Topic: Cell Phone services?

[ScaryTooth]

Well, it's about that time to get a new phone, and service. We've had sprint for a long time now, and it's decent, but their phones suck, and the service is a little lame. We were thinking about switching to T-Mobile, or Verizon maybe, not sure yet. Just kind of wondering if anyone had either one of those carriers, and how is it?

 

[angrykeebler]

I have Verizon and love it. Never get any dropped calls ever and I have a clear signal everywhere. My friends with other carriers are always getting "NO SERVICE" around here but not me.

[scottws]

I have Cingular/AT&T.  I get pretty great service here in Cincy.  I used to have Cingular several years ago and they sucked back then.  I don't know what T-Mobile's service is like in Columbus but it's bad down here.  I would stay away from them.

I've always heard good things about Verizon as well.

[Ghandi]

I have Verizon and love it. I used to have sprint as well, and it was horrible, I was constantly on roaming. But Verizon gets great service. You're in NC right? It gets good service most everywhere in NC.

[ScaryTooth]

I'm in Columbus, Ohio.

We're leaning toward Verizon at the moment. Gonna spend the money and get a decent phone this time. The one I payed $20 sucks.

I'm thinking the Motorola KRZR. Although, I'd like the have a slide phone. Chocolates kind of suck though and I think thats all Verizon has.

[scottws]

Check out wirefly.com.  I got a Blackberry Pearl for free w/ a 2yr contract w/ Cingular.  They have all kinds of phones to choose from.

[Cobra951]

Verizon here.  No problems at all with service so far.  I've had it for about 7 months, I think.  It even works in Puerto Rico.  I'm going there in a little over 2 weeks, so we found out from one of the Verizon kiosks at a mall.

Speaking of cell phones and malls, there were a bunch of people camped out at the Kenwood mall near the Apple store.  I had no idea why.  They made the local news.  The iPhone launched today.  Someone who got interviewed came over from Indianapolis (about 90 miles away).  I had no idea that this Apple store was any big deal, or that the iPhone was just now coming out.  I thought it had been out for a while.

[sirean_syan]

Yeah, they're camping out all over the place. I can't really knock people for waiting in line for stuff since I've done the whole line thing for a couple things (the Wii, most recently), but I still feel some disgust over the Apple/iStuff worship.

[scottws]

I can understand camping out for a videogame system.  You get to play new games that you probably didn't get to play before with really good graphics (or a new control scheme).  I can understand camping out for tickets for a concert or movie franchise you are a rabid fan of.  Again, you get to see new stuff there.

But a cell phone?  I agree the commercial is pretty impressive.  But in the end it's still a cell phone.  My Pearl does all the things that the iPhone does.  It just doesn't have the slick interface.

[iPPi]

Rogers, but it's a Canadian provider.

[Quemaqua]

I suppose at this point I don't even need to voice my thoughts on the subject, so I won't.  Except that by making that statement I sort of did anyway.

[gpw11]

As it stands right now people are saying the iPhone is a let down.  What the fuck did you think? 
It's almost like everyone making a big deal over it completely forgot it's an iPod and a phone all rolled into one...two devices pretty much every single one of these people aleady own.  Yeah, some of the features are cool and I'd certainly buy one if I had a ton of money to buy, but it's not the big deal a lot of people made it out to be.

[DrSbaitso]

In Canada I use Rogers, which is pretty crap but it's the only GSM provider in my area.
They don't offer an unlimited data plan, and data costs 3¢ / kB. Which means every time I check my email it ends up costing me a couple dollars.

Compare that to Norway, where I use a pay-as-you-go card. Data costs ~0.3¢ / kB with a daily maximum of $1.50 (converted to USD).

As for the iPhone: $500 for a phone with no 3G, no GPS, no Bluetooth connectivity apart from the (mono) headset, can't download applications or games, a sub-par camera, no MMS, no video, and vendor lock-in...

[shock]

I am rolling with Cingular, and I have actually really enjoyed it.

1. Good service.  I rarely lose service, and only when it is assumed that you would lose service (IE in subway systems, the middle of giant shopping malls, basements with loads of concrete, etc).

2. Support is decent. I somehow ended up signing up for some stupid service via texts. It was 3 months before I realized they were charging me an extra 30$ a month.  I called them and explained that I had no idea how it got there and wasn't using it, and they refunded me all of the money with very little hassle.

3. Good selection of ringtones/games.

That's about all I got for now.