Rob Pegoraro

• Cell Shopping? It's the Service, Not the Phone (Post, Oct. 5, 2001) • Capacity That Can't Handle Demand (Post, Oct. 5, 2001) • Graphic: D.C.- Area Calling Plans • Washtech: Fast Forward • Recent articles by Rob Pegoraro • Business Section • Business Live Online Transcripts • WashTech.com • Talk: Business and Tech news message boards • Live Online Transcripts

Tech Support Friday:
Cell Phone Guide
Fast Forward's Rob Pegoraro
Friday, Oct. 5, 2001; 2 p.m. EDT

This week's "Fast Forward" reviews cell phone service in the Washington-area, reviewing each of the major wireless carriers and offering a snapshot of the state of wireless service overall.

This week, Post columnist Rob Pegoraro talks about everything a consumer needs to know when shopping for a wireless plan on Friday, Oct. 5, at 2 p.m. EDT.

Problems with your hard drive? Take your question to the Fast Forward instead! It's a repeat engagement of "Tech Support Friday," in which Rob Pegoraro takes your queries, scrambles madly to get answers to them from the collective Fast Forward brain trust and replies within mere minutes.

Below is the transcript.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

To read the most recent responses, click "Get New Text" or select "Automatically Update Page."

Rob Pegoraro: "Hello? I didn't catch that... say what? Wait, you're breaking up... Lemme call you back on a landline."

Yes, it's time to talk about wireless phones and service, which we review in today's section. Whose service works, whose doesn't, which price plans save money and which ones sluice it out of your bank account, and--most important--which wireless carrier's ads are the goofiest at the moment.

Let's go the first caller...

Arlington, Va.: Your article was very helpful but I was disappointed not to find a comparison of "family" plans. Any tips or advice on how to get the most for your money when there are two phones in a household? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: I've gotten a few e-mails about this. We left the family plans out of the charts mainly because we were out of room--the pricing structure gets pretty complicated with those.

The companies have really started pushing family plans lately--for one thing, once everybody in the house is one network, the odds are that might stronger that they're not going to switch carriers.

You should consider the same things I wrote about in my column, but also think about who's going to call more and less. In a family plan, you get one bucket of minutes that's shared among all the phones, so if one person chats a lot but the other is only an occasional caller, you might be able to get some real savings on the combined deal. Otherwise, the infrequent caller would be stuck with a low-volume plan that typically offers a poor value per call.

Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob,
I'm switching to Verizon partly because of the availablity of service in the metro tunnels. Can you recommend a phone on the network that would work best on the metro?

Rob Pegoraro: Meaning an individual phone model? Any of them should do fine, as long as the phone supports both digital and analog. (Verizon says it's already upgraded part of the tunnels to digital, mainly in the newer parts, and hopes to get the rest done in a few months but can't make promises.)

Arlington, Va.: Just wanted to share a very frustrating experience my husband and I had this past week. Long story short -- we tried four times to sign up for service with Sprint PCS on their family plan. They rejected us four times for "credit reasons" which from our perspective is total bull -- neither of us have ever had poor credit. I went so far as to request my credit report and there was nothing on it to indicate I had bad credit. Moreover, Sprint wouldn't tell us why they had denied us credit, which I understand is their responsibility.

So what gives? Together we make well over six figures and we own our own home in Arlington. We have since signed up for Voice Stream, by the way.

Rob Pegoraro: What gives is that Sprint lost customers who were trying to give the company their money. That's odd behavior, but I suppose anything's possible. Did you get this response from a store or when you tried to order online? I could see an individual store botching the job.

Washington, D.C.: What plan and carrier would be the most ECONOMICAL for someone who would rarely use their cell phone (for emergencies and local calls only) perhaps 100 minutes a month?

Rob Pegoraro: VoiceStream's entry-level plan has the most minutes--but the company's coverage is also the spottiest outside of D.C., since it has no analog capability to fall back on. Then I'd look at the $30 plans from Cingular and AT&T.

Bethesda, Md.: Is it still possible in any plan to get a decent phone for cheap? I've had a cell phone for 5 years or so, and each time I've upgraded, I've been able to spend less than $30 or so. Now I'm ready to switch plans and I can't find a phone under $80. Any suggestions?

