Should I Switch to AT&T Wireless

[Whelan]

I currently have Verizon, but was offered by my U-Verse rep on the phone today a pretty good offer to switch. I'll break it down here:VerizonPhonesBlackberry Storm 9530 (worst phone ever made)LG EnV (non touch)Plan (per Month)$119.00, 1400 minutes (not rollover eligible), unlimited Verizon to Verizon calls, 10 people outside Verizon in my Circle$19.98, 50 MB Data ($9.99 per phone w/ 25MB, Unlimited Text, Pix, Flix)$29.99, Blackberry required plan=======================$168.97 not included-19% company discount on plan and some features-taxes, fees, other chargesAT&T (per month)Phones2 x iphone 3GS 8GBPlan$119.00, Unlimited Talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere in network$30.00, Unlimited Text, Pix, Flix to anyone$30.00, 400MB Data ($15 per phone w/ 200MB)=======================$179.00 not included-no company discount-taxes, fees, other chargesHere is my issue. I'm tired of my Storm, it's such a piece and I am literally pulling the battery 3 times a day. It won't let me answer calls but tells me I missed them, texts don't always get sent, internet is insanely slow, no good games, keyboard is horrid.I know I put myself in the situation with this garbage device, but aside from that the little extra cost of going to AT&T I get the iphone for me and my fiance and unlimited calling (no minutes to worry about). I currently have AT&T U-Verse for Voice, Internet, and U-200 TV Package. I want to find out from them if I can get a discount for being a member of all 4 services (I hear 10%). I'm just trying to justify staying with Verizon since my upgrade is not until September 2011 and I don't want to pay full price for another one of their phones. Currently nothing in their lineup is appealing to me, no not even the Droid. AT&T offered to pay half of my cancellation with Verizon and waive any shipping and activation for their phones which is a big plus. So to switch I would be $230 out of pocket (termination and new phones) and still half the price of buying something from Verizon at full price. It's really tempting because since my phone stinks so bad I am basically paying for nothing since I can't utilize it to it's full potential.On a side note, since me and my other do not use Internet a ton or other apps like that, just a few games and stuff. Do you think the 3GS 8GB is a good iphone to get. 3GS 8GB iphones are $99 right now instead of $199 for the iphone 4 which I cannot justify the cost difference. My friend has the 4 and wishes he kept his 3GS. That was a mouthful. Opinions?

[AKLGT]

No. If you think Verizon is bad, you have no idea....also, it sounds like it's just your phone, not the service. Upgrade your phone. The iphone isn't the worlds awesomest phone ever. :rolleyes: But that's just me. I'll take a BB Torch or Droid over an outdated iphone 3GS any day. I don't like getting suckered into Apple/AT&T's nickel and dime you to death. But again, that's just me... what do I know? I only sold AT&T and Verizon's equivalent here for 4 yrs.... Droid is an amazing phone imo. I have the equivalent on our local CDMA carrier, as well as a BB9700 Bold on AT&T. I love the BB OS, but definitely want the new Torch with the touch and keyboard. it's MILES MILES MILES ahead of your Storm 9530 OS. The Android platform is also pretty freaking sweet. You can do so much with it and it's not locked down like the iphone and Apple.

[Whelan]

Yes but the phones on Verizon are all FULL price which means $300-400 for a phone. Way out of range of what I want to pay. I don't trust buying a used phone either. Like I said I can't sit on this phone until the end of 2011.BTW I live in the NY area (CT) so service here is not a problem with either.

[09vGT]

I like ATT, never really have problems.. when I do have problems I always get an American, which is great! But as far as the switching just make sure you check the service. Verizon is suppose to cover all of my home town, and it is HORRIBLE service in a lot of spots, where ATT is full everywhere. ATT also offers insurance you can pay for extra on monthly, which helps if you are rough on your phone.

[Whelan]

I had the insurance on my phone but I got rid of it. Why in the world would I want another Storm if this one broke.

