Cell phones are a scam - General

I see very little use for a cell phone besides emergency calls away from home. As far as mobile devices go, I have an ipod touch which fulfills all my needs on the go. Hell, I can even text and call people with the damn thing, although not emergency services. A 3g/GPS connection would be nice though.

My phone is a part of my day to day to life. Helps me stay connected with my social life too.

No one wants to be on a $20 500 minute unlimited everything else? :raise:

so, how do you phoneless fp'ers make plans with your friends on the go?

[QUOTE=Captain Lawlrus;27384897]so, how do you phoneless fp'ers make plans with your friends on the go?[/QUOTE] Letters and carrier pigeons.

I miss the time when you could smash brick wall with nokia 3310 without it breaking

I was one of the few people in my class who saw no need for a phone. Phones mean more than puberty, it seemed.

I've used my phone for over one year now without running out of money. Though I never use it to browse the web, nor do I send many texts either.

[QUOTE=EBS-Gamer;27358019]I only pay $15 a month for unlimited texting and 150 minutes..[/QUOTE] How? My family keeps bugging me to find them a better plan (because being good with computers makes me the go-to guy for anything tech related, apparently). I can't find anyone in this area who can get us four lines for under $120 a month.

I pay far too much for my iPhone 4, but I'm too attached to it to get rid of it. £25/month 1gb Internet 250 texts 70 minutes AND had to pay for the phone. About £200 I think.

Look at the phone I have a contract for now [url]http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchdiamond/overview.html[/url] I'm in Canada with telus they signed me for a unlimited data plan and my ten stuff. The phone was so shitty I bought an iphone 3gs off ebay and went to the telus website and switched from the shitty phone to a SIM card and I put that in my iphone. Now it's at least $100 for 5GB of usage unlimited isn't available anymore, ha ha reading on that's with no texting plan so $.15 per incoming/outgoing text. Wow glad I'm locked in for another year. [editline]13th January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Samiam22;27385218]I was one of the few people in my class who saw no need for a phone. Phones mean more than puberty, it seemed.[/QUOTE] Man I have an iphone 3gs you can tell it really bugs people when they have like a blackberry or something. It's pathetic. Then I tell them I'm paying less then them with more stuff, it looks like they almost want to punch me, then I show them how I don't have to carry around an ipod they don't talk to me anymore... [editline]13th January 2011[/editline] It's like telling all your friends how many more chicks you've fucked and how hot/crazy/easy it was. [editline]13th January 2011[/editline] Oh yeah I cost $10 to switch from my old phone to an Iphone. Ha I can't believe I'm getting away with this it's a AT&T Iphone from Colorado to.

You got your first phone at 17? Geez, what a socialite. Anyway, lol at American rates. I pay $59/m and get unlimited calls, texts and a lot of mobile data at a good fast rate. Omnomnom. And I use it all up too. No rip off in Australia (anymore)

~12$ a month over here. And I do text a lot + visit the internet quite often.

This is why people get a Blackberry with an internet contract. You start to text instead of phoning so it becomes cheaper, with the internet plan of course.

I'm one of the rare few that still has the option for the Unlimited Smartphone (even though I have an iPhone?) plan on AT&T so for 45 bucks a month I don't have to worry about web or text or anything. Sounds like you got a shit plan or that you keep accidentally using things you don't get covered in the plan and getting charged for it.

£20 a month for a htc wildfire with 500 minutes, unlimited internet and 3000 texts.

I have a cheap prepaid Tracfone, and that's enough for my job(Me being in the armed forces and assigned to a rapid deployment unit, I have to be reachable 24/7).

[QUOTE=Slawter;27389743]This is why people get a Blackberry with an internet contract. You start to text instead of phoning so it becomes cheaper, with the internet plan of course.[/QUOTE] I hear that BIS compresses data, so you use a lot less in the month. It makes pages load slower, though it allows me to use the 500 MB data plan ($25/month) without worrying about going over. Even browsing Reddit for a few hours while tethered to my laptop didn't take a lot. Nifty.

I pay $170 a month for my 3 droids with unlimited internet and texting and 1400 minutes :D..

[QUOTE=Captain Lawlrus;27384897]so, how do you phoneless fp'ers make plans with your friends on the go?[/QUOTE] To save minutes, I use a ham radio.

I hate Verizon, and I have a story as to why. Back in the 8th grade, I had gotten a new phone. It was made by LG, and had one of those cameras you could rotate from the front to the back. Anyways, I was going through my phone's features, and low and behold, it said I could use the internet for $5 a month. I thought "Hey, that's not too bad", and for the fact I didn't have internet at my house, I figured it was even a better deal. So I convinced my mom to sign up for it. Well, little does Verizon tell you, that not only do they add on $5 just for the usage, they also deduct minutes for using it. So, at the end of the month, I racked up $900 worth of charges just by using what I thought was a $5 monthly add on. I'm now with Sprint, and I couldn't be happier.