Rob Pegoraro: You can still find cheap phones, but you may have to look into buying a refurbished model. Digital cell phones just cost more than analog ones, as far as I can tell--nobody's giving away phones for a penny anymore.

Washington, D.C.:

Rob,

Thanks for the article today. I'm a SPRINT PCS customer and since PCS has gone all- automated on their customer service, wait times to get to an acutal CS rep approach 35 minutes at anytime during the day or evening. I actually have to plan my day around calling them. This is crazy. They obviously are not investing in upgrading customer service to keep up with demand.

I know other people have had similar experiences. If I could make one suggestion for wireless customers is that we push for number transferability. That way we could say bye-bye to a poor wireless company and not have to worry about losing our number and getting a new number that none of our contacts knows about. At this point there is no number transferability, so we're stuck with our lousy carrier. Just a suggestion.
Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Customer service, unfortunately, is an area where the standards seem to be going downhill--just like computers and Internte providers, I guess.

The second point is an excellent one. In other countries, you can keep your wireless number when you change carriers--Australia is about to implement this policy, in fact. (Just read a brief on it yesterday.) That would definitely make for tougher competition.

Arlington, Va.: Hi Rob,

Your article mentioned that Verizon has transmitters in the subway (soon to be digital) and AT&T and Sprint have roaming agreements for using them. Any idea whether other carriers - specifically Nextel - have plans to offer subway service, or how I can lobby for them to do so? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: You'd have to talk to Metro and urge them to sign deals with other carriers. Verizon got an exclusive when it first put in its transmitters (of course, back then there only was one other carrier in town, Cell One).

wiredog: Spent three months shopping around before I went with Verizon. The only time I've had a problem was on a certain Tuesday when the system collapsed. It even works in Cedar City Utah.

Rob Pegoraro: Some compliments for Verizon...

Washington, D.C.: Thanks for today's article. Looks to me like I'll be keeping my Verizon service, and going for a new plan.

But I note that the little box things about the different services didn't address multiuser plans.

There are two of us. And as of now, only one cell phone. I want a new, CHEAP plan, and similar for him. And I'll need to buy him a phone. Any advice on such plans?

Rob Pegoraro: So I suppose I really should add the family plans to next year's article :)

Verizon's got a decent set of "FamilyShare" plans; you should be able to switch your phone to one of them and get a second phone. (The no-roaming area for these plans seems to be the same as for Verizon's East Coast regional plans.)

New York, N.Y.: Is any service ready to give ground on the issue of not charging for incoming calls?

Rob Pegoraro: Verizon had a trial of this in Delaware. I'm not sure what happened with that--I'll have to check.

(I'm not sure if switching from the present system is all that great of an idea, though. The current promotions give you so many minutes, it's hard to exhaust them all. Conversely, if I'm calling somebody else's cell from my land line, I don't want to have my regular phone turn into a pay phone for the duration of that call.)

Washington, D.C.: On the subject of Metro tunnels-- I currently have AT&T Wireless and was amazed to find that it works in the Metro. I thought Verizon was the only one that did! Do others work there as well?

Rob Pegoraro: Verizon owns and maintains the transmitters, but AT&T and Sprint have signed roaming agreements that let their customers use those antennas too.

Alexandria, Va.: My experiences with Sprint certainly mirror the unreliability you've noticed. What is particularly bothersome to me is that on most calls I make (literally most), my phone either indicates that the network is busy, or the signal is lost. When I make calls I am usually stationary, and in a good signal area. My Sprint phone comes up with these "excuses" on a regular basis. Is there any recourse for a consumer? I am being billed every time I push the talk button, when their network clearly cannot handle the load it is under. I feel like I shouldn't have to pay for service that Sprint can't provide...

Rob Pegoraro: Has Sprint offered to refund any of your monthly fee? Seems like it would be the polite thing to do. Otherwise, you might be better off walking if you're at the end of a contract.

(I am seeing a lot of complaints about this company, both here and in my e-mail.)

Washington, D.C.: To the person in DC about the 100 minutes. You can get an Excel plan for $18.99 (50 anytime minutes and 50 weekend minutes). To the person in Bethesda looking for cheap phone. You can get a new digital phone from Excel as well starting at $19.99 & $69.99 after rebate.

Rob Pegoraro: This sounds like a reseller (MCI being the biggest such provider). These companies buy service from the carriers at wholesale and then offer their own packages of service.

