Cell Phone Service and Providers Reviews by iChadFor those of you in the fast paced world who need to be connected at every turn, who is needs to have communication throughout the entire day for work, family, and friends...we turn to Cell Phone Services to help keep us up to date. For those of you looking for cellular service, and those of you wanting cellular service...before you make a decision with a carrier (Provider) you usually do some research... Past Experiences: Centenial Wireless: They offer pretty decent plans, and now-a-days are trying to keep up to all the competing competition. Even though they have been with the industry for decades there is one thing they have always been notorious for. What is that you ask? Even though there are loyal customers out there, sometimes in certain situations people will make a late payment even if by accident of forgeting. Even if it is the mail postal service who delivers your payment and makes it one day late, just one day late they will report you to the credit bureau even if you've been a loyal customer for over a decade. Not only has it been experienced from people in my family, but dozens of others who have been past customers who have left becuase of this. Nextel: The first to come out with the annoying two-way push talk walkie talkie version on phones...yes the commericals that show you in a corporate meeting beeping each other instead of talking...Nextel has been the ones who have come out with some pretty decent phones, but charge an arm and a leg for them even though there are newer and better phones out there which they still try to sell as top of the line technology. Not only do they try to sell you phones at outrageous amounts but their plans are also high priced and will nickle and dime you for any and everything they can. Verizon Wireless: Ah yes, my current phone service provider...for the time being...The first to come out with something similiar to the apple ipods, which millions rushed to get the verizon chocolate. I have been a loyal customer with them for over 3 years and just this past 6 months I changed my plan from a single line to a family share plan. Originally I had 700 minutes which we shared and I usually only use 100 minutes a month and are there just there for emergencies. But once I switched the plan over to become a shared plan, my other phone made on avg. 500 minutes, but overcharged us for minutes saying that each phone uses 350 minutes which is not the definition of "shared minutes" One month I admit the new line went over 600 minutes which blasted my bill up to almost a grand, and after that I upgraded my plan to 1400 share minutes. After mulitple calls about the defintion of shared minutes, and dozens of company people and a few managers they cut the bill down to where it was supposed to be. The very next month, which is this month (July 2008) they had my bill back up to $800 for unknown reasons and unexplanable, but tried hard to explain why it was that high. So after a few hours of arguing back and forth and also talking to about 5 people we got it down to where it was supposed to be. For those of you looking for a carrier, I STRONGLY ADVICE YOU AGAINST VERIZON WIRELESS. Verizon Wireless PC: For those of you who are always on the go and need to be connected not only for phone service, but also need a way to the internet...there is always Verizon PC. Their plans start out at $30, but the most common is the $50 plan which both have a limited amount of bandwith available for you to use each month. If you go over that bandwith you are drastically charged as well. Cingular/AT&T: Being Cingular was one of the fastest growing cell phone service providers in the United States and growing strong...and Also with AT&T being well established for decades with landlines and cell service, it was a good choice for AT&T to partner up with Cingular. And being how fast Cingular was growing and AT&T already being in place as well, you can know that you are going to probably get the best reception throughout the United States. Pros: The first to strike a deal with Apple to release the iPhone for their carrier only, smart move for AT&T. The Con: When the first generation of iPhone was released they did not let their already loyal and faithful customers as well as new customers know that they needed to change their plan and add additional features to their plan so they wouldn't get charged ridiculous amounts. AT&T made a killing off the first few months of the release of the iPhone and the sneaky billing practices for it, causing a lot of people to have phone bills all the way up to $5,000.00, and a box full of paper telling every single detail of what they were being charged for...most likely using a whole oak tree to print out the bills...after that most people went with paperless billing lol. T-Mobile: A growing company that has some pretty decent deals and always having new cell phone stations pop up for better reception and connections. Not having any personal experience with T-Mobile but having family who is subscribed to their service only give them praise and glory. They have never had any billing mixups, mishaps, or overcharged on things that are clearly in their contract or is anything mis-read or there for us to mis-interpret. So if I were to go to another cellular phone provider (which is very soon!), I am either going to enlist my services to T-Mobile or AT&T depending on my current and future needs of services. Also be on the lookout, ever since the iPhone was released almost every service provider out there is trying to have a phone developed that will work almost as close as the iPhone. As phones will look like the iPhone but differ a little bit in the visual aspect, realize that it will not have the full capabilities as the iPhone. Touch screen yes, but other features it holds, no. For those of you wanting an iPhone and don't have a current provider I suggest you stick with the real thing...Although as of now being they are the hottest thing to be going on the market and with the lack of iPhones for the second generation out there, you may have to wait a while. | 
