Alltel Prepaid vs. AT&T/Cingular Prepaid

hey,

i'd reccommend the ATT go phone, if you want to get away from CDMA, and move on towards GSM, the go phones have similar features to yours (prepaied, etc.) and works on GSM. when i went into the ATT store to ask about them, they said u should get the same coverage with their GSM phones as you get with their CDMA phones (except in extremely remote areas). he also claimed that Cingular would continue to honor theese rates and users after the merger (I dont know if this is true or not, I think he was more interested in selling me the phone, than telling me the truth)

anyway have a look...(www.attwireless.com/gophone)

-- Sabre

 

yea.. i "got it" the first time

i'm tryin to get the point across that in a few yrs CDMA will be dead, its not worth keeping it in my opinion, especially if you can switch from one prepiaed service to another within the same company, one that may be willing to even transfer your balance....

 

btw, in case u were confused before the Free-2-go phone, and the GoPhone are NOT the same

 

AT&T GSM has significantly less coverage than AT&T TDMA, and GoPhone has less coverage than AT&T GSM postpaid plans.

Here in the Southeast there are *huge* areas, especially in south GA, east TN, and western NC, where there is nothing but AMPS and CDMA and maybe TDMA and where all GSM-only phones (GoPhone, AT&T postpaid, Cingular, T-Mobile) are D-E-A-D (and where even Cingular GAIT phones have poor or no coverage.)

-SC

 

whats the point? their both dead in a few years max?
if you really want CDMA that badly try Virgin Mobile, they have some neat phones, and work on the sprint network, which i belive is CDMA

 

I was under the impression that the ATT GSM coverage (atleast) was the same for postpaied, and prepaied... i know there are diffrences between what is "roaming" and what isnt, but the coverage is exactly the same according to the ATT rep i talked to

 

AT&T doesn't let GoPhones roam quite to the extent they let postpaid phones do, at least in areas where AT&T has coverage. Here in Atlanta, AT&T postpaid phones can roam on Cingular in most places, while GoPhones can't, at least in the immediate area. (Both postpaid and GoPhones will roam on Cingular in exurban areas, the north GA mountains, etc.)

-SC

 

Postpay/postpaid = regular contract plans

-SC

 

gotcha... i was only asking about the NE where i live, cingular doenst have much presence here, so cingular roaming donest matter to me....

as to the CMDA comment-- CDMA is now an obsolete technology, that is only held on to becuase there are so many users in america using it, i belive that within the forseeable future sprint and verizons existing networks will be dead, their going to evnetually be forced to move to GSM (or the current technology of hte time) CDMA is just to limited for some 3G applications, and I cringe to imagine 4G on C/TDMA it just wont happen (IMHO)

 

ok i had AT&T Prepaid for about one Month before i quit. First i hate the way they set up thier prepiad. Second the CS is really horrible. Last i HATE TDMA, it sounds horrible and reception is horrible. I used to have them and tryed to travel and didn't get **** for service. So i would rule them out but its up to you.

 

Explain how a more spectrum-efficient, faster data rate, lower latency technology is obsolete, especially since UTMS a.k.a. 3GSM a.k.a. wCDMA is CDMA-based.

 

prehaps I was not clear enough, i mean that the current form of CDMA, that such carriers use as Verizon, are not obsolete, GSM (yes a CDMA deriviative) is the future, it is a more advanced form of CDMA

 

Um...oh boy. Let me help you. The upgrade path for GSM = CDMA. Verizon/Sprint go 1xrTT to EVDO to EVDV. At each step. GSM goes to WCDMA to UTMS (Which I belive is CDMA air interfaice.

Please remeber, GSM is a set of Standards. CDMA is an air interface, and all the GSM upgrades incorperate CDMA air interface.

Questions?

 

Yes. How is CDMA2000 (the current incarnation of CDMA technology in the USA) obsolete?

 

Its not. It works..PERIOD anmd with ANY kind of networking, wireless or not THAT is what matters.

 

I currently have the Alltel Prepaid (NOT simple freedom)with text and the seperate night and weekend mins; I am in Tallahassee and the service is great. I would like to warn you that the phone will work ONLY where Alltel has a tower(i.e. NW FL, Jacksonville, along the west coast of FL). Also, if you are in2 other features like voicemail or caller ID, you have to pay for it. But you get 3-wayand call waiting included already. If you want coverage and use few mins, wait it out or try some other company.

 

I too had ATT/Cingular TDMA Free-2-go. Great rural coverage, pretty cheap. But since TDMA is being phased out soon I just switched to Pay Plus Cellular (Verizon). Review here: http://www.cellguru.net/page_plus.htm
Office site http://www.pagepluscellular.com/index.aspx

I got an Audiovox 8615 (Verizon Inpulse) phone at Wally World for $80 ($20 cheaper than Best Buy). Nice phone http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/user_reviews.php?phone=474

Activation can be had on ebay for $7 w 100 minutes (fast and easy). You can buy time there too, $25/200 minutes (TWICE as many as free-2-go) and they last 4 months! Or buy as little as $10/70 mins if you want. But they charge for leaving VM and 8 cents per SMS.

Walmart has other Inpulse phones too, a Moto camera phone for $110 and a very cheap Nokia but it's not tri-mode (no analogue roaming).

Looks like Verizon coverage is very good in FL http://www.pagepluscellular.com/maps/images/south_florida_loc.gif
I'd say get a Vox 8615 at Walmart like I did. Even the checkout girl wanted one when I told her how cheap Page Plus was.