Bethesda, Md.: I have a 3 yr-old Sprint PCS deal - $30/month for 300 anytime mins. I use most of the 300 every month and find the PCS service is minimally acceptable.

My wife has an old Verizon portable phone in the car and pays $7/mo and $.35/ min.

Since my battery on the PCS needs replacement ($79 special order!) and the Verizon phone in the car is too big to lug around, we are looking for a new deal, perhaps with shared minutes. My wife will use 100-200 mins per month and I will continue to use most of my 300/month. Any suggestions on how to find the best deal for our circumstances?

Rob Pegoraro: To get the best deal, one of you will have to switch carriers. You don't sound like a future Sprint customer, so the issue then might be the attachment you both have towards your existing cell numbers.

Silver Spring, Md: Hi -- I am just checking in. Thanks for a great article.

I would love to know which of these companies offers two phones that can call either other easily and at no charge. Would help me a lot with my teenager. Any information about that?

THANKS

Rob Pegoraro: They all pretty much do, if not quite "at no charge." You can either get a family-discount plan or get a plan that includes some block of "mobile to mobile" calls (some companies let you add this for a few extra dollars).

Nextel's phones have that Direct Connect walkie-talkie mode as well, although their phones aren't all that cool-looking, which may be a factor w/ your teenager...

New York, N.Y.: Hi Rob. I have a local-only plan and I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next few months. Verizon has told me that if I was to switch to a national plan with them, I'd need to sign a new year's contract and buy another (expensive) phone. Voicestream's got cheap stuff, but I'm locked into a Verizon contract until January. Suggestions? Should I just use pay phones?

Rob Pegoraro: The problem with Verizon's natoinal service is that you need to buy a "tri-mode" phone (one of the companies that were combined to make Verizon Wireless operated a different network somewhere in the Southwest, and so the third mode is needed to support that). The phones aren't all that cheap--then again, getting a new phone with a new provider isn't that cheap either.

You could just use pay phones, or you could get a regional plan and hope you don't travel much off the East Coast.

Germantown, Md.: I have to say this: I really don't like cell phones. Especially when they are ringing in a resturant or theatre. That being said, I am a hypocrite. My husband and I are currently shopping for cell phones. He has a job where he is always on the road and it is difficult for him to get to a phone. In my job, I switch between two offices. There is a phone in each office, but he never knows which number to call at any given time. I have heard of some deals where you can get multiple phones and calls between those phones are free and/or reduced cost. Have you heard anything about this? Do they save money? Are there hidden costs in these kinds of plans? Frankly, I am just plain confused whenever I read a cell phone service plan.

Rob Pegoraro: I'm confused too. After spending an 11-hour day earlier this week compiling this chart and calculating all those usage scenarios, I was ready to duct-tape my eyes shut.

Yes, you can get a multiple-phone discount. Everybody's pitching these plans these days. But to see if a particular plan will work for you, you will have to work through some annoying math. You can simplify the shopping proces, however, by considering where you'll use the phones--outside of D.C., coverage varies a lot, and it's a rare location (especially in the outer suburbs) that's equally well-served by everybody.

Falls Church, Va.: So which system has the best voice quality?

Rob Pegoraro: All. Or none. Depends on when you call, from where, to where. There is no answer to this question--it's like asking which lane of the Beltway is "best."

San Diego, Calif.: I live in both D.C. and San Diego. For past six years I have used Sprint, but lately my service coverage seems almost nonexistent. Therefore, since number tranferability in not yet available, I must bite the bullet and get a new telephone number with a more reliable carrier.

Do you have any suggestions for company that could provide adequate coverage on both Coasts? Will I need to get two separate service agreements?

Rob Pegoraro: No, you'll only need one service plan. I'd look at AT&T, for starters--they were the first with nationwide calling plans.

Bethesda, Md.: What cell phones are currently using the embedded linux chips?

Rob Pegoraro: None that I'm aware of.

Follow up on Sprint: We were turned down twice in person at the Sprint PCS store at Pentagon Row (even though we were told a manager "had" the capability to override the system) and we were turned down twice over the phone, even the time we asked to and did speak to a manager. They obviously didn't want our business. Very discouraging.

Rob Pegoraro: Hope somebody from Sprint is lurking in this chat... they might learn something.

