New Phone #

[Apoc]

My upgrade 2 upgrades ago (prolly 3 years) made for a DRAMATIC increase in the reception I got. I loved my Nokia 8260 but I couldn't carry a conversation from work in Fairfax to home in Leesburg without losing it at least twice on the Greenway. When I upgraded I didn't drop a call once on the Greenway. Of course, at that point it was a different band (something to GSM? I don't know) with newer technology but it cememnted in my mind that the phone matters.

P.S. - Sprint sucks regardless of what Matt says. He hasn't had service in like his last 4 houses.

[.RJ]

I picked up the LG CU400 today - the CU500 was bulkier and wasnt really any different functionally except for the MP3 feature.

So far, so good - the sound quality is better than the Samsung by far, but its not great and I get halfway decent reception sitting in my basement.

[ViPER1313]

You people should give Tmobile a try - they are usually great (except for a 2 month period at JMU earlier this year when their network was overloaded......) and are a hell of a lot cheaper than most companies.

[PDenbigh]

FWIW, I had 2 LG Chocolates in the period of 2 months. Hated them so much I sucked it up and bought a new Moto Razr, which has turned out to be a great phone.

[Ginger]

RJ's Sprint service was terrible... but with my new phone I get better service than almost everybody I know.

If I have to spend $400 to get a phone that has decent service - there is something inherently wrong with the network, or the provider.

No thanks. Fxck those guys with a big rusty prybar.

Well, you don't have to.

I paid full retail because altering our contract just wasn't an option. Sprint lists the A900, with a plan, for $30 on their website. You're getting a plan anyways, and would have been re-upping if you stayed with Sprint, so it's not fair to compare the price of a Contact Plan Phone with the retail price I paid.

Even if you paid full retail for a phone to avoid renewing your contract nobody's saying you have to spend $400. Your old phone was old and the point I was trying to illustrate, which folks seem to agree with, is that new technology is going to yield you much better results than you might expect. You could, theoretically, spend a lot less and get get huge dividends.

And for whatever anybody says, my Sprint service is great.

[.RJ]

FWIW, I had 2 LG Chocolates in the period of 2 months. Hated them so much I sucked it up and bought a new Moto Razr, which has turned out to be a great phone.

Interesting - what service do you have?

The guy @ the cingular store said RazRRRRRrRrR quality had gone downhill and customers had lots of problems with them.

[.RJ]

Well, you don't have to.

You're right, you can get a mail in rebate if you are an existing customer and you've had your phone for 18 months. But the rebate keeps getting smaller, and it would have still cost me $300 for the phone you have, including another 2 year renewal. I just wasnt willing to do that.

The old phone I paid almost $200 for and it sucked.

[Ginger]

But the rebate keeps getting smaller, and it would have still cost me $300 for the phone you have, including another 2 year renewal. I just wasnt willing to do that.

How's that work? I paid $330.

[.RJ]

I thought the retail was $400 - or at least it was when they came out. And according to the sprint website the mail in rebate went up again to $150. So I'd be looking at spending $180 on a phone, plus the renewal.

On the last phone I got I couldnt even get them to issue a mail in rebate - first they didnt even send me the phone, after I paid an exorbant amount of $$ for overnight shipping because the rebate forms werent available - and then when I got it, they wouldnt honor the rebate. I ended up with a month of free service or something instead.

I'm glad you're happy with your phone, I'm just not willing to give them another shot at this point.

So... recap: I really didnt like any of the phones I ever had, their customer service was a pain to deal with, and the reception was spotty with the < $200 phones I had.

[Evan]

lol cell phones are such religions.

Helio > all you fuckers

phone that kicks ass, verizon _and_ sprints network, built in GPS, no contract, and it cooks my dinner.

[Ginger]

lol cell phones are such religions.

Helio > all you fuckers

phone that kicks ass, verizon _and_ sprints network, built in GPS, and it cooks my dinner.

Myspace geek.

[Evan]

I give not one shit about myspace, i dont even remember the last time i logged on

[Dragon]

P.S. - Sprint sucks regardless of what Matt says. He hasn't had service in like his last 4 houses.

