Honest Question

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected]pamfree (John S.) wrote:

> >Verizon is now selling phones without analog AMPS.
>
> They (and Sprint PCS) always has sold phones without AMPS.

90% of each of their phones models and absolute numbers are sold with
Amps. I cant even recall a SprintPCS phone other than the Treo 600
without amps.

---

› See More: Honest Question

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected]pamfree (John S.) wrote:

> Maybe.... but then again, the Radio Shack people are little more than the same
> people that worked at the Kiosk in the mall last week.

Some Mall kiosks are in fact owned and operated by Radio Shack.

Before you start making generalizations like the Verizon/Sprint comments you
need to do more research!

The reason I switched from Verizon, customer since they were formed from
Airtouch about 6 yrs ago, was that Cingular had better phones feature wise
(in my opinion), same quality of service in my area and a good family plan.


"Kev" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm going to try not to be a troll here, I swear...
> I'd like to hear some feedback as to why you all chose Cingular over
> services that have either a (proven) much larger network, (Verizon
> Wireless), or a service that basically wrote the book (in the US at least)
> on having the most advanced and data capable handsets on the market
(Sprint
> PCS)?
>
> By the way, where did you make your purchase? Has anyone noticed that the
> largest wireless phone retailer in the US (and has been since wireless
came
> about) carries prodominently Sprint PCS and Verizon? Wouldn't people
take
> advice from them rather than some no name booth in a mall somewhere?
>
> Try not to flame me too much! I'm honestly just trying to start a
topic.
>
>

"Kev" <[email protected]> wrote
> I'd like to hear some feedback as to why you all chose Cingular

I chose Cingular for one reason: they prorate the cancellation penalty
on the contract, whereas with all the others keep the full penalty to
the end of the contract. Since it was my first cell phone, that was
significant to me. (If it's significant to you, then obviously you
have to check that it's true now in your location.)

I didn't see anything else to choose among them. Then and now, I hear
good things and horror stories about all of them. I have my own horror
story about Cingular, but I don't have any illusion that any of the
others would be better. Based on everything I read, all have highly
variable support and plenty of horror stories.

Edward

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 03:00:57 GMT, "Robert M." <[email protected]>
wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> "Kev" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I'm going to try not to be a troll here, I swear...
>> I'd like to hear some feedback as to why you all chose Cingular over
>> services that have either a (proven) much larger network, (Verizon
>> Wireless), or a service that basically wrote the book (in the US at least)
>> on having the most advanced and data capable handsets on the market (Sprint
>> PCS)?
>>
>> By the way, where did you make your purchase? Has anyone noticed that the
>> largest wireless phone retailer in the US (and has been since wireless came
>> about) carries prodominently Sprint PCS and Verizon? Wouldn't people take
>> advice from them rather than some no name booth in a mall somewhere?
>
>I am sure Radio Shack carries brands based on profittability for
>themselves not on any altruistic motives.

Since you asked. First of all is will the phone work (can you make and
receive calls) from where you are and where you normally go. I does
not make any difference how great or cheap the plan is, if it won't
work where you are you might as well not have it.

Do some web research on any big company and you will see there are
many people who got screwed by that company no matter what that
company is. I love and have bought many sets of Michelin tires, but
there are many people who have been screwed by them, same goes for
Goodyear, Firestone or any other manufacturer. So, if i do enough
research there are horrible stories about every tire company. Does
this mean that I won't buy tires, hardly....

Same with phones, but fortunately most of use do not have to have a
wireless phone, makes life easier, in most cases.

So, i talked to everyone I know and asked them what they had and how
they like it. I visit a nearby city often and Sprint does not have
coverage there at all... no point in getting a phone from sprint at
this time. Borrowed a friends Cingular phone to make sure it worked
where I live.... it is not on a cingular tower, so I can't dial all
the quickie numbers like *MIN# and *BIL#, but i can call the 800
number and find out the same things. I went with the shortest time I
could find for a service agreement. The shorter the better. I bought
my phone off of ebay for $24.99 plus shipping with no sim chip, extra
battery and car charger and earpieceand home charger. Cingular dealer
said that sometimes sim chip has previous owners charges in it. I
think he charged me $21.20 for the new sim chip, price is in my
checkbook and i'm not going to look it up.

It is also my understanding that on June 11 Cingular is going to
release 20 new smart phones and they will be GSM... at least that is
what or nearly what several Cingular stores and dealers told me.

I'll cut to the chase, if you poll all of your friends and see how
happy they are with what they have then attempt to make a informed
decision and get the shortest term of service you can.... If you
screwed up then you can change carriers sooner.

Good Luck (you will need it)

painfully new

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:

> It is also my understanding that on June 11 Cingular is going to
> release 20 new smart phones and they will be GSM... at least that is
> what or nearly what several Cingular stores and dealers told me.



Rule #1: Don't buy promises.

>
> I'll cut to the chase, if you poll all of your friends and see how
> happy they are with what they have then attempt to make a informed
> decision and get the shortest term of service you can.... If you
> screwed up then you can change carriers sooner.
>
> Good Luck (you will need it)
>
> painfully new

I don't think it's necessary to go for a short contract. Rule number one is
to not sign any contract that you can't back out of within a free trial
period. Use the heck out of the phone during the free trial period, making
calls (even short ones) from everywhere you'd normally go in a typical week.
If you don't encounter any dead zones or other problems you can't live with,
you are probably good to go. -Dave

In article <[email protected]>,
"Dave C." <[email protected]> wrote:

> I don't think it's necessary to go for a short contract. Rule number one is
> to not sign any contract that you can't back out of within a free trial
> period.