[ponta2147]

I like AT&T, we have U-Verse (internet, landline, fax, cable) with them as well as two wireless lines and a 3G internet card for the computer. I have a Motorola Backflip and Chris has a Blackberry Bold. I am very happy with their coverage, although it does vary by city (there was less coverage when I went to LA, I remember, but I still get great coverage even when driving in the middle of nowhere, even with the internet).iPhone is a whole different question than AT&T that I can't really answer, but it seems like a good price, and the iPhone IS a good phone (I just don't like it personally for my own reasons).

[AKLGT]

I dunno, do you need all the app and email capability? because there are lots of great phones out there that won't require data services. I'm just not convinced that the iphone is the cure all end all phone nor do I want to pay them all their monies to simply have one. I've had 2 different gens and hated each one for various reasons. Really, it boils down to you and what you want/like in a phone more than anything.

[tribalman]

i say check out USCC if you are looking at a new carrier. i don't know if they are out in CT, but they may be. i never have had issues with them in the 8 years i've been with them. they have the standard phones, messaging phones, BBs, and as of a few months ago FINALLY droid phones. i have the Desire and love it. the acclaim sucked. supposed to get more before the end of the year.plans aren't that bad. they just released a new "believe project" or something like that. for about 90 a month before taxes it is 1200 Nationwide minutes, unlimited texts, pictures, 5GB of data, free incoming calls/pics/texts(standard on most of their plans), and nights and weekends at 7. i do see that you have 2 phones in the OP, i have only had a single phone plan so i can't say how that works out with everything. i would assume everything listed is just shared between the phones. but still, that's a lot of stuff.they also have discounts on phones if you do the contract for 2 years. the desire was 200 with rebates on top of that. oh, and the desire comes with an 8GB class 2 SD card with capabilities for up to 32GB.

[waveresponder]

I vote stay with verizon, here is my personal input.dads retired from phone company he knows the sytems in and out still to this day was said verizon turned down the iphone on launch cuz of Apple’s desire to get a cut of subscription fees and to control how and where phones could be sold.http://www.usatoday.com/tech/n...x.htm talk is still very much present that the iphone will eventually be released for verizon possibly as soon as start of next year also the iphone will pretty much be outdated with all the other smartphones coming to or already on market which is the reason im waiting to upgrade my phone which is only one of the original "Dare" phonesalso from personal experience since i have verizon , in this area , very few dead spots and if there are any usually all carriers its a dead spot, and i find myself often lending my phone to other EMS providers in the back of ambulance to make hospital notifications because they have no service or are dropping the calls, its hard to speak to people about phones sometimes especially cuz they all claim to have great service but from what ive witnessed verizon comes out on top at&t/cingular second, and then t-mobile/sprint/nextel/boost mobile/cellular etc. my final advice is check with your friends/coworkers and obviously the location of closet official retailer near you, not one of those stupid "authorized sellers" that have fake phones on display, obviously not all areas of the U.S.A. will be the same, but in my experience since my gf has AT&T, even in Arizona my phone never skipped a beat while hers did

[lovemyraffe]

I debated switching to AT&T from Verizon too and stayed with Verizon. Although I'm not 100% satisfied with Verizon, they are IMO much better than AT&T.

[Whelan]

I am hoping that Verizon can do something about my phone. They know the Storm I is such a horrid device, nobody should deal with what I do when using a phone. It's hard to use it's basic operations without stalls, timeouts, freezes, reboots, etc. If they could just give me a phone at a fair price without having to pay full retail I would be fine. But I always get the, sorry we cant do that.

[lovemyraffe]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »I am hoping that Verizon can do something about my phone. They know the Storm I is such a horrid device, nobody should deal with what I do when using a phone. It's hard to use it's basic operations without stalls, timeouts, freezes, reboots, etc. If they could just give me a phone at a fair price without having to pay full retail I would be fine. But I always get the, sorry we cant do that.I recently upgraded my phone. I went with the Droid X, waited almost 3 weeks for it. It wouldn't keep a call for more than 50 seconds. They sent me a 2nd X, and it did the same thing. I switched to the Samsung Fascinate, and it has been much better, but I also know people who have the X and it works fine. I was just lucky enough to have 2 bad ones. You should see if Verizon will let you upgrade your device early. With my account, I can upgrade my phone every year. I get a $20 early upgrade charge, but $20 would be worth it for a new phone that actually works.

