Cell phones.......Your experiences please

[OkeeDon]

<font color="blue">Planned obsolescence at it's finest. </font>

My Nextel is an i1000plus which they don't make any longer. I love it. It's the only flip phone offered ny Nextel that has a full window the see the entire display with the flip cover closed. When I flipped my tractor into a hole and ended up sitting in 3' of water at the bottom of the hole, my phone was clipped to my belt and was underwater. It powered up once it was dry, but it was unreliable. I not only bought another on EBay, I bought 2 more, becausa a guy had moved to an area that didn't have Nextel service and was selling his and his wife's phone. Saved a bunch of money, got all the extra batteries and chargers and such with them, and stayed with the phone style I like.

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Thanks, "EVERYONE" for your replies so far........I'm gleaning all the info I can and will make my phone choice in January...........No one says much bad about motorola so that will be the phone choice.........I'll check out calling plans in the next couple weeks............Tom

 

[Old_Hickory]

I had Alltel for a few years and checked out the Tracfone's and bought a Tracfone and I love the Tracfone(how many times can you say Tracfone ? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif ),no more monthly cell phone bill and the service is GREAT.
Everytime I sent a bill to Alltel I felt like I was getting the shaft,they have so many different plans and options it was confusing to me and I know I was paying for service I was not using. Now with the Tracfone it displays how many minutes (air time) all of the time the phone is on.I highly recommend Tracfone.

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Does it cost a yearly fee or monthly fee for activation?? How about the price for minutes compared with the others ??? Any such thing as roaming or non service areas.........I know........" SOOOOOOOOOO" many questions.............Tom

 

[Old_Hickory]

Tom,
This page could probably better answer the questions. TRACFONE

 

[Alan L.]

[quoteIt is your junky phones--let me say this again--MOTOROLA.
J )</font>

If I could be sure the Verizon service is going to be better I would spend the money and get better phones. However, if I'm gonna spend money, I might want to pay off the Verizon contract and get AT&T/Nokia. I always liked my Nokia phones with A T& T, but you can't get them with Verizon, because all Verizon phones, at least around here, have to have a pull-out antenna to pick up analog signals in non-digital areas. You never know when you should pull the antenna out or not.

Actually, recently we have had very little trouble with Verizon, so everything is OK now.

One thing I did do, I ordered a digital cable for the Kyocera phone and I am able to successfully dial up to my regular earthlink account at about 19K from my laptop. Comes in handy when I'm out of pocket and need to check email.

I got 2 Kyocera phones for $39 at signup. The Motorolas were at least $100 each, and no buy one - get one free offer on those.

 

[TresCrows]

"If I could be sure the Verizon service is going to be better I would spend the money and get better phones. However, if I'm gonna spend money, I might want to pay off the Verizon contract and get AT&T/Nokia. I always liked my Nokia phones with A T& T, but you can't get them with Verizon, because all Verizon phones, at least around here, have to have a pull-out antenna to pick up analog signals in non-digital areas. You never know when you should pull the antenna out or not"

I don't undestand all this stuff, I have used my phones from mountain tops and even in an airplane. I still say it is your junky phones, not the service. That said, I know cellular coverage is a strange beast to get a handle on and what works one place may not be so good in another.The only thing I see when I look at coverage maps is that both Cingular and Verizon have virtually the entire country covered, none ot the others do. It is weird how you can get signal some places and not others, in some building but not the one your in when the important call comes along, frustrating but I fear it is simply the limit of technology and physics with the current frequencies and power levels. Not sure that any particular service is technically all that much better than another so it comes down to coverage, pricing, doodads and phone selection. Aside from the service itself no other component of the cell system can have as much impact on your satisfaction as the phone unit in your hand. Buying cheap phones with an otherwise good service is a prescription for dissatisfaction, if that service is in fact a good service, who knows the answer. J

 

[DocHeb]

Verizon also has a dial-up service that updates your phone over the air. You dial *228, and the roaming/local/service codes are updated in your phone. I didn't know that the first couple years I had the phone, and I went in to the Cellular One (Verizon) service store and they found that my problems were related to not updating the phone. I have had good service for the past five years with Verizon. I don't know if other phone services have this update feature.

 

[Old_Hickory]

Tracfone has Nokia phones.

 

[jfh230]

Many thanks for the verizon tip. I have only been able to use my cell in the barn while standing right in front of a certain window and tilting my head to the outside. After reprograming it I can now wander around to my hearts content and still keep the signal. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Always wondered why my wifes bottom of the line nokia got better range than my fancy motorola.

Thanks
Jack