<p>My parents and I are trying to buy some sort of cell phone plan. Neither I nor my parents have a cell phone at this point.
Does anyone have or know of some sort of family plan where one family member is in a different part of the country? My parents will be in the midwest. We want to pay some fee a month and have free minutes to call each other.
Obviously I don't trust the cell phone companies because every time we talk to them, they try to sell us some exorbitantly expensive deal. We're going for cheap here. We <em>really</em> don't care about the extra features.</p>
<p>Verizon has very good coverage at MIT, and it would probably be best for you to get a plan that has no roaming, no long distance. It's probably one of the "more expensive features" you mentioned, but it works very well for my family because I'm still in my home calling area (so to speak) in Boston. My mom and I share a plan (my dad's phone is through his work), so basically it was only an additional $10/month for the second phone (mine) on top of the plan she already had. I would try to look online at the websites of Verizon/Alltel and see what deals they offer before going into the store, because the salespeople just want to sell you the most expensive things they have.</p>
<p>And don't even consider Cingular.</p>
<p>Unless something has changed since we researched this a year ago, Verizon has the best coverage on campus.</p>
<p>Alltel uses the same towers as Verizon, according to the guy at Best Buy when I got my (Verizon) phone, so the coverage should be similar.</p>
<p>all the cool kids use t-mobile</p>
<p>shoot, i have cingular</p>
<p>what's so bad about cingular on campus? is it really that bad?</p>
<p>ironically, t-mobile/verizon were the really bad ones at my last school</p>
<p>Has T-mobile finally agree to put in cell phone atennas at all parts of MIT? The reception was horrible especially at Stata. I have cingular, though, and it was okay, but was nowhere nearly as good as Verizon. Rundown so far: Verizon >>> Cingular > T-mobile</p>
<p>T-mobile has better reception than Verizon at some places around MIT and Boston, and worse reception in others; it is definitely superior to Cingular. T-mobile can also get reception underground on the red line, which is sexy.
But HEY, nobody's stopping you! Get your precious Verizon, for all I care. hmmmph</p>
<p>to kcastelle: </p>
<p>I'm not 100% sure, but when i talked to a worker at verizon, he said verizon got rid of "roaming charges" now - i think the general plan allows u to call anyone in the US jus using normal minutes. </p>
<p>i heard generally that verizon has good (if not best) service at MIT.</p>
<p>also, is the rumor that some places in simmons hall having no cell phone reception true? that would be bad if u couldn't call with ur cell phone in ur dorm...</p>
<p>Getalife (I feel like I'm insulting you!), good, they finally gave up the hoax about roaming. There's no basis at all for it to cost more to call from one place than from another with a nationwide network... interesting.</p>
<p>haha yeah my sn is first thing i thought of when i saw the site... =P</p>
<p>Haha, and 247 posts later, do you still feel that way? I hope you're wrong... because with this post, I officially graduate from "Junior Member" to "Member"! ;)</p>
<p>yupp no change in heart haha. </p>
<p>jus don't become a senior member. ;P</p>
<p>... Never!</p>
<p>I've got Cingular, and if you do end up getting stuck with that, make sure you're on a National plan. Otherwise you'll get stuck with ugly roaming charges for any call you make.</p>
<p>Verizon works very well in my area, and I'm sure if it works here it'll work even better on campus. I'd recommend that.</p>
<p>An interesting thing we did when we were slated to reup our plans awhile back was to call the technical services department at Cingular and ask about the details regarding reupping. We were hit with all sorts of tricks and such when we talked to a sales agent (like in a booth at a mall or something). The tech people were more than happy to assist us, and they didn't bother trying to con us into doing things that be useless (other than costing us money and making them more commission).</p>
<p>Read all the fine print, and make sure you understand everything before you sign on the dotted line. Don't hesitate to ask questions either. You'll be glad you did.</p>
<p>-Jared</p>
<p>*note, all this advice is given from bad experiences with Cingular salespeople. I don't know if other carriers are better.</p>
<p>Oh sure, get Cingular. It's not like it matters to Me or anything.</p>
<p>I have T-Mobile, and while I was up there for CPW my phone always had to go through some "conditional forwarding" junk before I could make a call. What's up with that?</p>
<p>Are there any MIT students here who have t-mobile, and could tell us if they get reasonable cell coverage at most places on campus? We are on a t-mobile family plan, where we can call each other (nationwide, no roaming) unlimited # of minutes for free, which is great, but not so great if the coverage at MIT isn't so great. It may be worth it for our family to switch to verizon if it would be significantly better reception-wise at MIT. Also, how would t-mobile coverage be in the dorms, say, EC or MacGregor? Would verizon coverage at EC or MacGregor be better or the same than t-mobile?</p>