Need Suggestions

[southernsoul]

I need some suggestions as far as service providers go. Here is some info that I hope will help you give me a some good advice.

I am currently with Alltel wireless.
I live in central North Carolina.
I am on the southern regional family plan ( myself and my wife ).
I travel in the southern states often and to most other parts of the country once in awhile.

Here is what I need for service.

The best overall service in the southern region especially in rural areas.
No long distance charges.
No roaming charges.
Ability to call all over the United States from my home state.
I will use a lot of minutes during the day.
Best family plan.

Should I stick with Alltel or switch to ?

My plan doesn't run out until July of 2003. Should I wait until then to see what new comes out ?

Also what phone would you suggest as being the best for me? I was looking at getting a Motorola V60 series.

You may think that these are stupid questions but I do not know much about the cell services and such so I figured that you may be able to help.

Thanks,
SS

[ronin]

Check out the ATT regional advantage plan. They sell the v60 as well, but I think the Nokia 6360 is a much better phone.

The plan has everything you asked for. At the $49 price point (the one I have), you get 700 anytime minutes, free long distance anywhere in the US from your home area (same as no roaming area), no roaming in SE (NC, SC, VA, GA, FL, and eastern TN). You also get unlimited N/W with a two year contract, and I think it's 4000 N/W if you go with a one year contract.

I can't offer details on the family plans, because I don't use that stuff.

One other thing, if you do look at ATT, do not get GSM service. Their coverage with GSM is just too lacking at this point, unless you get a TDMA/GSM plan but that would limit you to only one phone, the Siemans S46.

[roamer1]

The other big problem with AT&T GSM is (unlike Cingular with the 6340 -- when they offer it anyway) NO ANALOG -- which means NO COVERAGE AT ALL in most of rural south GA and AL and many rural parts of the Carolinas -- areas where for the most part, the 800 carriers are VZW and ALLTEL. (I have very little experience with US Cellular in eastern NC/SC, S GA/N FL, or Ft Pierce FL, so don't know if they have TDMA up for roamers like they do in Knoxville and Asheville, but it really doesn't matter as there are many more VZW/ALLTEL areas than USCC/ALLTEL areas.)

The TDMA side doesn't have the "total lack of coverage" issue, but who wants massive areas of analog roaming? (I left VZW in part because with them, 80% of Kentucky -- basically everything except the I-65 corridor, the Louisville/Lexington corridor, the Cincinnati burbs and airport, and the western 20% of the state, is analog roaming. With AT&T, there's virtually NO analog roaming in KY, it's all digital. Now I'm upset because of south GA -- I'll probably land up with VZW again [in addition to Nextel, AT&T, and my company SPCS phone] after my T-Mo contract is up.)

Given that, I'd tend to recommend ALLTEL or VZW over AT&T for most users in the Carolinas. (VZW has somewhat better coverage than ALLTEL in rural areas as ALLTEL still has a lot of analog-only areas, unlike VZW.) SPCS, Cingular, Nextel, etc. don't provide much rural coverage and are best avoided unless you don't mind having multiple phones (like me. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img] )

-SC

[scottb]

SS,

I agree with roamer1, Alltel or VZW will probably be your best for coverage in the Southeast. I live in Greensboro and have both VZW and Alltel. I have a v60c from Verizon and am quite happy with it. If you roam in analog, make sure you have an extra battery, or a higher capacity battery than the slim one. I like the slim batteries, so I keep an extra charged at all times. In digital, the battery life is pretty good.


P.S. I will probably be contacting you regarding your Web site and some parts I'm looking for.