Need New Cellphone!

[RougeUnderoos]

So I need a new cellphone -- the battery on the old one is dead and there is some mould growing underneath the screen (that's sort of a long story).

My requirements are few. It has to be 1) cheap and 2)cheap 3) it has to make and recieve phone calls.

I've narrowed it down

Motorola V220
Samsung x426
Nokia 3120

I can get any one of these for less than $50 @ Rogers. Anyone have any experience with these models?

[Table 5]

if you truly are a cheapskate, surely you can find a plan that gives you a phone for free.

[RougeUnderoos]

There is a place called Maxus Technology up near the airport and they'll take it and recycle the whole thing. They'll take everything -- old computers, tvs, stereo components, anything that plugs in that you don't need anymore, even old wires, flashlights...

It's better than putting it in the landfill.

[Eagle Eye]

I have the x426 and it seems to work pretty good for me. The only thing is that it doesn't have caller ID on the outside (which didn't matter to me as I don't have it).

It is light, has a nice colour screen and is pretty easy to use.

[arsenal]

CNet Motorola Review
Samsung x426 Review
CNetAsia Nokia Review

I personally have no experiance with any of those phones. I just got a brand new phone (LG) from Telus. I had an old Motorola phone before that, and had a lot of problems with interference. So far with my LG I haven't had any problems with the calls cutting out or anything else.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally posted by Table 5@Dec 6 2004, 01:37 PM
if you truly are a cheapskate, surely you can find a plan that gives you a phone for free.

I am truly a cheapskate and I've whittled my Rogers bill down to less than $15 a month. Any new plan is going to crank it up for at least a year and will involve a start-up of $35.

The one shot deal of $50 for a new phone is the cheapest route.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

I haven't heard great things about the V220, but don't quote me on that

if you're a real cheapskate looking for an easy way to make phone calls I reccomend using:

[Bill Bumface]

If I were you, I'd look up the battery life of each, and if one stands apart from the others, get it. Nothing is more annoying than a dead phone when you need it. I know when I was shopping, nokias were the leaders for battery life. That was a year or 2 ago, and I know nothing about those particular models so I can't say for them.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally posted by Maritime Q-Scout@Dec 6 2004, 01:52 PM
I haven't heard great things about the V220, but don't quote me on that

if you're a real cheapskate looking for an easy way to make phone calls I reccomend using:

Laugh. For one thing, I'm a Canadian so that nickle doesn't cut it and okay maybe I'm not that cheap, but I'm pretty thrifty. Also, I don't know about where you are but here in Albertee it costs 35 cents to make a call at a pay phone now. Ouch!

I'm paying only for the convenience (hence the low bill) so that is a good point about battery life.

[Language]

I agree with another poster, you should check out the battery life of each phone and see which one lasts the longest.

I got a pretty good deal a couple weeks back.

I got the Sony Erricsson T616 for $50 bucks, and 6 months unlimited with Rogers. Then they screwed up the bill, so I got 2 months free of charge and another month of unlimited added on. A free $150 Curtis stereo came with it too, but...it's Curtis, so I'm thinking of just selling it.

So far so good from the phone though.

[4X4]

I've gone through 5 phones in 9 years & concluded that Nokia is the best for reception, battery life & durability.
I had last year's motorola flip phone for about a week & returned it because it didn't work inside my house.
The nokia can be dropped repeatedly (at least a dozen times & counting) and still work just fine.
As long as you charge the battery properly the first time, it should work for at least 18 months before recharging becomes annoyingly frequent.
When you first get the phone, plug it in (uninterrupted) for 15 hours. Next, use the phone until it is completely dead before plugging it in again (and charging fully). I use my Nokia at least 1000 minutes/month & only charge my phone 2 or 3 times. I've had this thing since last summer when I returned that P.O.S. motorola, it gets great reception (it even works out at mclean creek)(if you're from calgary), battery works great, even my dog has chewed on it and it still works great.
My bragging about my phone has resulted in 3 of my friends getting one & I've heard nothing but good things from them too.

My experience, stay away from motorola & eriksson.

[SinceDay1]

You can find reviews of the v220 and the 3120 tested on the Roger's network here:

http://www.arcx.com/sites/PhoneReviewsList.htm

[RedHot25]

Originally posted by RougeUnderoos@Dec 6 2004, 08:38 PM
There is a place called Maxus Technology up near the airport and they'll take it and recycle the whole thing. They'll take everything -- old computers, tvs, stereo components, anything that plugs in that you don't need anymore, even old wires, flashlights...

It's better than putting it in the landfill.

Also, and you would have to do a bit of research/review yourself, but I also believe that some charities will take them in from you. I think some Women's Shelters do that, quite often... not 100%sure though.

