I Need a New Cell Phone Provider
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I had a family plan with Verizon Wireless, 1400 minutes at $99.99 per month. Using my employer discount, the final bill after taxes and fees ran about $80 something every month.
As of 19 May 2008, the 2 year contract expired on my primary line. As of 12 July 2008, the 2 year contract expired on my 2nd line. Don’t ask me why they were different. In addition to poor customer service, this is only one of the many asinine things I’ve endured since being a Verizon Wireless customer for the past 5 years. Needless to say, I’m looking for a new love.
Effective the 18th, I disconnected my 2nd line and converted to an individual plan - BabyGirl is now responsible for her own cell phone bill/usage. Verizon has an unlimited individual plan for the same amount I was paying for my family plan, but I decided to reduce the calling plan to 900 minutes for $59.99, which is a reduction of 500 minutes (BabyGirl used way more than that) and a savings of ~$30 per month. However, as a basic wireless user, I still think that’s too much.
So I did some research. I used this website to do a side-by-side comparison of the most basic individual calling plans offered by Alltel, AT&T/Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Using only the criterion that are important to my decision, this is what I found:
- They all have national coverage. Doesn’t matter if it isn’t reliable [-SM]
- They all offer basic services: call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, three-way, voice mail.
- They all require 2 year agreements.
- All of their basic plans begin at $39.99.
- Alltel offers the most minutes (500) on the starter basic plan. All others are 450, except T-Mobile at only 300.
- T-Mobile is the only one to offer the “myFaves” feature, which allows you to have unlimited conversations with 5 people on ANY network for free.
- AT&T is the only one to offer rollover, which allows you to rollover unused minutes from month to month. For someone who doesn’t talk much, the rollover may come in handy during unsual months [-SM]
- With the exception of Nextel and T-Mobile, all others offer unlimited mobile-to-mobile.
- AT&T is the only one with limited nights and weekends minutes (5000). All others are unlimited.
- Night hours begin at 7pm for Nextel and Sprint. All others don’t begin until 9pm.
- Night hours end at 6am for Alltel, AT&T, and Verizon. All others end at 7am.
- Weekend hours begin on Friday 9pm for Alltel and AT&T, Friday 7pm for Nextel and Sprint, and Saturday 12am for Verizon and T-Mobile.
- Weekend hours end on Monday 6am for Alltel and AT&T, Monday 7am for Nextel and Sprint, and Sunday 11:59pm for Verizon and T-Mobile.
- Alltel charges $0.59/minute for off-network roaming. All others are free.
- Alltel has the lowest activation fee at $25. All others are $35.
Reviewing this list, the best features seem to be: Alltel offers the most minutes. T-Mobile offers unlimited convo with 5 people. AT&T offers rollover. Nextel and Sprint have night hours from 7pm to 7am and weekend hours from 7pm Friday to 7am Monday. Alltel has the lowest activation fee. Now I need to prioritize and figure out what is most important to me.
Here’s my wireless usage profile:
- I don’t have a house phone, which means I use my cell phone for everything. Aside from customer service, reliability is THE most important thing to me. Price is third, then minutes, features, and phone options last.
- I use my cell phone for personal use only.
- I use lots of minutes, but my longest conversations are with the same people. Conversations with others are usually limited to no more than 20 minutes.
- Unless I’m in transition (job change, moving, new tenants, etc.), my usage is predictable.
- I do NOT use data features (i.e. text, picture, internet, ring tones, etc.)
Based on the above, I’m leaning towards a T-Mobile “my fave” plan. If I can have unlimited conversations with five people, I’d rarely use any other minutes. As for their customer service (my #1 criteria), I had T-Mobile before I moved to the DC area and I loved them. However, I had to switch when I moved because I couldn’t get a signal (my #2 criteria) at home or work. I used to live in a rural area and worked in a restricted zone, but I’m in a completely different location now - both home and work. I wonder how reliable they are in DC. I don’t want to make a final decision without covering all of my bases.
In YOUR experience, who is the BEST wireless service provider? And why?