Columbia, Md.: For the person who said they plan to use their phone very little and only for emergencies, Verizon has a pre-pay plan where you buy a block of minutes to use. When I was on the plan I paid $15 for 30 mins and the minutes were good for about 2 months. That comes to about $7.50/month.
So for people who plan to have very limited use of their cell phones a pre-paid plan might be the best way to go. I know Verizon still offers this plan you just have to look for it on their site.

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, Verizon and a few other carriers offer pre-pay plans. Forgot about that. But the economics of them gets lousy once you start making any serious number of calls (one of the reasons these plans exist is to sell service to people w/ bad credit).

Washington, D.C.: So what are the virtues of CDMA/TDMA/GSM etc? Should we really care one way or another? What is 3G really going to bring us?

Rob Pegoraro: No, you shouldn't care. The differences exist, but out of the lab they don't count compared to real-world factors like tower siting, network congestoin, etc.

3G (third-generation) is slowly, slowly crawling into service here and there. The main virtue of it is high-speed, always-on data access--but for that to mean something to me, I'm going to need a phone that doesn't make me input letters with that damnable numeric keypad. Also not worth worrying about for now.

Petworth, D.C.: Ok, so - I need a family plan, mostly for DC and surroundings, with occasional trips to PA and upstate/western NY State. 2 phones.

Is there such a thing as a regional calling plan on a family plan? And how do I figure out who's got coverage around here and in those other places (especially central PA, where there seems to be NO coverage)?

Rob Pegoraro: Driving to and from State College?

To get coverage on the more rural parts of the country, you're going to need a network that either has been around a long time (i.e., Cingular or Verizon) or one that offers cost-free roaming (like AT&T). I can attest from personal experience that in Oneonta, N.Y., I could barely get an analog signal, let alone digital.

Kansas City, Missouri: Why are cell phones so expensive if you've already got a plan?

Rob Pegoraro: Cell phones cost more than what they're sold for--the idea is that the plan's price recoups the carrier's discount over time. The same economic logic should apply when you buy a new phone to replace your old one, but sometimes it doesn't. Have you tried bargaining? I'd threaten to leave if the alternative would be paying more than the subsidized price new customers get--any manager worth her/his salary ought to be able to cut a deal on the spot.

Laurel, Md.: I drive an area from Atlanta to Philly to Chicago and I currently use Sprint PCS. There are long stretches when the only service available is "roaming" at a substantial extra cost. I make about 1500 minutes of calls a month. My wife makes about 500 minutes of calls a month. We both make about an even split between evening and day time calls. Any suggestions for the best carrier for coverage for my driving area?

Rob Pegoraro: Sounds like you're in the same boat as Petworth--the roaming fees will just kill you out in the country, especially with the volume of calls you're making. See my previous answer...

Bethesda, Md.: When I lost regular telephone service last month, I had to use Cingular One, and ran over my free minutes.
Is there anything i can do to recover the CO charges

Rob Pegoraro: Yell at Verizon? (Or whatever your telephone company is.) They ought to give you some kind of discount to make good on your loss.

New York, N.Y.: Hey Rob, Linux geek from Bethesda might want to know about Nextel's i85s and i50sx, which are apparently programmable in Java. As for me, I'm going primarily to Chicago, New Orleans and Vegas - looks like pay phone time.

Rob Pegoraro: The Nextel i85s is pretty neat--I wrote about it a few months ago.

(Post.com: can we get a link to that column?)

Alexandria, Va.: Rob, I appreciate the information about various calling plans. I've been a Verizon customer for years and I'm pleased, especially with the customer service. I'm thinking about upgrading my equipment from the Star Tac to either the TM 510 or the V60. Any advice? I've read not-so-good things about the so-so battery life for both.

Rob Pegoraro: Haven't tried either of those phones. Has anybody here?

North Potomac, Md.: Let me kick around the Sprint PCS and Subway topic for some more: you mentioned that Sprint had agreement to use Verizon's antennas -- I have my phone roaming turned to Sprint PCS only because I am afraid of unexpected charges. My question is (and I guess I am looking for confirmation) whether Sprint PCS will charge me for the calls made in the Metro?

Thanks in advance!

Rob Pegoraro: I believe they will--that would count as off-network roaming and be charged at the "local roaming" rate (is that an oxymoron or what?) of 39 cents/min.

