Cellular Phone Advice

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Wesley Tucker
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Cellular Phone Advice

Post by Wesley Tucker » Sat Jun 12, 2004 11:54 pm

I need some quick advice. Finally, after much discussion and serious castigation, I've decided to subscribe to a cellular telephone service. As I am already a Bellsouth customer, the bundle costs for adding cellular with Bellsouth's Cingular is the best deal I can find anywhere.

Here's the question. Bellsouth has several different options and prices for a phone to go along with their subscription:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sony Ericsson t226
$69.99 with a 12 month contract, or
FREE with a 24 month contract
FREE earbud with purchase
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Motorola V400
$149.99 after a $50 rebate with a 12 month contract, or
$99.99 after a $50 rebate with a 24 month contract
FREE earbud and vehicle power charger
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nokia 3100
$99.99 with a 12 month contract, or
$49.99 with a 24 month contract
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simple question: what's the best deal? Who's making the best phone? What's the most reliable? I don't really care about style or available colors, but I do care about being able to stay connected to whom I'm talking and being able to understand the conversation. Who's had good experiences with these devices and who's ready to wring somebody's neck?

All input would be appreciated.

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Post by Adam Trahan » Sun Jun 13, 2004 5:30 am

...I have the Sony-Ericsson T-306, it's small, packs a bunch of features and I have dropped it a few times and it still works well. I've had Nokia's and Motorola V series phones, the Motorola's are bombproof.

If you use it alot, get something you like, if it is for limited usage, get the cheapest thing you can find.

My 2 cents.

Nick Krest
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Post by Nick Krest » Sun Jun 13, 2004 10:31 am

You don't buy a phone, you buy a service plan.

My advice: http://www.letstalk.com/

They'll usually pay you to start up a plan.

Nokia and Motorola phones typically get better reception than other brands. Watch for long battery life, especially standby time. And I've found Motorola phones to be the most durable.

Be sure to get a plan where you can return the phone and cancel your service within 30 days. And keep a close eye on your bill.

Former AT&T, Cingular, and Verizon customer. Currently a Sprint customer. Hate 'em all, but at least I get service at home with Sprint.

John Gilmour
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Post by John Gilmour » Sun Jun 13, 2004 5:03 pm

Never sign the 24 month contract unless it is for unlimited use.

Don't worry about the cost of the phone at all...I buy mine as NOS on Ebay for low dollars.

IS bellsouth cdma, tdma, or gsm?
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John Gilmour
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Post by John Gilmour » Mon Jun 14, 2004 1:55 am

Check out phonedog.com as well.....it does comparisions and is linked with lets talk and it is in your state.
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Brady Mitchell
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Post by Brady Mitchell » Mon Jun 14, 2004 3:50 pm

Phone services I`ve had in the past...

AT&T
Cingular (Bellsouth)
Nextel
Verison

Services not used...

T-Mobile
Metro PCS

Service now in use..

Sprint

Of all the services I`ve had, the biggest problem was dropped calls and bad reception. Sprint gives me the fewest headaches. I also have a 2500 minute plan with 3 phones for $100. This includes free long distance within the 2500 minutes, free nights and weelends (separate from the 2500 minutes). free Sprint to Sprint calls (some others plans only offer family to family free minutes), great support either by phone or online, and the ability to check minutes used online.

Most of my friends have Sprint phones as well so those free Sprint to Sprint calls come in handy.

The ones I hear the most complaints are the Metro PCS and T`Mobile. Mostly dropped calls and bad reception. If you don`t mind a few lost calls, these are usually the cheaper services. I myself use mt phone for buisness and can`t afford a missed call.

And my biggest recommendation....get an insurance plan. Usually about an additional $5 a month and will pay for itself the 1st time you drop your phone in the toilet (just tell them you lost it though as they don`t cover water damage).
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Post by John Gilmour » Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:54 pm

duped message
Last edited by John Gilmour on Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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John Gilmour
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Post by John Gilmour » Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:54 pm

duped message again ooops.
Last edited by John Gilmour on Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by John Gilmour » Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:01 pm

Phone services I have had in the past

Analog cellular one- the most expensive but never dropped a call also with largest coverage area with 3 watt booster. Oldie but a goodie.

Sprint- when it first came out- horrible coverage...it was a glorified remote answering machine pager. Now Sprint has much better coverage and has some really great plans in certain areas. One person I know has unlimited sprint use for $100 a month- this plan is no longer available in Boston but may be available in your area.

