CELL PHONES. My contract's up with Cingular. whats my best move?

souNReAL

souNReAL

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You seen right. Posted this topic because i dont often see cell phones discussed on CAG. Let's change that and try to get a bunch of people some cheap cell phones. including me, and YOU!




You're/I contract is up/running out. Whats the best option deal?


Previous service provider discounts?


Haggling with serivce provider for phone discounts over the phone?? (Heard this works)


eBay?? (Good for getting cheap, below MSRP, no contract phones)





Want to know some your ideas and suggestions.

Me personally, i would like to stay away from a contract.. And Cingular altogether if i can find a better deal with another provider.

tips?? sites???
 
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Just curious on why you don't like cingular/at&t... I stuck with them after my contract was up because I haven't had any problems with them, t-mobile uses many of the same towers and didn't have any better rates, and verizon isn't available around here. There are a couple of regional carriers, but have fairly small calling areas, and no national plans. I got the Samsung Sync at walmart with a new 2 year contract for $30. I like it alright, I just wanted a thinner phone and hate the razr.
 
You can keep your plan with cingular and not sign up for a new contract. As long as you dont want a new phone or mind paying out the ass for one.
 
I had no issues with T-mobile, i only switched to cingular to get a better deal on a new phone, not a huge fan of their service, wouldn't mind trying verizon especially in my area.
 
No contract generally means you can go prepaid. Can you live with that? Worth would depend on how much you talk per day/month/year.

Cheapest per minute rate can be had as low as .10 with T-mobile ToGo prepaid in conjunction with a $100 refill card (1000 minutes, 1 year expiration). There was a thread about T-mobile deals floating around here.

Downside is no data/web use outside of their limited free T-Zones which includes CNN, ABC News, ESPN. Good for quick reads when you're bored or want to know what's going on in the world. Other possible down is the crippling of their phones.

If you got the dough to spend on an unlocked phone elsewhere, you can just pop in a cheapy preactivated SIM off the 'bay and call customer service to get the area code changed to a local one.

If you stick with Cingular and go GOPhone prepaid -- you can buy some pretty cheap phones to get the prepaid SIM. Rates aren't the cheapest at net .25 per minute, but you have the option to use data. Good that they now offer packages at $5 = 1Mb (30 days) or $9.99 = 5Mb (30 days). Bulk text packages also available.

Those are the two main options. Each has their pros and cons of course. There are also sales on refill cards that pop up occasionally along with sites that sell them for less than face value to get you more savings.
 
[quote name='monoxide101']Just curious on why you don't like cingular/at&t... I stuck with them after my contract was up because I haven't had any problems with them, t-mobile uses many of the same towers and didn't have any better rates, and verizon isn't available around here. There are a couple of regional carriers, but have fairly small calling areas, and no national plans. I got the Samsung Sync at walmart with a new 2 year contract for $30. I like it alright, I just wanted a thinner phone and hate the razr.[/QUOTE]


signal problems. cingular doesnt have the best reputation in chicago. can only get 1 bar in the house if im lucky.


[quote name='karmapolice']You can keep your plan with cingular and not sign up for a new contract. As long as you dont want a new phone or mind paying out the ass for one.[/QUOTE]


thats just it. i dont like my plan either. i got the $39.99 one, with $10 for texts every month. supposed to be a $50 every month, but ive never anything BELOW $65, sometimes even $70+ a month. i dont need to pay that much for the way i use a cell phone.



[quote name='Hibiwa']No contract generally means you can go prepaid. Can you live with that? Worth would depend on how much you talk per day/month/year.

Cheapest per minute rate can be had as low as .10 with T-mobile ToGo prepaid in conjunction with a $100 refill card (1000 minutes, 1 year expiration). There was a thread about T-mobile deals floating around here.

Downside is no data/web use outside of their limited free T-Zones which includes CNN, ABC News, ESPN. Good for quick reads when you're bored or want to know what's going on in the world. Other possible down is the crippling of their phones.

If you got the dough to spend on an unlocked phone elsewhere, you can just pop in a cheapy preactivated SIM off the 'bay and call customer service to get the area code changed to a local one.

If you stick with Cingular and go GOPhone prepaid -- you can buy some pretty cheap phones to get the prepaid SIM. Rates aren't the cheapest at net .25 per minute, but you have the option to use data. Good that they now offer packages at $5 = 1Mb (30 days) or $9.99 = 5Mb (30 days). Bulk text packages also available.

Those are the two main options. Each has their pros and cons of course. There are also sales on refill cards that pop up occasionally along with sites that sell them for less than face value to get you more savings.[/QUOTE]


great post, gimme a sec to respond. but yea, i checked out cingular's prepaid plans and they were awful


is there any provider that doesnt charge this "$1 daily use" every day you use the phone?? i think thats absolutely terrible, i walked out the store immediately.
 
[quote name='souNReAL']is there any provider that doesnt charge this "$1 daily use" every day you use the phone?? i think thats absolutely terrible, i walked out the store immediately.[/quote]
Huh? There are two ATT GoPhone prepaid plans.

