Closer to the latter tenth, actually.
So, I'm thinking about getting a cell phone.
Prepaid or no contract, obviously, as anyone looking at my credit report would either collapse in hysterical laughter or call security to get me the fuck out of their store. Or, possibly, both at the same time.
There's a handy comparison chart listing options on the east coast, but most of the providers do Chi as well. And it's no longer just fly-by-night companies offering those sorts of plans -- not sure why I remember them as being a huge scam, but I'm working to throw this off -- but Virgin Mobile (too much for the young people, I think), Verizon (kind'a spendy, making it harder to not think of these as scams) and the one I'm leaning towards, AT&T's Go Phone.
There is a monthly fee rather than the pay-as-you-go style usually associated with prepay, but they offer free, unlimited nights and weekends. The actual prepay phones, um, you have to prepay.
Anyone have any experience with any of these? Only thought of it, really, because of the publicity about the disposables coming out. . .
Also considered the TracFone, since I send 'em $25, they send me a phone, but since I ain't got a land line at the moment -- or a permanent residence, I'm still crashing on my sister's couch -- what they provide seems like too little.
On the other hand, 30 day money-back guarantee, so if it sucks, back it goes.
Anyway, helpful suggestions appeciated. I know about the (possible) brain cancer thing. No worries, I'm a Gulf War vet. That'd be the least of my worries.
Did finally submit the paperwork to get the paperwork the VA needs to do their paperwork to get me that Comprehensive Physical. And did lots of cleaning. It was a productive weekend. Why I didn't really post here, actually.
I work at a cellphone company at the moment and used to have both a prepaid phone and a billed cellphone, so hopefully this helps:
What you use your phone for affects what'll work best for you plan-wise. As far as credit checks are concerned, it's not that you'd be denied outright, it's just that likely you'd have to put a deposit down before you could get a billed account. Most companies will refund that to you with interest after a year if you keep up your payments up to date. If you can swing that, frankly, it's usually more cash-and-time-efficient from month-to-month to go with a billed plan than a prepay plan. You get more time and suffer less annoyance with having to go buy more minutes.
Plus, the phones themselves usually cost less overall. We charge $75 for the least-expensive pre-pay phones, but the same phones with a 2-year contract are $30-and-then-free-with-rebate. It all depends on what you're willing to lay out, what your credit check turns up, and what you want to use the phone for.
Why is it that you want a cellphone -- not asking you to justify, but instead to give your 'how I will use it' reasons -- and when in terms of time do you see yourself using it the most? Days, nights, weekends?
Good questions, those. Mostly I'd use it nights and weekends, using it as a glorified pager during the day whenever possible. And the "free" voice mail that all of them come with is definitely a plus.
So, pager/voice mail system/evening and weekend phone is what I'm looking for. See what you mean about the phone prices -- the one I'm looking at is still $80 even with a rebate -- but not having a contract is also a plus since I'm not sure where I'll be living in a few weeks, let alone two years. . .
Thanks for the suggestions.
ummm... cellphones are evil.
but I really wanted to post that i've been having problems with loading your site. Did you make any major changes to it recently? Because almost every time I try to load it, it crashes my IE browser. Anyone else have this problem?
My computer is fairly stable and i've never seen it crash like this. If I can stop the pageload early enough it won't crash, so it must be something maybe halfway down in the HTML. It started about 2 days ago.
Just wanted to give you the heads-up in case other people are having the same problem.
Ah. Probably the Real Audio embed. I'll take that out.
Thanks for the heads-up, and sorry about the problem. What version of IE are you using, by the way?
And yes, cell phones are evil, although they are paying VASpider's bills, and beat getting a land line for transients like your truly.
Aaron, the problems encountered with being transient vis a vis a plan can be alleviated by going with a nationwide company like AT&T or ALLTEL; if you move to a new area, you can shift your plan accordingly. They're pretty good about accomodating people, 'cause they want your money.
(I don't think cellphones are evil; I can't wait to get a new one, and I love mine.)
What I might suggest, Aaron, is going in to a prepay with a nationwide company that also offers billed plans; see how much money you're putting into it monthly after a month or two. If you're putting more than $30 worth of minutes into the phone a month, you'll be much better off getting a billed or post-pay plan, even if you have to pay a deposit. Check the plans on companies when you go in, see what you'd pick up on a phone if you didn't have to worry about putting down a deposit; pick up pre-pay from there. That way, if you decide to shift over to a post-pay, if that'd be most efficient, you'll already have a phone programmed for the company to which you want to switch.
The only real evil thing about cellphones is that most companies won't reprogram phones that are set for another system so that you can use them on theirs. Naturally, they want you to buy THEIR cellphones.
Also: Be careful about "free" voicemail. Don't call from your cellphone to check messages; always call from a landline, or it'll eat minutes.
S'funny, that's all what I'd planned to do anyway (get the phone with AT&T, check out a normal plan after seeing how it goes, check the voicemail from a land line).
Great minds think alike.
Not sure what our excuse is, though.
given that all wireless companies are from the bottom of hell, i go by the coolness of the free or extremely cheap phone. ericsson's are beautiful little pieces of design-as-art, and are frequently given away free or cheap with phone plans. don't make the mistake i made of upgrading to an expensive phone. the quality of signal is close to 100% dependent on the carrier, and what neighborhood you're in.
i live in what some insensitive people loosely term an "underserved area", so naturally i have to fucking go downtown to make or receive a decent call. i think the argument can be made that whitey gets better cell phone service. if there were an illegal "pirate" cell phone service i'd sure as hell join up. the developing technology more and more makes me think something like that could come to pass sooner rather than later.
Ericsson's phones also get terrible reception compared to other phones, which probably has something to do with why you have to go downtown to get a good signal. Their non-existent antennae or internalized ones make for horrid, horrid reception, comparatively speaking. We frankly try b>not to sell them, because the return rate on them is so high.
For sheer service and signal clarity, Nokia and LG make phones which are comparable in price to the Ericssons, but are much, much better, technically speaking.
And I can't agree that cell phone companies are from the pit of hell. The one I work for offers 100% tuition reimbursement for full-time employees, health care even for the part-timers, and really good pay for everyone.
They're great employers, and if you can get a job with one, hang on for dear life, 'cause it's an industry that's not going to evaporate anytime soon.
Yeah, Aaron, I dunno what our excuse is, either.
But hey, at least you've got your plan all figured.