Help me decide what I want to do with my CELL PHONE/CELL PLAN

[Hal Coldvice]

Here's the deal, I'm a current US Cellular subscriber on the Family Plan with 2 total phones. We have a decent plan for 1000 minutes on their Wide Network. However, we travel just enough to areas considered "roaming" that makes their 25 state area, not so big for us. In other words, we don't want to have to worry about roaming. We do get 45 extra minutes a month, but that wasn't enough for a weekend in Vegas. We paid for an extra 100 minutes, but that wasn't enough. I feel its time to move on. I also hate the RAZR phone, of which, we have 2. I'm someone who has a hard time riding out 1 year to get a new cell phone.

Here's a summary of where we stand, help me decide what to do:

->We primarily use our cell phones.
->We are 1 year into our 2 year contract
->We hate our RAZR phones
->We like US Cellular's service since we've had them. (6 years)
->We will be keeping our phone #'s.
->USCC's new phones are lame. a new phone is expensive & crappy (nothing exciting) Would be the main reason to leave.
->Would much rather prefer the AT&T network. Reasons: rollover, great phones, all-over network. (also: we've had Cingular before plus enough family is on AT&T that M2M becomes an advantage)
->I'm obviously not excited about the $150/phone line to cancel by USCC. What I need is to figure out how to work the system to my advantage.

So far, this is my plan:

->buy cell and plan from amazon.com. Get 2 very nice phones for -$25 (they would cost $150/piece at the stores) Nokia N75 I think.
->pay the $300 cancel fee from USCC
->find someone to buy my RAZRs: cashmyphone would give me $50/piece.
->Now I'm paying $175 to switch. Not sure I feel its worth it yet.

->I would consider staying on USCC's network, but their phone choices are god awful and the best ones are PDAs or just very expensive cell phones.

That was long, but can anyone share experiences/help me decide what to do?

[KAJ7481]

you were in Vegas for a weekend and you used more than 100 extra minutes? and you use more than 1,000 minutes a month?! my advice is to stop talking on the phone so much

[Hal Coldvice]

Originally Posted by KAJ7481

you were in Vegas for a weekend and you used more than 100 extra minutes? and you use more than 1,000 minutes a month?! my advice is to stop talking on the phone so much

when you go to Vegas with a group of people, you sometimes need to get in contact with them. A 20 second calls costs 1 minute. It was also nice for us to call grandma's house and talk to the kids. Plus, there are 2 of us.

Most of our minutes are off-peak. If not, they certainly don't go up to 100 minutes. Our cell phones are our only phones and I think I use a total of 200 myself. Those 200 minutes is to field calls that need to be fielded. I hate talking on the phone, but my phone is always with me.

I wasn't looking for a suggestion to restrict my talking, but thanks.

[DoctorNo]

[llcooljabe]

Don't most companies have national networks with no roaming? i'm on t-mobile, I know I do. However, T-mobile has too many patches of bad reception for me to recommend. I only keep for the mobile to mobile with the rest of my family.

[Diminutive]

Call me in my cell.

[Hal Coldvice]

Originally Posted by llcooljabe

Don't most companies have national networks with no roaming? i'm on t-mobile, I know I do. However, T-mobile has too many patches of bad reception for me to recommend. I only keep for the mobile to mobile with the rest of my family.

Yeah, USCC does have a Nat'l plan, which I'd consider getting. However, as I stated, I hate their equipment.

[bokiz333]

I think that AT&T is running a promotion that if you refer a friend to their plan then you get $125. So if you can find a friend that has an AT&T plan and set it up so they “referred you” and split the $125 then the cost of switching is further reduced. However, that was a sign that I read in a store last weekend on the east coast so I don’t know if the promotion is still active and if it is nationwide. (however its worth checking out I think)

[The President]

Post an ad on craigslist that you want to trade phones with another USCC customer.

[JAS]

I'll ask the girls at Hooters tonight.