+Rep for good advice on cell phones (USA)

Sooo my plan with AT&T is nearly up and I am going to be switching providers mos def. Long story short, I have had two Shines which both have had battery issues. The first time, the battery was fine for the first 4 months, then it quickly lost its charge. I call At&T and they first blame me. I did not charge it correctly (I though plugging it in until it was "charged" was correct, but alas) but eviently I convice them to take it as a defect as it was under the manufactures warrenty. The next phone was another Shine, and it worked fine for the first 5 months then quickly lost its charge. I call At&T and they transfur me to some other location. This guy was ready for me. They must have called ahead cuz he had serous mode AT&titude. He blames me, disregards my claim that i followed the owners manual to a T. He says I must buy a new phone. I know I could get a sh*tty "Go" phone but its the principle of the thing.

I am looking at T-Moble and Virgin Moble. Their 40 USD plan with unlimited text and 600 or something minutes. And their 25 USD plan with Unlimited Text/data but 300 talk min for the month respectively.

Verizon seems expensive at 60 some-odd USD

First what do you recommend from your own experiences? Coverage in the North-east? Boston, New Bedford, the cape, NYC, I don't really care about coverage south of Bodymore.

I am skeptical about Virgin's coverage, any first hand experience?

+Rep for good input gents

Verizon, it is the network...

i have been with tracphone for 8years now.. no hidden cost. i have a home phone so the cell is not my main source of talking.. i bought a double your min. card, i add 200 min. to my phone that gives me 40min. i can get them to last me2 months.. good service

i have verizon and they are awesome. the customer service is great and the coverage is even better, you truly get what you pay for.

are you using a cheap cell phone charger not specific for you brand/model of phone? if so that could be killing your batteries.

Yes, you are correct. You get what you pay for. Unfortunately, I am doing an internship where I am not getting paid my normal summer wage. I simply cannot afford Verizon. And no, both times I used the charger which came with the phone.

Another question I forgot to ask. I am looking into a messaging phone, because I hate talking on the phone (nothing to do with coping - which I cryptic with anyway) Just... you know... girlfriend always wants to chit-chat about this and that. I'd rather text, which I can do on my time. No more giving up COD:MW2 cuz Marcia wants to complain about "those stupid white bitches" lol.

Im thinking about the Rumor Touch, or The LG Xexon. F*ck the Neon.

Gentlemen

do ya'll have cricket out there? around here i heard they are good and you get the biggest plan for the price, but the service is only good as long as you are in the city.

Mikeem said:

Yes, you are correct. You get what you pay for. Unfortunately, I am doing an internship where I am not getting paid my normal summer wage. I simply cannot afford Verizon. And no, both times I used the charger which came with the phone.

Another question I forgot to ask. I am looking into a messaging phone, because I hate talking on the phone (nothing to do with coping - which I cryptic with anyway) Just... you know... girlfriend always wants to chit-chat about this and that. I'd rather text, which I can do on my time. No more giving up COD:MW2 cuz Marcia wants to complain about "those stupid white bitches" lol.

Im thinking about the Rumor Touch, or The LG Xexon. F*ck the Neon.

Gentlemen

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Why did you even put verizon in the running then? Please be clear in your question next time. You want the cheapest service possible. That would be cricket or virgin...

Well, if you read the original post, one will notice I actually state that Verizon is expensive and not a consideration. I mentioned it however soo the posters would know that I am not interested in Verizon and thus not interested in any suggestions to investigate Verizon. Please do not insult my writing abilities. That being said, thank you for your input. Do you have any experience with these providers? How is the service?

Too bad you cant go with verizon. Horrible experiences with Tmobile and AT&T

You said and I quote:

Verizon seems expensive at 60 some-odd USD

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It is not expensive at 60 some odd USD, it is high quality service that you have to pay for. "seems expensive" does not mean that you are not considering it.

I recommend you buy the cheapest thing possible because you are not going to get quality service from any provider at the price you are looking for.

i've been places where verizon phones were the only ones getting a signal.

NLXSK1 said:

You said and I quote:



It is not expensive at 60 some odd USD, it is high quality service that you have to pay for. "seems expensive" does not mean that you are not considering it.

I recommend you buy the cheapest thing possible because you are not going to get quality service from any provider at the price you are looking for.

Click to expand...

I see your point. I suppose it was indeed asking to much to make a presumption that in addition to "seeming expensive" the costs of the previously mentioned plans help to enforce the implication I am not considering Verizon an option. For that I apologize. Anywho enough with this childish squabble.

Does anybody have experiences with Virgin? I hear its run on the Sprint network, soooo does anybody have experiences with their products and services?

Verizon is much more expensive than Sprint. They want to charge 30 bucks a month per phone for internet. Sprint is like 50 bucks for EVERYONE on your plan, whether it's 1 or 5 people. To add a line it's 19.99. If you get a few people together you could get the monthly expense way down.

don't verizon, sprint, and at&t all have the 69.99 unlimited everything plan now? (covers everything but the internet data package, which is 30 more a month per line if you want a smartphone that requires the data package). I use verizon right now for my everyday phone and love the coverage i have. I'm never without a signal. I also have a tracfone as my dirty business only line. picked up the phone for 30 dollars (activated it on the internet at a library in a different town with a phony backup number to make it a dead end) and it came with double minutes for life. I spent 60 dollars up front and got the phone with a 200 minute card and 180 days of contract time. Once i put new minutes on the phone it automatically doubles the minutes. So it was 30 dollars for 400 minutes or 1200 texts which can be used over the course of the 180 days. So far, i haven't had any coverage problems with the tracfone and if you barely use minutes, 30 dollars every few months would be pretty cheap. tracfone is definately cheap and so are the features with the phones, but you are getting what you pay for in regards of having a cheap phone and plan if you don't use it too much.

Avoid Sprint at all costs. I had them for 3 years and never once was my bill the same amount and I never went over my minutes. Tmobile is ok but their service leaves something to be desired but, there plans do not have a bunch of hidden fees. Verizon is the best but also the most expensive. If I was you I would just buy a disposable untill you can afford to get a real plan, this way your not stuck in a contract for another 2 years. Cricket Wireless is ok if you live in SoCal but you have to pay for your phone.

Personally I would stick with AT&T and buy an iphone, then new one comes out in 13 days preorder in 6, the phone and plan are not cheap, but worth it 100%, when your iphone has a problem take it to an apple store they replace it with a brand new one, I even told them that my original iphone was stolen and I expected to have to buy a new one, cause the warranty was way gone and it was not their fault at all, and they gave me a free 3gs this phone is like 4x times faster plus gps, and they just gave it to me, they really are the best company in the world at replacing broken or lost products, plus the iphone can do a ton of other shit too