New Number Comin’ Up

I’ve pretty much made the commitment to finally getting a service planned phone. A few days ago, I dropped another $25 into my pre-paid phone after only three weeks. When I do the math, I would still be paying less to keep going with the pre-paid option, but it’s so close that I’m willing to say, “Fudge it.”

Let’s see my options:

Cingular
From what I hear, Cingular is a pretty good service provider. My friend, Season, has it and seems to be satisfied with the coverage. Coverage is the clincher for me. If I don’t have good coverage, I won’t use that service as you’ll find out in a bit. When I looked on their website, I seemed satisfied with what they offered in terms of contracts and services provided. Their coverage seemed adequate but I wasn’t too impressed with their rural coverage. And since I basically live amongst cows, it was enough for me to put it on the back burner.

T-Mobile
If it wasn’t for the lack overage, I would totally have gone with them. Their basic plans were perfect for me. The phone prices, when signing a contract, were an added bonus.

Sprint
Shit. I used to have Virgin Mobile (which uses the Sprint PCS system) before my current pre-paid phone. The best I could hope for was one bar. I dropped calls left and right. Even if one of their towers was only a mile away, I couldn’t get service if I entered a building. Sprint never was up for consideration.

Centennial
It was far too regional for my taste. I could walk 3 miles south of where I live and be roaming. Their plans didn’t really work out for me. Unlimited Call-Me minutes? What good does that do me? I always initiate calls.

U.S. Cellular
In one second, I knew that this was worthless. This is South Bend’s version of Centennial. Cross into Michigan and you’d be roaming.

Verizon
Ah, Verizon came so close. I love Verizon. I used to have it when I lived up at State. My pre-paid Tracfone assigned me to Verizon. I had excellent coverage wherever I went. I could send international text messages. That came to a screeching halt when I moved back down south and Tracfone assigned me to Alltel. The coverage was the same but I could no longer send international texts and it seriously bummed me out.

Verizon has the thing that I want the most: coverage. I can roam around that nation and get coverage. I can roam around the boondocks of southwest Michigan and still get coverage. But I found that it had some serious problems. 1.) Verizon doesn’t have towers in Michigan. They contract out to Alltel to provide that coverage. 2.) This means, I would have to be assigned a South Bend number. Not a deal breaker, but getting there. 3.) Verizon is not cheap. Hey, if I can get good service, it can bee worth the price. 4.) But Verizon also disables a lot of features in their phones and that is totally not cool.

Alltel
This is the one that I’m going with. It is the fifth largest provider after Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. It boasts the largest network (in terms of geography). Their business model has focused on rural and mid-sized city coverage. My current pre-paid phone is Simple Freedom which runs off the Alltel network. So I already know that this provider has excellent coverage. It also has competitive rate plans. Fortunately, Alltel and Verizon have contract agreements that allow their customers to use both networks. So I can go into Indiana (where Verizon is located) and still have service.

The plan that I have decided to go with is the $39.99/month plan. It allows me 500 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes (starts at 9pm), and unlimited mobile-to-mobile. minutes. I will also be adding a messaging pack (300 messages) for $5.99 more per month. I do a lot of text messaging. (I’m beginning to think it’s a Filipino trait.) With taxes and other fees, I’m expecting a $50/month bill. Seems quite high.

Should my sister decide to get on a contract as well, I would move my contract up to the $59.99/month level and add her as a second line for $9.99/month more. That should drop me down to about $40/month. As an added bonus, we would be eligible for the “My Circle” feature which allows us to designate 10 numbers (land-line and wireless, on any network) from which we can call and receive calls from for free.

Now that I’ve got my plan down, next up is the phone.

The Motorola E815. This is the phone that I am 90% sure that I will buy. The other 10% is reserved for the Motorola Razr. Currently, I can get the E815 or the Razr for $79.99. The features between the two are comparable. The reasons why I am leaning for the E815 are because of the antenna and battery life. An external antenna is better for rural areas. I’m not as confidant of the Razr’s internal antenna. The battery life of the E815 is significantly longer than that of the Razr as well. The only reason why the Razr is holding out is because of its size. I really want to be able to slip my phone in my pants pocket. That, and because it looks cool.

In doing a little bit of online research over the two phones, I also found out that the E815 received better reviews. It consistently scored high points. A few things did seem to crop up but I’m sure it is more to defects of an actual unit rather than a general design flaw. One complaint was about a weak vibration. (I don’t use vibrations so I didn’t care.) Another was about a shorter battery life than advertised. (Didn’t surprise me.) Finally, some reviewers complained about voice echo. But again, it didn’t seem to be a design flaw.

I’m thinking about waiting two weeks or maybe a month before I make a final decision on whether I will finally cross over to the dark side of contract phones.