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  1. #1
    Steve
    Guest
    Hi;

    I am a complete cell phone newbie. I would like to get a cell phone,
    but I am overwhelmed by the number of options in hardware and plans.

    All I want is a basic phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
    car, for occasional use. Less than once a month. I would prefer a
    prepaid plan.

    I live in Maryland, in the Washington D.C. metro area.

    Can anyone make a recommendation?




    See More: Help choosing a cell phone




  2. #2
    Steve
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    I found this and I thought I might post it here for future archive
    searchers:

    http://www.emergencycellphones.com/




  3. #3
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    Steve wrote:
    > Hi;
    >
    > I am a complete cell phone newbie. I would like to get a cell phone,
    > but I am overwhelmed by the number of options in hardware and plans.
    >
    > All I want is a basic phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
    > car, for occasional use. Less than once a month. I would prefer a
    > prepaid plan.
    >
    > I live in Maryland, in the Washington D.C. metro area.
    >
    > Can anyone make a recommendation?


    PagePlus is probably your best option. As an added benefit, it will work
    on the Metro because it uses the Verizon network. It's the least
    expensive prepaid too.

    "https://www.pagepluscellular.com"

    They'll sell you a basic phone, or you can use any phone intended for
    Verizon.



  4. #4
    Jazz_Azz
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    On Apr 8, 3:50 pm, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
    > Steve wrote:
    > > Hi;

    >
    > > I am a complete cell phone newbie. I would like to get a cell phone,
    > > but I am overwhelmed by the number of options in hardware and plans.

    >
    > > All I want is a basic phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
    > > car, for occasional use. Less than once a month. I would prefer a
    > > prepaid plan.

    >
    > > I live in Maryland, in the Washington D.C. metro area.

    >
    > > Can anyone make a recommendation?

    >
    > PagePlus is probably your best option. As an added benefit, it will work
    > on the Metro because it uses the Verizon network. It's the least
    > expensive prepaid too.
    >
    > "https://www.pagepluscellular.com"
    >
    > They'll sell you a basic phone, or you can use any phone intended for
    > Verizon.




    Check out T-Mobiles Pre-paid plan. The BEST IMHO (Especially once you
    have bought their $100.00 Gold card), a one time purchase.




  5. #5
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    FM wrote:

    > hmmmm, they leave out a good portion of NYS. They think that NYC is all
    > there is. Jerks.


    Are you saying that they don't offer phone numbers or that they don't
    offer coverage? Anywhere there is native Verizon coverage, there is
    PagePlus coverage.

    You can port an existing number to PagePlus and get around the lack of a
    local number.




  6. #6
    Jazz_Azz
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    On Apr 8, 9:07 pm, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
    > Jazz_Azz wrote:
    > > Check out T-Mobiles Pre-paid plan. The BEST IMHO (Especially once you
    > > have bought their $100.00 Gold card), a one time purchase.

    >
    > Yes, this is the best priced service. Unfortunately, there are a lot of
    > areas where T-Mobile service is completely unavailable or that the
    > coverage is pretty poor. I.e., the city I live in, which is in a very
    > urban part of Silicon Valley, has very spotty T-Mobile coverage because
    > T-Mobile (and Sprint) have been unable to construct enough sites to
    > provide seamless coverage. This is an inherent problem with 1900 MHz
    > systems.
    >
    > The good thing about PagePlus is that they use Verizon as their main
    > carrier, and Verizon consistently has the best coverage in the U.S. (at
    > least according to all the independent surveys).




    I was also concerned about that, living up in N.Calif's Solano county.
    My Cingular worked well, finally, after being worthless for so long
    when it was PacBell Wireless early on>>LOL. So anyway, I bought the T-
    Mobile phone, taking it home to check how well it worked. Looked OK on
    the map. Turned out, it works as well as my Cingular phone did, within
    our house. So AFTER verifying that, I then bought their $100.00 Gold
    card. I held off on the card, because you have 30 days to bring back
    their phone, canceling your service. But can not get a refund on any
    minutes you bought.




  7. #7
    SMS
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    Jazz_Azz wrote:

    > I was also concerned about that, living up in N.Calif's Solano county.
    > My Cingular worked well, finally, after being worthless for so long
    > when it was PacBell Wireless early on>>LOL.


    Yes, since T-Mobile essentially is operating the old Pac Bell network,
    and doesn't allow roaming in areas that T-Mobile theoretically covers, I
    just accepted that the coverage will be as bad as the old Pac Bell
    Wireless.

    Ironically, I know the person that is responsible for my neighborhood
    having no 1900 MHz coverage, either on GSM or CDMA, as he's been the
    prime mover behind preventing these companies from erecting towers
    behind his house which backs up to a small shopping center. This has
    been going on since before T-Mobile took over the 1900 MHz Pacific Bell
    Wireless network. I expect that in other areas there is a similar issue
    with neighbors preventing towers.



  8. #8
    Bill Kraski
    Guest

    Re: Help choosing a cell phone

    Steve wrote:

    > All I want is a basic phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
    > car, for occasional use. Less than once a month. I would prefer a
    > prepaid plan.
    >
    > I live in Maryland, in the Washington D.C. metro area.


    For that type use, the 7-11 plan could be good. T-Mobile is all over
    the DC & Baltimore areas (not sure about in between or further out of
    the metro areas -- I use Cingular). So, the T-Mobile prepaid plan
    mentioned in several other threads sounds about the best. In most
    metro areas, they have decent coverage, though not usually as dead spot
    free as the competition. But, if your rare usage is mostly in the DC
    metro area & only 911 calls elsewhere, T-Mobile could be your choice.

    --
    Bill K



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