cellphone service in philly/drexel??

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
D

deedoc

New Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 24, 2004
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Members do not see this ad.
hi everyone,
is anyone attending med school in philly that has had
good or bad experiences with reception for a specific
cellphone company??? and, more specifically, at drexel
med?? my plan ends the end of this month, and i have to
switch before moving down to philadelphia!
go class of 2008, drexel med!
 
Verizon is the way to go. I have friends with hour long horror stories about AT&T!
 
Verizon's good (it also allows me to call Canada without long distance fees), but be really really careful not to go over your minutes. 😱 I got extra careless on a trip to Pittsburgh, so I speak from experience.
 
I hare found Nextel to be good in the area. It is slightly more expensive but it has the 2 way feature. It depends your needs. If you just want a simple phone I have heard good things about Verizon.
 
Cingular GSM - very good, not that many minutes, can't get free phone.

AT&T GSM - good in the city, questionable outside, free phone on Amazon.

Verizon - signal everywhere, but expensive and does not offer a lot of nice phone choices. only 400 min for $39.99. No free phones.

T-mobile - best value and coverage and phone choice. Get free phones on Amazon.com

Sprint: Good deal, dropped calls, but best value for money, can get 7PM N/W which I think is a great bargain. So you will put up with some hassle, but not that much given the overall cheapness.
 
Thanks so much Musicman! 👍 I've been thinking of switching cell phone companies before or when I come to Philly. I've had Sprint for years, but have recently become frustrated with the droped calls & poor reception (it's definately cheap though.) I've been thinking of going to T-Mobile...
 
i switched to at & t gsm and it sucks! i can't get a signal in my building and even where i have service it is not that good. go with cingular.
 
japhy said:
i switched to at & t gsm and it sucks! i can't get a signal in my building and even where i have service it is not that good. go with cingular.
Click to expand...

Cingular, Verizon and Nextel use the existing national (A or B) cell network and so have reliable service. All others don't and you should be warned before using them. It doesn't make much sense to have cheap cell phone service that you can't use.
 
I'm assuming my T-Mobile would work since it works in a small city... T-Mobile is pretty cheap right now $39.99 for 600 anytime plus free nights/weekends/no roaming/no longdistance. If you go through Buy.com they will actually pay you to get your phone!
 
DrBodacious said:
I'm assuming my T-Mobile would work since it works in a small city... T-Mobile is pretty cheap right now $39.99 for 600 anytime plus free nights/weekends/no roaming/no longdistance. If you go through Buy.com they will actually pay you to get your phone!
Click to expand...

\hey dude can u give me the exact link to that? thanks
 
Amazon.com has the Sony Ericsson T610 Phone (T-Mobile) for $125 - $250 rebate [Exp 6/16] = -$125 with free shipping. Activation required.

Get the Jabra FreeSpeak Bluetooth Headset for $80 - $30 code AMZNFREJABRA [Exp 6/21] = $50 additional.

Get $125 CASH BACK. Go to Amazon.com and click on cell phones. This is a great phone with Bluetooth - can sync with your Palm or Computer. Also you can put ringtones on for free and get pictures off the camera phone for free.

If you like flip phones go with the v300.

And yes, t-mobile works excellent in Center City. All the companies do.

Do your own research on the phones though. Amazon has a 14 day money back guarentee so definitely check it out before you get stuck with it. You can port your number after you try it out so don't feel pressure to port now in case you want to return it.

I still use the old AT&T TDMA system which they don't even sell now, but in my opinion I get the best cell phone reception of anyone in the city. I get full reception in the sub-basement of the hospital. I have never gotten a No Service and they have already merged the Cingular and AT&T TDMA systems.
AT&T GSM does not work well because it's using an older frequency and will aquire the new frequence once the merger with Cingular and AT&T goes through.
 
Oh another plus with T- mobile is that it is one of the last companies to let you sign up without a 2 year contract. That's clutch because you can always switch to a new company in 1 year and get a new and exciting cell phone.
 
In October all AT&T phones will connect to either Cingular or AT&T whichever is stronger. Currently where I live, I manually select Cingular network without charges, so I may have coverage inside. Once the AT&T merger is complete the company will have the best coverage in the US.
 
raptor5 said:
In October all AT&T phones will connect to either Cingular or AT&T whichever is stronger. Currently where I live, I manually select Cingular network without charges, so I may have coverage inside. Once the AT&T merger is complete the company will have the best coverage in the US.
Click to expand...



thank you so much for all the replies!!
i was thinking cingular, a plan for 600 minutes, nation wide with
nights and weekends beginning at 7pm. also, it has rollover.
also, raptor5, based on your response, which do you think, cingular
or att??
 