Gaithersburg, Md.: Are there plans for very limited (emergency-use) service? I don't want to pay $20 a month for a cell phone that I only want for emergency use (and hope to never need).

Rob Pegoraro: You can get some regular plans for $20/month; prepaid service is an option as well. Some resellers may have some low-volume deals as well.

Washington, D.C.: Rob, I have both an AT&T and a Voicstream phone. I like the Voicestream phone and service better in the city . Are they planning to expand to cover more remote areas. Also Voicestream's GSM service does not seem to penetrate buildings as well as AT&T does. Could that because they have smaller cells or is it because of the model phone I have Any thoughts. Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: All the companies are working to expand their service, but the problem--as Yuki Noguchi wrote in the lede to our section today--is that they don't have enough $$ to do that. I wouldn't buy a cell phone today in the hope that tomorrow (or six months from now) I would be able to use it in [favorite rural spot].

Your experience w/ buildings may be one of the few times that the difference between "air interfaces" comes into play. Well, sort of... companies use different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, some of which penetrate buildings better than others.

Arlington, Va.: Good article, but I as a little disappointed to find no mention of customer service in your reviews. With all the new technology , and with promotions that seem to change DAILY, how a company deals with its customers seems like it should be very important. I for one have been very happy with Cingular's technical service, but my experiences with their "customer service" (and i use that term very loosely) have been so horrific that I've warned everyone who's ever asked me about them to stay far FAR away.

Rob Pegoraro: Point duly noted. I do remember that Cell One, which became Cingular, apparently had some of the worst customer service around--my colleague Michelle Singletary wrote a column or two about it, as I recall. So maybe this is part of the old company that lingers on.

Alexandria, Va.: No question, just a comment.

My family was once Sprint PCS customers (several years), had two phones with Sprint PCS for approximately $30/month, paid for all calls.

In the past 3 months, we have since discontinued service with Sprint PCS (though it took several calls to Sprint's customer service department to actually cut service, and stop billing us) to Nextel with their DirectConnect service.

We are pleased with Nextel, had a few minor billing bumps (not charging us for some extras and charging us for extras we didn't request) We particularly enjoy using the DirectConnect feature with the phones. This helps to conserve our 600 minutes/month allowance. We are particularly pleased with the included long distance feature. No more ridiculous long distance bills from Verizon.

Rob Pegoraro: More real-world reports... pls keep 'em coming.

Alexandria, Va.: I am in the market for a new phone since my StarTac died.. what I want to know is: Do any companies offer a phone with a flat fee for so-many minutes. Something like a calling card where I could pre-pay minutes and not have a monthly bill? I like having my phone for emergencies, but many times would pay the monthly fee having used the phone only once - and only then because I knew I had to pay the fee anyway..

Rob Pegoraro: Yup, that's pre-paid service, although it often goes by different names (Verizon calls it "FreeUp," for instance).

Alexandria, Va.: I have Sprint and while the calls are generally clear, their coverage is the absolute worst! I always have my calls dropped, or lose my signal, or switch to analog roam at random (I've found that sometimes turning the phone off and back on again will bring it back into digital mode). The only good thing about Sprint is that they offer the most minutes for the buck (if you factor in nationwide long distance). But believe me, when this contract is up I will not be renewing.

Rob Pegoraro: Paging Sprint customer service, please come to the white courtesy phone...

Reston, Va.: I've read a couple articles on how the FCC caved into the carriers on the e-911 issue. Given that there are actual solutions out there for this problem, do you see the potential for civil lawsuits against carriers in cases where people might have been helped by location information given during 911 calls?

Rob Pegoraro: I think there's a potential for civil lawsuits in almost any category of goods or services today. Whether there's one related to enhanced 911 location-finding services... who knows?

Silver Spring, Md: I read your review of VoiceStream and found that most of the weaknesses you pointed out, like inconsistancy in service was very true up until about a couple of months ago. However, I feel their service has improved greatly since then. I can now recieve and make calls from my windowless office. And I have more reliable service outside the city now than I used to. They have very competitive fees too!

Rob Pegoraro: Here's a happy VoiceStream user...

Petworth, D.C.: No, not State College. Worse. Ok, the trips to Philly, coverage seems ok. But, going up 15, through Central PA (to NYS, and sometimes stopping in Mansfield) there seems to be NO coverage.

