Cell Phone Service (Cricket: taxes, live, price)

[mbjjbtb]

Well, after being here 7 months and having a teenager in the house, I have found that our old Tracfone service is not going to work. Apparently teens no longer talk on the phone, simply text. Common among all the states. Can anyone tell me what seems to be the best service in the triangle area? Looking into Alltel and Verizon, but willing to hear any suggestions. Thanks.

[gwar11d2]

Verizon, ATT, etc are good where I live. A lot of cell phone companies have online coverage maps that show down to the street where tower coverage is. If you are worried about price, I would ask your teenager what company most of his/her friends are using the most. "Usually", Verizon to Verizon or Att to Att text messages are free. In any case, get an unlimited plan otherwise texting will get pricey.

[MikeJaquish]

FWIW: Alltel will BE Verizon very soon.
Merger planned to be closed on Friday of this week.

I have been with Alltel for 11 years, with no complaints about service or costs. Wondering what the merger will mean to me.

Nothing negative to say about either company. I'm just curious.

[Jenny_B]

If your teens are most likely going to be using the phone only within the confines of the Triangle, Cricket has a great plan. I'm using them and have been very pleased with the service.

For $45.85 per month, including all fees and taxes, I have unlimited calling and unlimited texting from the Triangle to anywhere in the U.S. They can text until their fingers bleed! LOL!

If I go outside of the Triangle my phone won't work unless I upgrade to the roaming package. I don't need it because I don't go anywhere by myself outside of this area. If I'm going out of the area I'm always with someone else who has a cell phone. It's perfect for me and might be a good plan for the kids.

Jenny_B

[Calvitts]

If you have multiple cell phones in the family, I highly recommend going with a family plan. Verizon Wireless has a great family plan, and I am sure the other carriers do as well. VZW has family plans that include unlimited text and picture messaging.

Our family uses Verizon Wireless, and we have been very pleased with the service. We started with them in Michigan and were able to change our cell phone numbers to local 919 numbers when we moved -- and we were not required to extend our contract either.

Good luck on your quest.

[dansdrive]

I agree with Calvitts the best option maybe the family plan. I have at&t and had them since they were formally know as AT&T, they dropped the Capital letters after they bought themselves back...go figure!

As they say with Teenagers; Any TEXT in a storm or something like that! ...Or how many Teens does it take to TEXT a message??? ....All of them!

Even during the great Ice Storm in 2005 I was able to use my phone in my 0.01 mile per hour car trip almost home! Never had an outage while others did at that time.

However, for some lack of signal bouncing reason the phone service does have a dead spot right behind the Falls Lake Dam. Its the only Triangle point (and don't say there are only 3..lol) that the phone service is lacking! Either the dam is absorbing the cell signals or the bridge over 'River Neuse' is a cell free zone! That could be why I always hear whistling when I go over that bridge!!!! Those in my era are hearing the song in there heads right now.....be honest!!! lol