Cell phone service providers (Raleigh, Cary: credit card, how much, house)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I have always had my cell phone service through Alltel/Verizon, and while I've always been satisfied with their service and coverage areas I am not satisfied with their ever increasing rates. I was shocked to see how much my service plan would increase by upgrading to a smart phone when it's time to renew my contract. I've been considering some the no contract providers that claim to offer unlimited everything for almost half of what I'm paying for the very basic voice,text, and very limited data from verizon. Companies like Boost, t-mobile, Smart Talk, virgin mobile, etc, sounds too good to be true so I'm kind of skepital about changing. Is there anyone in the Fuquay, Lillington, holly springs areas that have experience with any these providers and how is the coverage in the more rural areas outside of Raleigh?
I currently have Nextel and have learned Sprint is going to cease using Nextel's ISDN network. That means I'll have to buy a new phone if I want to continue to use Sprint's network. Nahhh, that's okay. My Nextel works great at my house but the wife's Sprint phone does not. I'll be switching to Verizon which I know does work.
What depresses me about the situation is going to be the rate increase. I currently pay $40/month for unlimited minutes and texts through Nextel. I want to stay around the same rate as I do not have a need to play internet on a telephone. I wouldn't send texts if so many of my customers didn't prefer that method of communication.
I have been checking different locations and found Walmart offers pre-paid plans through a variety of carriers. I can't see how the pre-paid service would be any different than the normal service except you are paying in advance. The pre-paid service allows the user to sign up for automatic bill pay via credit card so there's never a worry of a service disconnect.
Verizon offers their own plan which is $50/month for unlimited talk, text, & web. Not bad but not good, either. One thing I need to look into is the disclaimer that notes texts containing pictures carry a 25 cent charge. Definitely not good.
Straight Talk offers a $30 plan that contains 1000 talk minutes, 1000 texts, and 30mb of mobile web access, and free 411. For $45 you get unlimited minutes, texts, mobile web access, and 411. Sounds great to me. I just need to find out the return policy if their service doesn't work at my house. I was told Straight Talk uses AT&T/T-mobile as their local service provider but that info has not been verified.
They're located in Cary and just launched last week. They promote using Wi-fi for calling instead of the cellular network.
Interesting concept, but I don't have any knowledge of the company or product. Seems like they've just written some SW that can optimize this on the Android OS.
Don't know specifically about the areas you mentioned, but for more rural areas in NC, alltel/verizon has the best coverage. I have AT&T and wife has Verizon and when traveling in rural NC and Va, her phone is often the only one to get a signal.
You might want to look into Straight Talk or Net10. They use either Verizon or AT&T or T-Mobile towers depending on which phone you get. If you get a CDMA phone it will operate on Verizon network. If you get a GSM phone it could work on either AT&T or T-Mobile depending on the sim card in the phone. For many phones the model number will end in a "C" or "G" so it is easy to tell, but for some phones you will have to look them up to see whether they are CDMA or GSM.
I was told Straight Talk uses AT&T/T-mobile as their local service provider but that info has not been verified.
They try to steer people in this area to AT&T/T-mobile and most of the phones in the stores are GSM phones on those networks. If you order directly from their web site you can get a CDMA phone and still activate it here on the Verizon network. When you go to their web site they will ask for your zip code and not offer many CDMA phones here, but you can go here to see the full selection. Phones
I currently have Nextel and have learned Sprint is going to cease using Nextel's ISDN network. That means I'll have to buy a new phone if I want to continue to use Sprint's network. Nahhh, that's okay. My Nextel works great at my house but the wife's Sprint phone does not. I'll be switching to Verizon which I know does work.
What you say makes no sense. If you don't have signal on Sprint, it roams to Verizon. If you have Verizon, you have Sprint coverage. If your wife's phone doesn't work, then she may not have roaming on or something.
While I agree Verizon does have better coverage, since I can roam on their network, I have never been anywhere my Sprint phone doesn't work.
I have Virgin Mobile for my teen. We used to have her on a AT&T contract that was ridiculously expensive. The only downsite to Virgin is that there aren't many types smart phones available...maybe two styles?
We have traveled thru the areas you mentioned and not had an issue but we use it mostly in Knightdale, Wake Forest and Wendell. I have been paying $25 mt for unlimited web, data, messaging and email, with 300 talk minutes. It looks like they now offer it for $35 per their website. It's $45 mt for the same but with 1200 talk minutes.
The plan once you set up your account is a piece of cake to maintain. You can load $$ from the phone, or the web or load your web account and have it pull from a credit card. I LOVE how cheap it is and will never go back to a contract ever again.
I have a AT&T thru my job. The sounds quality on my BlackBerry is horrible, it's one step up from a tin can. And, calls drop every day when I'm on 540 around Falls of Neuse Rd. I wouldn't recommend either a BB phone or AT&T.
They're located in Cary and just launched last week. They promote using Wi-fi for calling instead of the cellular network.
Interesting concept, but I don't have any knowledge of the company or product. Seems like they've just written some SW that can optimize this on the Android OS.
The verdict is out! Their service is poor. I know it is too early to say since it's been only few days since they opened their shop but as far the opinion out there already is concerned, it is not good. People have been complaining about lag and poor audio quality
I have Virgin Mobile for my teen. We used to have her on a AT&T contract that was ridiculously expensive. The only downsite to Virgin is that there aren't many types smart phones available...maybe two styles?
We have traveled thru the areas you mentioned and not had an issue but we use it mostly in Knightdale, Wake Forest and Wendell. I have been paying $25 mt for unlimited web, data, messaging and email, with 300 talk minutes. It looks like they now offer it for $35 per their website. It's $45 mt for the same but with 1200 talk minutes.
The plan once you set up your account is a piece of cake to maintain. You can load $$ from the phone, or the web or load your web account and have it pull from a credit card. I LOVE how cheap it is and will never go back to a contract ever again.
I have a AT&T thru my job. The sounds quality on my BlackBerry is horrible, it's one step up from a tin can. And, calls drop every day when I'm on 540 around Falls of Neuse Rd. I wouldn't recommend either a BB phone or AT&T.
Same thing here. I am liking my Virigin Mobile switch from AT&T. Low money, good features and good quality coverage where I live in Cary.
One thing is if you ever have to deal with their customer service, good luck!
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