Right now, I have Verizon Wireless with an old grandfathered plan that costs me about $20/month. I rarely use my cell phone except when I’m traveling, and I have to pay for out-of-area long distance, but since I make almost no calls at home, this works fine on average. But I have a very basic phone with no Web access.
However, I have a need for a Windows Mobile PDA (N.B.: It must be Windows Mobile, not Palm, not iPhone, etc.), and I thought it would be nice to be able to get one with a phone built in.
But once I started looking at the packages, the monthlies for phone plus Web were just too pricey. It looks like Verizon’s plans start at $80, Sprint and T-Mobile at $60. Ideally, I’d like to pay $40 or less. But if I could get both for $50 or less I’d go for it.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I don’t need advice about the phone itself, just the service, as long as it will support some Windows Mobile phone(s). I’m in the U.S., and although I do occasionally travel to Europe, not enough to make GMS a priority.
Thanks.
You can with Sprint. See the Sprint SERO plan. It’s their “Employee Referral” plan, but anyone can use it. Of course, then you have to deal with Sprint. With all the phone limitations and craptastic customer service that that entails.
I’ve had it for a few months now. $30 a month. Unlimited Data, unlimited text messages. 500 anytime minutes, and free nights/weekends that go 7pm-7am.
Thanks. That sounds great.
So would you care to say more about that? I’ve never dealt with Sprint.
Oops. It looks like the plan linked from your link isn’t available anymore. When and how did you sign up?
Never mind. I found another site that’s offering the same plan now.
Are you sure you need that specific Verizon plan? IIRC, I could add basic internet access to my $40/month basic plan for an additional $5/month. I’m not sure if that would be sufficient for your needs, but you should look into something like that. If you won’t be using a lot of bandwidth, that may be enough to let you occasionally check email and the like.
Looking at new plans, it looks like the cheap option now charges you per megabyte, and that would probably get past $80/month if you used it very much. I can’t log into my account at the moment (stupid verizon servers…) so I can’t check if I’m still able to get $5/month internet access.
My understanding is that Sprint is generally acknowledged to have the worst customer service of the major US carriers.
My experience has been mixed. Support is very inconsistent. It took me three calls to actually get my phone activated. The first guy claimed that the phone was “already in service” and refused to explain what that meant. He told me to take the phone back to the store I bought it from. I bought it direct from Sprint, online. After I gave up on that, It took two more tries to get someone to actually activate it. He just had me read a code off, and that was it.
The website sucks. It’s an unholy mishmash of Sprint and Nextel’s old sites, and it constantly spits you back out to the front page.
But I figure a few annoyances like that are worth saving $20/month. The phone has worked fine, and the service is no worse than any other wireless carrier I’ve had.
I’ve had good experience with Sprint customer and tech service, with the possible exception that I almost always need to be transferred around three or four times. But once I finally reach the right department, my issue is resolved forthwith.
I have their “phone as a modem” plan, (essentially an unlimited data plan) because my smartphone must always be connected to my corporate e-mail. It’s $40/month. My 200 minutes/month is an extra $20 on top of that.
I think I remember reading that it’s possible to connect a laptop to the phone and get connected just like with an air card.