5/18    My cell phone 1 yr. commitment runs out in a month. So what's the
        best cell phone plan to get these days?
        \_ I'm getting 1500 min/month almost anywhere in the bay area for
           $49.  AT&T.
           \_ What's the night vs. weekend minute breakdown? do you have long-
              distance? Where did you sign up for the plan? Thanks.
              \_ 1500 anytime.  415/510/925/650/etc are all 'local' to me. I
                 can make LD calls but I have no idea what the charge is. I
                 don't use LD.  I signed up at the local bestbuy.
        \_ Mine too. Any suggestions? Any plans with free CA long distance for
           ~$30?
           \_ if you're willing to only use your phone at night and weekend,
                you can get unlimited local for $30 or unlimited nationwide
                for $40 with Cingular
        \_ quality-wise, AT&T (nee cell-one) is usually nearly as good as a
           land line.  Cingular also seems good, but no personal experience.
           \_ My AT&T is land line quality... when I use land lines.  My AT&T
              cell doesn't come close but it's ok enough.
           \_ Yes, quality may be good.  However, TDMA means less bandwidth
              compared to CDMA (SprintPCS, Verizon) resulting in higher prices.
              \_ In theory that would be true. But Sprint is so thinly spread
                 out that the level of congestion you would find on a TDMA
                 network is better than Sprint.
                 \_ I am not sure if I understand you.  You want your network
                    to be highly utilized right?  If it isn't, the carrier will
                    usually reduce price to get more customers.  From the
                    carrier's perspective, unused capacity is a total waste.
        \_ I use sprintpcs $26 for 1500 minutes with nationwide long distance.
           coverage and quality not very satisfactory but it' cheap.
        \_ I had Sprint, CellOne (now AT&T), Pacbell (now Cingular), and
           Verizon.  I think AT&T is the best in terms of network coverage.
           In terms of price and features, Cingular is probably best.  Sprint
           is the worse of all.  Currently, I still have Verizon.  They're
           plan is pretty good.  Again, it all depends on personal preferences.
           Verizon offers a really good plan no roaming fee within 5 states
           for a reasonable rate.  Cingular often drop calls but otherwise,
           offers really good plan and has very good voice quality.
                \_ Cingular service in SF has quite noticably degraded in the
                   last two months.
                    \_ Often I get "all circuits are busy" when I call
                       my friend who has Cingular.
                    \_ Agreed... I had few problems for the past year, but have
                       had terrible quality and many dropped calls in the last
                       month.
                    \_ Me too.
                    \_ Call them up and they'll take $15 your bill.