World traveler looking for handset advice

[USAFav8r]

I am a pilot in the Air Force and use my phone to keep in touch with my wife and family during my frequent trips away from home (last year over 230 days away!!) and am currently looking for some advice on the best service and phone for my situation. I currently have a Motorola Startac ST786 and subscribe to SprintPCS. I am finding that the Sprint coverage has been a little less than perfect, the phone drops calls all the time, and when I call to talk to Sprint I get the feeling that they have grown so large that they no longer care about their customers. I am considering switching service, but only if there is something better out there. As for the phone, the Startac is slow to find the system, horrible at keeping calls, etc and I am definitely in the market for a new phone. The groundrules are that there are no groundrules. I don't have to switch services, especially if SprintPCS is truly the best service out there for my needs. And I don't need to switch right away (especially if there is something new and outstanding on the horizon--new phone, new network like the Sprint G3 I see you all talking about, etc). Here's where I need your advice:
1) I travel all the time and need the phone to keep in touch with my family
2) I travel all over the world (mainly Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, the "stans", Australia, Japan) and travel even more frequently within the country from tip to tip (no service with Sprint in Bangor, as I found!?)
3) I would like to get a phone that will be of a technology that allows me to keep it for quite some time (I bought the Startac only 2 years ago and SprintPCS treats me like a lepor since I dont have one of their "newer" models).
4) I need the phone to be small, light and durable. I would like to keep the phone in a pocket on my left shoulder (the Startac just barely fits in it, so definitely no taller and its about as heavy as I would like to go) As a pilot, I wear a flightsuit and have filled just about all of my other pockets with mission equipment, leaving little room for other things.
5) I want a service that provides me with the best possible coverage at the best possible value (Im not a Rockefeller--we public servants aren't making enough to support the big budgets--otherwise I'd get an Iridium phone and be done with the problems??!!)
6) I don't use tons of minutes monthly. In fact, Im currently paying around $30/month for 200 anytime/anywhere minutes. Mainly I use the phone to call back in forth with my family (and I want my wife to always be able to get hold of me). She also has a phone (with the same type/price service plan) with SprintPCS (a Qualcom model of some type) and I would probably transfer her over to the new service (if you recommend switching) with some sort of phone as well.

So, I leave it in your knowledgeable hands. After reading your posts for a while I am astounded with the wealth of knowledge out there and the huge amount of information available. Im looking for the best solution at the best price and trust that your advice will steer me on the right path.

Captain Matt
MattonTDY@aol.com

[larry]

Well I can say from personal experience that a motorola StarTac isn't the best Sprint phone. They don't use the Qualcomm CDMA chip which is considered the best on the market. I switched to a Kyocera 2255 and it has been much better. Sanyos are also very good SPCS phones.

I think your best bet will be Voicestream, which is a GSM based technology. GSM technology is also used in all of Europe and most other eastern world countries. In the US, however, the GSM band is 1900, while in Europe, the GSM band is 900/1800. The phones that would be considered "world phones" are the Motorola V60 and Ericsson T68, which means wherever you have a signal throughout the world, you can place or recieve a call. The motorola would meet the size requirment, but is expensive at around $250. I,m sure that there are other GSM world phones available for less, but I can't think of any others right off. In the US, for now, GSM coverage is limited mainly to larger cities and interstates and major highways, but is expected to only grow in the future, so I'm sure that the technology will be around for a very long time. However, in Europe, GSM coverage is extensive,especially in England and Germany. This technology in European countries have been around since the early 1980's. Hope this information helps.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

for someone like you who travels the world often a GSM phone as mentioned above is the way to go.....your best bet would be voicestream and make sure you get a WORLD PHONE as the above poster mentioned that works on all the GSM frequencies. when you are overseas you can put a pre-paid SIM card in your phone from that country and speak at very low rates (as opposed to $1/min rates directly from voicestream)

[cryogenic]

The question to the original poster is is he willing to sacrifice some USA coverage as a tradeoff for coverage basically anywhere he goes OUTSIDE the USA? VS's coverage in the US isn't as extensive as, say, Verizon, but with Verizon you can't use the phone in Europe or any other country with GSM. If space was not so much of a concern, I'd say get a Verizon FreeUP prepay and then a VS nationwide plan... use the VS as your primary and use the freeup where the VS phone does not work. THat's honestly about the only way you're going to get coverage in as many places as you travel. I will admit that VS is expanding coverage as quickly as you could humanly expect them to, along with Cingular starting to crank up GSM conversions now, GSM should grow considerably within the next 2 years. GSM's call quality is so much better than any other cellular service you can get today, it's unreal. I have both a CDMA and a GSM phone and though my CDMA phone sounds acceptable, the GSM phone is head and shoulders above it in call clarity. Honestly speaking, my GSM phone sounds better than my landline at times. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

i was thinking.....and good point......a good bet is to get verizon AC plan........and when overseas get an unlocked GSM phone use that when travelling out of USA with prepaid sim cards (as stated he is not a rockefeller [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[cryogenic]

