Right now, I just have a cell phone. I call my parents every now and then (actually I only talk to my mom on the phone, I can’t understand my dad!), and sometimes I talk with my younger sister. But otherwise, I stick with texting. I like texting. In fact, I love texting. But my contract is expiring with my parents, so I need to find another “game plan.”
It’s hard. First of all, there’s all these services. Verizon. Sprint. Cingular. T Mobile. Did I miss anyone else?
Sprint has some pretty cool phones. So does Cingular. I just think T-Mobile has a lot of bulky stuff. I want something slim. Verizon has never been on top of its game, until recently. A co-worker told me about a new phone, and I looked at it and was drooled over it. So I went into the Verizon store and it was perfect. It’s the phone I’ve dreamed about.
I want something slim. Something that looks good, can fit in my purse without me shoving it in there, especially when I go out on the weekends. Or even something I can slip in my back pocket for those times I go to a concert. And I want something that’s got a QWERTY keyboard. Is that too much to ask? I got lucky because Verizon actually came up with a phone that has all of that.
Now comes the tough part, the minutes, the texting, the data plan. It’s overwhelming. I’ve looked at all the plans. T-Mobile is definitely suitable for deaf people, you can get a data plan without any minutes. Sounds perfect? I think so, but there’s no phone that I think fits me. I don’t really like the Sidekick because it’s not something I would use all the time. I’m just not a Sidekick girl.
Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon can’t set you up without a voice plan. I hate that concept. So, I’m in a battle.
I’d like to stay with Verizon. I could call my family any time and it wouldn’t cost me a thing. It’s about $10-$20 for texting (that includes instant messenging). But their lowest voice plan starts at $40. Oy.
Cingular has this plan where it’s got rollover minutes. I would still pay $40 some for their lowest voice plan, and my minutes would just keep racking up. They have messaging plans which range from $5 to $40. Not too bad. And there’s a good variety of options there.
Sprint starts at $40 as well. But they have a lot of add ons. The texting ranges from 5 to 15, 15 is unlimited. Pretty good deal. Considering both Verizon and Cingular only offer unlimited within your network, and Sprint says you can send unlimited text messages to anyone. Then if you want the nights and weekend minutes to start earlier, you pay either 5 or 10 dollars.
It’s quite overwhelming. Until last week, I wasn’t even sure who I was going to go with. I just wanted one of these companies to give me a decent deal. They all pretty much have the same deals. Most of them have great prices for sending and receiving SMS messages (texting), but the voice plans.
Once I saw the phone. I wanted it. So I even discussed with my roommate/good friend as to whether or not I should join her plan since she’s got Verizon. We figured it was $10 for an additional line, plus whatever texting plan I wanted. So it might end up being about $30. That didn’t happen, I called Verizon to find out more details. Apparently, the lowest cost for a “family share plan” is 70 dollars, with 700 minutes. I just don’t want to incur any more costs on her. I wanted something that’d work for both of us. Even after discussing with my coworkers, they say just go for your own plan even if you don’t use the minutes.
I was just wondering, do these companies just benefit from keeping their voice plans to $40 and up? Are there people out there that would like to see plans that have lower minutes at lower costs? In addition to those pay as you go plans, why not have a plan where you can have “emergency minutes?”
It’s interesting because nearly all my co-workers text their friends. They say they don’t use all of their minutes. So why not come up with voice plans that have less minutes. People like options. I know I do. I love my options. Yet, I feel limited with all these options. At least I know what phone I want (and that took me two months of research). I just have to let go of the fact that my monthly bill is going from $20 a month to some $50. Oh boy.
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I’m chuckling, Erin…
My God(dess)-Daughter decided to get a SideKick 3 for her 18th birthday recently. She just HAD to have that thing! (”I want a SK3 so I can keep in touch with you, Mum!”)
The amount of research and phone calls and discussing it with the salesperson…geez, you would have thought she was planning to announce her candidacy for the presidency or something! I think she made like 5 phone calls and spent a total of 4 hours talking to TMobile reps trying to get the right info, figure out which plan was best, how many minutes she would get for what cost, how much she was gonna hafta pay to get the darn doodad and get it activated, etc. etc. etc. (Small wonder she now complains her voice is hoarse…)
Since she’s hearing, she did need/want a voice plan, but she also wanted the texting and instant messenger and internet access and yadda yadda yadda. I think all together this baby is gonna cost her sixty bucks a month. Time to look for a job, kiddo.
Well, with a little help from mommy and daddy and goddess-mum, the SideKick 3 has been ordered and she’s anxiously tracking it on the UPS website (rolls eyes).
But yes, I’m sure she could sympathize.
I agree, there are not that many options out there. I loved sidekick only because it was perfect for me as a deaf person to use emails, yahoo.maps (when I get lost, which is quite often, LOL), text messages, address books, and AIM which I use a lot with friends and I have my own personal phone nbr that calls directly to my AIM which I communicate with everyone deaf and hearing and the whole 9 yards all for $32.00 a month unlimited use.
