Cell Phone?

[Global Paw]

I'm looking into buying a cell phone...anyone have any advice? Whats the best plans? I need a family plan with 2 phones...should have text messaging, and plenty of minutes...I'm new to the world of cell phones...

[flyndog]

Is this a test to see who responds to Off Topic questions?
What cell phone company is best depends on where you live. I live in the frontier...not a lot of towers so who you go with is VERY important. I use Cingular. Beats ATT. Customer Service is VERY important ot me.

P.S. Those are the only two that work out here.

[Global Paw]

well...Colorado Springs...you can choose about any big company you want...T-Mobile, Cingular, NEXTEL, whatever.

[sheltiepups]

Cingular sucked for us, we didn’t have reception half the time, when my ‘rents went down to Portland OR, they didn’t have any reception at all, we switched to AT&T and it works great now! AT&T has a better family plan the NEXTEL, free mobile to mobile, free night and weekends the only thing that sucks is that they don’t have rollover minuets. We got four phones and as soon as I start working, we are going to add another one, right now I have to shear one with my Mom which sucks . oh, yeah, we have all the cell companys here too, not that they all work .

[flyndog]

Lucky Dog.

[Global Paw]

I need a private phone to offer tech support...and it needs to be mobile. So...there is going to be a lot of incoming long-distance calls coming in...

[Rip's Girl]

I don't have a plan, I either use a prepaid or my parent's cell phones.. They use Verizon Wireless and have had some trouble with the company shuffling their bills around in the mail and then charging giant late fees. So, yeah.. I can't be of that much help...

[staceew]

Sprint pcs is the only one that we have had any luck with. We've used them for years. We have a great plan...unlimited free long distance...free pcs to pcs....My husband & I both have a Sprint number so we can talk as much as we want to eachother for free. I see that you are in Colorado Springs, we visited there a couple of years ago & had great reception with our Sprint service while there.
Sprint was just the best option for us where we live. We have always had good luck with them so we never bothered changing.
Good luck! :-)

[fireworksinjuly]

I hated Sprint, It didnt work half the time for me, in the CITY....so I gave up and got Verizon...its been ok so far...

[Taz]

I'm a cell phone department manager, the plans and companies are different here in Canada. But what I can tell you is shop around for a company that uses the CDMA technology, not TDMA or GSM. CDMA is a more efficient system. For example for every one call a TDMA tower can produce, a CDMA tower can produce 10 calls. Nokia seems to make a good phone for the CDMA system.

If you will be using it in a car with A/C don't leave the phone on the dash. You would be amazed but the number of customers who I have seen in the summer, with water damaged phones(this voids any warranty you may have), from the moisture that the A/C produces. If you are signing a contract, get the extended warranty for however long the contract is. If something happens to your phone while your in contract, and the manufactures warranty is up, you will need to buy another phone to fulfill your contract. Customers always say to me "well I would just come in and get another phone for the same price I just paid"...wrong, you get a discount on the phone when you sign a contract, and if you need another phone during that contract your looking at hundreds of dollars to replace or repair the phone.

[fireworksinjuly]

Just a note....never play in a mud pit with a cell phone in your pocket, never leave yuor phone in your pants and wash them, dont let it fall in the toilette while going to the bathroom...and beware of randomly exploding phones also....dont ask...yes those are all from experaince...

though I must say the mud pit day there were like 4 other people from the same area that were at the same function that had the same problem with the same phone....

[Rip's Girl]

Also never go water skiing with a cell phone in the pocket of your board shorts.

[Lil'Paws]

Verizon here.. And to add to Fireworks list make sure you get INSURANCE To cover your phone..
Take it from my DH's experience.... He lost his phone on the highway due to not getting it clipped all the way back on to his shirt.. We own a towing Co. He was out this past winter picking up a stranded car in the snow and thought he got it clipped back on but, No he got all the way home before he noticed it was gone.. So he went back but it had been ran over..They weren't alot people on the roads so he thought hed be lucky.. Not..

[Barrett]

I have used Sprint for 5 years now and I love them. My hubby is a pilot and is in a different state every night! His phone works everywhere and it is free when we talk to each other. Free long distance and 2000 anytime minutes between two phones. We never even come close to our minutes and of course nights and weekends are free too. Plus we have e-mail and web service and we get the weather channel right over the phones for $3.99 a month. Totally worth it! Since he is gone 4 days a week we take pictures of everything we see and send them back and forth (for free) so we can see what each other is doing and it's like we are together. *sigh*

Edit: The web service and e-mail are part of the plan...the weather channel is $3.99 a month extra