Again I am requesting the opinions and advice of my fellow club members. This time it is about cell phones. I am thinking about switching service from Verizon Wireless (http://www.airtouch.com/b2c/index.jsp) to AT&T Wireless (http://www.attwireless.com/index_a.jhtml;dsessionid=FBEWGALJ5ENPTB4R0EHSFEY?_ requestid=47674) . The reason is that my girlfriend's service provider is at&t and it would end up saving us both money. What are your opinions of these two companies? Give me Good points of each and bad points please. Is it worth the money to switch?

My next point is that my new phone will be the Motorola V600 (http://commerce.motorola.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=253241&prmenbr=126&phone_cgrfnbr=1&zipcode=). Has anyone had any experiance with this phone? I know this is a pretty new phone, but how long has it been available? Basically, I am just looking for some reviews to help decide. Thanks a bunch.

-JiM

hi jim

get the sony p900 pda phone , ATT is bit pricey but they have the best overall service. Only thing is they charge you for every little thing.

Get the Sony T616. This is the phone I have. Bluetooth so you can get the hands free for your car and it matches our interior. :D

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/sc/30538750-2-300-overview-1.gif

american phones suck. get euro/asia phones. you can order them online or if you're lucky, find a shop in your town that sells them. if you buy online you have to reprogram the phone to work with your carrier/country. you can find directions for free online. if you buy from the shop, chances are they'll do it for you for a small fee.
i strongly recommend the p900. i used p800 and it was the bomb. can't wait for my p900.

I would get the 600. I have T-mobile (sucks) and scored a v500 which is basicly the same fone. Coming from a t720 it was a huge difference, better call quailty, much better screen resolution, built in speaker phone, MP3 ring tones, and the "motofoto" camara with 4x zoom. The only down side is battery life, this may have been fixed in the 600 but in mine its only like 50 hours stand by and a few of talk, this isn't unbarable but the 720 could go 4 or 5 days with the big battery.


The bluetooth is also very cool, having the piece in your ear with no wire makes you feel like a secerete agent, but also very useful, much like the GPS. Buy it for the cool factor but never understand how you lived without it.

AT&T wireless is one of the worse cell phone companies.

It had the most complaints filed by customers than any other wireless company in the united states. It also delayed and screwed up the handling of many customers who later tried to switch to other providers and retain their phone number.

AT&T Wireless isn't even AT&T anymore. It was bought by Cingular.

Here's some info on that:

No matter the reasons, the fact remains that AT&T Wireless is losing loads of customers, and that means lost revenue for acquirer Cingular. Worse, the nearly endless stream of bad news suggests Cingular will have to spend dearly to fix AT&T Wireless' problems, likely starting with a major overhaul of the two firms' IT infrastructures.

In paying $41 billion in cash after a much-hyped bidding war, Cingular gushed like a newlywed about its spouse-to-be. Now that the two are moving in together, Cingular could become dismayed with the mess of bonbon wrappers and cookie crumbs its sweetheart leaves around the house.

I personally use sprint, though they have pissed me off at times.

My current plan is 1000 anytime minutes per month, unlimited off peak minutes (after 9pm). $45/mo. And I got a free camera phone (Sanyo SCP-8100S)

The P800 and 900 are fine if you like carrying around such a large device. I am a fan of minimalism and the T616 fits the bill while still being feature rich. Camera, bluetooth, triband, java enabled, etc. It is a really good phone and very small so it fits in my pocket with no fuss when I go out at night.

I have AT&T and their coverage is pretty good (and I mean actual coverage, not what they show on the map).

I haven't had any billing problems with AT&T, but I do think their customer support has something to be desired. Also, if you're hoping to save money by both you and your girlfriend getting on the same plan, you better hope that she's not already in a contract with them (just paying month to month now), and she's willing to switch phone numbers, or willing to pay a fee to keep her "old" number.

After my wife and I married we decided to keep AT&T (it was her carrier first). She was finished with her contract paying month to month but when we went to sign up for a new plan together, they said she had to change her number (they considered it a new service), or pay a fee to have it switched. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Oh... and you can't do anything at their little retarded stores other than set up new service. They won't "add you" to the account there. You'll have to call in.

Again, customer service blows a bit, but the service it's self I have no complaints about. Good luck.

Originally posted by murix
The P800 and 900 are fine if you like carrying around such a large device. I am a fan of minimalism and the T616 fits the bill while still being feature rich. Camera, bluetooth, triband, java enabled, etc. It is a really good phone and very small so it fits in my pocket with no fuss when I go out at night.

I feel the same way, sorta, never did understand how huge phones/PDAs/gamecenters/GPS/....... things took off. Getting almost as bad as cars and SUVs

Originally posted by JasonHamilton
AT&T Wireless isn't even AT&T anymore. It was bought by Cingular.

...and to further complicate matters, they will be leasing their time from SprintPCS.

