Help with Cell phone plans

[jjirons69]

Yep, I'm one. Never had a cell phone of any type. I'll be 41 next month and have avoided it like the plague. Things have come up with family and work and I think it's about time. Some background - my wife has a Tracfone, pay as you go. She uses it once every other day. Her brother gave her a Razor to use with it. Not a bad deal. We've talked a little and haven't decided if we want to do a family plan or let me go out on my own. I won't be using it much, because I don't like phones (burdened at work) and I have a land line. I don't see me texting much, if at all, and I may use it once or twice a day most days. I love my wife's iTouch and would love to have an iPhone, but it's a lot of commitment. I've thought about the pay-as-you-go route, the unlimited plans, and the roll-over minute plans. Let's hear what you have and why you like it. There's just so may types of phones (iPhone; Blackberry World, Bold, Curve, Storm; Droid; etc.) and so many carriers and plans.

[aich75013]

If you just need a phone, get a free one with a small family plan.
Compare the rates with all carriers. Ask people around you about service/dropped calls.

[MortonMilo]

t-mobile offers cheap and easy pay as you go as well. no contract commitment either. Have had great reception wherever I go, although I can't comment on SC!

[Razorhog]

I'm like Charleton Heston with a gun, when it comes to my iPhone :ss Mobile Stogie rocks!

[shilala]

Jamie, why don't you just try a pay as you go phone and see how much you use it?
If you find that enjoyable, then you could move to whatever you like. A full blown expensive iphone plan or whatever.
Before you get wringed into a two year commitment, you should see how much you use the phone and if you can even stand it.
Once you see if you enjoy it, or just tolerate it, and guage your usage, then maybe a plan for you and the wife would make sense?
I absolutely love my iphone, it's a ton of fun. My first phone I hated. Couldn't stand the ex calling me every ten minutes, and I felt like I had zero privacy. Reason I mentioned that is I have hit both extremes. I sure hope you don't. :)

[Kreth]

If you just need a phone, get a free one with a small family plan.
Compare the rates with all carriers. Ask people around you about service/dropped calls.
:tpd: It sounds like you basically just want an emergency phone. No sense getting a smartphone for that.
Posted via Mobile Device

[elderboy02]

Verizon... I love it.

I never have any dead spots.

[captain53]

:tpd: It sounds like you basically just want an emergency phone. No sense getting a smartphone for that.
Posted via Mobile Device

:tpd: Keep it simple for what you are trying to do.

[mmblz]

Recently switched from US Cellular - one blackberry and one regular phone for something like 140 a month, to tracfone - 2 simple phones with minutes we think should last a year for $440.
Can't beat that!

[BigFrank]

do not get a blackberry
I have one now, it is my 5th since october. many fellas that I work with have them and are on their multiple phone. To easy to break/damage/what have you.

[Wolfgang]

Remember max out texting with barely any minutes. No one calls anymore :r

[Christoff]

do not get a blackberry
I have one now, it is my 5th since october. many fellas that I work with have them and are on their multiple phone. To easy to break/damage/what have you.

:tpd: Yup, went through two of them in 6 months. The little track ball never works for me and if you drop it on a hard surface from a distance greater than 3ft it will crack like an egg.

[bobarian]

Check with co-workers and friends for the best local coverage. If you dont travel you will care little how much coverage a network will give you. Check promotional or bundled plans with your cable TV or land line. Bells and whistles are nice but you do pay for them. :2

[jjirons69]

Good advice. I think I'll go the pay-as-you-go route and see how that works.

[shilala]

Good advice. I think I'll go the pay-as-you-go route and see how that works.
Phones are only a couple bucks at Walmart, Jamie.
Hey, if you can do the pay as you go with any verizon phone, I have a couple of the gzone unbreakable ones that kick ass. I can hook you up, tuna. :tu

[Mugen910]

I usually see deals for tmobile and tracphone pay as you go...If you have never had a cell plan before then I assume you don't really need it. So for little situations just do the pay as you go.

[captain53]

Good advice. I think I'll go the pay-as-you-go route and see how that works.

I had my son a TracPhone for a while and as long as you don't use it a lot (especially out of your area) then it is very reasonable and quite frankly the coverage service was excellent. I found the best deals by using TracPhone online for both minutes and phones.:2

[Ashcan Bill]

My wife and I went with a 2 year Verizon plan.

We went with Verizon because it has the best coverage for where we live. Friends and neighbors with other carriers always have problems, but ours tend to work pretty good. Also a lot of our friends and family have Verizon so the calls don't count against your minutes.

