[chinesebear]

had T-mobile while i was back in the states 4 a year...no problems with them, but oh how i longed to get back to China where i use my phone more and pay at most 15 bucks a month (usually about 10). it is all pay as you go, about 3 cents a minute. good service...and if my phone stops working i know i need to go pay more money :-)

[Moogs]

Thanks 709 and DMB for the positive Verizon comments. The more I look into it the more they seem to be the company to go with. I also agree with the go to the media approach. I have one other avenue of action someone has suggested to me and I may try it before I switch.

But the odds are I'll be with Verizon come this time next month.

[ast3r3x]

Originally Posted by BarracksSi Wait... so, I pay 100 bucks, and I get 1000 minutes for the year? Nothing else?

What do you mean nothing else. As far as pay-as-you-go plans I think that's pretty good. Could be wrong though, haven't looked into stuff very much because I don't have a cell phone and don't have a big interest in getting one.

That beats net10's offer, you get more minutes that last a year for cheaper with with service than net10's. For a year with net10, you get 3000 minutes for $360.

[stonyc]

Originally Posted by Moogs Thanks 709 and DMB for the positive Verizon comments. The more I look into it the more they seem to be the company to go with. I also agree with the go to the media approach. I have one other avenue of action someone has suggested to me and I may try it before I switch. But the odds are I'll be with Verizon come this time next month.

I can't really echo those sentiments... My wife had Verizon for 2 years, and on at least 10 occasions we had to call them with billing errors. I'm not talking a minute here or a minute there... each time, the bill would come back for $300 (and no, she never went over her minutes). Each time they gave us a hassle and each time only after threatening to leave, sue, talk to the media did they give her the credit to her account. Each time they also said that the "glitch" had been fixed, only to be a victim of that same "glitch" a month or two later to the tune of another $300.

I can't recommend Verizon as your next carrier... but again, their service (customer and network) seems to vary with area because my brother and sister have had Verizon for almost 4 years now with no problems.

[pv2b]

Originally Posted by atomicbartbeans Totally. One day, I was bored, so I wrote up an idea of the ideal "fair" cell phone company on my Powermac 6100. It was like 3 pages long, but it went something like this... "Instead of paying a set minimum monthly fee for a set minimum number of minutes, you pay a flat per-minute rate. For example, if calling was 8 cents/minute, and you talked for 350 minutes in a month, your bill would be $28 for that month. Text messages cost roughly half of the per-minute rate, and aren't billed as an "add-on", but instead along with your regular calls. There are no extra fees added on to your bill; operating costs for the company are included in the per-minute rate. There are no overages, because there is no set minute allowance. Night and weekend calling is treated no differently than peak-hours calling. There are no roaming fees, or reduced rates for in-network calling." I don't remember the whole thing, but it was basically a solution to every phone company's problem.

Hehe. This sounds exactly like the Tele2Comviq Knock-Out subscription I use here in Sweden.

First a word about Swedish currency. We use "kronor" (kr) and "öre", which are analogous to your dollars and cents. 1 kr = 100 öre.

Basically, you pay 69 öre/minute for any call you want to make within sweden. (Plus a 69 öre connection fee for every call.) There are no bullshit phone plans, but you get a discount of maybe 300 kr off full price when you buy a new phone while signing up for that subscription. I got 600 kr off because I was switching from another provider (Vodafone).

The only catch is that they have a minimum monthly fee of 69 kronor/month. So, in essence, you could say you had 100 "minutes" per month with that plan (subtract 1 minute for each made call to account for the connection fee).

Some helpful exchange rates if US Dollars is more convenient for you:

69 (kr/öre) = 9.26234 (US dollars/cents)
1 kr = 0.134237 USD
1 USD = 7.44952 kr

(Mid-market rates as of 2005.09.06 12:30:28 UTC from xe.com)

Oh. Also, here in Sweden -- no fees for receiving calls. All Swedish cell phone numers start with 070, 073 or 076 (or 010 if he's got one of those ancient analogue "NMT" cell phones), so the receiver knows he's calling a cell phone, and therefore accepts the extra charges that may be involved in calling a cell phone. (Though with Tele2Comviq Knock-out, it's as cheap to call another cell as it is to call a normal phone.)