Rob Pegoraro: What else *is* there in central Pa. besides State College? :)

Falls Church, Va.: Cingular has a $10 per month govt employee plan, with no minutes, or 413.50 for 25 minutes. the basic preice just went up $3 in August. You can also get unlimited weekends for $2 per month.

Rob Pegoraro: But you gotta work for the gov't. first (some companies also have corporate discounts too... the Post used to have some sort of deal with Cell One, for instance).

Washington, D.C.: Hi, Rob
Do you know anything about the SamSung I300 color palm phone?
And when is it coming out?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes. This is a Palm organizer/phone combo, the first to include a color screen. (See this Samsung page.)

Sprint was supposed to have it available a few weeks ago, but seems to have run into problems getting it ready on its network. Verizon will allegedly offer it at some point too.

Washington, D.C.: Rob - Inquiring minds want to know...what wireless plan/phone do you use?

Rob Pegoraro: No secret here (I've mentioned this in other columns). I've got Verizon's East Coast plan, which--since most of my relatives are in the NYC area and Boston--covers my use pretty well. My phone's a battered old Qualcomm QCP-860. I love this thing--I've dropped it on the floor in Metro stations and it's kept on working. I wish Verizon had something as thin and study as this now.

Atlanta, Ga.: Rob, what do you suggest for someone that travels to Mexico and would like to use one phone? I use Sprint PCS now and roam on Pegaso's network in Mexico. The service is HORRIBLE and I pay way too much for local and international calls. Plus, most people can't reach me when they call me from the US to Mexico.

Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: We didn't cover international use in this review--I don't know what your best option is. Any suggestions?

Gaithersburg, Md.: I saw a website that says you can use a cell phone (without subscribing to a plan) to make manual roaming calls charged to your credit card and that 911 emergency calls would be free. This sounds like a good option for an emergency use cell phone. Besides the higher charge for the calls, are there other disadvantages or problems regarding this?

Rob Pegoraro: I don't know about the credit-card roaming angle, but you can definitely use any phone--even one with no service plan attached to it--to call 911. That's an FCC mandate; carriers are required to pass those calls to the nearest 911 call center.

Washington, D.C.: Not a question. Regarding your problems entering letter when typing. You may be interested in looking into a company called Digitwireless. Their website is digitwireless.net. The company was founded by the inventor of the touch pad on laptops. They have begun to apprach mobile phone manufacturers with their idea. You though you would find it interesting.

Regards

Rob Pegoraro: I'll have a look, but I've been really unimpressed with all the other alternative keypad input methods. The ones that try to predict what word you're typing all seem useless with Web sites and e-mail addresses (i.e., the two things you're most likely to type on Web-enabled phone!).

I think the only real solution will be either phones with tiny, BlackBerry-style keyboards, or phones that incorporate handwriting recognition.

Cell phones and hearing aids: When is the cell phone industry going to get on the stick about providing an alternative for hearing aid wearers? My analog cell phone worked great with my hearing aid, but with my digital phone, I get a terrible buzz! There are more people with heairng aids these days, and analog service is going the way of the dodo.

Rob Pegoraro: I remember reading about this a while ago--but I thought that this problem had also been fixed a long time ago too.... just did some *very* quick browsing around. It seems that the wireless industry has only recently figured out on standards to prevent this sort of interference, or maybe is about to. I'm surprised it would take that long.

Falls Church, Va.: Is there anyway to keep track of the minutes you use each month?

Rob Pegoraro: Most carriers let you check at their Web site or from the phone itself, with some shortcut number (like *BAL on Verizon, if I remember correctly).

Falls Church, Va.: Rob- the government employee plan is a "corporate paln" For minimalist users, its great! I have had it for 9 years. There are also plan discounts for differnt groups, and I think AAA has a special plan, too. It pays to look and ask questions. I understand that a lot of new phones are on the way for the xmas season, however the 9-11 attack has slowed shipments to the US.

What about resellers? Can you run an article on them for us?

I had one once that charged $4 a month. He went belly up, but it was good while it lasted!

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the details on the discounts. The time you'v had it may also explain that low cost; in the three years (or is it four?) that we've been doing this survey, it seems that the number of low-cost plans keeps diminishing. Companies don't seem to think there's a big market in this.

