How To Upgrade Your Phone

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://laptopmag.com/Features/How-To-Upgrade-Your-Phone.htm' target='_blank'>http://laptopmag.com/Features/How-To-Upgrade-Your-Phone.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"By now you've probably seen the Sprint PCS commercial where the rest of the elementary school class is miffed when Emily gets the new, deluxe paint set, while everyone else has to make do with ratty old watercolors. Why? "Because she's new, which makes her special," explains the teacher. The ad would be funny-if it weren't painfully true. The classroom setting is apt because now that more than half of the U.S. population owns a cell phone, we're at the point where a Wireless Ed class would be handy, if only to study conundrums such as why a new customer gets a better deal than a longtime subscriber with the loyalty of a golden retriever."</i><br /><br />Are you one of the loyal subscribers? If you answered yes, you must definitely read this article by LAPTOP Magazine and give a call to your carrier. ;-)

[Kris Kumar]

Wow! 38 votes out 85 total votes [44%] have been cast for 4+ years. 4+ years has the majority vote. Lots of loyal folks out there. 8O

Wondering what carrier you folks are on?

I am on T-Mobile and have been for 3+ years.

[chucky.egg]

Hi my name is chucky.egg and I'm an alco... oh, sorry... I've been on Orange in the UK for 4 years

[Mike Temporale]

I've been with my carrier for a little over 3 years now. However, in total, I've been with them for about 6 years. I left for a short period when they didn't offer coverage in the area of my new home (long since resolved). I got so frustrated with the other carriers that I returned to them inside of 2 years. :D Never had a contract with them, and they've been really nice to me. In fact I just got a call from them offering me a new phone since my current phone is an old SE T200 - or so they think. 8)

[guardedthought]

I've been with my current carrier (T-Mobile USA) for almost four years now. Coverage isn't as good as I wish it was, particularly in my own home, but I haven't found a better deal on unlimited GPRS yet, and I use the internet a lot on my MPx200.

If Cingular would drop their price a little for unlimited data, I'd actually consider switching.

[Sven Johannsen]

(T-Mobile USA)...Coverage isn't as good as I wish it was...haven't found a better deal on unlimited GPRS

BINGO. Same here

If Cingular would drop their price a little for unlimited data, I'd actually consider switching.

Are you listening, Cingular?

[warptime]

I wasn't sure how I wanted to vote... My old phone and number (now my wife's) have been with At&amp;T for 6+ years. I left AT&amp;T for T-Mobile a year and a half ago for the GPRS unlimited data and SE T616. Reception at my home is poor and their coverage in our area is lacking, while my wifes AT&amp;T reception was decent at home. So I just moved back to AT&amp;T when I got my new SMT5600 a couple weeks ago.

While looking for my new SmartPhone (which was not offered in my area - Thank you Amazon!) I noticed those nice offers for new customers. Seems like a poor way of doing business, though it must pay or they would not be dong it.

warptime
SMT-5600

[Arne Hess]

12 years with T-Mobile Germany (no typo - made my first GSM contract with them 01. Feb. 1993)
7 years with O2 Germany (01. Oct. 1998)

[Kris Kumar]

12 years with T-Mobile Germany (no typo - made my first GSM contract with them 01. Feb. 1993)
7 years with O2 Germany (01. Oct. 1998)

:werenotworthy:

Wow...12 + 7 years! I have owned a mobile phone for only 5+ years.

[manywhere]

In March this year, I did the change from an operator I've been with for 2 years to another mainly due to previous operator's bad coverage and the fact that they scrapped flat-rate GPRS a few years ago. The newer operator rents another operator's network which had got much better GSM coverage than my old operator. :cool:

The change didn't imply a phonenumber change -- my number remained the same despite changing operator here. The change took around 1 hour and the Ministry of Communications wouldn't be happy to hear it took that long, as they've set the recommended time for operator change to be around 5 minutes. But, I won't complain as I can call so much cheaper right now: 0.069 €/min compared to 0.16 €/min can be a whole lot of savings. Oh, and the monthly fee is also cheaper: 0.66 € compared to 3.20€ before. *cha-ching!* ;)

Who ever said, "change is good"? I'm definitely starting to agree... :)

[Kris Kumar]

The change took around 1 hour and the Ministry of Communications wouldn't be happy to hear it took that long, as they've set the recommended time for operator change to be around 5 minutes.

5 minutes for carrier change. 8O Actually this one requires another 8O

In US, it would take us 5 minutes to figure out the voice prompts or menu options (press 1 if you are new customer..beep..press 1 if you already have a number..beep..press 1 if you like the number ported..beep..press 1 if you are really sure..beep..press 1 if you don't mind the wait..beep) while on the phone with the carrier for porting the number over.

[arnage2]

Ive been with nextel for almost 3 years. Ive been awaiting their smartphone for quite some time, it will finally be out "this year"

[Mike Temporale]

Ive been with nextel for almost 3 years. Ive been awaiting their smartphone for quite some time, it will finally be out "this year"

Well, we hope so anyway. I personally have doubts about that.