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FYI…Verizon just bought out Alltel. I have Verizon and my parents have Alltel. My mom told me about it when she got a notice in the mail. I think the merge won’t officially happen until the end of the year, and according to the letter my mom got, nothing is supposed to change with her Alltel plan. But at least we’ll be able to call each other for free (mobile-to-mobile) once the changeover happens.
I’ve been happy with Verizon. I was only going to switch to Alltel cause of my parents, but now I don’t have to. I’ve had them for over 5 years.
I’ve had Verizon for the past 4 years and have been really happy with their service. You can even text and talk in the metro! However, I’m switching to AT&T because I want an iPhone. Plus my family and boyfriend have AT&T so I will be able to chat with them for free.
I have been with T Mobile for as long as I have had a celly - about 10 years now - I have never had an issue with dropped calls / out of area (even from hospital rooms / doctor’s offices when my Mom was ill - and I made a LOT of calls during that time!) , and I find their customer service to be exemplary - in the past I have called them with a question, EACH time they have remarked on how long I have been a customer, and added 100 “loyalty” minutes to that particular month! I am on my faves and I LOVE it - I can yap for hours with my best peeps and it does not count towards my monthly minutes! And, you can change your 5 each month (on the website!) - so if someone ticks you off, dump them and add a new fab friend! LOL!!
I switched from Verizon to AT&T back in September. It was the best move ever. I pay $48 a month, have insurance and 200 text messages a month. I’ve never had a problem, and the customer service is just spectacular. Amazingly enough, I’ve had Sprint, Cingular (back when it was Cellular One) and Verizon, now AT&T, and the best experience BY FAR is with AT&T. I never use all of my 400 minutes per month, and I have about 2000 roll-over minutes. It makes me feel good that I can go with a company who cares about minutes I paid for. And if I have an especially chatty month, I won’t go over my minutes. (I don’t have a home phone number either, I cancelled that in September too.)
Anyways, I just thought I’d throw out my experiences….go with what works for you.
I’m a little biased because I work for AT&T. I get a nice discount but besides that these are the reasons I stay with them:
1- Almost everyone I talk to has AT&T so it’s free
2- Rollover Minutes
3- Great Coverage. I can get a signal where most can’t. This is why my mother changed from T-Mobile to AT&T because I could talk on the phone in her house on my cell and she couldn’t
4- Customer Service has gotten much better since they were cingular!
Just my two cents!
I’ve had AT&T (Cingular/Cellular One) for over 13 years and I probably will never switch. I have 3 lines on their family talk plan where calling mobile to mobile is free. Their customer service is truly excellent. They must be trained to acknowledge long-time customers because they’re always mentioning it, and they always go the extra mile to accommodate me.
I’ve never experienced dropped calls and my coverage/reception is excellent. I have more than enough minutes on my plan, the evening/weekend coverage is more than sufficient, and with rollover, I’ll never have to worry about going over in my covered talk time. (Even when some rollover minutes expire, by then I’ve accumulated more!)
Moreover, I’ve never paid for a phone. I upgrade and get new equipment every two years. I can go online, pick the phone I want, and they ship it, already activated, at no charge. And with the insurance, I can get a lost or damaged phone replaced in 24-48 hours, no questions asked. Once I was in San Francisco on business. I left my phone in a cab and after a 5-minute phone call, a replacement phone was overnighted to my hotel. Now that’s what I call service.
I hear others complain about their service, limited minutes, expensive phones, etc., but I’ve truly never had a problem with them.
I’ve been with Verizon for at least 4 years now and they SUCK royally…….the customer service is atrocious. One rep tells you one, another tells you something totally different. And in my opinion that’s the worse type of customer service to have. But I stay with them because of the contract, phone choices and the coverage. To their credit I went over my minutes one month and they re-worked the bill so I didn’t have to pay the .40 per minute for each minutes over I went.
My very first cell phone was with Sprint, and I couldn’t stand them either. Customer service was so jacked it’s ridicoulous. Seems like every month I was calling with problems with my bill. But that was a long time ago and I hear things have improved a little. Although, hubby has Sprint and the stores are notorious for very long lines. So I (personally) would not go back with them.
