<p>Since I'm an international, I need to get a cell phone once I get to Cambridge in a few weeks. I'm right now considering all options: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Boost mobile, or Sprint. Can anyone comment on the reception in the area? Which company has the best/worst reception?</p>
<p>also, is there one landline phone/phone number per student? or is it per bedroom or per suite?</p>
<p>The land lines are per bedroom/suite. In my observation, the students seldom use the land line phones.</p>
<p>For cell phone we had good service with Verizon. Others may be good as well.</p>
<p>A usually verizon works the best.stay away!!! From sprint and tmobile. Once you stick with them you can’t get out. Their phones suck and have bad reception. AT&T is alright but go with verizon. Much better phones and plans</p>
<p>What I have been hearing is that we, and therefore my D, should continue with our verizon family plan. Year’s ago, we had AT&T when my son went to Tufts. We had been happy w/ AT&T until the day my son moved onto campus. He had dead zones everywhere and especially in his dorm. We switched to verizon and have not had any complaint. In preparation for D going to Harvard, we were wondering if Verizon would continue to be good. My understanding is that it does have the most consistent service on Harvard’s campus also. If I am wrong, I hope someone let’s me know before our next renewal.</p>
<p>Verizon has the best service on campus.</p>
<p>How much does the landline cost? I’ve always preferred them to cell phones, I was thinking if the plan wasn’t too expensive I might try it out.</p>
<p>My freshman year, one of my suitemates would receive incoming international calls at least 2/3 times a week and I don’t think we were charged anything, though I don’t know how costly outgoing calls are. Also, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all work well on campus proper as well as the general Boston area. However, you may want to get Verizon to anticipate the roughly 25% chance that you may end up living in the Quad your last three years, since all other carriers are absolutely awful out there.</p>
<p>Incoming calls were free? Thats pretty awesome. Does anyone know where I can find information about getting a landline? I’ve tried searching online but I haven’t had much luck.</p>
<p>In my experience, landlines are never used except for incoming calls from automated telemarketers. My roommates and I just stopped picking up the phone second semester because we didn’t want to be bothered about new deals for our non-existent auto insurance.</p>
<p>I have AT&T and it worked great EXCEPT up at the Quad, where there was limited, if any, service. Word has it that a new tower is being built to fix this issue, so by the time you get to campus, there should be no problems using AT&T.</p>
<p>I have T-mobile and I lost signal within specific parts of my room. AT&T and Verizon are the ways to go.</p>
<p>For internationals the landline may be useful to <em>receive</em> international calls. Many of the calling cards that I have seen show a very cheap rate for international calls and then when you read the “fine print” you find out that the cheap rates are for landlines only and the rate for calls to cell phones may be 10x the price of the advertised cheap rate. That way the international’s parents, etc. can call the landline number at the cheap rate. Other than that circumstance, I doubt that the landlines are used much.</p>
<p>For international calling, try using Skype. Computer to computer is free, and phone to phone is inexpensive.</p>
<p>When my kids were abroad, they often bought Skype minutes.</p>
<p>Verizon is great. My daughter has never hit a dead zone in three years.</p>