Local Mobile Phone Service

elchrist · Posted: 02 Dec 2002 09:41 AM Post subject: Local Mobile Phone Service

Almost one year ago, I gave up an addiction. That addiction was not heroin, alcohol, nicotine, or even driving in fast cars with low spoilers, huge tails and tons of decals that I have no idea what significance they hold. This addiction was a fuckin' cell phone.

Well, guess what? After less than one year, I'm back in the market for a cell phone provider. I haven't had very much time to do my own research, so I haven't been able to really decide on who to go with. I'm thinking maybe Cingular, since I was a previous service subscriber.

Now we've got Cingular, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and few others in town. I'm looking for one of those shared plans where you can have two phones sharing your allotted air time, preferably with this "mobile to mobile" feature being thrown in for free. I possibly want Internet capabilities since I have plans on making Calecia.com WAP-enabled (mobile phones and PDAs). I'd say between 300 to 400 peak minutes, since with M2M I won't be using up a lot of time, since a high percentage of the calls could be between the same shared account.

There's a lot of other options/features, but another huge importance is the phones have to be cool. I like the Siemens S40 and the Sanyo SCP6200.

Oh yeah, I forgot one other little thing too. Price. What I've seen for what I'm describing is approximately $60 as a recurring monthly service fee. If there's anything else cheaper, for 2 phones, I'll go with that. I still can't believe how expensive mobile phone service is. How could some of you be paying $50 to $80 for one phone? That's fuckin' ridiculous. Best thing to do is get your work to pay for service I suppose, but that just ain't gonna happen with me.

And one last thing... best coverage in Mexicali is too.

So, if you you have a mobile phone and live in the valley. Please share your experiences, recommendations and advice. I'm quite sure we'd all appreciate your input.

Mr.Tasty · Posted: 02 Dec 2002 07:39 PM Post subject: Re: Local Mobile Phone Service

elchrist · Posted: 03 Dec 2002 08:40 AM Post subject: Re: Local Mobile Phone Service

elchrist · Posted: 16 Dec 2002 10:31 PM Post subject:

Does anyone use T-Mobile? They seem to have the best deals, plus if you subscribe through Amazon.com you get a free $300 Samsung color-screen phone.

The lady at the T-Mobile shop in El Centro said that their service is bad in Calexico and if you're anywhere near the border it immediately goes into roaming. Is this the troof?

watts · Posted: 17 Dec 2002 07:52 AM Post subject:

Elchrist, it took a lot of courage to write about your addiction. We are all proud that you were clean and sober for a year and can't help but express a little disappointment that you are stumbling.

Instead of just jumping back into this cellular obsession, maybe you should discuss it with loved ones, friends, or even with a counselor at your place of work. These people are here to help you so, please, gather whatever inspiration you can from them and try to avoid a very big mistake... like signing up for a two year contract.

But playing the devils advocate I think Cingular is the way to go. Even though your wish list is kind of extreme (you only left out the little midget that is supposed to pop out of your pocket and dial the numbers for you) it might still be possible to get the key features you long for.

chainsmokinmonkey · Posted: 17 Dec 2002 11:29 PM Post subject:

spic-ole · Posted: 18 Dec 2002 11:04 AM Post subject:

I didn't want to get involved in this topic, because the last phone service I had left me traumatized.

Look elchrist, it doesn't matter who you get, they're all the same. They are all gonna fail on you 15 minutes after you pass El Centro, 1 minute after you go into Mexicali, and occasionally, it will fail when you are in Calexico because the TelCel and Baja Celular (or whatever they're called right now) towers have too high of a signal, and it interferes with your phone.

All the services suck, you just need to weigh out the best deal, and who has the phone that is most beneficial to your needs.

For example, Pac-Bell phones have have good roaming deals, and good pre-paid deals. Verizon has about the same ok roaming deals, and what-ever pre-paid deals. Sprint has deals that are really good, but when you think about them, they're actually really useless. Nextel is probably the best deal, but for the deal to be great, you need mucho personas to buy phones with you.

Another thing you need to take into consideration is, do you need a phone-line in the U.S. alone, or would you like one in Mexicali also. Some cell phone companies will allow you to have two seperate lines on the same phone, one here, and one in mex. As far as I know, Verizon is the only place that does this. Pac-Bell, Sprint, and Nextel phones have chips that only allow the phones to work with Pac-Bell, Sprint, or Nextel service.

chainsmokinmonkey · Posted: 18 Dec 2002 03:05 PM Post subject:

it's not pac-bell anymore. it's cingular. you still get the same crappy service, however Crying or Very sad

the name change happened when pac-bell and the phone service for nevada merged into one.

elchrist · Posted: 23 Dec 2002 12:40 PM Post subject:

chainsmokinmonkey · Posted: 23 Dec 2002 07:26 PM Post subject: