Cell Phone Idiocy...

[Caveat Emperor]

After 2 years of wear and tear, I think it's time to get a new cell phone. This realization came as I stacked four books around my phone, wedging it and it's AC Adaptor wire into the only position where it stays charging...a ridiculous sight to behold.

So, this is an open question to anyone who has recently bought a cell phone: what did you buy and have you been satisfied?

I'm currently with Sprint, but I'm open to changing providers. The only one I'm lukewarm about going to is Verizon, since they don't let you download free ringtones off 3rd party sites like mbuzzy.com, and I've grown quite attached to my ESPN SportsCenter ring.

Thoughts?

[smallbattle]

I have U.S. Cellular as a carrier and as long as you're near a large city or an Interstate it's great. I have a Motorola flip phone and I like it a lot.

[KronoRed]

I went with Cingular in January, they offer decent free phones, and I've had no trouble with the network

I managed to get away from Cingular. Thankfully I didn't go postal on their customer service department. I'm not sure whose "customer support" (yeah, right) department is worse, AOL's or Cingular's. One thing I hated about my Cingular phone was that the connector to the charger wouldn't stay in the phone. Half the time I looked down at the phone, it wasn't charging. And, yeah, it was one of those "home-phone-turned-concept-car-look-alike" thingies. In other words, no flip-phone.

[919191]

I have Cingular and paid a little extra for the Motorola v220. I haven't had any problems with the carrier, or their service, but the phone's performance isn't the best- I also have a Seimans C61 that works great. I don't live in Cincinnati, but when I have been there, it works fine.

[Red Leader]

Are there other sites besides mbuzzy.com that offer free ringtones? I just recently got my first cell phone. Its a Nokia phone, and my wife added me to her plan (she gets like 3000 minutes a month) through Cingular. I'll probably use about 10 minutes a month, but wanted to have a cool ringtone for when it actually does ring. Any help would be appreciated.

[bucknutdet]

I have had Verizon for probably 6 or 7 years now. I have always been happy with them. Customer service is usually very good, and fortunately I have only had to use them once. Every two years you can get a new phone for free, or at a very discounted price. Reception has never been a problem for me, except in a very small stretch of I 70 in eastern Ohio. You do have to be on the Verizon network or you go to roaming, but they have a very, very large network. I have heard the plans maybe slightly more expensive than other carriers, but I don't think so, at least by much. My wife was and AT&T customer who is now Cingular, they are OK I guess, but I don't have much experience with them.

[Yachtzee]

I have an LG flip phone from Verizon that works great. I actually prefer Verizon because I can get reception just about anywhere in the US, except for WV. Since I travel to Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Western NY on occassion, but don't spend a lot of time in WV, it's good for me.

I would avoid Samsung phones personally. My last phone was a Samsung flip phone that had a problem with the microphone. Dust would collect in the hole and would affect the performance to the point where you could hear people talking (or trying) to you, but they couldn't hear you. I would have to take in every few months to get it cleaned. Then it became every other week. The Verizon tech said that the problem was common with Samsung phones for some reason. I also liked the deal that they gave me on the new phone. I had to pay a little for the phone, but they threw in a free hands-free set, car charger, and leather case.

[macro]

Consumer Reports recently ranked the phones themselves, and the LG phones were at the top of the lists. I think their rankings were based on performance and not reliability, IIRC. We're switching phones some time this summer, and what I've learned is that the Motorola V180 and V220 have had problems with the screens going out, while the V551/V555 has been getting much better reviews across the board.

Nokia phones are okay (I'm on my third or fourth one) but they've fallen way behind in the flip-phone (also called "clamshell") race. Most of their stuff is still the "candy bar" model, and I think those are starting to look a bit dated.

Caveat, whatever phones you're considering, be sure to do some google searches before choosing. Try a search string like "v220 ratings reviews" and you'll find several sites, the best of which seem to be cnet.com and one other. (I didn't mean to insult your intelligence with the google advice, btw. Different people have different levels of search engine knowledge. ) You also might want to dig up the Consumer Reports issue dealing with cell phones and service. It has been in the past three or four months.