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-   -   Cell Phone Companies (https://www.seccs.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3880)

cody 2007-05-11 11:27 AM

I've had a Razr V3M with Verizon for like 6 months now. I like the phone but hate the OS that Verizon loaded on it. First of all, it's just ugly and slow and eats battery life more than other OS's from what I've read. You can't transfer pics or videos from or to the phone via your computer. You can only transfer music to the phone. I use Windows Media Player for this. I added the maximum 1GB of memory and use it as an MP3 player. It's pretty cool. In general, I like the phone. The headphones that came with the USB cabel are absolute crap though. They don't stay in my ears even when I'm not moving.

I don't like that Verizon upped my text message fee from 10 cents to 15 cents right after I signed up. I sent them an angry email but they told me that the agreement allows them to do that. I also don't find their website (specifically the bill-pay section) very user friendly at all.

As for coverage, it's not as good as Cingular was but it's not bad. I do find their customer service better than Cingular though...

At the end of my contract, I'll be looking at possibly going back to Cingular or trying somebody else but I won't be in a big hurry.

I've been meaing to look at hacking my phone to make it function more the way I like it and maybe remove all the Verizon imagry.

Kevin M 2007-05-11 03:21 PM

Cody, let us know if you manage to de-Verizon your phone. I've been planning on getting a Verizon RAZR eventually and I'd like more functionality than I have on my current V-cast phone.

cody 2007-05-11 03:55 PM

Will do. Here's where I'll start: http://howardforums.com/

Dean 2007-05-11 04:00 PM

I turned back on most of the crippled functions on my Motorola-Verizon phone based partially on stuff from that site. I can transfer anything pretty much any way. USB, Bluetooth, etc... Still ucky interface though.

bxracer69 2007-05-11 05:16 PM

cingular and sprint....ftw up at the lake nextel and verizon just suck, especially at my house where anyone with verizon couldnt get a signal

cody 2011-04-25 01:01 PM

Bump! :P

Anyone know how Boost Mobile is in this area? I'm ready to jump on a Samsung Galaxy Prevail for $179 with unlimited everything for $50/month:

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthr...1609&t=2848971

I pay about that much just for voice and text, now.

Apparently the monthly cost will be like this:

Quote:

you begin saving in increments beginning after 6 "on time" payments down to $45/mo and goes to $40/mo after 12 "on time" payments.
Also any comment on the phone? Looks a little weak, but whatever.

Nick Koan 2011-04-25 01:14 PM

I have the Sprint Epic 4G which is a Samsung Galaxy phone. Its not exactly the same as the Prevail, but its in the same family. Googling around, it looks like the Prevail has a worse camera and perhaps slightly cheaper parts all around, but otherwise it looks pretty similar.

Its probably an okay phone. It would be a pretty good starting phone for your first smartphone (It'll be your first, right?)

cody 2011-04-25 01:36 PM

Yah, it would be my first smartphone. I don't need data/a smart phone, but if it doesn't add much to the cost, figure I might as well join what seems like everyone I know, by getting one. Mostly I'm just interested in a no limits plan. I sent/received 400 texts this month! It's amazing what being single does to your cell phone usage. :lol:

Nick Koan 2011-04-25 02:55 PM

Just found this Engadget review

http://mobile.engadget.com/2011/04/2...revail-review/

Its pretty extensive, but bottom line is:

Quote:

With a $180 price tag, you'll get the Prevail for a song given what you'll otherwise pay for a smartphone off-contract (upwards of $500, usually). Along with the affordable $50 monthly unlimited data plan, we were inclined not to be snobbish about the details -- a plastic finish here, a lower-resolution camera there. But we just can't excuse a touchscreen so finicky that we were constantly selecting the wrong link, email, or map destination, and even making mistakes in games. Even once we swapped out the oversensitive Swype keyboard for the more reliable stock one, we spent more time than usual on simple tasks, such as composing emails. We're not above saving money on middle-of-the-road handsets, especially as a means to dirt-cheap data plans. But a phone that will slow you down isn't worth it.

cody 2011-04-25 03:07 PM

Damn. The Cnet review didn't even mention the touch sensitivity issue... I'll be pissed if texting is actually harder on it than it is on my current non-qwerty phone. Thanks, Nick. I'll have to think about it.