I still have my phone from 5 or 6 years ago and haven't/won't ever pay for a contract If I wanted a new phone it would be because my current one has broken, if I feel I'll get bored outside with friends then I'll bring a GBA or something...

[QUOTE=Superstormj;27332148]Yeah, cause a 3.2 MP camera on your Blackberry is so much better than the EVO's 8 MP. Just because you're cheap as fuck doesn't mean cell phones are a "scam". I've never read a thread this stupid. Yeah, cell phones are a scam, that's why everyone has one :downs:[/QUOTE] this right here

[QUOTE=benjgvps;27394449]I hear that BIS compresses data, so you use a lot less in the month. It makes pages load slower, though it allows me to use the 500 MB data plan ($25/month) without worrying about going over. Even browsing Reddit for a few hours while tethered to my laptop didn't take a lot. Nifty.[/QUOTE] Yessir. Im on TELUS mobility, and all of the images coming in get compressed and it helps out with the data usage. Load times are longer, though.

3 steps to cellphone success: *Get a cheap non-locked phone for around $10 *Disable the internet feature *Get unlimited talk/text or PAYG

Canada really does have it bad. I went for a smaller company called Solo Mobile, they use Bell's towers. I got a free LG rumor 2, unlimited text, apparently 8000 minutes of phone calling a month, and caller ID, international calling and 3G for $35 a month. Not too bad I guess... But these smaller companies are so out of the loop, the bigger companies just wont let them get the better phones.

[QUOTE=moesislack;27387948]Man I have an iphone 3gs you can tell it really bugs people when they have like a blackberry or something. It's pathetic. Then I tell them I'm paying less then them with more stuff, it looks like they almost want to punch me, then I show them how I don't have to carry around an ipod they don't talk to me anymore...[/QUOTE] You know, I used to work for AT&T at one of the Canadian call centers. No, AT&T doesn't serve customers in Canada, we actually served American customers who thought we were based in the US too lol. You know, of all the phone calls about problems I ever got, there were two types of phones that stood head-and-shoulders above the rest for how fucking garbage they were: 1. Motorola RAZR 2. iPhone You bought an iPhone? LOLOLOLOL you're an idiot buddy. I got a call about a blackberry physically not working ONCE (over a year), and that was because someone dropped it in a pot of soup. I told them to try drying it out first for a day and then call back if it isn't working. I followed up on it later and they never called back, so I imagine it was fine. iPhones on the other hand... I had everything from broken screens to phones that just bricked because they didn't like the SIM. I went through TWO FUCKING iPHONE LAUNCHES, SAME SHIT. I don't understand the hype man, they're so god damn bad. I would argue that even worse than the phone itself being shit, is the fact that the phone company can offer you NO SUPPORT. NONE. If there is a problem with the device itself and not the plan/your bill, it goes straight to Apple and then you have to deal with those twats. [QUOTE=Floreum;27407830]Canada really does have it bad. I went for a smaller company called Solo Mobile, they use Bell's towers. I got a free LG rumor 2, unlimited text, apparently 8000 minutes of phone calling a month, and caller ID, international calling and 3G for $35 a month. Not too bad I guess... But these smaller companies are so out of the loop, the bigger companies just wont let them get the better phones.[/QUOTE] Bell actually owns Solo, the same way Best Buy owns Future Shop. Think of it as reducing the competition by being the competition. Koodo is owned by Telus, Fido is owned by Rogers. If you truly want to go independant, you'll need to go with Virgin (Bell network), or these two new companies that have opened in some of the urban sectors: I forget one of the them but the other was Wind Mobile. Both of these other companies have built their own networks. I personally have a pay-as-you-go phone on Telus. I pay $10 a month for 2500 outgoing text/unlimited incoming, and that's how I keep in touch with people. I do this because being on a contract is quite possibly the dumbest shit you can do (once again talking with the experience of someone who worked in the cellular industry).

[QUOTE=Captain Lawlrus;27384897]So, how do you phoneless fp'ers make plans with your friends on the go?[/QUOTE] I have a computer and a housephone.

Bought a HTC Desire unbranded myself, a bit under €500. My plan doesn't have any prepaid texts or minutes, but I'm paying €5/month for an unlimited data connection at 384 kbps. I mostly use internet for communication through IM, so it's quite cheap.

everything related to cell phones in the US is way too expensive but i deal with it because having a smartphone is literally the best thing ever. i have a droid 2 and i've gotten an almost revolutionary amount of use from it that wouldn't have been possible with my previous phone