Cell phone...first timer

Sendarie · Post by **Sendarie** » March 5, 2007, 4:28 pm

I'm going to finally break down and get my first actual cell phone. Will be 2I'm sure 99% of you guys have a cell. Any tips for plans and all that stuff...I literally dont know a thing about them or the process so I'm easy to screw at this point.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 5, 2007, 5:19 pm

It's all about signal strength and contracts.

Usually you'll be able to get a phone or phones cheap but you'll have to sign a year or two year contract. That's no big deal except you won't know if the particular provider's network has good reception around your home so signing a contract isn't a good idea until you find that out.

It doesn't matter which you choose...Sprint, Verizon, Cingular etc, there's the possibility that your home may be in a weak reception area for one of them. If possible, get a demo phone for a day or two so you can check the reception in your most important locations (work/home).

I'm sure all Cell Phone providers have similar deals, but Sprint will give you 150.00 off a new phone every 18 months as long as you sign a two year contract. Sprint also has the scalable plan where you can sign up for a low minute plan and aren't penalized if you go over your minutes, you simply are charged for the tier you fall into that month and not some outrageous per minute fee so you can be comfortable signing up for a low cost plan and not really worry if you happen to talk on your cell a lot more than usual one month...you'll pay 10.00 more that month, not 300.00. Everything is "free and clear" as well now so you can call anywhere in the continental U.S. with no extra charge. A lot of this is probably the same with Verizon and Cingular.

People seem to get all fanboyish over their particular carrier and someone that's had a bad experience with one provider will have had a bad experience with that "miracle" provider the other person switched to. The most important thing is making sure your key areas are covered well with the service you choose.

I'm not under contract with now and like it that way so the next phone I buy from Sprint, I won't take advantage of the 150.00 in order to free myself up to buy an iPhone from Cingular.*

*yeah right! iPhone is overpriced and blurry do to having to look through fingerprint smears to see your screen!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 5, 2007, 8:53 pm

Just saw this over on Digg:

Some additional comments below the article at the site. Didn't read them:

http://consumerist.com/consumer/verizon ... 241665.php

A former Verizon sales rep, let's call him Steve, wrote to us recently offering insider advice to all Consumerist readers. We were excited because by knowing how the sales force at Verizon are compensated, consumers can get an edge when haggling over a new phone. What? Haggling!? Over a phone!? Yes, even you can do it. Verizon Steve confesses all he knows, from the simple to the sublime...:

• Never get a 2-year contract. "The only benefit to a 2 yr contract is a $50 savings on your phone. Its not worth it. Take the $50 and get a 1 year then you can upgrade to a new phone every 10 months."

• Verizon reps get tons of money from new lines and certain accessories and text packages, take advantage of this. They won't let a new customer walk out the door. "Play hardball, they will do anything to get the new lines. VZW makes $ off the service, not the phones. Tell them you don't want to mail in the rebate. There does come a point of diminishing returns. For example, if you walked in and wanted a $39 plan and a free Treo 700, not gonna happen. But I have given away almost every non-PDA phone in the store for the right deal. Also tell them you will buy the accessories, and text package. Trust me here, these are 2 of the biggest metrics for the reps. Return the accessories the next day and call customer care to cancel your text package."

• Mention the lost or stolen program to get 25% off a new phone, even if you're under contract. Who's to say you didn't lose it?

• If you're on a rate plan of $59.99 or higher, you can get "a new phone (and new contract) for the discounted price after 12 months."

• Insurance is a rip-off. It costs too much and has a $50 deductible.

• Tell them you'll sign up for the Unlimited Data Plan with your Treo. "Speaking of Treos, often they offer an extra $100 off if you get the Unlimited data plan. Get it.. Save $100 and cancel it the next day if you don't want it. The leverage here is amazing also because that high end data package counts as a new activation in a roundabout way for the rep. None of the data packages are contractual. I use to tell the customers this just to save them $."

• Reps don't get as much money if you're still in a contract. If you upgrade on the phone with Verizon, the store reps won't be as motivated to help you.

• Ask for a loyalty credit on the phone before going to the store. "One way to work the system if you have New Every 2 and are out of contract is to call customer care, have then put you back into contract, but ask for a loyalty credit (up to $60 off your next months bill), then go into the retail store and use your New Every 2. The two credits can't be combined and that is the only way to get both. I've never seen this not work, although they could technically say that you already got a credit, but the system are not that informative and I have never seen that happen. Just make sure you know the contract rules for VZW in your state, and make sure you go to the store in time to cancel the new contract in case you cant use the NE2."

