Going to buy a cell phone soon, wanted to know which you think is best phone/service combo and why?

Thanks

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I got a good deal with Verizon about a year ago. 1700 minutes [700 weekday 1000 weekend] free long distance, 50 bucks a month. Don't know if they offer that anymore tho.

I tried several around here - & the best I've found was Sprint PCS.  Zero complaints so far.

It depends where you are.  If you are in the North East, Sprint is not an option.  They may have good deals, but that won't matter when you never get reception.  If you are in the NE  Voice Stream or Verizon is the way the go.  I beleive Verizon is the more built out of the two so you'll being using analogue even less frequently.

I have Sprint and it has basically been like flushing money down a toilet for me.

My wife has just got AT&T Wireless for $30/month, rebate on the phone, which now almost cost her nothing, but I forget how many minutes of air time etc.  If there is a way to squeeze a penny until it hurts, she probably the found a way.

I've had many people complain about their Sprint PCS service.

1.  Not truly 'Nationwide', in spite of their ads.  One person lost service along a major interstate once he got right outside the last major city, going to Nevada.  NO service IN Nevada, at least at the time a year ago.

2.  "Called dropped - Network Busy"  all too frequently, even when you're not moving through the system (changing stations).

3.  VERY long waits for customer service, 15-20 minutes to talk to a live person is not unusual.

4.  Dead spots in the city

5. Not any more clear than regular cellular, though this may depend on the phone you get.

6. One guy had the charger burn out and get very hot.

7.  Same guy, misposted payment caused service to be shut off.

8.  Echos and breaking up.

9. No banking of minutes.  Unless you use them ,you lose them.

I would suggest shopping carefully and asking friends a LOT.  Especially taking into consideration how they use their phones, and where (hopefully you can find someone who has needs and usage similar to yours)

Try one-handed operation of the phone - some models are difficult, sometimes depending on if you are a lefty or a righty.

If you're in the city, try way in the back of the store or if possible in an elevator, bus, subway, wherever it's a test.

If you're outside the city, your performance will be very dependent on where the transmitters are (or are not)   Digital (PCS), being newer, has less coverage than analog systems.   Also to consider -  the dual-mode phones and service, though it sounds expensive.

Sprint PCS has good rates and minute plans for a fairly decent price.  But I am getting calls dropped several times a day and it's a major pain in the ass.  

Sprint donated money to help defeat the concealed carry law here in MO a few years ago.  We lost by just a razor thin margin.  That is something for which they can never be forgiven.

I think Sprint's network is still not where it should be by now.

AT&T is what I use.  Good rates and coverage.

FCK Nextel!  Their prices went up and their customer service sucks big time!

One day their whole damm network was down.  The whole friggin' day!

I called the moron at Nextel customer service and he just said that stuff like that just happens and it happens to all carriers.

I've used cell phones since 1989 using different carriers and I never experienced a whole day outage before.

I dunno about out where you are, but I use Cingular down here, and it works pretty good. I pay a $54 a month (incl. taxes, etc.) and get 450 daytime minutes, unlimited free nights and weekends, and free LD to all 50 states.

If you have Cingular out there, make sure you do check into it, though. Some plans are not applicable everywhere (IE, free nights and weekends) and I know that the number of daytime minutes has a varying cost from market to market. They're also just getting started in some areas, so don't get reamed with no signal.

I myself haven't had anything but an excellent experience with them. Even the customer service is great.

I have AT @T one rate.  I get 400 anytime minutes per month, local or long distance for $59.99.  When I first got it 2 years ago, I had a lot of dropped calls.  That has gotten better. I have a lot of problems with roaming.  When you go out of AT @T's coverage areas, they contract with other carriers to provide service.  Well, about half the time this happens, I get NO service at all.  My other problem with AT@T is a lot of times I will have the phone on, like when I am on the internet, and I will have people call and the phone will not ring.  The call will be directly diverted to voice mail.  Pretty irritating if you are expecting an important call.