[RougeUnderoos]

After some shoddy over-the-phone service I've just about had it with these screw-ups from Rogers. First of all, they have the wrong phone number on their "find a store" page. The number they list wasn't even in service. The next location got me a fax machine. Finally I get the number by phoning a different location and phone the closest one and I'm told "we can't discuss this over the phone because it's too busy, you'll have to come in". Well ya dummy that's the reason I phoned -- it's December and I'd rather spend as little time in the mall as I can.

So, I phone someone else a little further away and get the info I need. $50 phone, just come on down we'll switch you up. I said "that's it, it'll be an extra $50 on my next bill and that's it, I have a new phone" and she said "that's it". So I go down there and the runaround starts. First of all, it's a $50 mail in rebate, so the phone is a hundred bucks and I get to mail in a goddamn coupon. Next, the $35 "administration fee". Now my $50 phone has turned into a $135 in the blink of an eye. I said "what's this administration fee? I paid that last time. What do you do for $35" and the answer was "it's a fee we charge for all our phones". Which also means "we don't do anything for $35 but we charge it equally to everyone".

I said "Eff this, I'm going to Telus" and I walked away. Walk down the mall to Telus and the high-pressure punk is on me like white on rice. "Gotta get a 3 year plan, you need the 3 year plan". No thanks.

The moral of the story -- for being a convenience, cell phones sure are a pain in the ass.

Next step -- I'm making a formal complaint to Rogers in the hopes that they'll waive the nonsense "administration fee" and work from there. Complaining actually works I've found -- I got $250 knocked off a stereo once, a free ink cartridge another time and a big discount from Canadian Airlines another time.

[Tron_fdc]

Buy one on Ebay, I did that last year and got a brand new phone for half price, and the guy I bought it from was a Telus rep so he waived the "administration fee". Just be sure you get a phone that is an old Rogers phone (one that used to be hooked up on their network), or a new Rogers phone as they won't hook it up unless it is registered in their system. The easy way to check this is to get the serial # off the phone and call in to your local Rogers support line and ask them if they can hook the phone up.

The administration charge is a fee for swapping out your number, which takes literally 10 seconds and can even be done over the phone. It's an absolute crock they charge it (Telus does it too) but if you whine enough to the rep they will sometimes do it for free.

[calf]

Threaten to cancel your plan (if you have time left) and go with another company...I've heard from a buddy that Rogers will back off and give you free months (4 I think)...maybe you'll have to pay the net $85 w/ rebate, but it'll lighten the load over the coming months

[BlackArcher101]

Does anyone else have a $3 charge for detailed billing?
I use online billing, and I went to go check what features I had on my account out of curiousity, and I found this $3 charge that I didn't have before.
I unchecked it, saving myself $3, but I see no difference in billing as I don't even get bills (online).

[Claeren]

On ebay most any 800/1900(?) dual band global phone should work as long as it is 'unlocked', just swap the SIM card from your old phone into the new one.

Not sure if you even have to let Rogers know you made the change... ?? Inquire before hand or else they may charge you that $35, although it may be worth it if you get the phone for far less or at least a far better phone for the same ($135).


Claeren.

[Pagal4321]

Originally posted by calf@Dec 6 2004, 07:01 PM
Threaten to cancel your plan (if you have time left) and go with another company...I've heard from a buddy that Rogers will back off and give you free months (4 I think)...maybe you'll have to pay the net $85 w/ rebate, but it'll lighten the load over the coming months

Second that one......My friend did the exact same thing, got a great deal from Rogers by threatening to go to Bell. Whereas Bell was really offering her the plan, all you have to do is make it up if you wish to do so.

[RougeUnderoos]

Results!

After probably 20 minutes of ranting at some poor support gal I got patched over to a guy in customer relations. By this time I was really on a roll and I was making stuff up (I call it embellishment) so this guy was pretty helpful.

I brought out "I'm going to Telus but before I do I just want to complain to get some satisfaction" which was a lie. I wasn't going to Telus, I was just going to cancel everything and go back to smoke-signals.

Anyhow I told him the whole sob-story about the shabby treatment, wrong phone numbers and general hassle for something that should be very simple. He was quite sympathetic and told me about another option they offer to replace lost or damaged phones so long as I commit to one year (which = $150 at my current rate).

So I settled on a barebones Siemens phone for $50 and I told him that not in a million years am I paying for that damn administration fee. I actually said "I'll go to Telus and pay 10 grand for an administration fee if I actually get something for it but I'm not giving $35 to you for nothing since I already did it once" so he waived that.

$50 = new phone on same old plan which is precisely what I wanted in the first place. Why the hell do they make it so hard and hire such bloody incompetents? This should have taken 5 minutes max but it took at least 2 hours and one visit to the mall.

For a phone company, they don't instill a lot of confidence considering A) they don't know their own phone number and B ) they make it really hard to do business over the phone