Okay I’m on the verizon plan, and my 2 year contract is coming to a conclusion.
I’m currently paying $7x.xx a month, depending on taxes and such.
I hear Cricket has a $25/month plan with unlimited texting, and unlimited hours.
Is cricket any good?
I live in the suburbs, does this make any difference in service?
cricket’s service is horrible
i wouldnt stray away from the main cell providers, at&t, sprint, verizon.
i’va heard that too. apparently it’s usable in the city, but i’ve been told if you aren’t in the city, your service is shit.
I had cricket for about a year and honestly, it wasn’t a bad service for what it was.
if you don’t do much traveling and don’t venture into the south towns too often, it’s not a bad service for the price… plus no contracts are a HUGE plus. I had full bars from hamburg, all the way to the falls… but south of hamburg, good luck. It was really hit or miss
on the flip side, I found that I’d sometimes get text messages DAYS later after the sender sent them, which is total bullshit IMO. Missed a lot of parties and shit as a result.
not to mention when I went down to Kitty Hawk, NC for 2 weeks earlier this year for vacation, I didn’t get a single signal past hamburg… not even roaming, which was odd.
those two reasons are why I’m now on a contract with a larger cell phone company. It just got aggravating
EDIT: and the cricket plan I was on was 60.00/mo. Unlimited voice mail, unlimited calling, unlimited internet (which is a joke BTW… they restrict where you can go and can’t go), unlimited text messaging, ect
Edit: ^^ I thought they roamed on verizon or sprint’s network… that doesn’t really happen? no fun
It’s only unlimited in the very small and limited cricket coverage area. In Williamsville I’d imagine you’d be fine, as it’s close enough to a city. Check and see if they have good coverage maps to determine how often you’d actually be in their area.
Also it seems like a way shady company with awful phones (but if you don’t care about latest/greatest I guess there’s no problem).
I’d recommend AT&T for the flexibility with phones if that is important to you. They are pretty sleazy about their billing (‘updating’ bills from months ago to hide incorrect charges, violating their own terms of service, not responding to better business bureau complaints (they were kicked from the BBB in I believe the Rochester region), etc).
Basically when crap hits the fan I have to call the office of the president for cingular (now at&t wireless) to get anything solved. Their customer service is worthless, they just give you the runaround. I had Verizon many years back (they didn’t have digital coverage in my county at the time, it was awful) and never had billing discrepancies or other customer service issues but from the horrible things I’ve read it sounds like things have changed a lot in that regard (read: http://www.verizonmath.com/ for details).
the only thing im gonna say, is get a “trial” phone and number before you switch everything. this will let you see how poor their coverage is.
cant beat verizon… i have t-mobile and wish i went with verizon. one more year left on my current contract. once its up im going to verizon
cricket uses the verizon network for their service. so as long as your in the coverage area your signal should be great. but just like everyone said, the coverage area is only the buffalo metro area. you leave it and you have no service…even if your in another cricket service area. its a great way to replace your land line…but if you want the common features of cellular service your gunna be dissappointed. ive been paying up the ass for verizon now and sprint before that and im getting sick of paying more for a damn cell phone than i do for gas or electric at the house…so i think im going back to cricket when my verizon contract ends.
Listen to Evolve, he knows phones. :tup:
x…
I think I may go with a trial phone… who knows. For my usage it might not be too bad.
what do you want to do with the phone, just a crapload of texting or do you want data as well (i.e. email, web, etc)…
Just texting and calling… I could care less to have my computer on my phone… I have the chocolate so I know it could be flashed to cricket. I just don’t feel like paying $70 a month anymore.
ugh the chocolate is god awful.
and while cricket may roam on verizon, trust me when i say they dont allow all of their towers to be used, or give preferance to you when a tower is “full”
WERD
that was the biggest thing that pissed me off. Traveling out of state, it’s nice to be able to make a call in the event that you need to (emergency for instance).
like I said, from when I left Hamburg, until I returned to Hamburg… I had ZERO signal
lame
not to mention the difference in customer service, call quality, retail presence, discount on phones with a 2 year renewal (when qualified), warranty program, other options (like VZNavigator).
cell service has come a long way from just being about monthly pricing and minutes.
I would say either Verizon or Sprint. Not sure on what kind of deals they have for you, but check with Evolve. :tup:
As for me, I wanted a data plan and cheap. I’ve been with Sprint for 8+ years and the only complaint I have is their customer service, which I try ot use to my advantage and I end up getting credits, etc.
I’m on the SERO plan.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=18&threadid=680568&highlight_key=y&keyword1=sero
I pay $30 a month and will even be paying less once they put in my employer discount 
evolve can get you Verizon
I can get you AT&T
Compare the two, and fire a PM to either
i am in a family share plan with one other person and pay about half of it, i have unlimited texting and im playing 38$/month At&t
T-Mobile is pretty solid for me exp in Buffalo ( in the valley it blows tough)