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 5, 2007, 8:58 pm

I wonder why he's a "former" employee...

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 5, 2007, 9:10 pm

Boogahz wrote:I wonder why he's a "former" employee...

I use to tell the customers this just to save them $."

I'm guessing he was monitored.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 5, 2007, 10:32 pm

Winnow wrote:
Boogahz wrote:I wonder why he's a "former" employee...

I use to tell the customers this just to save them $."
I'm guessing he was monitored.

yeah...too many people don't realize that if a "deal" is available as an exception for customers, it is not available for every customer every time. Doing crap like that repeatedly gets flagged by most companies. I'm all for getting a good deal on a product, but an employee making this type of information "public" usually means those deals will not be available anymore. His 15 minutes of fame were for nothing.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » March 6, 2007, 5:09 pm

It's not a horrible idea to look at the phones available for each of the carries before choosing a carrier. As an example, Sprint's phones suck. All of them. And you can't do anything with them without paying for it (and at higher prices than other carriers). (No ringtones, no graphics, no picture messaging, etc) Where as with Cingular phones, you can do whatever you want as long as you (sometimes) buy the USB cable / software yourself. Those are the two I've got experience with and personally speaking for my area, Sprint sucks horrible, horrible cancerous donkey balls.

Post by **Sylvus** » March 6, 2007, 5:19 pm

I hated Sprint (phones and service) to the point of switching to Nextel just out of spite. They then bought Nextel and I got out of there because of how much I hated Sprint. I have Verizon now and I really like it. Where I'd get occasional dead spots with Sprint/Nextel, I have yet to not have service anywhere with VZW in the 6 months I've had it. Plus my bill is cheaper and the choice of phones was much better.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 6, 2007, 5:40 pm

Both Verizon and Cingular phones I've tried have failed.

The Verizen blew up in my hand with the battery igniting and subsequently catching my hair on fire.

Cingular's phone emitted a high pitched squeal which ended up killing a neighbor's dog.

My Sprint phone is so durable I was able to throw it 20 yards across a room in order to jam it between elevator doors closing, giving me enough time to run to the elevator and make an appointment on time. I then made a call from 10 stories below the ground while a black ops project I was visiting tried to jam it's signal.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 6, 2007, 5:48 pm

My personal suggestion is based on which side of the valley you are planning on moving to. When I last lived there (it's been 2 years now) At&t/Cingular was the only carrier that had any service on the West side of the valley, where all the nice fancy neighborhoods were going in. That may have changed since then, but i doubt it as the city council wasn't allowing the phone companies to build cell towers because they were 'unsightly.'

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 6, 2007, 6:29 pm

Truant wrote:That may have changed since then, but i doubt it as the city council wasn't allowing the phone companies to build cell towers because they were 'unsightly.'

Most of the cell towers in the Phoenix metro area are disguised as palm trees. You'd have to be actively searching for them to notice that they weren't an actual tree. Las Vegas metro should look into doing the same.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » March 6, 2007, 7:00 pm

Siji wrote:It's not a horrible idea to look at the phones available for each of the carries before choosing a carrier. As an example, Sprint's phones suck. All of them. And you can't do anything with them without paying for it (and at higher prices than other carriers). (No ringtones, no graphics, no picture messaging, etc) Where as with Cingular phones, you can do whatever you want as long as you (sometimes) buy the USB cable / software yourself. Those are the two I've got experience with and personally speaking for my area, Sprint sucks horrible, horrible cancerous donkey balls.

Just a side note,
You can download ringtones and all sorts of other stuff for free at
http://www.3gforfree.com
I think it works for every company except verizon, I have used it ever since I have had a cell phone and the rings are equal in quality to anything I have heard from cell providers paid services.

I have Sprint, and I agree that they pretty much suck. There is only one half decent phone I thought about getting from them, but now I have a Nokia phone my cousin sent me from Japan that I got unlocked and can use with T mobile when my Sprint contract is up.

In my area for service actually all of the companies are pretty much on the same page. This I think is the biggest deal for searching for a cell phone, you could have the coolest highest quality phone on the market but if the service area sucks it's not going to mean jack shit.

I would try and talk to people in the area and find out about their experience with the services available - and once you find out what is the best, find the phone you like from them.

