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.

Comments

Family Plan All the Way...

[mageben]

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

How about cricket?

[Klaruz]

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.

February Consumer Reports

[EnlightenmentFan]

The latest issue of Consumer Reports has a multi-page comparison of cell phone companies and plans. I am sure your local library has one. At the moment their website has only the January issue available online. To summarize the articles very briefly, all the companies have way more customer complaints than most businesses-- Verizon has the best customer service and Sprint the worst. The plan you want may depend on where you live. Glancing at their tables comparing plans, I see ATT at the top of them all, and it has the second-best customer service after Verizon.

Unsolicited plug: I subscribe to CR both the paper and online versions, it saves me money, wasted time, and lots of bad decisions every year.