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Cell phones: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers?
- 8/15/07 1:57 PM
I stick to what my friends have
by ranron - 8/15/07 9:48 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I pay full price for phones, I choose whatever provider my friends use.
all of the above!!!!
by itasara - 8/15/07 10:20 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I said "other" b/c there was not an "all of the above" choice. I would especially be happy if the govm't passed a law that all makes of phones could be used with any company in which case I would get an Iphone and stay where I am for now. I have only been with two companies, cinglular and now verizon, but in both cases there were pros and cons and none of them perfect. I am not willing yet to give up my contract to switch to at&t for the iphone. I have a son on cingular, now at&t and gets terrible reception. He has my previous phone which I paid a good dollar for and he still doesn't get great reception. I am doing okay on verizon but they nickel and dime you for everything...I used to send my pictures to my computer with bluetooth with cingular- quite easy. Now verizon makes me pay for that plus it is much more time consuming to email my own photos to my own photo. I like my cable tv.phone, internet because there is no contract. I would like to see cell companies do the same thing...I hate contracts. I hate keeping track of minutes or text message counts, etc. I'm tired of it. If the companies practiced better pr, then even with out a contract I think they would still get business. They could compete with prices and features without contracts or at least without contracts with penalties. I have a friend who kept one contract and still signed up with AT&T in order to get the Iphone. She says it is the best phone she has ever had. When my contract is up, I may have to switch in order to get that phone. I am sorry Apple did not find a way to make its phone available to other contracts or better yet, start its own cell phone company with no penalties and lower rates to lure some of us away from our current contracts.
Pre-paid
by car-don - 8/15/07 10:27 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Would switch to a free service. We have a prepaid plan and the phone resides in the car. That said, just who do these people talk to?
Business ok but when eating,shopping,walking and driving [I use that term loosely]. My time is to important to pack a phone wherever I go.
Wouldn't Switch Carrier...
by euspos - 8/15/07 10:35 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'm with Cingular/at&t and been a customer since January 1994 (back then TDMA for Metrocell in Dallas), and would not switch - until someone started providing service for free.
Pretty/very happy with service (great coverage!), decent customer service (the few times I needed to talk to them) and most important: GSM phones! The latter one is such a big thing, that I would not give it up. I need to have the capability to (easily) control my own handset and switch it out as I feel like it.
For me, GSM (and UMTS/HSDPA) is here to stay and yes CDMA in Verizon's current flavor gives slightly better data speed. But, that changes from year to year as technologies evolve. Right now CDMA is faster, next year it is the GSM camp (using WCDMA).
Reason to switch cell carriers?
by DT Mitch - 8/15/07 10:39 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
There's a question missing.
- There is no reason to switch carriers?
For my part, I have month by month through Consumer Cellular (who use ATT). No contract, no termination charge. Why would I ever use one of the "normal" carriers in the first place.
Coverage + The phone I want
by nickrusso - 8/15/07 10:41 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'd jump to T-Mobile because I'm drooling for the Sidekick 3, but they have such incredibly bad coverage (according to their map) that it would be ridiculous to even try it.
Their plans are reasonable and varied (better than my present ATT or old Verizon). But if you wander off the main highways or away from densely populated areas, you're carrying dead weight.
BTW, their website is way easy to navigate. Some spots have a folder hierarchy metaphor to get to what you want!
Coverage
by 808hawaii - 8/15/07 11:47 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Like you, if I don't get a signal at home, or my most frequented areas, then why bother! I used to get good coverage from tMobile, but lately the calls have been dropping like flies. The carrier provided to me by work is Verizon & the coverage isn't any better. However, with AT&T I can get calls & none have dropped thus far.
Price comes a close 2nd, but without coverage, what kind of bargain is that!?
