Help Me Pick a Cell Phone Provider

[cnfuzzd]

So, i live in the midwest, but plan on traveling somewhat extensively in the next year. I have a crappy, pay as you go plan now, but with my newfound poker, and prostitution, success, i think i am finally going to get a "real" phone. I was curious if anyone had any particularly bad experiences to relate about one provider or another. Thanks.


peace

john nickle

[Bulbarainey]

I'd just reccomend not getting T-Mobile. I could tell you some bad reception stories about ATT, but thats now fixed with the merge. T-Mobile is still OK, but it doesnt compare to Cing+Att's coverage right now, my bro has it and gets recep in a lot of places I don't. Sprint/Nextel is allright too, but always seems to be more expensive. Another benefit of ATT/Cing (and even T-Mo) is they use GSM phones, so you have a lot more phones to choose from, and I'd say you have a lot BETTER phones to choose from too.

edit: also if you go with a GSM provider, Nokia's generally get the best reception. Try to avoid Sony phones, they are known for getting the worst reception of all the GSM phones, for example I use to have a P800 (what was a ~$750 sony phone) and a Nokia 8290 (a $25 phone I got off of ebay), and the 8290 got much better reception.

[WEASEL45]

Verizon probably has the best service. T-mobiles basic plan will give you the most minutes and the service is pretty good.

[IndieMatty]

The minutes are all in the same ballpark these days. Verizon has the best service. You don't seem like the talk on the phone/gabby type so I'd go with verizon. 400 minutes a month plus free nights and weekend, some internet acces---50 bucks or so.

[MissOt]

dont get nextel. i hate it. plans are too expensive and i get horrible service everywhere. i got it for the walkie talkie feature, but most phones have that now.

[DBowling]

Ive got the 39.99 verizon plan, with taxes comes out to about $50.
Free mobile to mobile is great. Most of my friends/family/gf have verizon too, so i never use more than 100-200 peak minutes per month, so my bill never goes over. I get great reception in my area, where people with sprint get awful reception. Customer service is good too; they speak english. I highly recommend them.

[Leo99]

If you travel a lot look at the coverage maps. Verizon's map has much more coverage than any other. Verizon phones aren't as good. The selection is limited and all ring downloads and picture messaging cost extra. I've had Verizon for 4 years and I've never had a roaming charge.

[daryn]

all i hear is everyone saying don't get t-mobile. i hear that everywhere. i have it, and i've never not had a strong signal. is it just me? maybe if you live in buttlick iowa it's different? also though i have free roaming so if i have to connect to another network it's free. i dunno.. works for me.

[ThaSaltCracka]

I had AT&T but just switched to the Cingular network(there is a difference) and my service is much improved, plus roll over minutes!!!!!

[Popinjay]

If you go Cingular you can get the coolest phones since they run on GSM.