<p>Hey guys, </p>
<p>well I'm international so I have NO CLUE what most people use for cell phones. I was wondering if there is a company most people use at UVa, or anything of that sort? I plan on buying a cell once I get to the university and would like to know what most people use! Would be really helpful thanks!</p>
<p>I have alltell, and there are many alltell stores in c-ville. I half heartidly recommend it because if you have a problem with your fone, you can go right to a store instead of shipping it out.</p>
<p>however it tends to be a little expensive and lacking in features compared to verizon and cingular and such, but it does run off verizon's network, so you get great service nationwide.</p>
<p>most people I know have verizon, but at orientation they said verizon was the worst- not because of service (which is almost always good), but because the nearest store is in Harrisonburg (45 minutes or so away), so if anything goes wrong you would have to be game for a trek.</p>
<p>I have Sprint and I get great service all throughout Charlottesville. The best thing about Sprint is that you can use it at school or back at home and there's never any roaming. My husband has Verizon and an 804 number, so every call he makes in Cville is roaming.</p>
<p>aaaaaa ok, sounds good :) I've heard a lot about verizon, but I guess I'll ask around once I get to C'ville and check out stuff! Thanks ;)</p>
<p>There are a few threads about this from the past...</p>
<p>From 2004: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=19122%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=19122</a>
From 2005: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=79788%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=79788</a>
From 2006: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=189709%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=189709</a></p>
<p>I use Cingular and the service is generally good. Don't get T-Mobile... my roommate had it and never once got service in our dorm.</p>
<p>Forget Verizon. I brought my Verizon phone with me, and I am unable to update my stuff because it always says "extended network". In addition, I had to cancel services like MobileWeb, because it didn't work out here. So I'm in a pickle. Oh yeah, and sometimes people try calling and end up emailing instead because the stupid thing makes clicking noises and won't connect them. Dropping calls is pretty sweet, too. </p>
<p>Oh, and the best news? I'm still under contract with them for a year and a half!!!</p>
<p>That felt good.</p>
<p>aaaaaa ok, wow this is great help thanks guys! I might be going for verizon MAYBE since I know a lot of my friends are getting that, but once again Ill have to see. Once again thanks all! Been really helpful ;)</p>
<p>Umm. Okay.</p>
<p>Well, if your Verizon phone works let me know. Seriously, email me.</p>
<p>You can check t-mobile's service areas at <a href="http://www.t-mobile.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.t-mobile.com/</a> by clicking on personal coverage area...You can actually enter a specific address. Then again, different quality phones get different reception within concrete block walls...so their map may or may not help you.</p>
<p>Cingular is great. Used it at orientation and did not have one issue, except for inside the room all the way back in Hereford. Everywhere else it was excellent.</p>
<p>yeah, I forgot at orientation my phone (I have verizon) was always on extended network. I didn't know that you couldn't update your towers or whatever at that point though. It was a little annoying trying to call my parents or some friends that were there though because I would just send the number out of my phonebook and then I'd have to go back and put in the area code because just the number wasn't enough (because you're in extended network), which means I'm going to have to edit all the numbers in my phonebook to add the area codes. Its no big deal I know, but I'm just telling you the facts to help you out :)</p>