Cell phones and plans

Don't most of the major carriers, Sprint, AT&T and maybe Verizon allow you to call others on the same network for free? I know Sprint does this because I'm with Sprint and I'm pretty sure AT&T does also. Or, get the Alltell with the 20 friends. with a low minute plan and 20 friends, that should cover most of what you need for the cell phone.

I think my wife and I (though i'm not in b-school) have a plan of about 1400 minutes. Used to have 1000 during law school and rarely went over but Sprint no longer offers that plan.

Do most people use text messages?

Agold/terp, why are you looking to increase your minutes? If it's because you plan on calling family and friends back home a lot, go ahead. But don't assume you'll be making a lot more phone calls in b-school. I'd estimate >90% of people here have smart phones, with the iPhone:BlackBerry ratio running roughly 2:1 (we're ~15 minutes from Cupertino after all ). We end up doing most of our communication via email, with some texting and even less calling. I use the base iPhone/AT&T plan, for what it's worth.

Good to know terry - I'd also heard that email/texts are more used but good to have your verification

I'm planning on upgrading to a blackberry or iPhone in the spring when my cell phone contract is up for renewal....

same...blackberry storm here i come

I agree with terry12 that there's no need to increase your minutes. If you have unlimited (or a very high) weekend/weeknight minutes and free calls to people on your network, then you will be fine, since 1/3 of the class will be on AT&T (because of the iPhone) and the rest will probably be split evenly between AT&T and Verizon, many of your calls will be free. Also, you won't have much time to talk during the day anyways, so you'll get free calls after 9pm.

Definitely get a text message plan, 100 is the minimum, but I would go up to 400 or unlimited if you get txt message updates from facebook or twitter (which many of my classmates have started to use religiously).

Data plan is definitely useful. I switched over to a basic smartphone (Palm Centro) just so I can do gmail and read my Google reader. I'll decide whether to upgrade to a Blackberry Storm, Android, or the new Palm one next year.

Old thread, but thought I'd bump instead of starting a new one.

So, how advantageous is it to have a smartphone with internet and all that crap in school? I pay like 42 bucks right now for a Verizon plan that gives me more minutes and texts than I even use, and I'm somewhat loath to start spending double that.

I'm always behind the curve with this stuff; I didn't get a cell phone until I was 21. Obviously, I couldn't do anything without it now, so it's something of a "you don't know what you missing until you have it" type deal. I figure it's the same with a smart phone. People who have them are fiddling with them constantly and checking all kinds of junk on the internet.

The only real benefit I see is having email at your fingertips 24/7.

I guess if I were to do it, I'd keep Verizon and just get the Droid.

Thoughts?

I am on Sprint now, and I am quite happy. All the data plans have unlimited data, messaging, and calls to any cell phone (not just Sprint). I have the cheapest plan, and barely use any base minutes, since most of my calls are at night or to other cell phones. I also don't have to put up with the bad ATT coverage in SF.

Here at Kellogg, I'd say almost all students have a smartphone (the vast majority are iPhones and BlackBerries, with a few Droids and Pre's thrown in). I've literally met 1 person here who doesn't have a smartphone. Besides the fun apps that we're constantly fooling around with, they're really an indispensible tool. Your calendar quickly fills up with club meetings, study groups, recruiting, speakers, etc., and it's extremely helpful to be able to see where you need to be by looking at your phone rather than having to pull out your laptop. It's also nice to be able to keep an eye on your emails in between class, during lunch, etc. to see if there's anything incredibly important coming in.

In terms of cost, many schools have discount plans. They're not huge, but you can usually save about 10% or so.

I don't have a smart phone right now, but am hoping to switch to the Nexus One when it comes out on Verizon.

It is indeed helpful to look up phone numbers of a restaurant/club/etc and see where you are driving on google maps (unless you have a GPS in your car, which I do not nor do I rent it when I travel). A smartphone is also great for email/calendar - you can do a quick reply whenever and wherever. If you setup outlook with it - it is great as well for keeping appointments and meetings. Keep in mind though, that once you go there, you won't switch back
_________________

survived first 1.5 years of bschool without a smart phone, but after I got the Verizon DROID, i don't know how I lived before a smartphone!

Highly recommended to manage your email load and to so some simple net things without having to pull out your laptop all the time.

For what it's worth, rumor has it the iPhone will be coming out on Verizon soon. I'd be tempted by that - I've got one now and AT&T's network is awful in the city.

I'm also considering downgrading because paying $100/mo while living off loans seems crazy. I've been thinking about buying an iPod touch to do all my data and just getting a bare-bones phone for the few calls I ever make.

I guess I don't know much about the droid vs iphone. Since I don't want my life consumed by apps, for me they'd probably be comparable, unless there are other glaring differences.

Interesting thing too about doing the iPod touch with cheap cell phone. I assume you can use the internet with the iPod touch? Is it reliable? No monthly fees?

From my experience, the iPhone tends to be a little faster and has a smoother operating system than most (although I'm a born and raised Mac girl). I haven't played with a Google phone, but I've played with the Pre and the Instinct, and I liked the iPhone better.

You can do everything with an iPod Touch that you can do with an iPhone except make calls - run apps, text, internet... It runs 3G and wi-fi, depending where you are, just like the phone.

Unless I have a plan-scheduled upgrade that allows for a smartphone, I will be going the cheap phone + iPod Touch route. The one with less storage is actually quite cheap.

I just did some more research and realize I totally lied - the iPod touch does NOT have 3G. So it only gets internet if you're on a wireless network. Now the decision is less clear...

Most university campuses are wifi enabled, and there will be internet at your apartment, so iPod touch should work out just fine. You won't be able to use the internet outside in the city though. That said, I can't live without my iPhone.

Huh, that does make the decision harder.

Well, we'll see. I should be due for an upgrade and I resentfully acknowledge the fact that I should probably get a smartphone of some sort.

It will take an apocalyptic event to get me to join Facebook, though.

yes, iPod Touch is mainly designed to be for music and now a pretty big platform for games (and there are some great one on there).

The Android OS implemented by Motorola (DROID) and HTC (Nexus One) are both as fast, if not faster than iPhone's. App wise Apple still has 10x Android, but the difference between 100,000 apps and 10,000 apps is not as noticeable as you think. The biggest missing thing are games (which you can get an iPod Touch for). Otherwise, I pretty much have every major app that does everything useful which my iPhone friends can do.

Don't know when iPhone will ever go to Verizon (I sure hope they don't, lest they ruin the network), but the Droid and Nexus One will be good bets if you want to try non-iPhones.