That all being said, Japanese phones are fucking crazy. My cousin was just back a month or so ago with his newest phone. It is a flip phone, and the screen turns sideways so you can watch TV with the tuner that is in it.

Text messaging is awesome, when you type LOL for example - it changes to an emoticon. So when someone with a phone like that opens the text, it displays the text as the message goes (hard to explain - like it scrolls the text across the screen) then if there is an emoticon it will change to that after it shows the word.

The internet is cheap and they have all sorts of other crazy apps that no one has here. They have video phone so you can look at the person you are talking to.

And one of the coolest things is that he can pay at pretty much anything (vending machines, trains, etc) with his phone just by waving it in front of the stuff... So damn jealous.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 6, 2007, 7:04 pm

Funkmasterr wrote: And one of the coolest things is that he can pay at pretty much anything (vending machines, trains, etc) with his phone just by waving it in front of the stuff... So damn jealous.

I'd like to see him pay like that at one of the vending machines in my building.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 6, 2007, 7:30 pm

Bad experiences with Sprint!

I have started with Sprint twice, and I was provided with numbers that were still regularly used both times. I received constant calls on each of them, and the second time I tried Sprint, I had them change the number once before I canceled the service. Five minutes after the number was changed, I got a call from the prior owner's sister that had talked to him three days before at that number.

Check out the contract that you will be signing. Most companies will still have a period that you can cancel without any penalty. I believe the it was 30 days with Sprint, but I didn't make it more than 10 days either time I was with them.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 6, 2007, 7:47 pm

Here's the Cingular version of the ex employee tips:

The need for cell phone sales reps to cleanse themselves in the healing waters of the Consumerist is nearing an all-time high. Reps from all over the cell phone universe are flooding the tip line, a tidal wave of lost souls begging for redemption... Ok, not really, but a guy who works at Cingular just wrote us with some tips for the readers. Why should Verizon have all the damn fun?

• Avoid contract extensions by changing your rate plan at a store. "If you want to change your rate plan, do it in a retail store instead of on-line or over the phone. Officially after 1/2 of your contract is over a rate plan change results in a contract extension, but I've never once seen that rule enforced in the store."

• Features are your friends. "You can just about get about get a rep to do anything you want if you offer to get a text package or a data package, and they can be cancelled on-line or over the phone the second you leave the store. The same goes for accessories. Offer to get accessories if it will get you a deal, they can be returned no questions asked within 30 days. (Let me put it this way, if a customer came in looking to get a treo w/the data package and accessories I would have sold a Treo 750 for $100 after rebate)"

• Upgrade more often with a higher priced rate plan. "[Cingular's] upgrade policies are similar to Verizon's, if someone's rate plan has been 75 dollars or higher (including features, but excluding taxes) for the last three months, they can upgrade 1/2 way through their contract."

• Get the rebate in the store, and at home. "Try to get the rep to give you the rebate in the store, they'll be likely to do this if you agree to get accessories. You can get go on-
line and print out the rebate form from http://www.cingular.com and send it in anyway."

• Make the store compete with the website. "Remember that the retail stores can match prices for the cingular website, so check those prices before you go into a store."

• Get credit for your mistakes. "If you go way over on your text messaging one month, go into a store and ask if they can credit you the difference if you sign up for a bigger text package. They should be able to do this, and you can always drop your text back down after you've gotten your credit."

• Use the internet for $20. "Also, regardless of what kind of phone you have a $20 mediaMAX data package will give you unlimted access to the web that will not use your minutes, whether you're using a phone, a PDA, or even a laptop card."

Sendarie · Post by **Sendarie** » March 7, 2007, 11:33 am

Great info guys, appreciate it.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » March 7, 2007, 2:25 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:Just a side note, You can download ringtones and all sorts of other stuff for free at

The difference between that and using a USB cable is that you pay for that online time while downloading the tones. Also, if you're into making your own tones (which I do, and which is very easy) it's much easier to transfer them from your computer via USB cable than find a service to transmit them. So yes, you're right that there are some workarounds. But less hassle is better.

Funkmasterr wrote:This I think is the biggest deal for searching for a cell phone, you could have the coolest highest quality phone on the market but if the service area sucks it's not going to mean jack shit.

Another thing with having better/more phones to choose from is that the better the phone, the better it's going to be able to snag a signal. I had a nice Motorola phone and it sucked at getting a signal. Switched back to a Nokia and I had full bars almost all the time and no calls dropped. Not to mention being able to hear the call better, etc. Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » March 7, 2007, 2:34 pm

Siji wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:Just a side note, You can download ringtones and all sorts of other stuff for free at
The difference between that and using a USB cable is that you pay for that online time while downloading the tones. Also, if you're into making your own tones (which I do, and which is very easy) it's much easier to transfer them from your computer via USB cable than find a service to transmit them. So yes, you're right that there are some workarounds. But less hassle is better.

Funkmasterr wrote:This I think is the biggest deal for searching for a cell phone, you could have the coolest highest quality phone on the market but if the service area sucks it's not going to mean jack shit.
Another thing with having better/more phones to choose from is that the better the phone, the better it's going to be able to snag a signal. I had a nice Motorola phone and it sucked at getting a signal. Switched back to a Nokia and I had full bars almost all the time and no calls dropped. Not to mention being able to hear the call better, etc. Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for.

You pay per minute or something for the internet? I just pay a flat monthly fee no matter how long I use it or how much I download. Like 15 dollars with sprint I think. I don't have a data plan because I think palm pilot phones are unnecessary and that is all you would need those for really.

making my own tones is something I have wanted to mess with too.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 7, 2007, 2:37 pm

Siji wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:Just a side note, You can download ringtones and all sorts of other stuff for free at
The difference between that and using a USB cable is that you pay for that online time while downloading the tones.

Are you serious? In this day and age when everyone already has a connection to the internet, you're saying that paying to be online is a notable con?

I suppose some grandad who may not have a net connection but somehow is hip enough to have a clue about ringtones may have an issue with springing for the cash necessary to get his PC connected to the net along with grabbing the fancy ringtones on a cell phone.

If you know where to look, there's plenty of free ringtones, wallpapers, etc that you don't even need a USB connection for. The websites will call your phone and upload them...same with if you are able to figure out how to hit an "upload" button on a webpage and then master the "browse" button to load a ring tone from your hard drive. Not too hard and free.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » March 7, 2007, 11:33 pm

Winnow wrote:
Siji wrote:
Funkmasterr wrote:Just a side note, You can download ringtones and all sorts of other stuff for free at
The difference between that and using a USB cable is that you pay for that online time while downloading the tones.
Are you serious? In this day and age when everyone already has a connection to the internet, you're saying that paying to be online is a notable con?

Believe it or not some people just use their cell phone as, get this, a phone. And in a thread regarding someone purchasing a cell phone for the very first time, they're not too likely to grab a Treo and unlimited Internet access. More likely they're going to get the cheapest solution they can which likely doesn't include data plans.

Winnow wrote:If you know where to look, there's plenty of free ringtones, wallpapers, etc that you don't even need a USB connection for. The websites will call your phone and upload them...same with if you are able to figure out how to hit an "upload" button on a webpage and then master the "browse" button to load a ring tone from your hard drive. Not too hard and free.

I know you're about as dense as the Arches Cluster, but try comprehension once more and see where I acknowledged those very facts already.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 8, 2007, 12:28 am

Now that these cockfighters have cockfighted (new word) up your thread...I'll see if i can help you with information that will be useful to you as it pertains to your situation.

You're looking to get 2 phones, for you and your wife. I assume to talk to each other!
A family plan would be good for this as you generally aren't charged minutes when talking to each other. This means you can get a much smaller monthly minute allotment, since the majority of your cell useage will be between the two of you.

Another question to ask is if you make enough long distance calls to warrant getting that kind of package on your cell phone. Personally, I have that ability (anywhere in the US with no charge), and I don't even have long distance service on my land-line.

As far as internet/video/musicplayer/whatever capabilities. I would suggest that you not even worry about that now. Get comfortable with using the phone in your daily activities. And I don't say that to insult you or anything, but my parents (for example) still nearly panic when they're driving and their phones ring. They don't keep them in a convenient place, and therefor have to take much more concentration off of driving than they should. You've never had a cell phone before, so get accustomed to one, and the learn the nuances of how a cell phone can help make your life easier. Once you get the hang of that, you can always add any of those other features to your billing plan at any time, and until then you're just paying for something you don't know how to use (and have no use for).

As to providers, I don't know that it matters a whole lot. There are benefits to each, but there isn't one provider that stands out head and shoulders above any others (despite what some people on this board will try and bludgeon you with).

