Train of thought when looking for a cell phone plan :
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How much do I travel? And when I do travel is it only to big cities or small little ones too?
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The people I normally talk to : what service are they on?
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Does this carrier work in my house?
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How much do I want to spend?
That being said, I have verizon. I’ve had it since 1999. There is a reason why I still have it. I hump Verizon because you know what? It fucking works. Every-fucking-where.
It’s more expensive. The plans kinda suck. The fuck you with text messaging if you don’t buy a text plan. They charge you the most for data. Their nights start late.
But they fucking work.
Everywhere.
Their customer service has always kicked ass also.
But if you don’t travel as much as I do, any phone that works where you are the majority of the time will suffice.
Sprint and nextel now joined forces, and now sprint users can take advantage of the free incoming calls that nextel had.
Sprint also offers a very decent amount of minutes for a very decent price. Their customer service (from what I have gathered from MANY people) sucks.
T-mobile gives you an ASSLOAD of minutes - but their service is no doubt their shortcoming.
Cingular - now, there are two types of phones on cingular. GSM, which is the newer shit, and TDMA. Their TDMA coverage is pretty damn good. Not as good as Verizon’s coverage, but better than any other carrier around here (as of 3-4 years ago). Their new GSM coverage is better than T-mobiles, but still sorta sucks. I mean, if it works where you are, then hey, it works.
My advice - buy a couple pre-paid phones. See if they work in your area. Or borrow prepaid phones from people. Or have your friend hang out with you where you are most of the time and see how that phone works.
Remember : Not only are you choosing a phone, you’re choosing a service.
Who gives a fuck if your phone looks cool - if you are stuck on the side of the 90 on the way to Erie PA and your phone flashes “no signal” you’re fucked.