Originally Posted By WDWdreamin So... my dad asked, "Since you are now married, with a job, and live in a different state, when are you going off our family plan?" Um... apparently when it next expires. I will need to look for one with okay international rates in case I need to call Germany without Skype... but what are the opinions out there? I've seen the map ads and the downloading quicker ads. Right now I just use my phone to call, text, and rarely take and send poor quality pictures. I could be talked into more, but am not sure if I need/want more. I'm near Seattle, and have had Verizon recommended to me most.
Originally Posted By mele We're near Seattle and use T-Mobile. We like it, it's the best company for our neighborhood which has a lot of interference from a nearby radio tower. I'm not sure about their international rates, however. Sorry I can't be of more help.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy Sprint is the cheapest of the major mobile phone providers right now. I recommend against Verizon and at&t. Both of these companies are waging a war against consumers and setting themselves up as monopoly powers in the telecom industry. These two companies recently (over 2 years ago) spent over $10B to buy up all the unused wireless spectrum in the country for the specific purpose of denying other companies from using it for advanced broadband services. Our mobile phone system is among the slowest to develop advanced services in the world -- largely because the two major phone operators have worked diligently to consolidate their power and create a market where there can be no competition instead of providing services to customers.
Originally Posted By Mr X <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTT_docomo" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTT_docomo</a> Ask yourself (especially West Coasters), does YOUR cellphone come equipped with an early warning Earthquake alarm!? Apparently mine does.
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo I don't understand the question. In my world, there exisit ONLY the iPhone. I never have a problem with calls or data. The Verizon map is a non issue. International? Just last March, 350 miles up the Nile in Egypt, far from civilization as you know it, I could send and rec text messages, use unlimited data, and make calls to my faimly "back home" in Atlanta. Again, there is only, iPhone.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 LOL DVC! But the iphone (AT&T) doesn't work in our area. 4 of our kids have one and it drives them nutty when they are here and have to go outside to search for a signal. This is just north of San Francisco and evidently not an at&t hotspot When we bought our latest plan, we did some research online, asked our neighbors and then made sure that we had a 30 day money back guarantee if we weren't happy. Good luck with your search WDW and LOL! about your dad's question
Originally Posted By EdisYoda When Apples announces later today that the i-phone will no longer be exclusive to ATT (fingers crossed) I'll be getting one on my Verizon account. Otherwise, I'll be getting a Droid.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Seriously?! I was going to get myself a Droid for my birthday next week, now I'll have to research to see which I'd rather have.
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo Again, ATT, Droid, Verizon... I dunno these terms. San Fran? Never heard of it. ;p
Originally Posted By Labuda I'm a Crackberry addict myself, BUT I am likely to get a new phone in the March/April timeframe. Right now, it's looking like Blackberry Storm 2 may be the winner if Imran talks me into it, but I REALLY want an iphone. Imran works in the cell phone industry, though, and hates ATT - yet I've been a happy ATT then Cingular and now again ATT customer for over 10 years, so it'll be hard for him to talk me into changing carriers unless the per-month charge is a good amount lower with another carrier.
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb I've got a CrackBerry Pearl and although I love the web and email capabilities (posting from it right now) and non QWERTY key pad and track ball that sometimes sticks drive me a little crazy. I am very ready to get a bigger screen, full key pad and jetison this track ball.
Originally Posted By LadyKluck I have an Android phone (Motorola CLIQ) & also had a G1 awhile ago. I love the android OS. My husband has a Blackberry & he likes it better than my phone but he just doesn't like the touch screen. I have Tmobile (awesome perk of working there) & honestly, even if I didn't work there, that's who I would use .
Originally Posted By Labuda See, that lack of a full qwerty keyboard is why I never got a pearl! I'm still using my old 7290 or something along those lines. No camera even! lol My work phone has a camera, though... little Nokia flip phone. I'm tempted sometimes to break it to see what it would be replaced with. hehe
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 >>>Again, ATT, Droid, Verizon... I dunno these terms. San Fran? Never heard of it. ;p<<<< So your internet services are free, automatically deducted or your wife pays the bills, right?
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo Actually, I have an iPhone, my wife has an iPhone, my oldest son has an iPhone, and my wife's business pays for those, plus my daughter's Samsung cell phone, and my mom's old beater Moto Razr. I have no clue what that costs but we share like a zillion family minutes. We have no prolems with any of it ever.
Originally Posted By DVC_Pongo Basically, if Apple makes it, it's the best, and if it isn't the best, it soon will be at Gen 2 or 3. It's why many kids have no clue what an MP3 player is, but almost ALL know exactly what an iPod is. Why just today I logged onto Mobile Me to make sure my son was where he was supposed to be. Seeing real time on a map the location of his phone is just outright cool. That is soooooo tip of the iceberg. Funny, until the iPhone came out, I never really thought of myself as an Apple person but now Ive been sucked into the vortex. I must have an iPad now.....dunno what it does, but I'm sure I NEED IT!.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Why just today I logged onto Mobile Me to make sure my son was where he was supposed to be. Seeing real time on a map the location of his phone is just outright cool. >> There were phones with this feature before the iPhone.
Originally Posted By ecdc SG is waging war against the iPhone, though presumably he's never had one Hey, if it isn't your cup of tea, fair enough. But I don't get the grudge. I think the cell industry as a whole is problematic. They are slowly easing away from contracts and closed networks, but it's taking time. I'm with DVC. I love my iPhone and won't go back. I've used them all - Palm Pre, Droid, Blackberry, flip phones, etc. The iPhone is far and away the best of the bunch. After three years it STILL has the most responsive touch screen. And that's the key: Apple decided what they wanted and then built an OS to accommodate it. They wanted a big screen for video and web pages. So they came up with an effective touchscreen. There were touch screens before, sure. But they required a stylus and were almost always subpar. Phones had web browsers before, but they were just awful. They were reduced to basic text and the formatting was terrible. The Google Maps feature is excellent. And, it's free instead of extra like most other services.