Cingular- which tdma service was terrible and declined over time- however their GSM network is getting better- GSM phones will also work in Europe (Whopping roaming charges?)

Verizon who had good CDMA coverage on the coasts- but faired less well inland.

AT & T great coverage in sparsely populated areas- but dropped many calls as it was TDMA

* who's what system...and features offered
CDMA = Code division multple access (Channels are separated by codes digitally so many users can use the same frequency- it is also more secure) Fast data transmission speeds and it is secure. Carriers with CDMA Verizon, Sprint. Sprint features free nights starting at 7pm- most others start at 9pm (9pm is almost useless unless you have a national plan and call California a lot- or work the late shift). Sprint also allows you NO roaming charges on other networks for an additional $5 a month so you can roam on Verizon's network! Verizon in some areas offers you free call ins to radio talk shows by pressing the # key and a code.

TDMA means Time division multiple access (channels are stagggered digitally in time for many users per frequency - not secure also slower and unreliable data transmission) Carriers AT & T this is an older digital network. I would only suggest this network if there were many towers in your area as this is likely to be replaced by GSM and phased out in the next two years.

GSM uses another frequency and you can store your phone book and addressses on a removable SIM card in some phones- making it easy to switch phones or not to have to reenter your number if you phone breaks. GSM is also used frequently in other countries so you can travel with your phone....but rates are often much higher than in the USA. Carriers Cingular, T- Mobile, AT & T _ also it would appear that AT & T's GSM network has merged with Cingulars so if you go with National no roaming for Cingular you have access to all of AT & T's GSM towers. (Cool- because Cingular is cheaper than AT & T) Cingular also has rollover minutes and free Cingular to cingular calling, T- Mobile has data transmission hotspots with near wifi speeds (not gsm though- it is its own frequency) but if you want that service without a phone you can purchase it on a card for you computer. T- Mobile only has coverage for cities and if youa re diving out beyond the beltways...get another service. T-mobile will also give you FREE FRIDAYS for $5 a month (funny how can they call it free if you have to pay extra for it?)

Nextel allows for FREE instant connections to other NEXTEL customers... often the phones are larger and have fewer features- though many have excellent speaker phones. Favored by construction crews and sales teams. NEXTEL also features free incoming calls from any phone (great if you can get people to call you back from their unlimited use land lines)

GSM phones have the most features.
Nextel phones tend to be more bulky.

Different networks require different transmission strengths and so your battery life will change depending on which sytem CDMA, TDMA, GSM you use. The closer you are to a tower the longer your battery life.

Who can you talk to for free? IE who in the slalom community has the same service?

Terence Kirby has NEXTEL and swears by them- NH has excellent coverage. Kenny Mollica also has NEXTEL . TK could easily list all the NEXTEL people he talks with.

Tway Has Verizon and if you purchase a family plan or Verizon to verizon Minutes you get a cheaper rate.

Lastly some phone companies are bundling services.
With Sprint they have a bundle with landline phones that gives you unlimited use of BOTH you land line and wireless phone for $185 per as month as well as allowing you to add an additional phone for $100. No roaming and no long distance charges including Canada.

CANADA on sprint and verizon you can call Canada with no roaming and no long distance if you have a national plan- just like you were calling the states. Some others may also include Canada. A few carriers also include the USVI .

I've been researching this for a while and so far the Sprint service 1000 minutes a month with 7pm nights $39.95 (1000 minutes is low...but if you can do some calling after 7pm it isn't bad) and $5 to roam on Verizon looks good as coverage would be good- also 56kbd transmissoin speeds which is higher than the 33kbd by T-mobile. You have the option to bundle your lines.
As for phones the TREO 600 has just about everything you could want. .3mega pixel camera, built in MP3 player, excellent sound speaker phone, long battery life + you can use extermnal battery packs, you can surf NCDSA and Slalom skateboarder using a qwerty keyboard and see HTML pages without having to go to WAP pages. Posting can be done with the keyboard on the phone (easier to use than you would think as keys are domed) or type at regular speeds using the portable foldable keyboard that is about the size of a palm when folded. The phone isn't much bigger thana regular wireless phone and can be cradled "no hands" in your shoulder when talking. (Forget about using a v-60 motorola for this- it is slippery bar of soap). The TREO 600 uses the palm operating system and is a full fledged PDA. COOL as SHIT- the TREO uses a SD card for memory and storage of images.....so you can use a higher quality small camera like a PENTAX OPTIO S and pop the OPTIO S' SD card into your phone and post high quality photos to the web instantly wirelessly.