[Whelan]

$20 early upgrade is not a bad charge. Our new plan started in January of this year. I had the LG EnV Touch which was fine but after a dip in a pool I had to revert to re-activating my Storm 9530 to avoid paying tons of cash to upgrade early. I'm thinking of just coughing up $200 and getting a simpler phone. I looked at the LG Cosmos and Verizon Wireless Salute. I love LG phones, and getting that would ultimately knock $30 off my bill since I wouldn't need the Blackberry Network stuff. So in the long run I would save since my early upgrade is not until next September.

[lovemyraffe]

PM sent.

[jake75]

Maybe I am antisocial and live a dull life but I don't see the attraction/value in these expensive devices and plans. I have STI Mobile prepaid - use about 60 minutes a month. It is 9 cents a day plus 9 cents per minute. A $25 recharge card lasts me about 3 months. The A660 Samsung phone was free after rebate a couple years ago at Staples. I bought 3 of them - one for me, one for my wife, and a spare. She uses hers even less - So for about $15 a month we both have a cell phone. I saw some extra batteries on eBay for a very low price.

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by waveresponder »I vote stay with verizon, here is my personal input.dads retired from phone company he knows the sytems in and out still to this day was said verizon turned down the iphone on launch cuz of Apple’s desire to get a cut of subscription fees and to control how and where phones could be sold.http://www.usatoday.com/tech/n...x.htm talk is still very much present that the iphone will eventually be released for verizon possibly as soon as start of next year also the iphone will pretty much be outdated with all the other smartphones coming to or already on market which is the reason im waiting to upgrade my phone which is only one of the original "Dare" phonesalso from personal experience since i have verizon , in this area , very few dead spots and if there are any usually all carriers its a dead spot, and i find myself often lending my phone to other EMS providers in the back of ambulance to make hospital notifications because they have no service or are dropping the calls, its hard to speak to people about phones sometimes especially cuz they all claim to have great service but from what ive witnessed verizon comes out on top at&t/cingular second, and then t-mobile/sprint/nextel/boost mobile/cellular etc. my final advice is check with your friends/coworkers and obviously the location of closet official retailer near you, not one of those stupid "authorized sellers" that have fake phones on display, obviously not all areas of the U.S.A. will be the same, but in my experience since my gf has AT&T, even in Arizona my phone never skipped a beat while hers did actually, those "stupid authorized sellers" can have more knowledge and better customer service than the company stores. You would be amazed at how many of my customers tell me how much they appreciate working with me over the company store, how much more time and the fact I actually care about my customers vs some employee who rolls their eyes and just wants to get through their day. Us "stupid authorized sellers" (and it's authorized REsellers to be correct) have much more at stake than an employee on commission. Of course, that's not to say that all dealers are equal, because we certainly are not, but you'd be extremely foolish to think/believe that company stores are that much superior.

[Whelan]

I stopped into a Verizon store last night (real Verizon, not a Wireless Zone). Was told that because of my tenure and my New Every 2 contract, I can upgrade in January so I am going to stick it out for the Holiday season. Hopefully by then some new phones will be out that interest me more.

