Which cellphone provider ??

[christera22 8]

Hi all,

I am a bit puzzled about cell phone plans . What is the best cellphone provider to go for ?? Cheap & economical with if possible unlimited calls, text messaging etc . Dnt need TV on my cellphone !! BUt i wd need a triband cellphone as it shd work when i go to India on vaccations. All advices wd be appreciated.

Thanks

[Jose Rizal 1]

Hi all,

I am a bit puzzled about cell phone plans . What is the best cellphone provider to go for ?? Cheap & economical with if possible unlimited calls, text messaging etc . Dnt need TV on my cellphone !! BUt i wd need a triband cellphone as it shd work when i go to India on vaccations. All advices wd be appreciated.

Thanks

T-Mobile would be the best option for you as it uses mostly the 1900 bandwidth whereas most international tri-band also have the 900/1800 bandwidths. In other words as long as your phone is unlocked you can use it in India. AT&T the other GSM carrier uses mostly the 850 band hence you either use an unlocked quadband phone or a US tri-band phone (850/1800/1900). (I'm ruling out roaming.) Both carriers have suitable plans for every budget. The other major carriers like Verizon and Sprint use CDMA which obviously is not compatible with GSM.

BTW, Pay-As-You-Go or prepaid plans are quite affordable compared to regaular plans if you're not a heavy user. Often they offer unlimited calls to the same network and during evenings.

Edited August 16, 2009 by Jose Rizal

[christera22 8]

Thanks .........our friend has Tmobile .....she is trying to get rid of it as soon as possible as she says with it she often experiences call drops and no signal. She is suggesting Verizon. How about that ?? and how much do you pay for roaming when in philipines ??

[Moksha 1]

Hi Christera,

I had T-Mobile and also hated it. I had horrible service and would drop a lot of calls. I switched to Verizon and never had a problem with them. There is a bunch of plans to pick from. I have a Blackberry through them which has the tri-band on it so I am able to use it when I go over to India to visit my husbands family, but I do want to caution you on that! I got the "international plan" thinking that it was .30 a min to call India from here or call here from India. Well, the first time I went and used it over there I came home to a $460.00 bill! Seems the international plan only covers calling India from here not the other way around...so to call back home it was costing me 2.00 a minute!! And it also costs money anytime you open an email over there as well, so now I shut that feature off when I go so I won't be tempted.

What my husband and I did was got a pre-paid phone over there (actually we just kept his that he already had) and then anytime we go back to India we just put minutes on and use that phone. It's also a lot cheaper to call home using that phone...I think it's only like 5-6 rs per minute to call here...which is much better than 2.00!!!

~Jen

[perfect 39]

Yep -love Verizon. NO problems in 5 years! Excellent customer service - very responsive. You can basically call and tell them how to customise your plan for what you need. we get unlimited texts and calls and have three family members on the same account. The additional members only pay $9.99 per month. Couldn't recommend it highly enough. Have never had problems with dropped calls or poor coverage.

[Ihavequestions 419]

I had Verizon for years. The ONLY problem I ever had was dropped calls. Verizon replaced my phone with a brand new, still in the box, phone and solved the issue. I still have my Verizon phone and when I go back to the US, I will go straight back to Verizon.

[lustanovska 0]

BTW, Pay-As-You-Go or prepaid plans are quite affordable compared to regaular plans if you're not a heavy user. Often they offer unlimited calls to the same network and during evenings.

I'm curious about what Pay-As-You-Go plans are available in the US.

[payxibka 10,044]

Thanks .........our friend has Tmobile .....she is trying to get rid of it as soon as possible as she says with it she often experiences call drops and no signal. She is suggesting Verizon. How about that ?? and how much do you pay for roaming when in philipines ??

Verizon will NOT internationally roam....

If T-Mobile is out then your other choice is AT&T

Edited August 18, 2009 by payxibka

[subguy812 1]

Yes if you want to unlock your phone, in the US the carriers Subsidy lock phones to be used only with one carrier, and use it in India Tmobile and AT&T are your option. You can unlock your phone and buy a sim when you arrive in India. Since GSM is the global standard you are kind of limited to Tmobile or AT&T...Verizon has a very reliable network if you compare plans IMO they are a bit pricey.

