My History/My dilema

[EASYDOESIT]

Hello to one and all.
It all started as a young (novice) "cell" user with my family. We at first utilized tracfones to keep in touch as the kids and wife went traveling thruout the H.D. of CA.
We soon (two years) realized this was not sufficient. We decided to try AT&T W/GSM and free phones from Samsung----P.U. We reentered the AT&T domain and chose Siemens phones for free as well. Much better but not perfect. In the mean time back at the ranch(work) I was given a Verizon phone to use. Good coverage ---but not in the mountains. Cingular bought AT&T. Family now had Cingular/AT&T. Meanwhile.... Verizon decided not to pursue renewal of contract with my place of work. Work goes with.....AT&T. Cingular buys.....etc. We get camera phones (Motorola) at work, Great cameras poor phones (being nice) I think because of Cing/AT&T.
Lots of complaints at work (going outside to call just doesn't work).
We change phones (cheap Nokias).... no more cameras but a "little" better reception. One good thing .... free to call family(mobile to mobile) 45 mi. away and different area code (it is California). we still have poor reception.
Dilema: We are taking a trip to D.C. and Florida (long story). We cannot use mobile to mobile without fee(roaming and long distance) BIG BUCKS! NEED BETTER PHONE/CAMERA/service for the family(4). HELP! I'm cheap, but not stoopid. I know it will cost. Ideas? I am open to suggestions. I am winded from writing so much. Confused? I am.

[ShoresGuy]

Welcome to WA,

Have you considered trying T-Mobile and one of their Family plans?

http://www.t-mobile.com/plans/Family...lanDetails.asp

[Chinasaur]

Originally Posted by EASYDOESIT

\ Confused? I am.

You're not the only one. I can't figure out what carrier you have now.

I wish I could figure out your question. It "sounds" like you are asking if it is worth switching from your current carrier (Cingular?) to another for a cross-country trip?

Go with Sprint or VZW on pay as you go for the length of the trip if I understand you. If I do not, then wait for one of the guru's to help you.

My brain is bleeding.

[music4praise]

I was in Washington DC in March. Verizon's coverage there is outstanding--even in the Metro. Who would have ever expected to carry on a cell phone conversation while riding an underground train. I actually have service from Alltel, but since Verizon is their primary roaming partner, I was using Verizon the whole time. Another carrier may be as good in DC. I'm just reporting my experience. HTH

[EASYDOESIT]

Originally Posted by Chinasaur

You're not the only one. I can't figure out what carrier you have now.

I wish I could figure out your question. It "sounds" like you are asking if it is worth switching from your current carrier (Cingular?) to another for a cross-country trip?

Go with Sprint or VZW on pay as you go for the length of the trip if I understand you. If I do not, then wait for one of the guru's to help you.

My brain is bleeding.

You are correct and incorrect. I didn't tell you all of the puzzle.

AT&T/Cingular coverage stinks--at least for us. It's garbled half the time, I lose calls, calls don't go thru and the Nokia i have is not very capable.

The other complication is, we are halfway into a two year contract with AT&T.
Buy out is $175.00. I do not want to go to another carrier if all I am going to get is the same old junk. I don't mind spending the money if what we get is worth it. i'd bite the bullet. Since Cingular took over it's just gotten worse.

[EASYDOESIT]

Originally Posted by ShoresGuy

Welcome to WA,

Have you considered trying T-Mobile and one of their Family plans?

http://www.t-mobile.com/plans/Family...lanDetails.asp

thanks, I am thinking about T Mobile "pay as you go" spring for a couple of cheap phones and $25.00(x2) worth of minutes and wait till next year when my contract runs out. it won't make my son happy --which will be the first time.

[ShoresGuy]

That's probably the best solution.

Good Luck

[Gideon H]

I'm not positive, but I think since the aquisition of AT&T by Cingular, you can get out of your AT&T contract for free. I have heard this from several people, and I am an AT&T customer that ported to T-Mobile yesterday. I have yet to see a charge (but if there is one I won't expect it until tomorrow or the next day). Either way I am fighting the cancellation fee because Cingular was making it impossible for me to move to them from AT&T.

T-Mobile has some GREAT plans for a very low cost, and the Motorola V188 is a good choice for a free phone (and you can get $35 extra cash back). And there's always the Samsung E315, a camera phone that's free after $50 mail-in rebate. You should call them and have them check the coverage in the places you live in/are travelling to and try porting your numbers.

[Andy]

Sorry to be threat-jacking here, but it seems like a lot of people are switching away from Cingular Wireless right now...

[Gideon H]

You know it Andy . I used to love Cingular... now they're on my hate list along with Qwest and Verizon. It's too bad that a company as good as AT&T was taken over by them. Yay for T-Mobile!

[Andy]

I know, I was very surprised to see you go apart from Cingular.
Good luck with T-Mobile; how is the coverage compared to Cingular so far?
T-Mobile's network in the my area(the city limits) is better than Cingular(call quality wise,especially), but Cinglar's service reaches outside the city limits farther sometimes.

[Gideon H]

I don't know actually lol, I don't get my phones until Tuesday/Wednesday. But every now and then I'll check what networks available and everytime T-Mobile is one of them. I'll never have to look back at Cingular .

[Andy]

Well if you don't have your phones yet you don't know. Maybe you will be going back to Cingular or evil Verizon

[Matt]

Originally Posted by music4praise

I was in Washington DC in March. Verizon's coverage there is outstanding--even in the Metro. Who would have ever expected to carry on a cell phone conversation while riding an underground train. I actually have service from Alltel, but since Verizon is their primary roaming partner, I was using Verizon the whole time. Another carrier may be as good in DC. I'm just reporting my experience. HTH

Verizon has an exclusive contract to provider service in Metro tunnels. Sprint can roam on them. Unfortunately (since there is no reason to do this IMO) Metro extended the monopoly to Verizon through 2017.

[RJB]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

I know, I was very surprised to see you go apart from Cingular.
Good luck with T-Mobile; how is the coverage compared to Cingular so far?
T-Mobile's network in the my area(the city limits) is better than Cingular(call quality wise,especially), but Cinglar's service reaches outside the city limits farther sometimes.

Amen to this statement

[Gideon H]

Originally Posted by Andy84094

Well if you don't have your phones yet you don't know. Maybe you will be going back to Cingular or evil Verizon

Lol never have I looked back to Verizon since 2002. And I know the coverage is good with Tmobile because I know tons of people in the area with them and the coverage is great. And like I said before, Tmobile is always an option to switch over to on my phone when I search for the available networks. So even though I havn't personally owned the phone yet, I still know how good they are here.

[Andy]

Let us know who everthing works out for you once you get your new phones. Did you port two numbers over to T-Mobile from Cingualr?

[Gideon H]

I got both of my phones yesterday and they're great! The service is also great as expected. I'm very happy with my E398, too. Never had such a good phone! They only thing that bugs me about Tmobile is the fact that you get a text message when you have a voicemail rather than an actual voicemail notification. But Tmobile is already starting to change that so it won't bug me for long. Glad I switched!

[Gideon H]

Sorry I just noticed your last question. I only had one number to port over from Cingular, I just use two phones.