[PLUG-TALK] cell phones

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

I'll second both Verizon and the Kyocera 6035. I haven't upgraded the
phone yet, but I have to admit the 7135 sounds tempting.

Rich Shepard wrote:

> On Sat, 4 Jun 2005, Michael Rasmussen wrote:
>
>> My last day with the old employer was Friday and I handed in my cell
>> phone.
>> My new job does not provide a cell phone. No calls!!
>
>
> Mike,
>
>   I hope the move was by your choice and that it's as easy a bike ride
> as the
> former shop.
>
>> It's been eight years since I've shopped for a cell phone.  What
>> advice do
>> you have for me?
>
>
>   Consider what you need before walking in any store. Also, consider the
> provider with regard to coverage, reputation, and so on. I'll share my
> experience.
>
>   I've been with Verizon since 1996, when they were AirTouch. I have had
> excellent service with them and have no reason to spend any time shopping
> around. My current plan gives me 300 minutes per month with no roaming
> charges in the 11 western states (not in Alaska or Hawaii) and no toll
> charges calling anywhere in the US for $35. My fiancee's half of the
> contract
> gives her 100 minutes with no roaming or toll-free long distance for
> $20 per month. It works for us. Many months we both have many unused
> minutes;
> occasionally I bump pretty hard against my 5 hour limit. It's 65 cents
> per
> minute over that or when I use the phone outside the calling plan area
> (e.g.,
> Alaska or New York). The only dead spots I've had with them are in the
> boonies of southeastern Oregon and north central Nevada (there's no cell
> phone coverage beyond 4 miles either side of I-80 down there). But,
> that's
> why I have the satellite phone.
>
>   About four years ago I traded in a perfectly good Samsung candy bar
> model
> for a Kyocera QCP-6035 clam-shell model. This has a Palm PDA built in. I
> won't go back to separate cell phone and PDA after using this. I've
> had as
> many as 1,000 phone numbers in there (since pared down to about 350 but
> growing again as I move my business to different industries) and can
> call any
> of them. No separate entry of phone numbers and names or looking up the
> number in the PDA then dialing the phone. Of course, I use jpilot on the
> desktop for the PDA part.
>
>   Now Kyocera has the QCP-7135 which is the same phone/pda but with a
> color
> screen and, I believe, Palm OS 5. A month or so ago Verizon did a free
> upgrade on my older model to the most recent Palm OS that it takes (3.x,
> something I believe). Both Kyocera and Verizon told me it's a
> perfectly good
> model and they plan to support it as long as possible.
>
>   I don't want a camera, web browsing, e-mail, music, or other (ahem!)
> "features" in my phone. You might. My Kyocera will browse the web and do
> e-mail but I don't pay for the access and have never used it. I do
> have the
> cable that lets me use the phone as a wireless modem with my notebook,
> but
> never quite qot that working with the old Toshiba Portege. With the
> new Sony,
> I use the WiFi card (or wired connection) so that's no longer an issue
> for
> me.
>
>   My needs may very well be different from yours -- and everyone else
> here.
> But, I'm very satisfied with both the phone/pda and Verizon's service.
>
> HTH,
>
> Rich
>