moblie phones a joke
by beyondtoday - 8/15/07 11:56 PM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
stop and think about didn't telstra say all them years ago that the call cost for using moblie phones would only be higher than the lan line until the cost of the towers required were paid for well they have been paid for 3 times over infact and they still don't give you the same rate as a land line phone and if that isn't bad enough they also want BS term contracts in today's age phone and internet contracts are something I don't have nor would I ever go back to that BS. futhure more if they really wanted people to use the moblie phones they should be giving them free not including them in their BS contracts where you pay for the phone three times over what it is worth and considering the way phones are out dated like computer motherboards well don't you think they should be offering a free upgradeonce a year during the life of the so called must have contract. that only means the company CO can enjoy a huge bonus payment each year thanks to the huge profit the phone companies make from their once again BS contracts I have better things that my good money can do then to be wasted on Rubish like over priced out dated moblie phones
Thank you for taking the time to read this post and if you are unhappy now start a petition get some media coverage of you taking the petition to your local federal member of parliment and as they said in the sixties " stick it to the man ( person)"
The Switch Between Carriers
by daddyboxers - 8/16/07 12:02 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The way I see it, the only exclusives each carrier has at the moment are the individual cell phones. In order for me to switch from my current carrier (T-Mobile), another carrier would have to allow me to create my own rate plan rather than choose from one that already exists.
For example, when I first started with T-Mobile, I was given the 600 Whenever Minutes plus free nights and weekends for $39.99. Being a loyal customer, I got a free +100minute upgrade. That was fine, but I already had unlimited mobile2mobile for a fee. The free minutes weren't needed because I barely racked up 200minutes on the current plan.
If I was able to change out my minutes for more text messages, or something comparable, that would be great. So rather than choosing from a list of already made plans, if a carrier would allow me to select from a range of 'x' minutes and 'y' text messages available and vary between the two in a single price range, that would be more beneficial than getting a low-end rate plan (that doesn't offer phone upgrades) plus text messages as an extra or getting a regular rate plan (that offers phone upgrades) plus text messages and waste the minutes I do not use.
*On a sidenote, Rollover minutes do not make any sense to me. If I didn't those extra minutes one month, and the month before, why would I suddenly need it the next month?
Only Better Technology...
by Bronzit - 8/16/07 12:09 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
... and there is none, to date. We have been using CDMA phones w/o add-ons since the mid 1990's. Analog signals can't match the clarity and coverage of digital, IMHO. We don't get our calls dropped and wherever we are is covered. We want an excellent performing PHONE is all, & that's what we have: 2/$64/mo. w/no roaming charges, anywhere.
I'd go to the carrier that provides Unlocked phones.
by Emilio2000 - 8/16/07 12:34 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If a carrier would offer an unlocked phone at the same discount price that they offer locked phones, I would immediately flock to the that carrier, and remain loyal to it!
A carrier that locks their phones is my enemy, because they won't allow me to switch the SIM card when in Europe. The first carrier that would allow me to do that would instantly win me over.
What are the carriers afraid of? I am on a contract with them anyway. I am not planning to switch service here in the United States (at home). The ability to use the unlocked feature of the phone would only come in handy for that one week in Europe.
Yes, my carrier would lose out on the exorbitant prices they would charge me to make local calls within Europe. But it is precisely their greedy eagerness to lock me into paying these unreasonably high charges for local calls (within Europe) that make me hate my carrier.
If my carrier can't let me go free, even for a week, they don't deserve my loyalty.
integrity
by sharee100 - 8/16/07 1:18 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Sprint changed my plan without telling me. When I called them on it, they said that because I had paid my bills each month, by default I agreed with the changes. I had not received any notice of the changes. I only discovered the changes because one month I went over the basic minutes allowance and instead of getting a bill for $80, I got a bill for $130. And when I transferred service to another carrier, Sprint insisted on charging me for a full month, when I only had their service for 2 weeks. Yes, integrity is important.
Wider selection of phones
by psyraver - 8/16/07 1:51 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I chose my local carrier. Because there are the only GSM network in my state. So I got to choose from a wide selection of awesome GSM phones. And the plans that they have are amazing! Plus my local carrier offers Unlimited minute plans!
Made the switch
by LAMOREAUX - 8/16/07 4:01 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I made a switch in carriers a little over a year ago. When AT&T/Cingular/AT&T wanted me to "raise the bars" I did...I went with Verizon. With ATT/C, my calls were dropped every few hundred feet when traveling my home region (NYC area). If the iPhone were all that spectacular (and I'm not convinved it is), then the only way I'd get that phone is if Verizon carried it. I buy a phone to make calls (although surfing the internet is OK to pass the time, it's not mandatory in my world).
for the other choice
by rwalkey - 8/16/07 4:30 AM In reply to: What would make you want to switch cellular carriers? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
What's wrong with all of the above. It's time for the consumer to stand and dictate what we want, not what they think we will be satisfied with.
rwalkey
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