At&t(Cingular) doesn't charge you any minutes for any call made to any other cellphone under that provider (which is a huge amount of people). They recently announced that any At&t customer (cell or land) can call any other at&t customer (cell or land) for no charge. That's pretty big.

Sprint has nextel under their umbrella, and I believe has some better performance in their internet service, but don't quote me on that. I know very little about them, except that they must spend a fortune for all the product placement in 24.

T-mobile also has a similar program to At&t that you can call any other T-mobile customer gratis (or at least they used to, my friends that had t-mobile switched).

Verizon has their 5. Where you can pick 5 people and have unlimited calling to them.

I'll clarify here and say that I use At&t, so that winnow and anyone else can lambast me for a shill. I have family that works for them, and nearly all of my family has used them for at least 10 years now. We're all very happy with our service.

All that said, my personal recommendation is that you sign up for a year contract and get whatever freebie phone they give you. You don't want to overwhelm yourself with learning the features of some tricorder looking piece of equipment that literally has more capability than your computer. Get used to a phone first, learn the other stuff later. Also I recommend the year because we don't know for sure how each provider's coverage is in the area you'll be moving to. If it's good, well then you can re-up in a year and get a fancier phone if you want. If it blows, well you can switch in a year, no big deal.

I say it's better to err on the short side (because you can up the plan at any point for no penalty) than to pay too much for a plan that's way more than you use.

Anyways, hope it helps.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » March 8, 2007, 12:02 pm

I've had Sprint for over 6 years and never had a single issue. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sprint will lose my business if they fuck up or I'm suddenly getting dropped calls or something.

I would change in a heartbeat for a better plan from somewhere else, but Sprint keeps lowering thier prices for us everytime our contract is up in order to keep us.

Sendarie · Post by **Sendarie** » March 8, 2007, 12:53 pm

Great post Truant.

Question on cell phones are your minutes charged on when you call someone only or are you charged for incoming calls as well?

Post by **Sylvus** » March 8, 2007, 1:09 pm

Truant wrote:T-mobile also has a similar program to At&t that you can call any other T-mobile customer gratis (or at least they used to, my friends that had t-mobile switched).

Verizon has their 5. Where you can pick 5 people and have unlimited calling to them.

Slightly wrong here. T-mobile has the 5, and I think they actually just changed it to 10 people. That's where you can call that number of people who are on any network (even competitors) and it's always free to those people. I don't know about whether all calls to other T-mobile customers are free if they aren't in your 5 or 10.

Verizon has what they call "in", where you can call or text message anyone else who has verizon for free, all the time, without having to do any setup or whatever. I'm not sure if T-mobiles 5 (or 10) requires you to setup those people that are free. And Verizon has free nights/weekends and free long distance, at least in my package.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » March 8, 2007, 1:27 pm

Sylvus wrote:
Truant wrote:T-mobile also has a similar program to At&t that you can call any other T-mobile customer gratis (or at least they used to, my friends that had t-mobile switched).

Verizon has their 5. Where you can pick 5 people and have unlimited calling to them.
Slightly wrong here. T-mobile has the 5, and I think they actually just changed it to 10 people. That's where you can call that number of people who are on any network (even competitors) and it's always free to those people. I don't know about whether all calls to other T-mobile customers are free if they aren't in your 5 or 10.

Verizon has what they call "in", where you can call or text message anyone else who has verizon for free, all the time, without having to do any setup or whatever. I'm not sure if T-mobiles 5 (or 10) requires you to setup those people that are free. And Verizon has free nights/weekends and free long distance, at least in my package.

The T Mobile plan with the my 5 (or 10) does not have mobile to mobile as well, so your calls to other people not in your 5 (or 10) will count towards your minutes. However, at least in my situation I don't see this being a big issue because 10 people would make up about 95% of my talk time.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » March 8, 2007, 5:55 pm

Sendarie wrote:Great post Truant.

Question on cell phones are your minutes charged on when you call someone only or are you charged for incoming calls as well?

Normally, both. But with the things that we're talking about...where providers don't charge you for calls to other members of the network, you're charged for neither! They also round up (important to consider if you're trying to precalculate your usage). So if you go 5 minutes and 20 seconds. You get charged for 6 minutes.

Sorry about that Sylvus, I totally wrote that off the top of my head...I guess I should have done some research first.

I can also confirm that At&t(Cingular) has free nights/weekends and long distance on most packages. (I know they don't on the emergency use only package, which they don't even advertise, maybe another *shrug*)