I’m going through the exact same thing and did all of the comparisons as well. I’ve been with Verizon for about 4 years and have moved to three different states with the same phone number. The main reason I stick with them is the reliability. My cell is my primary phone also, so I don’t need any dropped calls in the event an emergency pops off. I’ve never had a problem with customer service either.
My contract has been up for a while and they tried to come at me with some $50 off my next phone…they had been giving me $100. So, I’m torn between contacting their retention services department to negotiate a better deal or going with AT&T or Sprint. ATT’s rollover minutes and Sprint’s early night hours are both very attractive to me.
I have been with Cingular/AT&T for the last 5 years. I mainly stay because I have over 3000 roll over minutes and all my family and friends have the same provider, so I rarely use any of my plan minutes due to mobile to mobile. The only thing about the roll over minutes is that they do expire after one year (not all of them at one time). I live in a southern rural area, so most of the other service providers such as Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon don’t work well in my area, so I am sticking with AT &T.
I also have AT&T and have been with them for about seven years. I’ve had no problems and have been pleased with their customer service. I pay $80 a month for unlimited everything–calls, texts, pic/video messaging and internet (I do get a discount through my job, but still!). I got a very good deal on a smart phone through them and I see no reason why I’d ever switch.
My first cell phone was with Verizon and I hated it. They screwed up my bill every month but 2! I switched to AT&T after that and have been with them and happy for 7 years. I know you said the phone options are really important to you but the new iphone apps (most of them FREE) makes the phone leaps and bounds better then the rest. There is an app for anything you can think of. Including several money apps!! It really does give a new meaning to the worth a cell phone. If you have iTunes and have upgraded to 7.7 you can look at them before you actually get the phone. Definitely worth looking into. Also as a side note, their commercials are true, dropped calls are very rare.
I’ve pretty much had every cell phone carrier there is….Voicestream (T-mobile), Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Alltel, and AT&T….I chase the newest phones…LOL. I’m now with AT&T because I have an iphone and its the only carrier. I LOVE AT&T…customer service is excellent. I remember when I first got AT&T I was texting up a storm and didn’t realize how many I used. Well my bill was TREMENDOUS. I called AT&T and asked them to look into it. The rep said that I did text all those times but she could switch me to a higher text plan…like $10.00 a month and make it look like I had it the month before. So instead of paying over $100 that month,I just paid $10! Also, I lost my phone and someone actually found it and ordered something on my phone. They credited me back the amount without any hassle at all. Also the rollover minutes are GREAT! I think right now I have a little over 2000 rollover minutes. I HATE Verizon’s customer service. By far Sprint has to have the worst customer service of them all.
AT&T, AT&T, AT&T!!!!!
Of course, I too am biased because I work for them. BUT, I also have them because they have the coolest, most user friendly phone on the planet. Yes, you guesssed it, the iPhone. That said, the rollover minutes and the fact that I live in a canyon and can still get service is what keeps me with them. Also, most of the people I talk to have AT&T, so I use my minutes for true necessities. Here is one other reason, since we are all girls trying to do right with our money, you would be helping at least two of us strengthen our 401k plans. Whaddya think?
AT&T, AT&T, AT&T !!!!!!
I’ve had Verizon for almost 4 years now. They are a little bit pricier than most(I’m on a family shared plan w/ my aunt and g-ma, 2100 minutes for $110.00 a mth) but I LOVE the coverage that I get. I’ve always had C/S folks that were more than willing to help me, sometimes to willing. lol. My phones have NEVER dropped a call while talking to some of my friends take more effort than it’s worth b/c of so many dropped calls. I can’t stand Nextel/Sprint, they are the main culprit for dropped calls. A lot of family has T-mobile and I’ve heard VERY good things about them as well.
LOL at all the AT&T employees. I also have AT&T (Cingular/BellSouth) and have been with them for 10 years. I don’t deal with customer service often, but when I do they have been great. Like others have said, I particularly like the mobile to mobile feature. Most of my friends are on AT&T so my calls are free. Not only my friends, but I meet folks all the time and find they are also on AT&T. The rollover minutes are great, because I did go over my regular minutes during my birthday month. I’ve thought about switching, but I found that most plans were the same - plus I’m going to get the new iPhone as soon as I can get it without standing in a long line.
