Living in the Dark Ages

yes, most of you will think that since I don't have a cell phone. I want to get one now that we live in the country. Can anyone give me advice on this and perhaps your experiences. Where are the good deals?? Thanks!!

My neighbor had one Louisa but she had to drive a couple miles out of town before it would work,no good'

You must be joking Sis!! Surely not!! I wonder what sort of a cell phone she had. I don't understand how they operate so cannot make good comment. Having probs again even now - tried to send this and got the page cannot be displayed!! Lets try again!! This is weird!!

when I got my first phone I asked them if I could try it out and see if it would work in my area and they gave me one for the weekend for no charge...

It cuts out 1 mile from the house but I figure if I have problems that close to home I can walk.......

I work in 2 different departments in my hospital and I also am required to float to different units when I work on the floor. I am always afraid the kid's won't find me so I use it more for the call forewarding feature. When I get to work I call foreward it to whever I am at and they can always find me. I call foreward it to my house before it cuts out and mom can call me without long distance charges, She doesn't call me alot of the time because she doesn't want to call long distance.It counts on my minutes but I never use all of my minutes any way.. I have no roaming and no long distance for a 5 state area. It is cheaper to drive down the road 1 mile and call on it than to stay home and use my house phone....

I get out with my CB better than these cell phones' Free'

But sis I can't use a radio to contact Germany - or if my daughter needs to get me urgently. So I need something for long distance.

Yes depending on the area you live in you may not get good reception at your home. I lived in an area where a big hill was in between me and the cell tower, which caused bad reception at my house. As soon as I went down the road it would be fine. They are getting better all the time though, more towers and such. I have a tracphone that I like. You can buy them at walmart for 50.00. The minutes are more expensive than most cell companys but if you don't plan on using it a lot it ends up being cheaper. You buy a phone card every month or every other month depeding on the size of the card. There is no contract. If you want to buy a card this month and not next month you can do so. If you let you time run out without getting another card you lose your phone number. If you do this all you have to do is buy another card and reactivate the phone you will then have a different phone number. There is no chrage for reactivating.

oops put in the wrong URL, should work now.

You can find out more at http://tracfone.com

This message was edited Friday, Sep 21st 1:03 AM

We don't have a cell phone but did get a 800 # with ATT' It's much more reasonable and dramatic savings for us with DH on the road too'

I'm going to have to go into this further I can see!! So many choices I suppose!

There's so many ways to go on phones Louisa and everyone has different needs too'

I got my present phone after going to our home and garden show and talking with the 5 different companies that were there. I like the people I am with because they give you a free phone and no contract... Alot of the college kid's use them because of this feature...My neighbor has a trac phone from walmart and does not get near the reception that I get.I am in a hollar 5 miles from the nearest tower, but the ridges keep me from using the phone at home...MY other neighbor has a beeper and it works at her house. I think the beeper signals bounce or something...........

So chris,do you have a contract?

No I do not have a contract get 200 hundred anytime minutes for 25.99 a month,amd a free nokia phone it is the best deal in my area so far...

Chris just one question. What is your Phone? :-)

By the way the tracfone not picking up for your neighbor is not because of tracfone its self but because they use local companys to give you the service. So if it does not work for your neighbor it is because someone in your local area does not have good support for your area. I use it in my town and it picks up better than the phone I had through verison. It will just be hit or miss, it all depends on the service providers in your area.

This message was edited Friday, Sep 21st 1:24 AM

I listen to Clark Howard on the radio almost daily. He has a call-in show about consumer issues. He has TONS of great info, including a lot about cellphones and wireless plans: http://www.clarkhoward.com/topics/cellphones.html

There's also all kinds of stuff about scams, credit, dealing effectively with customer (no)service, etc. I highly recommend this fella! :o)

This message was edited Friday, Sep 21st 1:30 AM

I'm in Kansas,where are you? Think I'd get the same deals here perhaps?

I have my phone thru suncom. We have several towers on my drive home and I go in and out of roam several times on my 10 mile drive form town. I live in southern Illinois 16 miles from missouri. I had verizon and was paying roaming charges all the time I asked them about this and they said they only way I could get out of this was to buy my phone service in Illinois. I work and shop in missouri and am 30 miles from the nearest town in Illinois.

One of our kids have verizon and get unlimited roaming but don''t know if they own their phone or not' They must be pretty expensive,wouldn't you think?

find out what company has a cell site in your area around where you live.The cell sites are bought or leased by different companys. One phone can work great where a another company's phone will not at all.Also know if you call and ask each company what is their best offer they will tell you. Otherwise they read off a generic list. Don't sign any contract.They put out a offer with a contract just before offering a new, better deal.Even if your deal is not as cheap as a contract offer you will be offered before the year is up a better deal.Just switch.
Everytime your phone conversation gets dropped call the company right away and tell them to remove your last call completly. Keep a log and make them stick to it.They bank on people with lousy record keeping, who don't pay attention to the bill.

I have a Nokia cell phone but discontinued the $28.00 a month service because I never used it. If you want True service point to point virtually anywhere in the world you need an expensive satellite phone like Globalstar or Iridium market. Reputedly that is what the terrorists used to communicate worldwide.

We have Nextel-I like it because of the twoway radio feature. We have 3 in the family right now-Im really glad to have them.
They have several plans you can sign up for-and this month they had phones for 1/2 price $50.00! I1000 is thin and great connections-we used them all the way to GA. from Mich. when we were on vacation this summer!
Im sure they have a site check it out.
dori

Thanks for the input. It all sounds very complicated to me but then I'm like that with technology - that's why I'm living in the dark ages...lol!!