[djkeev]

Should you switch to AT&T ??Well, you are going to get opinions all over the place, as you already have!!It depends upon where you live and where you work. I've had AT&T since the 90's with only very minor complaints. I am happy and I am a faithful customer. I am using an iPhone 3g and an iPhone 4 on the plan. I rarely have reception issues, rarely do not have 3g reception and when I do not have service, I really don't expect to have service for I am in nowheresville USA.Is AT&T Better than Verizon? Depends, it sure is for me for Verizon does NOT serve my little geographical location I call home. AT&T does, full bars, full service. For me it's a no brainer, stay with AT&T.For you, does your area get AT&T? Does your work place get AT&T? Does your commute route get served by AT&T?I've read that AT&T has issues in major cities, NYC, San Fran, etc. and hence the bad rep. The iPhone has taxed their service to the max in these locations and it takes YEARS to get a new tower up because of all the political crap involved in siting a new tower.I LOVE the iPhone. Granted, it is a better media device than a phone but it is a darn good phone as well, just a few more steps to make a call than my old Motorola flip phone required.If AT&T is giving you a deal, take it. You can switch back to Verizon in 2 years when THEY offer you a deal. Really the only way to get good deals is to jump providers, not only for cell phones but also land phones, cable and internet.To recap, in almost 15 years, I've NEVER had an issue with AT&T and am a very satisfied customer. Add to that all of the wireless hot spots that AT&T has put in at various locations over the years that cost you "nothing" to access the web.Dave

[kostby]

Don't know how you feel about T-Mobile, but Walmart now has "Family Mobile" service beginning at $35 a month per phone for unlimited minutes and 200Mb data. You do have to buy a phone and there isn't much selection, but in a couple of months, you're probably $$$ ahead of either AT&T or your current Verizon plan. Of course Walmart's plan doesn't offer an iPhone option at the moment.Start here --> http://www.walmart.com/cp/Walm...76544FWIW My family and I use pay-as-you-go TracFones, but they don't offer any 'unlimited' plans at any price, and their plans are absolutely NOT priced for heavy users. Unused pay-as-you-go minutes do carry-over forever as long as you maintain service, though.The primary reason it works for us is because our TOTAL family phone use for 3 people (two 55+ parents with cellphones and a 20-year-old male in college with a cellphone, plus two landlines) is less than 30 minutes a month. But we do tons of email, video chat, and internet messaging over broadband connections with laptops.

[waveresponder]

hey sorry AKLGT , i just hate the fake display phones they have on display and like no real ones lol, at least everyone that ive seen has no real working phones on display and i feel if your going to drop that kinda money how you supposed to play with the functions and stuff

[psiu]

I would definitely stay with VZW...and consider one of the Android devices perhaps or a newer Blackberry. See if you can upgrade through a different seller (ie Amazon or a shop). I went with used phones for about 5 years with no problems. Both me and my wife were eligible to upgrade in 2005 and the rep at Costco about fell over in shock.What about Sprint? Get in on the EPRP family plan for $109.99. 1600 minutes, N&W starting at 7pm, and unlimited mesaging and data included. Only main drawback is their phone selection is fairly crappy, and it's expensive--steep up front cost plus waiting for MIR to come back. But the monthly price is phenomenal.Droiiiiid. Jooooooin usssssssssssss....BTW, Jake, I understand your view. I held out until this year before getting a "smartphone" although I'm (now) 33 and have always appreciated electronic gadgetry. However, it is both cool as heck and on top of that I use it more every day. The navigation and ability to look up info from anywhere is handy. Plus I can see when email comes in while I'm on my breaks at work and stay in touch that way, I don't play many games but it is nice when stuck at the Secretary of State office or other long lines etc.That being said it will be a cold day in hell before my wife finally uses one of the little buggers. So it is definitely in the eyes of the beholder (doesn't stop her from yelling "look it up on your phone" though lol).

[jimincalif]

I finally joined the smartphone world in August, at the ripe old age of 52, swapping my ancient Razr for an iPhone 4. Always had ATT here in SoCal, no major problems. My wife had Verizon and its predecessor for a number of years and could not get a signal in our home, so it just depends where you are.Great to have access to email, traffic reports and maps while out and about. Only gripe so far with the iPhone is the keypad goes dark too soon when using the phone so I can't see the numbers to press when I call and need to navigate a voicemail answering system. Maybe this is configurable, I haven't figured out yet.