I have T-Mobile- I love it! I have the blackberry pearl- haven’t had any issues with the phone or service. I love the Myfaves plan- you can select any numbers, including land lines. Before switching to T-mobile I was with Sprint/Nextel, I realized that the majority of my minutes were being used talking to family members. When I talked to friends or other people, it was usually after 9 and on weekends.
My 1st provider was alltell…hated it because this was before national plans were common and I would get charged roaming when I travelled back and forth between home and school.
I had at&t when it was cingular. Loved the rollover! Once I downgraded plans and was “accidentally” placed on a plan with a limited calling area, resulting in 800 dollars in roaming charges. They only refunded half because they said I requested the change-I requested a reduction in minutes, not calling area. Ugh! I had a vice president e-mailing me over that mess…but I stayed cuz of the dang contract. Now I have verizon because I couldn’t get a signal with at&t in my current house-just inside the house, not outside the house! I had problems with online customer service and i was given an upgrade on a phone in the store. However, I plan to switch back to at&t when I move out of this area because the rollover is best for me.
I’m with Verizon but I am sooo ready to drop them as soon as my contract is up in 2 months… My boyfriend has T-Mobile with myfaves and just signed up for the T-Mobile HotSpot home plan so when he is home all of his minutes are free as if his cell phone is a home phone. I don’t know much about it but I’m going with T-Mobile as soon as my current plan is up…
I used to have Sprint, the Fl. Plan which was $45 for 1000 local minutes (before the company discount) but after 6 years I found out they no longer offered it and my bill went from $35 to $100 due to my usage, I kept going over my 1000 min…but now I have metro pcs…I have the $50 plan-unlimited local, long distance, text msg, voicemail, internet, picture msg, directory, mapquest and aol im
We have used Cingular/AT&T for over 10 years. I had T-Mobile before that. Since switching I no longer have to endure the endless drop outs and dead zones. The reception is clear, customer service is helpful (although there have been times I’ve had to wait several minutes to speak to a live person), we accumulate Rollover minutes each month, and (drum roll, please) since my family is on the same cell phone provider calls to one another are free.
I only use a cell phone (no land line) and we have Metro PCS. We have four lines and pay $100/month with no contract and unlimited minutes. And I mean unlimited….I could talk for 24 hours/day every day and still pay the same flat fee. Unless you travel to an area that doesn’t have it, you’re fine. In fact, I don’t believe there is coverage in your area but if they ever come your way, grab them. I’ve NEVER had a problem in four years. I had verizon, ATT, and Sprint. Of those three, I’d probably do ATT but if you choose your services for political or social reasons, they are the best choice.
I’ve had Nextel, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Out of all of them T-Mobile was the best. They have great customer service if you ask me. I’ve never had a dropped call, or a problem with not getting a signal. I travel between Baltimore and DC all the time. The faves works out great, I have 4 people that i talk to regularly and rotate the 5th number depending on how I feel about people that month.
Sprint is awful. I literally cannot say that enough. Since one of your criteria is customer service. Stay away, FAR away. I literally have to call and threaten to cancel to get anything done. My boyfriend has T-Mobile, and I used to have T-Mobile (had to switch when I started law school because of lack of coverage), and I loved them. I think it’s also a good way to go since you can pretty much eliminate minute issues with the MyFaves option. I guess the only problem would be other people talking to you. My boyfriend and I have this problem since I have Sprint. He can call me all he wants, but it costs me to talk to him. I actually went up to the unlimited plan. You should consider the five people you would be calling. If you couldn’t really call them before their free minutes start, you might want to look into another plan with unlimited nights. The MyFaves thing won’t be so fun when people can’t talk, but you can. Just a thought. Good luck with your decision. And remember…stay away from Sprint!!! I warned you!!!
