Cell Phone Plans

i have sprint and i hate, hate, hate them! i also do not have a landline and i do need the phone, too. i'm going to switch in january when my contract is up. i had verizon and they were awesome but cannot switch back because they were in my bankruptcy :(. i am looking into t-mobile.

I had Cingular and loved them, then AT&T bought them, and hate them!! Just switched over to US Cellular and so far, no problems.

For $50/mo I get 700 minutes, free incoming calls :) and I believe you can "add a line."

I know you said you are with Sprint and like them. The problem with going to a new carrier, is you will have to get new phones! Although, I got a new phone from US Cellular and paid only a penny for it. It's a basic camera phone with an MP3 player (haven't figured how to use it yet)!

I know if you go to the various websites for the cell phone carriers, you can see what types of plans they offer so that you can compare them with your current ones.

Another option is to try a "pay as you go" plan. Just check to see if the minutes expire in 30, 60 or 90 days, if at all.

I did have verizon in the past and had to switch when I moved to my new town because there was no service at our home. So I can't switch to them, and I HATE at&t so they are a no-go either. Other than TMobile, what are some other choices?

US Cellular. I just wrote about them above. I was surprised at how good they are and they even offer "pre-paid or pay as you go" plans.

i found pay as you go can get pricey though - i can't think of any other companies on hand right now but maybe you could go to an electronic store that offers several plans and shop around?

I never liked Sprint, their customer service stunk, their reception stunk. I couldn't get a signal in my own apartment and their answer was 'we can't guarantee coverage indoors'

I like T-mobile, except the only problem I have is that there is no signal in the town I work at. But other then that i love their customer service and the roadside assistance I get from them is great.

I have t-mobile and like them very much...my only problem is the same as drjonah, I can't get service in the building where I work, but the minute I walk outside I am good :D ...

I'm on a 'pay as you go' plan, as well. I have Verizon. I don't have to worry about 'going over my minutes' and i don't have a bill at the end of the month. Just add money and go!1 I love mine! I never had a 'contract' phone.

We have Sprint, and unlike above posters, we love them. We've been with Cingular and AT&T, and we like Sprint better by far. We get service in places that we didn't with either of the others. We have five lines on a family plan (mine and my husband's, our daughter's, and two business lines). We share minutes and get free mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends, and 550 minutes a month for around $80. We've been with Sprint for several years and whenever I shop around, I can't find anything that is comparable for the price!

Just for the heck of it, I called Verizon to see if I qualified for a 'contract' phone. Well.......I did, but..I would have to put $125.00 down and first month payment ( type of thing). ONE thing I DO like about Pre-pay phones, that you're not stuck in a contract and have all the fees that come with a contract phone.

I have at&t and i hate them! The only good thing is the rollover minutes so the chances of going over your minutes is slim after the first couple times...

I have unlimited texting for $20 a month.

Me and my fiance have two phones on the plan and we pay about $115 a month. Boo to at & t.


I used to have Alltel and there customer service is absolutely horrific. They DO not and Will Not work with you on anything, and i got charges on my account for an online/ phone dating thing...$40 a month!! and i never used it...ever... and then they tried o say it was used by the secondary phone number on the plan which was my 91 year old grandma who only uses it in case of emergency. RIIIGHT. :D i fought it and the charges were dropped but they are horrible...


Pay as you go can be really expensive depending on how much you talk on the phone. I believe you can get like a card with 300 min for $30....dont hold me to that but i believe thats what my friend got... and then it was along the lines of like 1/2 min for outgoing txts and 1 min for incoming txts. So as you see that gets kinda expensive if your using your phone alot...(minutes and txt) and wiht a prepay i dont believe you have the benefit of the talk for free to someone with the same carrier as you...so there it is! :D have fun with that one. lol

I have TracFone, believe it or not. I have an old, clunky Nokia 2285 phone. No camera, mp3, or fancy bells and whistles. It's about 5 years old at this point, but that's cool. I only talk on it, no text, etc.,and it does that just fine. It was all the schizzle when it was new, and it's rock solid reliable.

These days, you can get a more modern phone for about $25. Add a double-minute card and a 200 minute air time card, and you're ready to go. Total cost: about $100 for a phone and 400 minutes. With my setup, I pay about 8 cents a minute, which is reasonably competitive with 'plan' phones. And no contracts or bills, ever. No credit check either, if you're concerned about such things.

I have a question, my contract with Sprint is up in Jan 09. Do you think I will have to give them another security deposit to keep them? If so, imma leave but if I don't need another deposit, i will stay because my credit is shot. any ideas??

no, if your credit does not get rechecked if you are staying with them. They might try to get you to re-up your contract in trade for a new phone, but try and resist!

lol i do resist with sprint, dont worry! :)

T mobile has excellent customer service and comparatively low cost family plan than Verizon but the signal service is not reliable. My teenage child goes to school himself. He calls me on the way, but drop calls many times make me worry about his safety. This happens not just on the way to school but in many area in here in NYC.

I called the customer service and all they did was to offer me free additional anytime-minutes on my account. Based on my years of experience as a T-Mobile customer and friends of mine who are T-Mobile subscribers, their service is not reliable due to many drop calls and dead spots. I can't believe T-Mobile even got a excellent review on Consumer Report.

If it was not for the penalty of early termination of contract, I would have switched to different company.

So beware. Make sure you do some research by asking people who are actually subscribing to the cellphone service you to switch and be skeptical on magazines' reviews --we don't know how accurate they are until you signed the contract and unsatisfied with the service.

Beware! beware! beware!

service depends on where you live - my sprint is actually good service in central NJ but whenever i vacation down south i can barely get a signal. i never had problems with t-mobile signals but it seems like nyc does and it's all of an hour 20 min away..

how much do you pay for month when you have a sprint phone???

i had a family plan with two lines, unlimited text and it was never under $200 a month (i shared a line with a family memeber.) i switched to t-mobile and my personal line is $55 a month.. with unlimited text. BIG difference! i do agree t-mobile does not have the best service but it is not bad.

I recently bought AT&T family plan on the website wirelessmarketplus.com and it worked great for me.
You can use the promo code 5256365 in the IBO code field.

I had AT&T for awhile and the charges were ridiculous. It was always around $150 or $200/month and that was just for 2 lines. The amount of taxes and fees are ridiculous. Unfortunately, I can't go without a cell phone, but now I just have a T Mobile Pay As You Go phone which I only use for emergencies. I just can't justify spending $100+ per month on a phone.