a real store, all first appearances indicate that you can get a cellphone, prepaid, and use it safely without a stalker hunting you down.

The single most identifying piece of info seems to be your zip code, and I believe you could circumvent that with a little brain work, not sure


Virgin mobile costs are estimated at about $130 per year.

The only annoyance factor I could immediately find seems to be the "top-up" thing every 90 days; i.e., you have to spend $20 on the thing at that interval


Phone: $ 40
Top-up: $ 20 (Spring)
Top-up: $ 20 (Summer)
Top-up: $ 20 (Fall)
Top-up: $ 20 (Winter)


Subtotal: $120

Taxes (Complete And Total Guess): $10


P50's Best Estimate: $130