Nick Koan 2011-04-25 03:09 PM

To be fair, that could be Engadget's demo model, and maybe Cnet got a good one.

Then again, if they can't even send out good demo units consistently, do you even want to bother the crapshoot of buying one retail?

cody 2011-04-25 03:11 PM

Yah, definitely a case of needing to read more reviews before I take a plunge. What's nice is it's not a big plunge at all, what with the relatively low initial investment, really low monthly charge, and no contract...

Kevin M 2011-04-25 03:40 PM

We got our current phones at the Sprint store on Meadowood. We had to pay retail for the phones (minus rebate of course, which was $150 per phone) but got the super hookup on the contract- $115 per month, two lines, unlimited everything with insurance. So basically the same as Boost, but with Sprint behind it. I have a Samsung Moment and Nina has an HTC Hero that we've had for around a year, and I think after rebates we paid about $300 for both. If you go to that main Sprint store you can probably get the same deal. Standard pricing for our plan is north of $150 per month, which is still better than we had been paying at AT&T.

cody 2011-04-25 05:31 PM

Apparently I'm confused. TMobile says my contract isn't up until September. They said I could renew it now though, go to an $80 "unlimited everything" plan, and get the MyTouch 4G for $200 after $50 rebate credit card if I renew my 2 year contract. Tempting...

Kevin M 2011-04-25 08:15 PM

You might be able to get that from Sprint for about $65, if there wasn't some sort of incentive or special they didn't specifically tell us about.

cody 2011-04-25 08:47 PM

You are the king of double negatives, Kevin. :lol:

I'm in no rush, but until September, I can only renew with T-Mobile, who I've been perfectly happy with. The Engadget review of the Mytouch 4G was pretty good if you look past their nitpicking. It has a very fast CPU and lots of RAM by phone standards and it's on a fast network with good call quality. Apparently it's pretty damn good and we do have "4g" here. It can't be too hard to reflash it to plain Froyo if I don't love the T-Mobile flavor since Engadget even mentioned that was an option for "power users". Their only other complaints were basically a bad looking and slightly quiet speaker (the quiet part concerns me. I'm deaf sometimes) and basically looks and feel, which is fine with me.

Kevin M 2011-04-25 10:34 PM

With 5 months left on your contract, your cancellation fee is probably small enough to make it worth it if your bill decreases.

And I stand by my grammatically overdeveloped statement. :p

Nick Koan 2011-04-25 10:40 PM

I'm not sure if T-Mobile pro-rates their cancellation fees. That's something to check before cancelling.

cody 2011-04-25 11:45 PM

delete

cody 2011-04-25 11:47 PM

I could look into that, but I don't really mind waiting. According to this contract upgrade checker, my "upgrade date" is 6/25/11, which I assume means I can upgrade via Best Buy, if I want. For example, they have the Nexus S for $100 right now. It runs stock 2.3 Gingerbread but is only 3G.

100_Percent_Juice 2011-04-28 07:41 PM

FWIW I just got an iphone 4 with verizon. I jailbroke it and I have zero complaints about service or phone functionality.

BOO 2011-05-05 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice (Post 156234)
FWIW I just got an iphone 4 with verizon. I jailbroke it and I have zero complaints about service or phone functionality.

LoL I never thought I would see the day Joel.. Congrats!!!

A1337STI 2011-05-13 02:59 PM

my exp in tahoe was that Cingular was worthless. Verizon & sprint have way better coverage up there. also Cingular driving from reno to carson i would drop a call like 2-3 times during the trip ...

could have been partly due to my phone ...

khail19 2011-05-13 09:31 PM

Cingular still exists? I thought AT&T snatched them up years ago.

100_Percent_Juice 2011-05-14 09:45 AM

Alex is always LTTP


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