Cell Phone Madness

September 25th, 2006

Technology We haven’t had a proper cell phones for a while now. Over the past week I’ve been looking into different cell phones and plans, what they offer, and asking various people about theirs. I’ve gotten some interesting feeback:

1. Seems like pretty much every plan has its advantages and disadvantages, and there are traps set up in the form of overages, fees for breaking a contract, if you lose a phone, or if a phone is stolen.

2. Exactly what areas are covered seems to be a crap shoot. Even with maps showing the provider’s coverage, until you actually get the phone in your hands and try it out around where you live, you may not truly know.

3. Pretty much everyone locks you into a two year contract with a monthly fee.

4. I heard some horror stories lost or stolen phones, and having to buy a new phone as a result. Supposedly when the replacement phone is activated, the two year contract is reset. Sounds fishy to me.

5. Some people said their phone plan sucked and they wanted to switch to a different provider, sometimes the very one another person said sucked. My conclusion is they all suck to some degree.

6. Shopping for a cell phone in a cell phone store is a world of upsell. The free phones aren’t prominently displayed, and the sales people are pretty good at mentioning the accessories and add ons you “could” get, such as MP3 playback, cameras, web surfing, email, maps, and Bluetooth headgear so you can look like a cyborg talking to itself in public. Of course, you’ll pay dearly for the ability.

Anyhow, the rundown of providers’ advantages and disadvantages seemed to come up something like this:

Cingluar: Lots of people polled have Cingular and were pleased with it. They seem to have the best coverage in the Bay Area. Every person said rollover minutes were a plus. Also, a wide selection of phones.

T-Mobile: They have the cheapest plan. They also have some phone called the “Pebble” that seemed appealing to several. But I heard bad things overall about their customer service. One person called them “Terrible Mobile”.

Sprint: I only talked to one Sprint user and he was having coverage problems and therefore switching to Cingular.

Verizon: All the Verizon users were happy with their phones. The plan appears to be more expensive. I did have one person say they were switching from Verizon to Cingular because of coverage problems. Verizon also has a smaller phone selection, and supposedly Verizon has a history of locking down their phones to limit its connectibility with a computer, say, to get digital photos off.

So what’s the verdict? Well, you can buy phones at a discount at Costco for Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Costco covers the activation fee. We’ll either go with Cingular or Verizon. My wife will probably get a Verizon phone, most likely a Motorola of some kind. Also, my parents and brother use Verizon, so it will be nice to call them more often.

And me? I’m interested in a Cingular “Go” phone since I’ll only use the cell occasionally and don’t care about photos, MP3s, or surfing the web. The “Go” phone has no contract, and no monthly bill if it’s not used. You pay as you go and put minutes on it when you run out.

I’m gambling that in the long run, this will save a bit of money even above and beyond a “family plan,” since that’s usually an extra ten bucks a month. I find it hard to believe I’ll even use the Go phone that much over a month. If I do need to use a cell for a longer call and we’re together (which is most of the time), I’ll just use her phone.

Anyhow, the biggest lesson I’ve learned from this little exercise is cell phones and their plans are completely confusing and ridiculous. My actual, sneaky plot with a “Go” phone is I don’t want to be locked into a contract when the rumored Apple iPhone debuts.

I’m sure Apple can come up with something better than all these ridiculous plans. There’s a real market opportunity here.

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