best plan for student from southern california

[l3d007]

Heres the situation.. i go to school back east in Pittsburgh,Pa.. but im from southern california and im out here for the summer. I need a phone this summer and I will most likely take the phone bac to pittsburgh in september. My question is will phone companies allow my to change my area code once I move and which company do you guys recoomend. I will not use my phone for long chats, instead for instant communication and emergencies...I would like long distance. Thanks in advance..

[Rasputin]

I do not know who works well in Pittsburg, but in Socal Verizon is good, T-Mob is pretty good and you will get more minutes with it. Try it out most have a 15-30 day return policy.

[Jack]

T-mobile will give you the most minutes for your $$$$.

Both Verizon and T-mobile will be able to switch your phone # quickly and effectively.

My Question to you is do more people call you from Pittsburg or from Sol Cal? If it is pittsburg then I would get a pittsburg # and use it.

T-mobile national $39.99 600 whenever minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes
Verizon america choice $39.99 will give you 400 daytime and unlimited night and weekend mintues

There are higher and lower plans for each provider.

Also do you stay in Big cities or go into the country? If you go into country areas then Verizon will work better for you!

Jack

[budney]

I would agree with Rasputin & Jack. T-Mobile & Verizon would be your best bets. You may want to post a thread in the Northeastern forum to get info about the Pittsburgh area.

[AnthroMatt]

Let me just warn you that changing your number with Verizon can be anything but quick and painless.

[Andy]

Some sales rep. from T-Mobile told my cousin that if you need to change your T-Mobile number, you need to buy a new Sim Card at the local T-Mobile store...don't ask me if that's really true of not. I once changed my Verizon number without problems...what did you experience? Generally saying, some people make good experiences with providers, some make bad experience. You might have problems with a provider, but I don't and that happens with anything you buy these days.

[AnthroMatt]

I agree that every provider will give people trouble from time to time. My reference to having problems with changing to a new number comes from reading other stories by people posted here on this board and in other forums.

As for me personally, when I moved they took away my free mobile web promotion because it was "no longer available" when I moved. They signed me up for a new plan and restarted my contract date. So instead of being about 7 months from the end of my contract I was suddenly 24. Once I completed the move and added a new line to my account I was billed improperly for 4 consecutive months.

Once Verizon has their billing system fully centralized so that records can be accessed nationwide I presume changing phone numbers will become much easier.

[budney]

When I changed my number with Verizon it went very smoothly. But the mistake was they put me on the new billing system, like Matt four months of incorrect billing fallowed. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img] But I have been with a few providers, and ended up leaving them once the billing issues started. It seem like once they start they never stop.

[TProphet]

If you change your phone number with T-mobile, you do in fact have to buy a new SIM card. One of my friends with T-mobile just moved from Portland to here and had to do that.

I haven't moved a phone number with Verizon. I have done this with Sprint, however, and this is something of a hassle; you have to change your plan to a current one, and your contract resets as of the date that you change your number. They also charge an activation fee to do this, unless you're on a corporate plan where it's waived (many people are eligible for a Sprint corporate plan, though). Moderator Larry raves about their service in southern Califronia (although my friend JJ, who lives in Claremont and uses Sprint, says they're awful "above the 10"), so you might consider them as well--noting the above caveats.