I Give Up - Or In, Depending On How You Look At It

[Fierce Critter]

Sigh. Grumble. Grrr...

We might make the switch.

If you have good plans that you want to suggest, please do so.

I'll be doing research on my own, too.

But it's gotta be close to $40.

Probably go with Nextel, however. Now that I think about it. Jon's work cell is Nextel, and if we get that, we can bleepee-bleep each other for free.

Sigh. Grumble. Grrr....

[Fierce Critter]

Answered my own question.

Pretty much looking at $39.99 a month with Nextel. That's with unlimited 2-way, and I think 450 minutes.

Phone would be $50 after rebate. But we have an excellent Nextel phone here we picked up from a yard sale, I just need to work on the earpiece.

THinking, thinking...

[Scary Guy]

I don't know if they have family plans where you get extra phones. But you could get one of those, then let other people "use" them for a "fee" to help with the bill damage.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Yeah basicly i tell everyone to figure out who it is they talk to all the time, and if its just 1 or 2 people that make up like 80% of their calls just get the same service they have and usually the so-called "free" service-to-service deals make up for whatever is lacking in the actual minutes pricing.

[HipsterDufus]

Don't forget that all of those plan prices are PRE-TAX. That means that you'll have an extra 10-20 dollars tacked onto that price by our wonderful government. They never tell you about that in the commercials.

[Msterbeau]

How many minutes do you need overall? That's a big factor...

[creatureofthenyte]

I know someone who has Nextel Service, and yeah the walkie talkie beep beep thing is cool, but I was told that the reception that nextel has is horrible; lots of dropped calls and bad or no service areas.

Like I mentioned before, I have Cingular. The rollover minutes feature is a very handy thing to have and can help you not go over your minutes.

Good luck

[Brenda Starrr]

I know someone who has Nextel Service, and yeah the walkie talkie beep beep thing is cool, but I was told that the reception that nextel has is horrible; lots of dropped calls and bad or no service areas.

Like I mentioned before, I have Cingular. The rollover minutes feature is a very handy thing to have and can help you not go over your minutes.

Good luck

I hated Nextel. The reception was horrible. The only thing that worked was the walkie talkie.

[Fierce Critter]

Since Jon has Nextel from work, it only makes sense for us to go with Nextel.

Talked to a customer rep today. I'll be signing us up Thursday. Since I talked to the rep today, she's going to give me a promo for $50 off my first bill. This is kinda like getting our phone free, and it's a REALLY nice phone.

What's going to suck is with our credit, we're going to have to put down a deposit. I hope it's not a big figure...

[Soulrev]

eugh, well not to throw you off but I figure I should mention that what I know of about Nextel is their service areas suck ass.. I know several people who have 'em and they suck, but then again I live about 200 miles away from all of you guys so I can't speak for how well they perform around there..

[Fierce Critter]

What you guys are all not taking into account is that I HATE CELL PHONES. So this will be primarily for home use, for me to talk to Jon and family and stuff like that.

I'll take it with me on the road to deal with emergencies and keeping in touch with Jon and stuff.

But the service areas stuff really isn't going to be a big deal to me. I will never talk to anyone from a restaurant. I will never "chat" with someone while I drive. I won't take calls while I'm in a theater/arena/sports location/whatever.

[JaneDead]

i have a cingular go phone. i think my plan is 45 bucks a month. i don't have "minutes" what i have is 45 bucks a month

so every time i make a call it deducts from that balance. i have 1000 night/weekend minutes though which does NOT deduct from that. i can do text messages at 10 cents a message. thing that sucks is i get charged 10 cents each to send or to get them. and i like to text message much more than i like to talk on my phone. (that 10 cents deducts from the 45 bucks no matter when you text though, it is never included in the weekend/night minutes)

over all i like what i have. my phone is good. always working, good reception, no dropped calls on my end, don't have to have a "2 year plan" or anything like that. it is a month to month basis. basically the concept of "pay as you go".

my phone... i forget how much it cost? but it was fairly cheap. all you do is buy the phone at like target or wherever they sell "go phones" and then you just call the number in the box to activate it.

it's good for me because i am not a cell phone person. just want to have one when i am driving/with the kids/out so people can contact me/my house can get a hold of me when i am not home.

[slingerlandstyx]

Have you looked into Metro PCS? I haven't done the homework for myself, so I don't know anything about there sarvice area or anything like that. I do have a couple of friends who go through them and they haven't had anything bad to say. It's $40 a month, unlimited minutes and text messages. I'd look into switching to them, but I just signed a 2 year contract w/ Cingular a couple of months back.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

I used nextel for years at work, had its problems but it was ok. I can only assume that its better now. Every service i've ever had or ever heard of has its detractors.

Its got a lot to do with the who/when/where aspect which you cant nessisarly figure out until you've had the thing a month or two unfortunately.

What is it about cell phones that you dont like critter? I avoided the whole cell-phone thing for a long, long time until i was forced to get used to it via work. Now i have a hard time picturing things without one. So much more convienent.

[Brenda Starrr]

I have Verizon. I love it. I've never had better service.

[jadnifer]

I currently have Metro PCS. I pay 54.90 a month for unlimited EVERYTHING. Its a good deal. Plus the fact that I never know from month to month how many minutes that I am going to spend on the phone, considering whats going on in my life at the time.

I had to buy the phone though. It cost me 106 bucks, but it was worth it. Its really small and convienent. I get awesome reception.

Nextel has TERRIBLE service, at least in my experience. I rent an upper flat and my phone was always breaking up and dropping the call. Its all in a preference though, I guess. I never used the walkie on it, so I really cant comment on that.

This Metro PCS is going to work well for me I think. The good thing about it too is that it is a month to month (no contract), no cancellation fees, and they dont run credit checks (everyone gets a phone that wants one)

Hope this helps.

[Fierce Critter]

What is it about cell phones that you dont like critter? I avoided the whole cell-phone thing for a long, long time until i was forced to get used to it via work. Now i have a hard time picturing things without one. So much more convienent.

I despise the whole rude and obsessive culture that has resulted from cell phones.

The asshole boyfriend/husband who talks on his cellphone all throughout his dinner out, while his wife/girlfriend sits silently ignored, picking at her plate while his goes cold.

The complete and total idiots talking on cellphones while driving and either driving erratically or too slow or too fast - anything but CONCENTRATING ON THE FUCKING ROAD.

The obnoxiously loud people who walk around bookstores on their phones, sit in restaurants next to me on their phones, etc making me have to deal with their noise pollution.

The obnoxious children who treat cellphones like some God-given right - and the parents who indulge them.

The obsession of people who can't be without one for five fucking minutes.

That's primarily it. For years, I haven't worn a watch because I started to feel like I was being controlled by a piece of machinery on my wrist. I think cellphones are even worse for that.

I have one now. Which is a thread in of itself. And I am very, very wary.