US cell phones and providers?

2010-08-09 07:51:08

#26

eleven bravo: Member; +1,399|5266|foggy bottom

OrangeHound wrote:
ig wrote:
rofl at verizon being the best price. stopped reading there
I didn't write "best price" ... I wrote "best" (in terms of the mix of things customer's value like price, customer service, coverage, etc.). T-Mobile is nearly even with Verizon in terms of customer satisfaction with their service.

Best price is dependent upon what services you are looking for, and what region you live in ... Sprint gives great data package prices here in Washington DC, and a company like VirginMobile or TracFone gives great prices for people who are low-volume users of cell phones.

verizon kept charging me for phone service during my deployment even after i suspended the service before I left.

Tu Stultus Es

2010-08-09 08:07:58

#27

OrangeHound: Busy doing highfalutin adminy stuff ...; +1,335|6656|Washington DC

ig wrote:
you cant even talk about price being anywhere near good with verizon. they absolutely rape you, just like att. sprint is the only way to go

Sprint? I would agree that they have lower prices, but what good is it to pay $10 less for a service that doesn't work? Well, at least around Washington DC, that's the case .... perhaps the coverage around JawJaw is good, but it is really spotty around Washington DC.

When I call my friends who have Sprint, about 1/3 of the time I have to leave them a message to call me back because they are in a dead zone that doesn't have Sprint coverage.

But, seriously, every region has different coverage. Verizon, I believe, even does different pricing in different regions ... in the Northeast, the cell competition is very strong, and (last I checked) Verizon's prices are no different than T-Mobile or AT&T.

2010-08-09 08:14:35

#28

ig: This topic seems to have no actual posts; +1,199|6529

$10 less? more like $20-$30/month. that's a lot...

i've never had a problem with coverage anywhere i've been...

2010-08-09 08:21:58

#29

bennisboy: Member; +829|6653|Poundland

oh btw, American cell phone charges are a lot more than the UK. If you get pay as you go, you'll be charged for both sending and receiving messages.

2010-08-09 08:23:29

#30

DonFck: Hibernator; +3,227|6638|Finland

Being charged for receiving phone calls and messages is just wrong.

I need around tree fiddy.

2010-08-09 08:24:06

#31

eleven bravo: Member; +1,399|5266|foggy bottom

bennisboy wrote:
oh btw, American cell phone charges are a lot more than the UK. If you get pay as you go, you'll be charged for both sending and receiving messages.

the only people that get that are drug dealers and illegals

Tu Stultus Es

2010-08-09 08:36:41

#32

OrangeHound: Busy doing highfalutin adminy stuff ...; +1,335|6656|Washington DC

eleven bravo wrote:
bennisboy wrote:
oh btw, American cell phone charges are a lot more than the UK. If you get pay as you go, you'll be charged for both sending and receiving messages.
the only people that get that are drug dealers and illegals

... and people with bad credit ... and poverty-level folks without bank accounts or credit cards ... the homeless ... and people that don't use cell phones that much (such as my wife) ...

2010-08-09 08:40:07

#33

eleven bravo: Member; +1,399|5266|foggy bottom

OrangeHound wrote:
eleven bravo wrote:
bennisboy wrote:
oh btw, American cell phone charges are a lot more than the UK. If you get pay as you go, you'll be charged for both sending and receiving messages.
the only people that get that are drug dealers and illegals
... and people with bad credit ... and poverty-level folks without bank accounts or credit cards ... the homeless ... and people that don't use cell phones that much (such as my wife) ...

barring the last one, those others fit my description pretty well.

Tu Stultus Es

2010-08-09 08:40:39

#34

ig: This topic seems to have no actual posts; +1,199|6529

2010-08-09 08:57:47

#35

ghettoperson: Member; +1,943|6656

bennisboy wrote:
oh btw, American cell phone charges are a lot more than the UK. If you get pay as you go, you'll be charged for both sending and receiving messages.

lol I went through about 60 quid's worth of credit in five days in the US last February.

2010-08-09 10:22:37

#36

Benzin: Member; +576|6005

OrangeHound wrote:
Here's my quick overview of American cell phones ...

(1) Verizon is usually considered the best (quality, price, coverage), but they DO NOT use technology that is compatible with European systems. They don't use sims.
(2) Similar to Verizon, everyone I know who has T-Mobile likes them ... good customer service, coverage, etc.
(3) Sprint / Nextel is usually considered the cheapest, and people like their customer service ... but their coverage is absolutely horrid in many regions ... so, be careful going to them. Sprint, I believe, works on the European networks without any problem.
(4) AT&T Mobility (merger between AT&T and Cingular) ... I have yet to find anyone who can tolerate their customer service. I left them because of the way that they treated me, and I had been a Cingular customer for a decade. This may be a "dated" opinion since I haven't really heard anything in the last year. That is, they may be improving since AT&T merged with Cingular ...
(5) Depending upon your region, you might also have access to a smaller carrier such as MetroPCS or Clearwire or U.S Cellular. I don't know these (since none serve the region where I live), but I've heard good things about U.S. Cellular.

So, the one's above are the big national and regional carriers. There's lots of smaller carriers still around in places, and there are companies that are "virtual" and piggy-back on top of the national infrastructure to provide a different mix of services (TracFone piggy-backs on Cingular ... VirginMobile piggy-backs on Sprint ... Cricket piggy-backs on Sprint and MetroPCS).

This might be helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Un … _providers

Sprint does not work with European phones... they're CDMA just like Verizon. Nice try, though.

2010-08-09 10:25:57

#37

OrangeHound: Busy doing highfalutin adminy stuff ...; +1,335|6656|Washington DC

CapnNismo wrote:
Sprint does not work with European phones... they're CDMA just like Verizon. Nice try, though.

You're right ... my bad. I was thinking of Cingular phones (which is now AT&T Mobility), but got them mixed.

2010-08-09 13:51:01

#38

Poseidon: Fudgepack DeQueef; +3,253|6544|Long Island, New York

Verizon, Droid X.

Would recommend the iPhone 4 but I just can't.

2010-08-09 14:06:44

#39

Benzin: Member; +576|6005

The OP is only there for just under a year, right? Getting any of the super-new smartphones would involve a two year contract or force you to pay out the ass.

See if any of the providers offer a plan where you can pay a monthly rate and cancel whenever you want where the only requirement is you give them 3 months notice. There are a few carriers that do that here in Austria, I cannot imagine no one in the US has something like that.

2010-08-09 16:37:13

#40

Noobeater: Northern numpty; +194|6453|Boulder, CO

CapnNismo wrote:
The OP is only there for just under a year, right? Getting any of the super-new smartphones would involve a two year contract or force you to pay out the ass.

See if any of the providers offer a plan where you can pay a monthly rate and cancel whenever you want where the only requirement is you give them 3 months notice. There are a few carriers that do that here in Austria, I cannot imagine no one in the US has something like that.

I believe that Cricket has such a policy so I may just go with them if I find them to have good signal quality in the area.

2010-08-09 17:29:03

#41

Surgeons: U shud proabbly f off u fat prik; +3,097|6496|Gogledd Cymru

why do you need a phone you social recluse.

2010-08-09 18:01:25

#42

bennisboy: Member; +829|6653|Poundland

OrangeHound wrote:
eleven bravo wrote:
bennisboy wrote:
oh btw, American cell phone charges are a lot more than the UK. If you get pay as you go, you'll be charged for both sending and receiving messages.
the only people that get that are drug dealers and illegals
... and people with bad credit ... and poverty-level folks without bank accounts or credit cards ... the homeless ... and people that don't use cell phones that much (such as my wife) ...

and people who are only out here for a few months.
Your contract cells are still a rip off compared to europe.

2010-08-10 00:16:56

#43

OxenBreeder: Member; +46|5772|KTRI

CapnNismo wrote:
See if any of the providers offer a plan where you can pay a monthly rate and cancel whenever you want where the only requirement is you give them 3 months notice. There are a few carriers that do that here in Austria, I cannot imagine no one in the US has something like that.

@ Noobeater

Give this a look? Here

Granted, coverage may not be the greatest in Colorado, I imagine you'll be in a bigger city, than in BFE anyway...

I'm seriously thinking of ditching my Net 10 service for the above.

Last edited by OxenBreeder (2010-08-10 00:19:39)

2010-08-10 00:35:35

#44

Reciprocity: Member; +721|6587|the dank(super) side of Oregon

I'd go full ghetto and get a plan from Cricket wireless.

2010-08-10 08:46:27

#45

Noobeater wrote:
Hey everybody.

To cut a long story short I'm buggering off to Colorado until May for university stuff. This means that I need a phone when I get over there; I have absolutely no idea about current US cell phones and providers. Because I'm just a northern numpty with no idea of such things I would like some assistance if possible from anyone on t'other side of the Atlantic. I have no real requirements that a phone must have althought a smart phone would be awesome so long as it was one I could get unlocked and take back home with me afterwards.

If anyone can help me then I will be incredibly grateful, any form of advice would be just invaluable to me.

Cheers all

N'beater.

verizon is the best where i am in CO.. most friends/fam that visit have a hard time getting their IPhone 3Gs(AT&T) to work. but verizon 3g is just swell. ps i have a droid

Last edited by Kimmmmmmmmmmmm (2010-08-10 08:48:26)

BF2S Forums US cell phones and providers?

OrangeHound wrote:

ig wrote:

ig wrote:

bennisboy wrote:

eleven bravo wrote:

bennisboy wrote:

OrangeHound wrote:

eleven bravo wrote:

bennisboy wrote:

bennisboy wrote:

OrangeHound wrote:

CapnNismo wrote:

CapnNismo wrote:

OrangeHound wrote:

eleven bravo wrote:

bennisboy wrote:

CapnNismo wrote:

Noobeater wrote:

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