We got 2 free phones and I think around 750 minutes a month, which we'll never come close to using. I believe with taxes we pay around $75 a month.

One other thing I discovered when I was shopping around was it's cheaper to sign up on line than it is walking into a Verizon store. If I recall, we saved $20 or so a month by doing it on line.

Our plan expires at the end of this year, and I'm happy enough with Verizon that I plan on sticking with them if I can negotiate a decent enough renewal deal.

Phone companies are like banks - you have people that like certain ones, and others that hate them. Just depends on your personal experiences and needs.

[MedicCook]

I have a tracfone because I rarely use it. I have it so work can call me and if the baby momma's have an emergency with one of the girls. A $20 card will last me months.

[J0eybb]

Look into page plus. RIght now I beleive it is the cheapest, and it uses the same towers as Verizon wireless. I have verizon, and when my contract is up, I plan on switching over to page plus, pay as you go.

The best cell phone forum there is.

http://www.howardforums.com/

[Silound]

On providers:

I have Verizon and love it. Both AT&T and Verizon have good coverage down here, but when Katrina hit, I had AT&T and was without service for almost 3 weeks, and then VERY spotty poor service after that. Family was on Verizon and had NO problems, so I switched and haven't complained ever. I'm not a smartphone person, I look at my phone as talking, occasional PDA functions, and occasional texting as the only things I do. Smaller regional providers may offer better options, but generally I would stick to one of the big ones because they have more infrastructure to support with.

Verizon has one other nice feature that I prefer. If you lose your phone, you can go online and enter the serial and MAC address of a new one and be using it within 5 minutes. If you lose an AT&T phone, you have to go get a new SIM card, which is an utter PITA.


On phones:

If you aren't going to fork out for a data plan (they're expensive) then your best option is to get a low end family plan that suits your needs and two free phones with it (never mind the two year commitment, that will go by real fast).


Some other pointers:

I get cell coverage at home, so I don't have a landline. I use my cell phone to make all of my calls simply because it's cheaper and I still don't burn 750 minuets a month because a lot of my calls are during free calling hours or are same-network calls. Also, the free long distance thing is nice, compared to landline rates.


Anyway, just some opinions for you.

[larryinlc]

I was on Altel now Verizon pay as you go. I quickly dumped it due to the double dialing required. I live in a roaming area and since it's pay as you go, they charge for roaming. It was not the money issue for me, but being required to dial the number, then dial it again with a few more digits so they can bill you annoyed me to no end. Couldn't even store numbers in memory because of this. I suppose not all pay as you go plans are like this though. I now use Sprint contract service with free roaming and it makes it much simpler.

Larry

[captain53]

Phones are only a couple bucks at Walmart, Jamie.
Hey, if you can do the pay as you go with any verizon phone, I have a couple of the gzone unbreakable ones that kick ass. I can hook you up, tuna. :tu

I have had two of those GZones and no doubt they are some great heavy duty performers. If i did not need some crackberry features I would use nothing else but the GZones. My son jumped in the swimming pool with one in his pocket and when he got out opened it up blew off the water and made a call. Never quit working. I also got mine wet and muddy on a regular basis in the duck blind, never quit working till one day it finally met its match - a 6 month old Labrador Retriever and then after he ate it the damn thing still actually worked but was rather uncomfortable to hold on to! They are the Ronson JetLites of Cell Phones.:tu

[tx_tuff]

Ok it sounds like you have the best idea with the pay as you go phone. I have Verizon here in Houston, it is by far the best service, I would never go AT&T here! But it is also more pricey then the rest of them, worth it as far as I'm concerned.

Your not doing the smart phone thing so it doesn't matter, but I have a BlackBerry Storm2 and love it. Use it for everything as far as a MP3 player, to twitter and FB and even will be using it to post here. Everything is just a finger tip away. Apps like Poynt lets you look up movie time and clips, get directions using the phones GPS and maps (google maps is best) find people and places. Check radar and on and on. If you ever get a smart phone you won't go back!

[jjirons69]

Just completed my deal today. I got the wife and myself a Verizon 700 minute/250 text plan, with LG Accolade flip phones. $80, plus taxes and I get a 12% discount through work. She's going to kill the Tracfone and we'll eventually do away with the land line. I think this will be the best for both of us. Thanks for everyone's input!

[Blueface]

Wife has Verizon.
I have AT&T for my iPhone.