One thing that sucks though, is our outrageously high mobile phone roaming fees whenever you leave the country, which I won't detail now, but that's the case in all of Europe. Though you can circumvent that pretty effectively by buying a prepaid mobile phone SIM card in the country you're travelling to and use that. (Which you can do because your phone isn't locked to any specific carrier or provider, and we all use GSM here. )

[scratt]

I reckon all the phone networks must use the same software, or the same training teqchniques and management systems...

Orange in the UK is exactly like Singular!

So was Hutchinson!

Hilarious!

[Brad]

Originally Posted by scratt Ditch the phone. Don't pay the bill. Keep a record of the bills and your phone log. Encourage them to take you to court...

It's far less likely that they'll take any Joe Shmoe to court and far more likely that they'll simply (and automatically) contact a collections agency (if he doesn't pay) and screw up his credit for the next couple of years.

These companies don't care about taking a person to court over a matter of less than a hundred dollars. They've got bigger fish to scam.

[scratt]

Originally Posted by Brad It's far less likely that they'll take any Joe Shmoe to court and far more likely that they'll simply (and automatically) contact a collections agency (if he doesn't pay) and screw up his credit for the next couple of years. These companies don't care about taking a person to court over a matter of less than a hundred dollars. They've got bigger fish to scam.

As I said before. My advice is based on my personal experience.

I am always in it to set the world straight.

I have done it more than once and I still have my Amex! Not to mention other credit facilities.. Yes, I have had black marks.. But I have also had them removed also.

You just have to understand the system, and know that collections agencies, and credit scores are all there to control you... If you don't fear them then you can move on with your life...

[Stone Of Love]

Interesting thread.

I've been a Cingular guy since before it was Cingular. I think my local company that became part of Cingular was Ameritech. Anyway, my only major complaint about them is the same complaint I had with AT&T. Lousy coverage at my house. But that problem isn't the fault of the Cell company, its my community. They won't let them put up the needed towers.

I also haven't had any problem with reception in Chicago. I'm wondering if the handset is the issue??

As to the added calls, thats just F'n wrong. I haven't seen anything like that on my bill. Tho I have been raped for charges while in Canada. I think they now have a deal in Canada, but I know that the last time I was "up north" Cingular didn't and it cost me big time!!

I'm on a family plan now, two phones for $60 a month. We share 600 minutes and have over 5000 roll over minutes. Both phones are nation wide, no long distance, no roaming.

I think Cell service is one of the better deals you can get in America today.

What types of Cell phones do you guys like?? I am a big Nokia fan. Current phone is the 3120.

[torifile]

I think that people's experience with carriers is definitely locale dependent. I've had Cingular off and on now for 1.75 years. Never had an issue with them. Sure customer support could be better but since I haven't had any issues, I don't need to use them much. Verizon, on the other hand, was torturous for me. They sold me a phone with a one-year contract. Changed it to 2 years. I called them, got the "well you got the 2 year contract price so you'll have to pay the difference." I bought the phone from a local mom-and-pop place so it shouldn't have mattered how much I paid... After HOURS on the phone and a few "lost" faxes of my contract to them later I got them to concede. Then I still had an ETF when I ported my numbers... Big surprise there.

My wife had Cingular in Chicago and they were terrible. Billing issues. End of contract issues. Generally unpleasant experience. Good luck with Verizon, Moogs. My thinking is that there is no good cell provider. Just less bad. Kinda like US elections these days.

[Amadeus]

Verzion has the best cell coverage at least that is the case. Really surprised the Steve Jobs went with Cingular is they are not a good company.

I agree that you have to be careful with any company. My wife's contract with Verizon was due up today. When she called, was told that it had been extended to 2007. All she did was request a decrease in service, wasn't informed of the contract increase.

[BarracksSi]

Ergh... I wish the new iTunes phone could be had on a pay-as-you-go service...

Not sure if I want to go with Cingular on this one. Tempting, but... hmm..

[atomicbartbeans]

Can you buy an unbranded version and use T-Mobile?

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by Amadeus Verzion has the best cell coverage at least that is the case. Really surprised the Steve Jobs went with Cingular is they are not a good company. I agree that you have to be careful with any company. My wife's contract with Verizon was due up today. When she called, was told that it had been extended to 2007. All she did was request a decrease in service, wasn't informed of the contract increase.

Read the fine print on most phone contracts - if you call them and make ANY requests for a change of service, it *institutes a new contract*. You have to *explicitly* say "I am not asking for a new contract, I am asking for an amendment to my *current* contract. Any new contract will be denied by me." Otherwise, they're free to do what happened to your wife.

