Picking new cell carriers?

Is there anything to look ask or look into when picking a new cell phone carrier? I know you have to make sure they have coverage in where you live but I really don't know what else to keep a eye out for.

I'm thinking about going with Verizon but T-mobile is on my watch list. I'm going to be switching from Sprint since the contract is going to be up soon.

As for the the plans I'm looking at, it's the 800 minute or in T-mobile's case 1000 minute without the text crap. Why does T-mobile give you more minutes over Verizon? I don't think it'll effect me since I'll probably make most of my calls within my five people. The five people you pick doesn't matter correct? They don't need to be on the same carrier as me?

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skrpune

I'm one of those crazy people that busts out past bills & makes a spreadsheet when it comes to decisions like this. If you're really interested in getting the best deal for your usage, then sit down with recent cell bills from your current carrier for the last few months and plug in your usage & see what your bills would have been like on the new plans with the new carriers you're considering. It might take a little while, but it will give you a clear picture of what the best deal for you would be.

undomiel

I'll second skrpune's method. We've saved from dropping a rate plan just by analyzing this.

the_Grinch

T-Mobile gives more minutes because they are last in major provides and are trying to get customers. Usually I've gone to the company that all my friends are on so that I could choose the least amount of minutes. I have Verizon and while I like them, I find their phone choices suck. All the really cool phones (iPhone, G1, Pre) come out for networks other then theirs. Plus I pay a lot for not that much when you look at it. 450 mins, 500 text messages, unlimited in calling and text, unlimited tv, and unlimited internet. That costs me $92 a month and while I like my phone, I don't love it. Sprint would give me all that, plus addons like gps and unlimited texts/minutes for $99 and I can get a cool phone (Pre) that's open source and I can write apps for! Good luck!

RTmarc

the_Grinch wrote: »

T-Mobile gives more minutes because they are last in major provides and are trying to get customers. Usually I've gone to the company that all my friends are on so that I could choose the least amount of minutes. I have Verizon and while I like them, I find their phone choices suck. All the really cool phones (iPhone, G1, Pre) come out for networks other then theirs. Plus I pay a lot for not that much when you look at it. 450 mins, 500 text messages, unlimited in calling and text, unlimited tv, and unlimited internet. That costs me $92 a month and while I like my phone, I don't love it. Sprint would give me all that, plus addons like gps and unlimited texts/minutes for $99 and I can get a cool phone (Pre) that's open source and I can write apps for! Good luck!

You are paying for coverage with Verizon. They have the largest network and most coverage area of all of the others in America. The reason you don't see many of the coolest phones with Verizon is because they insist on the OS be heavily customized with their software. I will say this though, the Blackberry Storm is a pretty sweet phone. I've been rocking it for the past six months and love it.

Talic

I switched to Verizon, got the cheapest phone that could play MP3s and had a microSD slot. I got 30 days to give it a test and see if I like it.

I assume you can put music on it using the SD card? I'm loading up a SD card right now and see if the phone will accept it and play it.

Any advice on making ringtones?

I feel like I'm playing catch up asking these questions

update: I just tried and the phone didn't recognize anything on the card, told me nothing is on there. The card is formatted in FAT32 so I really don't know what else to try.

update 2: I just got it to work, I had to format it using the phone (doh) and then transferring over the music and such. I also had to pop out the card 3 or 4 times to get it to recognize it, which I found kinda odd.

I ran into something else I didn't notice, I believe the headphone jack (adapter I insert) is a 2.5mm jack. I'm curious why they use a 2.5mm when almost all headphones are 3.5? Anyways, I believe radioshack will have a converter?

Btw, it's a Samsung Sway, I like the brushed aluminum finish on it but with all these surprises are making me wonder if it's worth the mp3 functionality.