New Phone or New Company?: Need Wireless Help (1 Viewer)

[Dome Vongvises]

My current contract with Sprint expires at the end of the year. I have two options open to me:

1. Get a new phone + plan and stay with Sprint.

2. Get a new phone + plan and go with somebody else.

My service with Sprint has been okay, and I've been watching the Sprint Nextel merger with interest. Unfortunately because they do no operate on the same type of network (one is CDMA the other is iDen?), I see no benefit from the merger. There's no free mobile-to-mobile with Nextel (yet). On the other hand, my closest friends use Sprint so I can use the mobile-to-mobile minutes.

I'm also looking at Cingular and Verizon. Obviously Cingular gets kick ass phones, have a huge customer base in which I can use mobile-to-mobile, and they're on a GSM network. Verizon just has damn good coverage in my area.

The phone I'm looking at right now is the Palmone Treo 650. I've heard the GSM version is the best.

 

[SarahG]

There are a lot of good, new phones out there right now. I think there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a provider and phone. Search around a little bit and see what kind of deal you can get on a new phone that suits all your needs. Look at the service plans and see what the best prices are. You might think about getting a phone with things like Bluetooth, mp3 player, and camera. One advantage of Verizon is that it's got the Vcast. One of their newer phones is the LG vx8100, which seems to be a good phone.

Good luck with your search. I'm sure you'll get what's best for you.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Well, my contract finally expired, and I've been taking a look at some of the phone companies.

So far, I like Verizon and their coverage. It seems like there are a lot of complaints with Cingular, and for the time that I worked in Best Buy, Cingular was just hard to deal with at times.

Does anybody have the Palm 650? I was thinking of getting the new Palm 700w.

 

[Arthur S]

Dom

In Consumer Reports January 2006 issue, Verizon was the top provider in 17 of 18 Markets: (the exception being in Chicago, where U.S. Cellular topped Verizon).

T-Mobile is the 2nd highest rated provider, but clearly a step below Verizon.

If money is not an issue, Verizon is the way to go. For me, the 1500 anytime minutes for $39.99 plan at T-Mobile plus other perks for being a customer since 1999 make it a better choice than Verizon. Specifically, I can get 1600 anytime minutes for $39.99. This many minutes with Verizon is about $80 per month.

Since T-Mobile does not offer any Treo phones, I suspect T-Mobile is not even an option for you.

I have no experience with Treo's so I can't help you there, however, I would expect the mobile computing experience with the 700 to be cool.

 

[Mark Paquette]

Howard Forums

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I would recommend going to the corporate stores of each company you are considering and have them pull up a service map of your home, work, and a few places you visit often (t-mobile actually allows you to do this from their website but their competition doesn't show it in graduated details). I'd advise find what service provider will work where you'll be at and then worry about what phone options that they have, after all no matter how great that phone or device is when it gets a signal, it's usually pretty much a paper weight in areas that don't get a signal. I would also recommend calling each of these companies customer care and finding out if it's easy to reach them and if they sound competent this may determine what to expect when you do come across a problem.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

I use the Treo 650 and I think it's great. I used to have to carry three devices with me (cell phone, pager and PDA) until Palm managed to combine all of them into one device. Saw reviews for the Treo 700w in both the WSJ and NYT and I was seriously underwhelmed. Besides, I like the Palm software and it integrates nicely with my Mac as well. My cellular carrier is T-Mobile and I'm very satisfied with them. They provide excellent national coverage (at least in areas I've travelled.) The only disadvantage was that T-Mobile doesn't sell the Treo 650, so I had to buy an unlocked one and popped in the SIM card from my Treo 600 (they still offer the 600 on their plans.) I previously had Cingular and I have absolutely no intention of ever going back to them. Between their shitty network and terrible customer service, I was always at my wits' end with them.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I've decided to get the Treo 700w. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

It's that time of year again. I'm looking at the xv6800 right now for Verizon wireless. Anybody have any experience with this or the Sprint version or older versions like the xv6700?

 

[Marty M]

Here is some info I found on phonescoop.com. I used this site when I was researching for a new phone a year ago.

HTC Mogul / XV6800 / PPC6800 / P4000 Reviews (Phone Scoop)

 

[Eric_L]

I have Cingulair and their customer service is atrocious. My contract expires in March and I cannot wait to leave them.

I intent to buy an UNLOCKED phone. I refuse to ever be locked in to a crappy provider again. I want to have the freedom to fire my phone company should they ever fail as miserably as Cingulair has. It may cost me a bit up front - but over the years I have learned that CUSTOMER SERVICE is far more valuable than any phone.

At this time my intention is to sign with Verizon on a month-by-month plan. Their reputation for customer service seems to be the least bad... I really don't care what it costs so long as I get good service when I visit or call for something.