In Search of a Cell Phone: Part II, Another Provider

Once I decided I was probably going to leave Sprint (my contract term had expired over a year ago), I started researching other options.

Naturally, being a Mac user, the iPhone was at the top of the list. However, there were a couple of huge drawbacks. It looked like I would have to fork over on the order of $100/month for a stupid phone. It was a very cool phone, but it was still a phone. My web surfing, document reading, etc. are done mostly on my real computers, not on my phone.

The second major problem was the coverage. I've heard lots of complaints about dropped calls and poor connections. My CEO said that his iPhone has horrible reception at his house and at the office, the two places where he uses it most. It also often drops off while I'm talking to him.

I really don't want to be paying more than any other service for really bad service. If I'm going to be paying that much, it had better be the best or close to the best service. I also hadn't heard great things about their customer service or support.

One good thing about AT&T is that they offer rollover minutes. This means that if I have some low usage months, I can get a cheaper plan to average out the minutes rather than having to get a plan based on my max usage.

All in all, if the iPhone were offered by someone other than AT&T, I could see getting it. But the fact that it's only offered by AT&T dropped it several spots on my list.

I've heard good things about Verizon and it seems that their commercials have a ring of truth to them, they really do have the best coverage. That was very attractive, especially after my experience with Sprint.

On the other hand, their plans are also among the the most expensive. They seem to nickel and dime you. No text messaging is included with internet service, 20 cents per message sent or received.

At this stage of my research, I was still tempted to go with Verizon for the good coverage. They also have a 30 day try it free program, where if you decide you don't like the phone or plan within the first 30 days, you can cancel and they'll put you back to the plan where you came from and won't charge you for the calls.