We’ve been Sprint customers since the week after we got married and we’ve always loved our cell phone service. Reliable coverage, flexible plans (we added 7p nights and weekends for both phones for $5/mo) and great customer service brought us right back in to renew our contract last August. Then, we moved to Birmingham. It’s been one dropped call after another, no matter where we are (interstate, downtown, at home, etc.) We have 11 months left to go in our contract so we tried everything (free) to make it work. They sent tech support out. They gave us free roaming. Still terrible service.
So, we started looking elsewhere and stopped in the local Verizon store. We were flabbergasted at the price of phones (even with a two year contract.) The Cingular store was closed, so we went home and I checked online. We could save (literally) $250 getting our phones from the Verizon website over in the store. I started price shopping plans and decided Cingular was our best bet. I then started searching around for phone deals and found an authorized retailer who sent us 2 motorola razr v3s (shipping 2nd day UPS) for free for signing up for a two year plan through them. All we have to pay cingular is the activation fee. (~$60 for two phones). Our phones came today as scheduled and now I get a signal in my house.
Lessons learned: (1) No matter how nice your cellular provider is, they will not let you out of your contract. We have to pay sprint $5.95 per phone, per month to not use them. GRRRRR. (2) Talk to people in the retail stores about plans, but buy your phones/plans online.
I know you’ve already picked your plan, so don’t try to hange anything, but Verizon has been pretty good with me on the phone pricing. My first phone was free w/ a 2 year contract, and I got a half-decent price on my uprgrade earlier this year. They try to get you a deal for a free or cheap hpne every two years if you stick with them. Perhaps Cingular will do the same for you I hope.
I’ve had no complaints about my service from Verizon other than occasionally going into non-serice areas, but those are not common.
I heard a guy on Clark Howard’s radio show (you should listen if you can get him there) whose cell provider lost tower service in his area, so he had no phone service where he lived. The company said he still couldn’t get out of his contract!?!?
I second about listening to Clark Howard- he is great! As close as you are to BHam you should be able to get him.
Dave Ramsey is good too- but you probably already know about him.
I hope you like cingular. We haven’t had any problems with them and we love their rollover plan.
We just got cell phones. Hubby did all the research and signing up. I need to read the fine print, because I’m paranoid about huge, unexpected bills. I’m such a neophyte with these things. But I like our new phones. *grin*