Cell Service for College

[russell.h]

I have never had a cell phone before, but now that I'm going off to college this fall I'm considering getting one.

The problem is that I live in Anchorage, Alaska, but will be going to college in Corvallis, Oregon. Obviously I would like to be able to use my phone both at home and at college, but I'm not sure I understand how these cell services work. I can't seem to find a cell service provider that has 'local' coverage of both Anchorage and Corvallis. Do I need to get one of these absurdly expensive "national" plans?

I'm just wondering what people's advice is, as google can't seem to turn up anything useful at all.

[skwishybug]

Not completely sure about American service, but here are my 2 cents:

If you are going to school in Oregon, and will be spending most of your time there, get a number for the city you are in. That is where it will be used the most--I'm guessing that you won't be going home weekends.

Some carriers/plans will charge you local rates when you call a local number in the city you are in (even if your phone is registered to another city). Others will not, so I would suggest checking this if it is an issue for you -- I got dinged with this while travelling in Halifax with a phone registered in Ottawa.

It ultimately comes down to how much you will be in each location. The other thing to ask is can the number be transferred to Alaska for the summer if you opt to go home.

Hope this gives some ideas to check on if not direction to go.

[mcurtiss1970]

I don't think they're a very good provider (CS is a mess to say the least), but for a college budget, it would be hard to pass up Sprint's sero plans: http://delivery.sprint.com/m/p/sprint/epc/epclanding.asp

check on Sprint's site for coverage checks.

here's some more info: http://wiki.howardforums.com/index.php/SPRINT_SERO


I personally use AT&T and like it, but it's not cheap.

[~~Tito~~]

Hey Russell.h go here: http://www.howardforums.com I go there to ask stuff about cellulars and more things register there I have the same name so pm me if you have any questions.

Personally I would pick at&t because of the service coverage and the freedom to take out the sim card and change it to another phone(that have the same bands 850, 1900 or else your screwed get a quad band phone so you dont have to worry. Sprint and Verizon don't have this freedom and they lock you to their phones and they both control the phone's os so you don't have variety.

[era86]

I have never had a cell phone before, but now that I'm going off to college this fall I'm considering getting one.

The problem is that I live in Anchorage, Alaska, but will be going to college in Corvallis, Oregon. Obviously I would like to be able to use my phone both at home and at college, but I'm not sure I understand how these cell services work. I can't seem to find a cell service provider that has 'local' coverage of both Anchorage and Corvallis. Do I need to get one of these absurdly expensive "national" plans?

I'm just wondering what people's advice is, as google can't seem to turn up anything useful at all.

I hear Verizon works well down there as well as Cingular. I don't know much about the service in Anchorage though.

So you will be going to Oregon State University I presume?! Home of the Beavers! I really wanted to go to school there so don't take it for granted!

[russell.h]

AT&T dropped coverage in Alaska last year, but they are supposedly acquiring some company that does have coverage in Alaska (the company that runs Cellular One's network?). I won't bet on that though. Sprint doesn't have coverage here either. Or rather, both of those places won't let you get a plan if you say you live here, but apparently their phones will work here with roaming or something?

The thing that worries about AT&T is that in their terms and conditions it says

If your minutes of use (including unlimited services) on other carrier networks ("off-net usage") during any two consecutive months exceeds your off-net usage allowance, AT&T may at its option terminate your service, deny your continued use of other carriers' coverage, or change your plan to one imposing usage charges for off-net usage. Your off-net usage allowance is equal to the lesser of 750 minutes or 40% of the Anytime Minutes included with your plan.
So since I will be here for 3 months during the summer, if I only had the 450 minute plan then it sounds like if I used more than about 200 minutes for 2 months in a row they would do Something Bad(tm).

Is T-Mobile any good? The "My Faves" plans (aside from having a horribly obnoxious name) sound nice, since there aren't all that many people I would ever want to have a terribly prolonged phone call with. All these places make it really difficult to figure all this crap out, their webpages are incredibly unhelpful.

Anyway, thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to go look into the Sprint Sero things now.

[mcurtiss1970]

people do get dropped on sprint for excessive roaming, so be warned.

t-mobile has great CS and would be a good choice if it works in both areas. if you want to test it out, pivk up a prepaid tmobile phone from the local department store and see if it works where you need it.