Cellphone Help for a Newbie?

[BanzaiBk]

Hey all,

I'm moving to Boston in a month from Ireland, and I'm trying to figure out what the best cellphone plan would be. I've never needed to have a cell with a contract, I'm a prepay customer at the mo'. I keep hearing conflicting stories from friends who've emigrated/stayed in America about costs involved with cells. Two things that have worried me are 1) You can't receive calls without credit on TMobile? and 2) receivers can be charged for calls?

I've been told that AT&T have the cheapest/most similar to what I'm used to* prepay setup. I use about 500 texts and make 140 minutes of calls on average per month.Could anyone give me a few pointers as to who the best value for money carrier is and what I should be looking for? Maybe there is a proper site that can direct me to the best deal?

*

In Ireland, I can buy credit for my mobile whenever I wish, and I have free texts to any cell number. Calls are 0.17EUR per minute to cells before 6PM and 0.07EUR after 6PM. I'm only charged for calls I make, not for receiving calls.

Thanks for any replies!

[tokenuser]

1. Yes. You do get charged for incoming calls. Some carriers make an exception if it is being received from within the same carrier (eg AT&T to AT&T).
2. You can get prepaid SIMs -AT&T, TMobile are the most common, but there are others. Not sure in the Boston area though. Since you are coming from a GSM area, you might even be able to use your existing phone ... but dont bank on it.

[BanzaiBk]

Thanks for the reply! Being charged for incoming calls is epic fail tbh:p I'm currently using an unlocked N95 which I'd like to carry on using but I won't be too upset if I have to buy another handset.

[tokenuser]

As an Aussie living in the US, finding out you get charged for incoming calls was a shock as well. Your N95 will be fine over here. Since you already own your handset, you might be better off just getting a cheap month to month plan.

Alltel might be an option as well.

[masherscf]

1. Yes. You do get charged for incoming calls. Some carriers make an exception if it is being received from within the same carrier (eg AT&T to AT&T).


Verizon also has plans that don't charge for calls to the same carrier. These plans also come with free long distance service.

[tokenuser]

Verizon also has plans that don't charge for calls to the same carrier. These plans also come with free long distance service.Since he has a Nokia N95, I wouldn't recommend Sprint or Verizon because it wont work on those networks (CDMA vs GSM).

FWIW - I love my Verizon coverage and access speed.

[masherscf]

How long are you staying in Boston. There are plenty "Pay-as-you-go" plans in the States. Sadly, they use pretty cheap phones.

[BanzaiBk]

I'll be staying for 3 college semesters, so I'm open to getting a contract. Basically I've been able to be pretty frugal with my phone plan for the past 3 years and the thought of paying for certain things galls me. I'm sure I'll get over it though:) Thanks for all the replies.

Masherscf, when you say free long distance service do you mean across the states or international?

[tokenuser]

Long distance is domestic (sometimes including Canada and Mexico).
International plans from a cell phone cost $$$ - get a calling card for those calls.

[BanzaiBk]

Hmm, Verizon seem to have the best value plan but AT&T have nicer phones:p Thanks for the Alltel heads up.

[tokenuser]

Hmm, Verizon seem to have the best value plan but AT&T have nicer phones:p Thanks for the Alltel heads up.Advantage of AT&T is that you could use your existing N95 (I think it is a triband phone and will work on the US GSM network). Verizon have better plans - especially for highspeed data, but (as noted) their phones suck.

[kahunablair]

Long distance is domestic (sometimes including Canada and Mexico).
International plans from a cell phone cost $$$ - get a calling card for those calls.

I've seen the Pre-Paid Sims that are made exclusively for international calls popping up more and more in there area. I don't know if that's another option you've considered.
It's probably a lot easier just to pull out the Calling Card, but you never know.

[acidburn]

I also agree that the phone selection from Verizon is poor. But being a Verizon customer in Massachusetts I can say that they have good consistent coverage in the state. I had AT&T when I first moved here and I found deadspots in their coverage which is primarily why switched to Verizon. In fairness though it has been a few years since I was an AT&T customer so that could have changed.

I can't really comment about the coverage of the other carriers since most everyone I know is either on AT&T or Verizon.