Shopping for Phones

I have a cheap samsung I got from cingular. I've had it about 3 years. I don't call much and charge it about once a week. It's been crapping out every few weeks for the last two months or so, probably about time for a new one.
 
I love my MDA!!!

tmobile_mda_views1.jpg
 
You may want to talk to Cingular's version of a "retentions department." I've been with Sprint for about 7 years now, and when my wife's phone broke, I was free to change, but she was still under contract for 4 months. This meant we couldn't get the hot rebate on a new phone with the 2 year agreement. I told them to play hide and go fuck themselves, and that I'd be willing to pay the fee to cancel my plan, join another company, and then give them bad press to anyone willing to listen. (A lot of people work over at MacDill...) I finally got to their retentions department, got more than their advertised rebate, didn't pay a phone upgrade fee, and got a sweet deal on my service plan. Plus, with the Sprint phones, you can make your own ringtones with some free software and upload them to your phone.

So talk to those douches at cingular, and tell them you're preparing to jump ship unless they can convince you to stay. You want a durable phone, reasonable rate on a plan, and don't want to pay through the nose for the phone itself. When the person you talk to initially claims to not know of anything else they can do for you, ask for the retentions department.
 
ERage said:
So this weekend I decided my current phone blows monkey cock and that I need a new one. I have 10 months remaining on my contract with Cingular and I want a new phone.

You guys are all into this kind of stuff, what would you suggest?

I would like a phone that is bulletproof because I drop mine a lot, something with long battery life, and basic features. I'd also like to spend less than 100 bucks. I am a basic user that mostly uses the phone for calling...no pictures/music/email or any of that crap.

I currently have a Motorola V180 which I don't hate but it leaves a lot to be desired.

What are you guys using? If you were on Cingular and had 100 bucks to blow what would you get? I've been looking at CNET reviews but haven't seen anything that really does it for me.

Again, something STURDY and easy to use is what I'm really going for here.
Click to expand...

I've got a Motorola Slivr or whatever and I've been very happy with it. Clam shell/flip phones suck ass, so I really wanted a solid, single piece phone. I was a bit leery what with it being so thin, but it's a pretty sweet little deal. I'd look into it if I were you.

The hundred or so mp3s you can store on it (iTunes feature) is pretty nice too, not that I have ever found myself sitting somewhere with my phone thinking "Damn, I sure wish this thing could play some tinny-sounding music." If you have, all the better.
 
Last edited:
worm said:
You may want to talk to Cingular's version of a "retentions department." I've been with Sprint for about 7 years now, and when my wife's phone broke, I was free to change, but she was still under contract for 4 months. This meant we couldn't get the hot rebate on a new phone with the 2 year agreement. I told them to play hide and go fuck themselves, and that I'd be willing to pay the fee to cancel my plan, join another company, and then give them bad press to anyone willing to listen. (A lot of people work over at MacDill...) I finally got to their retentions department, got more than their advertised rebate, didn't pay a phone upgrade fee, and got a sweet deal on my service plan. Plus, with the Sprint phones, you can make your own ringtones with some free software and upload them to your phone.

So talk to those douches at cingular, and tell them you're preparing to jump ship unless they can convince you to stay. You want a durable phone, reasonable rate on a plan, and don't want to pay through the nose for the phone itself. When the person you talk to initially claims to not know of anything else they can do for you, ask for the retentions department.
Click to expand...


Sprint will give you anything you ask for if you have been with them awhile. I was with them for quite some time and as long as you push hard enough everything is free. I had first incoming minute free for life but I finally went into bad standings with them.
 
theacoustician said:
And for the record, the only people that seem to carry "bulletproof" phones anymore is Nextel because of their popularity with contractors. Every other phone is meant to break in 2 years so you have to get a new one/renew your contract.
Click to expand...

i have nextel and they are the biggest pieces of shit. even the 870 hoop-d
i have never dropped one. i did wreck in the triple digits with one in my pocket, but that is the only one thats still kicking! wtf??
 