I don’t know if you’re planning to go with your chose provider’s basic plan, but most of the companies now have some sort of $99.99 unlimited minutes plan, which would make a lot of your worries obsolete. I know T-Mobile has one now.
That said, I’ve been with T-Mobile for years. I’ve lived all over the state of Mississippi, in Los Angeles, and now in Silicon Valley, and their service has always been great. Besides that their CUSTOMER SERVICE is fantastic. Any time I call about anything, they always are extremely friendly and helpful.
One month that I was doing a lot of phone interviews while job hunting, I was about to run out of daytime minutes. I called and asked if I could purchase an extra 100 minutes so that I wouldn’t go over. Instead, the representative on the line said it wasn’t a problem, tacked an extra 100 minutes on what I had available, and didn’t charge me a dime.
It’s those types of things that I think generally tip the scale when you’re looking for some sort of service in such a flooded market. Good luck with making your choice!
Just say no to Sprint and you’ll be happy that you did. We had 4 lines. Three of them have expired contracts — THANK GOD! As soon as my line expires, we are gone. My contract should have expired last March. BUT, when I called to complain repeatedly about dropped calls, static on the line, service switching from digital to roam while the phone sits in the SAME exact spot…well, in their infinite LYING wisdom, some nutroll gave me “as a loyal customer of 10 years” 100 free minutes per month but they also extended my contract!!!!!!!!!!!
When I figured this out, I was told I could not get that changed back and that I “would have to die” for the contract to be ended early. To top it off, their idea of retention was to pass me from person to person for two hours!!!!!!!! I stayed with it because I wanted to see just how truly awful it could turn. I was told that they would do an audit of service in my area to see if their equipment needed work. I was told they would call back. That was months ago and I have yet to receive a call.
Sprint was great for about 8 years. Then there was a sudden change and everything was horrible. I attempted to use their change in contract and was told it didn’t matter that I disagreed. That was when I was told I would have to die to get out of the contract. Yeah, they have truly awful customer service and I delight in telling as many as possible to stay away.
We are considering going with Verizon but after so many nice things said about AT&T, well, I will have to shop and compare those two based on our needs.
Thanks for letting me tell you how bad Sprint is. I hope all of your readers will read that and remember it.
I have T-Mobile. They are great, except I get poor recpetion where I live and if I’m in the mall you can forget it! I have a home phone too, because I’m from England I call my grandma every week. Apart from that I have no problems with them. However if you are unsure about how the reception would be in your area I would give it a miss.
I’ll be interested to see which carrier you decide to go with!
My friend has T-Mobile and he cannot get a signal in Springfield. I don’t consider Springfield to be remote so I personally think it’s pretty sad that he can’t get coverage there.
I have Sprint and really disklike their customer service. My number 1 priority right now with cell service is price. I called them once to cancel service and they offered me a cheaper rate. I took it and am now a happy customer.
I had Verizon all through college and really liked their service and reliability. As someone mentioned, it is a tad more expensive which is why I switched in the first place.
I’ve had T-Mobile since 2000 (Voicestream then), started in Phoenix. Moved to Atlanta, moved to Dallas, Louisville and now FL. I visit my sister in the DC/MD area. I’ve traveled across the country (and out of) and haven’t had problems really. The few problems I have had (a couple of drop calls/call failed), I think are due to my Pearl more than the network. I’ve not had a signal on a phone before and someone else with a different phone but same carrier will have a signal (This occurs with our Sprint work cells, too).
Customer Service has always been friendly and helpful the few times I’ve had to call. However, I am envious of Cheryl, as they always comment that I’ve been a long time customer but they wouldn’t give me free shipping on a new phone!
I don’t know if this effects your decision but I see 300 min & unlimited weekends for $29.99 and a MyFaves for $39.99 for 300 whenever and unlimited nights, weekends and MyFaves.
I’ve never used Verizon for cell phone service, but I had them as my landline provider for a couple years when I lived in Virginia. By far the worst customer service I have ever experienced.
