cell phone: do I need good credit??

"Joseph" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 13:05:38 -0500, "JJP" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>Ok, I've decided to come out of the hole that I have been living in for
>>the
>>past two decades, and finally get a cell phone. I don't even have a
>>regular
>>landline right now.
>>
>>Question 1: If I have bad credit, can I still get a cell phone? I don't
>>want
>>to do those pre-paid cell phone cards, since they are really expensive I
>>heard.
>
> If you have bad credit or no credit file it will be either not
> possible or you'll have to put up a major deposit. If you want mobile
> phone service your only alternative will be to use prepaid mobile
> service. Yes, they are more expensive generally than monthly service.
>
>>Question 2: When shopping for a provider, how do I go about this? Do I
>>just
>>go the major websites? (BTW, I did have a cell phone briefly in 1992, for
>>a
>>month. Back then, you chose your provider by what area you lived in. There
>>was no competition. I assume things have changed now.)
>
> Determine how you're going to use your service. Are you going to use
> it just in emergency situations or are you going to use it as a
> convenience when you really need to make a call and don't want to use
> a pay phone.
>
> Determine whether you're going to be using your mobile basically in an
> urban/suburban area or if you'll spend any great amount of time in
> rural areas. If you're going to be mostly in an urban area your
> options will be very much expanded. If you feel you really need
> fuller coverage you'll have to use a carrier that also uses analog
> coverage as a backup for when digital service is not available.
>
> Some carriers such as T-Mobile you'll get more for your money, but you
> will likely have less coverage than a carrier that offers more
> complete coverage.
>
> Most important that you query your neighbors if they have mobile
> service and ask them how satisfied they are with their service. Keep
> in mind that reception can vary greatly from one location to the next
> so what works well in one area won't necessarily work in another area.
>

Also find out what your friends have, if you get the same provider you can
most likly get some kind of Mobile to Mobile where it wont use your whenever
minutes to talk to others of the same provider as you.


> Also, don't get hung up on the underlying technology used. What you
> should be concerned with is whether the service will work where you
> need it to work.
>
>>Are these the main providers?
>>
>>Sprint
>>AT&T
>>Voicestream
>>Cingulair
>>Verizon
>
> Depending on where you are those are major mobile providers noting
> that "VoiceStream" no longer exists and is now T-Mobile. Depending on
> where you are in the US you may have some or all of the carriers you
> have named.
>
>>As you can see, I have no idea what I am doing.
>
> Well, hopefully you'll get some good basic advice here.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply

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› See More: cell phone: do I need good credit??

Sean Scott wrote:
>
> AT&T and Cingular are one and the same now.
>
> I like Tmobiles 1000 whenever, unlimited nights (9pm to 7am) and unlimited
> weekends plan for 45.99 a month.
>
> I can't say anything bad/good about sprint but I didnt like them, my sister
> loves them.
>
> Verizon is probably up there as one of the best but also pricey AFAIK.
>
> Never heard of Voicestream and you left out Virgin Mobile.

VoiceStream was purchased by T-Mobile somewhere around 1999 or 2000. Virgin
Mobile is prepay only and uses Sprint's network.

Sprint is either love or hate - I have no major problems with the service and I
like using it quite a bit, as does my wife, but I am aware that others have had
pretty bad experiences with them.

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