Edited August 18, 2009 by subguy812

[christera22 8]

Yes i think Verizon roams internationally. I checked their rates for roaming in India . Oh God !

CDMA Standard Roaming Per Minute Rate: $1.99

CDMA Value Plan Roaming Per Minute Rate $1.99

GSM Standard Roaming Per Minute Rate: $1.99

GSM Value Plan Roaming Per Minute Rate: $1.99

I dnt understand is this per minute calling to usa - rate ?? or per minute roaming rate ?

I have to check At&t or May be i wd go to Verizon for USA and then insert another sim from India when I am there.

[Donna A 4]

we had t-mobile and loved it but they just dont have a good phone selection for my husband. he likes the smart phones so we changed to at&t. t-mobile worked alot better overseas. i could get right thru to him and had better sound then when he was here. after he got at&t i couldnt get thru at all overseas (even with the international plan which i dropped immediatly after it didnt work well) when he was there. i wish we could go back to tmobile.

[Jenn! 918]

We have Verizon and a Blackberry Storm. When we traveled in Morocco, we requested that Verizon unlock the phone so that we could use a local prepaid SIM card and avoid the international roaming charges.

ETA: Most Verizon phones do NOT have a SIM card, the Storm is an exception. The problem with the Storm is that it doesn't have wi-fi - you have to rely on Verizon's network for web.

Edited August 18, 2009 by Jenn!

[Nik+Heather 121]

It's really hard to go by anecdotal evidence like "Oh, I had XYZ company and it dropped calls all the time" The truth is that EVERY carrier is going to have dead spots just due to where they have their cell locations. I had one company and was very happy with them for 4 years, and then I moved and got zero signal in my apartment, and dropped calls like crazy. I switched to another company, and always had 5 bars but is now spotty when I'm at work!. The only people who you should base your decision on regarding dropped calls and signal are your next door neighbors or coworkers depending on where you expect to use your phone the most. A friend who lives even a mile away from you may have different levels of coverage entirely.

It may also have something to do with the phones. You get what you pay for, really.

Some companies offer 2 week trial periods, and will refund your fees and such. Ask about it when you are shopping around, then make use of it - go everywhere you want to have signal and try it out. Or - spend a month on a prepay phone. Some of them are only ~$50, so about as much as you'd pay for a month anyway.

[Nik+Heather 121]

Yes i think Verizon roams internationally. I checked their rates for roaming in India . Oh God !

CDMA Standard Roaming Per Minute Rate: $1.99

CDMA Value Plan Roaming Per Minute Rate $1.99

GSM Standard Roaming Per Minute Rate: $1.99

GSM Value Plan Roaming Per Minute Rate: $1.99

I dnt understand is this per minute calling to usa - rate ?? or per minute roaming rate ?

I have to check At&t or May be i wd go to Verizon for USA and then insert another sim from India when I am there.

Yeah. You'll want to keep your phone calls when you're international short and sweet. Usually these roaming fees are just to call. If you're calling a "local" while you're out of country you'll have roaming AND international fees.

Same for text messages. That's why it's suggeted you get a prepay SIM card when you arrive (if you'll be there a while).

[Nikita2Charles 32]

I have been with Verizon for awhile, over 6 years, what I do when I go to India, I have a motorola phone that's unlocked, when i am in India, I just buy a sim cards, in the old days the airtel sim card used to have free incoming, so i don't know if that has changed. So i could have folks from here calling me in India.

A few years later then switch to Vonage it was $24 a month, it was kinda too expensive, then found out about MAGIC JACK, I should call it MAGIC MIRACLE, this little thing do wonders and have saved $thousand by now.

You get the magic jack sign up and get a local number, once you get to India or anywhere in the world where you have a descent internet connection you should be fine. it's already preloaded with the software, there's no cd, just plug and play.

Let say you are in NY and you get a 718 number, then you can be anywhere in the world and received called just like you are around the corner. I even tried using the local 56k from the phone it still works but the voice quality wasn't that good.

just my experience