Phone service

[AliasJerk]

So ive been looking at changing services next year. I saw a comercial today about a new Helio, so I decided to check into them. I found out that they use the Sprint G3 network. Which apperantly around Detroit/Ann Arbor has excellent coverage. Since I spend all of my time down here and I dont really know anybody with a land line, it seems to be the best way to go.

The $65 a month plan gives me 500 minutes, free nights and weekends, free mobile to mobile, unlimited texting, unlimited data, unlimited 3G usage, which means I could also use the helio as an internet connection on my laptop for no extra charge, on a 3G network.

Does anybody have any experience with Helio? Or sprint for that matter?

 

[TheMexicanJob]

i had nextel, which is sprint, or vice versa. It wasn't too bad, but their customer service sucked, anywhere around here i went for help, sucked, coverage, well i could get coverage in a spider hole on occasion, but in a field, nothing.

 

[rouar]

Will it work in Midland?

I made the mistake of getting cell carriers that don't have service at my parents' house. When I moved back home, friends had to figure out whether to call house or cell -- and for those who didn't bother to call both, I'd get voicemails a few days later about whatever awesome shindig was happening that moment I should have been at.

 

[AliasJerk]

Will it work in Midland?

I made the mistake of getting cell carriers that don't have service at my parents' house. When I moved back home, friends had to figure out whether to call house or cell -- and for those who didn't bother to call both, I'd get voicemails a few days later about whatever awesome shindig was happening that moment I should have been at.

I checked it, the only drawback is up near midland there is no 3G network, there is just whatever is the next step down. So it wont be high speed, but I will have all of the functionality of the phone that I use anyways. I would rarely use it for browsing the internet, probably just for e-mail and texting and all of the other fun qwirky features. I especially like the built in GPS, so that I can do mapquest directions to anywhere on my phone, I travel a lot, and it certainly would make life easier then having to print off directions all of the time.

 

[steelblueSE]

I have Sprint. Have had it for 3 yrs now. Coverage is always pretty good. Their new network is very fast. I don't talk that much so I have the lowest plan- 450mins, unlim. nights and weekends starting at 7, free sprint to sprint all for $40, plus I pay an extra 5 for 300 text messages. I have been paying attention to my usage and having nights start at 7 made a big difference for me. Whats even better is they still give me my old best buy discount of 22% off each month and I haven't worked their since Aug 05.

My manager has Nextel and is from the Port Huron area and he went back home to MI alot. Everytime I tried to call him his phone never got service.

As for customer service, I have never had a problem with it. I always got what I wanted. Paying month to month for a year when my 1st contract was over gave me "loyalty" leverage as well.

 

[AliasJerk]

i was looking into getting Verizon, but the more I looked at their phones the more angry I got.

what I hate about Verizon, is ANY phone of theirs you buy, you get their stupid Verizon GUI on it, So it doesnt matter what phone you get, you have to dick with their GUI. I hate that, it almost litereally makes it dumb to get one of the nicer phones. I liked the idea of a Helio because it uses sprint's existing network, which is decent, and for $65 a month I get unlimited everything pretty much, and a kick ass "phone"

 

[red99sesport]

i was looking into getting Verizon, but the more I looked at their phones the more angry I got.

what I hate about Verizon, is ANY phone of theirs you buy, you get their stupid Verizon GUI on it, So it doesnt matter what phone you get, you have to dick with their GUI. I hate that, it almost litereally makes it dumb to get one of the nicer phones.

That is why you do what I did. You buy a Razr, Krazr or W385 and you hack it. I changed my V3M (Razr with Vcast, VZW Navigator, SD slot, etc) from Verizon's ugly GUI to Alltel's. Since Alltel is another CDMA provider and neither Verizon nor Alltel use SPL, you can use the software interchangeably.

The Alltel GUI is the Motorola GUI, which is way more sleek and user friendly. Also, it is more customizable and it is skinable. Best of all you lose no functionality when you flash to Alltel firmware. The only downside to doing this is that it requires many fixes to get all the Alltel software to correspond to the Verizon features like Get it now and Mobile Web, that requires knowledge about phone programming and SEEM editing.

However, it is worth it to uncripple the phone. Verizon locks their stuff up so tight that you can't do what Motorola says you can with it. With Verizon, I couldn't create my own ringers or backgrounds with MPT, but I can now. Also, Verizon disabled OBEX on Bluetooth, and there is no way to get it back with a SEEM edit, this means no transfer of data over Bluetooth, which sucks. Alltel fixes all these issues and more. Another thing Alltel does is unbrand the phone with a couple of simple SEEM edits and a file replacement or two. To unbrand the phone and keep the Verizon software is a nightmare.