1.) "Pay As You Go"

a.) The $1 a day charge on days you use your phone. Includes unlimited mobile to mobile within ATT/Cingular, and additional .10 per minute for other calls.

or choose

b.) The straight up .25 per minute plan. No other daily charges.


2. "Pick Your Plan" -- No contract monthly plan

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/go-phones/pyp-plans-phones.jsp

$29.99 a month 200 anytime min .15/min No N/W No Mobile to Mobile

$39.99 a month 300 anytime min .133/min 1000 N/W .133 Mobile to Mobile

There's also a 49.99 and 69.99 no contract with higher varying minute combos

But.....

It doesn't matter since you barely get 1 bar on ATT contract. May be worse on prepaid if you are in a roaming area since you can't. Check prepaid coverage map.

In any case, T-Mobile To Go does not charge a $1 daily charge whatsoever. You get the rates depending on the refill cards you buy. And the best as I mentioned is the $100 card that gets 1000 minutes at .10 per/min and instant Gold Rewards status -- which means 15% bonus on subsequent refills (except for 100 which already includes the bonus) and 1 year expiration with any denomination refill thereafter.

They may not have the best phone selection, but if you keep checking their site, they have promos where they throw in a bonus $25 refill card when you order a prepaid phone online. Thus making it a better deal for alright phones.

Be sure to check T-Mobile's Prepaid Street Level Coverage Map to see how many bars you'll likely get at home.

http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/Prepaid.aspx
 
[quote name='creeeaature']Just hack a satellite it is easy to do and free service. All the hackers do it.[/quote]

Someone's been playing too much BioShock
 
I use tmobile prepaid on an unlocked phone I got off Ebay...no complaints at all. And in my locality, only sales tax is added sale of prepaid cards, not like the 30-ish% state, local, federal taxes added to contract phone bills.

But the real kick ass thing for T mobile, is that after reach gold rewards level ($100 or more put on your phone), each time you add credit it extends your existing credit ANOTHER YEAR. I bought a $100 card that got me 1000 minutes good for a year....In a year's time, I only used 500 minutes. Near the end that year, I added $10 to my account, and the remaining 500 minutes (plus the credit from the $10 I added) are now good for another year...so my monthly cell phone service cost for this year is likely to only run about 85 cents a month. Now many people use their phones much more than me, but at the $100 card level, its only 10 cents a minute, you have to be a massive minute level contract to beat that and you don't have to worry about is after so and so time to make a call.

About every 3-4 months, target runs a sale where you buy a $100 card and you get a phone free...the phone won't be the greatest, but you can always pop the SIM out and stick it in another T mobile phone or an unlocked tri or quad band phone. Likewise, about 2-3 months, target runs a sale on the prepaid cards themselves...a few weeks back, they were selling 2 $50 cards for $80.

So wait for a sale, and give it a try...You don't have much to lose since you are not tied down to a contract
 
It's all about location. If you need to use your phone outside the metro area or off interstate in Georgia you are pretty much stuck with Cingular/AT&T. I actually liked Cingular before the buy out. They weren't cheap but they had the best fringe coverage. They had awesome customer service, but now they suck AT&T style.
 
I have a cell phone question. I recently bought a phone for my brother under Alltel and signed the 2 year contract. Now a few days ago my phone broke, which was with T-mobile. I called and canceled that account and number. Right now I can get a good deal on a phone with Alltel, but being I'm already signed up on Alltel can I sign another 2 year contract to get the good deal? Or am I just better off to go with another carrier?
 
My best advice, I live in a metropolitan area so Verizon is the best here. Otherwise there is Sprint, Cingular, and T-Crap(Not many people I have spoken with have anything good to say about them.)

I would ask people that you know at work or just an easy chit chat question with anyone, thats how I came to the decision of my carrier.
 
I have AT&T, and my contract is up next month. While I don't actively dislike them, I don't get very good reception at home or work, the 2 main places I use my phone. I also don't like spending 50 buck a month for only 100 or so minutes of use.

Here's my plan: I'm probalby going to go with Virgin Mobile. Spend 6.99 a month, and get 10 cent minutes. For the 100 or so minutes I use, its 16.99 plus whatever taxes. I've talked with some people who have it, and they like it and get good reception, even at my work.

Its either that, or try out Tracfone. I think that might be a touch more expensive, but it still is cheaper than what I'm paying now.
 
from the posts. t-mobile is sounding real good. i dont mind dropping a $100 if i get a good deal out of it. plus its cheap and easy to find good unlocked t-mobile on eBay once i get the prepaid sim


though the Virgin mobile plan sounds good as well. i still need "some good chunk" of minutes to call my girl. she has cingular, locked in contract, with her mom. :whistle2:/


[quote name='mr ryles']I have a cell phone question. I recently bought a phone for my brother under Alltel and signed the 2 year contract. Now a few days ago my phone broke, which was with T-mobile. I called and canceled that account and number. Right now I can get a good deal on a phone with Alltel, but being I'm already signed up on Alltel can I sign another 2 year contract to get the good deal? Or am I just better off to go with another carrier?[/QUOTE]


try to see if alltell has a family plan. thats usually the best way to go for ANY carrier and save tons of money, cingular included. if not, then try to see if you can beat the deal alltel gives you with another carrier.
 
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