For cell service, I used to have Sprint, and now I have AT&T. I was happy with both, but we switched to AT&T because they are a GSM network, which means the phones work overseas (it’s really expensive to USE overseas unless you have an international plan, but when I was on vacation in England last year and a family emergancy occurred, it was really nice to have a working cell phone). We also chose AT&T because almost all of our family and friends are AT&T, so we almost never use all our minutes, but because they rollover to the next month, they don’t go to waste.
I’ve had Sprint and Verizon and I left both because of the bad customer service. I’ve been with T-Mobile for two years now, my contract has expired, and I’m staying. I haven’t had any problems with their signal or service (except for that one little thing - I’m having trouble setting up the paperless billing and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about that). All my friends had T-Mobile, and now I know why.
I have been with “AT&T Wireless>Cingular>SunCom>Cingular>AT&T” for 8 years. I pay $39.99 /month. I have 450 Peak minutes and unlimited nights and weekends and all of the other “basics” (ie VM, CF, CW, Cid, & M2M). I get a National Account discount. I don’t presently have rollover minutes because I still have a very old National plan but I contemplating going to a new National plan. An AT&T Sales Associate bought to my attention that there is no way for me to use all 5000 Nights and weekend minutes. I actually did the math and found that he was correct.
I have had calls to drop and connectivity issues inside my workplace but I think it has something to do with the fact that my phone is 4 years old! Customer Service is great! Any issues I have had with my bills were resolved to my satisfaction. The Reps are very knowledgeable too!
Interesting enough, 2 of my siblings and my Mom all have Sprint. They are happy with their service with Sprint. However, everyone else I know with Sprint hates them - even people I know who worked there.
Lastly, I absolutely disliked SunCom. They “inherited” my area (Charlotte, NC) from Cingular. Their service and customer service were horrible. They were slow with posting my payments. They “lost” my voice mail greeting and several times people would leave messages but there were no messages in my mailbox. People complained so much that Cingular began to service my area again.
I have been with AT&T for a few years now. Never had any major problems with them. I have the basic plan with 450 day time minutes. I don’t use the phone that much so I have roll over minutes. That plan comes with 5000 nights and weekend, and I use my phone alot on the weekends but never go over 3000 nights and weekend. Most of my family and friends have AT&T so the unlimited mobile to mobile really helps.
There is also a discount through my employer.
For reliability try: http://www.deadcellzones.com/
I found it on the FCC website and usually the thing that concerns people most is avoiding dead zones.
I have Verizon service and I rarely go without a signal anywhere on the east coast, short of being in buildings where a signal simply cannot penetrate the construction. There is only one specific dead spot I’ve ever had with them, which is the on-ramp from 7100 to 66-E. It blips for a second but the call won’t drop.
I am considering ATT though since I get a work discount and their phones are better overall. (I don’t use data services much either, just SMS.)
I’ve been with T mobile for 6 years, no regrets and loving my fav 5
I am with T-Mobile and I love it. The coverage is great in my area and the customer service is top notch.
I’ve been prepaid with T-Mobile for the past 2 years. Before that, I was with the old AT & T for 8 years with a 29.99 a month plan and during the 7/8th year when Cingular took over, thats when I made the switch. They were trying too hard to get me off my 29.99 a month plan that I was fighting tooth and nail to keep. Works out better for me with the prepaid service.
I have Verizon. Great service and fewest dropped call, but customer service is horrible. We pay like $150 a month for 5 phones on family plan with all of having unlimited minutes and unlimited texting, so it is a good deal. We are my mom, stepfather, sister, me, & my son. So it breaks down to $30 each per phone, taxes included. We have a 2 year contract and when we renewed we all got new phones for free. -Becky in NJ
I don’t know anything about the BEST cell phone provider but I do think Sprint has got to be one of the worst!! I have a post on my blog about how they overcharged my acct for $119!!! It took me literally all morning to get the mess sorted out. That wasn’t the last time they screwed up my bill either and probably wasn’t the first! Their customer service is HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! The reps on the phone are awful as well as the reps in the stores, you really have to fuss at them to make them do anything. When I lost my phone I had to almost threaten an employee that I wasn’t going to leave the store until he called customer service for me and tried to get me around waiting on hold for an hour!
ugghhh…I can’t wait until my contract is up May 2009. Right now my celly is sooo jacked up and I’ve had Sprint since 06 I’m eligible for upgrade but there is no stinking way I’m extending my contract with these jerks!! I can’ t wait to be freeeeeee!!!!!
