What cell phone plan do you have?

[kwyjibo]

I am finally breaking down and getting one of these things. Which company do I go with? I live in Austin, TX and I travel to west texas occasionally. Cingular's coverage seems pretty good for the surrounding area and all the people I work with have plans with them.

I heard Sprint is the most evil cell phone company so I probably won't be going with them... what plans do you people have?

[aquaman]

1. I go through verizon,,,

calls never get dropped. I travel a lot and have family everywhere. Get 800 minutes a month, call anywhere in the country for 70.00 a month. Don't even use the home landline phone anymore. The sad thing is is that I totally despise talking on the phone.

[SeattleGirl]

4. I also have Verizon, the Nationwide plan

I rarely ever have problems.

[Awsi Dooger]

6. I just got Verizon this week

Same, the family plan. Mostly so I can talk to my 70ish parents, and other relatives, on the East Coast.

Seemed like a good deal. But in general I despise the idea of a cell phone, being on call 24 hours a day. I gave up my previous one in the late '90s when the darn thing kept annoying me in the sportsbooks, on the golf course, in buffets, etc.

So far I've charged it. Now what? Damn the buttons are tiny.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. Cingular....it's okay. It's a cell plan basically.

:hi:

[LeftyMom]

3. I have Nextel.

Sprint bought them a while back. I liked Sprint when I had service with them, but that was years ago, when they had no contracts.

[cynatnite]

27. That's what we use...

It's worked pretty well for us with hubby out on the road.

[NMMNG]

5. Verizon

I got them because everyone I know has them, so I can talk to all of my family and friends for free anytime day or night. I get something like 450 minutes a month for 39.99 and nights/weekends are free. So far I haven't had any problems.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Yeah I have the same plan.

I also have the unlimited text/pix messaging. I usually send like 200-300 text a month, so it's worth it. I felt like an addict until I found out my sister was doing 800-900 month.

[NMMNG]

10. I don't have the text messaging

I've received a few from people who do, but I don't send any. It's not worth the extra expense to me.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

11. I like it, but I still don't get how my sister is doing 800-900?!?!?!

nt

[NMMNG]

12. 900 averages out to 30 a day

I can easily post 30 messages to DU in a day sometimes.

[Left Is Write]

19. That's my plan too.

[electricmonk]

8. Virgin Mobile pay as you go

I love it. I'm not a big phone talker so it works for me. Some months I might only use 10 dollars worth and the next month I might use 25 dollars worth. Either way it's much better than being locked into a 30 dollar plus plan for 3 years. Been there done that. Fuck Suncom or whatever they morphed into.

[Maine Mary]

9. None. There are no Towers here

I'm not making this up. I REALLY do live in "The Boonies" but my mail goes to the "West Boonies" so you gotta be careful to get it right :-)

[Clintmax]

13. I have Cingular...

And use the 600 Family Talk plan. Two lines...nationwide service so I can be anywhere and not pay any roaming charges! Cingular is the only company that lets you keep the minutes you don't use...Rollover Minutes. Right now, I have 3,431 rollover minutes available, so I will NEVER get charged for any minutes overages! :woohoo: I've been many places here in the US and have not found anyplace that doesn't have service!

[Lochloosa]

14. Stay away from Nextel...

if you loose your phone or it goes bad they will extend your contract when you replace it. And you have no choice.

[Tom_Foolery]

15. We use Tracfone...

If you aren't the type who chats all the time, Tracfone is a good deal. If you buy 40 minutes, you get the phone free. You also get coupons that will double your time. If you activate or add minutes online, they give you extra minutes. It's nationwide, too. There's no contract.

[a kennedy]

16. ditto to tracfone.....

we had trouble using it in Miami though, could not get a signal......don't know what that was all about. :shrug: but for what little we use it, it works great for us.

[bedazzled]

25. tracfone, too! i love it! don't talk much though

just wanted the school to be able to get through in an emergency. minutes are kind of expensive, but i don't use it much.

[imperial jedi]

26. another tracfone user here.

it's great. I don't use it much. but it's nice to know my husband can get in touch with me any time he needs to. and it's cheap.

[freethought]

17. I have Unicel

I broke down about 6 or so months ago. Other members of my family were complaining that I was hard to reach. I finally said "Okay! Okay! I'll get one of those damn things!" The rest, as they say, is history.

Monthly, they are competitive with everyone else. When I looked over the service packages Unicel was slightly lower but not by any really significant amount. The difference was usually a buck or two, in some cases it was only by cents.

Fortunately, I am not under contract and can end my service when I want without paying some sort of stiff termination fee. The network can be a little fickle. In one spot you may have no signal. Walk or drive down the road for 2 minutes and your golden.

Bear in mind how much you will use your phone. I am not a heavy user, and I haven't yet exceeded my allotted number of minutes for a month. Coverage was good nationwide. I also didn't get some of the other services offered like text messaging, camera phone options and the like. Last thing I want are pictures of myself being broadcast over the air.

Have fun!!!

[TheProphetess]

18. I have the one where you promise your first born child

and, in return, you get mediocre service (Sprint). Although, they have improved over the years of torture.

[wildhorses]

20. cingular~nationwide

rollover minutes....I have more minutes than I could ever use, no roaming charges, cost is always the same

[aclog]

21. I dunno the exact name of it

but there are overage charges if I exceed my monthly alloted KY/Astroglide...:(

[Orsino]

22. I go through my employer.

I get a great employee discount on phones and an absurdly low monthly charge for unlimited service.

[RazzleCat]

23. Cingular

I have no one could use so many minutes plan. 3 lines (one for me, one for mom, one for my son). 1400 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, free Cingular to Cingular + roll over and pay the extra so that nights start at 7pm. Add in 2000 text messages per month plus I have a Palm treo 650, so also have unlimited internet / email total bill about $149.00 and this includes tax. FYI, not in love with the cell phone, but it's my business phone (the number on my card), and I never sit on the job, so I use that phone and email on it all day every mon - fri. Never have had any problems with coverage.

[Mutley]

24. T-Mobile is okay.

I don't love 'em, I don't hate 'em. I think I'll be switching to Sprint when my contract is up, though, but only because my circumstances have become such that the direct connect will be much more convenient for me.

[texanwitch]

28. A crappy one that only lets me phone out but not receive calls, I have

called and had it fixed many times.

[lildreamer316]

29. Cricket.

LOVE it. $56 a month for unlimited anywhere; catch is that I can only have service in my city and from here to Charlotte. 500 LD min.outside of here. No big paper bill. Call waiting and text. I have the base model phone and have for 4 years so I didn't pay alot up front either. Deducted out of my checking acct. too. Just started offering roaming for extra $3 a month. Not sure how that works; but this is very economical and works just as well as any other service I have tried. No Credit check but no prepay either.

[petronius]

30. Verizon national plan

Around here the signal is a lot better than Cingular, and I can use it anywhere in the country...

[Jamastiene]

31. Pay as you go, with Cingular.

Pros:
No monthly bill. If you buy a $25 card, it expires in three months. If you don't use it, but get a new card before the three months is up, the money rolls over into the next time around.

No hunting around for a "plan" of some sort that is guaranteed to have fine print.

It's simple to buy the card at the grocery store and it's easy to enter the information into the phone.

Update on amount of money left in your account at the end of every call through a text message from Cingular.

$0.35 a minute weekdays between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. $0.10 a minute the rest of the time.

Cons:
Having to listen to them advertise themselves before downloading voice mail or checking on how much is left in the account.

Not being able to discuss your "wireless plan" because you don't really have one with the pay as you go phones, which to yours truly doesn't matter. I like what I have. :shrug: