Comments on: Cell Phone Madness

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Oct 2002 14:05:54 +0000

Chris,
I have been analyzing wireless since 1978. I am very familiar with cellular. I subscribe to both Verizon (best coverage in the U.S.) and T-Mobile (best for using overseas because it's GSM). The Motorola T720 is a good phone.
However, if you don't need a phone immediately, I would suggest you wait until mid-December to make a choice. The reason is there should be two or more new phones — all with color and many with polyphonic ringtones — introduced for Verizon.
I have seen these phones. The T720 has a large screen, decent color and okay navigational menus. A couple of the other phones have smaller screens, but with better color. Motorola isn't known for good interfaces, but it improves every year to the point where it's now possible to use the phone without a manual.
So, if you need/want a phone immediately, the new Motorola unit is a good one. But if you wait for a couple of months, you will have a larger selection from Verizon.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Oct 2002 12:57:41 +0000

I also have the T720. My mom and I each got one two weeks ago. And we LOVE it! It does everything except wash the dishes. Great little phone. And it has a high coolness factor, every time I open it up, people say “Ooooh, is that a COLOR screen?” and then they try to rip it out of my hands.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 19:39:37 +0000

I used my Nextel i90 @ Gnomedex2 without a singe problem. In fact, I had better coverage all through Iowa than I did in Michigan. I was able to use my phone for the entire drive, and everywhere that I went while I was in Iowa.
The biggest drawback to Nextel is the high up front cost for the phone.
Paying your bill could not be easier though. You can do it online, over the phone, or through the mail. My plan gives me free nights and weekends, unlimited direct connect, free instate long distance, and 1000 anytime minutes for about $60.00 a month. Plus, your long distance is based on what state you are in at the moment. So all local calls that I made in Iowa were LOCAL. I was only charged long distance for the calls that I made to Michigan. I don't have a regular phone. Why would I.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 05:18:17 +0000

As far as carriers go, for every horrible review there's a good review, so basically it just gets down to luck of the draw. There's a few bad reviews of Verizon on this thread, but I'm one that hasn't had any problems with Verizon. In many cases it just gets down to the service in a particular area or a particular phone that's not working well with the network.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 04:20:40 +0000

Don't do it man. I had Verizon for a year, and when my phone finally up and quit, reciving no calls or anything, they refused to replace it, even though it was their promo phone. They said I had to wait another year to have them replace it, since I was on a two year plan. I love sprint so much better. I get reception absolutly everywhere, and I live in Sacramento, CA.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 04:12:29 +0000

verizon sucks .. mom had it .. a friend having it right now .. they both having problem with not receiving phone calls. T-mobile uses the same tower as Cingular and they also sucks .. drop calls all the time. the best provider is att and that's what i am on.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Oct 2002 03:03:51 +0000

Stay away from SprintPCS at all costs. If you were to get a VZW phone then go to a VZW store, don't go to a Radio Shack. In my experience they will rape, maim, screw you over for a buck. I would go with T-Mobile. T-Mobile uses Cingular's towers in cali but they use their own switches/equipment so you won't get tons of dropped calls like you do with Cingular. T-Mo all the way!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2002 21:57:12 +0000

A friend has that phone without any problems. I use voicestreem myself and have had no problems.
Stay away from Cingular

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2002 10:23:53 +0000

I just picked up a Motorola T720 and I love it! I've had it about a week now and I only have one complaint and that's the relatively short battery life but what do ya expect considering the color screen. Just shut off a few things you may not need to save juice and have that charger with you in the car. If you use the phone alot, maybe consider a second backup battery or just wait till a higher-capacity battery comes out, which should be soon. The sound is clear and crisp and connection-loss is minimal. Bottom line is this phone rocks, and with the $100 trade-in rebate it's worth every penny and more. It's also currently the best phone Verizon has to offer. Avoid the Z-800 and the LX series as Verizon had horrible problems with the LX-1, the LX-10 is available now but could you trust it? Maybe, maybe not. The only other phone I'd consider from Verizon is the Samsung A310, it's not color but it's a quality piece. Of course the Motorola V60i is nice and still extremely popular but it's becoming dated feature-wise. So anyone considering the T720 shouldn't think twice about it and pick one up, ya won't regret it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2002 06:58:56 +0000

I understand Samsung phones are nifty. However, the one i like is offered through Cingular. http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/nabc/prod/hhcommerce/telecommunications/prod_tel_subcategory_1.jsp for verizon samsung models: http://www.samsungtelecom.com/recommend/by_provider.asp?pid=2

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2002 03:18:18 +0000

The first thing to decide is what you need from the service. For me, coverage is the most important (I'm in Sacramento). I had Verizon, switched to AT&T for a better plan, hated the constant dropouts and dropped calls, and just switched back to Verizon and already like the coverage better.
Second, getconnected.com carries Verizon and has a rebate–I took the $50 offer, but I think they just raised it to $100. I got the new V60i for $149 after rebate.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2002 19:16:06 +0000

Stay away from Motorola's 120c. First week the antenna fell off and then some how I lost my number nine. So emergency calls are out of the question.
I am on Verizon and I would have to say its ok. Nothing too great in this area anyway.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2002 18:32:37 +0000

No comments on any of the cell phone service providers since none of them are available in my area but as for Radio Shack goes and the local stores in my small town, I'm going to agree with Russ, I dont' think I would ever buy a big priced item from the shops around here..

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2002 06:02:42 +0000

Chris, I have Nextel and love it. I have the Motorola i90c. If you get Gretchen on Nextel also, you can use Direct connect all the time. The speakerphones on these things are awesome. If you want color, get the i95c.
I used my Nextel phone and service while I was down in San Jose recently and it worked great. You should have no problems with it in San Fran whatsoever.
My wife and I don't even have home phone service anymore, we use our cell phones for everything.
I highly recommed them based on my experience. Since you live in a major city, they will work fine. You might want to check coverage for Iowa on their website though. They do not have analog roaming. I would think that the larger cities in Iowa would be covered.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2002 03:40:25 +0000

Hi Chris. I may be a little late but I wanted to add my 2 cents. I've been a Verizon Wireless customer for many years how. (I live in Philly.) I've never had a problem with my cell. The network is great (doesn't drop out like most of the other services.) I had two Startaks (analog and digital) and now I have a digital nokia. I also have what I think is a great plan. (I don't use my cell a lot) My plan is $35.00 a month and I get 300 free peak minutes and 4l000 night and weekend minutes. I use my digital cell to access the net with my laptop and the data transfer time is used from my regular account. So when on vacation on the weekend I had the 4000 minutes to use to surf.
All that said, I do recommend Verizon. I've also purchased phones and contracts from Radio Shack as well as Verizon.
Good luck with your new phonel