DrBodacious said:
I'm assuming my T-Mobile would work since it works in a small city... T-Mobile is pretty cheap right now $39.99 for 600 anytime plus free nights/weekends/no roaming/no longdistance. If you go through Buy.com they will actually pay you to get your phone!
Click to expand...
nextel has $39.99 500 anytime, free n/w, no roaming, long distance, 100 walkie talkie... but they just came out with a $49.99 unlimited free incoming, some anytime, free n/w... that'd be sweet if you had a SO you talked to a lot. free phones on amazon, the free one I got is built like a tank, much much better than the nokia/ericson POSs my friends have with verizon/at&t. phones are definitely something to consider.
 
deedoc said:
thank you so much for all the replies!!
i was thinking cingular, a plan for 600 minutes, nation wide with
nights and weekends beginning at 7pm. also, it has rollover.
also, raptor5, based on your response, which do you think, cingular
or att??
Click to expand...


i forgot to mention, above plan is 56.99, seems to be the best for
the money.
 
raptor5, based on your response, which do you think, cingular
Click to expand...

If signing up right now, I would say cingular. I currently have AT&T so I can wait a few months instead of switching providers.
 
My verizon phone didn't seem to get coverage anywhere on the UPenn campus. Does anyone know if T-Mobile is any better in that area? I want to switch anyway, 'cause my bf and I get screwed EVERY MONTH on our family calling plan. 😡
 
deedoc said:
hi everyone,
is anyone attending med school in philly that has had
good or bad experiences with reception for a specific
cellphone company??? and, more specifically, at drexel
med?? my plan ends the end of this month, and i have to
switch before moving down to philadelphia!
go class of 2008, drexel med!
Click to expand...


except in some of the deeper areas of the labs and study rooms. one year contracts. and they let you upgrade to any specials they run. right now i think it's 600 min for 39.99 but a few months ago they let me bump it up to 1000 when they had a deal going. can't beat that. www.letstalk.com usually has some really cheap deals. nokia 3650 for $25 when i got mine.
 
Verizon has really bad reception right on Hamilton Walk, the main pathway that PennMed is on as well as Baltimore (farther into West Philly, where a lot of students live). Everywhere else on campus--it's fine. It's really annoying 😡 and I'm thinking of switching to AT&T b/c my friend gets decent reception with them and they have a reduced student rate for Penn. (5 dollars cheaper per month)
 
missmod said:
Verizon has really bad reception right on Hamilton Walk, the main pathway that PennMed is on as well as Baltimore (farther into West Philly, where a lot of students live). Everywhere else on campus--it's fine. It's really annoying 😡 and I'm thinking of switching to AT&T b/c my friend gets decent reception with them and they have a reduced student rate for Penn. (5 dollars cheaper per month)
Click to expand...

I've never heard of this reduced student rate. do you have any details?
 
Hey cool thanks - I am going to call them tomorrow to try to add this to my plan! I don't think they are supposed to change your contract terms or anything.
 
If anyone is planning to be a med student at drexel and you sign up w/ ATT, you'll be VERY SORRY you did! They have literally NO reception at school and if you live across the street, it's the same! Even if you live in the area, you'll find yourself with dropped calls ALL the time! Trust me. I've been there. You'd be MUCH better off if you decided to go w/ Verizon or Sprint. Those are the trusted two companies for all the med students here.
 
babinski bob said:
If anyone is planning to be a med student at drexel and you sign up w/ ATT, you'll be VERY SORRY you did! They have literally NO reception at school and if you live across the street, it's the same! Even if you live in the area, you'll find yourself with dropped calls ALL the time! Trust me. I've been there. You'd be MUCH better off if you decided to go w/ Verizon or Sprint. Those are the trusted two companies for all the med students here.
Click to expand...


babinski bob, you say verizon or sprint...any knowledge on drexel with t mobile or cingular???
and, yes, agreed, att is out!!! only 13 more days without regular, happy reception!
 
I know that Penn residents now use Cingular cellphones instead of pagers. HUP made a deal with Cingular, and obviously Cingular coverage is excellent in the hospital. This may not be important to you as first-year students, but you may want to inquire about getting a discounted Cingular plan through the med school.
 
i have at&t. since im a dude, and therefore dont need a billion minutes anyway, it rocks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Public service loan forgiveness
Replies
8
Views
2K
jmail
J
I
MD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Integrative Medicine Service Medical Student Clinical Research Fellowship
Replies
1
Views
1K
VeitVat
V
I
Geographic Bias in IM
Replies
12
Views
2K
Dr. Robb Bassett
Dr. Robb Bassett
D
Which patients get admitted to general IM inpatient service?
Replies
10
Views
1K
mrbreakfast
M
L
Interested in Radiation Oncology
Replies
3
Views
1K
lost_in_da_Sauce
L
Top