The only drawbacks to the Treo 600? No bluetooth for bluetooth devices and bluetooth wireless car kits. Camera quality is just okay. Screen quality is 240 by 240 pixels. Lowest new price is $399 on phonedog.com but likely you can get them for less on ebay. Not much screen real estate so much scrolling is needed.

You can pretty much dump your landline with that combo.

IF you just want a good simple basic phone/pda with a decent camera. Sprint offers a new one (I think it is a Samsung) with graffitti writing area that is the same size as a Star tac but with a great high resolution screen for low bucks. Camera quality is excellent and I think it has a flash.
One good turn deserves another
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Noah Heinle
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Post by Noah Heinle » Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:50 pm

John - I'm looking for a decent monochrome laser printer for our office...something with an ethernet card onboard and a pricetag between $500 and $1000. Would you please compare and contrast my options? I just don't have the time. Thanks.

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Post by John Gilmour » Mon Jun 14, 2004 9:57 pm

Noah Huge waste of money....Do what I do- use someone elses printer.
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Wesley Tucker
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Post by Wesley Tucker » Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:08 pm

John Gilmour wrote:Do what I do- use someone elses. . .
I always knew it: Gilmour has trouble reproducing and uses somebody else's equipment.

Seems most everyone had good things to say about Motorola and Nokia, but nothing one way or the other concerning Sony/Eriksson. I won't jump to the conclusion that this implies Sony/Eriksson is not up to snuff, but maybe a casual glance would lead me to believe that not many users are taking advantage of their products. Could be a reason for that.

And I'm going with Cingluar service. I thought I made that clear to begin with? My phone service is Bellsouth, my DSL is BellSouth and my cel service will be BellSouth (Cingular.) Some may say that putting all my eggs in one basket is not a good choice, but the discount packages for lumping this all together makes it incredibly logical. (My total phone bill less long distance charges and including DSL, Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Voice Mail and cellular will be under $120 a month.)

I was just concerned about who's making a good phone?

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Motorola

Post by Matthew Wilson » Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:00 pm

Wes, I worked on some projects for Motorola in the past and had the chance to "handle" many of their phones. I think that you can't go wrong with them. Expensive Nokia's are pretty good, but a cheap Nokia is WICKED crappy. Sony/Erickson---um, can you say CRAP?

As far as service goes...I'm with JG: Don't sign up for a 24 month contract. You lose so much flexibility. Basically, cell phone companies will offer new features roughly in the same time period in order to compete. And all those promotions are to get new customers; they do NOTHING to retain customers. (I'm sure you know all of this)

I have been with Cingular for a while and have no complaints about their service. Just remember: your phone will most likely have a 1 yr warranty. If you do not purchase insurance or have an extended warranty and you go with the 2 year contract, and then your phone breaks after the warranty is up, you will be required to 1) purchase a new phone at retail price 2) upgrade your phone but resign a contract.
Cingular DOES NOT offer you the chance to put your account on HOLD if you have broken equipment. So, your contract length should correspond with your phone warranty length.

Ok....that's enough from me.
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Post by Karl Floitgraf » Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:22 am

If you want all the bells and wistles don't get a Nokia. But if you just want to talk they are awesome because they can really take a beating. My 3390 took some nasty hits, it was in my pocket when the car hit me and that was the phone used to call 911.

And you can scratch it up because for $20 you get a new faceplate and it looks new.


I had that phone for about 2 years, no major problems. I just got a siemens C62, seems pretty nice I haven't used it long enough to really judge yet.[/quote]
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Post by Steve Collins » Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:49 am

Keep in mind that most promotions are available to current customers as well, you just have to ask. Whenever I'm on the phone to my carrier, Verizon, I make a point to ask if there are any current promotions that I can get. I've cashed in on a number of great free promotions for minutes and services that way. Verizon, BTW, has phenomenal coverage in my area, with good connections possible in places where other carriers fail. On the other hand, their rates are not the cheapest, but I can't part with the excellent coverage.

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really?

