<p>I would like to know which cell phone providers are the best at Columbia. </p>
<p>Is there one I should avoid?
I'm leaning towards T-Mobile because of the cheap plans, but I'm worried that reception will be spotty... Let me know if you have experience in these matters!</p>
<p>Cingular (AT&T) is better than T-Mobile in my opinion....i had tmobile fresh/soph year and cingular junior/senior yr and i think cingular is more reliable. The most reliable by far is verizon....i've never seen anyone with verizon hunt for a signal on campus but of course that reliability comes at a steeper price. Sprint/Nextel is just garbage.</p>
<p>at DoC I had full signal on campus and in Ruggles with Verizon...of course if you go cingular/ATT you can get the iphone =P</p>
<p>verizon can even get signal in the subway once in awhile but cingular is cheaper.</p>
<p>one thing to note about cingular, for seemingly no reason i had zero reception in the hallway of john jay at random times....happened to other people some times too</p>
<p>funny thing is that four years ago those of us who had tmobile usually had to step out of our room into the hallway in order to get reception. It was pretty typical to see someone sitting in the hallway infront of their room having a long cell phone convo </p>
<p>oh also, second floor of butler is TERRIBLE with reception....I mean you can get reception in a few of the reading rooms but the hallways, where you can actually talk on the phone r terrible...with tmobile and cingular the only places where i found there was adequate reception was infront of the reserves desk and next to the side entrance facing carman....most of you prefroshs prob have no idea what i'm talking about but u'll figure it out once you get to know butler</p>
<p>Yeah, sounds like I'm getting Verizon.</p>
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one thing to note about cingular, for seemingly no reason i had zero reception in the hallway of john jay at random times....happened to other people some times too
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<p>sorry, i meant the main enterance hall of jj. i always had fine reception in my room/on my floor</p>
<p>How expensive is the iphone...</p>
<p>Verizon is by far the best both on the Columbia campus and throughout in the city. Lots of people complain about pretty much every other carrier.</p>
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How expensive is the iphone...
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<p>not sure if its a question but i like answering it when it is soo...</p>
<p>4 gig iphone: 500$, 8gig: 600$
Activation fee: 36$
Rate plans: (450 anytime, 5000 N&W) 60$/mo, [middle plan for 80$/mo], (1350 anytime, unlimited N&W) 100$/mo</p>
<p>so with the 2 year contract you can pay a MINIMUM of 1976$ (not including tax on the phone or anything...for a 4gig phone w/no minutes)</p>
<p>so it breaks down to about 1000$/yr</p>
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so with the 2 year contract you can pay a MINIMUM of 1976$ (not including tax on the phone or anything...for a 4gig phone w/no minutes)
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<p>well it seems that for that price u get 450 minutes a month but clearly the price is in the unlimited data plan. </p>
<p>Skraylor, did u get an iphone? is that y ur so excited about answering that question?</p>
<p>I had verizon, it works great on campus and in NYC. There are some subway stations (times square, columbus circle, 14th st, sometimes even 96th) where you get enough signal to receive text messages (times sq) or even make calls (96th, columbus, etc).</p>
<p>i knew a lot of people who complained about sprint. that's all I got.</p>
<p>cingular works well enough the columbus circle station and the columbia station that u can carry a clear conversation. As a general rule though, phones dont work in the subway no matter which company you have....the phone companies have tried to get permission to extend their networks to the subway but the MTA refused....its for the better though....you dont want people talking on cell phones in the train...thats just annoying</p>
<p>The new blackberries (either the Curve or the Cyclone) are far superior to the crappiPhone. iPhone is an overrated piece of junk.</p>
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Skraylor, did u get an iphone? is that y ur so excited about answering that question?
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</p>
<p>no i agree with c2002, the iphone is overrated and overpriced. unlimited data transfer is only nice if you have wifi access. at&t's EDGE network sucks</p>
<p>and please, 100$ for 4 extra gigs? gotta be kidding me.</p>
<p>If you go for a pda do not go for t-mobile or cingular. GSM networks have very slow internet connections as opposed to sprint/verizon who use EVDO which gets dsl speeds.
In New York City T-mobile works very well for cellular phone service.
If you want the most reliable - Verizon or Sprint. both have very good call quality. I have had trouble with dropped calls with At&T and T-Mobile in NYC.
Im with verizon now and have found it superb. None of the competitors can even come close. It is definitely worth the extra $$.</p>
<p>How many minutes do you guys have for your plans?</p>