Cell Phones - Smart Phone?

<p>Hi all,
I'm planning on heading to Northeastern this fall and I was just curious about how good the cell phone service around campus/boston, more specifically T-mobile. Anyone can shed a light on this?
Also, how helpful or useful would having a smartphone be to act as a gps and whatnot around Northeastern?
Thanks!</p>

<p>I’m also going to Northeastern this fall but last summer I stayed in NEU for 3 weeks for summer college. I used T-mobile and the service was pretty bad and just in general the east-coast service for T-mobile is bad.</p>

<p>I’ve been in Boston for two years and haven’t ever been in a normal situation and desired a smartphone (There was one abnormal situation; during Husky Hunt having one would have been helpful. Husky Hunt is a large scale, twenty-four hour scavenger hunt they hold in the fall that requires you travel around Boston and the surrounding areas - I would not recommend buying a smart phone solely because you might participate in this though). </p>

<p>I could see how a smartphone might be helpful, but if you aren’t opposed to looking up directions before going somewhere, probably not a necessity. It isn’t even that helpful if you wind up lost - my general rule is to know how to get from Northeastern to the Prudential Center, and if you’re ever lost, just find it.</p>

<p>I use T-Mobile in Boston and it works great. Also, the campus has free and open wifi, so you can use your smartphone to connect to that and then use Skype for international calls (or domestic calls if you are on a per minute plan).</p>

<p>There are plenty of people (I’d say the majority of my friends) that end up getting smart phones by the time they graduate. Usually the ones who do, can’t imagine what life was like before having one. Yet I’ve never had a smart phone and have done just fine. It really just depends on if you/your parents are willing to pay the 30+ dollars a month for the extra data plan that’s required.</p>

<p>And most people have Verizon, but I don’t know how the service is for other ones.</p>

<p>I don’t have a smart phone, and I don’t see a particular new for one. I have an iPod touch, which I use with the campus wifi. Since I spend my life mostly on campus, it serves basically all the same purposes without a data plan. Except, again, for husky hunt.</p>