Help: T-Mobile Motorola V300 vs. Verizon Audiovox 8900

[m00ncakes]

Ok I'm torn and need to make a quick decision.

My contract with Verizon is up and I've been thinking of switching to T-Mobile. Here's my list of pros/cons. To those who have either of these phones/service, am I missing anything before I decide?

Here's some background:
I currently have the LGVX4400 and it has never given me problems.
I had the Motorola V90 before and didn't like the menu.
I've moved into the city and will not have a land line in my apartment.
I travel to Jersey frequently for business and need to use my cell phone during the day. (My last bill with Verizon was for $155 b/c I went over on minutes--the first time.
I have Yahoo! as my personal mail account.
I want a camera/speakerphone.
I use AIM.
I don't want to pay extra monthly fees for downloading/ringtones/txt messaging
I have reception in my apartment with both Verizon and T-Mobile (tested other people's phones)
My cell plan budget is $39.99/month

T-Mobile Pros
- 600 minutes, unlimited night/weekend
- Motorola V300 looks pretty good...
- I get reception in the apartment
- I get reception at work
- Unlimited access to Yahoo mail
- Free game (i just need a couple!)
- My family has it too (so free mobile-to-mobile minutes?)
Cons
- Not as great reception in buildings (so I've heard)
- Phones look cool, but may have bugs?

Verizon Wireless Pros
- Great reception everywhere
- Audiovox CMD8900 looks cool (is it?)
- Phone should work great b/c Verizon is known for being conservative?
Cons
- only 400 minutes/month
- No free email
- No free AIM

Please share! I'm happy with Verizon service, but can anyone tell me if I'd be unhappy with T-Mobile/Motorola V300?

Thanks in advance.

Diana[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

[Matt]

Diana,

I don't have experience with either Verizon or the TMV300, but your comments seem reasonable.

T-Mobile m2m minutes are good to any TM customer, but that is not included in the base plan. You have two base choices for 39.99 - the plan you listed or the three-day weekend plan which has unlimited calling Fri/Sat/Sun but NO free nights. Nights are $4.99 on that plan, and on either plan, mobile2mobile is a $6.99 add-on. So, that may or may not be worth it. It would cost more (46.98 total) but you would certainly get more minutes. Is your family local? Perhaps you could all pool together into one of the three family plans. Then you get a lot of shared minutes, plus free nights/weekends included and free m2m.

TM plans include free unlimited WAP as you noted so you can check your yahoo mail from wap.yahoo.com on your phone. You do have to pay for alerts/text messages though. I don't know a lot about AIM - generally it is NOT free (charged as a text message) but people on howard forums talk about AIM over WAP which might be free. I don't know though. you might ask over there.

As far as service/coverage goes, Verizon would be better. TM has made great strides since taking over the Omnipoint/VoiceStream network a few years ago - it's getting better all the time.

[GoodmanR]

TMO has excellent rate plans and i think the best customer service.

Verizon has a good network in NJ and NY. I know not much about TMO there, but in NYC its shared with Cingular...

Tmobile phones are tested just like verizons and i have heard many more complaints of bad firmware and bugs with verizon phones than TMO phones. THe audiovox 8900 was released and then recalled, and just re-released so beware of that one.

[SQFreak]

Mind you, a good friend of mine just got an Audiovox CDM-8900 with a ported number and has experienced a drastic uptick in service (over Cingular). His only complaint is no SIM/R-UIM card, and he has to transfer all his numbers manually, but since his Cingular phone died, I lent him my old Cingular phone to retrieve his phone numbers.

He hasn't take a road trip very far out of Verizon's solid coverage area of the metro Triad.

It's not as customizable as the VX4400 or VX6000. I haven't found the keycode combination for reprogramming or debug mode yet.

T-Mobile isn't an option here in North Carolina.

[njsvrzncdma]

tmobile gives you good minutes but horrid reception verizon gives you less minutes because they CAN !!! why ? because you get a great network (in general over the others)

[krusty46]

