T-Mobile vs. everyone else

[SavannahLion]

I spotted the Samsung U740 which I kind of like and Best Buy is selling it for under $100 (with contract of course), but it's with Verizon. I have T-Mobile right now with a 600 minutes and 1000 messages per month for around $54 (taxes and everything). My usual phone usage is probably less than 100 minutes/month (I can't recall when I used more than 50 minutes... ever.). My text messaging varies but the last three months haven't been more than 100 messages. I think I peaked at around... 200 or maybe 300 from time to time.

The cheapest contract form messaging is around $59.99 and nets me 450 minutes per month. I could go with the basic starting at $39.99 but I gotta pay $1.99 per MB of messaging(?). I don't have any way to transfer the message counts from T-Mobile into MB as per Verizon.... Oh well.

T-Mobile is so-so. I find their SPAM algorithm (on the Sidekick) really sucks ass and their network service is hokey, especially in areas too far from major highways. I find their service reps seem to be OK. But I find their comparable phone offerings somewhat lacking in the variety department. Their "Upgrade" service is a ---smurfing--- joke, nothing unique to differentiate between existing customers and new. But otherwise it seems to be an OK company.

What is Verizon like? I Googled Verizon Sucks and got nothing back but compaints about their ISP.

[patrickl]

Isn't MB for internet traffic?

[J_K_M_A_N]

We have Verizon now. We switched from T-Mobile. We switched because we had poor service in outlying areas. Verizon is better for that I think. Unfortunately, I can't say anything about messaging because we don't use that. We actually have it blocked on our phones. All I can say is that they are more expensive but we seem to have better service with them. Sorry I can't be more help.

J_K_M_A_N

[shmokes]

Verizon has been consistently rated the best wireless provider in terms of customer satisfaction for about the last five years in a row.  They don't rate high, mind you.  They just rate higher than any of the others.  That's what Consumer Reports says, anyway.

[SavannahLion]

Isn't MB for internet traffic?

That's what I thought, because that's what T-Mobile does. But from Verizon's plans, it seems to also be applied to text messaging  Maybe I'm reading it wrong. In any case, I'm headed back to Best Buy today. I checked around online and $79 seems to be the best deal. Amazon is offering the phone for $25 but there's a $35 activation fee which brings it to around $60. A $19 difference and I get to talk to the people at Best Buy and listen to them try and convince me some more expensive phone is a better option. 

[DaveMMR]

I have the U740.  It's a great phone, but I wouldn't switch plans just for that phone.  They full QWERTY keyboard is cool, but if you don't text all that much, who really cares.  I haven't gotten good internet usage out of it and, frankly, I'm about to downgrade my plan because I never use "Vcast" or "Unlimited Messaging".

Granted, Verizon is not as anal as they used to be about where you got ringtones (I used myxertones.com to upload songs, edit it, and use it as ringtones).  Also, you can of course add your songs to it and use it as an MP3 player (a pretty good one at that)  But outside of that, you're stuck with Verizon's limiting offering of multimedia content.

As I said, it's a great phone.  I like it a lot.  But switch to Verizon only based on price and service, not the phone.