Post by Matthew Wilson » Tue Jun 15, 2004 3:29 pm

Steve Collins wrote:Keep in mind that most promotions are available to current customers as well, you just have to ask. Whenever I'm on the phone to my carrier, Verizon, I make a point to ask if there are any current promotions that I can get. I've cashed in on a number of great free promotions for minutes and services that way. Verizon, BTW, has phenomenal coverage in my area, with good connections possible in places where other carriers fail. On the other hand, their rates are not the cheapest, but I can't part with the excellent coverage.
Steve, they didn't make you resign your contract, extending it from the point in whish you take part in the promotion???

If not, then that's awesome and I stand corrected. I am pretty sure that most companies do not do that.
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Wesley Tucker
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Post by Wesley Tucker » Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:07 pm

Well,

Eight months later and I finally took the plunge. As usual with technology, it was worth my wait.

My local phone provider is BellSouth, so I went with Cingular. Since Cingular is buying AT&T, I think I'm going to have a coverage area that equals or surpasses either Suncom or Verizon.

I also went ahead and rearranged my total phone package. Here's the deal:

• UNLIMITED LONG DISTANCE IN THE USA from my home phone
• 450 UNLIMITED ROLL OVER MINUTES with Cingular
• FREE MOTOROLA FLIP PHONE
• FREE ACCESSORIES (case, car charger, ear piece.)
• FAST ACCESS DSL SERVICE (There is one more step of faster DSL that's a little more money.)
• ALL THE NEAT PHONE STUFF: Call waiting, Caller ID, Voice Mail, Call Forwarding, etc., etc.

All for around $150.00 a month. I was told that if I ever want to pay another $10 a month, I could get some super-charged DSL that equals a T1 line. I'll wait and see if I need it. Plus, if I never call internationally or go over my total roll over minutes each month, my phone bill will be exactly the same every month. What's more, if I ever do decide to call Steve in England or Claude in Canada, there's all these 10/10*** phone services that makes calling internationally cheaper than some of my long distance IN STATE used to be.

Anyway, the phone will be here by FedEx early next week and my new service will be activated by midnight Friday.

I can now call Tway and BP 24 hours a day and it won't cost me a thing. Won't I be the popular guy?

Wesley Tucker
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Cellular/USB/PowerBook/Internet?

Post by Wesley Tucker » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:36 pm

Stupid Question Time:

I got the new V180 Motorola flip phone in the mail today. It has something that surprises me: a USB port.

It's the not the standard USB, but the smaller female port identical to the one that's on my Canon camera. So, although I didn't get a cable with the phone, I already had one with the camera.

The question is if I can use my phone to dial an Internet connection number and then get online with my Powerbook through a USB connection? I know I can configure the Network preferences to look at the USB port for internet, but will the computer talk to the phone and will the default internal modem see the cellular connection for data? Also, is a wireless connection satisfactory for a data stream?

Maybe for some of you this is all common knowledge, but this is one aspect of connectivity that is completely new to me.

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Re: Cellular/USB/PowerBook/Internet?

Post by Nick Krest » Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:50 am

Wesley Tucker wrote:can use my phone to dial an Internet connection number and then get online with my Powerbook through a USB connection?
Yes, but it's going to be craaaazy slow. Like 9600 baud slow.

I had "high-speed" data connectivity thru my Sprint phone. It might have been high-speed in 1988, but not in 2004.

Go find yourself an 802.11 hotspot and pig off someone else's open 'Net connection. Use the USB port for iSyncing with your Address Book and Calendar (if you don't have Bluetooth).

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Post by Wesley Tucker » Wed Feb 16, 2005 9:21 pm

Nick,

If it works, that's fine, even if it's slow.

My notion was being able to post race results IMMEDIATELY as opposed to waiting later that night, the next day or the next week.

What that would entail is writing a post OFF LINE or making a PDF of the race bracket spreadsheet OFF LINE. Then dialing the connection, getting online, cutting and pasting real quick, maybe uploading the graphic to an FTP, and sign off.

Another idea is being able to post a message to either SS.com or NCKGB.com about a session or event IMMEDIATELY with updates and weather reports. None of this even takes into consideration those of us who are kind of cut off and in the dark occassionally when TRAVELING and no nothing until we arrive at a spot and see it's vacant or wet.

It'll be nice for a change to get an update Friday night when I'm somewhere in North Carolina and heading to the P&R instead of waiting til Satuday morning to find out things have changed.

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