There is no FREE TRIAL period. There is a trial period for the phone,
but between activation and useage charges, your trial period in mosts
cases ending up costing ~$100.

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 03:38:59 -0400, "Dave C."
<[email protected]> wrote:

>>
>> I'll cut to the chase, if you poll all of your friends and see how
>> happy they are with what they have then attempt to make a informed
>> decision and get the shortest term of service you can.... If you
>> screwed up then you can change carriers sooner.
>>
>> Good Luck (you will need it)
>>
>> painfully new
>
>I don't think it's necessary to go for a short contract. Rule number one is
>to not sign any contract that you can't back out of within a free trial
>period. Use the heck out of the phone during the free trial period, making
>calls (even short ones) from everywhere you'd normally go in a typical week.
>If you don't encounter any dead zones or other problems you can't live with,
>you are probably good to go. -Dave

I respect your opinion, but, The wireless phone market changes on a
daily basis, what might be a good deal today even the best, might look
pretty bad 18 months from now. The shorter the contract the better
IMHO.

painfully new
>

"> There is no FREE TRIAL period. There is a trial period for the phone,
> but between activation and useage charges, your trial period in mosts
> cases ending up costing ~$100."

This is not the case at all....again, my local Radioshack offers a
choice of Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. SprintPCS offers what they call
their "Coverage Challange". Basically, the folks at RadioShack activate a
wireless phone of your choice right there in the store for you, give you
Instant Rebates on it, and Sprints STILL lets you try it for 2 weeks. If
you can't get coverage in the places you work, live, etc, you can return it
to any of over 7,000 RadioShack stores for a full refund on the phone, and
accessories, and you are billed absolutely NOTHING. No activation fee! No
usage fees!!! Not even any annoying taxes, etc!
Verizon offers a similar trial. Same thing on RadioShacks end, but
they may charge you a prorated fee for the 2 week trial. They don't however
charge you the activation fee.


"Robert M." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Dave C." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I don't think it's necessary to go for a short contract. Rule number
one is
> > to not sign any contract that you can't back out of within a free trial
> > period.
>
> There is no FREE TRIAL period. There is a trial period for the phone,
> but between activation and useage charges, your trial period in mosts
> cases ending up costing ~$100.

Theer was like 2..maybe 3 models that didn't have analog access...Kinda
makes my point though...The fact that Sprint and Verizon allow analog access
along with their own (again superior, can't believe THAT point is even
challanged) coverage, makes them more reliable for coverage than gsm could
ever hope. Period.
"Robert M." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected]pamfree (John S.) wrote:
>
> > >Verizon is now selling phones without analog AMPS.
> >
> > They (and Sprint PCS) always has sold phones without AMPS.
>
> 90% of each of their phones models and absolute numbers are sold with
> Amps. I cant even recall a SprintPCS phone other than the Treo 600
> without amps.

In article <[email protected]>,
"Kev" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "> There is no FREE TRIAL period. There is a trial period for the phone,
> > but between activation and useage charges, your trial period in mosts
> > cases ending up costing ~$100."
>
> This is not the case at all....again, my local Radioshack offers a
> choice of Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. SprintPCS offers what they call
> their "Coverage Challange".

and the URL for this is where? Its not anywhere on the Sprint or
RadioShack web site or anywhere that Google knows about.

Awesome feedback from everyone! More posts coming?

"Kev" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm going to try not to be a troll here, I swear...
> I'd like to hear some feedback as to why you all chose Cingular over
> services that have either a (proven) much larger network, (Verizon
> Wireless), or a service that basically wrote the book (in the US at least)
> on having the most advanced and data capable handsets on the market
(Sprint
> PCS)?
>
> By the way, where did you make your purchase? Has anyone noticed that the
> largest wireless phone retailer in the US (and has been since wireless
came
> about) carries prodominently Sprint PCS and Verizon? Wouldn't people
take
> advice from them rather than some no name booth in a mall somewhere?
>
> Try not to flame me too much! I'm honestly just trying to start a
topic.
>
>

"Robert M." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Kev" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > "> There is no FREE TRIAL period. There is a trial period for the phone,
> > > but between activation and useage charges, your trial period in mosts
> > > cases ending up costing ~$100."
> >
> > This is not the case at all....again, my local Radioshack offers a
> > choice of Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. SprintPCS offers what they
call
> > their "Coverage Challange".
>
> and the URL for this is where? Its not anywhere on the Sprint or
> RadioShack web site or anywhere that Google knows about.

Why does there have to be a URL? Ever heard of local promotions?

On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 18:20:52 -0400, "Kev" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Theer was like 2..maybe 3 models that didn't have analog access...Kinda
>makes my point though...The fact that Sprint and Verizon allow analog access
>along with their own (again superior, can't believe THAT point is even
>challanged) coverage, makes them more reliable for coverage than gsm could
>ever hope. Period.

Not unless analog AMPS backup is in the picture.

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