ruthless said:
i have nextel and they are the biggest pieces of shit. even the 870 hoop-d
i have never dropped one. i did wreck in the triple digits with one in my pocket, but that is the only one thats still kicking! wtf??
Click to expand...

i'm not at risk of getting nextel, they have horrible coverage around here.
 
worm said:
You may want to talk to Cingular's version of a "retentions department." I've been with Sprint for about 7 years now, and when my wife's phone broke, I was free to change, but she was still under contract for 4 months. This meant we couldn't get the hot rebate on a new phone with the 2 year agreement. I told them to play hide and go fuck themselves, and that I'd be willing to pay the fee to cancel my plan, join another company, and then give them bad press to anyone willing to listen. (A lot of people work over at MacDill...) I finally got to their retentions department, got more than their advertised rebate, didn't pay a phone upgrade fee, and got a sweet deal on my service plan. Plus, with the Sprint phones, you can make your own ringtones with some free software and upload them to your phone.

So talk to those douches at cingular, and tell them you're preparing to jump ship unless they can convince you to stay. You want a durable phone, reasonable rate on a plan, and don't want to pay through the nose for the phone itself. When the person you talk to initially claims to not know of anything else they can do for you, ask for the retentions department.
Click to expand...

Bah, Cingular's "Retention" department is the reason I'm a verizon customer right now. I bought one of their $20 Nokia's when I was forced to switch from AT&T to Cingular. 1 year later the phone winds up in the washing machine (not my fault) and I'm calling in for a replacement. Now with AT&T I could buy a new phone whenever I wanted, so long as I renewed my contract with them. Cingular (as well as most nationwide retailers) has the policy to lock their customers into the phone they have until Cingular decides you can upgrade. Not having the insurance I was quoted a price of $150 to replace the phone that cost me $20 when I signed up. I went through three managers trying to find someone that would a.) respect the fact that I was a valued AT&T customer for the last 6 years and b.) see the fallacy in charging me that much money for a crap phone.

My last try with Cingular's CS Management was to try and use logic, "You are going to charge me $150 to keep giving you $70/mo for the next year, or you are going to charge me $150 to cancel my contract, meaning you never see another dime to me. This makes sense how?"

The end of the conversation was me cancelling my account, never to go back to Cingular again. If I had read the thread on buying a GoPhone (not that I'm sure they were available at the time, this would have been 2-ish years ago) I would definitely have taken that route.

The summary of what I read from the thread on Howard Forums, Cingular will suspend your account only if you are using a pre-paid phone that has not registered it's IMEI (a 15 digit tracking/serial number). They do this to prevent people from stealing a batch of these phones and selling them on the street. So far as I read there is a lot of whining from Cingular Reps saying that it 'should' be fraud to do this, but even those accounts that were suspended were reactivated once they provided proof of purchase (of the gophone) to Cingular.
 
BeeRad said:
Sprint will give you anything you ask for if you have been with them awhile. I was with them for quite some time and as long as you push hard enough everything is free. I had first incoming minute free for life but I finally went into bad standings with them.
Click to expand...

Yep. This is why your best bet is with the smaller companies. In sprint's case they want to shake the idea that they are the ghetto carrier that will sign anyone (which I thought is weird. I always felt their requirements used to be rather high) In T-Mobiles case they have the smallest network. Either way they have to wow you with customer service.
 
Why can't there just be a phone that just is a phone? No camera, no mp3 player, no web browser, just a fucking phone? Have a contact list/address book for numbers and that's it? Have it the size of a pencil and 3 inches long with numbers down it and that's it.

I would buy that.
 
dbzeag said:
Why can't there just be a phone that just is a phone? No camera, no mp3 player, no web browser, just a fucking phone? Have a contact list/address book for numbers and that's it? Have it the size of a pencil and 3 inches long with numbers down it and that's it.

I would buy that.
Click to expand...


I go the Motorola RAZR L7 because I just wanted a plain phone. The thing is a piece of shit. I wish I still had my Nokia 3695. Those thin ass-phones are impossible to grip with your shoulder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back