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Cell Phone Plan Recommendations for 2003?
scubacuda asks: "What do techies think about the plethora of cell phone plans out there? (While accompanying a friend at the Sprint kiosk, I couldn't help but dissuade several people from signing up with Sprint.) When I told a friend about my new AT&T "minutes w/o limits" plan ($99/mo for unlimited ANYWHERE minutes), he talked to Nextel and had them match the plan. What plans do you consider to be the best, and when have you been successful in negotiating your plan down?" Ask Slashdot did a similar question during November of 2000. It's amazing how fast cell phones have been adopted by people worldwide, and I think it would be interesting to see how much more you can get for your buck now, as opposed to then.
We get free nights, free weekends, and free calls between family members. When you've got 2 teenagers and one of them's a geek who dosen't like sunlight and the other only calls home to say she's going to be late, we never use anytime minuts, even though we get like 300 a month to share. We got all three phones for free and we pay like $80 per month for all the service on all the phones.
All this from Cingular Wireless.
(discalimer: my father works for SBC Ameritech which owns Cingular but still I think it's good deal any ways)
-Code
---PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE---
"Now, where's the damn 'any' key?"
It's unlimited local calling for $33. I travel too much much to use it (their network is only in certain cities) but I have alot of friends that like it. It's a good replacement for a home phone, even if you talk alot. The bonus is, telemarketers can't call you.
http://www.cricketcommunications.com/default.asp
Me? I've been a sprint pcs customer for over 4 years. Their rates don't seem to be keeping up with their competitors though. If they don't have the ability to have unlimited local minutes and nationwide roam (for an extra fee of course) by next nov when the cell number portability law (finally) goes into effect. I'll switch. Till then, I'll hang on.
Pro: $69.95 gets me the family plan, which is up to 5 phones sharing 800 minutes however we see fit. For small/normal family usage (i.e. no business, no teenagers) that's fine for us. An extra $3/month gives me email and net. There's a fair variety of phones available, most of which have the customizable ring tones and all the usual nonsense. Apparently they even have picture phones available. AND, I like their web site, where you can do everything from pay your bill to check your email to see a fullpage version of the customized content that's normally delivered to your phone (i.e. sports scores, horoscope,local weather, and so on).
They also have a variety of internet device options, if you want to go that route. There are a couple of Wince devices that are T-Mobile branded, but I can't anything about them one way or the other.
Con: Coverage sucks. If you're not very near a major highway, then you're pushing your luck. There are plenty of times when I'd expect roaming to kick in, but it doesn't and I just get no service. :( I can go to San Francisco or Chicago (from Boston) and get roaming no problem, but to go to the town 10 miles away where my in-laws live, I get nothing. Also, I think the "no contract" thing is no longer relevant. It's never been a question for me because I assume I was grandfathered in from Omnipoint, but I was recently told that T-Mobile has contracts for new customers.
That's my two cents. My wife was on Verizon when we got married but I switched her over to the T-Mobile family plan, but that was primarily for consistency in paying the bills, not because there was anything about Verizon that I didn't like. (Ok, their web site's a little weak.)
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if you, like my wife and I, have abandoned cell phones after the 2 year contract ran out (just can't justify expense), you may be interested that you can STILL call 911 for free. It's the law.
We just charge them up periodically and keep them in the glove box. Don't pay for emergency service. Also, If I try to make a call I get a prompt to "welcome to cingular roaming." I'm assuming I could enter my credit card in a true emergency. I haven't tried it and I have no idea what the rates are...
the downside? Since everyone has cell phones now, pay phones are harder to find. In my local mall, they have banks of five phones in serveral places, but four of the five are disconnected in all of them (I guess to save money?).
Anyway, I don't really miss the phone.
DO NOT DISTURB THE SE
Cell phone plans are confusing intentionally. That means there is NO BEST plan that can be recomended for everyone. DO you own research.
Some companies have email, sms, wap, paging, or several other features that I can't even name off hand. Sometimes voincemail is free, othertimes it costs extra. Decide which you will use, and consider that when choosing a plan.
No company has coverage everywhere in the world. Some have no coverage off of major hiways and cities. Some have cheap roaming plans for those times when you are outside your home area, often at no extra charge. Others have no raoming at all. So you MUST consider where the service area is, which not only includes home, but also work, relatives, friends, favorite parks/lakes, and everywhere inbetween.
Also what do the people you call use? Nobody can do construction today (in service area) without a NexTel phone, because everyone else in that buisness has one, and the mobile-mobil minutes are so cheap (That two-way feature). Most other companies offer similear plans of reduced rates when calling another customer. And of course there are family plans that allow shared minutes, and/or unlimited calling between family members.
One last consideration: Who do you want to call you. With the availability of no roaming/long distance plans (AT&T and Verizon) I know several people who have a phone number that is local to the area where all their friends live, even though they don't live there aremore. This is a little hard to work out, you have to lie to them, and get the bill sent to someone who you trust to forward it to you. Great for those who have moved.
I personally do not find email, SMS, WAP, and such features useless. Your milage WILL Varry. I wouldn't be surprized to say at some point in the future that some of the above are my most used features.