As for resellers... the problem is that there are quite a few, some large (MCI) and some tiny and occasionally on shaky finances. Choosing among them is much more complicated than picking from the actual carriers.

Rockville, Md.: Voicestream says they provide the most anytime minutes, is this true?

Rob Pegoraro: I don't think so (at least on our chart, I see other carriers who have plans that offer more anytime minutes than any of the VoiceStream plans we list--but we also didn't list any plans over $150/month). Doesn't really matter anyway. Do you actually use your phone for 2,000 minutes a month? Do you use *any* phone that often?

Detroit, Michigan: Hi Rob! I am surprised that a little college town like Oneonta could produce a guy like you who answers such difficult questions about cellular phones. I went to the State College there myself and I hope you can help me with my question. Here is my question "Why are cellular phones so expensive to own or rent?" Is it better to own a regular phone than a cellular phone if you are not a businessman?
Thanks for your time. Paul in Detroit.

Rob Pegoraro: I'm not from Oneonta--I was there for a friend's wedding :)

(My hometown in Jersey still counts as the sticks, but it's not quite so far away from other places.)

Cell phones are expensive to own because they're expensive to make--and remember that your price is subsidized by the carrier. A landline phone has a lot less work do to than any cell phone: it only has to say "a-ha, dial tone!" instead of searching the sky for multiple signals, then deciding which cell tower to tune into--all while moving at 70 mph.

Kansas City: Ok, back to the expensive phone issue. Am I the only one who thinks this is a big scam? You get a discounted or free phone with activation then if you need another phone later, they charge you $200 for it. A "cheap" phone costs $150. Now that I'm addicted and can't remember what life was like before cellular, I'm ready to shell out the $200 but I'm pretty burned up about it.

I told my local dealer that I would sign another one-year contract if they would sell me a phone at the discounted price but they said they were in business to make a profit. Btw, my provider is Voicestream. I'm otherwise happy with them.

Rob Pegoraro: Hmm, that's odd. I'm not in the business of selling cell phones myself, but I know that acquiring a new customer isn't cheap. It's much more economical to keep the existing customer around--and that should include cutting a reasonable deal on phones. I'd ask to talk to this guy's manager, and threaten to walk.

Cleveland Park, D.C.: Just a suggestion on where to spend less than $80 on a phone. Amazon.com was running a deal where you could get the Nokia 8260, very very nice phone, for about $99 after rebate from Amazon, then nokia refunded about $40, then ATT gave $40 or $50 back when you signed at least a one year agreement -total cost close to me $10 bucks]. When I called they waived the sign up fee -$35] too, as long as I joined for 2 years. Hope that helps.
p.s. What do you think of the disadvantages of signing for 2 years? Friends say every time a new deal comes out, ATT at least will let you sign up for that deal, getting added minutes, etc.

Rob Pegoraro: Good tip about Amazon.

Two-year deals aren't bad--as long as you are satisfied with the service itself. Usually, the worst that happens when you change plans is that the timetable on your contract resets itself. So if you switch in month 11 of the contract, you switch back to month 0.

Falls Church, Va.: Are there any phones (equipment) you would recommend folks stay away from?

Rob Pegoraro: Not that I can think of. Phones with more moving parts (i.e., flip phones) do offer more places where things can break, but the workmanship of the individual phone is more important.

Washington, D.C.: Any thoughts about Tracphones, which seem real cheap?

Rob Pegoraro: As in the prepaid wireless reseller? Haven't used them, haven't heard from any customers. Anybody with experience to share?

Washington, D.C.: Do you know anything about the new upgrade network system for AT&T or Verizion?
I heard that AT&T is coming out with new system by the end of this year.
Is that means all AT&T customers need to buy or upgrade a new phone to get the 144kpbs speed for data info?
What do you think about it?
Also, which wireless carriers do you like the best (for the best service/qualities)?

Rob Pegoraro: Sorry I overlooked this one before. This gets a little complicated, but... AT&T announced earlier this year that it would start to switch over to GSM, the protocol that VoiceStream uses (and which is the standard in Europe and most of Asia). I don't think it will mean a forced upgrade anytime soon--one, it will take a long time to upgrade all of AT&T's own transmitters, and two, it's just bad business to force that on consumers.