Because you agreed to it up front. :/

[Koodari]

Can't you take them to small claims court? I assumed that was how you dealt with situations like this in the US, and if you are the one in the right, the company will most likely not bother to show up and you win by default...?

Anyway that's friggin' incredible treatment from a utility company. I'd change operators the next day. I've only changed my operator once and that was to get significantly cheaper contract. Only difference is how much a minute costs.

I'd never want to take a phone with my contract, or take a contract that has a minimum length longer than one billing period. I find that's just asking to get screwed.

Stone of Love: I like Nokia too. My last phone is a SE T68 but I'm most likely going back to Nokia once the T68 breaks down. It's just so effortless, fast and intuitive UI they got. I hope they offer a cheap Bluetooth phone at the time I need to switch.

[Koodari]

Here's my operator's prices from Finland:

Flat price of 0.66 euros per month for having the number.
0.069 euros per minute for calls.
0.069 euros for every text message.

That's it. If I call and SMS more, I pay more. If I only receive calls, I pay 0.66 euros per month. Answering machine is included in the monthly price and in where I have to call the machine to listen to my messages. I can use GPRS data, whereupon I pay per data transferred.

[torifile]

You wanna rub it in some more??? We know cell providers in the US suck, ok??? It's different over here because we get such large subsidies on our phone purchases. My last phone, a Nokia 6230, I was paid $100 to take it. Sure my bills suck, but I never go over my minutes and I don't have a landline so it works out in the end (plus I have enough rollover minutes now to talk for the rest of the month and not go over)...

[oldmacfan]

Everyone I know has a cell phone. I do not and I am a very happy camper.

I have had two in the past that employers have insisted I use for work and they would DC me or call me at all hours of the day and if I didn't answer they would bitch that I didn't take their call when I wasn't even on the clock being paid.

Cell Phones suck IMHO and I will not pay for one for any reason.

Will I possibly change my mind in the future, maybe, my Grandfather finally changed his mind at the age of 80, I have 43 more years to think about it.

[*Joe*]

I am probably being a bit stupid, but why do you have to pay for incomming calls? is that the way it is in the US?? Because I am going over to washington in November and was thinking I would get a local pre-pay simcard on cingular, but if you have to pay to recieve calls? Thats mad surely?

[torifile]

Originally Posted by *Joe* I am probably being a bit stupid, but why do you have to pay for incomming calls? is that the way it is in the US?? Because I am going over to washington in November and was thinking I would get a local pre-pay simcard on cingular, but if you have to pay to recieve calls? Thats mad surely?

They get taken out of your minutes. So you don't *pay* exactly, but it does cost something.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by Amadeus Verzion has the best cell coverage at least that is the case. Really surprised the Steve Jobs went with Cingular is they are not a good company. I agree that you have to be careful with any company. My wife's contract with Verizon was due up today. When she called, was told that it had been extended to 2007. All she did was request a decrease in service, wasn't informed of the contract increase.

A couple of things:

1) Verizon was offered the ROKR, but declined (or at least that's my understanding of the situation). Verizon doesn't need fancy stuff because their coverage alone sells their service, so they don't need to have the "trendy" phones. I believe Sprint was offered the phone, but their price plans sell their service, so they don't need trendy phones. Cingular needs trendy phones to get more customers. Their coverage is worse than Sprint's or Verizon's and their plans are more expensive (slightly) than Sprint's.

2) I work for RadioShack, so I deal with Verizon on an almost daily basis. Any time you change your price plan with Verizon your contract gets extended (in most cases). The problem your wife is going to have is that they won't let her get a new phone now until 2007 unless she has a sales rep. (best to go to RadioShack, as the in-store Verizon reps typically don't give a shit about you) call Verizon and make them check to see how long your phone has been active. In some cases, you can get a new phone without having to pay full price. Also, you should be able to dispute the extended contract from the first time (as long as she didn't sign anything).

Verizon's been shooting themselves in the foot a lot lately (i.e., pissing off RadioShack and losing their deal with us b/c they're too prideful to be sold in the same store as Cingular). They're usually willing to work hard to keep you if you ask them to.

[stonyc]

Originally Posted by fcgriz Verizon's been shooting themselves in the foot a lot lately (i.e., pissing off RadioShack and losing their deal with us b/c they're too prideful to be sold in the same store as Cingular). They're usually willing to work hard to keep you if you ask them to.