I have AT & T/ Cingular Love them! Most of my friends are on that network so it’s free to talk to them. Never had an issue with dropped calls and they have decent customer service.
I have Alltel and they have the “My Circle”, where if you have a plan of $59.99 or more you get unlimited free calling to any 10 numbers .
Look at all my fellow att coworkers!!!
I dont pay for cell service but so far if I did living in the south ATT would be it. However when I was in MD on vacation recently, my service was not up to par. Everyone around me had sprint/nextel or verizon.
I’ve had Alltel for the past few years, and they’re alright. I’ve never had to deal with CS, so I can’t weigh in on that. *However* I will say that it’s worth looking around if you’re interested in 1 year contracts. Alltel doesn’t offer them at their kiosk, but we signed up through an outside company (one stop cellular) that offered 1 year agreements. I can’t stand being beholden to a company for that long when I don’t know their policies, so I was very happy with this setup. We got some freebies when signing up, but I don’t think they were as awesome as those you get through the main company (free phones, but not free camera phones when we signed up in 06).
I’d definitely say check out the coverage map and see if there’s a way to borrow an unactivated phone to check out the signals at home and at work - paying for a phone that just drops your calls is infuriating!
Ok I’m LATE to this party BUT since leaving Nextel/Sprint after 8 yrs I’ve moved to AT&T. My family is on their plan so for me it was a no brainer.. talk to all of my family with no extra costs.. LOL.. BUT what I’ve also noticed I can get a signal ANYWHERE. I have so many rollover minutes right now its not even funny!!! not to the point of losing any yet though but still. the level of service… EXCELLENT.. my son lost his phone and I didn’t realize when I upgraded I had to “add” the protection plan again.. thought it was automatic.. well I didn’t even have to complain and they replaced his phone not with the same one but one that was updated and actually a better phone than he previously had with no additional fees!!!! I have 4 phones on my plan and my blackberry and I pay about $200 a month slightly less and that includes my corp discount. I have heard good things about tmobile as well but I’ve also heard the horror stories about the service and connectivity..
The level of CS from AT&T has been EXCELLENT for me. I haven’t had to complain not once.. I explain what the issue is and it is taken care of it a matter of minutes..
Hey all - I’ve been a Sprint customer for 4 years. They probably are the most anxious to keep your biz as well as adjust that amount due! The latest and greatest is an all talk/data/text pacakge. We have a family plan and it comes out to about $50 per phone for 1500 minutes.
Just discovered your blog - love it! If you still want opinions, here’s mine: I’ve had Cingular/AT&T seemingly forever (actually probably 8 years or so). Most of the time I’ve been in the Chicago suburbs, where the reception is always excellent. For 8 months, I lived 2 hours outside of NYC, and the reception was spotty. For my situation, the company is great - fabulous customer service, rollover minutes that I can never use up, and reception that’s clear as a bell (in Illinois). Your mileage may vary.
Hi there, I am new to your blog but have been completely inspired, you just have no idea. Thank you for that!
In regard to the phone situation, I have been with Sprint, Verizon, Cingular and now and with T- Mobile. For my calling area and data requirements, I’ve found them to be second to none.
I’ve never experienced a dropped call, the customer service is g-r-e-a-t (and I am hard to please) and they have a great feature that I am now using for all my calls made inside my home: Hotspot/free wi-fi calling for $10 a month. I have a low-minute plan and a hotspot phone (there are a few choices,) so when I am at home, I turn on the wi-fi feature which connects to the t-mobile router they sent me and ALL my calls are completely free and don’t count on my monthly minute plan. I know you said that you don’t use data but if you do decide to, you can get unlimited email for as little as $10 a month. Not too shabby.
Thank you again for this wonderful blog! You’ve inspired me to take control of my finances and are hilarious to boot!