My brother uses TM in NYC and has been happy for the most part--but we find my Verizon service to be better.
The $39.99 Verizon plan doesnt give you as many minutes, but you do get unlimited nights and weekends--and they would count towards your internet plan as well (which may be good or bad for you--web time comes out of your minutes).
Text messages are .10 to send and .02 to recieve, which can add up, but you can get a Text Mesage plan that will give you a few hundred a month to play around with. I'd say your looking at $50 a month for a basic plan and web and text messaging on Verizon. If anyone in your family has Verizon home service, you could have them sigin up for the phone and you'd get $5 off each month.
The 8900 was very buggy when they first came out and they were pulled from the shelves. They have since fixed the problem and they seem to be fine now (my wife has been happy with hers for all of 4 days). I have a VX6000 and am very happy with it.
I think you'll get better quality with Verizon, but if your gonna use the phone for everything and dont want to spend very much, it might not be the right choice for you.
You can email midi files to your phone (ie: free ringtones). The email will cost you .25 cents, but I've sent as many as 4 at a time. Games will cost you money, but you get to pick what you want and unless you opt for the monthly fee, you will own them. My T68i had like 10 games, but I only played 2 of them, so what good were they. You can also email pics to your phone as well as take your own--so you can basically get all the free wallpaper you want.
The one thing I will bring up is that my wife does not have, nor does it seem like she can install IM on her phone--I have it on my VX6000, but we cant find it or where to download it on hers--you may want to check into this on the 8900.

[RBOCMAN]

tmobile gives you good minutes but horrid reception verizon gives you less minutes because they CAN !!! why ? because you get a great network (in general over the others)

Don't pay much attention to the Verizon fans as they tend to believe their own BS. From looking at your description...you seem to have reception where u need it most...work and home. And until unless u plan on spending a lot of time in the rural area's T-Mo should offer you good reception almost anywhere and their phones usually have fewer bugs compared to the CDMA carriers. Most GSM phones here unfortunately come out after European and Asian releases and thereby are tested and marketed waay before it reaches your hand. You'll save more in the long run and have access to cutting edge services quicker with T-Mo or any of the other GSM providers.

Hope this helps.

[millenium]

Speaking as a "Verizon fan" [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] and having no real experience personally with TMo, I will say that I've heard that TMo has been steadily making more of a "name" for themselves in terms of improving their service and I've heard generally good things about them from this and other sites. Their phones are pretty nifty from what I've seen, too, and as was said previously, if their service works equally as well in your home as Verizon you really have nothing to lose. I, too, would suggest caution with the 8900 only because I would personally be uncomfortable with it until you know enough about how many people now have a (relatively) bug-free model after the recent re-release. One other thing that I would mention that hasn't already been said, is that for your tenure being a Verizon customer, you may be eligible for some sort of phone upgrade or credit towards renewal. Before switching, ask about what kind of price for a phone you'd be looking at if you stayed and renewed. If you get a decent deal on the 8900 or some other model you like, it might help balance out what your paying more per month for the service.

[Matt]

Good post, millenium.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[brooklyn]

As a current customer of both Verizon and TMobile. I must say go with Tmobile. Verizon's reception has been good to me; It's been their billing, contract and customer service that's de-graded lately. Plus with Tmobile you'll be getting a better deal for less $. I just purchased (or should I say got for free with cash back) a Tmobile phone from Amazon.com. The service in the five boroughs of NYC (indoor and out) has been good. Plus if you plan on connecting a PDA or computer to Verizon phones, you'll have to purchase a cable to do so. Where with Tmobile, you can get a Bluetooth capable phone and connect wirelessly. If you do decide with Verizon, I suggest a one-year contract. If you read some of the posts lately, you’ll see that there have been a lot of billing and contract disputes with Verizon. I’ve got 2 months left with Verizon before I drop them!

[m00ncakes]

Hi all,

Thanks for your responses. After a lot of back and forth, I renewed my contract with Verizon for another year, with the Audiovox CDM 8900. It came out to $200, but I get a $70 rebate, and if I sell my LG VX4400, I shouldn't end up spending too much.

However, after a few days of playing with the phone, a few things started bothering me more than I had originally anticipated:

1) No AIM available for the phone on Get It Now
2) Pictures of incoming callers don't show up in sub-screen
3) Speakerphone is weak...it just sounds like a loud setting on the earphone

Now in light of how much Verizon charges for every little thing you want (weather reports, email access, ringtones, games, etc.) these little things irritate me enough that I might return the phone, stick with Verizon, but wait for the Samsung that's supposedly coming out next month. (The one with the swivel screen, which I assume would display incoming callers' photos.)

I would've gone with T-Mobile, but they didn't have a flip phone that also displayed incoming callers' photos (the Sony Ericsson's are too small!).

Or maybe I should just get over my anti-non-flip phone feelings and just get the Sony Ericsson.

Any thoughts? Opinions on the new Verizon Samsung? Suggestions for T-Mobile's best phones?

Thanks again,
Diana