Cell phone - Montana Owners Club

H. John Kohl · 11-01-2005, 10:35 PM

Ann and I will be full time in 15 months. I like to plan ahead so I have some questions for those that have been there.
Each post will have a different question so the content should stay on track.
What do you use for cell phone service?
What type of coverage?
What plan
What restrictions
Pro and Con of your system.
Thanks

Glenn and Lorraine · 11-02-2005, 12:37 AM

Verizon (Forgot actual name of the plan)

450 Free minutes monthly
Free Unlimited Weekend Minutes, Friday 9PM to Monday 6AM
Verizon Cell Phone to Verizon Cell Phone free regardless of day or time
No Roaming charges
2 year contract at $39.95 per month + tax

For the past 2 years Verizon has worked 98% of the time

ols1932 · 11-02-2005, 01:09 AM

Verizon, national one-rate plan. No roaming charges. Have never been shut out, so I would say it works wherever we have been, North,South, East or West. We travel coast to coast and border to border. We pay 59.99 (in Texas) for 400 peak minutes and 3500 weekend minutes per month. I don't know if the national one-rate plan is still being offered. If it is, I'm sure there will be some differences.

jrgwdenner · 11-02-2005, 01:37 AM

We use our Verizon phone with the National Access (?) plan and it even worked in Alaska, most areas except for Valdez. There our Cingular phone has a full signal and Verizon had nothing. I think Verizon would win the connection contest, which Cingular being a close second. We were using it for an internet connection with the Mobile Office Kit but recently wireless has been so easy to find that I haven't needed that connection. We have the 450 minute plan, free after 9 pm, etc.

BillyRay · 11-02-2005, 01:56 AM

verizon family share.

Charlie · 11-02-2005, 02:12 AM

Verizon, same plan as ols1932 and usually good reception and never any roaming. The one down side is when out of contact with the Verizon system it accepts signals from other systems and the phone display shows "Extended Network" and messages left when in this mode are not retrievable until the phone is back with a Verizon system. This happens when we are in Oklahoma and we can not get messages until we return to Texas.

drifus · 11-02-2005, 02:44 AM

Verizon National Plan - VX9800 Phone, way cool. I just finished a 5200 mile trip around the USA and I did drop some connections in the prairie of Wyoming and in nowhere Arizona. Overall I had great coverage, make sure you get either an external antenna for your phone that mounts on the roof of your truck or get a powered booster. This will ensure a connection much better than the cell phone itself.

DHenry · 11-02-2005, 03:38 AM

Verizon National Plan-1000 minuets/second phone. $88.00 and change per month total including all taxes. I have not been able to use all the minuets yet and I am a chatty person on the phone.

Parrothead · 11-02-2005, 06:35 AM

We have Verizon Family share plan National. Free weekend and night mintues. Like Judy I also have the Mobile Office Kit ($15.00 to purchase). There are a couple of places in the middle of nowhere in California where we loose signal for a minute or two but it comes right back. This is so much better than the service I had with ATT (now Cingular). Three of our children and one grandchild have Verizon wireless so we talk free to them. It cost $50 per month for 1st phone and 9.99 for 2nd plus for $.99 per month you get to listen to music while you wait for me to answer. This plan has a 500 minute allowance which so far has not been used up.
Happy trails........................

vickster · 11-02-2005, 09:00 AM

Verizon - same plan as Glenn and Lorraine. Outstanding coverage and really does work 98% of the time. Have the LG picture phone - it's fun!~

w4nfr · 11-03-2005, 03:39 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by H. John Kohl

Ann and I will be full time in 15 months. I like to plan ahead so I have some questions for those that have been there.
Each post will have a different question so the content should stay on track.
What do you use for cell phone service?
What type of coverage?
What plan
What restrictions
Pro and Con of your system.
Thanks

There are many cell phone plans out there. We opted for the TRACFONE with a Motorola V-120C multimode phone. Basically, it costs $100 /year and there is no monthly bills or fees. You get time with the annual fee and you can add extra time with prepay cards available at 7-11, Walmart etc. We roam almost all the time, so it charges double for calls when roaming. It is a great plan if you don't use the phone a lot. I like the simplicity of no contracts, bills and fees. Being multimode, it works analog and digital. There are still a lot of rural areas that use analog only now, so it works just about everywhere. Here in Salome Arizona we have only analog for the winter. If you go up the road 5 miles you have digital! Folks with digital phones here at the park, have no cell coverage, but we do!

Thunderman · 11-03-2005, 04:50 AM

Cingular service, 450 anytime minutes, 5000 nights and weekends,$39.99 plus taxes. No roaming or long distance charges.
We have a gaited phone which picks up digital or analog service.

Bob & Lee · 11-03-2005, 07:50 AM

Looks like a lot of you like Verison we had Nextel and it went to verison and we left. a lot of people we talked to in Colorado springs had bad service and NO service between LIMN Co and Salina Ks,This is where we go to see the Kids. so we switched to Cingular and so far great service we have two phones and the wireless INTERNET card and have had no calls droped yet, hope they keep it up I am tired of changing

Kimmrg · 11-03-2005, 01:54 PM

Verizon, same as Glenn and Lorraine, no problems yet, but Steve's phone Samsung 650 got better signal than my Samsung 650a with camera in a low signal area. Never did figure out why. We also use his phone for dialing on to the internet. Love those free minutes!

Dave e Victoria · 11-04-2005, 01:42 AM

We are on NEXTEL because so many friends and relatives have it and we use the walkie talkie feature a lot. Coverage is not as good as Verizon but no one plan covers everywhere. We also buy a hundred minutes or so every year for OnStar. We have yet to find a place in the continental US where it didn't work. It is a great backup and extremely convenient. Its only problem is it is voice activated so you can't access menues that require keypunches. That's just fine with me as I hate those menues.

DHenry · 11-04-2005, 03:36 AM

I went to Verizon store yesterday to get a Mobil Office Kit for my 11 month old phone and was told that the kits are no longer made. If I want a Mobil Office Kit I was told I would have to buy a new phone. What a rip, they put you into a 2 year contract, sell you the phone and then do not support it with the accessories for that period of time. I guess the lesson learned here is to buy all the accessories that you think you will need when you get your phone because you never know when they will discontinue them.

jrgwdenner · 11-04-2005, 04:09 AM

Doug, before giving up, I would try another source....the internet or another store, etc. We have found that often times the people behind the counter don't have any idea what's going on. I can't imagine that there isn't a kit available somewhere. Keep looking. We asked about using Glen's phone to connect and the young man thought we were speaking a foreign language. (Cingular phone in this case).

ols1932 · 11-04-2005, 04:22 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by DHenry

I went to Verizon store yesterday to get a Mobil Office Kit for my 11 month old phone and was told that the kits are no longer made. If I want a Mobil Office Kit I was told I would have to buy a new phone. What a rip, they put you into a 2 year contract, sell you the phone and then do not support it with the accessories for that period of time. I guess the lesson learned here is to buy all the accessories that you think you will need when you get your phone because you never know when they will discontinue them.

Did you go to a "real" Verizon store or a store that sells Verizon phones and service? I've found that most of the stores that just sell phones and service have no idea how any of it works. I was just in a "real" Verizon store last week and they had gobs of Mobil Office Kits for sale.

Parrothead · 11-04-2005, 04:59 AM

Doug,
I would order on line or by phone. I ordered mine by phone about 3 weeks ago and had it 2 days later. They are still listed on the web site for Verizon as well.
Happy trails....................

WildBigBill · 11-04-2005, 06:08 AM

All phones don't work with the office kit, maybe that is the problem?

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