[Rhodes22-list] Cell Phone Issues

[Mark Kaynor]

Brad,

We tried US Cellular (their here service was awful), Verizon (their service
was spotty and they managed to screw up our bill every month), Sprint (I
could sit at my desk, not moving, and the signal would come and go), and
finally, SunComm (AT&T). Like our long distance service (also AT&T) we have
found that their quality of service is better, their service organization is
better, and their billing is accurate.

Luckily, our company picks up the tab for both our phones. We have a primary
one w/ unlimited local usage in our "home" area and 300 minutes / month
anywhere in the US for $60/mo, and a secondary one (stays home when the
primary leaves the "home" area) w/ a 10-state 300 minute plan for $40 /mo.
It's been our experience that, while other companies we tried offer more
time/$, AT&T is the best deal because they appear to have better overall
coverage in our area than the others and the quality of their service
organization is very high - we've had fewer headaches dealing w/ them than
anyone else - and it's worth a few extra bucks to me to keep it that way.

We're happy w/ our decision, but coverage may not be the same in your area.
We didn't even have the AT&T choice until a couple of years ago.

Mark Kaynor

----- Original Message -----
From: "brad haslett" <flybrad@yahoo.com>
To: <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 7:14 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Cell Phone Issues


> We're in the process of shopping for a new cell phone
> server.  Sprint PCS has turned out to be an expensive
> "beeper" service.  We live 1.3 miles from the nearest
> Sprint antenna but the phones don't work from our
> home.  I can't call home from downtown Philly,
> Portland, LAX area, the list goes on and on.  My
> friends call me and hang up knowing that I'll find a
> payphone and use the caller ID to figure who to call
> back.  Enough!  We get a company discount on Verizon
> and AT&T.  What's your experience with these services?
>
> Second question:  Has anyone hooked up their cell
> phones to the boats VHF mast antenna?  The marine
> catalogs list cell phone antennas that look simular to
> a standard VHF one.  Every service I've looked at show
> a blank area in the Pickwick Lake area.  The "no
> service" band is narrow and follows the TN river so
> I'm wondering if an elevated antenna might help.  I'd
> like to just leave the phone behind but that won't
> always be possible.
>
> PS:  MJM, I promise not to talk on the phone during
> thunderstorms.
>
> Brad Haslett
> "CoraShen"
>
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