Need Prepaid Advice(Connecticut)

No, Verizon's pre-paid cards start at $30, by the way another thing to think about with Verizon's Free Up is that they take off minutes even if a caller gets your Voicemail and leaves a message many consider this unfair and as far as I am aware they are the only company to do this. Skip VoiceStream I have seen there pre-paid rates there not so good plus GSM coverage is more limited then what you would get with Verizon or Cingular. Go with Verizon or Cingular

 

Verizon's FREEUP is the best. Yes, the smallest amount is 30$, but that is still only 15$ a month, since it does last for
2 months. And, it includes roaming on the Verizon network. The CS for it is great too, they actually care!
Freeup doesn't seem like Prepay to me, it's such a nice arrangement. Also you can REUP your minutes with a credit card
and I think that can be done with less than 30$. Email Verizon, they will respond quickly and with great knowledge.
I looked at Cingular, Voicestream (No ATT where I am located) and Verizon truely is the best Prepay deal out there.
Check it out!

 

It depends on what you want if price is your main concern then Cingular is a better choice, if coverage is your main concern though you will be better off with Verizon.

 

No, I think you are reading it right, but that really isn't a big area. Again I'd go with Verizon, I mean 15$ a month isn't alot, sure it's more than 7, but I think Verizon is about to lower its rates again. Plus you get FREE weekend minutes, and roaming, you won't get that with Cingular. I had the same decision as you did, in Delaware though, and Verizon just simply was the best! Good luck, post back with your decision! P.S. Looked at Cingular's site for Prepaid service in your area, same as mine, VERY expensive phones. Verizon's it only 99$, and you get a 30$ rebate, or a 50$ FREEUP card. I don't see who wouldn't take the 50$, thats 160 some minutes!

 

Decided I'd not be anonymous anymore

Anyhow, I'm definitely considering both options. I had a chance to play around with my friend's Ericsson Cingular phone last night(I think it's the same one they offer for the prepaid service) and I was quite impressed. My only concerns are about coverage. I had issues with AT&T where I could never get signal from an AT&T tower. I wasn't billed for roaming(as I was still in the home area) but I did have to re dial the number for every call. Quite the pain. I think I'll take a trip to the mall this week and hit the cingular and verizon stores and grill the sales people. I agree, on the surface Verizon seems to be the more logical, but perhaps more expensive option. However, if the converage offered by Cingular covers me in MA, CT, and RI, then Cingular might not be bad idea for me as I rarely travel outside of those three states. In the end, I'd rather have cheaper bills that more minutes as I am a very light usage person. Anyhow, thanks for all the advice and I'll keep everyone up to speed.

 

Sounds like Cingular might be a better choice for you then, just ask around and see how there coverage is for your area. Good luck though and let us know what you decide to do

 

One last question. I did some more research and it seems like if I'm outside of my area (say in NYC or New York state) the Cingular prepaid will simply not allow me to place a call. Is this the case? If so, I think I'd be willing to opt for Verizon just in case I ever was outside of the area and needed to make a call(911, AAA, those kind of things). I also found that you can add as little as $10 every 30 days with Freeup. In which case that would make free up only about 3.50 more a month. I'd be willing to spend 3.50 more a month to know I can get coverage in an area outside of my home area in an emergency or the rare occasion I'd need it. Again, thanks for all the advice. Should I opt for Verizon, how is the Kyocera phone? I've read some mixed reviews but overall it seems quite nice to me.

 

I don't think you can roam with Cingular Prepaid. I was just looking over there website for my area under there prepaid section and I saw this message. "Roaming is not available outside North Carolina, South Carolina, coastal Georgia, or east Tennessee." If you want the ability to roam you should get FREEUP from Verizon, I know you can roam with them for 99 cents a minute I believe. I'm going to give you a link below for Verizon's Prepaid site as well as reviews for the Kyocera phone from Epinions.com


FREEUP from Verizon Wireless


Kyocera 2135

 

I forgot to meantion CNET also did a recent review of that phone the review for it can be found at the link below.


Kyocera 2135

 

Thanks so much for the help. I'm 99% sure I'm gonna go with Verizon. I'm gonna double check with Cingular to be sure but if that is the case and I can't roam, I'm going with Verizon assuming the sales people don't anticipate any problems in my location.

 

Cool! ^ Freeup really is a good service and trust me I am very picky. If you ever have a problem just email them, they really care. I think you could call 911 with Cingular, but for an extra 3.50, it would be nice to call anyone. Roaming is FREE with Verizon, not .99cents. It's free if you are on the Verizon network (analog or dig.), only .99 on another carriee, which wont hardly ever happen since Verizon is so big. Good luck!

 

verizon would be the best in conneticut

Jack

 

Yeah I've decided to go with Free Up. I'm gonna spring for the Kyocera phone(instead of the dual mode Audiovox). Thanks again for the help and I'll post later this week once I get it all setup.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BUT, you will hardly ever roam. The .99 cent roam rate IS ONLY for off-network roaming. Roaming on the WHOLE Verizon network is free......and it's a big network!! You would really have to be out in the boonies NOT to receive a VZW signal....and if they don't have service, chances are no one else does either! Freeup's great!

 

Hello there......this is a City listing of covered areas for FreeUp........

Bridgeport
Danbury
Hartford
Meriden
New Britain
New Haven
New London
Norwich
Stamford

These are cities listed.....but also the surrounding area is covered too..........too many to list. This list may be outdated...........go to www.verizonwireless.com under freeup and see the newest slection of areas to choose from.

Hope this helps

 

Yeah I checked the site. Freeup is listed as available for both my home zip (06089) and school zip(06269). There's a verizon store in my hometown and I used a friend's Verizon phone here at school (when I was trying to call the phone I had just lost minutes earlier)and it clearly said "Verizon" on the screen, so I'm guessing that means there's a tower close by. I'm not worried about coverage knowing this. Looking forward to getting a cell again. I just hope I can get a non neon blue/purple version of the Kyocera phone Oh well, I can always get a cheap faceplate on ebay.

 

Any idea how much the Motorola V120c would cost me if I was gonna use it for FreeUp? I've always been a fan of Motorola products and to me it just seems a bit sturdier than the Kyocera. Any reviews of this phone? As far as the prepaid vs. postaid, I think most college students use their phones all the time just because they can. They pay 25 dollars a month and to justify this they have it glued to their ears. I use it lightly(basically when I need to make a call or recieve a call and I'm not gonna be near my landline). For that reason, I can't justify spending 25 or more dollars a month. Plus, once my brother had a post paid phone. He was making a call and somehow forgot to press end. Somehow the phone stayed on all night and he got a nice $900 bill that month. So for a variety of reasons a post paid plan is not the best option for me.

 

Sprint doesn't have the best service in your home town, but they do have decent coverage at UCONN. You will prob be better off with Verizon, Cingular covers about half the area Verizon does.

 

Yea sprint has a tower right behind one of the other dorms on campus. I always see it as I'm walking up to my dorm. However, Sprint is just too expensive for me. It seems like Verizon offers the best in both towns for me so I'm gonna go with that.

 

No, I've made up my mind. As I said before, Sprint is too expensive. 34.99 a month is an insane amount of money for me to pay every month for a cell phone that I'm not gonna use all that often. Plus, I may be wrong. I punched in my zip code at school and the sprint web site said it was only partial coverage. Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion but I'm going with Verizon.

 

Sprint does have a type of pre-paid service they sell it at Super Wal-Mart's but from what I have seen there rates are higher then Verizon's and Verizon has a larger network too. Stick with FREEUP from Verizon Wireless.