The last few places I've lived where I had no service, most others didn't have service either. No-one could make calls from the basement of my old townhouse, and the same went with the townhouse before that. At the current location earlier in the year when Chris got his two bars outside so did I.

As for sprint rebates for existing customers, that's my one true gripe about them. They did recently change it so that it's instant rebate for existing customers, but in order to get the $150 off you need to have your phone for 18 months and resign a 2 year contract. It's less of a discount than someone walking in off the street, but you gotta get new customers somehow I guess.

[Apoc]

Don't forget to add-on a txt package RJ so Matt can keep you up to date on all latest gossip!

[Dragon]

Don't forget to add-on a txt package RJ so Matt can keep you up to date on all latest gossip!

Fack j00, I can't stand talking on the phone so I text.

Don't forget to add-on picture mail RJ that way you can supply Chris with cam phone pics of 14 yr old girls.

[.RJ]

Chris is the one supplying the 14 y/o girls.

They're "models"

:lol:

[BLINGMW]

Helio > all you fuckers

interesting... I just assumed they were for children/morons since that's who their commercials seem to be aiming for. I hadn't actually looked at them, but looking at their website now. For an advertising campaign that makes it clear it isn't a phone and they aren't a phone company, they sure don't do a good job clearing up WTF exactly it/they is/are. I see the pricing, looks quite good, and the features, some look cool. But I had to look to Wikipedia to answer useful questions and get real information, like about service. And sure enough, it is a phone. An internet enabled camera phone with some sort of GPS thing going on. And they are a phone company. They just lease networks from Sprint and Verizon.

I still don't get the impression they're a serious company, and I wouldn't expect them to be forthcoming when it comes to explaining a bill or why the thing isn't working, but you like yours Evan? I bet you got the "Drift" model, didn't you. :lol:

[white_2kgt]

FWIW, I had 2 LG Chocolates in the period of 2 months. Hated them so much I sucked it up and bought a new Moto Razr, which has turned out to be a great phone.

Interesting - what service do you have?

The guy @ the cingular store said RazRRRRRrRrR quality had gone downhill and customers had lots of problems with them.

Chocolate = Verizon

[Evan]

Helio > all you fuckers

interesting... I just assumed they were for children/morons since that's who their commercials seem to be aiming for. I hadn't actually looked at them, but looking at their website now. For an advertising campaign that makes it clear it isn't a phone and they aren't a phone company, they sure don't do a good job clearing up WTF exactly it/they is/are. I see the pricing, looks quite good, and the features, some look cool. But I had to look to Wikipedia to answer useful questions and get real information, like about service. And sure enough, it is a phone. An internet enabled camera phone with some sort of GPS thing going on. And they are a phone company. They just lease networks from Sprint and Verizon.

I still don't get the impression they're a serious company, and I wouldn't expect them to be forthcoming when it comes to explaining a bill or why the thing isn't working, but you like yours Evan? I bet you got the "Drift" model, didn't you. :lol:

I had actually never heard of Helio before I saw the new "Drift" phone covered on Engadget.com and it fit exactly what I was looking for. I checked out the website and the plan looked good. I havent seen any of their ads and looks like I dont want to either.

I get a $40 500 min plan and instead of buying a whole internet package to use data I just get charged for what I use. Which is pretty much only the GPSed Google maps. Last month I used it a whole bunch while travelling to get directions and traffic updates but my data charges were only .80
We also used the GPS to get us un-lost on the way to geforce.
When I call customer service I go straight to a live person with almost no wait not a re-cockulous phone maze.
Coverage is great since I get both the strengths of verizon and sprint everywhere.

my only gripe is the battery life, which probably isnt so good due to poor signal here at the house.

can i get an amen!

[Apoc]

Don't forget to add-on a txt package RJ so Matt can keep you up to date on all latest gossip!

Fack j00, I can't stand talking on the phone so I text.

I bet if you cut out the nonessential conversation you would talk on the phone just as much as you do now without a texting.