That reminded me of my wife's experience, but Verizon really bent her over on billing on several occasions... each time she had to fight to get them to fix them. Funny thing though, the one time she says that she'd had it with Verizon and was going to leave them... POOF! No more billing problems, reps suddenly became super polite... sometimes you just wish (in general) that these big cell companies would work harder to keep their current, loyal customers happy without us having to resort to threats and taking our money elsewhere. Just my $.02... it would not have taken all that much for Verizon to have kept my wife as a customer: fix one glitch, keep it from happening again... other than that she was pretty happy with her reception, price plan, etc.

[BenP]

Originally Posted by fcgriz Verizon was offered the ROKR, but declined (or at least that's my understanding of the situation). Verizon doesn't need fancy stuff because their coverage alone sells their service, so they don't need to have the "trendy" phones. I believe Sprint was offered the phone, but their price plans sell their service, so they don't need trendy phones. Cingular needs trendy phones to get more customers. Their coverage is worse than Sprint's or Verizon's and their plans are more expensive (slightly) than Sprint's.

That, in my experience, is a very accurate description of US cellular carriers. Our Verizon billing service has been piss-poor and even their newest phones are outdated but we get excellent coverage.

Fortunately my mom takes care of the billing "mistakes" but we have them every three months or so.

[Sauvblanc]

Sorry to dig up an old thread here, but I have a question for anyone out there who lives in Los Angeles re: cell phone service

I just moved here from Canada (where the cell phone services suck as well) and want to get a new cell phone service. I've talked to T-Mobile and Cingular so far and have yet to find Verizon. Essentially I'm thinking of getting a Blackberry for the added functionality if provides. Does anyone have any suggestions on the three insofar as Los Angeles goes?

Or should I just basically bend over and grab my ankles because I'm going to get screwed six ways from Sunday regardless of who I go with? Thanks.

God, I miss Australia where they at least had their act together a little better.

[WBG4]

Originally Posted by kretara I've had nothing but positive experiences with Nextel. I've used Cingular and ATT in the past and they suck. My work currently uses Cingular and we have nothing but problems. Constant dropped calls and static. Another funny thing that happens on a regular basis is that the phones will go into roam or extended area mode for days at a time, despite the fact that I have not even left the city. I've tried to get us to drop cingular but the head of the company likes them.

In the DC metro area, the company i was working for this summer had nextel phones. I ended up using my personal verison phone 60% of the time because of the lack of service in city and surrounding areas. I will recommend verison highly. The one time i had an issue, i called and with in 3 min it was fixed

[WBG4]

Originally Posted by Sauvblanc Sorry to dig up an old thread here, but I have a question for anyone out there who lives in Los Angeles re: cell phone service I just moved here from Canada (where the cell phone services suck as well) and want to get a new cell phone service. I've talked to T-Mobile and Cingular so far and have yet to find Verizon. Essentially I'm thinking of getting a Blackberry for the added functionality if provides. Does anyone have any suggestions on the three insofar as Los Angeles goes? Or should I just basically bend over and grab my ankles because I'm going to get screwed six ways from Sunday regardless of who I go with? Thanks. God, I miss Australia where they at least had their act together a little better.

North of LA (san luis obispo) verison has great service. Better then what they claim so i'd think it would be good around LA

[daftgem]

Originally Posted by Moogs And then this was my favorite: 08/01 - MY number here - INCOMING - 5min 08/01 - my number here - incoming - 3 min 08/02 - my number here - incoming - 2 min 08/02 - my number here - incoming - 7 min 08/04 - my number here .... you get the idea To a tune of about 40 f---ing minutes (can you tell I'm pissed?) @ $.45 each per.

The bill list these calls as your own number because they CANNOT list the number that the call came from. This is because the billing system cannot determine wether or not the caller wished to have thier caller id information withheld, and thus errors on the side of caution. This is exactly as it appears on every Cingular bill. I would not get so heated if I were you.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by daftgem The bill list these calls as your own number because they CANNOT list the number that the call came from. This is because the billing system cannot determine wether or not the caller wished to have thier caller id information withheld, and thus errors on the side of caution. This is exactly as it appears on every Cingular bill. I would not get so heated if I were you.

I don't care if they want their caller ID info withheld. They're my minutes and if someone expects me to use them up talking to them, then they'd better let me know who's calling me. Otherwise it's straight to voicemail, which I can check at night when I've got unlimited minutes.

I often do the same thing with my landline, because so many of the calls with no caller ID end up being prank calls or telemarketers.