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Cell Phone n00b. What phone what plan?
- Thread starter trilobyte
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LizardKing
Member
where do you live
trilobyte said:
The first order of business is to ask people in your area what cell phone service they use, and if they're happy with the service. Use that to gauge what company you want go with. Once you've nailed that down, pick a plan. There are cheap ones, expensive ones, middle-of-the-road ones, family plans, etc. There really is, these days, a plan for every budget.
What phone you want is pretty subjective. It depends on what features you want, and what features you're going to use. There are plenty of sites out there that review phones, though. And some are better than others in important areas, such as voice quality and overall reception.
The Shadow
Member
trilobyte said:
Don't get AT&T. I forget who did the survey but they've been rated worst of the NA carriers for like 2 or 3 years straight. Verizon was first and T-Mobile second best.
As far as phones, what exactly do you need? If you just need the phone, all the carriers usually have a freebee offer that'll be fine.
One you've selected a carrier, consider getting the phone and service through a third party store like Amazon.com. They can usually offer you a much bigger selection of phones than the provider can. For instance, T-Mobile has a shit selection on their website but because they're a GSM provider, you can get some really kick ass GSM phones from a 3rd party and use it on the T-Mobile network without much fuss.
Asking people about their service is a good idea but also take note of the phone they're using. They might say X provider sucks because they get shit reception but it could be that the phone they use is known for crappy reception. Nokias are a pretty good measure of reception for instance.
I can say emphatically, don't go T-Mobile. They're cheap for a reason, and legendary for their poor service (a fact which failed to reach me until after signing the one-year contract). My voice mail is completely broken, most of the time it just plays music, which fades out, and then... nothing. I had it reset and the same thing happened. When I do manage to get messages, they're several days late. From now on, I'm probably just going to do pre-paid Verizon.
Doesnt matter where you live.
1) Make sure you get good reception in the areas you use so you can actually use your phone.
2) Get the phone and tariff that suits you! e.g lots of free text messages if you text alot.
3) compare and match. Choose the deal you prefer.
4) Make sure you are happy within the first few days or cancel quickly.
Complaining can make a lot of difference.
1) Make sure you get good reception in the areas you use so you can actually use your phone.
2) Get the phone and tariff that suits you! e.g lots of free text messages if you text alot.
3) compare and match. Choose the deal you prefer.
4) Make sure you are happy within the first few days or cancel quickly.
sonarrat said:
Complaining can make a lot of difference.
i've been pretty happy with my verizon cell (attached to a family plan). my older brother uses sprint and gets slightly better coverage (although with a more expensive phone). I just got the cheapest phone in the store (~30$). if you're paying for it, this is highly recommended. if work is paying for it, milk them for all they're worth.
Error Macro
Member
I like Cingular a lot. A lot of people go with Verizon, but damn if their reception isn't lousy around my city.
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