Getting a cellphone

[beautifulduckweed]

After being pestered by not one, not two, not three, but four different close friends, I'm finally giving in to pressure: I've decided to get a cellphone.

My criteria:

1. I want something simple. I don't need a camera in my phone. I don't need Bluetooth capabilities. I don't want an organizer built into my phone, nor do I want to be able to listen to music on it. I. Want. A. Phone.

2. I want my plan to be reasonably cheap and not cost too much more than my landline--about $25/month sounds about right.

3. I want a reliable carrier. My friend Jen's carrier sucks; I can get through to her phone maybe 50-60% of the time.

So, Internets, hear my plea: what do you recommend? Have any horror stories? Praises to sing to the skies? Please let me know.

Comments

[rat-bastird.livejournal.com]

i have a simple nokia phone It's the basic model... no flips.. no nothing. Just phone. It's survived two trips into the washing machine and dryer and at least 3 minutes in a hot tube before i realized it was in my shorts pocket. I've had other models and they've survived jsut as well. I drop it all the time and yet it still works.

My service is cingular, but i don't know if they're any better than any other service. I definitely recommend the nokia no frills phone though.

[quietselkie.livejournal.com]

I once thought I'd never use a cameraphone, but it's come in handy a few times (assuming you can get past my moronic habit of not remembering to save any of the pictures you take except for those of the inside of the purse). So if you can get a freebie phone with a camera, that's cool. I like flip phones better than candybar phones, because they seem to fit my face better and I don't suffer as much from "Cell Yell". Once you have a phone, if you like it A LOT, get a second battery. Phones change so fast that batteries and other accessories don't stay readily available. Get a car charger, too, if you are away from home a lot (like at work or out in the evenings).

We live out in the sticks, and cell coverage can be very spotty in the hills. Verizon has good wide coverage, and even reaches us here. We had AT&T/Cingular, but their network was not as broad in the places we were most often. For urban and I-5 corridor, though, Cingular was fine.

[majormojo.livejournal.com]

Oh Hon, never underestimate the usefulness of a cameraphone. It is great for those spontaneous moments-that-will-never-happen-again,-and-damn-don't-you-wish-you-have-a-camera. Also in times of emergency, where someone knocked your car, or er.. that hunk-that-looks-like-Keanu-in-Point-Break-and-you-need-photo-evidence-otherwise-no-one-believes-you.

I don't know about music, but cameraphone... is good.

[lilithsaintcrow.livejournal.com]

I'd add my voice to the praises of the cameraphone. We've got Sprint, it usually does us pretty well and I've rarely been out-of-service with it. Plus I got an extra phone for the DHM and our calls are free. *le sigh*

[borktron.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to this advice too, though I'm still not sure. I kind of like being "different". What's more different these days than NOT having a cell phone?

I was walking somewhere with 3 other people Saturday night. At one point, they all had a brightly lit cell phone to their ear. It looked ridiculous to me.

[theotherjay.livejournal.com]

This is a very good point. But I don't think it necessarily militates against cell phones, just against obnoxious use of them. We don't refuse to get cars because there are a lot of people who drink and drive.

[brittakbd.livejournal.com]

Is there a plan that costs around 25 a month? cause I would maybe get that. As it is now, I do the pay-as-you-go thing, because I use my phone so rarely that it could never be worth it to have one of those plans that cost like fifty clams a month. You just gotta make sure your minutes don't expire, and usually a soothing ladyvoice tells you when that's about to happen. I think I get t-mobile. I've never had a problem with 'em.

I think my phone is just the bottom of the barrel nokia. I got it at costco. I guess a camera would be neat, but I don't got one.