Which carrier is the best?

My plan is about to expire, and I'm wondering which
cellular plan has the most bang for the buck. Is
there a consumer's report about the carriers, that
anyone knows of?

kkiesgen@maxlite.com

On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:54:08 -0500, in
<20100815-155408.690.0@Kim-Kiesgen.nntp.aioe.org>, Kim Kiesgen
<kkiesgen@maxlite.com> wrote:

>My plan is about to expire, and I'm wondering which
>cellular plan has the most bang for the buck. Is
>there a consumer's report about the carriers, that
>anyone knows of?
>
>kkiesgen@maxlite.com

There are many such reports, including the ones by Consumer Reports
magazine, but they're too general to tell you what you really need to
know for your specific needs. (Matters little, for example, if service
is good for users surveyed but nonexistent where you are.)

My suggestions:
1. Decide whether you prefer prepaid or postpaid
2. Check best plans and prices of major carriers in that category
3. Pick the most suitable phone from the best carrier
4. Test phone and coverage carefully in the first two weeks
5. If it doesn't meet your needs, return it (without penalty)
and go to #2 on your list

For my own needs, I prefer prepaid (no contract), and found T-Mobile to
have the best coverage (in areas I care about), and best plans and
pricing ($60 per month for more minutes that I need, plus unlimited in
network calling, and unlimited night and weekends, with unlimited
messaging and Internet). I think picked the phone on T-Mobile that best
met my needs: myTouch 3G 3.5mm Jack (Android).

But your needs might well be different, and you'll get as many different
answers here as you get people answering.

--
John

"Assumption is the mother of all screw ups."
[Wethern’s Law of Suspended Judgement]

On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:54:08 -0500, Kim Kiesgen <kkiesgen@maxlite.com>
wrote:
>My plan is about to expire, and I'm wondering which
>cellular plan has the most bang for the buck. Is
>there a consumer's report about the carriers, that
>anyone knows of?

It very much depends on what country you're in.

On Aug 15, 8:54*am, Kim Kiesgen <kkies...@maxlite.com> wrote:
> My plan is about to expire, and I'm wondering which
> cellular plan has the most bang for the buck. *Is
> there a consumer's report about the carriers, that
> anyone knows of?
>
> kkies...@maxlite.com

A service is only valuable if you can use it where you need to use
it. If you're in an urban location most any carrier will fit your
need. If you're looking for value T-Mobile can be a good fit
especially if you choose an "even more plus" plan. For $10 less per
month than the equivalent even more plan you get good deals with 500
minutes for as little as $30/month. You have to either bring your own
compatible GSM phone or buy one from T-Mobile. The good deal if you
should choose to buy one from T-Mobile is that they'll allow you to
pay installments on your phone over two years. So you might not save
over the equivalent even more plan but at the end of your term you'll
be paying $10 less per month for your plan.

Prepaid works well for some people. There are all sorts of deals you
can figure with different companies to get a decent per minute rate.
As an example you can get a rate of 10¢/minute or less if you choose
to buy $100 of time right off the bat with T-Mobile. Other plans from
outfits such as Page Plus offer very affordable terms as well (an MVNO
on Verizon I believe.) If you wish to "play games" with it people
have gotten good deals on TracFone but with TracFone you are limited
to the specialized handsets they offer as their handsets are not
compatible with any other service except TracFone (not even with their
sister company Net10.)

A disadvantage of prepaid (at least the way it is at present) is that
there's not much in the way of good deals with data with perhaps the
exception that you can sign up for T-Mobile's "flexpay" service which
essentially is a prepaid version of their regular plans where you pay
for your services a month in advance. With flexpay basically you can
have anything that the regular monthly billed plans have as add-ons
(such as data, text message packets, etc.) You just pay for it in
advance rather than have a monthly bill sent to you in the mail or
view on line. You can also get new handsets with flexpay but you will
be subject to a contract (two years I believe.) One disadvantage of
flexpay however is that they don't have the same roaming agreements
that the monthly billed service has. Less roaming agreements than the
monthly billed service.

On 08/16/10 06:54 am, borje@hotmail.com wrote:

>> My plan is about to expire, and I'm wondering which
>> cellular plan has the most bang for the buck. Is
>> there a consumer's report about the carriers, that
>> anyone knows of?
>
> It very much depends on what country you're in.

And which part of which country. And which street of that part of the
country, And which house on that street. And which floor of that house.
And which specific phone you are using,

I can tell you that some people newly arrived in the US found that
Sprint was waaay more expensive than T-Mobile and that the Sprint
salesperson was neither as polite nor as knowledgeable.

Perce

On Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:36:54 -0400, "Percival P. Cassidy"
<Nobody@NotMyISP.com> wrote:
>On 08/16/10 06:54 am, borje@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>>> My plan is about to expire, and I'm wondering which
>>> cellular plan has the most bang for the buck. Is
>>> there a consumer's report about the carriers, that
>>> anyone knows of?
>>
>> It very much depends on what country you're in.
>
>And which part of which country. And which street of that part of the
>country, And which house on that street. And which floor of that house.
>And which specific phone you are using,
>
>I can tell you that some people newly arrived in the US found that
>Sprint was waaay more expensive than T-Mobile and that the Sprint
>salesperson was neither as polite nor as knowledgeable.
>
>Perce

T-mobile is a German company and if published in an international
alt.group it somestimes helps to know which T-mobile it is; Czech,
Hungarian, Dutch, German or USA.

<borje@hotmail.com> wrote:
> T-mobile is a German company and if published in an international
> alt.group it somestimes helps to know which T-mobile it is; Czech,
> Hungarian, Dutch, German or USA.

Microsoft also has international groups which are indicated in their
name with the country's code, such as ".de" or ".it" etc. The US groups
usually don't have such a country code in them as they are considered
being the default. I know, non-Americans must consider it (yet again) a
display of American arrogance, but it's a legacy thing really as the
Internet and Usenet started out in a big way in the US.

I suggest you get a global sim card because they dont expire after one month. And you can also use it in other countries and most countries has free incoming calls. Try smart free quattro by intouchsmartcards, im pretty sure they can offer you best options for your future travel.