In other words:

SprintPCS - service = AT&T

I use Norvergence, which is a consolidator.
My actual service is through SprintPCS.

For $65 a month I get:

Completely unlimited minutes ANYTIME
Completely unlimited long distance ANYTIME
Absolutely NOTHING is considered roaming, regardless of what network I am actually on at the time
My phone is local EVERYWHERE IN THE US
Any phone in the Sprint catalog that is less than $200, or a $200 credit towards whatever phone I want (I got the high-end Sanyo)

In other words, $65 a month and ABSOLUTELY NO RULES WHATSOEVER

Sorry for the yelling, I just think Norvergence is the cat's teats.

Something else to consider is some cell phone companies will let you order a second line for $10-20 more, and your cell phones have unlimited minutes between them.

That would likely be your best bet imo.

the p900 isn't that big.
http://i.esato.com/gfx/news/p900prototype/p900_vs_smart.jpg

its only slightly bigger than the regular phones that americans get. plus it has bluetooth, camera, pda functions, its own memory, uses memory sticks, works as a mp3 player, movie recorder, sound recorder, java ready for actual webpages, infrared enable, etc. and you can't help but look pimp when whipping this out in public. i mean look at it. JUST LOOK AT IT!!!

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/images/news/P900alpha.jpg

http://www.mobile-review.com/review/image/sonyeric/p900/pic2.jpg

Originally posted by MazdaManiac
...and to further complicate matters, they will be leasing their time from SprintPCS.

In other words:

SprintPCS - service = AT&T



Not quite.

"AT&T Wireless" was a separate division within "AT&T" that maintained the wireless product line (mLife). They had two parallel networks, TDMA and GSM. This turned out to be a key to their downfall, they had to support twice the network, with only half the users per network.

Once that business was sold to Cingulair, AT&T brass decided that they still needed their name in the wireless phone business, even though they didn't want the headache of maintaining the backhaul. So they are starting a new business where they will be leasing space on the Sprint network, similar to Virgin Mobile (although I don't know any info on the service plans).

In terms of service, the old "AT&T wireless" service is moving with Cingulair, and the new AT&T-on-Sprint will need to start a new service group. Nobody knows whether it will be better or worse. The coverage will be the same as Sprint's, which is better than "AT&T wireless".

The strangest part of this is that the new AT&T-on-Sprint service is going to start before the "AT&T wireless" service is fully converted over to Cingulair. So for a while, you will have competing AT&T brands. Talk about customer confusion, I wouldn't be surprised if Cingulair attempts to stop the new brand until the old one is fully merged and gone.

Thanks for the input everyone. I went and talked to an AT&T rep and it turns out I get a decent deal b/c of company discounts. I get 45% off of the phone, 9% off of my monthly bill, and all the perks of a two year contract under a one year contract.

To clear things up a bit, I am just switching b/c of the unlimited mobile to mobile minutes. My girlfriend consumes 90% of my minutes used so it is the logical thing to do (since she won't switch to Verizon).

That p900 phone is way too big for me and I prefer a flip phone since it resides in my pocket.

The only thing I am kinda worried about is the coverage. AT&T's coverage map is about half of what Verizon's is. Well, I guess I'll see how it is once I get the phone, and if I don't like it, I only have to keep it a year.

--JiM

There is a reason why Verizon is #1. Although the Cingular/ATT merger will soon make them the largest wireless provider, it's the CUsTOMER SERVICE that Verizon providing with each new subscriber not the phones. I have yet to walk into a Verizon store and not get coomplete customer service no matter what I am present to them as my problem/situation (broken headset, phone, bad battery, whatever). They exchange out what is broken, and if they don't have it then, it's there within 2 days.


Can you hear me now? Are you In?

1) Sucky you are in Michigan. If you were here in So Cali, I know of a bunch of places that gives you the hookups.

2) The hookups include getting almost ANY phone for free, and get the service you want.

3) They'll even tell you tricks of how to MAKE money from the deal, if you really want to.

4) Oh, it's Asian Cell phone stores here in So Cali. I've NEVER bought a cell phone, no matter what the phone is. Currently I am with Verizon, no switch fee from Cingular... got to keep my number, and got new phone. If you choose a lesser phone, they will even send you a rebate check for it, and make some money.

Try checking your area for Asian Cell phone places, bring an asian buddy, they'll haggle... always haggling when it comes to it... and bamn.. new free phone, new service..etc. The reason for the Asian buddy thing is because they'll still tell you some mumble jumbo crap if you're not Asian... at least from what I've experienced.

Originally posted by MazdaManiac
...and to further complicate matters, they will be leasing their time from SprintPCS.

In other words:

SprintPCS - service = AT&T

.

That's regualar AT&T the long distance and data network people looking to lease from Sprint because they now have no wireless offerings to its customers since it sold AT&T Wireless which was a completly separate company.

Anyhting you do now with AT&T Wireless is really Cingular. They just joined their networks here and the coverage and quality is awesome.