Negative about Tmobile? is that I was only 1 month late and I was bout to pay for the 2 months week before the due date but they cancelled me way before the due date and said I owe 99.00 instead. I was like why 99.00? They said in order to turn me back on, I must 3 months in order to turn it back on. I said I am only 1 month late and 2nd month isn’t even due until next week which I intended to pay both now and the fact that I was never late in 2 years since I had the sidekick.
Tmobile refuse to do so and shut me off completely, they were rude and inconsiderate and they only cared about MONEY which I understood but they did not care about loyalty to their customers who were never late or missed a payment. Now I am sidekick-less and now I am walking around thinking what options do I have now? I refuse to go back to Tmobile after our dispute and their lack of consideration and now I have a hard time trusting any cell-phone companies who are in it only for the GREED of it.
Hopefully one day it will be like our home phone where it’s unlimited local calls and so on…
Until that time comes, I will get it but I love the Sidekick and yes it’s bulky but at least it had what I needed and should I give in to Pride and let Tmobile’s greed win? Some will say, all corporations are greedy, they will not change, I do understand we all need to make money and incomes. AT LEAST show some loyalty to customers who are faithful to their services! Give them a 2nd chance to redeem their loyalty, I was not given that chance.
You might want to consider the Blackberry 8283 device from Verizon Wireless. It’s nowhere near as slim but it has a nice QWERTY keyboard. The phone is also supposedly accessible as I saw something about “hearing aid compatibility” in the features. I think there’s also a listed TTY feature that’s there although I’m not sure if its referring to the TTY I’m thinking of. But who uses the TTY nowadays?
And what’s more - VZW is the only carrier that works underground on Metro. That was the selling point for me as I spend at least 20 minutes underground to and from the office.
Hey Rob, I tried to check online for Blackberry 8283, since I am seeking for a new pager and I took upon your consideration for this blackberry and there is no where to be found, is this a new gadget? Where do I find more info on this blackberry?? Thanks!
WELL, if you are not comfortable with the voice plans and more fees for your special needs, the solution is, “DON’T BUY ANYTHING.”
Be revolutionary–Don’t buy anything what you are not comfortable with. Buy when you are very happy with the plans. Cell phones are ridiculously pricey.
AMEN to that!
I use texting a lot on my Verizon Blackberry, mostly with my son’s friend’s parents. I have a limited data plan for $30 a month and pay extra for the texting and that works pretty well for me. I can use the phone on it and only pay for the minutes used which is good because we do not use the phone on it very often. My kids like to use it to call their grandparents which is usually about once a month or so. My main reason for using Verizon is that the coverage is very good for South Dakota, especialy when we are traveling out west where the connection is rarely available for most other providers. The coverage for TMobile Sidekick is nonexistent here except for one little town 15 minutes outside of Sioux Falls. Odd, eh?
Erin-
Check to see if you can buy that phone in an “unlocked” version–that way it will work on different networks, and you could go with whatever provider has the best plan for you. (I know some manufacturers let you buy them directly off their website, or you could check Amazon.com) Otherwise, I think you have a good idea with joining a family plan. And you have a good selling point…you’re not going to use up any of the shared minutes!!
Except a sidekick’s data (email etc) only works on the original carrier. Locked or unlocked. Regardless it’s the SIDEKICK for me! Best device for my needs.
The sidekick can text message and use voice on other GSM networks.
But, the sidekick can NOT and WILL NOT operate e-mail, IM, and web browsing on ANYTHING but T-mobile. The sidekick uses Danger’s/T-mobile servers to process data. Be careful that you’re not throwing money away thinking it will work.. when it won’t.
All sprint phones are hearing aid compatible. I have a Blackberry 8703e and use it both for talking on the phone and sending/receiving messages. Newer verizon phones also are hearing aid compatible. Cingular/ATT/T-Mobile use gprs based networks while Verizon and Sprint use a CMDA network.
Another option is to keep what you have. Once your contract expires, your phone company can’t force you to renew it. you’re then switched to a month by month basis.
I’d wait just a little bit longer and see what’s coming out. Sprint is coming out with a new phone called the “upstage” display on both sides, with a built in mp3 player and a slot for a micro SD card for up to 2 gigs of music. (ipod replacement for you?) :)
Enjoy!
Brian G
Erin… I’m curious.. What is the model of the Verizon phone you LOVE???
I’ve had a Blackberry 7290 (Cingular) for several years, and it works fine. The keyboard is especially good for my ancient fingers. But if Verizon has something better, I’m willing to check it out.
this is in comment to BFG– I’d never give up my ipod (maybe for a smaller one) but my ipod is my ipod, it’s a thing of beauty. Plus i hook it up to my car stereo system, so i use it plenty.
As for I_C_Voices, it’s almost hard for me to share the phone I’d like to get because it’s definitely different than the other cellphones. but I suppose I’ll share. it’s the samsung u740.