That would probably be the best solution, actually... great coverage in the US and then use GSM when he's overseas. He could probably get an unlocked Ericsson T28w or something like that cheap. Motorola V60's are really expensive unlocked, as are Ericsson T68's and T39's... any other small, light GSM phones he could think about getting? I know the P280 is a world phone, but it's probably too big. As far as Verizon goes, he could get another StarTac through them or perhaps a VX1 if he wants to spring for a nice phone. :-D

[CaliphoniaBoy]

Hey Captain Matt,

I would recommend a GSM phone as you can use one phone all over the world and you only have to carry small chips around... that's what I do. Make sure you get a (unlocked) triband phone.

However, if you travel a lot in the US you should check

the US GSM coverage map

if it fits your travel patterns. When you are mainly flying into LAX to hang out on the beaches you will be fine with GSM, but if you plan on driving from Helena (Montana) to Casper (Wyoming) or soemthing like that you should use Verizon.

As national GSM carrier voicestream would be your best bet.

Hope that helps

C.

[USAFav8r]

This is all great advice!!! I am checking into VoiceStream now. From what I am reading so far, it sounds like the two top contenders out there are VoiceStream and Verizon. What ever happened to sprint coming out on top? What is this upcoming Sprint G3 thing? Does that matter?

As for the "Unlocked" phones, what does that mean? Where do I get one--does VoiceStream sell them directly?

I truly appreciate the great advice flowing on here and look forward to your future comments!

[USAFav8r]

The map at VoiceStream shows nice yellow for the VoiceStream areas, but then shows the rest of the US as roaming areas? Is that really true? If so, shouldn't I be able to roam (for free with the plans they are offering now) all over the US with the phone (surfing across all the networks out there) whether or not it is VoiceStreams area as long as the phone supports multiple bands?
Captain Matt

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

only the very bright solid yellow that snakes around the usa is where your phone will work, the rest is off network......ie.....NO signal-roaming or otherwise.

[Mike]

From the bright yellow you can call anywhere else on that map without long distance charges. As IdiOTeQnoLogY said, you cannot roam or make calls from the white areas as there is no GSM Network there yet.

Check your email Captain Matt as I replied to your email earlier tonight.

[aiwapro]

I'm thinking that a Voicestream Family Time Plan would be the way to go. This would allow you to travel all across the U.S. without any roaming fees, and allow you to talk to you wife for FREE as long as you are in the U.S. When you travel to Europe, your wife would be able to contact you too. You would have to pay roaming fees while overseas though. Voicestream's roaming fees are the cheapest around at $.99/minute, compared to everyone else's $2.99/minute. Also, if you hurry and get Voicestream service within the next couple of months, then the roaming fees over sees will be as little as $.49/minute. The fees have been cut in half for only 3 months I beleive. When your wife calls you from the U.S. and you are overseas, only you will be charged the roaming fees. The fees won't appear on here end, as long as she talks on her Voicestream phone aswell. This means in other words that you won't get charged roaming fees twice for one phone call. Check out the Voicestream website. Make sure you check out the international section aswell, since that is where a good amount of your phone usage will be at. You can call Voicestream anytime @ 1-800-937-8997 and ask them any questions you would like. You can also continue to ask questions here or email me here.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

even if voicestream coverage in the USA is good enough for you i'd still recommend using a pre-paid SIM card when overseas. i am assuming that when you are stationed overseas it is for a week at least in each place or longer. you can just get a pre-paid sim for like 10$ or say $5 and get a phone number and give that to your family for that week they can reach you on it.....it works out very cheap for you.....however they pay long distance........vice versa if you keep your VS number they can call you locally but it adds up quickly even at 49 cents a minute....that is a dollar every 2 minutes......your best bet is to get your family on a International One rate plan from at&t or another company that they pay like $5 a month for and it is very cheap to call overseas with one rate 24/7 to most countries around the world....like 7 to 10 cents a minute to england i think for example 24 hours a day. that 5$ a month for that service would be earned the same as a 10 minute call to you on you VS phone # while roaming.