Your cellphone, carrier, and thoughts!

[Revox]

Howdy all, I have been using my LG CU500 now thru AT&T wireless for quite a while now, and after some bashing from the children, and a battery that has most definitely reached its end of life... I am searching for a new personal cellphone.

I currently carry 2 phones, but my other phone, thru Sprint, is a company phone. It is a PPC6800 Smartphone called the Mogul. It is not bad, but has terrible battery life, and the phone portion of this device leaves a lot to be desired.

I am looking for a new personal cell, and quite honestly don't really want a smartphone. After having my work phone for the longest time, it lacks too much of what's important to justify all the small cool and convenient things it does do.

I have not decided whether to stay with AT&T or go to Sprint. Both of which give me a pretty nice employee plan. Looking for a device with a strong phone portion, and hopefully EXCELLENT battery life. Nothing bugs me more than knowing my phone will die for sure if it gets moderate to heavy usage during the day.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[Soul]

Well, Sprint and AT&T coverage suck in my area, (have AT&T for work though) my personal cell is with Verizon who I have been with for 15 years, well it was other companies before it ended as Verizon.

Anyway, my last phone I went looking for something reasonably small, but not to small, rugged decent battery life and above all handles calls well, because I don't want to listen to music or take pictures with it, I want to make calls.

I ended up with a Motorola V325i (it does have a camera which I never use) but it has nice little rubber grip around the outside, decent battery life. When not in use battery life is about a week plus before a charge is needed, with moderate use (couple hours a day) it would need charged every day. There is an extended battery available for it, but above all else it calls are clear and the sound of calls is much better than other phones I have had.

[{OF}Blong]

I just dropped my cell phone and got vonage. well I will be dropping my cell phone on the 24rth anyways. $40/month cheaper .

[{OF}Erad]

Originally Posted by {OF}Blong

I just dropped my cell phone and got vonage. well I will be dropping my cell phone on the 24rth anyways. $40/month cheaper .

Did your Cell Phone Break when you dropped it? Or, do you still need to break it more by dropping it on the 24th again???

Yeah, I have Vonage as a 2nd line at home too, but it's not a Cell Phone carrier... And, you can't use it when you're not connected to the Internet, like when you are driving around in your car, or are at a store shopping, or out for a walk, or are over at a freinds house, or traveling, or at the office, or... well you get the picture, right????.... Cell Phones are Mobile...
Back to the Topic:
I use Verizon. Had it 13 years now (Like Soul said, name has changed several times), and love it. We have 3 phones to keep intouch with each other (Son, Wife and I), and through work, I get a 20% discount on services, and up to 35% off phones and accessories. I recently upgraded my phone too and have been using all LG phones for awhile, as they seem to give me the best battery life. I can make it a week on a single charge with a few calls and texts a day. If I make a lot of calls and texts, it only makes it 3 days before it needs a charge.

The biggest reason I stay with Verizon is because calls are free to other Verizon users, like my Sister, my Mom and Most of my friends, who all use Verizon.

[ChemicalWarrior]

Originally Posted by {OF}Blong

I just dropped my cell phone and got vonage. well I will be dropping my cell phone on the 24rth anyways. $40/month cheaper .

Ahh yes, Vonage offering cell phone service with their "voice over AIR" technology now? No Internet access needed too I bet!

I'd stick with AT&T, Rev. No other reason really other than that Sprint is going through some real hard times right now and I wouldn't want to mess with a provider in such a situation. The other consideration is who is the dominate provider in your area and what is the most common provider within the people you call most often. In my town AT&T is by far the most common provider by a very very long shot, so its the only reasonable choice even though Verizon and Sprint offer service.

[{OF}Malicious Assault]

I use Verizon and have for about 5 years. I have yet to come across a place I dont get an in network signal, and I travel all over the country. They have some good plans and as for phones I would go to the store and look for something you like and look it up on the net as to performance and quality. I use a Razor and it works fine for me.

[{OF}GreyGhost]

We have been using Verizon for over 10 years now ( 2 phones). Changed to Sprint for about two weeks and went back to Verizon. With all the traveling I do in the lower 48, Verizon has had the best coverage of all. The down side is they don't have the best priced packages and any extra features cost extra money, but you very surely get what you pay for. Also, there customer service has always been very good, only had a few minor issues with the billing and they fixed to my satisfaction right a way.

[Venda]

I can't complain about Verizon; Used it for at least 10 years . I use it for my personal cell, an LG vx8700, and my BB 8830 for work. Coverage nationwide is outstanding, and recent upgrades to plans make roaming just about history.

The LG vx8700 sounds great, works well with Bluetooth, battery charge is outstanding (except for exposure to very cold temps..saps the battery badly) Number pads are easy to one-hand/thumb, and the screen easy to see. Yeah, the phone does all the kewl stuff, but the voice quality alone makes it a fav for me. The speakerphone actually is useable. One note, it's a 'shiney' phone...very high polish - so if fingerprints bug you, you'll be buffing this one alot.

Gotta admit, the Blackberry 8830 is sweet too, if you need or want one. I really do love this version. I just prefer to keep my personal calls on my personal phone; I see no need for my employer to be privy to my personal call information.

[Nomad Soul]

I started out with Alltel and it was good for awhile, but after a couple years started to suck. Went through a variety of Nokia phones never had any probs. Went over to AT&T and it has a lot better coverage at least where I live. Few dropped calls here and there, but that goes for just about any carrier. I have one of the newer Razr models that everyone and thier mom seems to have, but I haven't had any problems with it and its been really dependable phone. I don't use any of the fancy internet/bluetooth stuff. Just use it as what its suppose to be a phone and thats all I really care about when it comes to cell phones. All the extra stuff is just that extra stuff Ill never use. Anyway yeah I don't think this helped any but hey I need to keep my post count up.

[Revox]

Quite honestly... the only one I'm not considering is verizon. I had used verizon since a young age under my father's account, and then finally got my own account when I got old enough to do so and was supporting myself. I am not sure if it is just a Tennessee thing, but the verizon folks here really screwed me hard. I ended up disconnecting my service abruptly and took my month's bill to put towards an AT&T (Cingular at the time) phone, which I have had until now.

That in itself is a long story, which I believe is half the fault of the agent who I had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with when activating/opening my account. To make a long story short, I am still waiting for "Verizon Collections" to fall off of my credit report. =P

Honestly, in our area... my Sprint phone has crappy reception, but I have also read that is partly the phone's fault, as it supposedly has reception issues.

My AT&T phone (even doing service calls all over east TN) has been great up until now, but only because it's taken a beating and needs to be replaced.

I guess my problem comes in the form of not being under contract. I have no ability to get the big discount on a phone by signing a contract.

With Sprint, I can sign one and still be under EMP plan, but with AT&T I am not sure. I also have not seen any AT&T phones out there right now that fit what I'm looking for. I've been browsing for the past few hours, and Sprint has 2 I would really want, AT&T zero... save for the iPhone, which I would be murdered for purchasing by my fiance. =P

Guess I'm stuck...heh