Cell Phone

[Tiramisu]

Do you carry a cell phone? What kind? What carrier do you have?

Hubby and I have been with Cingular/AT&T for 12 years. I've been carrying a Razr V3 for 2 years and while it still works, the screen is starting to go. I've been wanting a blackberry, but wouldn't pay the price. We were on such an old plan that we didn't have "mobile to mobile". So, I just upgraded our plan, got hubby a Sony Ericsson W580i Walkman (FREE), and got my BB Pearl ($500).

The lady told me you usually get a better deal over the phone than online or in the stores. My hubby had gone to a store to look and decide which phone he wanted. Online his phone would have cost us $79 and mine would have been $99. Now, if I can make this one last until I can justify getting an IPhone!

[Janet]

Our service is with US Cellular. Everyone around us with Sprint, Cellular One and a couple others have trouble in some areas, but we have never had any problems with our carrier. My son and I have identical phones and I love it, but it's just a real simple little LG model. When this plan expires, I'm wanting to check into getting Internet, although like I've said in a different thread...I'm really not sure if I should for me anyway...I don't miss having it now so we'll see.

[judy]

I want a Blackberry too. Like you Janet, I don't need it, but I love toys.

I don't even use my cell phone. It has needed to be charged for about 5 days
now.

Enjoy your new toys Sandy!

[Janet]

I love the toys too Judy. I would like to try it for awhile anyway..if I do, I will have to quit WW. Won't have the money for both.

[Tink]

My kids have been after me to get a cell phone. They all have one and dh has one... even my 9 yr old granddd has one! I don't want one. lol

I so rarely get out of the house that when I do the last thing I want is for people to be calling me! I value my privacy too much for that.

[gja1000]

I got a T-Mobile Dash phone this winter. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It is comparable to the Blackberry. In my work, my schedule changes everyday, so I just carry my phone with me and my calendar is always right there. It is so convenient. I also love the wireless internet. I don't pay to be able to get on the internet with my phone but I can if I want.

[goofywife]

I have a black berry. They are great.

[Janet]

Can one buy any phone and have it work with any cellular service?

[Tiramisu]

From what I understand, each carrier has their own chip that only works in their phones.

Of course, I finally order my BB and Apples comes out with the new cheaper IPhone! I should have waited a little longer.

[DianaB]

We are with Alltel because they get the best service for where I live. My daughter has Cingular and she doesn't get reception where we live. I have a Razr that I've had for over a couple of years. I don't use it very much but sometimes it's handy. My husband, Jaci, my son-in-law, and me, all share a plan. We have free mobile-to-mobile with anyone else on Alltel and then have a "circle of friends" where we can add other's numbers to call free. I try to keep on top of the numbers that are called the most and keep them on the list.

Tink, you can probably get a phone through your daughter's plan and it will only cost you about $15 a month. Of course, you'll share her minutes, but if you don't use it much it shouldn't matter. It might be handy to keep with you in case you have a problem while driving. I only use about 30 minutes a month and most of that is my husband calling me.

[Marilyn]

We're on the Cingular (now AT&T) Family Plan. I actually have two cell phones. One my company provides and my own personal phone. They are all AT&T (formerly Cingular) because they provide the best coverage in this area. Sprint, T-Mobile and Verison are all very sketchy and won't work everywhere. There a a few spots where AT&T cuts out, but for the most part, we get a strong signal.

My company phone is a cheap but very durable Motorola. I forget the model, but it's very thin, not a flip phone, and silver.

My personal phone is an iPhone, and I LOVE IT. My iPhone is absolutely wonderful. Love the touch screen with the icons for calendar, calculator, phone, text messages, etc. Everything is touch and APPLE had done an amazing job organizing everything to make it easy. You push a button to activate the screen and across the top is the time and date. Never have to hunt for a calendar. You touch and slide across the bottom of the screen to access the main screen or answer a call. No need to lock the keypad when you put it in your purse. There is a switch on the side to go from silent to ringing, no button to push that gets pushed accidently in your purse and set to vibrate when you did not want it to. There is an icon for Google maps, so if I need to know where something is, just google it. It has internet, so if you need to know the phone number of some business, google it. Any bit of information you need quickly while on the road, google it. I know I'm being redundent, but that's how useful and wonderful this little device is. I bought a silicone sleeve (pink) with a hard clear plastic case that it slips in to. It makes it a little bigger, but I really like the size. It's easy to find in my purse, and it's a good size to hold when on the phone. It is also an iPod, but don't use that feature, currently. I'm not much into music. I have XM radio in my truck and mostly listen to talk radio or news. I like to keep up on what is happening in the world. Whenever you want to reply to a text message, you touch a little reply icon, and a touch keyboard pops up across the bottom of the screen that's about the size of the one on the blackberry. It's pretty easy to type on. If you hit a wrong key, it anticipates what you meant to type and auto corrects, though you have to watch, sometime it anticipates the wrong word.

As you guessed, I could go on and on. Hubby got this for me for Christmas, and I thought it was an extravagance I did not need. As you can see, I don't want to ever have to give it up. On the family plan, to have the extra line is 9.99 per month. We pay about 30.00 for the unlimited data service. I share the family plan minutes and with free mobile-to-mobile (within AT&T), I don't think it's too bad. Hubby pays the bill on this one, so I never see it. The iPhone helps me keep in touch with our girls, so he thinks it's worth the extra cost, plus with as much as I drive, he likes me having the map feature. A GPS would do that too, but I like google maps.

Okay, I'll go back in my cave and be quiet now.

[Tiramisu]

I'm loving my BB Curve. It's so neat to be able to answer an e-mail right back. I haven't played much with getting the i-net setup the way I want it. Hubby and I are on AT&T Family Talk. I'm back on my diet (started this morning), so what I'll save on food will go towards the $35/m the BB services costs.

[teri88]

When I was working, my company paid my entire cell phone bill. Hubby, each of the kids and I had our own phones. We had all of the services you could get...internet, camera, texting, whatever. Then when I went on disability I found out that my phone bill was running $170 a month!So we eliminated the cells toot sweet! Now, hubby has a pay as you go phone. We had a second one that the kids and I would share but my son lost it last week! And, we've learned we can actually live without them! Once in a while I miss having my phone but for the most part I don't miss it.