This is separate from GPRS, the 144-kbps data service you mentioned (GPRS is an improved version of GSM; I don't know if AT&T will GPRS-enable its whole GSM network).

(Enough abbreviations, everyone?)

Short version: Don't worry about it for now.

Washington, D.C.: I use my cell phone (voicestream ericcson T28) as my only phone. I don't have a land line. I pay $40 a month and get long distance in the package. I can't beat the price a land line.

When do you think the majority of the people will stop using land lines?

Oh and I got the wireless earpiece. Really cool. I can talk downstairs and my phone is upstairs.

Rob Pegoraro: Are you talking about the Bluetooth headset? I've seen that demonstrated once before--pretty cool stuff.

Not sure when we'll see huge amounts of people using a cell phone as their only phone. At $40/month, it makes sense--but you need a lot of bonus minutes to cover your use (which VoiceStream, like a lot of other carriers, is doling out these days). It also requires that you not have a dialup Internet account, and most people still connect via modem, not cable or DSL.

Rob Pegoraro: I've gone over a few minutes, but I can take a few more questions if anybody's curious...

Falls Church, Va.: Any phone can dial 911 or 711(state police in some areas) without service. Give your old phone to family and friends to keep in their cars for emergencies ... works great!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Rob Pegoraro: Didn't know the State Police shortcut worked too. That's a good thing to know.

And have a good weekend yourself...

Rob Pegoraro: Catching up on a few questions I missed, before I sign off...

Fairfax, Va.: We have Sprint PCS -- the PCS stands for Piece of Crap Service. My husband gets angry anytime he calls from either 66, Braddock Rd. & the Beltway or Burke Center Parkway because inevitably we lose the signal. Isn't it kind of unusual in this day & time to have dead zones in highly traveled & populated areas?

Rob Pegoraro: Not unusual, no--it's getting increasingly hard to put up new cell-phone towers. And, as we wrote, companies aren't spending enough to keep up with demand. You'd think that one of them would decide to spend their cash on infrastrcuture instead of marketing... but maybe not.

New York, N.Y.: I've discovered recently that my cellphone company, Verizon, is charing me .75 cents everytime I dial #86 to see if I have messages. Is this a common practice in the industry?

Rob Pegoraro: Certainly now. I'v never been charged to check voicemail. Maybe this is a quirk of Verizon's service in NYC? (Perhaps brought to you by whatever twit thinks it's still cool to charge people 10 cents/call on their land lines in Manhattan?)

Washington, D.C.: Low battery! I am searching for a new cell phone which won't die out if have it on for more than 8 hrs. I have a Qualcomm now and hate it! I rarely even use my phone and am constantly charging it -- this happened with my last phone also. And yes, I set up (run down) the battery charge before I first use the phone. Any suggestions?

Rob Pegoraro: Could be a defective battery on the phone itself, could be a defect in the phone. I'd try to get customer service to address that first. Any digital phone should go at least a day and a half on standby--but if you have a lot of analog use, you'll wipe the battery that much quicker.

Washington, D.C.: Is there any service that works better than others in downtown DC? I would like to get rid of my land line and just use a cell phone, but I find that I often can't get signals in friends' apartment buildings, especially those on lower levels.

Rob Pegoraro: Haven't seen a real difference--in D.C., buildings aren't tall enough to cause any major gaps in coverage. Every year we've done this review, people report that the gaps in coverage they see are almost always out in the burbs, not the city itself. (Dropped calls are a separate issue--that's network gridlock, not an issue of transmitter location.)

Rockville, Md.: Voicestream has started to sell Istream, their GPRS service. This and their 39.99 600 anytime minutes plan/2000 weekend, can be a landline replacement package. Your thoughts?

Rob Pegoraro: Was hoping somebody would mention this... iStream is actually a pretty big deal. It's that GPRS technology I just mentioned, which delivers a fast, always-on Internet connection. Only problem is it costs way too much to use to replace a landline Internet connection. ($40/month for 10 MB of data sent to/from a laptop, plus 4 per each additional meg.) That's really going to kill you if you spend any time at all on the Net.

Rob Pegoraro: Yikes, I've been an hour and a half! No wonder my fingers are feeling tired. *Thank you* for some terrific questions. I couldn't get to a bunch, so drop me a note. Catch y'all later...

- R

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